The Casual Observer

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.

Book Review: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

By Dean McCleland in Books, Religion 19 April 2014 0 Comment

Provocative examination of the case against Religion

Rating: 5 out of 5

With his indomitable spirit & lucidly argued analysis, Richard Dawkins comprehensively demolishes the deeply held beliefs buttressing the rationale for religion.

He skillfully exposes all the claims made by the various religious movements & society in general that Religion is the arbiter of morality & bedrock of morality. This is convincingly proved to be totally fallacious.

A Drab and Unremarkable Race with Pretensions: Gauteng Sports Challenge

By Dean McCleland in Running 19 April 2014 0 Comment

Gauteng requires a big city marathon on the scale of the London Marathon but the Gauteng Sports Challenge doesn’t fit the bill

With all the hype & a large dollop of prize money, one would expect world class organisation, a stunning route a la the Two Oceans & the excitement of a large-city marathon.

Instead the Gauteng Sports Challenge of 2013 had none of these attributes.

DVD Review: Earth Flight

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 18 April 2014 0 Comment

A Bird’s eye view of birds on the wing

Rating: 5 out of 5

What a stunning video. Instead of the usual shots of birds taken from the ground, these photos are taken alongside the birds as if one were flying adjacent to them in the flock. Many of them are taken of migrations with shots of birds flying over well-known features such as the Grand Canyon or the Statue of Liberty.

In each of the three episodes Earth Flight deals with birds from a different continent. So in the case of South Africa, my home country, the one portion is of Cape Gannet’s diving through a school of dolphins to catch pilchards, an epipelagic fish. This section shows gannets at wing height, from above & beneath the water. All are stunning.

DVD Review: J Edgar

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 18 April 2014 0 Comment

An excellent portrayal of an enigma

Rating: 5 out of 5

John Edgar Hoover rose to become the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, & was its head for 48 years. As such he would stop at nothing to protect his country & himself.

To do so, he illegally gathered personal information on the all the senior officials in the administration including the President. Naturally he uncovered the dalliances of both Roosevelt & his wife, Eleanor.

Remarkably he served under eight presidents waging wars against threats both real & imaginary. His solution was to bend the rules to obtain the desired results.

A Running Experience: A Hill too Far

By Dean McCleland in Running 18 April 2014 0 Comment

On this day, the Loskop 50km ultramarathon running race had one hill too many, Faraday’s Hill. It was to be my nemesis.

Prologue

A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 War film based on the 1974 “A Bridge Too Far” book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan and directed by Richard Attenborough, brother of David Attenborough.

The film tells the story of the failure of Operation Market Garden during World War II, the Allied attempt to break through German lines and seize several bridges in the occupied Netherlands, including one at Arnhem, with the main objective of outflanking German defences.

The First Time

By Dean McCleland in Running 18 April 2014 0 Comment

Even 30 years later one can remember every detail, every nuance, every careless whisper. Despite the intervening years, all the feelings & emotions are remembered as if they were yesterday.The first time that your eyes met hers, the first surreptitious kiss. They are engraved in one’s mind never to be forgotten.

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.

Provocative examination of the case against Religion

Gauteng requires a big city marathon on the scale of the London Marathon but the Gauteng Sports Challenge doesn’t fit the bill

A Bird’s eye view of birds on the wing

An excellent portrayal of an enigma

On this day, the Loskop 50km ultramarathon running race had one hill too many, Faraday’s Hill. It was to be my nemesis.

Prologue