Zefrank

Another one of my favourite weirdoes is a guy called Zefrank. His latest exploit is the Earth Sandwich. It's a brilliant idea... I hope you'll take part...

http://www.zefrank.com/sandwich/

Laughing Inbox

Bumper Sticker in Jozi:
Prevent Aids: Take a shower
Conserve water: Use a Condom

Homemade ZOO:

Points Political to Ponder IV from Pres. Katie

“Give me the friggin’ cell phone!” This is I at a restaurant when the Minister of Sport and Recreation wouldn’t let me have the cell to make a call. Thought I’d post this for my detractors who think I’m just a baby. Grrrr!

They said it better than me

Check out Rock in the Grass for comments on Synod. I am impressed with his ability to suck something good out of a monstrously boring – no, frightening spectacle of ecclesiastical masturbation. The two most exciting moments in Synod were eager, sincere and bright individuals ready to take on the system and another preparing to create a bubble outside the system. As I said, have a look – before I get carried away…

While at Synod, I caught up on some movies I been meanin’ to watch. One was OK, but not worth writing about. The other was brilliant: “Lord of War” It’s a look at the global arms trade. Two scenes stick in my mind. Both are at the beginning, so this isn’t a spoiler.

Yuri Orlov, played by Nicholas Cage, stands on a carpet of bullets surrounded by gutted buildings with the distant sounds of war behind him. He says: “There are 530 000 000 firearms in the world today. That’s 1 gun for every 12 people. The only question is…. How do we arm the other eleven?”

A little disc of mettle is placed on a conveyor belt, proceeds into a press and is punched into a bullet casing. We continue to follow its progress through the factory, strapped to the back of the bullet, into a box full of its compatriots. The box is shipped, smuggled, stolen and eventually lands on a dock somewhere in Africa. We watch as a soldier picks us up, loads us into a magazine – darkness. Sounds of gun fire and we pop up into the barrel, looking down the tunnel into sunlight BANG we’re flying, into the head of a boy SLOP. End.

Amnesty International are punting the film and its definitely worth watching. But get involved… Check out the Million Faces Campaign.

A friend of mine has taken out his frustration with Religious Militarism on a pathetic personality here in Cape Town. He is impersonating “Pastor” Peter Hammond. For the vitriolic rubbish, passing as inspired activism check out the real Peter Hammond. This is definitely not “said better” but then there is Paintball Pete. You may remember that Mr. Hammond was the one who took his children on a paintball rampage last year. His son shot a trick-or-treater from the back seat of the car. And what’s more Hammond and his wife endorsed this behaviour… Sheesh!

Good God Ad

http://www.stillspeaking.com/media/

Have a look at the ads for United Church of Christ in the States. Won't work if you haven't got broadband or lots of free dial-up time.

We've been Zumed

The first trial of Jacob Zuma is over. The verdict is that he is innocent of rape. While I don't understand fully the ins and outs of the legal system, and while I am prepared to trust the judiciary on this fine point, I do think some travesty of justice has been committed. By his own admission, Zuma has abused the trust of his wives, abused the power of his position, both as statesman and as the complainants mentor-"uncle". My abiding image from this trial will be the Zuma supporters outside the court:- African mothers with placards reading: "Rape Me! Rape Me!" Jacob Zuma - 1; Women's rights - o.

Apart from this, Zuma's defense, despite the recent apologies in his televised interview, have set this country back a few years in our work against AIDS. Another speed bump in the government's dealing with this issue.

I leave the final word to "Madam and Eve" :

I love Sow Thefrica

Our friend Renée works for Ons Plek, a shelter for female street children. During the recent blackouts the Ons Plek shelter was plunged into darkness – a scary situation for the only residential house in the middle of the city. Recognising their vulnerability, Renée phoned the City to find out if the blackout was widespread. The operator informed her that people were stealing electricity and so Renée should expect even more “black powers”.

Wind in Betties Bay is a serious problem. The roof of Leopard’s Rest has suffered severe damage over the last few years and Mum called in a structural engineer to assess the damage. As the conversation drifted the elderly engineer waxed lyrical about the state of engineering in the country. We learned that NASA has no black engineers because black people don’t understand straight lines… “I mean, have you ever seen a square hut in the Transkei?”

Yvette had to organise an event for her work recently. The sound was organised by one of her staff who contracted a “DJ Tools” to do music and sound at the event. An hour before the event, DJ Tools hadn’t pitched and Yvette called his cell but it was off. So she called his home and his wife answered: “He’s on his way. He had a problem with the car. The radiator water run away. But he has borrowed the neighbours vehicle.” As she hung up, she saw DJ Tools coming down the road, his sound equipment piled high on a shopping trolley.

Katie Quickie

Katie is almost walking and talking. She stumbles between chairs and tables and walls. She mumbles her own language constantly. And she loves prunes.

She is full of bruises from her constant bumping into various objects. I can't work out if this is because her little body is growing faster that her brain's software can update her internal body map or because she's a slow learner.

She's also sleeping through the night now, even though she's still pretty snotty. And she goes down without the boob. This has caused mixed feelings for the Minister of Environmental Affairs, whose new-found freedom now carries the burden of wondering if she is redundant.

Parenting is a confusing, funny, shocking, roller coaster exercise. All I know for sure right now, is it's fun and Katie loves prunes.