The Casual Observer

China – Triumph & Turmoil – A Brief Overview of three aspects of Modern China

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 4 out of 5

With its stellar economic rise since the death of Mao Zedong 1976, more focus needs to be placed on the Chinese in order to understand the ascendant pre-eminent 21st Century World Power. Anyway, that is what the Chinese themselves believe.

The questions that require answers or at least some insights whether China will survive in its current form as an authoritarian state or whether the Chinese people will rebel in their quest for something more akin to Western values.
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The Village – Series 1 – Authentic portrayal of Life in an English Village circa 1913-1920

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 5 out of 5

Undoubtedly a grim tale told through the eyes of a young Bert Middleton. Life was dismal, wretched & tough for all in a down-at-heel village where nobody seems to smile. Powerful performances of John Middleton, a tormented alcoholic father struggling to make a living on a stony patch of land are buttressed by his wife, Grace, the ballast in the turbulent mix.

The Grand Scam – An Expert Dissection & Expose of a Classic Ponzi Scheme

By Dean McCleland in Books, Financial Matters 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 5 out of 5

By all accounts, Barry Tannenbaum was the most unlikely person to either be a crook or even to be able to harm a fly yet ultimately the extent of his fraud & lies was to affect not only the super-rich for which losses of R30m were like pocket money & were written off to experience without a second thought.

But it was not only the mega-rich who were financially affected but life-long friendships were annihilated as a consequence but ultimately the small players were sucked in through greed & their better judgment into this scheme.

The Diet Delusion – An in-depth scientific investigation into dieting

By Dean McCleland in Books, Health 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 5 out of 5

This book is not for the faint-hearted. Like a defence advocate in a trial, in the book The Diet Delusion Gary Taubes builds his case against the accepted wisdom on dieting from the very first scientific test on the efficacy of various diets way back in the 1860s.

Prior to this time, diets & dieting was not considered at all as all contemporary photos will attest. All people of the period were slim with nary an ounce of fat bodies to be seen in any photos. It is only with the advent of the 1950s that the phenomena of obesity started to rear its head to become the epidemic that it is now.

Obesity: Will government’s setting Salt & Sugar limits be effective?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 20 April 2014 0 Comment

A Personal View – March 2014

The world & in particular the West has a raging health epidemic. Like a wild fire driven ever onwards by a gusting wind, it appears to be unstoppable, ineluctable.

But is it?

Mampara for 16th April 2014-SABC & IEC and advert by DA

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, SA Heroes and Mamparas 20 April 2014 0 Comment

A Personal View

First the SABC decided not to flight an election advert by the DA [Democratic Alliance] on the grounds that it maligns Jacob Zuma. They allege that the Nkandla affair has not been proven in a court of law therefore it is prejudicial to him.

Then the IEC [Independent Election Commission] stepped in & announced that it could not arbitrate on the issue until after the Easter long weekend because nobody was available to chair it despite its rules clearly stating that conflicts arising from adverts have to be resolved within 48 hours.

In its rush to prove that they are thoroughbred lackeys of the ANC, both parties revealed their biased hand early in this election campaign.

Both the IEC Chairperson Pansy Tlakula & SABC’s Acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng need to urgently go on refresher training regarding the meaning of the words independence, freedom of speech & what the concept of free & fair elections mean but I fear that the notions are too esoteric especially for Hlaudi who does not even hold a Matric Certificate.

Articles on Mamparas:

Mampara for July 2014: Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana

Despite heading up NUM and the SACP, this Mampara only paid his own workers one third of the minimum rate for working seven days a week

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/mampara-july-2014-minister-agriculture-senzeni-zokwana/

Mampara for May 2014: Julius Malema

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/mampara-may-2014-julius-malema/

Mampara for 16th April 2014-SABC & IEC and advert by DA

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/mampara-day-wednesday-16th-april-2014/

IoT: What impact will it have on Road Running?

By Dean McCleland in Running 20 April 2014 0 Comment

The next wave of technology is currently is the process of being born. Its impact will be profound, touching all of us in unimaginable ways.

Being so novel, even the name of this technology has not yet been agreed upon. A tentative proposal is the prosaic Internet of Things – IoT. Other suggested appellations are: machine to machine [MtM], machine to infrastructure [MtI], the Internet of Everything [IoE], the Internet of Intelligent Things or the totally trite & unimaginative Intelligent Systems.

Glenn Agliotti – Hagiographical view of a true-blood Hustler

By Dean McCleland in Books 19 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 4 out of 5

By his own admission Glenn Agliotti is a hustler. A larger-than-life person physically & temperamentally, Glenn’s Curriculum Vitae can only list one attribute & that is being able to connect people who are involved in shady deals. That is how Glenn ultimately became involved in “donating” money to the South African National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi.

Shutter Island – Psychological drama of the highest order

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces 19 April 2014 0 Comment

Rating: 5 out of 5

This movie has all the hallmarks of an excellent psychological drama. Firstly the weather is appalling. After arriving at Shutter Island with a colleague who he has never worked with beforehand to investigate the disappearance of an inmate of the psychiatric hospital, the weather closes in. The role of the police official, a US Marshall Teddy Daniels is played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

As he begins interviewing various persons he gets the impression that he is being treated as a fool with misrepresentations of the facts being the order of the day. When DiCaprio’s colleague – Chuck Aule – goes to the loo, an inmate passes a piece of paper with the number 47 on it to DiCaprio. He quickly connects that number to the supposed number of inmates in the prison being 46.

Articles on Mamparas:

In an older era, this would have been known as plain good neighbourliness but with the alienation caused by urbanisation, common civilities such as greeting a neighbour let alone knowing their names has become redundant.

Why should this be so & how can one promote social cohesion through common sense good manners? But it is especially our attitude to the lower less fortunate strata in society that I am concerned about.