Athlone Towers demolished on Sunday

Athlone Towers

The famous Athlone Towers in Cape Town will be demolished tomorrow at 12pm. The power station cooling towers were built in 1960 but generation of electricity was stopped in 2001. Subsequently the Towers have been determined to be unsafe. It has become a famous landmark to Capetonians over the years.

When I was a youngster we frequently visited family in Somerset-West and therefore always passed the Towers on the way, since it's located right next to the N2 highway. There is always a very bad smell in the area and it is mistakenly associated with the cooling towers. The smell is actually from the sewerage plant on the other side of the road. Nasal illusion!? 

Live broadcast

The demolition will be broadcast live on Sunday, 22 August, from 11h40 to 12h10 (GMT+2) on www.zoopy.com/live.
There will be a 300m exclusion zone around the Athlone Towers during the demolition. Part of the N2, Jan Smuts Drive and the adjacent Metrorail line will be closed.

Video: Athlone Towers, Going, Going...




UPDATE 22 August 2010: Videos of actual demolition

Athlone Cooling Towers Demolition from Phillip Gibb on Vimeo.

Read more on "Athlone Towers demolished on Sunday"!

Circumnavigating the world in an autogyro

Norman Surplus, departed on 22 March from Larne, Northern Ireland, to attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an autogyro called "Gyrox". It has never been attempted before. An autogyro (or gyrocopter) uses an unpowered rotor in auto-rotation to develop lift and an engine-powered propeller, to provide thrust.

Challenges

The trip is expected to take approximately four months and cover over 43000km, stopping over in 26 countries along the way. Considering the nature of the adventure and proposed travel route, some severe weather conditions should be expected along the way. It's quite a brave attempt considering that an autogyro has an open cockpit! Not to mention the long stretches of open water that need to be covered. To make this possible, Norman's gyro was fitted with extra fuel tanks which will extend the normal 300 mile range to 800 miles. Then there's the challenge of relying solely on the pilot's own visuals since he's not allowed to use instruments to navigate (gyro rules). Finding fuel in remote parts of the world may also present to be a problem.

Video - Gyrox autogyro circumnavigation of the globe


Gyrox Goes Global from Gyrox Goes Global on Vimeo.

Motivation

Norman recently beat a bout of cancer and this motivated him to embrace life more intensely. He will raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK during the trip.

You can track the Gyrox via the SPOT GPS.

Related link
Autogyro circumnavigation of the globe - Norman's website
GyroxGoesGlobal - Norman's blog
Norman Surplus - Facebook Read more on "Circumnavigating the world in an autogyro"!

Live event: Introducing the iPad - Apple's CEO Steve Jobs

Leo Laporte from Twit.tv covering the event - live video feed



Also see gdgt live for transcript and photos of the event.

Steve Jobs with the Apple iPad

Video: Apple iPad hands on



Related links
Full specs of the iPad - Apple
Apple's iPad: What you need to know - CNET Read more on "Live event: Introducing the iPad - Apple's CEO Steve Jobs"!

Le Zoulou Blanc - Johnny Clegg

I've been a fan of Johnny Clegg since my high school days back in the 80's. My first big live music concert I attended was in the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town where I saw Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka perform. Their unique style, the mesmerising dance routines and soulful traditional music really impressed me.

Video: Johnny Clegg & Juluka - Impi (1983 Live)
(Impi is played regularly at rugby stadiums in South Africa today)



I never realised how popular Johnny Clegg & Savuka was in Europe at the time. I backpacked Europe in 1989 and distinctly remember walking into a music shop in Geneva, Switzerland and to my surprise there were Clegg posters all over the walls. I asked the cashier if there was some sort of a promotion going on... and he just gave me a weird look, politely informing me that Savuka had the best selling album in France at the time! The french call him "Le Zoulou Blanc" (The White Zulu). Even Michael Jackson had to cancel a concert in France at the time due to Clegg being much more popular!

Johnny Clegg surely lived through tough times growing up in South Africa. During his teenage years he was a street musician, learning Zulu music and dancing from Charlie Mzila and later Sipho Mchunu, with whom he later formed Juluka, the first multi-racial band in South Africa.

Video: Johnny Clegg the dancer



The Apartheid government frowned upon music where the styles were mixed between Western and Zulu; they weren't particularly impressed that the band was multi-racial either. The state-owned SABC (SA Broadbasting Corporation) banned their music altogether from the air waves at the time but their popularity spread by word-of-mouth. He was arrested several times as a youngster for associating with black people and for his political lyrics; basically considered an enemy of the state. Later on in 1987 he wrote "Asimbonanga" which called for Nelson Mandela's release from prison.

Percussionist Dudu Zulu was also Clegg's dance partner for years. He was assassinated in 1992 which eventually led to the band, Savuka, disbanding in 1993. The Crossing was a tribute to him.

Video: Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Scatterlings of Africa



Video: Johnny Clegg performing "Asimbonanga", on stage with Nelson Mandela (1999)
(Female singer is Mandisa Dlanga)




In a nationwide poll in 2004, Johnny Clegg was named no.23 in a list of "100 Greatest South Africans". He is comfortably South Africa's biggest music export. He sings in both English and Zulu, speaks Zulu fluently, understands every aspect of their culture and had the courage to stand up for what he believed in, during difficult times.

Video: Johnny Clegg - Jongosi
(Song was used for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. South Africa won the tournament.)



At the time of writing, Johnny Clegg has recorded an astonishing 19 studio albums to date. Very inspiring music by a truly fantastic South African. Read more on "Le Zoulou Blanc - Johnny Clegg"!

10 drugs you should not use while driving!

Read more on "10 drugs you should not use while driving!"!

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

Today I watched a video, The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What an inspiration! He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a few months to live when he did this lecture. Fantastic human being. I was really moved by his phenominal positive attitude. He passed away 25 July 2008, age 47.

Not even death could bring this man down and the dreams he sought to come true can inspire us all. He was a rare combination of scientific genius and artistic imagination.

His lecture became a hit on YouTube with over 10 million views (and counting) and he became an accidental celebrity overnight. Do yourself a favour and watch the video:

The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams



Shortened version of the speech, on Oprah



Diane Sawyer's moving interview with Randy Pausch

Videos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Some memorable quotes from Randy
Source

• We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.


• Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcomed.


• Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.


• When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care.


• You get people to help you by telling the truth; by being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term.


• Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.

RIP Randy. Read more on "Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture"!

Pop star Michael Jackson dies at 50

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died at the age of 50. He suffered a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles. The paramedics were unable to revive him and he was rushed to UCLA Medical Centre where he was in a coma but declared dead shortly after.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.


Early success

Michael Jackson started his career in entertainment at age 11 as part of the Jackson 5 group. He went on to record ten albums as a solo-artist and dominated the world pop charts during the 1980's. His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — remains the biggest-selling album of all time. He also owned The Beatles backcatalog but later sold it to Sony. I was a youngster when "Thriller" was released and I can vividly remember how every kid on the block tried to imitate his "moonwalk". (see video below)

Relationships

He was married to Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, from 1992 to 1994. He married nurse Deborah Jeanne Rowe in 1997 with whom he had two children. They divorced two years later. His third child was born in 2002 but the identity of the mother is unknown.

Sexual abuse allegations

Jackson has had major ups and downs during his career. Although he was an extremely successful performing artist, he was also accused of sexual abuse at his Neverland Ranch. After a documentary "Living with Michael Jackson" was aired, where he was interviewed by British journalist Martin Bashir, he faced several sexual abuse allegations and was involved in a 5-month trial in 2005, but was acquitted on all counts.

Jackson's popularity remained high throughout his career and the effects of extreme public scrutiny certainly took its toll which lead to an addiction to painkillers. He suffered from vitiligo (chronic relatively common dermatologic disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of skin) which caused a dramatic change in his appearance over the years.

Financial problems

In 2006 he moved to Bahrain to get away from all the constant media attention and has been living there since. Towards the latter part of his career he had major financial problems due to his lavish lifestyle and borrowing against his assets, the Neverland Ranch and his music catalogs.

He decided to return to the stage for 50 "This Is It" concerts at the O2 Arena in London from July 2009 to March 2010 (all sold out). He was in Los Angeles to rehearse for the first set of concerts when he suffered cardiac arrest at his home and went into a coma.

He was eccentric and misunderstood but regardless of his personal problems and bizarre lifestyle, he was a superb singer/performer who changed the Pop landscape forever.

Michael Jackson singing "Billie Jean" - performing his famous "moonwalk"



Related links
Pop star Michael Jackson dead at 50 - LA Times
Singer Michael Jackson 'is dead' - BBC News
Michael Jackson dead at 50 - CNN International Read more on "Pop star Michael Jackson dies at 50"!

Ben Southall wins "Best Job In The World"

Tourism Queensland in Australia advertised a job in January for "Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef". Applicants had to submit a video online for public voting. Ben Southall, charity fundraiser from England, was selected from 16 finalists. There were 34000 applications worldwide, therefore quite a lot of publicity generated for this job. Interestingly, only one Australian made it to the finals.

His primary duty will be to promote the Great Barrier Reef to the world by blogging about his experience online. He'll be based on Hamilton Island with free lodging in a multi-million dollar villa. His contract is for six months and he'll be paid AU$150 000 (about R950 000 at time of writing). Not bad!

Island Reef Job - Ben Southall


YouTube link

Islands of the Great Barrier Reef showcase


YouTube link Read more on "Ben Southall wins "Best Job In The World""!

Should appearance matter?

Susan Boyle

Appearances can be deceiving? Don't judge a book by its cover? Susan Boyle, a Scottish unemployed amateur singer became an overnight internet sensation when she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent. The audition was aired on 11 April and this YouTube video of her audition has been viewed over 25 million times in a week, showing her remarkable popularity online.

The crowd didn't give her a chance when they first laid eyes on her due to her supposed unattractive appearance but when she started singing, it became clear that she had a beautiful voice and she won the crowd over almost instantly. Good for you Susan!

However, what does this say about society? Is she popular because she has a great voice or is she popular because she's perceived as being unattractive with a great voice? It obviously is not supposed to matter but yet it does. Sadly so.

I for one hate shows like Pop Idol where the focus is clearly on image and marketability of the singer and talent seems to be a secondary matter. Britain's Got Talent however, is for everyone, all shapes and sizes, which of course makes it appealing to me yet the crowd still seem to decide beforehand whether a performer will be successful or not, based on appearance.

As for Susan, she has been interviewed by several talk show hosts since her audition and have fielded some idiotic questions like "So you're unattractive but you can sing? What do you make of that?" How is she supposed to respond to that?

Good luck to you Susan Boyle.

Here's a video of her audition "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Misérables:



Link to video

Susan Boyle sings "Cry Me a River":
(Incidentally, my favourite)



Link to video

Paul Potts

In June 2007, Paul Potts, a shy unassuming cellphone salesman auditioned for the same show where he sang Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun Dorma". He won the crowd over in seconds with his great voice.



Paul Potts' audition video:



Link to video


Note:
YouTube sometimes disable the embedded feature on very popular videos. This prevents bloggers from putting the videos directly in the blog post. Over time these embedded videos may become unviewable; if that happens, just click on the link to view the video. Read more on "Should appearance matter?"!

Lost Generation

This is one of the more positive videos I've seen in quite some time. Follow the words.

Lost Generation video

Read more on "Lost Generation"!