Here’s an satellite image of the huge cold front hitting Cape Town right now:
That swathe of white stuff a few thousand kilometres long is what’s making all this miserable weather. Looking round the corner, I’m glad I’m not just off the coast of Argentina though. Eww.
As if the constant rain, cold temperatures and miserable grey sky wasn’t enough today, I have just learned that my internet connectivity here at Chez 6000 is so slow because the local exchange simply can’t handle the amount of traffic going through it. Thus, while paying for a 4Mbps line, I’m generally very lucky to get 500kbps. And that’s a bit rubbish to say the least.
When SEACOM landed and when I got the 4Mbps line, I did think that we were beginning to approach some sort of semblance of First World connectivity.
How wrong I was.
Of course, all parties involved (save for me) are protected from any liability for this, thanks to the convenient (but standard – I’m not blaming Afrihost for this) “best effort” service clause in the terms and conditions:
Due to the fact that Telkom cannot guarantee the bandwidth throughput achieved when subscribers access the Internet utilising a DSL access line, Afrihost can likewise also not offer such a guarantee.
Interestingly, paying R200 less per month for a 1Mbps connection gives me around 350kbps. Slower, and arguably even more frustrating, sure, but with an extra R200 to spend on Carling Black Label, it might work out better overall.
The fact is that the exchange in question will definitely not be upgraded this financial year and there’s no guarantee when, if ever, it will be upgraded. Any alternative, not using Telkom lines (and therefore the same exchange) seems prohibitively expensive. Decent speed uncapped wireless offerings come in at a hefty R819pm, plus a R2000 set up fee.
If anyone has any brilliant ideas, or a money tree that they’re willing to lend me, please get in touch.
All in all, it’s pretty depressing, and if it’s holding me back, heaven only knows how the local SMEs are coping.
We spent Father’s Day morning walking on the beach:
Absolutely stunning weather and a good workout for my ankle.
We’re going to spend Father’s Day afternoon sitting in the sun and drinking beer.
Oh shucks, this is wonderful.
Many thanks to The Guru for alerting me to this one. And those thanks may seem strange given that “this one” is actually the:
DRAFT REVISED POLICY FOR THE ALLOCATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FISHING RIGHTS IN THE OYSTER FISHERY: 2013
which isn’t something you’d want to thank anyone for sticking in your inbox, right?
But that would all change once you got to Section 4.1 (c) on page six, under the heading “Objectives”.
And that change would be brought about by reading these words:
Co-manage oyster fishery with other spheres of government and the fishing industry in a manner that recognizes government priorities, strategic objectives of the spheres of government, the interests of fishing industry and most importantly in a manner that would please, praise and glorify the one who provided and gave man the power to rule over the fish (including oysters)
I’m sorry, what was the “most importantly” bit again?
I know you won’t believe me, so in an effort to convince you that this is genuine, here’s the passage in question:
and for those continuing skeptics, here’s a link to the original document (and I’ve popped it here too , just in case it disappears from the DAFF website).
Looking at the objectives around (c), it’s easy to understand where the DAFF are wanting to take this. (a) is important, if still politically charged, (b) is an absolute no brainer and (d) is just pure common sense: symbiosis twixt oyster and man, albeit with a slight leaning towards the latter when it comes to overall benefits involving Tabasco sauce and lemon juice.
Indeed, even (c) begins with the best of intentions. In a democratic society, one cannot simply ignore the policies, aims and responsibilities of the leadership which was voted in. But then, even pleasing, praising and glorifying JZ et al pales into insignificance when compared with “the one who provided and gave man the power to rule over the fish (including oysters)”.
Note that the bracketed phrase is important, because this is a government document and must be accurate at all times – oysters are not fish, they are saltwater clams; marine bivalve molluscs of the species Crassostrea gigas (in the commercial sector, anyway).
Far be it from us to please, praise and glorify the one who provided and gave man the power to rule over the fish, because suggestions of that sort of behaviour would have absolutely no place in a draft policy document about allocation and management right within the oyster fishery.
And what fools we would appear then, hey?
This being a draft document, it seems likely that the “most important” part of Section 4.1(c) will probably not make the cut and get through to the final policy document. And that’s not just sad, it’s potentially dangerous too, for what ‘the one’ giveth, he can taketh away just as easily. Which would surely leave all the power with the fish (including oysters).
That being the case, I’d like to be the first to say that I, for one, welcome our piscine overlords.
UPDATE: Jacques points out that there is a serious side to this too.
If you’re having trouble getting through to 6000 miles… it’s because (and here I quote):
There is high load on the server, causing requests to be slow (and timeout) even though the server is up.
This was also the case last Wednesday, last Thursday and last Friday. And again this morning.
Afrihost, who were previously the shining example of service and stability have really disappointed me since I moved my hosting over there. And yes, I would move everything somewhere else, but
Afrihost have told me that they are “in the process” of upgrading their servers, which should stop this timeout problem from occurring. In the meantime, if you see that “6000.co.za took too long to respond”, please keep trying. I’m still here, even if you can’t see me.