5FM is sad to announce that, after 17 years on air, Sasha Martinengo will be leaving the station at the end of March 2012. The decision comes as part of the station’s annual line-up change, which takes place from 1 April 2012. Explains 5FM’s station manager Aisha Mohamed, “Line-up changes are an unfortunate part of the radio landscape. Annually, 5FM, along with the SABC’s 17 other radio properties, evaluate their on-air line-up for the year ahead and we are always careful to ensure that we implement these changes on April 1st each year. That’s how we managed to get Grant & Anele into the afternoon slot. Everyone thought it was just a sick April Fool’s joke, and by the time they realised that it was actually genuine, the contracts were signed and it was a done deal.”

“Sasha will unfortunately not be with us from April onwards. The change comes as part of a long-term strategic plan to revise our on air offering. From our extensive research, we’ve noted that many people are at work during working hours. If these workers are listening to the radio, they are less productive and as the national broadcaster, we feel that it’s important to improve national productivity in the interests of the country as a whole. As part of this plan, we are actively encouraging people to switch off their radios during the day and to do some work.”

Aisha continues, “So far, we’ve been extremely successful in cutting our listener numbers between 12 and 3pm, with an incredible 95% switch off rate – and we estimate that most of the remaining 5% would rather be doing anything other than listening to 5FM during those hours. From these figures, we can see that it is foolish to employ DJs with any talent or personality who people might actually listen to during the day. We are enormously appreciative of Sasha’s incredible work ethic, his dedication to the listeners and his support of the 5FM brand. He’s just too good at his job though and so he has to go. The station needs to evolve and change as our listeners do and we’re banking on engaging a more unfunny, brain-dead audience. He will be a hard act to follow and whoever replaces him in the studio will struggle enormously, as Grant & Anele have proven literally every day since starting here.”

Says Sasha, “Working at 5FM hasn’t just been a job, it’s been my life. I’d like to think I have entertained my listeners over the years. I have had a brilliant time and will miss my 5FM family. Thank you for all the years of fun and support.”

Newsreader Kim Schulze was also shocked at the news, “Comrades, the safety of the travelling public is the amongst the most important challenges we face and it is for this reaso…”

I’m sorry, that’s the incorrect soundbite.

Adds 5FM’s Aisha, “It has been absolutely wonderful working with Sasha. He’s been a huge asset to the 5FM team and we will miss him as an on-air personality and as a team player. But look out for news of an exciting new show with Grant & Anele from 9 until 3 each day. I bet you can’t wait, right?

Hello?

Hello?”

(The genuine press release (some of which you may be able to pick out from the text above) is available here.)

As you might expect, many Mail Online readers didn’t take kindly to a report that strived to paint them as simplistic, terrified dimwits. Many leapt from the tyres they were swinging in to furrow their brows and howl in anger. Others, tragically, began tapping rudimentary responses into the comments box. Which is where the tragi-fun really began.

I’m not going to reproduce the whole column here – that’s what that first link is there for – but suffice to say that while it’s funny, it stops disappointingly short of where it could have gone. There’s so much fodder there for your perusal and enjoyment. Please feel free to share your favourite moments from the comments section there in… er… the comments section here.

For the record, we have no evidence that the results of this “controversial” Canadian study are correct.
Well, apart from this, obviously.

Learning is a Gift. Even when pain is your teacher.
Accidents are unfortunate, traumatic events that often have dire consequences. I have learned a hard lesson. Yet, I am not the first in my profession to be faced with this kind of challenge and I undertake to be more vigilant around such cases in the future. D has made remarkable progress in his rehabilitation process and has become a treasured pet and a valued member of my pack. I stand by my business ethic and rehabilitation practice as will be supported by the positive results and outcomes experienced by many dog owners and their pets, who have benefited from my assistance in South Africa and abroad over the past several years.

Unfortunately, due to this matter still being under official investigation that involves other parties, I am not yet at liberty to release documentation, reports and or specific details regarding the incident. Once the investigation has been completed and officially assessed, I shall then be given permission to publish material and information. We are working hard at fast tracking everything.

Meanwhile, Lech has been asked to remove more dodgy claims from his website:

Camps Bay “Dog Whisperer” James Lech has been instructed to remove “misleading, untruthful and deceitful” information from his website linking him to the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) and the Animal Anti-Cruelty League (AACL).

Lech has been asked to remove claims that he is linked to both organisations. His website lists him as a “consultant and speaker to the AACL” and a “guest speaker at SPCA fundraising and education events”.

NSPCA spokeswoman Christine Kuch said the claims were false.

“Both the Animal Anti-Cruelty League and the National Council of SPCAs afforded Mr Lech the opportunity to substantiate the statements, which he has been unable to do. We have approached him to substantiate it, and if he cannot, then to remove the information. We have circulated it to all SPCAs, and there is no link or endorsement of Lech.”

And the Cape Times reports today that the dog which attacked toddler Meeka Riley Lackay is to be “privately euthanased” at Lech’s request. Sadly, it seems the dog cannot request the same fate for its owner, who shouldn’t have been walking it on the beach where it attacked the little Meeka in the first place.

A post on his blog from 20th January states:

We are still awaiting information from 3rd parties. It is important that we receive the correct and confirmed facts due to the wide spread speculation that has been occurring in the media.

Obviously, we can only speculate what “correct and confirmed facts” he’s waiting for, but we’re guessing that they will surely be something along the lines of “one of the dogs I was walking illegally on Clifton beach attacked a two-year old girl”.

Thankfully however, James has found time to organise another “Pack Walk” this weekend.

Life’s all about priorities, right James?

Let’s allow Jacques Rousseau at Synapses.co.za to explain for those who have a mental age below 5, shall we?

It simply highlights the fact that some people would look twice at an inter-racial couple, and reminds viewers of the poster that in the ideal DASO future, this wouldn’t happen.

While it has certainly got (some of) South Africa talking, as I said, the chatter is all rather depressing and I really don’t feel like joining in.
Fortunately, an amusing internet meme (which I am happy to propagate) appears to have risen from this general nonsense and added some amusement to the otherwise miserable proceedings:

Click images to upsize your viewing experience.

UPDATE: Oh – and Jacques sums it up just perfectly here:

What this sort of thing goes to show is that if you want to find a problem, you’ll do so – regardless of the intellectual contortions necessary.

Yep.

UPDATE 2: A point proven by this from the CDP’s Theunis Botha:

In a country with high levels of Aids and an overdose of crime, especially the high incidence of farm murders this year, this poster sends the opposite message to the country than needed.

Yes, when a white man hugs a black woman, farm murders happen. And God kills a kitten.

]]> http://6000.co.za/not-looking-twice/feed/ 2 http://6000.co.za/saving/ http://6000.co.za/saving/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:49:32 +0000 6000 http://6000.co.za/?p=7773 A couple of weeks ago, Eskom warned us that we were once teetering on the edge of load-shedding (aka “rolling blackouts”) and that we must try to save as much electricity as possible to prevent this. People see this as counter-intuitive coming from the people who generate our electricity and therefore make more money when we use it, but it’s nothing unusual: I was brought up with YEB doing roadshows at our school telling us to use less electricity, so let’s forget the exceptionalism, shall we?

Anyway, it was a reminder to up our power saving and in turn, it reminded me that I never updated you lot on how my Geyserwise installation had worked out.

Geyserwise is a timer that lets you decide when and to what temperature you choose to heat your water for use in the house. This might seem like a bit of a no-brainer for those overseas, but that fact is that most South African households (who have geysers) leave them on 24/7. And it’s a pain to remember to switch it off on your distribution board or to climb into your loft to alter the temperature on the thermostat.

Now, instead of our geyser being on 24/7 (or when I remembered to switch it on/off), it’s on for less than an hour each day. Instead of being set to 65°C, it’s set to 50°C. And wow – what a difference to our electricity bill.

That bill has come down by around 45%, which means that rather than paying for itself in the 3 months I was hoping, the unit started saving us money within 6 weeks. We’ve fiddled with it very slightly – just altering the times a little to suit us better and taking the temperature down a little more – but I cannot fault the unit or its effect.

If you’re reading this and have been considering getting one of these, just do it.

Those contact details again: Leon at Geysol (076 036 0623).

This is not a sponsored post.

We’ve all heard that the Chilis will be playing in South Africa in 2010 before the World Cup and in 2010 after the World Cup and that they also are playing in South Africa in 2011 and, of course, who could forget those several times in 2012 that the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing in South Africa?

However, this new information (much like all the other information), which pushes the potential concerts back still further to 2013 comes (apparently, allegedly) straight from the horse’s mouth. And the particular equine in question is Attie van Wyk, founder of Big Concerts. This demonstrates the sheer desperation of the social media music scene in getting very excited about a band whose biggest hits wowed us just 21 years ago who may or may not play a concert which may or may not be happening in South Africa in the next 23½ months.

If the tour does happen, they will be supported (ever so ably, I’m sure) by The Parlotones. Tickets - to our great surprise and annoyance - will be available from Computicket, whose website – to our great surprise and annoyance – will crash on the morning that sales open.
The concerts will be well attended, the beer will run out after 20 minutes and the sound at the Cape Town Stadium will be a bit crap.

See you there!

It was part of this paragraph that I particularly enjoyed:

We’re in a long – a very long – corridor. The overriding theme, colour-wise, is blue. Clean enough to be a hospital, except nothing is worn or in need of repair; all is pristine. Either side, set after set of swing doors. Security keypads.
On the doors, bright red and yellow notices: No Entry for Unauthorised Personnel. Danger, Hazardous Materials. Approved Clothing Must Be Worn. And the one that gives you instant pause: Stop – DNA Sensitive Area. Do Not Enter Unless You Have Given An Elimination Sample.

I’m no crime fiction reader, but even I imagined feature writer Jon Henley as some sort of serial killer, whose DNA would be found all over crime scenes across the country and sent to LGC. How very convenient that through that elimination sample, he now has the perfect alibi for all those murders and remains free to kill again. Possibly anyway. We’ll have to watch for the follow up artcile as he clears his name again.

Also interesting was the effect that the CSI programmes have had on their customers and the juries they present their findings to. It might be wise of me to point out that the technical stuff in other science/medical dramas is often also rather overblown and often just wrong – which comes at a cost:

TV’s worst inaccuracies may compromise what trust remains between doctors and patients.

And Mrs 6000′s favourite show is right at the top of the naughty list.

While there’s plenty of evidence out there suggesting that James may be a fraud when it comes to his claims of canine control, I fail to see how following his recipe for a Raw Fennel & Almond Salad could possibly harm you (as long as you thoroughly wash all the ingredients first). I’d therefore like to suggest to James that he gives up on the dog stuff and instead concentrates on delivering us instructions for making tasty meat-free dishes. That way, no-one gets hurt.
Least of all a two year old girl playing on what should have been a dog free beach.

James Lech has been fined R1,500 for taking his dogs onto the beach that day, and a charge has been laid against him by the parents of the little girl involved. But James was still out and about on Saturday on that “Pack Walk” we mentioned in that last post. Let’s just be thankful that apparently this time there were no toddlers around to “witness the POWER of the PACK”.

James has promised us a public statement about the Clifton incident:

A public statement and interviews shall be available regarding the facts and comments concerning the incident. Currently documentation is being compiled with our advisors and should be ready within the week.

Hmm. How many lawyers does it take to spell “I’m sorry”?

We’ll share James’ public statement “and interviews” (?!?) when it’s released. And I can’t wait to hear his version of “the facts” on this attack. After all – the last time one of his dogs attacked a young girl, it seemed that his version of “the facts” didn’t quite match the CCTV version of “the facts”.

I saw the child running, coming around the right of my table, jumping over the dog while he was lying down and resting and accidentally stepping on it at the same time.

When told that the video footage showed otherwise, Lech responded:

I saw it with periphery vision because my head is tilted, correct.

This strange periphery vision may also account for James missing the “No Dogs” sign on Clifton Beach and also his not putting a disclaimer on his site stating that he is NOT endorsed by the “World’s Number One Dog Whisperer”, Cesar Millan, despite clearly being instructed to do so.

The good news is that fennel is reputed by many (including Chief Prawn Lance Armstrong) to contain many nutrients that may promote healthy eyes and good vision.

So like I suggested above, James: Less dogs, more salads.
Please. For the safety of all our children.

To be honest, there’s not a lot of new stuff here for the local audience – we are used to the cut and thrust of the South African political scene around the facts and alleged facts that Perry details. But for the international audience, it must make interesting reading. And two sentences (highlighted in the DTP version of the article) particularly resonate in Perry’s argument.
Firstly, the words of Tumelo Lekooe, a 20 year old street sweeper in Bloemfontein:

I don’t know why we still vote for them.
It’s our grandparents. They say we are here only because of the ANC.

and then Perry’s explanation of the ANC’s continuing electorial success:

With such an underwhelming record in office, how does the ANC win elections?
By invoking its legend.

The DA, our official opposition party, has a good ”better” record on service delivery (or at least, its record is better perceived) , but it has yet to make that record – or that perception – count anywhere outside the Western Cape. That’s because it has the dual obstacles of its (again, perceived?) “white” party status and the massive and emotional history and legend of the ANC to overcome.

That said, it’s widely expected that they will overcome those obstacles, prompting these ominous words from journalist Gwynne Dyer:

The election in 2014 will probably be the last in which it can hope to win a parliamentary majority honestly.
The most important crisis in South Africa’s history will occur when it loses the election after that. Only if the ANC then goes meekly into opposition can we conclude that South Africa really is an exception to the rule that liberation movements don’t do democracy.

The ANC announced at the weekend that it has surpassed 1,000,000 members. But as Perry and Dyer both state, it’s the growing number malcontent amongst the ANC voters that will mean that the political landscape may already be very different by the time those 2019 elections come around.