Thursday, September 25, 2014

What Year was it ...?

When I was 17 ...

Lady Dianna Spence Married Prince Charles
Simon and Garfunkel performed the Concert in Central Park
The first American Test Tube baby was born
John Lennon was killed the year before


Music

Betty Davis Eyes – Kim Carnes
  • Endless Love – Diana Ross / Lionel Richie
  • Lady – Kenny Rogers
  • (Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon
  • Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield
  • One That You Love – Air Supply
  • Tide Is High – Blondie
  • 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton
  • Queen of Hearts – Juice Newton
  • Kiss on My List – Hall & Oates
  • Being With You – Smokey Robinson
  • Celebration – Kool & the Gang
  • Tainted Love – Soft Cell


  • People Who Died

    • Bill Haley (b. 1925) – One of the 1st American rock & roll musicians – His group Bill Haley & His Comets had the hit song “Rock Around the Clock.”
    • Joe Louis (b. 1914) – Heavyweight boxer – nicknamed “The Brown Bomber”
    • Bob Marley (b. 1945) – Jamaican singer / musician – “I Shot the Sheriff,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “Jammin,” & “Redemption Song”
    • Jenny Maxwell (b. 1941) – Actress – played Ellie Corbett alongside Elvis in Blue Hawaii
    • William Wyler (b. 1902) – Movie Director – Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur, Wuthering Heights, The Little Foxes, The Heiress, Roman Holiday
    • Vera-Ellen (b. 1921) – Actress / Dancer – Known for her dance partnerships w/ Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly & Donald O’Connor – Appeared in White Christmas
    • William Holden (b. 1918) – Actor – Golden Boy, Streets of Laredo, Sabrina, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Casino Royale, The Towering
      Inferno, S.O.B.
    • Jack Albertson (b. 1907) – Actor – as Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Ed Brown in Chico & the Man, John Cleary in The Subject Was Roses, Manny Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure, Vic Davis in Top Banana, & Dr. J. Wilson Shields in Man of a Thousand Faces
    • Natalie Wood (b. 1938) – Actress – as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street, Anna Muir as a child in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Judy in Rebel Without a Cause, Maria in West Side Story, Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, & Maggie DuBois in The Great Race
    • Hoagy Carmichael (b. 1899) – Composer / Actor – Wrote melody to “Stardust” & collaborated with Johnny Mercer on “Lazybones,” “Skylark,” & “In the Cool, Cool, Coll of the Evening” and acted in To Have and Have Not, Young Man with a Horn, & The Best Years of Our Lives.
    • Hans Adolf Krebs (b. 1900) – German physician/biochemst who won a Nobel Prize for identifying 2 metabolic cycles: the urea cycle & the citric acid cycle aka the Krebs cycle.
     

    Friday, September 19, 2014

    "Speak like a Pirate Day"

    Yes today the 19th of September is "Speak like a Pirate Day" Aye!!!!

    What an interestin' time it must have been when t' pirate's were around! "

    Clew Bay in Ireland was a safe haven for many a pirate, did you know that?


    Clew Bay
    The west coast of Ireland might not seem like prime pirate territory, but in the 16th century the rugged shores of Clew Bay served as the stronghold for of one of history’s most formidable lady corsairs. During a time when Ireland was ruled by dozens of local chieftains, Grace O’Malley defied convention and emerged as the leader of a seafaring clan who controlled the coastlines through intimidation and plunder. From her base of operations at Rockfleet Castle, O’Malley—also known as Granuaile—commanded hundreds of men and some 20 ships in raids on rival clans and merchant ships. She also ran afoul of government officials, who made repeated attempts to curb her activity. When a fleet from Galway besieged her castle in 1574, O’Malley led her pirates in a counterattack and forced the ships into a retreat.

    O’Malley was captured in 1577 and spent several months behind bars, but by the 1580s she was once again stalking the seas surrounding Clew Bay. Her hands-on style of leadership earned her a reputation as a ruthless fighter—a popular legend states that she once gunned down a Turkish buccaneer only a day after giving birth—but she also showed a keen understanding of politics. When English colonial authorities eventually captured her son and impounded her ships, O’Malley petitioned the Crown for redress and then set sail for England. During a historic 1593 meeting with Queen Elizabeth I, she personally negotiated her son’s release and even secured the return of her fleet.

    So practice speaking like a pirate

    Pirate Phrases

    Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! - exhortation of discontent or disgust
    Ahoy! - Hello!
    Ahoy, Matey - Hello, my friend!
    Ahoy, me Hearties! - the same as saying "Hello, my friends!"
    All hand hoay! - comparable to all hands on deck
    Avast ye - stop and check this out or pay attention             
    Aye - yes
    Batten down the hatches - put everything away on the ship and tie everything down because a storm is brewing
    Bilge-sucking - insult
    Blimey! - exhortation of surprise
    Blow me down! - expression of shock of disbelief akin to "Holy Crap!"
    Blow the man down - command to kill someone
    Booty - treasure
    Buccaneer - a pirate
    Bucko - a buccaneer
    Cat O'Nine Tails - a whip with nine strands
    Cleave him to the brisket - to cut across the chest, from one shoulder to the lower abdomen
    Corsair - pirates in the Mediterranean Sea
    Crow's nest - small platform atop the mast where the lookout stands
    Cutlass - short heavy curved bladed sword used by pirates
    Davy Jones' Locker - fabled, mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where the evil spirit of Davy Jones brings sailor and pirates to die
    Dead men tell no tales - phrase indicating to leave no survivors
    Doubloons - other coins or found in pirate hoards and stashes
    Feed the fish - will soon die
    Hang 'im from the yardarm - punishment of those captured in battle
    Head - the pirate ship's toilet
    Heave Ho - give it some muscle and push it
    Hempen Halter - a noose for hanging
    Hornswaggle - to defraud or cheat out of money or belongings
    Jacob's Ladder - the rope ladder one uses to climb aboard a sloop
    Jolly Roger - pirate's flag including white skull and crossbones over a black field
    Keelhaul - punishment in which a person where dragged underneath the pirate ship from side to side and was lacerated by the barnacles on the vessel
    Lad, lass, lassie - a younger person
    Landlubber - big, slow clumsy person who doesn't know how to sail
    Letters of Marque - letters issue from governments during wartime to privateers endorsing the piracy of another vessel
    Man-O-War - pirate's ship outfitted for battle
    Me - my
    Mizzen - third mast from the bow of the ship on ships that have three or more masts
    Old Salt - an experienced sailor
    Pieces of eight - coins or found in pirate stashes
    Pillage - rob, sack or plunder
    Poop deck - the part of the ship farthest to the back, which is usually above the captain's quarters. This is not the bathroom.
    Privateer - government-sponsored pirates
    Rum - pirate's traditional alcoholic beverage
    Run a shot across the bow - warning shot to another vessel's captain
    Savvy? - do you understand and do you agree?
    Scallywag - mild insult akin to rapscallion or rogue
    Scurvy dog - the pirate is talking directly to you with mild insult
    Scuttle - to sink a ship
    Seadog - old pirate or sailor
    Shark bait - will soon join Davy Jones' Locker
    Shipshape - cleaned up and under control
    Shiver me timbers! - comparable to "Holy Crap!"
    Son of a Biscuit Eater - insult directed towards someone you don't like
    Splice the mainbrace! - give the crew a drink!
    Thar she blows! - Whale sighting
    Three sheets to the wind - someone who is very drunk. One sheet is mildly drunk and four sheets is passed out.
    Walk the plank - punishment in which person walks off a board jutting over the side of the ship while at sea. The consequence is drowning and a visit to Davy Jones' Locker.
    Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! - pull up the anchor and the sail and let's get going
    Ye - you
    Yo Ho Ho - cheerful exhortation to demand attention

    Thursday, September 18, 2014

    Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe October 1986






    I get so Angry ...

    It's coming up for Budget Time in October, the budget for 2015 and there is so much on the news about how well the country has done in the last year and how much tax they have collected.  There is talk of helping those on Social welfare, but nothing about the Middle Income earners who have been footing the bill for the Banking Crisis and the mistakes made by the previous government!

    It's times like this that I want to be heard, I want to march into parliament and show those idiots how much we are hurting, how much more they are going to take from us now that they are bringing in water charges!  It has to stop, we just can't give anymore.  Everything is going up, but the wages still going down.

    Oh South Arica dear Land ....


    Last year I was lynched for writing a tongue in cheek blog post about the Jo’burg hop on hop off bus, I won’t go into detail about what I said, but where my blog never gets read by anyone or commented on, I suddenly had about 50 very harsh cruel messages for writing the post.  I guess sometimes I think that I only write to get stuff off of my mind and not that anyone will read it, and then when people do read and even worse leave mean, nasty comments – I suddenly feel like my privacy has been invaded, which is wrong.

    I am not the best writer, and sometimes when I am just writing my thoughts I don’t realise that the person reading the post may read it in a totally different way to which I wrote it.  So my tongue in cheek post, maybe taken up by some person as being derogatory instead.

    Anyway since then I am very careful about what I write, for fear once again of being chastised – however I do belong to a few South African pages on Facebook and I can’t believe the negativity that comes from ex-pats and people living there, it’s no wonder people get “gatvol” of reading and listening to people running down their country.

    I am at the stage now though, where I hate hearing people run down the country I live in that has adopted me as one of their own, and I also hate hearing people bad mouth South Africa.   The worst I think are people who have decided they need to leave South Africa because of the crime, and go to their chosen country and run down South Africa, like it is the worst place on earth.  I want to take these people and put them in the middle of a shanty town in Columbia, Palestine, Lebanon or any poor African country.  Then to top it all after living in their new country for a few months, they start running down the country that has given them a new home, a new chance of starting a fresh.  Inevitably after a year or so these people return to South Africa with their tale between their legs, they missed their family and friends too much – but not half as much as they missed the Maid, Nanny, Gardner and all the other cheap labour they had in South Africa.

    In order to leave your home country whether it is South Africa, Ireland, the UK or any country in the world, takes a lot of guts and bravery and most of all its HARD, emotionally, physically, mentally it is so damn hard.    You are torn between your “HOME” country and your new Country.

    No country in the world is Perfect, Ireland certainly isn’t and neither is South Africa.   Yes South Africa has changed in the last 20 years, but it has only “righted” itself after all the wrong that the government did to its people.    Growing up I was always taught to be proud of my country which I was, but unfortunately we were brain washed, we never knew what apartheid meant and I don’t think we even heard of the word.  Yes we knew there were curfews for the Native people, and we had a maid but so did everyone else.  I grew up in the South of Johannesburg and went to an English school, so we had kids from all different nationalities in our school; we probably represented every country in Europe both East and West, parts of Africa and even Australia.    You just took things the way they were, and did not question, as soon as you started questioning the government, you would have been branded a traitor and siding with the Enemy.

    We could talk about that forever, I always believed it wrong, so when I was old enough I could vote for a party that was looking for change, which I did.   And each time there was a vote to help the majority I voted for them, so why did I leave South Africa?

    When I tell people now I think it sounds quite cheesy, I had been married 5 years and all my husband’s colleagues were taking up jobs overseas, this was round the time of Y2K – making loads of money and coming back to South Africa and buying a house cash.  Our plan was to do the same, come over for 5 years, enough time to get a foreign passport as you always need a plan B if South Africa became like Zimbabwe and we are forced to leave, not that I ever think that would happen, but you always have to have a plan B or as they say plan for the inevitable.

    But I guess the advantage that his colleagues had, was they went with very little, stayed in a house share with like 10 other people, they were very frugal lived on Baked beans and toast and saved every penny they made, did not travel, use public transport or enjoy themselves.  I guess that was our first mistake, we found an apartment in a good area, and it’s not as simple as renting in South Africa all the utilities are then placed in the name of the renter, and things are by no means cheap! And of course being that far from home we wanted to travel, and then before we knew it I was pregnant and we had something else to take care of.  So now it was just a means of being able to survive, enjoy life and take care of our family.   The Foreign passport was still the number one priority, but unlike the UK it took 9 years to achieve, by that time we had bought a house, the housing market had crashed, we were living in Negative Equity, had a daughter who spoke her mind and was not willing to leave Ireland as this was the only home she knew.   So I guess those were the factors for us not leaving or returning to SA, and by God there were numerous times I would have packed my suitcase and gone to the airport and climbed on the first flight out of here!  Especially after I was made redundant and it was so hard to find a job.  Jobs were for Irish people, they didn’t want foreigners, even if you did have that Shiny new passport that said you were a citizen of the country and you no longer had to stand in queues at the department of Immigration waiting for a work visa.

    Did you notice I totally deviated off the point of this post!

    Even though I am living in Ireland now, South Africa is still my HOME and will always be, I never ran away, circumstances just led us to not returning, we’re happy, content, get frustrated with the government and the laws, there is lawlessness here too – People go through RED traffic lights (Robots), they hardly EVER stop at STOP signs, the only thing they do well here is Traffic Circles, they know how to use them and don’t treat the like 4 way stops which they do in South Africa, don’t know how many times when visiting SA I have nearly had an accident at a traffic circle! 

    They like to Protest, Strike just like they do in South Africa, the government is somewhat corrupt and plenty of people getting very rich on tax payer’s money.  There is an element of people who feel they don’t have to work because they can get everything for nothing, house, utilities etc.  What really gets to me is when you see people who live in council estates driving brand new cars.  Young girls fall pregnant so they can benefit from the State Welfare system!  But here people aren’t branded by colour.

    What really gets to me when I read comments on Facebook and News24 is it doesn’t matter who you are or what you say, but if someone doesn’t like it you are branded a racist …. Lol. 

    Suzi:  I went to the store and the woman behind the counter took ages to serve me because she was chatting to her friends.

    Mpho: Well aren’t you just a racist expecting to be served straight away, why don’t you just leave the country.

    Conclusion:  Mpho assumes that Suzi is of a different colour to the lady serving in the store, and assumes the lady serving in the store is the same colour as he is, so therefore because she is making a statement that is not positive she is racist! Ké???? 

    This is just a made up stupid comment, let me see if I can find some real ones.

    But what I guess I really wanted to say is that I believe in South Africa, I believe that this beautiful country will still be the heart of Africa in 100 years’ time.  I believe that it will go from strength to strength, and like every country in the world will still have an element of corruption, crime and lawlessness, but South Africa will always be in my heart and will always be one of the most beautiful countries in the world.   South Africa has a uniqueness that you will not find anywhere else, the smells, the sounds, the colours, the people – its diverseness and Rainbow nation for everyone to be proud of.  I am now even more proud of being a South African citizen than I ever was in my life, I can honestly say I am an ambassador for SA, encouraging people to visit and discover MY beautiful South Africa.

    South Africa has its dangerous parts where tourists should be aware of their surroundings but so does Ireland, Australia, UK, America and every single part of the world.

    All of this is debatable though and of course everyone is going to have their own opinion, this is just my opinion of course, and just something I wanted to get off my mind.   I know that South Africa is still 2nd in the world for the most murders (according to the Huffington Post), 1st by the way is Columbia, but you can see the top 10 list here.

    South Africa doesn’t even feature in the top 10 countries with the highest crime rate.

    In my opinion I think South Africa’s biggest problem is immigrants, not those that contribute to the economy of the country, but those that come to South Africa with the intention of committing a crime and getting rich on unsuspecting people.

    Once you have been to Africa it is always  in your blood.