Phonebloks looks cool, but…

I have no idea if this is a good idea, but it looks like a good idea and it sounds like a good idea. Perhaps someone with some degree of technical knowledge in this field could point out the pros, cons or (if required) the fact that it’s really obviously fatally flawed from the off?

The first main problem that I can see is that I’d obviously want the best camera, memory, processor and battery. Who wouldn’t?
And that’s surely not going to fit in my pocket. Which means compromise, which means lack of fulfillment, which means widespread disappointment and resentment, which means I’d hate my Phoneblok phone from the off and want an Xperia Z1, like I do now.

How do I enable Web History on Google apps?

And lo, it came to pass that each time I opened Google Maps on my phone, it told me that it wasn’t running optimally because I hadn’t enabled “Web History”.
“Would you like to enable Web History?” it asked me, and of course I said yes, because no-one wants a sub-optimal Google Maps performance, do they?

But then, disaster:

Web History has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain @6000.co.za.

Bugger. What an idiot.

Not really, he’s lovely. But when he tried to enable Web History, it was – shall we say – less than straightforward. In fact, it took three months, an email to Jacob Zuma, the ritual sacrifice of a bunny rabbit and some Sherlock Holmesesque detective work to find out exactly how to do it. (Jacob, perhaps unsurprisingly, never replied.)

The fact is that it’s all there on the Google help section, but it’s so well hidden, it might as well not be.

Thus, I’m posting this in order that others won’t have to suffer the same trials and tribulations as me.
Here goes:

  1. Log In to your control panel (https://admin.google.com/)
  2. In the middle at the bottom of your dashboard click on “More Controls”
  3. Click “Other Google Services”
  4. Remove the Filter “Top Featured Services” by clicking on the “x”
  5. Scroll to the bottom and click the Checkbox next to Web History
  6. Click the “On” Button (this looks like a power switch symbol, top )
  7. a. Select for all users; or
    b. If you have various organizational units select which organizational unit

** Also see comment from billywhizz69 below **

Obviously, you have to be an administrator to be able to do this. But I am, so that’s great. If you’re not, find out who is and direct him or her here.

I hope this works for you as well as it has worked for me. But more quickly.

Fear The Dolphins

“The following scenarios may be upsetting to young children. Reader discretion is advised.”

A couple of years ago, I wrote about Taiji and the dolphin hunt. In that post, I had a bit of a go at certain organisations which sought to ban the local population from carrying out their centuries old way of life, simply because of some misguided, emotional attachment to one mammal above another. Many other people have written – and continue to write – about Taiji and the dolphin hunt, but, it seems, few from my point of view. Things were thrown, people got angry and I even got some swear words sent to me in an email.

What I didn’t realise then was that something far more sinister was going on under the surface (so to speak). These human organisations are merely dolphin sympathizers, double agents preparing and softening up mankind for the inevitable Dolphin Apocalypse. I learned this from the very informative website, Anti-Dolphin.org, which opened my eyes to the horrifying and previously unconsidered threat to our very existence that lies beneath our oceans.

Dolphins control 70% of the Earth’s surface, including many major rivers. How can one say this? Well, it is a fact that the majority of Earth’s surface is covered by water, 70% to be precise. Dolphins, of course, live in the ocean and they even admit that they are the kings of the sea in the theme song to Flipper.
Also they control the rivers because there is a group of animals known as river dolphins that are related to the better known group of ocean-dwelling dolphins. These animals do, in fact, share similar policies and values and are allied publicly. A good analogy for this situation is the following: ocean-dwelling dolphins are to river dolphins like Nazi Germany is to Fascist Italy.

Yes. Suddenly, it all becomes clear, doesn’t it? The dolphins, who already have intellectual (bigger brains) and territorial – well, aquatorial – advantage over the human race are surely just waiting for the perfect moment (many of these scenarios are listed here and make harrowing reading) to strike and take full control of the planet.

Dolphins do have the ability to attack and destroy humans. One of these abilities is that they can use the sonar waves that they use in echolocation for more devious purposes. Since ultrasound can be used to breakup kidney stones it is very obvious that dolphins have the capacity to emit certain types of sound waves from their melon to destroy particles in a human body.

or:

They could use this ability to loosen large chunks of ice from the poles and create icebergs. (Titanic?) These icebergs melt as they travel through warm water. This will add more water to the oceans and cause coastal flooding. Dolphins will then gain more and more control of the Earth’s surface.

At first, I too was skeptical. But when you are open-minded enough to step back and take in the bigger picture, it’s abundantly clear that we have been repeated lied to and fed pro-dolphin propaganda throughout our developing years.

Why else would SeaWorld, Green Peace, The Wild Dolphin Project, The Dolphin Institute, Blue Dolphin Alliance, and the Miami Dolphins be created? They all are designed to be aides for the dolphin’s control. These cult-like businesses/organizations try to make you feel bad for the dolphins and they attempt to get you involved with their manipulative cause.

And you can add the devious Sea Shepherd to that list as well. Presumably, they believe that their interference in the human/dolphin situation in Taiji will buy them some sort of amnesty when the dolphins finally rise up and conquer mankind. But even a fool can surely see that the dolphins cannot be trusted and once they have enslaved or killed the rest of the human race, these sorry traitors will soon follow. (And I think all us rational human beings would fully support the dolphins in that act, at least.)

For too long, we have lived our lives oblivious to the insidious threat of the Dolphin Apocalypse. No longer.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen; lend me your ears, because you have ears!
You have opposable thumbs!
You stand upright and tall.

YOU ARE HUMAN!

Do not be a sleeping partner in the dolphins’ evil plan. Spread the word and when the day comes, let us be prepared to fight for the 30% of this planet that we still control!

Viva, Mankind! Viva! Amandla!

Is possibility of snow on Table Mountain tomorrow night still on?

Just to keep you inquisitive people who keep asking if we’re still on for a few flakes of the white stuff on Table Mountain tomorrow night,  in the loop – and if you’re in Cape Town today, then you’ll readily believe anything the weather has to throw at us – here’s an update.

Following on from this post which compared the frankly ludicrous claims of mountain-forecast.com – it’s a weather forecast site for mountains, innit? – with those more reasonable efforts of windguru and weathersa, we need to tell you right now that the whole snow on Table Mountain thing IS STILL POSSIBLE.

What we’re looking for is temperatures below 2°C at 1000m or below, together with forecasted precipitation. That, plus that will likely equal snow. And here’s the graph that matters:

cold

Yeah. If you thought today was cold, you’d be right, but it’s only going to get colder when tomorrow comes around.

The blue line marks the height above sea level (in metres) at which you’ll experience an air temperature of 0°C. Looking at the contours just below that, you can see that the altitude at which we’ll have 2°C temperatures dips about as low as 800m during Thursday night and Friday morning. Add in cloudy skies and a (current) forecast of about 7-8mm of precipitation and all the ingredients are there.

As things stand right now, your best plan is to wrap up VERY warmly and head for the Cableway early on Friday morning.

Book online to save time and money. Avoid awkward allegations of sexism by making a snowperson. Avoiding awkward allegations of racism will be more difficult, because snow is previously advantaged.