Nissan goes some of the way

Nissan has just launched a car that detects whether the driver has alcohol in his system. It does this by sensing tell-tale signs of alcohol in the driver’s sweat, as he places his hand on the gear leaver. The car also picks up the scent of alcohol, and monitors the driver’s eye movements to ensure he is awake. Read more here and here. All very well. But if they really wanted to prevent accidents they would limit the car’s speed to a sober 60 km/h. This would no doubt save many more lives than stopping the odd drunk driver taking the wheel.

In praise of the rights-based approach

There are countless NGOs in every country providing clothing, shelter, food, education, health care etc. to those who sorely need it. No doubt the work they do makes a huge difference the the millions who receive their aid. But when you really think about it, are these efforts just short term fixes, and possibly even a long term hindrance?

Surely these functions are those of the government? By providing these services, the government is being let off the hook. Many rights-based NGOs take this approach. Instead of getting their hands dirty and actually helping those they want to help, they bully the government through the courts and public opinion to do its job. Forcing the government to do its job, thereby gaining the capacity required to do the job properly ensures the problem is sorted out for the long term. My hypothesis is that the rights-based approach gets more value for each dollar spent, measured by any metric (except timing and kudos in the press).

NGOs that take this view are likely to have an interesting time raising money for their cause. Would a company be a significant donor to an fiesty-government-suing-NGO if it was expecting to win a government contract? Obviously not. The money would have to come from the outside.

Zapiro, not always original

Jonathan Shapiro, under the Zapiro label, is one of South Africa’s best satirical cartoonists. His pictures get to the heart of the issue straight away, a lot more effectively than words ever could. But they’re not always original. Have a look what appeared in the Mail and Guardian on November 23, 2006, pointing out the hypocrisy (in Zapiro’s view) of religious people when it comes to homosexuals.

These words, almost verbatim, have been circulating on the web apparently since 2000. See here or here.

Although I still enjoy the cartoons immensely, I always wonder whether I have Zapiro to thank.

So what if Zuma becomes president?

There’s been a lot of nervous chatter in the business community in South Africa about what would happen if Jacob Zuma becomes president of the country. With all the scandal that surrounds the man, how can the country be taken seriously by the international community? Not to mention all his friends and supporters of in the SACP, surely this is a receipe for disaster for South African business?

Not to worry. We know he can be bought for a relatively low price. Just ask Mr Shaik.

Investec Private Bank, slipping up

Investec Private Bank, South Africa’s premier private bank seems to be slippling up quite a lot lately. Over the past year or so, I’ve had other people’s cards spending my money and other people’s cheques deposited into my account (at least their mistakes go both ways.) But if you can’t even trust your bank to ensure that the right account is debited or credited, then it’s time to leave.

I wonder if I’m alone.

GMail and security

Despite all the promises about security, within days of signing up for a GMail account I started to get spam. And lots of it. Some of it even had a few GMail addresses alphabetically before mine, and a few after. I sent a mail to the folks at GMail suggesting that their security had been breached, and got the standard reply that spammers just guess email addresses and hope for the best. Not very likely, given the length of my address, and some of my co-spamees.

I’m sure I’m not alone.

PS: Things did improve however, as my second GMail account gets no spam at all.