The Casual Observer

My Rocket Scientist Brother: How the Mind Works

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Other Personal 29 January 2016 0 Comment

By 11 years of age, I was reading the newspaper from cover to cover. In addition with my limited pocket money I did not purchase comics like the rest of my friends but magazines such as Look and Learn. I was enthralled with the world that opened up. What finally caught my attention was the part work by Purnell entitled The History of the Second World War. Even though Blaine was only 9 years old, he had to listen to my expounding on all these issues – the Holocaust, the rabid racist Nazis and of course their wonder weapons. Initially it was a monologue but soon Blaine would contribute. What was fascinating partly in retrospect was how his mind worked compared to mine. This is that story.

Main picture: This Guy Fawkes was not going to have a huge straw Guy Fawkes or an even bigger bon fire. Rather being Kentron engineers, it might not be a guided missile but at least it was a potent rocket. Talk about taking work home with you.

My Rocket Scientist Brother

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Other Personal 27 January 2016 0 Comment

Perhaps it is not common knowledge but my brother can validly be awarded the sobriquet of “rocket scientist.” Certainly as regards intelligence it was indubitably true but definitely not in the nerdish dilettantish sense. What was it like to have a brother who was four years younger than one oneself yet who was nonetheless intellectually one’s superior?

Main picture: This is a huge drawing that Blaine did on his bedroom wall. It was so perfect that I always wondered why he did not do more sketches or drawings
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Why is there an Epidemic of Heroin Overdoses amongst the American Middle Class?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 22 January 2016 0 Comment

Outside of America, the mindless stupidity of heroin addiction, that is currently ravaging the white Middle Class, is a relatively unknown phenomenon. Even the Presidential hopefuls are being intensively interrogated about their plans to remedy the situation. Teenager-dom is a turbulent period in youngsters lives and experimentation is the norm, but why is there is sudden spike in heroin addiction in the United States?

Main picture: The final humiliation

What happened to the Hippie Culture and their Social Revolution?

By Dean McCleland in History 20 January 2016 3 Comments

Perhaps two concepts more than any other encapsulate this revolution – free sex and drugs use. Intriguingly why did a rabidly anti-establishment cultural revolution arise when America was flourishing? Foremost it was due to the fact that during the 1960s and 1970s there was deep-rooted social discontent amongst the youth of America. Perhaps there are four reasons germane to this discussion. Did the experiences of all hippies conform to the expectation that all hippie communes operated on the same modus vivendi or were their members’ experiences unique to each commune? What happened to the offspring of these commune members? Did the revolution have an impact on society in general or did it metastasize and influence it in a myriad of ways which now form part of the establishment’s soul.

Main picture: A vivid evocation of the quintessential hippie lifestyle

Rarely Seen Moments of US History

By Dean McCleland in Historical 19 January 2016 0 Comment

This series of historical photographs is certainly exceptional. From a slave auction place, circa 1870 to a snapshot of New York in 1887 looking more like modern day Mumbai with telephone wires strung from every pole. I am curious about the slave auction place being dated as 1870 because slavery was abolished at the end of the American Civil War in 1865 unless this is a remnant of that event. Another of the insightful pictures of a bygone era, is a photograph of an opium den in America as it is evocative of the opium scourge in China itself during this era.

Main picture: An opium den in San Francisco, 1900

Will the Latest Proposals to Reduce the Carnage on the Roads Work?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 18 January 2016 0 Comment

After the shocking increase of 14% in the number of road fatalities this Christmas season to 1755, the Department of Transport is proposing to re-classify all road traffic offences to Schedule 5 of the Criminal Procedure Act, the same as murder and rape, thus making it more difficult for people to get bail. In effect by delaying the granting of bail by up to a week, the alleged guilty parties are de facto being punished. Firstly is this constitutional and secondly will this amendment actually improve driving behaviour? What unintended consequences will ensue?

Personal experiences: Why South Africa is failing?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 8 January 2016 0 Comment

I could dwell on all South Africa’s major ills such as an incompetent ANC or Zuma’s single-handed attempt to detail the South African economy. Alternatively I could lament about other ailments such as Zuma’s friend Dudu Myeni’s bid to insert some crony into the Airbus deal at a cost of R1.6 billion to SAA. No. Let me rather rail against my everyday experiences which indicate that all is not well in sunny South Africa.

Main picture: This surreal walkway recently installed in Cape Town, South Africa, creates a meandering, aerial path that allows visitors to stroll through the treetops. The steel-and-pinewood Kirstenbosch Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway begins on the forest floor, gradually sloping upward and eventually elevating guests to a spectacular vantage point above the canopy.

Inimitable Repartee

By Dean McCleland in Other Miscellaneous Topics 7 January 2016 0 Comment

Winston Churchill was renowned for this sharp wit and quick retorts. In fact I have even written a blog about Winston’s most famous come-back lines. Aside from Churchill, I also appreciated Ronald Reagan’s self-deprecating retorts when challenged by an opponent. All of these are well known. All share one characteristic. They will surely deflate the menacing tone of an opponent.

Main picture: Vintage Winston Churchill

TV Resolution: What is the State of Play?

By Dean McCleland in Other Miscellaneous Topics 7 January 2016 0 Comment

Most of us have only recently acquired HD TVs when a vastly improved new standard UHD – Ultra High Definition – was announced. This new standard offered double the resolution of HD – 3849 x 2160 pixels. The picture quality of these TVs is so stunning that even if one stands less than a metre from the screen, no pixilation can be seen. In fact I have stood less than a centimetre away and no pixels are visible. Just when I promised myself to indulge in one if I ever had to win the Lotto – the US’s version has a prize of $430 million this week – I read the following headline: Samsung vs LG: the battle of fake and true UHD TVs. What does that mean for us?

Main picture: A Samsung 105in curved UHD TV currently retailing for R 285 000

Rating General Montgomery: A Further Rebuttal

By Dean McCleland in History 3 January 2016 0 Comment

The blog “Rating the Generals of WW2” has certainly stirred a hornet’s nest. Firstly Luigi admonished me for neglecting General Slim of Burma. This unintended omission confirms that both the 14^th Army and its Commanding Officer are now forgotten, true to their namesake, The Forgotten [14^th] Army. In this case, a peremptory mea culpa and honour was satisfied. Not so in the case of Montgomery. After publishing Blaine’s rebuttal on my rating, I then used the right of reply to question the speed of Montgomery’s advance from El-Alamein after crushing the Axis Powers. Blaine has taken umbrage with my interpretation of Montgomery’s “ponderous” advance across Cyrenaica & Tripolitania in Libya. The essence of the dispute is whether Montgomery was rightly cautious and considered or whether he was ponderous and unimaginative. Whereas Blaine favours the former interpretation, I favour the latter.

Main picture: Montgomery and his adversary Erwin Rommel, both vainglorious and publicity seeking