Ikepedia on Days and Dates

This is actually my fourth Post on Ikepedia.  It has been in my mind for a long time that I want to build on the theme and when another Blogger Friend commented favorably on the third one just the other day I made my decision.

 My readers will thus see more in future; it is indeed a vast area for research and future Posts will include reference[s] to Calendars.  This time it is on a rather short matter coming up this weekend that I want to deal with on its own as a special topic at this time.  With your kind permission I will omit reference to other Calendars and use Gregorian calendar Dates for the peculiar situation applicable this weekend.

 A short reference should suffice on what is sometimes referred to as “The curious History of the Gregorian Calendar way back in 1751 and 1752.  In case some young one should be tempted to shout “but that is just the other day; a mere 250 years ago” and the World as old as maybe millions or trillions of years.

 To such a person I shall reply that the World may be or it may not be as old as some say but that is a topic for another day and I will point out that compared to the World as we know it today there was virtually nothing in it a mere 500 years ago.

 Let us dwell on the approaching weekend as per the Gregorian calendar; it is I am sure only applicable to the one of the Pope.

 In the year of 2013 February 01 was on a Friday to give us a long weekend from Friday through Sunday 3^rd at the end of day; following from that March 01, 02 and 03 will also start on Friday through Sunday.  That in itself happens in cycles of 6 or eleven years; it is rare but not unusual.

 However, in the year of 2013 the last three days of March, from 29 to 31 will also fall on the same days, once again not all that unusual but when you look a little further you will find that Easter Sunday is on March 31 this year.  Overall this is quite a rare combination.

 Bear in mind that Pope Gregory’s advisers and scientists including the mathematics were of a time when nobody had computers; in fact, I don’t know that the mathematicians had got to discover the Slide Rule by that time.  I may stand corrected on this last point.  Either way and whatever other viewpoints there may be this happened and has worked well for us since long before steam, electricity and oil; the earth still believed to be flat by most had no need for planes or motorized transport for decades [centuries?] after Pope Gregory.

 Easter Sunday of course, depends on the moon but this year [being in March] it is almost as early as it could ever be; and on any other day will not be in the combination of the First three days of February on the same days and dates as the first three of March, nor will you have the last three days of March including Easter Sunday falling on the same days.

 There are mathematical formulae for all these things but I doubt that you will see more than one in a normal lifetime.

 Take care, enjoy March, and be alive for an early spring in the Northern Hemisphere Monday April 1^st.  We will probably hope for an early winter because we have had, though short, a nasty hot summer down where I live.

 Any input of comment will be most welcome.

Telkom SA, the inconvenient Truth

Telkom is our largest Fixed Line Telephone and Internet Provider Company; originally founded in Johannesburg in 1891; government owned at first but going public somewhere around 2002; the share came on the market at 28 bucks; 50% was “retained” by Government.

 It was an immediate success when it went public and the share once reached 140 bucks I think but today it is languishing at between 16 and 17; even the Government is concerned.

 Being Telkom, they still have the ears of Government and make the Rules but Government appoints the Board of Directors; the past few years have seen many changes.

 Telkom’s main problem is that they appointed mainly Government sheepolls as employees and these fellows soon became quite adept at hiding the truth from Management and Government.  The few honest employees working their hearts out for their Company and its Customers are thwarted in their efforts by the unruly hoodlum and gangster type that is Ruling the Roost.

 When you get to read this Post, help us to force an interview with the new Telkom CEO.

The saga never ends.  There is more:

 http://www.fin24.com/Companies/ICT/8ta-brand-to-become-Telkom-Mobile-20130304

An Open Letter to Telkom SA Chairman Jabulane Mabuza

Honorable Chairman, Sir

 I read your Press Release of Dec 02, 2012 and your vow to get Telkom right.

 http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/65522-telkom-chairman-jabulane-mabuza-cautions-government.html

 I also read the idealistic Press Release by Non executive Chairman Polelo Lazarus Zim, in which he expands on:

 The overall Health of the Organisation

“The broader global economic outlook is stormy to say the least and consumers continue to feel financial pressure. The macro-economic environment is tough and the overall health of Telkom must remain our primary focus going forward. Management has put strategies in place to retire legacy technologies and offer new products – such as mobile and converged data offerings – on a transformed Next Generation Network to ensure that Telkom is in the best position possible to meet the future needs of our customers.”

 Then I came across this:

 http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Is-your-boss-psycho-20130222

 The distinguished columnist Ian Mann on a survival kit for the darker side of office life

 Office Politics: How to thrive in a world of lying, backstabbing and dirty tricks by Oliver James.

 At a recent meeting at Gateways, attended by some of the most thoughtful executives I know, the topic of office politics came up.

 There was consensus that companies that are largely free of office politics are the rare exception, despite the toll paid by the company and staff members.

 Author James Oliver starts his assessment of office politics with the assertion that it is “absolutely unavoidable that people will find themselves in competition with one another”.

 We will inevitably compete for limited resources-a limited bonus pool, the most interesting jobs, status, and much more. It is also to be expected that people will use whatever means they can to advance their interests.

 When I read Ian Mann the penny dropped on my side.  I had become embroiled in what I initially thought was a trivial error on my telephone account but was to my shock and amazement blossoming into a full-scale confrontation with black-mail, extortion, threats and blatant gross neglect that compelled me to start back-up copies of all my email.

 When that penny dropped at 10210 ……with respect Honorable Chairman, you have a few good people at Telkom.  I shall give you their names on condition that you personally guarantee that they will not be harmed or bludgeoned into submission by the rest, the latter being the vast majority of Telkom Staff as aptly described by Ian Mann; only point I differ from him is that he put it mildly.  Telkom 10210 is a large Cesspool.  You should close it down.

 Ironically Good Sir, I tried to get to your Senior Management.  When that penny dropped at 10210 they attacked my computer and actually managed to destroy my external wireless modem.  I had it repaired and buttressed the computer and a spare back-up that I got at the same time with high-tech anti-virus protection.  You won’t believe it; they are now trying to gain access to my computer; often ten times in a row fifty times a day minimum.

 Most Ironic of all, I offered your management to help because I have the qualifications, knowledge and more than 30 years of experience to locate and pinpoint the Telkom problem where you will have to start a massive clean-up operation, or go under with them.  The offer is unconditional and will remain open to you should you wish to get in touch with me.  I got nowhere at your “esccentre email address”, Escalation Centre or Escalation Centre Tracking.  It seems too much like extensions of the infamous Call Centre at 10210.

 May I end this with a reasonable request that you call off your 10210 hounds; they act in serious contravention of International Internet Protocol Regulations and it can have regrettable repercussions for Telkom if you allow them to continue with their despicable little games?

 Over to you, Good Sir, Chairman.

Ikepedia on People, Sheepolls and Voters

This is my last Post on Politics; in fact I shall only mention the latter in passing and then leave it behind me.  I am done with Politics.

 The word Sheepolls is the African vernacular; like Americans can’t pronounce pampoen [Dutch for pumpkin]; heck, now that I think about it, they can’t even pronounce English pumpkin in the way that we do.

 Let me say right here and now that the aforementioned and what will follow is in no way intended as a negative reflection on Africa.  Old Africa had advanced systems of governance, law and order, social responsibility, family values and all the graces that are normally listed as requirements for a civilized Society.  OK, they didn’t read or write but so didn’t many of the so-called civilized “Western Nations” that came to settle here.

 Who in any event decides or has a sole right to decide on pronunciation?  Huh?

 Well, as in America the expression “sheeple” is derived from people, in Africa the word peoples is pronounced as peepolls, coming off the American tongue the first syllable would be like the silent pee in bath, and the second exactly the way Americans would pronounce the place where you go and vote [at the polls].

 It is not my intention to define who or which group of voters would be people or sheepolls; suffices to say that we find both groups voting all over the World.  Who are more inclined or less inclined for that matter, to actually go to the polls and vote is of no concern to me.  My only concern is the Voter.

 Or perhaps I should have said it is the number of actual votes that count and draw my conclusions from that.

 That is why it is called Ikepedia, see.

 Now then; my last words on Politics, and of course, on the interpretation of votes we have two points to consider.

 In the old and the new Western World the system in fact worked exactly the same as in Africa except that out here they didn’t waste a lot of time and money on elections.  The elders met on a regular basis and named their man [no women at that stage, like in America until 1920] and he was elected.  America and England in particular used exactly the same process but added the money and the trimmings.

 Point two is that the African way was a lot more democratic because every elder took part and got his say thus producing a truly democratic result, whereas, particularly in America, as much as half of the voters never even bothered to go to the polls, not now or in the past.

 What do We the People have then Folks?

 We have a winner; an elected man every time.  In a Democracy the one with the greatest number of votes or electoral districts [ala Gore vs. GW] get to be announced as the leader.

 I don’t like the Bama because he is a liar and neither do I like Zuma the philanderer; but they got the votes.  Whether they got voted in by citizens, legally registered citizens with the right to vote, or whether half of the voters were sheepolls simply won’t change the basic fact that the guy in the Big House won fair and square.

 And of course, as always everywhere the winner takes all.

The Origin, Evolution and the Inevitable Demise of Money Part Three

The demise finally came.

 Did you know that Colonialization of the World took about 300 years to complete; considering the slow progress during the first hundred years it required at least two hundred more to integrate and overpopulate the Globe, but it required a mere twenty years to undo it.

 It took centuries to establish and develop sound money; man needed only fifty years to undo it.

 Is it also not strange that the Demise of money happened within the same period that they were undoing Colonialization?  The Gold Standard was demolished in a day.

 The relevant time frame for the final demise can be described as the fifty years from 1960 to 2010; money as defined by Adam Smith finally declined in reality with the advent of the new generations of computers from 1990 onwards.  By the time 2010 ended money as a means to create WEALTH HAD ALL BUT CEASED.

 A well known columnist recently commented on the book In Gold We Trust by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green; you can read him HERE, while some continue to hope and cling to Gold, and hope for a  Return to the Gold Standard but alas.

 When President Nixon signed the departure from that old but by then obsolete guarantee of money in 1971 it was all over.  The Dream had ceased to exist.

 There was a funny twist worth a good laugh in the Media just recently. Germany, fearing an invasion from Russia way back during the Cold War had smuggled about 700 tons of gold bars out to place it in “safekeeping” in American Bank Vaults and they now want to cart it back to the Fatherland.  Can you understand the logistics in moving 700 tons of worthless Gold across the oceans?

 Finally visit and read The New Economic Rights Alliance by www.newera.org.za while you are laughing.  Just read paragraphs 1 and 2 near the top.

 Governments and Banks can’t even print the stuff fast enough and have to resort to the computer chip to create the impression of Neo Money.

 What a way to go?

 

Fighting a Goliath

I am without a computer, without an Internet Connection and no telephone guys; this comes to you from the computer of a Friend.

 And I have this huge Goliath heading my way; but I have my slingshot oiled and six nice pebbles ready.

 Wish me luck.