shifted over to the dark side for now

Well I know I haven't scribed in a while but I have been doing my work elsewhere. If you'd like to check out what I've been up to over the past year then click on over to here. I shall be there for a while but will rejoin the blogspot race if this doesn't work out. Happy clicking.

Cricketing bollocks

So saturday can now be spent away from the TV as a final appearance by South Africa could have lead to a strong case of piles in the South African community. The less said the better. At least we can substitute the cricket for rugby as things look good on that side of the sporting coin. Let's hope this truely doesn't turn out to be a dark weekend for South African sport. Let's hope the Bulls and Sharks, sorry Lions fans, come away from it with convincing bonus point victories.

Two days of semi-final madness

Well any sportsfan's mouths must be watering as we step into what could be construed as two of the biggest days of sport this year. (Until the rugby World Cup that is)

But whether you like cricket or soccer you are sure lygoing to battle to decide which channel to watch, unless the cricket is over by the time the European Cup soccer games kick-off. Unlikely though.

So tonight we get to see Sri Lanka take on the Kiwis, a sub-contintent victory in my book but the game is sure going to be a close one. It is probably going to be a battle of the bowlers as Lasith 'the slinger' Malinga fronts Shane Bond, while Muttiah Muralitharan goes up against Daniel Vettori. On the soccer front we get to see a much ravaged Manchester United side, hit by loads of injuries, take on the ever present AC Milan. This is sure to be a classic but seeing as it is the first of two legs I would fathom the result a draw. Especially seeing as Manchester have big players like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic missing. But one can never count them out with the little devil Christiano Ronaldo who could pry open a tin of beans with that stepping and Wayne Rooney.

On to tomorrow, which from a South African point of view is the bigger of the two days. The Proteas take on the undefeated Aussies, whom I think will be beaten for the first time. On form the Aussies should walk this World Cup but SA seems to have the uncanny knack of hitting them where it hurts most. And we still owe them one for when Lance Klusener and Allan Donald decided to draw the semi-final back in 1999 in the UK. Bat slinging - I always thought the game should have been played in good spirit.

The last of the treat is a repeat of the 2005 European Cup semi-final played between Liverpool and Chelsea. Well being a Blue's fan I obviously think that Chelsea will win but on paper it is probably the hardest game to call out of the four mentioned. The first leg is played at Stamford Bridge so one would have to say if anything the advantage does lie in Liverpool's court. And they did beat the Blues back in 2005 to go on to win the most memorable Cup final I have ever seen. But as the old adage goes, only time will tell. Happy viewing and may the right teams win ...

What happened to the time?

Well, one could see it as digging one's own hole but when I first started I did not think that it would consume so much time. Signing up at the Wits Business School was primarily to gain much needed knowledge of the business sphere. The two nights a week three hour lectures are also something that one can handle, although to be honest this does get a bit mundane and tiresome. Purely from a routine perspective as the knowledge garnered is well worth it.

So here I set prepping for the next lecture, yes they happen on Tuesday and Thursday nights, not including the syndicate meetings. The only positive at the moment is that I am in the second and final year of the PDM course and have not encoutered any stop gaps yet, so with only 7 months to go let's hope nothing to serious crops up.

So don't take this as a note to not study part-time but just prepare yourself, time will become a much sought after commodity.

The beauty of Excel spreadsheets

Who would have thought? Excel, the business professional's - who are invovled in finance - favourite tool has wider uses. Having received an e-mail termed the best slot machine one would not expect to see an excel file attachment, maybe a link or something of the sorts. How times have changed.

Abusing the clock while riding the facebook phenomenon

When it first came around I was very averse to getting involved, purely because I thought the idea of it was a little silly for anyone out of school. Alas, I got an invite and thought why not give it a try. Yes I am talking about facebook. The site that connects you to those around you

After a few days of using it I actually realised that it was the perfect site for anyone who has left school. It has the ability to put you in contact with people you may have not seen in ages as well as those who live a few thousand miles away. And so during the first few weeks of my experience each day was filled with friend invites and wall writing. However, after a while I started to notice how the actual site consumes all of your waiting moments. And I have noticed how it is consuming the minutes of others in the office. I am sure that soon the facebook address will be ticked off on IT administrator's lists as a no go area between 8am and 5pm. I am sure this will lead to internal riots.

Well let's hope not because it is nice when one receives an unexpected wall post from a primary school friend who now resides on the banks of the Amazon.

Cricketing animation

The service has probably been around since the start of the 2007 Cricket World Cup but I stumbled across it only yesterday. Cricinfo.com basically animates each and every delivery that is bowled in the Cricket World Cup. One could question why they don't just stream video but that is for another debate.

The animation puts a lot of control in the viewers hands. One can change the camera angle which makes the experience quite exciting, so you can view it from the wicketkeeper's viewpoint or you can sit out in the mid-wicket area. There is also the mandatory commentary in the sidebar, but this is nothing new as it is something that made cricinfo the site it is today. So if you are unable to get yourself to a TV then this is definitely a solution for you. Nothing like watching Herschelle Gibbs hitting a few sixes in the cartoon world.

Unfortuately the World Cup is fast coming to an end so the heads up might not be to useful now but I am sure the Web site will use the animation in upcoming test and one-day series. And with the twenty-twenty World Cup coming up in South Africa soon we can surely expect more innovative things from the cricinfo team. Keep an eye out.

It's raining red and blue

This weekend's FA cup semi-finals has left soccer enthusiasts with a mouth-watering final to be contested between Chelsea and Manchester United. Let's hope it does not turn out to be a flop as both teams might get involved in a heavy battle of defenses.

What's more though is that there is even a possibility that these two could face each other in the European Cup if they manage to defeat semi-finalist opposition in AC Milan and Liverpool. Both of which should be crackers in themselves.

If this does happen it would highlight the dominance that these two have over Europe and England this year, but also the dominance and strength of the English league. Both teams are also the only two left in the English Premiership title race, separated by three points.

This also highlights a concern within the English league itself. Why are the English teams doing so well but then on another level why is the England international team struggling so much? The answer must lie in the fact that most teams are overloaded with foreigners but I guess a nation can't have the best of both worlds.

All that is left to say is come on the Blues, but I am sure another Red team will have more than a little to say to avoid another Chelsea, Manchester final. We need only look back to 2005 to see what Liverpool did to Chelsea to see that the dream of playing in all three cup finals is a long way off as of now. And who can forget the sterngth of Italian giants AC Milan, as they could also upset the English tea party. The truth will be told over the next couple of weeks and I would not like to predict the winner, although I do know who I want to win. Let's just hope it is yet another footballling spectacle, which would yet again highlight the strength and prowess of the English league.

Online at last

Well it has taken a while but Intelligence magazine has finally found a presence online. Duncan Alfers and myself will be doing our utter best to keep the Intelligene magazine blog www.intelligencemag.blogspot.com as up to date and full of critical technological insight as possible. The blog will be a work in progress and it will go through a facelift as it ages.

It is also a good test to see how valuable a blog could be for your business. So let's hope the ride will be as good for you as it will be for us.

To smoke or not to smoke; in the office that is

Well I stumbled across this e-mail conversation and thought it was brilliant, nothing like a bit of office banter.

It is a bottom up read so give it a scan and decide who you think is the office idiot. It may be a biased opinion but thumbs up to Person A.



Person B

Those that smoke outside do so because they don't have their own offices/offices with windows.
I am not taking it personally just that I am the only one that smokes in my office during office hours. [You must be the special one]

If it is such an issue for you, unfortunately I am left with no choice, but I hope you understand how hard it is going to be for me too, and I truly don't believe that the small amount of smoke that might go out my office would have any harm on anyone (if I thought that I wouldn't do it).
I will stop from next week. [Oh thanks for the early warning]
______________________________________________________________________

Person A

Sent: 11 April 2007 03:45 PM
Subject: RE: Smoking in the offices

Well this is news to me as I have spoken through HR, the usual line of doing this type of thing, a few times about the smoking in the office. The letter was not addressed to you as there are others who smoke in their offices that did not take the e-mail personally. I am not the only one who is complaining I am just the one who took the plunge as they say. I am sure if we took an office vote I would not be the only one who puts their hand up to say no. [Yeah let’s vote]

As for the sinuses yes they do get blocked but this is probably not entirely the smoking but a mixture with the Jo’burg air. I am also a little concerned on a personal level as I lost both grandfathers before they reached 60 due to lung cancer.

I did not want to make this such an issue I just believe that if everyone else is smoking outside then surely the few who are smoking inside should also. [And it is illegal]

______________________________________________________________________

Person B

Sent: 11 April 2007 03:33 PM
Subject: RE: Smoking in the offices

I am fully aware of the dangers of smoking, I'm sure that you are fully aware that it is addictive as well. [Should we care]

I would have thought that at a time like this we all had other things to concern ourselves with, and that if this is such a problem for you personally, you would have been man enough to come and talk to me about it.

If this is truly a problem for your sinuses, please let me know as this will affect me terribly as I do need to smoke in my office but without everyone's consent it is illegal - since you are the only one with a problem, you are the only one that can allow me to continue working as productively as I always have done.

Please let me know. I am more than happy to keep my office door closed at all times. [Thanks for the consideration]
_______________________________________________________________________________
Person A

Sent: 11 April 2007 02:33 PM
Subject: RE: Smoking in the offices

That is fine but whenever we walk past the office we inhale smoke as the office is not rounded by a solid partition, the clause also refers to a public place not your office. There is no need for a sign but surely with smoking being harmful to non-smokers it is in our better interests that the smoking be done somewhere else.

A few other points to note:

The workplace is a major source of exposure to the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there are two global causes of death on the increase: HIV/AIDS and tobacco smoking. For many years it has been common knowledge that smoking is detrimental to the health of the smoker. Smoking is the major cause of heart disease, the cause of 30% of all cancers, and the cause of 80% of all chronic lung diseases. The new tobacco regulations guarantee non-smokers the right to clean air. A smoker does not have the right to endanger the life of another human being. Employers thus have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to protect the environment of all persons in the workplace by establishing a smoke-free workplace.
An employer must ensure that-
employees who do not want to be exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace are protected from tobacco smoke in that workplace; and
employees may object to tobacco smoke in the workplace without retaliation of any kind.

________________________________________________________________

Person B

Sent: 11 April 2007 02:13 PM
Subject: RE: Smoking in the offices


I am the only one I know of that smokes in the office, and I checked out the clause which states the following:

2. Smoking of tobacco products is permitted in the following public places:
work places, subject to clauses 3, 6, 7; and 8

An employer, owner, licensee, lessee or person in control of a public place may designate a portion of a public place as a smoking area, provided that
the designated smoking area does not exceed 25% of the total floor area of the public place;
the designated smoking area is separated from the rest of the public place by a solid partition and an entrance door on which the sign "SMOKING AREA" is displayed, written in black letters, at least 2cm in height and 1,5 cm in breadth, on a white background;
the ventilation of the designated smoking area is such that air from the smoking area is directly exhausted to the outside and is not re-circulated to any other area within the public place;
the message: "SMOKING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS IS HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH AND TO THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN, PREGNANT OR BREASTFEEDING WOMEN AND NON-SMOKERS. FOR HELP TO QUIT PHONE (011) 720 3145" is displayed at the entrance to the designated smoking area, written in black letters, at least 2cm in height and 1,5 cm in breadth, on a white background; and
notices and signs indicating areas where smoking is permitted and where it is not permitted must be permanently displayed and signs indicating that smoking is not permitted must carry the warning:"ANY PERSON WHO FAILS TO COMPLY WITH THIS NOTICE SHALL BE PROSECUTED AND MAY BE LIABLE TO A FINE";

[I would have thought there are more than just 2 and 3 clauses]

so, would you be happy if I put this sign on my door and made my office the smoking area as there is no other, and as much as it might bother you to be around smokers, it's rather difficult for those who do smoke to just stop (especially in rather stressful situations) - so I would say that to do this now seems rather hectic...

______________________________________________________________________
Person A

Sent: 11 April 2007 02:02 PM
Subject: Smoking in the offices

Hi all

Please can we stop the smoking in the offices as the boys are starting to feel impotent and the pregnant fairies are having belly aches.



Your participation is appreciated and here is a link to the smoking policy http://www.doh.gov.za/issues/tobacco/smoke-01.html