Friday Crime Time

It is Friday and we are going back to our usual Friday feature- daft criminals.

Both tales came from America.
Armondo Garcia, Abel Lahera, Jorge Amador and Emilio Moreira decided that instead of wasting their night sleeping, they would spend in productiely robbing a store.
They broke into Stuart Lawn and Garden at 3:30 am. Stealing mostly chainsaws, the surveillance tapes showed that they knew where everything was and did not waste time looking. The cameras also captured the robbers as well and their white van, with a mismatched wheel, while they were executing their brilliant crime.

They escaped before the police arrived and put their clever escape plan into motion. They were to abondon the van and escape in a Jaguar, but only after laying low for a while, after which they would blend into the morning traffic.

Miami police found the abondoned van, which was distinct enough and nearby they found the four brilliant criminals sound asleep in the Jaguar, with their loot in the boot.
They were prompty arrested and confessed. All for are being held for Burglary and Grand theft with bail of $10 000.
Below is a picture that is now placed at the entrance of the robbed store.

Our second criminal has only been decribed as a 27 year old mail from Seattle.

This genius was arrested sneaking around in the crawl space in the cieling of the Lusty Lady strip club. Many would be forgiven if they though he was there to steal money or, well, anything. Nope, our brain child was there to sneak into the stripper's dressing room.
Now this club offers strippers who go ALL the way and take every item of clothing off. He was not doing this to avoid the entrance fee, as he snuck into the crawl space only after he entered. One must assume he was trying to catch the strippers naked, in their dresssing room. Or maybe he actually wanted to catch them with clothes on.

He was charged with Malicious Mischief but released with a warning.

Money Well Spent

Those of us who drive around the roads in and around Johannesburg know that it takes skill, concentration and Schumi talent, not to ruin your car on one of South Africa's latest tourist attractions- yes, I am talking about the beloved Pothole.

Poor (and I use this word very loosely) road maintenance had resulted in the tar disintegrating like candy floss, especially with the heavy, virtually daily rain we have been experiencing. This has caused massive, gaping holes in the roads that are sometimes impossible to negotiate. Tyre shredders they are should you not be deft or lucky enough to dodge one.
One Fitment Centre said that 6 out of 10 clients were there due to pothole damage. Of course, there is a system where, on paper anyway, one can claim for damages to one's vehicle. The claim requirements include the need for a photo of the offending pothole. In reality, people who have claimed, often are shunted around with no success at all. (hard to believe I know)
Granted, there are one or two happy endings- but this seems to be the minority.

Of course the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA), has come out with their side of things. And as is with any Governement linked agency, it is met with amusement as it makes little sense to me.
JRA Chairman, Kehla Shubane,says that he knows there is a problem and acknowledges lack of maintenace is to blame for the sad state of affairs. (Good start you may think)
Then he advises that the potholes could be permanently fix if a site manager was allowed to stay at a site the whole day. Firstly does that say that the workers have no idea what they are doing. (There have been reports of these genuises fixing potholes in the pouring rain) and secondly, if he, the chairman of the JRA does not have the authority to allow managers to remain on site for a day, who does?
The second reason, and this is my favourite-because they have not been given enough funding to go forth and fix the gaping holes int he roads, that look set to rival the Kimberley Hole.(Of course they have one, we have thousands) The reason is that there are not enough funds available for this purpose.
Now we have to consider that the City of Johannesburg forked out between R90-100 million to host the fading Miss World competition. No money indeed.

I feel so much better now, as I weave along the little bit of drivable tar that is left, instinctively dodging oncoming cars and feeling like I am one of the Dakar rally contestants. I know the money went to a good cause.

Not a wet eye in the house

Considering all the rain we have been experienceing in Gauteng of late,me talking about a water crisis is a bit ironic.

As we all know consumable water is scarce. A strange fact on a planet that is mostly covered by water- the most vital substance to all living beings-is that less than one percent is able to be consumed by animals. The rest is either too salty (as in the oceans), locked up in glaciers and ice or in the atmosphere. What complicates matter, is that this tiny percentage is not evenly distributed around the planet. Some areas on earth have plenty of water and others have virtually none. Nature has learned to adapt to this. Humans have not.

Wildlife has evolved over the centuries to adapt to many different changes in their environments. What wildlife has never learned to adapt to is the human impact on the planet. As the human population increases, so do the demands in places upon the planet. As our demands on the planet increase, it leads to the decrease of nature and it's habitats and eco-systems.

All life on planet earth needs water- in varying degrees of course. In essence it has become a bit of a competition, for this valuable resource. Animals require water to live in or for hydration.
Humans though, need it for many other reasons other than direct consumption. Our biggest needs for water are fior agriculture, running the economy (used in industry) and generating electricity.

We as a species have now woken up, a bit anyway, to the fact that we need to find alternative energy sources to the good old burning of fossil fuel and polluting the atmosphere power stations. The dark cloud of climate change has made people sit up a bit and take notice of the 'footprint' we are leaving on our Mother Earth.

What many of us fail to realise, is that producing energy also has a water cost- paid for from our precious water resources. Eskom for example uses some 320 billion litres of water per annum (about 2% of our freshwater resources) to produce the electricity we take for granted. Due to increasing electricity demand, the needs for water consumption to produce power, has increased by 41% over the past 12 years. As our population grows and more communities get 'hooked' up with electricity, this figure will rise steeply.

Most of our power stations in South Africa are Wet-Cooled, which results in 85 % of the water used for cooling, evaporating into the atmosphere. .
Apparently our energy generator plans to build Dry-Cooled power stations in the future (which work similar to a car cooling system) to reduce the water demand. South Africa is home to two of the world's largest Dry-Cooled power stations already. It is claimed the one at Matimba uses 200 million litres of water a day less than a Wet-Cooled plant. The catch though (there always is one) is that Dry-Cooled plants are more expensive to build and their power output is compromised. (That is why Eskom is asking for half our salary every month-to fund corruption and expensive power stations).

A useful comparison has been done to see the amount of water required in producing electricity by various energy sources. The following is the amount of water required to run a non -energy saving 60watt bulb for 12 hours a day for a year.

A wet cooled power station- 500 litres
A hydroelectric plant- 350 litres
A solar energy plant- 250 litres
A dry cooled power station-40 litres
A nuclear plant- 25 litres
Wind turnbines- 1 litre

My first response was 'wow'. When we see how water usage goes hand in hand with electricity usage, it becomes apparent the need to save both.

Although the intitial costs of nuclear power are high, the benifts in the long run, outweigh thisb in my view. There are no harmful emmisions (unless there is a Chernobyl event, but they are rare), the monetary cost of producing energy is low and the unexpected bonus, is that Nuclear Power Plants desalinate water. This could be of massive use when placed in coastal areas to supplement their water resources. The important thing about nuclear plants is that the water does not have to be wasted as it can be returned to it's source or used for consumption.

Wind turbines use virtually no water to run and their cost of setting up is reducing. The amount of water required for Solar energy was a bit surprising, especially as it would be ideal for a country like South Africa which is usually sunny.
Hydroelectric schemes lose their water from evaporation. This would happen from any dam though.

I will not bore you (hope I have not so far) with a long and detailed study in alternative energy sources. I think we, as individuals and as a species, need to come to terms with the facts that water is our planet's most valuable resource. We take it for granted because we open up the tap and it is there. Over a billion people are not that lucky.
Water conservation should be as important as the drive to lower carbon emissions. And, as reflected above, we need to think water when looking at electricty sources. An ever growing human population will have a negative impact on the planet and on the current resources, water, gas, fossil fuels and so on. This does not only harm us, but the plants and animals that live on the planet with us as well.

One thing is evident though, like global warming, we realise there is a problem. A gigantic one. Yet, as humans we love to plan, scream and shout- but we do not actually turn this into action, especially if it may have an immediate negative effect on us. We hate thinking long term. We always wait for somebody else to start, somebody else to compromise. ( Look at the latest climate change talks for a good example).

As we fight amongst ourselves over who will be the first to make a major, tangible step, we continue to pollute the atmposhere and waste precious water.....and, we will kick into action when there is nothing left to save, no legacy for future generations.

Legal protection

We are at the end of another week. One of the big news storys going around is the fallout of an interview conducted by members of E-Tv with two criminals who bragged about how they would rob tourists during our upcoming world cup. The SAPS requested they share this information, and of course, E-Tv have refused under the guise of protecting their sources.

Now, this got me thinking- and yes, it does happen from time to time.

Legal representitives (Advocates and Attorneys) are legally obliged to keep information that suspects share with them, a secret. This is the case with holy representitives as well (Priests, reverends etc). Journalists do not have this same protection, so, they are legally obliged to hand over information to the police.However, they seem to think they do.

I must, however, question this whole issue. Number one, advocates and attorneys are representitves of the courts, representitives of the law. Why should they, if they have solid evidence on their client, not rather be obliged to hand in this evidence.
Yes, people have the right to fair legal representation in a court of law. One must ask though if being 'fair' to a criminal suspect over-rides the right of fairness to the general public. Why should a criminal be afforded a legal 'get out of jail free' card if they share damaging information with their legal rep? Surely if they are guilty, and their attorney knows this for sure, the attorney should be legally obliged to sell his client out, rather than protect him/her. Defending them from a conviction, when they are guilty is nothing short of a rape of the justice system. Although, not illegal.

The same goes for a preacher person. They are supposed to be God's helpers on earth. Therefore, they should, in my humble view, be doing the right thing for God and for society. Why would they have to keep a secret of somebody who has damaged this society by a criminal offence? Surely we must look at the greater good. That one person who's secret is kept, could be the difference between them being free and going to jail. The difference between another rape, murder or robbery. This is when the communities' rights come second to the criminal's.

I am not against human rights in general. But I do think we afford criminals too many and we, as the general public, are possibly prejudiced by this. If a real criminal is kept out of jail because the only people who knew his dirty little secret, were legally bound to keep it, then he/she will repeat the offence, or maybe move on to more serious offences. Many criminals are serial offenders, and this is a fact!
In this case, I trully think the law fails us. I do not believe criminals should be afforded this type of protection. Society does not deserve for them to have it either. As I mentioned before- the 'greater good' must be what benifits from the law. Not one or two dodgy people who use wormholes in the law as their playground.

Back to journalists. I do understand their need to keep their sources a secret. This obviously gains them trust and further information. However- what is the price of the big scoop? Let's face it, they do it for the glory more than they do it for the public's right to know. To be responsible for a jaw dropping article makes you a legend.
But why, would any sane, caring, honest person, not want to share information that would possibly save lives and/or heartache? Why should legal action be instituted to force them disclose information? Is the big scoop more important that the future victims of these self confessed armed robbers (and maybe future murderers)?

As we move into a world where crime is on the increase worldwide, we need to look at ways to stop the scum of the planet from creeping out of the rat traps and to ill deserved freedom to commit their seedy little deeds again and again. We should be altering laws to protect the innocent and the victims of crime We should not be bowing to people who have wronged society. They are the ones who chose to perform criminal acts and should pay the price of doing so.

Until human rights groups actually realise that the victims deserve the support more that the waste of skin they seem to care so much about, and until laws are altered to afford more protection to society, we will not be able to control crime. No matter what we are led to believe by the propoganda spewing government.

Precious Sharks

Sharks have been in the news again since the fatal attack of Lloyd Skinner off Fish Hoek beach (Cape Town). Attacks like this send fear through people and cause a sense of panic.

The truth is, shark attacks are rare. According to the International Shark Attack File (yes there is one)- there are less than 100 attacks per annum, from which 10-15 people die. This is worldwide. If you consider the millions of people swimming in  the oceans, the percentage is too low to calculate. In comparison, 1000 people die from croc attacks, 1500 from large cats and some 60 000 from snake bites per annum. Then we will not mention the car fatalities. But one shark attack causes so much panic.....

It is roughly estimated that humans kill 100 million sharks a year- now they should be a lot more petrified than us.

Because of this, selfish idiots are calling for shark nets to be placed at Cape Beaches. Why, so they can swim safely as they do in Natal. Gregg Oelofse, head of Environmental resource management at Cape Town City Council says that sharks nets will not be placed in the seas. The reason- would it be that sharks nets actually kill sharks and other sea life like whales and dolphins? Of course not. Why would somebody in his position care about the Environment and it's animals. The reason is because the coast is long and because of rough seas, the nets will be washed up onto the beach frequently-seriously! Great reason Gregg.

This idiot even goes on to say that killing sharks is a more effective option.....one has to ask how a selfish, short thinking gibbon like this actually heads any environmental department. Surely he should be tasked with protecting nature and not support killing it for human's pleasure. He should seek employment on a Japanese whale hunting ship the waste of earth space.

Maybe I am not getting the big picture here. To my mind, if God intended us to be sea creatures, we would have gills, or at the least, fins...but I have looked and I see neither on humans. So we are swimming in the shark's territory. And as much as we are out to get them, we, as a species are the savage ones. Sharks are not eating machines who will attack and eat anything they come accross. The are careful eaters who probably bite humans due to mistaken identity or when provoked.
Most attacks are one or two exploratory bites and the shark is gone as it realises we are not his prey. Bummer for us, is that the one or two bites may kill or maim us. However, we are in his ocean and being there, we should accept the risks. (Do we want to close down the car manufacturers due to road deaths)

Sharks have been around for 400 million years and they are a vital part of life in the oceans. In my view we do not have a right to kill them just because they stand in the way of us having fun in the ocean. How selfish are we as humans.....okay, I guess we are the most selfish creature around.
We have brought sharks to the brink of extinction- and that is no lie. As we have done with many other creatures. They have survived the changing planet for 400 million years and it is humans in our short existence, who will probably be the proud winners of the 'shark extinction cup.'

We need to wake up and realise, we have one planet. Once animals and fish are gone, they are gone. Once the planet is a barren wasteland, we are the losers. Will we wake up in time......??

To Shaik or not to Shaik

I hate to harp on about politics, but our governemnt makes it to easy.

In a previous entry I spoke warmly about the esteemed Mr Schabir Shaik, South Africa's favourite fraudster. This piece is a little follow on because the tale is full of entertainment value.

A statement from the presidency on 19th of October 2009, confirmed that it has recieved a request for presidential pardon, on 24th April 2009, from the above ex jailbird or hospital bird in this case (the same wonderful man who made us all believe that modern day miracles are alive and well.).

This being a pretty big story as Mr S was a close friend of our beloved president , Dr Jacob Zuma (he of many wives and an honoury doctorate-even with only primary school education).
At first Doc Z denied there was an application at all- making him virtually the only person in South Africa who did not know of this.
Of course old Zuma being the great dancer he is (his 'falling' wedding dance is used as reference here), danced around and twisted his denial to say that he has over 300 applications and that 'I have nothing in front of me'!!!!

Of course this is pretty funny on one front because he is a fool to actually try to deny this, when even his wives I am sure, knew that brother Shaik had applied. But it is serious in that he thinks he can lie to the country and expect us to cling on to every false word he says. Just as they expected us to swallow the unlikely story that Merc driving, golf playing Mr S had a week to live, before he was 'cured'.

Only the stupid or the blind followers will believe that Shaik will not be pardoned. Even if it on the sly, JZ will sign it off with a smile and a glass of Johnny Blue (the official ANC drink it seems )...Old Shaik will be pardoned....and there is nothing anybody can really do about it.
Democracy welcomes you.....

The glory of screwing the masses

As everybody in South Africa knows, the ruling party has turned 98 years old. This makes it one the oldest liberation groups around today.
The party has ruled South Africa for the past 15 plus years, but has not covered itself in glory.

South Africa is a third world country, although it is one of the strongest in Africa (but let's face it, there is not much competition)....and one of the few that is not involved in armed conflict. (I mean political, not criminal).
However, we are by no means a wealthy country, despite how the top leaders present themselves and their spending habits. Just look at the luxury in which our top politicians live, the luxury cars they 'need' and the luxurious lifestyle they love to live from day to day.

With this in mind, nobody could claim to be surprised at the money spent on the ANC's 98th birthday party. Not people to slum it, there was 16 year old Cogavalin whisky (R1 600 a bottle), Glenfiddich (R1 000-R1 500 a bottle) and then of course Royal Salute and Johnny Walker Blue (R2 700 a bottle). Sparkling wines were aplenty (R100+ a bottle) as well as other wines and beer.
Of course this excludes the food bill, which I think we could estimate would be fit the Queen Liz herself.

This is in contrast to the poverty of the majority of South Africans of ALL races. Like all African leaders, ours love the rich life, yet pretend to care and feel for the poor. Tens of millions of Rands are spend on parties, cars, SUV's, gifts etc, which let's face it, achieve nothing but to entertain and keep them thinking they are untouchable.
This to me is a crime. We, the tax payers fund this excess that they live, although we cannot afford a quarter of they things they do. Many citizens do not have houses or a meal at night, many others just get by with a meal a day.

The millions spent on wonderful balls and get togethers, should rather be placed into projects that will uplift the country and not just fill the bellies of a few fat selfish people, who let's face it, only worry about themselves. Fix our infrustructure, upgrade schools and hospitals and so on. There is no shortage of ideas.
But, we all know, that this will not happen. The leaders are blind to the reality and hide behind their high walls and ten car, black vehicle processions- only taking a peek once every four years when they need the votes.

All we can do is hope and pray that the voting majority take not and think about there vote a little more...sigh!

Falling levels of Education

I was not going to comment on it, as it has pretty much been knocked to death.....but, me, being me, has to...
The topic- Education......or in our case, lack of it.

South Africa released their matric or Grade Twelve or National Senior Certificate results- and 60.7 percent is the pass result. (62.5%-2008). Brilliant hey.
Strange as it was, the results were released on 7 January 2010 and not in December as is always done.

This means that roughly 40% of those who wrote matric, failed. That is a serious amount in my books. Especially when you look at the pecentage required to pass is 30% in some subjects and 40% in others. Surely the lowering of the education standards should amount to an increase in passes and not a decrease. Yet, there it is, for all to admire- a 2% drop in passes. For the last fifteen years, year on year, there has been a drop in passes for our matrics. Universities complain that many of their students do not know how to read and write properly - in terms of spelling and grammer. This is pretty worrying- well to us, but not too much for the government.

Now, these people are our future leaders, the people who will steer the ship into the future. Be afraid, very afraid.

The Department of Education is concerned of course , but are quick to blame everything from bad teachers to poor schools, from lack of understanding of English to the old fall back -'the dark past'. Minister Angie Motshekga says the results (wait for it ) 'Continue to suggest we have not turned the corner in education'. Wow, brilliant deduction. No wonder she is in charge.

They need to realise that education is rubbish here. They need to look honestly at where they are falling short and admit it instead of turning their fingers and blaming everbody else.

Instead of using funds for luxuries like cars and 98 year old birthday parties, funds should be placed in much needed departments- Education, Health, Policing.......where the whole country can benifit.

Here are some of my ideas and I do not pretend that they are correct or all inclusive.

Do a review of every school. (6 300 odd). This can be done at Provincial level. Fix schools that are falling apart, pay teachers (Educators in SA) better salaries and root out those who don't care about the pupils (Learners as they are called here). To teach you need to be dedicated and have a passion for educating the children. Ensure schools are equiped with decent learning and sports equipment.

Do not drop the quality of education to meet poor results. Find ways to improve the results to meet a high education level rather. (Who accepts South African degrees these days??). Even if this means wholesale changes. Looking at the results, this may be what is needed.

Granted in rural areas, language may be a problem. Address it and if it asks for them to be taught in their home language, do it. However, do not neglect the need for English.

In the towns and cities, many black children speak English at the expense of their home language. So, English is the medium that should be most used and cannot be used as an excuse for failure.

Then there is Discipline. There is none at schools. Children do as they please, how they please and there is no consequences. This has to be addressed sternly. Children bunk, don't do homework, don't bother about exams because there is nothing that can be done to touch them. This needs to be addressed urgently. Bring back harsh punishment, I am sure, like us, they will survive and it will make them better people.

I would like to hear what you guys think.......

Happy New Year- bit late though

I am back and I hope that my entiries were missed.
Happy New Year to everybody and I hope that this year and this decade brings the best for all of us and I hope to bring you entertaining comments through this time.
Please feel free to comment, make suggestions- and so on and on.....

Thanks to everybody for their comments and support though 2009. 2010 will be better...