June 30th 2005
Archive for June, 2005
June 29th 2005
Bribing the cops
Roy conducted an interesting experiment the other day. When caught talking on his mobile phone by one of Joburg’s finest, he managed to ‘negotiate’ the fine down from R500 to R50 and, in the process, sparked quite a debate about the ethics of such ‘negotiations’.
There are different views on this sort of thing, especially given recent events, which has become fairly commonplace in many parts of South Africa. What happens here isn’t unusual and doesn’t mean that we live in a lawless society. I suspect it is a product of poor funding and difficult economic conditions experienced by our metro police. Anyway, the way it tends to work is that a driver is pulled over for speeding or talking on a mobile phone without a handsfree and is informed about the fine for such activities. The traffic cop then opens the door for a bribe to either reduce or forget the fine and often the driver pays up.
I have had a couple of these encounters and the approach that works for me is to agree to the fine on the basis that I did something I shouldn’t have. If the cop is out for a bribe then he tends to wave me off rather than deal with a situation where he opened the door for a bribe, discovered I am a lawyer, and found himself faced with someone who wants to do the "right thing" and pay the fine. It kinda screws up their plan a bit. But that is just me.
June 28th 2005
Holy smokes Batman, that movie rocked!
After much anticipation, I saw "Batman Begins" this last weekend. I was not disappointed in the slightest. From the moment the opening scenes started and the soundtrack began, I was hooked. In preparation for this version, G and I watched the original movie with Michael Keaton on Saturday afternoon and there is really no comparison. Both movies have that dark feel we have all come to associate with the Batman legend (as opposed to the previous two comic book versions).
This version of the Batman story is darker and more human than earlier versions of the story. It is the story of a Batman we grew up learning about. This Batman is skilled, feared and powerful and at the same time he is still human.
Christian Bale really works well as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. He plays the role so well you can believe that he really is the Dark Knight. He was, in retrospect, an excellent choice and I really recommend this movie! At least twice.
June 27th 2005
Yello 3G!
Roughly a month and a half after my lament that MTN still hadn’t launched its 3G offering, MTN has finally gone 3G! I have seen the little ‘3G’ icon active on my phone’s screen for a few weeks and have mostly associated it with problematic sms transfers and dropped calls (one Friday afternoon my friend had to call me about a dozen times just so we could have a conversation). In the last few days the dropped calls seem to have stopped although there has still been a problem with sms’s not going through first time around.
So anyway, I received an sms from MTN yesterday promoting video calls at R2 per minute as well as new 3G stuff like videomail and all the other wonderful stuff network operators usually promise with 3G (and which will likely only begin to become a reality with the next step up, HSPDA). Part of the process of using the 3G network is upgrading to a new SIM card called a ‘USIM’. Here is what MTN has to say about the new USIM:
3G SIM Card
- Why Upgrade
- You can run 3G services so long as you have a 3G phone/data card and are within 3G coverage – but we advise you upgrade to an all-in-one 3G SIM card, called a USIM. This will ensure that you have trouble-free use of 3G services, and can roam across international networks easily.
- The USIM will allow you to roam on 3G W-CDMA (non-GSM) networks and GSM networks, allowing you to use your phone in all countries where MTN has roaming agreements.
- In addition, the USIM supports an enhanced phonebook with up to 250 entries and advanced fields to allow you to manage you SIM contacts more efficiently.
- Benefits
- Increased storage capacity (128 kilobytes of storage vs 32 kilobytes).
- More reliable for 3G international roaming (other networks may not provide full support for 3G on a standard 2G SIM).
- Better security
- Extra fields on the address book (for example e-mail addresses).
So I will be heading off to my service provider a little later today to pick up my new USIM so I can start making use of this whizzbang technology in my pocket. As you can see, I am a little sceptical. I have been told that Vodacom’s 3G offering is less than sterling (certainly the bandwidth is nowhere near the rates promised when 3G first came to the public’s attention and is sometimes worse than a dialup connection). If it turns out to be all it has been promised to be (interesting that the MTN site doesn’t mention bandwidth or download rates for 3G) then this could move closer to my preferred broadband (or pseudo-broadband) connection.
Update:
I went to MTN Service Provider only to find that they don’t have the USIMs yet so don’t rush out just yet.
June 24th 2005
Lament of the salaried worker
I was flipping through my bookmarks and, in the process, visited Des Walsh’s blog, "Thinking Home Business", and read his post titled "No envy for the salaryman’s lot". This is a topic that is particularly relevant for me at the moment and was an interesting read. I immediately identified with the guys in the suit heading off in their suits to a "Very Important Meeting":
On my early morning walk today I saw, as usual, a motley array of people similarly engaged, whether walking on the beach or along the footpath that circles the beach. The common feature was that they were all dressed casually, in this casual, holiday mecca location, and walking casually, or with a spring in their step, to all intents and purposes without a care in the world.
Then, like an apparition from another world, two youngish guys emerged from one of the resort buildings, both clad in dark suits, with ties, lugging briefcases and each sporting a bit of a cascade effect of stomach over trousers - too many airline dinners and nights at the bar in cities away from home? - heading off purposefully for a no doubt Very Important Meeting.
And I thought, with some bemusement, that used to be me, dressed for maximum discomfort at dawn, heading off to yet another round of meetings, in pursuit of - for the most part - long forgotten meeting goals and agendas. All for what? Salary, status, paid holidays, a car after a while, an office someone else paid for, business cards someone else had printed, an expense account or at least a corporate credit card. Not bad, but unfortunately that was not all.
The clincher is this paragraph:
So when occasionally I feel that this home based business and the self-reliance caper is wearing a bit thin and I’d like someone else to take responsibility for paying me and give me a credit card to take my friends (sorry, clients) to lunch, I really should hop in the car and drive over to the airport, buy a cup of execrable airport coffee and watch the salarymen heading off to their important meetings.
Not much need for me to comment, this post really says it all.
