#Rabbit4Nic – Friday morning update

Hello.

Please accept my apologies for what will almost certainly be a very disjointed blog post.

I’m a bit snowed under, but I think that after yesterday’s exceptional efforts by online South Africa, people deserve thanks, recognition and a quick status update of where we stand right now.

First things first  – do we have rabbit?

Almost, yes:

  • We have one rabbit coming down from Charné & Ilse Stapelburg in Pretoria. He’s being picked up this morning and should be with me on Saturday morning.
  • We have another rabbit pledged by Nicolene de Klerk in Bloemfontein. He’s being picked up on Monday for delivery to Cape Town on Tuesday.
  • We have a third  rabbit from Bernadette Beckley. I’m following up on that at the moment. Should be arriving Friday afternoon!
  • Finally, we have another potential rabbit, pending (probably delicate) negotiations with its young owner.

So yes – as good as. And a huge thank you to all those who have donated their much-loved toys for Nic.

And from yesterday – and I will post about this again in more detail when I get a moment – big some thanks are due too:

  • @capetown – who coined the #rabbit4nic hashtag and was instrumental in getting the campaign going.
  • @StephanieBe – whose own blog post was widely shared and made a big difference.
  • @anib – who quietly assisted in spreading the word and also thought of getting in touch with:
  • @youmagazine – Herman and his online team at You and Huisgenoot have been really great in finding readers with bunnies!
  • @Woolworths_SA – Who were copied on literally hundreds and hundreds of tweets, and have helped in the search.

There are many, many others who blogged, reblogged, share and retweeted the original post. I wish I could thank you all personally.

We’re (“we’re”, hark at me!) The appeal is on the You website today, mentioned on the front page of the Cape Argus and probably lots of other places I haven’t been told about. I was on Talk Radio 702, Cape Talk 567 and Radio Tygerberg yesterday as well. For someone who runs a blog in his spare time, it’s been completely overwhelming. My inbox is full of prayers, media requests, suggestions and good wishes.
I’m going to be playing catch up for a while. Bear with me.

Finally, I – like everyone else – have been completely blown away by the response to the #Rabbit4Nic campaign. While I think we did absolutely the right thing by concentrating the search specifically for identical rabbits for Nic, so many people have offered other bunnies that it would be wrong to stop this here. I’m going to chat with Nic’s parents over the weekend and I think the intention will be to make something more from this.

As ever, I will keep you informed.

Brilliant turnaround by Bodyform

Every so often, a brand will engage with public criticism and brilliantly take it apart and turn it around from negative to undeniable positive.

This is one of those times.

Tell us all about it, Adweek.com:

Brands often freeze up when they’re criticized on Facebook. U.K. maxipad maker Bodyform makes the most of it. A week ago, a man named Richard Neill posted a rant on Bodyform’s Facebook wall,humorously calling out the brand for false advertising—saying his girlfriend doesn’t have happy periods like those depicted in the ads, but instead becomes “the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin.” The post has gotten more than 84,000 likes. Rather than ignore it, Bodyform one-upped Mr. Neill with the video below, in which it pretends to fess up about its pathological lying.

Here’s “Bodyform CEO, Caroline Williams”:

Well played, Bodyform. Well played.

Give them an inch…

We told you about the Cape Town City Council’s bold plan to allow “active mobility” users onto the Sea Point Promenade during Transport Month here and then we let you know of the tragic (and wholly made up) case of the dead dog on the Prom here. The latter post garnered far more interest. Sigh.

The idea of opening up the Promenade to skateboarders, rollerbladers and cyclists has met with a mixed response. Those who engage in skateboarding, rollerblading and cycling were vocally supportive of the scheme, while those who valued their safety while walking on the strip were less enthusiastic and understandable sceptical of the request for cyclists to:

“in all cases, give right of way to pedestrians, prams and wheelchair users, and travel at a safe and sensible speed”

But then, this is just an experiment for the month of October, albeit that Brett Herron et al have made it perfectly clear that they want it to become a permanent thing as part of their “Inclusive City” (terms and conditions apply) plan, so obviously, rosy pictures will undoubtedly be painted of the 31 days in questions.

So there’s the preamble. And here’s the last paragraph of the letter from “keen cyclist” Anne-Marie Roodt of Three Anchor Bay in today’s Cape Times:

I do however suggest that the city council considers demarcating cycle and pedestrian areas on the promenade as the pedestrians more than often walk five or more next to each other, leaving no space for cyclists.

Oh oh. Here we go. Just two weeks into the trial period for cyclists to use the Promenade and already they are whining about other prom users, disputing the rules and making ridiculous requests.

Lest we forget, Anne-Marie, you are allowed to cycle on the Promenade during October only. You mention that you are a ratepayer in your letter, but you are really happy for them to demarcate the Promenade for the remaining fortnight of Transport Month? Do you have money to burn or something? Because if they were to do that, they’d have to wash it off on the 31st from when (obviously) you won’t be allowed to cycle on the Prom any more because the trial period will be over. What a waste of paint. Time. Money.

Unless you know something that we don’t? Like the fact that towards the end of October, the trial month will be declared an unqualified and resounding success by Councillor Herron and become the new status quo for the Prom?
It couldn’t be, could it?

Also, as a cyclist, keen or otherwise (and I’m no way doubting your keenitude), you are actually (and rightfully) a second class citizen on the Prom. You must “in all cases, give right of way to pedestrians, prams and wheelchair users”, remember?
That’s part of the agreement. If that annoys you, then go cycle somewhere else, like the numerous cycle paths off Somerset Road or around the Green Point Urban Park. They are helpfully demarcated for your keen cycling enjoyment.

As Councillor Herron pointed out:

…the promenade was not being opened for professional cycling or skateboarding tricks, but for the use of bicycles, skateboards and rollerblades for leisurely transportation purposes:

“The idea, from an urban planning perspective, is that the high density of pedestrians, cyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers will have a slowing down effect on the general speed of traffic.”

And that makes it safer for everyone concerned. I’m sorry that you want to make things unsafe by going faster than the pedestrians are walking. Sometimes I want to go faster than the illegal four-wide pelotons of keen cyclists that congest Main Road in Kalk Bay every weekend, but as I’ve been told by keen cyclists so many times, that’s just hard luck, isn’t it?

Mark my words: this is just the first stage in Anne-Marie’s grand plan to ban pedestrians from Sea Point Promenade.

So, no, keen cyclist Anne-Marie Roodt, you’ve got your inch, don’t go trying to extend it to a mile.

A remarkable idea

Football’s name is once again being dragged through the mud by allegedly overpaid stars allegedly flinging themselves into the… er… mud in the hope of gaining some advantage like a free-kick or penalty. This is clearly cheating, but no-one is doing anything about it, just like no-one did anything about Lance Armstrong, or, in an only tenuously linked analogy, Sir Jimmy Savile.

Of course, the majority of the noise is around everyone’s favourite villain, Luis Suarez (whose fantastic 2010 goalline stop I commented on thus:)

I would have stopped that shot with my hand if I’d have been on the line that night. So would David Beckham, so would Lionel Messi, neither would Robert Green.

however, we shouldn’t leave Gareth “Butter Wouldn’t Melt” Bale out of this discussion, because he cheated last weekend too.

James Lawton of The Independent doesn’t leave Bale out, and makes the point:

Diving is such an implicit part of football now that it takes something quite remarkable to draw special attention and what Bale and Suarez did on Sunday took us well beyond the realms of self-parody.

But the laughter freezes, surely, when you consider how such actions now come in an unbroken stream, and how much damage they are causing to the integrity of the business which pays such huge rewards to “professionals” to whom you like to think some basic responsibilities have been entrusted.

But what’s to be done about it? Well, here’s an enlightened idea which I found on a blog post from about 18 months ago

Football needs to keep up with modern technology. FIFA’s refusal to institute goal line technology is ridiculous and has ruined many a game. Now they need to allow the reviewing of video evidence after the game for players diving and then suspend them.

Now, suddenly, that idea seems to have caught on (presumably after the FIFA hierarchy read the blog post in question):

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has joined calls for players who dive to be punished retrospectively and claimed simulation is becoming a cancer within the game.

“I believe if it is clear to everyone that it is simulation then that person is trying to cheat and they should be severely punished for that. It can be dealt with retrospectively by disciplinary committees, and it is done so in some associations, and I believe that is the correct thing to do.”

So, what are the FA doing about it? Well, they are reviewing and discussing it often.

“Simulation is not something that the FA currently take retrospective action over but it is an issue that is often reviewed and discussed by the game’s stakeholders.”

Well guys, since that’s obviously not really working, how about less talk and a little more action?
Give it a go. You don’t even have to give me the credit.

Just make the beautiful game a little bit more beautiful again please.

Note: Post written ahead of the international matches on Friday evening, so if anything relevant to this issue happened in them, it probably won’t appear here for simple chronological reasons.