Tag Archives: South Africa

TWO News Stories From Today — Sharp Increase In Rhino Poaching In South Africa & Sharp Drop In Japan’s Birth Rate.

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by Anura Guruge
on February 27, 2024

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From ‘Google‘. Check it out.

They are NOT related. IF they were, Japan’s birth rate would be INCREASING, as opposed to decreasing, since the MAJOR cause for rhino poaching is the STUPID belief by some Asians that rhino horns are aphrodisiacs. Haven’t they heard of ‘Viagra‘. Much less expensive & save the poor rhinos.

I happened to hear these two stories, back-to-back, on the ‘BBC‘ this morning. I try to listen to ‘BBC News‘, on ‘Sirius XM‘, at least once a day, because I like to know what is happening in the world — that doesn’t get covered in the U.S. news.

I knew about Japan’s natality woes. I can’t say it bothers me much. SORRY. I have enough other things to worry about — like poor rhinos getting killed. I am disappointed that this is happening in South Africa — but I appreciate that there are HUGE amounts of money at play.

Well, I wanted to bring these two stories to your attention since I wasn’t sure whether you listen to world news on the BBC. You really should. It is eye opening.

Why Is South Africa, Long A Staunch Ally, Now Participating In Naval War Games With Russia & China?

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by Anura Guruge
on February 4, 2023

Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Google News’ (right) & from U.K. ‘Daily Mail’ (left).

This is NOT just crazy but stupid?

South Africa has been an ally of the West since the 1900s. They fought with US in both the World Wars. So, what are they now doing with Russia & China. This is NOT right.

South Africa, for heaven’s sake, is a CRICKET & RUGBY playing nation! They are not Commies — at least the last I knew.

This should not be happening.

They have to be brought back into the fold.

I am going to keep a keen eye on this. Not right. Not cricket.

Sri Lankans Wishing To Marry Foreigners Now REQUIRE Government Approval!

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by Anura Guruge
on January 6, 2022

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Click to ENLARGE. Link to ‘Nikkei Asia’ post. Google for more.

WOW! That is scary. Just sounds bad & wrong. If you know you history three regimes that had a similar requirement immediately come to kind: Nazi Germany, apartheid-era South Africa and, of course, pre-1960 United States! But, that is NOT an excuse.

Not exactly sure the exact extent or enforceability of this new law. Appears that it ONLY applies to Sri Lankans who want to marry a foreigner on Sri Lankan soil. If they are getting married abroad it would not appear to apply. But, does that mean that that marriage is NOT VALID in Sri Lanka? That got me thinking about the whole issue of the validity of marriages across countries. I had always kind of assumed that it was a universal norm — that each & every country accepted the validity of a marriage performed in another country. If anybody should know or care you would think it would be I. [I am not going to muddy the waters by talking about by marriage status when I came to the U.S., in 1985, from the U.K. I was legally married at the time. And I am married in the U.S. though I am not a U.S. citizen. Is my U.S. marriage recognized in the U.K. I think so. Is it recognized in Sri Lanka? Kind of moot because I am NOT Sri Lankan.]

Interesting. But scary. I was shocked when I saw the news.

As I just said, I am NOT a Sri Lankan. I renounced my Sri Lankan citizenship in 1983. That was 39 years ago. Dual citizenship was not permitted in those days, & I would NOT have wanted dual citizenship anyway.

Well another blot against the reputation of a country that has the distinction of being the FIRST to democratically elect a female head of state.

I Still Have Mixed Feelings About South African ‘F.W. de Klerk’ Who Passed Away (Ironically) This Remembrance Day (i.e., 11/11).

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by Anura Guruge
on November 15, 2021

Click to ENLARGE & read here. Wikipedia link.
Click image to access this article with pictures.

As an unashamed ‘Nelson Mandela‘ devotee I probably know a bit more, & have a more nuanced appreciation, about Frederik Willem de Klerk than most. That he is credited with freeing Nelson is over-blown. Nelson had the option of leaving prison ahead of de Klerk. In January 1985, de Klerk’s predecessor, P.W. Botha, offered Nelson a conditional release — the condition being that he renounce violence. But, historically it is true that Nelson opted to leave prison, & again become a free man, during de Klerk’s tenure as South Africa’s premier. But, de Klerk really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. It had come to: “WHEN rather than if“. South Africa was floundering, financially under the apartheid boycotts. Nelson had to be freed, or S.A. would have gone into a economic tailspin.

I do not believe that he is as good & saintly as some claim he was. Neither do I think that he was mainly evil. There definitely was SOME GOOD in him. Some innate human decency. That Nelson ‘forgave’ him & chose to collaborate with him is a big plus for his legacy. He, alas, continued to make some ‘harsh’ remarks. Well, all of that is now ‘water under the bridge’. With his passing we again have another end of an era.

He will, quite rightly, always be considered quite an important historic figure of the 20th century.

But, there is still so much healing required in (poor) South Africa.

I, coincidently (& ironically) happened to be watching this movie, ‘The Forgiven‘, on Netflix, when I heard of de Klerk’s passing. Suffice to say de Klerk was mentioned a few times in the movie — not always in a flattering light. Decent movie.

Click image to access the ‘IMDb.com’ listing.

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“ICC T20 World Cup 2021 (Men’s)” Is Teaching Me World Geography, Afresh.

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by Anura Guruge
on October 19, 2021

Click to ENLARGE. I concocted this.

I knew the name ‘Namibia‘ — but had not heard it in years, if not a decade. I knew it was near ‘South Africa‘, BUT if you had asked me to point to it on a map I would have been 800 miles off — horizontally (i.e., roughly the right latitude, but I would have been way off to the east). Wow. That is bad. I am dreadfully embarrassed & kind of sad. I was good at geography at school — but in the 1950s/1960s the world, quite literally, was a simpler place. There wasn’t as many countries. It appears that we had 104 countries in the world in 1950. Today’s we have 195!

That means the number of countries in the world have nearly doubled in my adult lifetime! That is sobering.

Something now bothers me about Namibia’s T20 cricket squad. How come it is nearly all white? Only 7% of the population is white. Initially, when I watched them bat (all under helmets), I did NOT notice any non-whites. But, when I saw them field I saw one. Appears that maybe they have two non-whites on the team. I won’t even mention the composition of the South Africa team — because there is the touchy issue of quotas, i.e., they have to select some non-whites. Hhhhmmm.

Click to ENLARGE. I ‘borrowed’ this from the ‘t20worldcup.com‘.

I would also have had trouble getting ‘Oman’ right on a map. This is bad — & it is a BIG country. I really need to spend some time staring at a NEW world map.

I did know where ‘Papua New Guinea’ was. That at least was good.

The truly global reach of cricket is becoming humbling. There are at least 106 countries that are now registered as cricket playing nations — that wish to be recognized as such. That is 54% of all the countries in the world. Not bad for what used to a sport restricted to countries with a British heritage.

Click to ENLARGE. Wikipedia link.

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If ESPN(+) Stops Working On Your Roku With An Inane “OKAY” Message — Your IP-Address Inadvertently Blocked.

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by Anura Guruge
on June 27, 2021

Click to ENLARGE. The ESPN channel will look like this …
Click to ENLARGE. Posting on ‘Roku Community’ forum.

On Saturday, June 26, 2021, I clicked on my ESPN channel on my Roku (so that I could logon to ESPN+ to watch the T20I between the West Indies & South Africa). The ESPN channel would NOT LOAD. Got a blue screen similar to that show above. I first thought that the ESPN servers were overloaded given that I knew that there was a lot of soccer taking place in Europe.

Tried a few times on Saturday. No luck. Waited until Sunday … today, i.e., June 27, 2021. Still no joy.

Couldn’t REMOVE the channel. Why? Because I had an ESPN+ subscription. I worked that out. I cancelled the subscription. I knew it was easy enough to reinstate. Bingo. Could remove channel.

Reinstalled channel. Restarted Roku. Nothing. Problem persisted.

Checked the ‘Roku Community‘ forum. Did my own post. Googled the problem. Saw that a number of folks were saying ‘Contact ESPN‘.

I thought it would be impossible to get in touch with ESPN support. I was wrong. I was able to get CHAT support in under a minute. Yes, when through the inevitable preliminaries. Then I told them that I had seen that folks were talking about ‘blocked IP-addresses‘. She agreed that that probably was the problem.

Gave her my IP-address.

She unblocked it. Bingo. I was back in business.

She said that the ESPN engineers weren’t sure why some IP-addresses were getting accidentally blocked — but they were invariably those associated with Roku devices.

So, you now know what to do.

‘Rockwood’, The Rhino Conservation, Promoted By South African Cricket Hero ‘Quinton de Kock’ With His ‘W’ Sign.

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by Anura Guruge
on June 13, 2021

Rockwood Conservation
Click image to access the ‘Rockwood Conservation’ Website.
Click to ENLARGE. From ‘SACricketMag’ — with thanks.

Well, Quinton de Kock’s brillant 141* not out against the West Indies this weekend had to be one of the best things that could have happened for this worthwhile South African ‘save the Rhino‘ effort. When he scored his half-century & century he made the ‘W’ sign shown above. He had to explain what it meant. It was supposed to be for the ‘W’ in Rockwood. Plus, he has a ‘Rockwood’ banner on his bat.

This was GREAT. I am happy. I am big into conservation & I am a big fan of Quinton. I love watching him bat.

I have NOT worked out what his ‘stand’ is about ‘Black Lives Matter‘ (BLM). That could become an issue. I don’t think I can ‘like him’ (as much as I do) IF he does NOT support BLM. But, for now he is doing a great job for South Africa & rhinos. So, I am happy about that.