Opinion Pieces Archives - Page 20 of 43

What should one’s Heart Rate be?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 5 December 2015 1 Comment

In the McCleland household this is a contentious issue. Always was; always will be. This bone of contention raised its head some 20 years ago when I was training heavily in order to achieve my personal best [PB in runners-speak] over all distances up to and including a marathon. Anal would be too blasé an epithet to describe how I measured my runs: weather conditions, temperature, splits per kilometre, weight loss on the run & controversially from Janine’s perspective, my daily heart rate. Science has now come to my rescue and vindicated my standpoint. At the extreme, it also issues a warning when one’s resting pulse is too high. What does science now tell us?

Main picture: An X-ray of the heart with veins coloured blue and arteries red

Do your pets also hate the Vet?

By Dean McCleland in Nature & Animals, Other Opinion Pieces, Other Personal 3 December 2015 0 Comment

The McCleland household has the anomalous situation where my huge German Shepherd Dog terrorises the smaller pets in the house? In fact she derives considerable pleasure in having them cower in terror as she tramps them underfoot and pins them to the floor. But going to the vet is a different story. It brings into sharp focus her cowardly dispossession. Without even mentioning the word “Vet” just in case Layla’s English lessons are bearing fruit, she senses that the reason why she is being ushered into my BMW is because she is visiting her nemesis – the Vet. At that point she will disappear, tarnishing her image as a tough-as-nails take-it-in-her-stride guard dog.

Layla’s ruthless streak dissolves into a whimper.

What will the Next Diet Revolution be?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 29 November 2015 2 Comments

Even though the Banting or LCHF diet is in the spotlight due to the “trial” of Tim Noakes for advice given by him about the feeding of an infant, this is definitely not at the forefront of dietary research. I have only recently become aware of this research last week on the BBC Science Program on BBC Earth hosted by Dara ‘o Briain where scientists at the cutting edge of research are invited to discuss the latest breakthroughs in various fields. This interview dealt with the effects of our gut bacteria, one of which related to dieting. As if to endorse these findings, this week’s online edition on Time Magazine covers the same topic. [Note: The printed version did not carry this story as the two editions carry different articles]

Main picture: Is this still on your menu?
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Rhino Poaching: On the Horns of a Dilemma

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 28 November 2015 0 Comment

Yesterday’s decision [Thursday 27^th November 2015] by Justice Francis Legodi to lift the six year moratorium on the internal sale of rhino horn in South Africa has placed me in a dilemma. I am totally conflicted. Tellingly the ban on the sale of rhino horn in terms of CITES has not produced the intended result. Instead the killing of rhinos for their horns has increased explosively. A growing chorus of dissension against this ban especially from legitimate rhino owners and breeders in South African has ultimately resulted in this court case. How can the rhino be saved from this scourge especially in the light of the fact that the cost of protecting the remaining animals is too prohibitive?

Some suggestions are considered

Main picture: For how much longer will this be seen?

Life is all about Priorities

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Other Opinion Pieces 24 November 2015 0 Comment

This maxim is also a truism. Some objectives might be possible to achieve whereas others are merely a figment of somebody’s overactive imagination. Whatever it is, once one becomes fixated on that goal, life has a way of opening doors. In reality, one becomes “lucky” not in the sense that opportunities are presented to one but rather those that one seizes what to the average person is not an opportunity.

Firstly I will deal with some examples from my personal life; then I will present some more extreme examples which take the notion of an alternative lifestyle to a whole new level.

Main picture: Is this how you would like to spend the rest of your life? Either earn pots of money or, failing that, become a ski instructor

While Paris Weeps

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 18 November 2015 0 Comment

In the aftermath of the barbaric and inconceivable atrocity in Paris, I am still benumbed at how an organisation, especially one supposedly with strong religious and moral credentials, could commit such an egregious act. No simplistic remedies will suffice. No strident rhetoric should serve as a pretext for intemperate action. Rather divine the essence of what drives supposedly intelligent youngsters to be radicalised to commit such heinous crimes and take appropriate action. But more importantly from a personal perspective what was the historical prelude to this shameful act.
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The Hand Pump in Broad Street

By Dean McCleland in History, Opinion Pieces 15 November 2015 0 Comment

Advances in medical science are often made by the most unlikely people. Sometimes they are outsiders or more likely they are involved or trained in another discipline. The person making the breakthrough is usually mercilessly vilified by the gatekeepers of the status quo. Ultimately the discovery is adopted without so much as a muted apology from the previously virulent detractors. So it was with cholera.

Main picture: John Snow

Are RICA and FICA effective?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 10 November 2015 1 Comment

Who would not be in favour of these regulations? Nobody except of course the criminal element. The reality is much more mundane. If the measures were extremely effective with 97.5% compliance both in the accuracy of capture or the system not being bypassed, I would classify these measure as being ineffectual. The (purposely) incorrectly recorded or unrecorded instances would allow all manner of miscreants and nere-do-wells to flaunt the system with impunity. The only complaint individuals will be the law-abiding majority. This undermines the noble intention of the legislation. Why do I assert this and what can be done to make these measures effective?

Despite being introduced with great fanfare to curb corruption, in both instances I was churlishly cynical regarding their efficacy. Without both rigorous enforcement and incorruptible systems, only the non-criminal element would endure the burden of compliance. At the margin, it would allow the apprehension of the in-astute criminal to be trapped but a seasoned criminal such as Radovan Krejcir would never comply.

Varsity Unrest: Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 24 October 2015 2 Comments

South Africa has experienced unrest since 1994 but never on a co-ordinated national scale like it has been now. Why is there a sudden explosion of emotion and what are the portents for the future?

Firstly an admission. I embrace the students’ mission but never violence nor the destruction of property. Fortunately these protests have been largely peaceful. From a global perspective they might look intimidating but they have been no more violent that comparable student demonstrations as in Paris or London. South Africans, especially whites need to reframe their understanding of the dynamic of protest action. It is inevitably disruptive to some element of society – be they motorists, commuters or businessmen on their way to work or home.

Main picture: Dark smoke billows from the crowd where thousands of students have gathered at the Union Buildings, calling on President Jacob Zuma to come out to address them Source: EWN

Is it Worthwhile Counting Calories?

By Dean McCleland in Health, Other Opinion Pieces 21 October 2015 0 Comment

Maybe it’s a “female thing”, but I can positively confirm that none of my male friends would ever count calories whilst on diet. Partly this female fixation with calorie counting is a consequence of their doing the Weight Watchers diet whereas males would rather adopt a less stringent “wing it” approach. Normally that is the well-known Starvation Method. Which approach is preferable or is it neither?

Imagine measuring and weighing every morsel of food that passes one’s lips. I could not imagine Nigella Lawson measuring anything as she takes cooking to the other extreme: a dab of this, a glob of that. No two meals can possibly be the same.

Main picture: Why are the verboten foods so tempting while the good foods are so bland

The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.

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