Roger Gordon’s Blog

Marking the 40th anniversary of our first ever moon landing are a good amount of coverage, "live" online recreations of the event, and opportunities to vote on whether it really happened (at time of writing, 4 out of the top ten Google results for "moon landing" are about this question, and News24's poll has 31% of respondents picking the hoax option).
 
Some might argue that this remarkable achievement has not been paralleled in other (perhaps more important) areas. This is frequently expressed in the common phrase "We can put a man on the moon, but..." followed by some indignation, e.g. "...we can't find a cure for starvation", "...we continue to wage war on earth", or "...we still can't figure out what happened to the other sock".
 
Theories postulating that humankind's technical progress has far outpaced its moral progress certainly deserve our attention. If they're right, we need to catch up in our thinking about how we handle a wide range of advances from biomedics to the internet to complex financial constructs to energy consumption. To say this does not lessen the ingenuity of our technical progress in any way. But it does heighten our awareness of our accompanying human responsibility.
 
TGIF offers discussion on human advancement this Friday morning (24 July). Starts 06:15am for 06:30am, ends 7:30am. Three venues, all welcome, no entrance fee. For more details, visit www.tgif.org.za

Congrats to the Springboks for the amazing last minute win over the British Lions this evening, and thanks to the Grobllers for letting us watch the game.

Picked up my new passport about a week early from the Randburg Home Affairs today. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with their service and efficiency.
 
Only about 40 days until I get to use this on my way to Taiwan. I'm getting excited and nervous now...

How to renew your vehicle licence at Sandton's traffic department.
 
1. Mill around and watch what's going on.
2. Notice that there is an enquiries booth.
3. Speak to security guard (huh? Why is a security guard doing this?) at booth, and get pink vehicle scrapping form (because licence renewal forms have run out)
4. Fill in select details of your choosing, with the pen you brought along (you did bring a pen, didn't you?)
5. Notice that other pink-form-clutching people are standing in a queue. Join mystery queue.
6. Wait in mystery queue for 30 minutes.
7. Wait in mystery queue for 30 minutes.
8. Wait in mystery queue for 30 minutes.
9. Notice that there's only one suprisingly efficient dude serving everyone at the front of the queue.

10. Hand vehicle scrapping form to him, and receive small ticket from him.

11. Notice 'Thank you for your Patience' printed on your ticket, and feel immensly better about steps 6 to 8.
12. Repeat step 1.
13. Join mystery seating area.
14. Notice that there is a dude shouting numbers at the front.
15. Notice that your ticket has a number on it.
16. Wait to hear your number.
17. Wait to hear your number.
18. Speed off in still unlicenced vehicle to withdraw cash for payment (no credit cards accepted)
19. Speed back to traffic department.
20. Wait to hear your number.
21. Wait to hear your number.
22. Pay, and collect licence.
 
 
23. Repeat annually.