My patience with the Iranian regime reached breaking point this week. Needless to say my response, Bomb the barbaric lot already, attracted a fair amount of strident discussion.

This ruffled a few feathers. It appears to be tactless to dare criticise aspects or question details of a project when it’s supposed to prop up “national pride”.

Well, though I think the Gautrain is pretty cool as big engineering projects go, it still doesn’t mean public works projects are a good idea, or that this one is free of its questionable aspects. Besides, I find organised “national pride” a repellent idea, which reminds me of the fascist indoctrination we suffered at school under the old National Party.

I prefer critical thinking to mass hysteria. I prefer to celebrate the achievements of individuals, not nations.

So, my take on the Gautrain, over at The Daily Maverick: The stupendous Gautrain, a rare marvel!

No joke. That’s the title of my latest column over at The Daily Maverick. Have a look, and tell me what you think: Leave poor BP alone.

It is important that people are able to assert their rights, if they are to achieve prosperity in a free society. But this does not mean that any law that claims to help them do this is automatically good. South Africa’s Consumer Protection Act, which comes into force later this year, is a case in point. I’ve read it — the whole long, convoluted thing — and found among a few useful provisions several that are good in intent, but will likely hurt consumers in practice. Here’s my Tuesday column on the subject, published yesterday over at The Daily Maverick.

I missed a trick, however. I should have shredded it, viciously, for sounding like it was written 20 years ago for some foreign market. Mail-order? Catalogue? Who in SA uses those? And what about those newfangled interweb thingies? I hear you can buy stuff over them, though I’m not sure how you’d send a package down a wire.

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.

Well, I’ll be fairly scarce around here for a while. While I catch up with offline obligations, please do browse around the 200 000 or so words I’ve already posted on climate alarmism, stats abuse, South African politics, universal economics, science and technology, libertarian rants, or just cool stuff that made me gasp or laugh. I will keep an eye on the comments and moderation queue while I’m off blog duty, so feel free. If you like what you read, or you hate what you read, do let me know, recommend me, or sound off. After all, despite being convinced of the power of market economics, I really doubt my scarcity alone will do much to increase the spike’s value. Your feedback is a key reason I spend so much time blogging in the first place, and positive or negative, it is always welcome.

I’d blog, but someone somewhere broke the internet. A story I wrote yesterday morning is stale by now, as is the support ticket I lodged with my ISP. I’ve been able to see only half the internet for 36 hours now. I’m getting tremors.

I was working on an article listing who should be fired over the power crisis and why, while listening to the energy minister explain why nobody should be fired, when my power gets cut and I’m once again reduced to my mobile. Maybe I should have written about why polar bears don’t deserve endangered species status instead. The greens aren’t quite as efficient as our Princes of Darkness. Sponsorships for a notebook computer, UPS and generator will be gratefully accepted. Meanwhile, watch this space. I’m going to go indulge a sense of humour failure at my local. Sing Tom Waits, perhaps: “Warm beer, and cold women, I just don’t fit in…”

If I were Australian, and John Clarke weren’t a New Zealander, and he really were a politician, he’d probably get my vote. Here’s a video of a wonderfully deadpan Clarke and Dawe skit based on a minor controversy over the possible cause of death of a whale near where an oil company was preparing to do seismic testing. The news report gives the required background, and then Brian Dawe interviews “minister” John Clarke about it on ABC Australia’s satirical show, The 7.30 Report.

No surprise that in a recent interview, Clarke cites the Goons among his comic heroes.