The Casual Observer

Challenging Beliefs – Memoirs of a Career by Tim Noakes

By Dean McCleland in Books 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: A Thoughtful Rebuttal of Medical Orthodoxy & Prevailing Wisdom

Rating: 5 out of 5

All serious runners have made an acquaintance with Tim Noake’s opus magnum, The Lore of Running albeit fleetingly. But what one is not aware of is that Time Noake is more than merely a writer on running propounding the sage & epiphanous thoughts of the greats whether as runners or as scientists. Instead Tim Noake’s must surely rank as one of the giants of Medical Exercise Research on a par with the best in the world. As well as being co-founder of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, he is also a world renowned researcher in his own right.

The King’s Speech – A compelling human interest story of human failings & courage

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

Rating: 5 out of 5

In spite of apparently having everything in life, the second son of King George V of England had one troubling impediment: a debilitating stammer.

Prince Albert, or Bertie as he was affectionately known, was a high-ranking member of the Royal family. As such he was obliged to make speeches periodically. Every one became a nightmare for him. To overcome this affliction he had tried every form of speech therapy but none worked. Fortunately for him, he had a wonderful loving wife who persevered.

My Week with Marilyn – Unveiling a Marilyn requiring constant validation in spite of fame

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

Rating: 5 out of 5

This sliver of time in the life of Marilyn Monroe highlights a woman already famous & now on her third marriage – this time to the author Arthur Miller – that still requires validation.

This movie opens the world on a Marilyn wracked with insecurities & craving attention, validation & affirmation as a serious actress. This movie does not attempt to address the issue of the reasons for her insecurity but it does shine a sharp light on it.

Schindler’s List – Spielberg highlights the Nazi’s depravity brilliantly

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

Rating: 5 out of 5

The story of the holocaust is well-known & is better known than the atrocities committed by Stalin & Mao even though the magnitude of these were larger than those committed by the Nazis.

Nevertheless, the sheer horror of the Nazi’s killing machine is brought to life in this intense but moving portrayal of the first the ghettoization & then the elimination of this 600 year-old community.

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.
Continue reading

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/