5 myths about torture

Nathan Bransford on similies

200 odd years later, people are concerned about why Jane Austen never married? well, I have to admit, it’s kind of interesting and all, but it does seem a bit of  a pointless matter to devote so much time and effort on.

Zimbabwe sets new world record! for inflation.

Student unrests in South Africa again. There’s been quite a bit of this recently, and for some time too. Back in my day, it wasn’t unusual to come to varsity and see the cops in full riot gear armed with R4’s (assault rifles) manning the gates. But, you know, we got an education (some of us, no comment) and I only ever had one class abandoned when the toyi-toyi erputed in the halls outside. I remember my lecturer, cut off in mid-sentence when the ululating and foot stamping started outside, and calm as you please, without missing a beat, he just says, “Time to go home, ladies and gentlemen. There’s unrest on campus.” Funny thing is, we all lackadaisically collected our stuff, filtered out of the room and went home. Next day you come back. Didn’t happen all that often, but you know, not so unusual that we ever even thought about it.  My brother tells me they had cops more often when he went to varsity. He decided to rather do his honors via correspondence. But yeah, riots and protester-police conflicts are not a bygone relic from Apartheid days; they still happen and much like then, most of us give it a read, go “again?” and carry on with our daily routines. Since I really don’t know how to compare the normality of this - what are other countries like in this regard? protests and stuff, and cops showing up to guard the university gates in the mornings?

Richard Branson. What can you say? somehow it’s not surprising that he’s the man leading the charge for commercial space flight. 

Schoolchildren, teachers and parents march through Joburg in reaction to the shooting of 12-year old Emily Williams. I didn’t see the march; but Fairland is where I live. Kessel street, the street where the gunfight broke out between robbers and armed response resulting in a stray bullet killing her, that’s the street behind mine.  The real question would be where the #@$% were the police when 1) the house was getting robbed, 2) the fight broke out and 3) why do we call armed resonse instead of the police? well, the answer to #3 is easy - on average the cops come sauntering by a day or 2 after you call them. If they come at all, that is. SAPD - what a joke. It’s where you go if your goal in life is to sit on your arse and watch it grow. When people disbelievingly ask me, “come on, is it really that bad in SA?” then what can I tell them, except this? it’s not uncommon, not uncommon at all. It’s sad, it’s tragic. But honestly? Nothing will change. Nothing. As I said, this is Fairland, this is where I live. Girl who went to school with me, her mother was shot in their driveway, middle of the day, she came home too soon. When I was a kid? I would walk these roads at night to my friends, by myself. Now there’s hardly a house left that doesn’t have walls, electric fencing and rolled wire, and the dogs are getting more, bigger and meaner. Armed response get paid to cruise up and down the streets. The police, they sit on their arses and watch it grow bigger, and when you call them for anything, the response is something like: “We have no petrol.” Welcome to South Africa, we’re not Sierra Leone but we ain’t Disneyland neither. Yes, it really is as bad as many of us keep telling foreigners. This, this is just one very minor, very random story that happens all over the country every single day.

In case anyone thinks our government is not doing anything - au contraire: they are brilliant at mismanaging funds.

Authors get paid to mention products in their books? is this one aspect of the future of writing? good god, i hope not..then again, sports superstars make the bulk of their money via adverts and endorsements, so I wonder if this will really be such a bad thing? After all, everyone complains about how bad the pay in writing is and how no one can make a living out of it anymore. Supplemental income? it’s a little manipulative, and requires a concern with ethics possibly, but what the hell, sinc when are writers expected to be the bastions of morality? Morality is defined by the dollar sum, no? maybe this says everything that’s bad and unhealthy about modern society.

The way of the conversation of the book - rather interesting, although I don’t have an opinion on this except that I do make an active effort to search out people who read and like to talk about books. And I love talking about books, or at least taking part in such conversations.

From John Scalzi - this is just too funny!

speaking of ethics.. 

John Grisham - writer of quality popular fiction. But, you know, as ever it’s an interesting question, the difference, if any, and the importance, if any, between commercial fiction and literature. Personally, I just don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive, I really don’t. And I think it’s too pat and convenient to insist that the top selling authors must be hacks, and so what if they’re popular? they’re not creating Art, or whatever the buzzword of the day is. No writer that I know of will turn down a paycheck. But somehow getting paid well for writing books that are popular do carry a stigma of being inferior, of selling out.

ok, that aside, let’s put the question to everyone and answer honestly - if you could choose, what would it be? books that are popular now, but will be forgotten in 50 years? or books that sell slowly now but will still be read in 50 years? Sure, I think every writer dreams of making that much of an impact, but me, I’m realistic — and greedy — enough to settle for a good pacyheck now. Let the future take care of itself.

Facts in fiction

• postuserpic: /10913213.jpg

Tags: links