Silence A Nation

Once every so often, I get an email or an sms or a bbm with a message so profound, so eye-opening and so powerful that it stops me doing whatever I'm doing at the time and has me just sit down going 'Wow! The world needs to see this.'

Here's the irony though. Some of the most powerful video's I've ever seen were actually about things I already knew about. I guess it's just when it's presented to you in a short concise way, the impact really hits home.

This is precisely one of those videos.
All I want is for you to watch these 7 minutes for what they are worth, with an open mind, and imagine yourself in that situation. Show some empathy and allow the message to get through.

What you do with it after that is entirely up to you.
I have a 4 year old daughter. The decision for me as to what to do was pretty easy.

This could be the most important and powerful link you've ever clicked.

Silence A Nation

Sam Richards : A radical experiment in empathy

Wow!
Thanks to my friend Minnesh Ramdhany for sharing this video with me. Powerful, very powerful.

18 minutes of your time to radically change your thinking.

"What Is Wrong With America?"

After spending many months interviewing thousands of people, reading hundreds of thesis and reports on the problems facing America, and doing case studies until the early hours of the morning, I have come to the conclusion that these videos clearly defines the problem.

God save America, because goodness knows she can't save herself.

Home Improvement

Part of what I do on any given day is consult for clients regarding what's possible and what's not in commercial and residential projects. Sometimes this includes complete building projects, and sometimes it just involves additions or office renovations.

Lately though, I have been called out more frequently to investigate and report on workmanship undertaken by unqualified personnel from anything involving plumbing and building to electrical and roofing.

Today's call was no different. One of the major banks who also happens to be a client, was in the process of repossessing a home in the northern suburbs of Jozi. The owner seemed to have run into financial difficulty and whilst in the middle of a renovation project, fired the contractor and hired guys off the street to complete the job. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It happens every day. The building council would have a collective heart-attack if they knew about the number of projects undertaken without certification out there.

Anyways, these guys off the street obviously had no idea what they were doing. So shoddy was there work, that they had the staff quarters sewerage outlet running into a corner of the garden. Full stop. No connection to the council sewerage mains. Nope. They simply had the sewerage pipe placed about 1 meter underground, in the corner of the garden.

As for the electrical connection to the staff quarters, they were too lazy to connect the proper cables around the pool, so they simply ran an illegal connection to the street light outside! This would have worked in ideal conditions, except that street lights only switch on at sunset, and only switch off at sunrise, which means the electricity to staff quarters only worked when the street lights were turned on. True story.

The report to the bank read like a crazy Hardy Boys novel.
No doubt with the recession biting hard into homeowners pockets, I'll be seeing a lot worse than this in the coming months.

A Word From The Bully Himself

I have no sympathy for this kid. None whatsoever.
Richard Bale is a punk and a Poster Boy for all that is wrong with kids these days.
Remember his name; he's gonna be famous for all the wrong reasons!

The Sequel To The Bullying Video

A few days ago I posted a video about a kid being bullied at school.
Watching that video just gave me an immense thrill. To know that somewhere, someone I never knew in a place not mentioned on the video was a kid who finally had enough and stood up to the bullies. Somewhere out there was a kid who went home on that day and finally scored a point for the underdog.

I imagined that to be the end of the story and nothing more to ever come of it.
Turns out that video went viral, and now the kids famous and a hero to millions!

Check out this interview with Casey.

The Tipping Point

The following video was banned by YouTube, but not before some keen observers had first seen and recorded it.
Some arrogant little snot decides to pick on another schoolkid, who clearly doesn't want any part of it.
The bully taunts and punches the other kid, and you can hear his friends cheering him on.

Suddenly the other kid snaps.
It's like watching Gladiator in under 50 seconds.

Let this be a lesson to all bullies out there, be they kids, adults or even countries.

Lesley Hazelton : On Reading The Koran

An eye-opener indeed.
Well worth the watch. At best it would inspire you to enlighten yourself further, at worst it would dispel some common myths and inaccuracies.

Crashproof Motorbike

Check out this video of a motorbike designed to be so ingenious and sophisticated, it's virtually crashproof!



I'm guessing the designers and engineers should have focussed on 'Idiotproof' instead.

The Moment Before The Moment Of Truth

This video was taken literally the day before Sabreen took her first steps.
Thursday 6 December 2007, age 16 months.
You can see her contemplating it, and in deep discussion as to how it should be project-managed.