One man's comments on everything


Monday, September 20, 2010

The actual meaning of words

No Matter what wikipedia says this is the actual meaning of certain words when used by a woman:

“Fine”: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.


“Five Minutes”: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

“Nothing”: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

“Go Ahead”: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

“Loud Sigh”: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

“That's Okay”: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

“Thanks ‘: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' - that will bring on a 'whatever').

“Whatever”: Is a woman's way of saying S^%$ you!

“Don't worry, I'll do it”: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Thank you Paul Kruger - Moonstone for all these fine articles

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Life after the world cup

A lot has been written about the pros and cons of the world cup. Was it a good thing or a bad thing ?
And as I always content everyone has the right to his own opinion even though it might be wrong. Anyway here is some of my perspective:

We flew down to Cape Town, stayed a week and flew back to civilization - The republic of Centurion.

For one I was impressed with the obvious friendliness of the service staff all over the place - even the police walking around smiled !  The booking staff of Kulula really shined ! ( Maybe it was because it was Kulula ?)
The airport was as clean as you ever can imagine.  The flight was incredible (Sorry about this but maybe it - was again the airline)      We landed in Cape Town and by the time I got to the bagage retrieval our baggage was actually out - We were at the car hire within 10 minutes of landing.  Now this has never happened before.    Cape Town airport really sucked before the very obvious revamp.

Then the experience with the Car hire company. I was in our brand new car within 10 minutes after that.
A brand new Ford Figo - it had exactly 20 kilometers on the clock. (would have prefered a VW, but what the heck I really enjoyed this little car which I drove for just over 1200 kms during the week)

Then we booked in at the Strand Pavilion - and again - I have never had such a friendly reception anywhere at a timeshare resort.  (and of course they could actually speak my home language - Afrikaans!)  The service at this resort for the week was out of this world (I nearly said Out of Africa)

Why am I renting and raving about all this ?  Well let me tell you if it took the world cup to make life so enjoyable they can have another one next year and I will not complain about tax payers money ever again !
One thing I am very sure about - all these improvements is not just accidental or by chance - South Africa actually stood up and said : We will be counted and the frase: Out of this world might just be changed to out of South Africa.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Debating and all that jazz

I somehow landed on a contentious website the other day and had a look at some of the discussions there.
It was quite interesting to see people debating a point on this website while the owner does not respond or possibly is not even following the discussion. One thing that came out though is that some of the debaters
does not know the  basic ethics of debating
As I always content : You have the right to your opinion even if it is wrong ( in my opinion ) And you have the right to state it.  The present government with its blame shifting on Apartheid for everything is a good example


My basic Rule nr 1.

Debate the point - play the ball , not the man.  If you do not like the other person's viewpoint don't get involved. DO NOT START CALLING THEM NAMES.  Do not be defamatory. This actually places you at the lowest level in the argument. It tells the other person you are not worthy to debate with. 

This happens a lot when people debate politics and religion.  If you differ from the other person make your point. Do not be irrational - making points not proven is an example.  Accepting so called facts where the evidence is not obvious is also a point in question. A recent article by a preacher on the creation in a newspaper is a very good example.  He accepts the so-called evidence of certain scientists as absolute evidence. No questions asked. Even to the extent that he says : One cannot understand why people does not accept this ?   Who is the one he is talking about. It is like talking to me and keep on asking the question:
"Of course you agree with me, don't you"   This is irrational in my books.

 Who are most prone to being irrational :  Atheists, Some Christians, SomeVegetarians ,

Why do I say this ?  They think they have a point but do not know what it is.  They believe they are right without being able to say why or being prepared to listen - By the way you have 2 ears and one mouth.

You cannot get involved in a debate without being prepared to listen and to speak - Just make sense when you do.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Dare to move on

When was the last time you did something for the first time ?  As one gets older this question is not something you think of or like to be reminded of.  We live our lives comfortably in our comfort zones. Change is not something most persons like. The change cycle is worse than mount Everest for most of us. 

I drove behind a car this morning with the sticker : In Pretoria praat ons Afrikaans.  The Gauteng coat of arms on his number plate was covered over by the old Transvaal flag.  Everyone of course is entitled to his own opinion, but this told me something.  A lot of people got stuck somewhere in the past and somehow cannot move forward.  This is not a political argument and I respect this guy for his opinion.

I also speak Afrikaans.  I also live in Pretoria (Not Tshwane, as it is officially still Pretoria where I live)
I also respect the old Boer republics and their flags.  But that is history and part of our heritage, but that is all it is. The reality is that we need to move on as time moves on. One can only live towards the future and unless you help create that future you are going to have this problem with the change cycle.  While most other persons have moved on and faced new challenges and are doing new things for the first time some got stuck in the perceived mud and do not even know that it has stopped raining and that all there is is dust. And the "stuck" is now only in their minds as the imaginary chain is around the circus elephants leg.