I edit the foremost security publication in South Africa, Hi-Tech Security Solutions (securitysa.com). We cover all aspects of the security market, including the convergence between traditional security and IT through IP. I also write stuff.
This is a personal blog that may be updated every now and then.
The queue folds back on itself three times. Did I mention the "one" queue with "one" person serving planeloads of people.
I suppose if SAA can't rape its customers with fifa pricing it has to find another way of screwing them and demonstrating its world class incompetence.
Dear Induhvidual,
I subscribe to your newsletter and buy the occasional report from you. I do so because I find value in it.
I read some of the stuff you write in my own time, when and where I like. This means I may read it on a fabulous hi-res laptop screen, a crappy eeePC screen or my Nokia E71’s excessively HTML-unfriendly and even more crappier screen (as compared to the new Blackberry Bold’s rather impressive screen).
I have two points to make.
1. What this means is that I subscribed to a text mail as opposed to an HTML mail because I want to read it where I like without hassles. Forcing me to use HTML may make pretty pictures, but it adds no value to your content. In fact, forcing me to use HTML forces me to use the unsubscribe option. I am the customer, I will not adapt to your stupid celebration of learning the basics of FrontPage.
You naff on endlessly about Generation Y, little twerps that they are. This is the generation that wants everything how they like it, now, immediately, henceforth and forthwith. Provide what I want.
Newsflash: Your business does not rely on those who regard Humpty Dumpty the way I regarded The Merchant of Venice when I first read it at 13. They don’t count. Want to know what counts about this old fart? I pay, I can pay, I chose (past tense) to pay, and I don’t give a rat’s arse what your little kindergarten friends want. I want the content in a format that works for me.
2. If I cared what a snot-nosed teenager says about you or your business, I would join your Facebook group, follow you on twitter, and be as awestruck and gushing as an Apple lemming is when Steve Jobs picks his nose. In case you are missing it, I am not and I don’t care.
Let me explain. I subscribe because of the content you provide. If you add valuable content to Facebook, Twitter or whatever, I will happily join in and read what you offer there. I have no need to read about your undisputed fabulousness. Nor do I care about how many fans you have. The puerile comments you take such pride in mean nothing to me. As for your endless retweeting of drivel, don’t.
So, unless you add value to Facebook etc., stop asking me to follow/fan/recommend/whatever. You already have a bazillion twitter followers so be happy with the fuzzy feeling that provides. Tell your bank manager you have a bazillion following you, I’m sure he/she will realise how much that is worth and won’t take your house away.
In conclusion, let me be blunt. Your content indicates intelligence; your actions certainly do not. If you want millions of social networking pals, be cute and Facebooky. If you want me to pay you money, give your subscribers (i.e. me) what they want.
It’s not that complicated.
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It’s 2010 and the World Homicide Cup is about to arrive in South Africa during which time tourists will be subject to collapsing stadiums, disintegrating roads, exploding hotels, suicidal bus drivers, psychotic taxi drivers, corrupt police officers, mean-spirited local drunks, even meaner-spirited British drunks, ruffians with mob connections, ruffians without mob connections, and an assortment of vicious criminals making every day “Kill a Tourist Day”. Any survivors will summarily be tortured by the Americans and/or killed by the evil terrorists lurking 2,000 kilometres away in Angola. If the Angolan terrorists fail to show up a special Al Qaida death squad in Yemen is on standby to summarily blow themselves up in a selfless show of solidarity. There may also be soccer.
On the security front, it is good to know that the retail market is managing its cash so well that retail crime is down for the first time in forever in total crime measured. Sadly, effective cash management is making holding up large retail shops and even whole shopping centres simple not worth the effort – and this means the criminals have to try harder, and that means more armed robberies were recorded in December.
And now that the police have been instructed to adopt a shoot-to-kill policy we hope to see further reductions in violent crime. Industry pundits believe this reduction will occur as soon as the aforementioned instructions are amended to specify that it is criminals who are to be shot.
The good news is most of the security players in Africa are expecting a good year despite the World Cup chaos. That said, most of the established South African security companies were not too badly hit by the recession – with a few exceptions. Africa still remains the great untapped market, but you can’t simply amble along, set up shop and hope to make a mint, our pundits say. Choose your turf and your partners well; if it’s not explicitly specified in the contract, it doesn’t happen.
If your turf happens to be South Africa, you are not a shoddy actress looking for attention and today is not your day, Hi-Tech Security Solutions also has a few tips on employee welfare and/or risks to consider when the soccer hooligans arrive.
It’s going to be an interesting year, one that should not be taken too seriously.
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I think I broke something watching this!
(I got it via e-mail so I have no idea where it originally came from so IComments [0]
If you live in Uganda, you should feel free to rob, assault or kill your same-sex neighbour, but don't you dare kiss him/her. "Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals."
Gotta love how the continent is advancing.
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Today’s info4security reports that the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in the UK has made it possible for security guards, particularly door staff to be trained in physical intervention skills from next year. Well the article actually says the Institute of Conflict Management supports SIA’s support for officially recognised mandatory training and stuff like that, but I like my intro better.
“Critical to the safety of door supervisors and members of the general public alike is the need for a common language and skills set to be used throughout the training process,” says the article. I think this is a fantastic idea and hope the SIA in South Africa takes note and starts working on supporting a similar set of training principles.
That’s not to say South Africa door staff aren’t trained. Many of them insist on visitors entering something into a visitor’s book when entering a premises and some might even press the emergency button if you simply walk into a building unescorted. Some might even run after you and apprehend you as long as you don’t do anything as dastardly such as take the stairs.
Then there are those that will follow you anywhere for as long as it takes and then pummel you to a bloody pulp with their batons (or whatever weaponry they had close at hand when you woke them up) because your pleas for mercy constituted a clear and present danger to their person. No training needed there.
And then, of course, there are the few spoilsports who will professionally nab you, restrain you and wait for the police to come and do the pummelling.
I wonder how long it will take the UK to catch up? I’m sure the experiences during the soccer world cup (or is it football?) in 2010 will provide the Brits with many good ideas. And if that fails they can take an American holiday on an Iranian passport.
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I've always had good relations with PRs and marketing people. Perhaps as a result of my stint in the PR world, I understand what they go through with annoying clients and seriously stupid expectations from certain people who should be kept in small rooms and given a lot of strong medication until they die. However, every now and then I get a press release that should result in certain PR and marketing people being sent to spend the rest of their lives as subjects for medical experiments. The most recent is one from a radio station making a hoohah about an amazing interview an announcer conducted over Skype - it's like, you know, "talking" over the "Internet", like one does, you know, over the "telephone". I realise what a cool thing it is to do your first Skype call. I was in seventh heaven all those years ago. And that was over a 56K modem. I have no idea what the other party was on about, but I heard them make garbled noises and I assume they heard me make something similar. Since then, however, there have been many calls and even video calls so it's not really an amazing event anymore. Even South African broadband, excluding the unethical mobile operators' excuse for 3G, handles VoIP marvellously. So why the press release for an interview over Skype? I realise the show is not aimed at technical people, but still, someone needs a life. The real cherry, however, is that for this awesome "virtual interview", they invited 100 guests to come into the studio. That's really virtual and modern and just plain awesome. You're making a hoopla about virtual interviews and yet you put 100 additional cars into already horrendous traffic. Imagine what unbridled hysteria it will cause if they ever find out you can have conference calls on Skype! One day they may even find out about video.
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THE BATTLE OF DELVILLE WOOD
Published in the 1920s by Emma Creswell-Knütsen.
They left our sunny land so bright
They crossed the seas to join the fight ;
In Delville Wood they took their stand,
Briton and Boer - a noble hand
Of glorious Springbok boys.
When the great battle-cry rang out,
They answered with a joyous shout ;
They sprang right in the fiery zone -
Not one faltered, no, not one
Of our noble Spingbok boys.
They charged into the cruel fight,
Bayoneting, stabbing, left and right,
They held their captured ground ;
Then o'er the bodies of grey they bound -
On, on to greater glory.
Of the wonderful stand of that little band
'Gainst nine battalions grey,
The whole world will ring,
and our children sing,
Forever and for aye.
Old Africa"s proud of her gallant men,
We'll sound the praises again and again
Of our noble Springbok boys.
Context
The Battle of Delville Wood was one of the early engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War. It took place between 14 July and 3 September, between the armies of the German Empire and allied British and South African forces. Delville Wood is located to the north east of the town of Longueval in the département of the Somme in northern France. After the two weeks of carnage from the commencement of the Somme Offensive, it became evident that a breakthrough of either the Allied or German line was most unlikely and the offensive had evolved to the capture of small prominent towns, woods or features which offered either side even the slightest tactical advantage from which to direct artillery fire or to launch further attacks.
Delville Wood was one such feature, making it a critical objective to both German and Allied forces. As part of a large offensive starting on 14 July, General Douglas Haig, Commander of the Allied Armies intended to secure the British right flank, while the centre advanced to capture the higher lying areas of High Wood in the centre of his line. Delville Wood was a battle to secure this right flank. The battle achieved this objective and is considered a tactical Allied victory. However, it was one of the bloodiest confrontations of the Somme, with both sides incurring large casualties. This tactical victory needs to be measured against the losses sustained as well as the fact that the British advance to the north had made only marginal gains by the end of the battle.
The battle is of particular importance to South Africa, as it was the first major engagement entered into by the South African 1st Infantry Brigade on the Western Front. The casualties sustained by this Brigade were of catastrophic proportions, equal to—or worse than those encountered by Allied battalions on the first day of the Somme. On the Western Front, units were normally considered to be incapable of combat if their casualty levels had reached 30% and they were withdrawn once this level had been attained. The South African Brigade suffered losses of 80%, yet they managed to hold the Wood as ordered. This feat has been described as "..the bloodiest battle of hell of 1916."
Today, Delville Wood is known for the well preserved wood with the still visible remains of the original trenches, a museum and monument to the fallen South Africans.
Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delville_Wood#cite_note-3
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In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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WarMouse, never heard of them to be honest, has announced the release of the OOMouse, “the first multi-button application mouse designed for a wide variety of software applications, including Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD, Microsoft Office, and OpenOffice.org. With a revolutionary and patented design featuring 18 buttons, an analog joystick, and support for as many as 52 key commands, the OOMouse is intended to provide a faster and more efficient user interface for most complex software applications than the conventional icons, pull-down menus, and hotkeys presently permit.”
I gots to get me one, not. I’m old fashioned, I click on buttons and do the keyboard shortcut thing. I would never spend the time learning how to script the mouse. My shortcuts and clicks these days are automated muscle reactions. Imagine the coordination I would have to develop to drive this mouse.
And imagine poor Apple users:
1. It’s not shiny and pretty so they wouldn’t dare be seen looking at it.
2. One button is their limit; two buttons is untrendy PC stuff; 18 buttons would result in hysterical breakdowns.
3. And which accountant decided on those colours?
4. And besides all that, Jobs hasn’t told them to buy it.
Actually, it does seem to be a cool gadget for the coordinated. More from the release: “The OOMouse includes default profiles for the five core OpenOffice.org applications based on 662 million datapoints compiled by the usage tracking facility incorporated into OpenOffice.org 3.1. These profiles can be easily customized to suit the user's preferences using the included OOMouse setup software. The setup and customization software is an application that will be released as an open source software project under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 in the first quarter of 2010. Default profiles for 20 other games and applications are also included; the OOMouse supports up to 63 profiles to be stored simultaneously in the mouse's memory.”
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