BIG BROTHER IS TAPPING YOUR CELL PHONE - Tuesday 30 June 2009

From tomorrow, anyone buying a pre-paid SIM card must provide proof of address and identification according to a new law, as legislation regulating the tapping of phones and intercepting of emails comes into force this week.

Current pre-paid SIM card owners will also have to give these details to their service providers otherwise their numbers will be terminated.

The new law forces service providers to switch off customers who are not registered and wont permit new customers on the network without registration.

Cellphone service providers have 12 months from implementation date to gather the full details, including ID numbers and proof of residential addresses, of the roughly 26 million cellphone users - of which 24-million are pre-paid users - in SA.

Currently, the penalty for non-compliance will be the service provider`s problem, with fines of up to R2 million and possible imprisonment of up to ten years.
A proposed amendment contemplates also making customers guilty of an offence, with fines or imprisonment of up to 12 months.

Alan Knott-Craig, head of the Vodacom group, points out that millions of South Africans who use prepaid cellphones work in the informal sector and many live in far-flung rural areas.
'They are completely dependent on their prepaid cellphones to find work and to remain in contact with their families. Depriving them of the ability to communicate via cellular telephony is to once more condemn them to the world of the ‘absolutely have-nots`,' says Knott-Craig.

“Fifteen million South Africans don`t have ID documents. Apparently more than 15 million South Africans don`t live in a street with a name and number. Since many are not formally employed, they also don’t have a ‘business address`, let alone a postal address.

‘It is also highly unlikely that the registration of prepaid cellphone customers will bring down the crime rate as it is easy for criminals to get a SIM card from a neighbouring country, commit the crime and throw away the phone, without ever registering it,”’ he concludes.

MTN adds ‘This law has laudable aims but it has been poorly thought through and almost certainly will not achieve what it hopes.

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LIKE ELVIS, MICHAEL HAS LEFT THE BUILDING - Monday 29 June 2009

There seems to be little doubt that The King of Pop was a fan of The King of Rock.
Some would say he was obsessed.

Was he feeding his obsession when he married Lisa-Marie?
Was he trying to get his hands on Graceland.
We will never know.
The marriage only lasted two years, Priscilla sold 85% of Elvis’s \name and likeness, including Graceland, to Bob Sillerman for $114m, and Michael settled for Neverland.

But it seems that Jacko’s discreet obsession did not stop there.

His former wife, Lisa-Marie Presley said the King of Pop felt that he would end like her father.
‘In a deep conversation 14 years ago, he wanted to know everything regarding the circumstances of my father’s death,’ she said.
"At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and stated with an almost calm certainty, 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.'

In the meantime, Jackson’s influence is so strong that some celebrities are doing their bit to emulate him, even in death.

Back in sunny South Africa, Mean Mr Mustard band member Freddy Hayward has died after an apparent heart attack, and even Joost van der Westhuizen has jumped on the bandwagon.

Being a rugby star rather than a musician, it seems that Joost’s attempt was not a hundred percent successful though

A hospital spokesperson refused to comment and referred calls to his publicist, who confirmed that Van der Westhuizen had been admitted to hospital for observation.

She declined to say what the nature of his complaint was, but reports indicated that he could have suffered a heart attack.

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ANC RESORTING TO DESPERATE MEASURES - Friday 26 June 2009

Thabo Rapoo, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, has strong words regarding the ANC’s proposed bill to minimize or scrap the provinces.

He questioned the creation of two ministries in the presidency to monitor implementation of policies.

"The work of provincial legislatures is to monitor implementation." He said.
Rapoo said that the claim that provincial government structures and legislatures were a waste of taxpayers' money held no water. "It is the people that are employed that are wasting money."
"Getting rid of provinces would not eliminate corruption."

With the DA having won the Western Cape, the ANC has no choice but to up their game.
The biggest danger to the ANC is sure that the DA could prove to be a more efficient government in the Western Cape, and this in turn will cost the ANC dearly in the next election.
In fact, if this does prove to be the case, it is virtually guaranteed that the ANC will lose the next election.

Less than two months after the election, the DA on Wednesday won four of six by-elections in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Surely this is a taste of things to come?

But, the ANC does not seem to be prepared for the arduous task of upping their game.
Seems like their stance is that it is easier to change the constitution to allow them to do away with provinces, and the DA in the process.

That way, they muse, they will stay in power.
Ja right.

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MARRYING FROGS TO BRING ON RAIN - Thursday 25 June 2009

I have heard of The Rain Dance, where certain cultures perfom a rirualistic dance to bring on rain in times of drought.

I have never heard of marrying two frogs to bring on rain.

As far as I know, Indra is the king of gods and ruler of the heavens. Indra is the god of thunder and rain and a great warrior, a symbol of courage and strength. Indra’s mount is the elephant Airavata and he also has a golden chariot drawn by ten thousand horses. Indra is a s quick as the wind and carries a hook, sword, conch, noose, a rainbow and the much feared magic weapon Vaijra.

Hindus of Sindhi origin worship Varuna, but Varuna is the god of ‘masses of water’ while falling rain is rather related to Mitra.

Then there is Parjanya, also a rain god, whose wife is reputed to be fertilized earth.
All rather confusing for a layman.

Anyway, I am not sure which rain god we are talking about, tradition dictates That if frogs are married with full Hindu or Vedic rituals, said rain god is pleased and the heavens will open within days.

To this effect, residents of Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra, south-east of Mumbai, looked on as two frogs were joined in union in a solemn ritual at the weekend.

Similar ceremonies have been held across the country, because, you see, the monsoons rains are late this year.

Indians have been watching the skies anxiously after the monsoon failed to appear two weeks ago, prompting concerns about the impact on agriculture and water supplies as lakes run dry after a long, hot summer.

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SA POLICE WILL SOON BE SUPERCOPS - Tuesday 23 June 2009

If you have recently had the displeasure of needing the services of the South Afican Police Service, chances are that you were disappointed.

Lets face it, our police are largely incompetent, unfit, illiterate, untrained, unequipped and disinterested in your problems with crime and criminals.

Take heart.
All this is about to change.
Tshwane metro police plans to train 100 disadvantaged or impoverished people to be constables, with evaluation standards having been especially lowered “to make allowances for them”.

So what’s all this about supercops you ask?

Tshwane’s department of community safety advertised 350 posts for constables in November last year.
More than 34 000 applications were received, of which about 22 000 complied with certain requirements.

32 disadvantaged people applied for the posts, but only one of them could pass the physical and psychometric tests.
Police are now insisting that 100 of the available posts be filled with disadvantaged or indigent candidates.

Metro police’s Ndumiso Jaca requested that the cut-off point for the psychometric tests (54/60 for men and 49/60 for women) be lowered to “make allowance for the disadvantaged applicants”.

A source from Tswane’s human resources department has expressed concern over the matter.
“With all due respect, most of the disadvantaged candidates simply do not have the intelligence to be constables,” said the source.
“And what about the excellent candidates who were identified among the 22 000, who will now lose their opportunity?”

The good news is that all of those employed before the standards are lowered, will then automatically become supercops, because they would be relatively over-qualified and highly competent.
Even better, they will become advantaged, and the opposite of indigent is…
rich.

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MORE RECESSION BULLSHIT - Monday 22 June 2009

Greed is the foremost reason for the financial crisis in which the world finds itself, declared Jannie Mouton, executive chairperson of the PSG Group Limited, at the group's annual general meeting.

Finally, someone has the balls to agree openly with yummie.
In an article earlier this month, entitled Recession Bullshit, I gave my views on the cause of the recession.

The only difference is that Mouton’s command of the English language is better than mine, and he knows the ins and outs of the industry, whereas my article was written from a layman’s perspective.

Still, the message is pretty clear.
' Outrageous financial violations and greed created the incredible market volatility,' he observed. 'People have taken irresponsible risks with borrowed capital.
Even in South Africa consumers were encouraged to take on debt.'

He referred to the 100%-plus home loans made available to clients in recent years. The banks' drive to grow their mortgage books led to the offering of injudicious credit. Sound business principles had been ignored in the process.

Mouton made these statements when he announced that he had generously taken a 70% salary cut.

What he did not mention was that he has opted to take shares in the company in lieu of his loss of income.
Nor did he mention that after the salary cut, his remuneration stands at R1.7-million per annum, or R142 000.00 per month.

Shame.
I am sure that he will now feel the effect that the recession has on ordinary folk.

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CHILDREN SAY THE FUNNIEST THINGS - Friday 19 June 2009

Sometimes, without intention, children can say things that will make you keel over with laughter.
Because of their innocence they don’t really mean to be funny, but without even trying they can funnier than some of the top comedians who get paid for it.

For example:
A little girl had just finished her first week of school.
"I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother.
"I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk!"

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew.
She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.
As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was?
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God! ."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

A little boy got lost at the gym and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room quickly burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover.
The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, "What's the matter haven't you ever seen a little boy before?"

It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. "Is that a dog you got back there?" he asked.
"It sure is," I replied.
Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then at the back of the van.
Finally he said, "What'd he do?"

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.
"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grownup and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael. He's a doctor.'"
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher. She's dead."

While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, the minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt.
Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin.
Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.
The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: "Glory be unto the Faaaather, and unto the Sonnn ..... and into the hole he gooooes."

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CRIMINALS ARE READY FOR 2010 - Thursday 18 June 2009

The South African public has me royally confused.
In my experience, they are not prepared to support local artists when it comes to the music industry. The only way to get them to these performances is to give them complimentary tickets.
But they will flock to pay top dollar to attend performances by international artists.

It seems that when it comes to soccer, the opposite applies.
Put Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in any stadium in the country and you are guaranteed a full house.

As for Brazil and Italy?
Not interested.

Most of the opening games of the Confederation Cup were played to nowhere near full houses, prompting Fifa to announce that they will be issuing complimentary tickets to the public in an attempt to fill the thousands of embarrassingly empty seats.

As for infrastructure and readiness for the World Cup, one supporter from Mossel Bay spent R3000 for tickets – bought with his credit card in February – but when he arrived at the ticket box after flying from Mossel Bay, there were no tickets for him. Although his credit card statement showed that the tickets were bought and paid for he was simply told that they could not help him.

Others complained that they had to wait for hours for transport to take them back to their car in the Wits parking area.

Meanwhile, armed robbers were bang on target.
After the game between the Lions and Southern Kings at the new Nelson Mandela Bay stadium – the first official sports event at the venue – they robbed the sports bar at the venue.

Police said that the robbery took place after a large police contingent had left the stadium.

OMG.
Is this a sample of South Africa’s behavior at the world cup?

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TO FACEBOOK OR NOT TO FACEBOOK - Wednesday 17 June 2009

Although on the decline, the FB craze is still forcing many companies to block access to the site, as employees become addicted to poking and tagging.
Many parents have a similar problem, with their children eating up the gigs with the bandwidth gobbling website.

It’s actually quite easy to block access to the site, or any other site for that matter.

The best part is that your kids/employees won’t be able to unblock it.
Unless of course they read this article. :)

Here's how, in Windows XP:
1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\
2. Right-click on the "hosts" file and select "Properties".
3. Make sure the "Read only" block is not ticked.
4. Click "OK".
5. Double-click on the "hosts" file.
A screen will pop up, asking you which program to open the file with. Scroll down and select Notepad.
Click "OK".
6. A Notepad window now opens, showing lines of what looks like code.
The following should show in one of the lines: "127.0.0.1 localhost" (If it doesn't, just type it in a new line).
7. After this line, press the "Enter" key to make a new line and type "127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com"
The two lines should look like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
8. To block any other websites, just add a new line below it, e.g.:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 www.website1.com
127.0.0.1 www.website2.com

Click on "File" and then on "Save".
Close the Notepad document.

Facebook — and any other websites that you've added — should now be blocked.
It might be necessary for you to close your browser and open it again before it will work.
(Note: to allow access again, simply remove the line with the applicable website from the "hosts" document.)

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TREVOR MANUEL: THE REVOLUTIONARY - Friday 12 June 2009

Trevor Manuel is one of very few South Africans that I have never felt a need to criticize.
However, sometimes I did feel that he was a bit lame.
He always chose his words very carefully, and I can’t remember him saying anything controversial about the ANC alliance.
In fact he seemed to go out of his way to never say anything bad about the alliance partners.

It now seems that the revolutionary of the struggle has come out of his shell since he was appointed head of the National Planning Commission in the presidency.

Not only did he call South African business leaders cowards, he did not mince his words when he spoke of the unions either.

Addressing a crowded meeting at the World Economic Forum on Africa, Manuel criticized business leaders for not standing up to the unions.
‘You don’t have to keel over every time someone stands up and says I disagree.’ Said Manuel.

He then turned on the unions, criticizing their readiness to resort to Section 77 of the labour act to allow socioeconomic strikes at every opportunity.
"If you use this weapon too often you blunt it," Manuel said. "The socioeconomic strike is a blunt axe. It's useless."

Mmmmm.
Yummie Stuff.

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WHAT IF A BLACK HOLE DECIDED TO VISIT US - Thursday 11 June 2009

Using the gargantuan computing power of the Lonestar system, also known as the huge "Texas Advanced Computing Centre" at the University of Texas, ack astrophysicists have measured a black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 Galaxy.

I have never given much thought to our use of the word astronomical to describe something huge.

The Messier 87 Galaxy is but a pin prick of the universe, and this little black hole
It weighs in at a whopping 6.4-billion times the mass of our sun.
It is the largest ever measured with a reliable measuring technique.

The Lonestar System has 5 840 processing cores and can perform 62 trillion "floating-point operations" per second.
For comparison, the most state-of-the-art laptop computer has only two processing cores and performs only 10 billion such operations per second.

Now, In general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including light, can escape its pull.

The black hole has a one-way surface, called an event horizon, into which objects can fall, but out of which nothing can come.

The good news is that the closest black hole to us is the one associated with a visible star called V 4641 in The Milky Way.

It’s 1 600 light years away, and that means that, traveling at the speed of light, it would take us 1600 years to get there.

The problem is that we don’t know at what speed said black hole would be able to travel to us if it should choose to do so!

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CREATIVE EXCUSES FOR NOT GOING TO WORK - Wednesday 10 June 2009

The article listing excuses for being late for work proved very popular.
Many readers mailed me there own hilarious versions, the best of which was surely ‘My wife put on my shoes by mistake this morning so I had to first go to her work to take hers and get mine.’

But what about those days when you don’t feel like going to work at all.
Most of us have at some time in our lives called in sick when we were not sick at all.

Employers all over the world are also familiar with the ‘My aunt/uncle/grandfather died’ story, and we owe it to them to be a little more creative.
Here are some ideas........

The bartender won't let me leave.

I don't feel like cutting onions today. They make my hands stink.

I am stuck in the blood pressure machine at the pharmacy

Britney Spears is coming to our house today

My mother-in-law has come back as a vampire and we must track her to her coffin to drive a stake through her heart and give her eternal peace.

I have to go in for a blood transfusion… My stigmata’s acting up again.

I was in bed with my sister this morning. Is that sick enough for you?

I have to ship my grandmother's bones to India.

I’m feeling very sad.

I died and have to go to my funeral.

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CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE - Tuesday 9 June 2009

I love it when a writer writes well.

By any standard Shanghai is an old town.
I have no idea how old, but what I can tell you is that Shanghai was promoted from a village to a town in 1074, during the reign of the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279).
The Yuan Dynasty promoted the town to a city in 1297.

Today Shanghai is known as the trade and finance hub of China, and next year the city is set to host Expo 2010.
The attitude of the people in Shanghai in preparation for the event is electric.

This is the first time that the large-scale, high profile international event is being hosted in a developing country, and the event is expected to draw 70-million visitors over six months.

Andrea Sachs wrote about Shanghai counting the clock to the event, and the attitude of the people of Shanghai in preparation for the expected financial boom associated with hosting the event.

I found the article too long and lost interest after a while, but two paragraphs in the article earned her my respect.

Writing about the buzz in modern Shanghai:
‘But the city, an economic renegade in the communist country, is dialled to high speed, trying to be the first to reach some undefined finish line.
Drivers disregard speed limits and red lights and pedestrians move with the force of an undertow.
Futuristic-looking buildings materialise nearly overnight.
Even the steamed dumplings are ready before you've had a chance to unfold your napkin.’

Then, writing about the contrasting Old Town in Shanghai:
‘Unlike brash East Nanjing, Old Town revealed itself with a whisper.
The tight back lanes, which barely fit two bikers riding side by side, were lined with laundry draped from lampposts, wires and cornices, ghostly figures dancing in the breeze.
Four men played mah-jong under a dangling pair of sweat pants.
Patrons ate bowls of steaming noodles at plastic tables pushed against the wall of the City God Temple.
If necessary, they could use the sock overhead as a napkin. ‘

I love the writing style.

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OF BLONDES AND BRAINS - Monday 8 June 2009

Unlike a computer, the human brain has the capacity to think.
A computer comes very close to actually thinking, but it’s thought process is dependant on and relative to the information that has been programmed into it.

Come to think of it, are humans really that different to these machines?
Indoctrination.

Take racism.
Do the words ‘The laws may have changed, but it will take another 100 years to change the mindset’ ring a bell?

We have been programmed to believe that some races are superior and others are inferior.
Unlike with computers, our software was not updated when the rules changed, and although we have are equipped to update it automatically simply by using our capacity to think, we are not accustomed to this thinking thing. Too technical.
It will take 100 years for us to effect the update.

But generalizing and placing people in boxes because of the color of their skin is not what I want to talk about today.

Today I want to talk about hair color.
Marilyn Monroe I think was the one who commercialized the concept that gentlemen prefer blondes and therefore blondes have more fun.

Probably in retaliation. brunettes developed the notion that they are more intelligent than blondes, and then there is the one that claims dark-haired –or is it skinned? - beauties are more passionate..

I am sure that there is a box reserved for redheads. I just can’t get to it right now.

Of course blondes have more fun, brunettes are more intelligent, dark beauties are more passionate and redheads are more whatever they are supposed to be.
That’s because they, and we, have been programmed to believe it.

But then you get the blondes, brunettes, redheads and dark beauties who have not forgotten that they have the capacity to think, and the entire theory goes out the window.

 

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MEMORIES OF THE COON CARNIVAL - Friday 5 June 2009

In the late seventies, a Minstrel Troupe from Elsies River, called ‘The Great Gatsbys’, hired the band that I was playing in, ‘Oswietie’, to play for their troupe
We were the top band in Cape Town at the time.

In the band was Nazir Kapdi on drums, Lionel Beukes on bass, Russell Herman on guitar, Mervyn Africa on Piano and Basil ‘Manenberg’ Coetzee, Robbie Jansen and I on flutes and saxophones.

The Minstrel troop was run by a group of the ten top drug dealers and shebeeners in Elsies River and they were intent on making a moerse impression at the carnival in their first year.
This was the first time in history that a troupe had an electric band playing as they marched through the streets and into the stadium.

They put the band on a flat-bed truck with a generator, but Robbie, Basil and I decided that we wanted the authentic experience and chose to walk/dance/run with the troupe while playing.

I will never forget that first New Year's morning.
When we arrived at the klops kamer (homebase) at the crack of dawn as instructed, the 'committee' gave each of us a handful of tabs and a bottle of whiskey.
The temperature was in the high twenties when, just before midday, the troupe eventually hit the road to the stadium, and the whiskey was at boiling point. No chaser.
I leave it to your imagination to picture Robbie Jansen, Basil Coetzee and I, in full regalia, sweating and wobbling, as we desperately tried to keep up with the truck while playing saxophones non-stop.

I don’t remember the name of the song, but the lyrics went something like this:
Daar’s a baie lekka plekkie innie Mitchels Plain
En it’s bekend as Lentegeur
Waar die gallies so lekka kos maak
En hulle deure staan oep al weer
As die treine elke dag verby kom
Al die way van Lentegeur
Staan ou Hadjie by die agter deur
Ja os moet hom keur.

The Great Gatsby’s won 23 first prizes at that year’s competition.

Ja.

Patricia de Lille’s outfit at the State of the Nation thing brings back strange memories.

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RECESSION BULLSHIT - Thursday 4 June 2009

Everyone has become an expert and the web is saturated with 'expert' advice on how to survive the recession.
There are also numerous articles on the cause of the recession, and more interestingly, the reason why the recession is here to linger for some time yet.

I have my own ideas.

The economic crunch is a direct result of people over-extending their credit, and financial institutions and stores encouraging them to do just that.
Now the shit has hit the fan.

This recession is here to linger for a while, because now that we can’t afford to pay our bills, those same institutions and stores are looking for ways to pay their own bills without tampering with their profits.

The result?
We have to pay more.

Take supermarkets for example.
Supermarkets like to project themselves as the consumers' friend. Because of the large scale of their operations, they say, they are in a position to get a better deal from suppliers than small retailers with little power to negotiate.

Agricultural prices have dropped, but retail prices have remained the same or in some cases gone up.
The oil price has dropped, but the price of petrol is still sky high.

Analysts cite several explanations for the failure of retail prices to fall.
Does it make sense to you or does it sound like hogwash, as it does to me?

For example:
Quinton Ivan, an investment analyst at Coronation Fund Managers, said the benefit of lower dollar prices for maize had been "offset, to some extent, by rand weakness". Moreover "food producers have, in certain instances, hedged purchases at higher prices than current spot".

And:
Andre Jooste, an economist at the National Agricultural Marketing Council, said food prices could be relatively slow to respond to changes in the economic cycle: "It depends on exposure to the international market, the extent of liberalisation and the exchange rate, the import mix, the ability to produce enough locally, the distances that the raw commodity must travel, and economic policies."

Hogwash, I say.
They don’t want to compromise on their profits.
That’s the truth.

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NO FAKKEN IN KHORFAKKEN - Tuesday 2 June 2009

Under Islamic law, the usual punishment for a woman guilty of having sex out of wedlock is 100 lashes.
In countries ruled by fanatical fundamentalists this ‘crime’ is sometimes interpreted as adultery, and Islamic law calls for the adulterer to be stoned to death.

I suppose Roxanne Hillier, a 22-year-old South African who was found guilty of, well, being alone with a man in the same room, should consider herself lucky to have been sentenced to 3 months in prison and deportation in The Emirate of Sharjaan.

Foxy, as she is known to her friends, has been working at a dive center in Khorfakken in the United Arab Emirates since November last year.

Police raided the center two weeks ago and arrested Foxy and her boss on sex related charges.

According to Roxanne and her family, there was no factual or medical evidence of sex, and the trial was a fiasco where she was asked only three questions.
Q Did you have sex with the co-accused?
A No

Q Were you in a room alone with him?
A No

Q Are you married?
A No

VERDICT
GUILTY

Strict interpretations of Islamic law forbid a woman to be alone in a room with any man other than a close family member.
If she is found alone in the company of a man, sexual activity is assumed to have happened.

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A WHALE OF A JOB - Monday 1 June

For some obscure reason, I have always been under the impression that whales beach themself for some or other natural, maybe even suicidal reason. ‘How silly,’ I thought when I saw photos of volunteers trying to literally save the whales after 55 whales beached at Kommetjie this weekend.

‘That would be an interesting article’ I mused.
‘I will write about how silly some people can be by imagining that they could change the course of nature.’

Thank god that I decided to investigate further before writing an article that would have highlighted my ignorance and forever ruined my reputation of shooting from the hip.

It turns out that injured or sick whales will sometimes beach themselves, but this does not explain why several whales, or multiple species beach themselves at the same place and time.

In fact, scientists know very little about the reason why mass beaching occurs.
There are several unproved theories, but it seems certain that man, and his ignorant meddling with the universe, is behind this tragic phenomenon

Fishing nets are the main cause of whales injuring themselves, and these whales will usually beach themselves.
Then there is the theory that, because of their pod social structure –whales that travel in pods use a strength in numbers strategy – when the dominant whale is injured and beaches, the rest will follow.

Another theory is that whales use a form of sonar navigation system, and when the natural sounds of the ocean are altered whales get confused.
Several multiple-species strandings have occurred following military use of mid-frequency sonar.

Another navigation theory proposed recently is that whales have a bio-magnetic sense, which allows them to sense magnetic fields in the earth's crust. This would be similar to how homing pigeons orient themselves."

Bottom line is that we know very little about why whales beach themselves, and the volounteers who tried to save the whales were probably attempting a very noble thing.
The problem is that when the patient weighs in at forty-tons, this is a whale of a job.

Still, twenty of the whales were saved.
The other thirty-five had to be euthanised.

Kader Khan
Editor
info@yummie.co.za