The Casual Observer

The Purpose and Meaning of Life

By Dean McCleland in Inspirational, Other Opinion Pieces 3 April 2015 1 Comment

Whenever there is the passing of a friend, an acquaintance or a family member this topic comes to mind. In this case it was learning of the death of a hiking acquaintance from 25 years ago: Dick Wassenaar.

What will the wider world remember of one’s own passing? Probably nothing unless one were a celebrity or famous in some way. At best, as in Dick’s case, it is one lonely paragraph on the Internet.

Main picture: These homemade and handheld ‘pistol fireworks’ are used at the Gion Matsuri festival at the Yoshida Shrine in Toyohashi City, Japan
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Stunning photographs that Inspire

By Dean McCleland in Landscapes 3 April 2015 0 Comment

Stunning photographs from around the world. Pictures of sailfish attacking a shoal of sardines to the pinnacle of Sgurr Dearg on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, this gallery has them all. The picture of a Hindu festival was mainly included because I am enraptured by the stunning sublime colours produced by the commingled light and smoke.

Main picture: Light and smoke commingle to cast a misty glow over devotees during Rakher Upobash, a Hindu fasting festival, in Bangladesh

Colourised Photographs bringing History to Life

By Dean McCleland in Historical 31 March 2015 0 Comment

For me colour photographs provide a fascinating perspective and radically different angle on historical events. They evoke the age when they were taken with a forcefulness of a 1000 words. Notwithstanding the fact that the photographs have been colourised, they nevertheless still radiate their patina of age as if they had been weathered by the elements themselves.

View this array of photos and let me know whether you concur

Main picture: Madison Square Park New York City around 1900

South Africa of 60 years Ago

By Dean McCleland in Historical 30 March 2015 1 Comment

South Africa of 60 years ago was a vastly different place than the South Africa of today. The changes are more than the cosmetic ones such as apparel and motor vehicles. Apart from the fact that the black man had to “know his place”, the white community was riven with divisions. Inspite of also being white, the English speaking was discriminated against in terms of the unwritten Afrikaans Affirmative Action Policies.

Much like the current policies, with limited promotion possibilities for English speakers within the Civil Service, they fled the government service in droves. From the majority of Civil Service being English Speaking in 1948, by 1960 it was overwhelmingly Afrikaans speaking.

Main picture: Cape Town Station

The Criminal Justice System: What the Hell is Going On?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 30 March 2015 1 Comment

The most concerning aspect of the current spate of corruption and incompetence scandals is that many relate to the Criminal Justice System. This structure is supposedly the bulwark against moral turpitude, malfeasance and corruption. Instead it is patently more venal and duplicitous than the supposed criminals.

Without a functioning and competent Criminal Justice System, a country is doomed to anarchy and mob justice. Its role is to serve an impartial role in the dispensing of justice in a fair and just manner without fear or favour.

Casey and Brutus, an Unlikely Pair

By Dean McCleland in Animals 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Naturalist Casey Anderson has an unusual pet which is a major part of his life: A fully grown grizzly bear. How did his happen?

Casey’s love of the wild has led him to have other wild animals as pets such as otters but the gizzly bear is definitely the largest animal that he has adopted.

Main picture: Casey Anderson and his friend, Brutus, the friendly bear.

Only in Africa Again

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Africa has its own unique way of doing things as evidenced by this new array of photographs.

Unusual sights from around the World

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Most people accept the ordinary as the normal and will follow the well-trodden path . Obviously none of these people follow this prescript. Instead these iconoclasts have created their own path much to the delight and amusement of the other 99.9% of the population.

The Personality Cult of the Kim Dynasty of North Korea

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Before becoming sanctimonious that as a Korean one would never be deceived into believing all of the improbable, inconceivable and implausible accomplishments of the so-called Great Leader, consider the milieu in which its inhabitants live. With strict censorship, anything is impossible. This is the deranged topsy-turvy world of North Korea today.

The usual path of dynastic succession unfolded in the case of the Kim Clan. Grandfather Kim Il Sung – the Great Leader – was the architect of the Democratic – read undemocratic – Republic of Korea. It was established in the mould of the dictatorial communist regimes in Eastern Europe where the concepts of free press, free elections and freedom of speech was banished to be substituted by a Party Press, one party elections and Party-Speak.

Main picture: Kim Jong-il, the Great Leader who relied upon his supposedly supermen capabilities to impress his opressed people.

Radiogram: New Adventures in Hi-Fi

By Blaine McCleland in McClelands 29 March 2015 0 Comment

Vignettes on Youth Series

We had a big valve radio. At some stage it sat in the dining room on a side table. We must have listened to it many times as a family as Dad and radios were a single organism. However, I only remember one occasion.

Picture idyllic the scene: It’s a cold winter’s night with Dad and Mom sitting in chairs on either side of the table and a single bar heater in the front. Dean and Cheryl are on the carpet reading and drawing and I am also drawing – copying a picture from a Noddy book. It’s the one on the inside cover that shows Noddy and Big Ears in his car with Toyland in the background. I consider myself to be an excellent artist and this is my best work yet, in fact it’s a perfect facsimile. I rush over to my parents to show them and it slips out of my hand and onto the element. Spoof. My masterpiece is bursts into flames without the world, as least my parents, having seen what I’m capable of.