An exercise in creation

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” To understand the meaning of these words one has to know that they are spoken by a man reacting to a society in which people are created in labs and conditioned to enjoy unthinkingly whatever they are designed to do.

            What to do with life is probably a question seldom raised between the routine occupations of study, career and family keeping. It is also a question that some do not have the luxury to ask because their minds cannot wonder from the task of filling their stomachs and keeping warm. This is not to undermine the value of their lives, as the adaptability of humans probably allows that they have a similar range of experiences, despite having different circumstances.

            Here, however, I address those who are more disposed to tackle fundamental presumptions about life. With people like Eckhart Tolle and Aldous Huxley behind me I push for a revolution in the way we use our bodies and minds. I propose dissolving self-created limitations and taking a step towards evolution of humans. The best asset people have is their imagination. With a change of focus we can become more attuned to the subtle ways in which the substance of life swirls and pulsates. And with a lot of effort from our lazy minds we can give birth to new realities.

Indian Ocean nations practice their tsunami response techniques

Times Live, compared to the brief overview Business Day presents, gives a detailed description of “Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09”. I felt that the extra detail, such as the sort-comings experienced during the drill, was necessary to gain the full essence of the event. Times Live presents information about how the different countries organised the drill, as residents in some countries were not required to get involved. These extra bits of information enable the reader to recreate the scene. Times Live helped the recreation process along by including an image of a tsunami drill in Banda Aceh.

Times Live and Business Day give a list of 18 countries includes in the tsunami drill and Bua News says that South Africa was involved. The Bua News report is the only one that included South Africa. I found the Bua News report rather unprofessional as a spelling error was present and US spelling was used interchangeably with UK spelling–even though it is a South African government news agency and South Africa uses UK spelling.

Bua News has a very straightforward approach in reporting the event. Business Day and Times Live use a more sympathetic approach using quotes from residents who feel they need no reminding of the 2004 tsunami tragedy.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the Times Live news report as it presented an unbiased story with all the detail necessary to get the full picture of ‘Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09’ and not just an outline.

Don't panic!

Recently a lot of universal dust has been raised in honour of the events surrounding the 30^th anniversary of the first publication of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Like other science fiction and fantasy novels these books have attracted a cult of followers. At the Hithcon convention in London people were invited to delight in a bit of escapism and attend in their bathrobes and with towels.

The novels are infused with their own bizarre metaphysics and jargon which never fail to be revived in any text alluding to them . They inspires so much sympathy worldwide that even a Nasa LCROSS Lunar mission, sent to find water on the moon, felt compelled to make a parallel between itself and a sperm whale dislocated in space. A twitter feed was sent from the hurtling satellite to the adoring masses speaking in the words of the whale – "And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round ... it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! ... That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me?"

The intimate equilibrium in the imagination of the fans has also been troubled recently by an intruder, Eoin Colfer, who had undertaken the task of carrying on the series after the death of the original author. The fear of the original characters mutating into strangers is so pressing that angry followers have made protests against this undertaking.

Don't panic!

Recently a lot of universal dust has been raised in honour of the events surrounding the 30^th anniversary of the first publication of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Like other science fiction and fantasy novels these books have attracted a cult of followers. At the Hithcon convention in London people were invited to delight in a bit of escapism and attend in their bathrobes and with towels.

The novels are infused with their own bizarre metaphysics and jargon which never fail to be revived in any text alluding to them . They inspires so much sympathy worldwide that even a Nasa LCROSS Lunar mission, sent to find water on the moon, felt compelled to make a parallel between itself and a sperm whale dislocated in space. A twitter feed was sent from the hurtling satellite to the adoring masses speaking in the words of the whale – "And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round ... it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! ... That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me?"

The intimate equilibrium in the imagination of the fans has also been troubled recently by an intruder, Eoin Colfer, who had undertaken the task of carrying on the series after the death of the original author. The fear of the original characters mutating into strangers is so pressing that angry followers have made protests against this undertaking.

On-Scene Reporting

Tortoise hiding in shell in Craddock.

MUSICIANS OF BREMEN