I recently wrote a series of columns on Mann-made climate change and the email leak scandal over at The Daily Maverick: Pop goes the hot air balloon, Climate fraud kills people and Pray Copenhagen fails.

In response, I’ve been getting a lot of comments and criticisms in various forums. Some, like Twitter, are really not well suited to answering complex questions. So here’s a sort of FAQ that addresses the most common “buts” I hear: Climate clarity.

Wishing everyone a prosperous and free 2010.

Here’s a note from Leon Economides (a late 19th-century picture of him is alongside). He posted it as a comment to one of my earlier posts, but it is worthy of more prominence. It announces the return RockFest shows, every evening from eight till late, on Midrand Radio 93.8FM. It’s hosted by the likes of the Rockit Scientist himself, David Blood, Robert Laing, Phil Wright and others. Rock will never die, and apparently, neither will old rockers. Now if only they’d go national, so the rock fans in Knysna — I’m having Christmas dinner with a few of them tonight — can get it too.

Hello

Yes, it’s been a while. Namely a few years. No comments from the peanut gallery.

You might recall that The Rockfest was terminated by 1485am Radio Today’s management, giving us less than three days notice, in February this year. It was a bit of a slap in the face for all the presenters who had given freely of their time, for over three years, and the lack of appreciation and support shown, and the way it was done, left many people feeling pretty embittered and annoyed. For many presenters, whilst being grateful to Radio Today for allowing them the freedom to play the music of their choice, it signalled the end of their short broadcasting “career”.

The Rockfest was basically put on “ice”, with very little chance of it being revived, given the strict playlisted format and programming (not to mention politically correct!) structure of most radio stations in South Africa.

It’s against this background that I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Prior, Phil Wright, Benjy Mudie, Melanie Walker, Rafe Lavine, David Blood, Leon Fourie, Robert Laing, Tamara Jeunette, Jurgen Becker, Lesley Chase, Rosemary Royeppen, Greg Tucker, Rui de Sousa, Adelle First, Bojan Andrejevic, Natalie Chapman, Nicole De Gruchy and Mark Vas for having been part of The Rockfest at various stages, and for sharing their music and talent with us.

Continues below the fold, with the story of the rebirth on Radio Midrand, not to mention schedules and lineups and promises of live gigs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are two pre-Christmas columns that might be of interest, one serious, and one less so.

The serious one is about the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act, or RICA (it’s easy! it’s free!), as the happy mobile operator adverts put it. It’s not some freebie, some bonus. It’s a dangerous and costly exercise that makes communication more expensive, and more vulnerable to an overbearing state.

But it’s Christmas. And what would Christmas be without its thoroughly tacky, plastic commercialisation? Who am I to attack it? Instead, here’s a defence of Boney M in supermarkets.

Enjoy, and to all, I wish you a joyful, relaxed Christmas and an entertaining, wealthy 2010.

Published yesterday on The Daily Maverick, my latest column: Pray Copenhagen fails. I really do hope the UN’s climate shindig fails. It will save millions of lives and trillions of dollars. If we’re serious about solving global problems like hunger, disease and poverty, we should not give corrupt politicians the power to loot taxpayers and line the pockets of special interests on the basis of a dubious premise.

It has been brought to my attention that a certain Ramon Thomas, pictured here, is making accusations about me online. He has not had the courtesy of contacting me, nor to respond to my messages to him, but since nobody appears to have advised him to cease his campaign, I’ll make a brief statement.

Thomas’s main allegation is that there is a dispute between the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) and me over a contract that was cancelled some years ago. I have been in touch with the CSSA, which assures me that Thomas does not act on its behalf, nor with its consent. If there ever was a dispute, it has long since ceased to exist.

A peripheral accusation, that “[his] arrogance has destroyed his credibility with most South African government departments,” is not worth answering. Suffice to say that I do not seek popularity with government departments, and am hardly surprised that my views have failed to earn me any.

I have also been in touch with various editors, among them the editors of the publications whose names Thomas mentioned. All, including the editor to whom Thomas tried to peddle his story, have assured me they do not take his smear campaign seriously.

Why Thomas has suddenly launched an attack against me, the CSSA, or both, is a matter about which I could only speculate. Why he has not contacted me, nor made a good-faith attempt to resolve whatever grievances he might have against me or the CSSA, but instead wages his campaign in public forums, is likewise a mystery. Why he has failed to respond to my messages to him, I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader.

To those who have contacted me to ask for clarification about this matter, thank you. To those who haven’t, this will have to serve.

Wrenching myself away from the Copenhagen corruption of climate change, I wrote a little paean to capitalism to open the festive season: Capitalism is not unkind. Hope you enjoy it. If not, do protest. Either way, you can comment at The Daily Maverick, once you’ve registered or logged in.

During my research for my columns of this week and last week about the leak at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, published at The Daily Maverick, I came across some curiousness involving Google. Here’s the full story, as published on ITWeb.

We should be angry at the fraud committed by the crowd over at East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, as I discuss in today’s column at The Daily Maverick. One would have thought everyone in the mainstream media would have loved a piece of the action, unravelling such a juicy fraud and exposing how their readers have been had by the socialist elite in academia and the power-hungry politicians who hide behind the “science” they cook up. But then, the media has been complicit, arguing that objectivity and balance did not require them to remain critical and skeptical about man-made global warming alarmism. In future, I’ll judge my news media by what they make of this story. For softheaded mantras chanted while dancing around trippy fairy-circles, you need mushrooms and matches. Like newspapers, you can get them at most convenience stores.