Home Affairs:
So my son of 20 years of age goes down to Home Affairs to apply for a passport.
Before he goes he makes sure that he has the required copies, images and black pen.
He gets the required forms, fills in the required information and proceeds to the fingerprinting department.
There is one other gentleman sitting there.
The fingerprinting official enters and observing that the gentleman has no forms and proceeds to help my son.
The formless (gormless?) individual proceeds to accuse the fingerprinting official, in Xhosa, of being racist by helping my son.
I have the following message for THAT idiot; “Most times it is about being prepared and smarter and NOT about race!”
BTW: Both the OFFICIAL and GORMLESS were black – my son is white (at least that is the box he ticks on all official forms).
BRT? What BRT?
We are all aware that Port Elizabeth’s wonderful new BRT road system built for the 2010 World Cup is at best a joke and at least a bloody embarrassment that needs some serious attention TWO YEARS after the completion of the World Cup. The robber barons have departed from our shores and left us with a bit of a mess that needs to be cleaned up.
So why then are we spending money on other sections of our road network whilst conveniently ignoring the mayhem and frustration caused by our FAILURE of a BRT System?
Two calls for tenders issued by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality this week refer:
- Upgrading of John Tallant and Grahamstown Road, including Trunk Road 63.
- Additional lanes at Stanford Road and Cotswold Interchanges.
Could someone please explain why we seem to be haphazardly throwing money at patch jobs?
The Herald Goes All Weekend Post on Alan Mounter:
Alan Mounter – the Richmond Hill neighbourhood watch chairman was named as Hooligan of the Day by The Herald.
Of course the Hooligan of the Day slot doesn’t sell newspapers very well if there is NO image of the supposed Hooligan.
So, what does The Herald do? They go to Alan’s Web Site: DIY Stress Relief and, without his permission, copy and reprint an image of Alan in support of their article about his being removed as Chairman and for the Hooligan of the Day feature.
I ask you with tears in my eyes; “Did The Herald not learn from my little spat with the Weekend Post around copyright issues?”
If I was you, Alan, I would be demanding that The Herald remove every single image of you from every single newspaper that they sold or published. What they did was steal from you in support of a smear campaign against you and you should lay charges.
What little I know of Alan convinces me that he will not lay charges, nor will he fight back. So I presume that Avusa can breathe a sigh of relief – BUT, that still doesn’t make it right!
The image you see below is published by MyPE with the kind permission of Alan Mounter from DIY Stress Relief.
Related: Weekend Post Taking MyPE for a Ride and Dear Weekend Post – THIS is How you Comport Yourself on the Internet.
Alan Straton
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Correction from Alan Mounter: The photo presenting me as “Hooligan of the day” was the same photo published by The Herald when I was nominated as hero of the year when I assisted in delivering a baby in an emergency situation.
The custodians of this establishment where the incident took place were let down by the emergency services, did not contribute to the funds of the running of the Richmond Hill forum but had my number. The custodians then happily made a generous donation to the forum for the excellent service provided.
The photo of me in the article is the one that The Herald took from my web site and published without my permission.
As a course of interest maybe, who could one speak to about this situation. I never did finish my doctorate in law so am not too familiar with legalities in this regard. The photo of me at the computer is copywrited by some or ather clause and as far as I know, nobody had my permission to use it for any other purpose but for the website. That website is part of a structure that brings me a smallish, passive income to supplement what I do in my dealings with Richmond Hill.
This intrusion by the media has had a most negative impact on the earning potential created by their article and has in fact not only done me an injustice, but my website partner as well.
Maybe we should do an ANC and NOT buy the Dead End Ghost tomorrow
I also had a serious gripe about the Herald last week. Went on line on Tuesday and added a death notice, after adding the notice, a message appeared that an agent would be in contact with me. After not receiving a call, we again called 24 hours later and the Herald had not record of the classified ad. They said that they were having issues with their on line submission system – get real! The ad was again placed, had by this stage missed the Thursday deadline and we finally got it published on Friday. We were charged a ridiculous sum for a very short notice. Kudos to mype who published within an hour of submission – why, oh why do some people still insist that the newspaper has a better reach? I believe that the newspapers days are numbered. For up to the minute news, rather rely on the internet!
There is still a place for the print-media, but cr@p newspapers will not survive.