A fire in Hout Bay – but why?

Posted on

A fire, indeed. And I should know, because I was there, watching the horseriding and watching the helicopters picking up water from the dam up the road and dumping it all over the fire in question.

There seem to have been more fires than usual in this fire season, but I’m not sure if that’s actually the case or if because some people are suggesting that might the case, we’re all now more aware and the numbers are being blown out of all proportion. The News Phenomenon, as it’s apparently known.

It has been very dry, but dryness alone isn’t enough to start a fire. So what is the actual cause of all these blazes? I wasn’t sure, so I turned to a social media comments section for incisive opinion and accurate information. As you do.

And here’s what I found:

The helicopter was passing by in paarl than the chopper turn around ,the helicopter was like high in the sky than i whats it the hole time

Quite reasonably, I almost gave up at this point, but my readers need answers, and so I persevered.

And here’s what I found:

As far as responsibility for this Hout Bay fire goes, the jury was split. Very split.
There were many suggestions:
Arson.
Arsen.
Schoolkids.
Self-inflicted.
Various political parties: MK, DA, EFF, ANC all got honourable mentions.
Donald Trump.
Terrorism.
“The Fire Lily industry.” – Fire lilies in this case are flowers that bloom after veldfires (and only after veldfires). But there is no Fire Lily industry. Yet. Still, I love the thought that has gone into this one.

There were a few calls for the death penalty to be introduced for arson. Which seems a bit harsh.
And there were lots of people praying for a swift resolution to the fires, but no-one actually blaming god for them happening in the first place.

But this a social media comments section, so anything goes.

Because then there were the loonies:
“Manufactured fires used as a weapon to poison the population.”
Zionists.
Electric cars.

And then there was the Queen Loony, Lorna Cayton, who gave us these gems:
Nexrad HAARP
DEWS!
But then during the COVID years, Lorna Cayton told us that wearing a mask was a Pagan ritual, and the use of forehead thermometers was a means of shooting an infra-red beam into your pineal gland.

So maybe it wasn’t Nexrad HAARP or the DEWS! after all.

Who knew?

Some people appear lucky to have avoided this particular incident. “Doglady Minky” said:

So so sad for all the lives affected, animals and humans?

i almost moved into a beautiful thatched house in that area and my biggest concern was the safety of my animals ?

And it’s not like we’re out of the fire season yet: as one commenter remarked:

More.fires..shame.man..now homes being damaged very badly.

Will this 2026 Fire Season running all the way into April this Year X 4 ? ? ? ?

XXXXX ?? ?? ?? ?? ??

11 : 11 Love 11 : 11

Which I think asks the important question we’re all introspectively asking: Will this 2026 Fire Season running all the way into April this Year X 4 ? ? ? ?

I guess that we can only wait and see.

Oh no. We’re all going to die. /s

Posted on

We’ve been here before.

This time last year, in fact, when the Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight.

Well, now it’s set at 85 seconds to midnight. 4 seconds closer to oblivion. Oh no.

And look, I get it. The world is in an absolutely terrible state. And I’d definitely argue that it’s worse than it was this time last year. But 4 seconds worse?

Yawn.

Yep. I said it last year, and I’m saying it again now:

Look, I get that in a day with 86,400 seconds, being just 89 from complete destruction isn’t a great place to be. But then also, looking at things another way, we started just 420 seconds away from annihilation back in 1947, and we’ve only ever been 17 minutes away at our very safest.

See, they’ve gone in all too dramatic, and now they have no wiggle room at all.

OK, so they moved four seconds this year, and not one. But even at that rate, we’ve got decades before we all go up in a big puff of smoke and radiation.

Once again, I am calling for a reset of the Doomsday Clock. Think of it like decimalisation hitting the UK in 1971, or the introduction of the Euro in 1999 (and 2002). Because at the moment, the Doomsday Clock is pointless. The constant attempts to drag the time down as low as possible for dramatic purposes means that it not longer has any value.

They messed up when they started. They should have given us an hour or two to work with, but they didn’t. And so we need to start again at quarter to midnight (or even earlier) and we need to get the Prima Donnas off the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Committee so that we can have meaningful annual updates which might actually bang some heads together and make some difference.

No-one cares about ninety or eighty-nine or eighty-five seconds. Give them some decent numbers that we can then drastically reduce when Trump tries to take Greenland.

Assuming that we’re all still around next year to review it again, of course.

Long Tuesday

Posted on

It’s been a scorcher of a day, and it’s far from over.

Two meetings – one at school and one in the neighbourhood – will keep us out until after 9, and honestly, I could really do with being in bed already. The heat is manageable in the short-term, but draining overall.

It seems likely (and sensible) that I head to bed early this evening, what with the 18 (eighteen) simultaneous Champions League ties to look forward(?) to tomorrow evening. It’ll surely be a late one.

Currently, I’m in a car park (not that one), waiting for Art Class to finish, and going through some photos looking for one to put on my office wall. Something big and colourful. I’ve found a lot of big, and a lot of colourful, but the circles apparently only just overlap. And you can’t have something second-rate on a wall you see each and every day. It needs to be good and it needs to mean something. I’m struggling with the brief.

And so maybe I’ll wander over to the far side of the field and watch a bit of cricket.

The last bit of relaxation before a hectic evening.

Who needs enemies?

Posted on

When you have “friends” like America?

The Danish government has ordered public officials across Greenland and Denmark to deactivate Bluetooth on both professional and personal devices, citing increasing concerns about foreign surveillance capabilities. The move affects civil servants, police officers, and military personnel operating in national and territorial institutions.

Though the Danish government did not link its Bluetooth directive to Trump’s statement, the timing has drawn attention. Greenland’s geographic position makes it critical for NATO operations and Arctic resource planning, adding strategic pressure to protect communications infrastructure within Danish jurisdiction.

I’m going to be honest here, I didn’t realise that Bluetooth – ironically named after a Danish King who united the many tribes of the country during his reign – was that hackable. The only issues that I’ve ever (knowingly) had, was a bit of annoying interference on the way to my Sony speaker.

But apparently, it’s a thing:

A related article from Radar.dk points to a security flaw involving Fast Pair, a proprietary feature developed by Google that streamlines Bluetooth device pairing. Unlike standard Bluetooth protocols, Fast Pair establishes connections with minimal user interaction, which has raised concern about silent pairing and unauthorized device access.

One comment cited in Radar.dk describes how certain devices can be turned into covert listening tools. Specifically, a vulnerability in the Airoha Bluetooth audio SDK was identified as allowing Bluetooth audio devices to pair without user approval. These exploits highlight a broader risk: even inactive or unpaired devices can be accessed if firmware is outdated or unsecured.

We must presume that the Danish authorities knew about this potential vulnerability before this last week. And it’s interesting that until the whole Greenland thing came up, they apparently had no issue with anyone potentially listening in on their state workers. Because there was probably very little of interest being said. As I pointed out when the whole Covid “passport” thing was suggested: Don’t try to fool yourself: you’re simply not important enough for the government (or anyone else) to be interested in you.

But apart from that, this also suggests that the Danish authorities are therefore now talking – sensitively – about the threat that America poses. Otherwise, why would they have any issue with the Yanks listening in?

But will it really make any difference anyway?

The Bluetooth ban has also reignited scrutiny of European dependence on U.S.-made technology. Though Denmark has not commented on specific hardware or software vendors, public reactions on Radar.dk questioned why national agencies continue to rely heavily on platforms developed by Apple, Google, and other non-EU companies.

And they all run their servers and devices on Chinese-based electronics. And so the circle goes. So maybe it’s all completely pointless and everyone should be playing open handed here. After all, it does seem that everyone already has the means to know what everyone else is saying and doing.

Airpods or not.

Ouch

Posted on

A great win for United yesterday, and this:

as Callum O’Hare scored the opening goal was every bit as nasty and painful as you might imagine.

I’m not saying that the keeper left his boot up as O’Hare fell towards him, but that is actually exactly what happened. You can watch it from about the 1 minute mark here:

It still counted as a goal though, and that’s what really mattered.

Onward – and thankfully – upward.