For those of you who spend any time with me in the “real world”, you’ll know that my Big Dream is to open a “school for the future” in South Africa.

So when I came across this video of Ken Robinson at the last TED conference, I felt as if he was speaking directly to me. Even if you have no interest in education, I suggest you watch this video for the sheer mastery with which this man commands the stage. It seems so effortless.

From the TED website:

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize — much less cultivate — the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says.

You’ve heard of Mark Shuttleworth, you’ve heard of incuBeta. Now hear this: Gareth Ochse and Craig Corte have finally released their new baby BuzzFuse* to the market.

Created in South Africa, BuzzFuse* is a very nifty, very clever and very needed application that

• allows content creators (think music, cartoons, blogs, photographs) to spread their wares
• allows content consumers (think you and me) to discover, review and share said content.

This is how it works in its simplest version:

1. You sign up for a BuzzFuse* account (the entry one is free, the premium is $10 pmonth)
2. You create your content, say a new Wordpress theme, and post it online on you blog, website, Myspace etc
3. You register the content on your BuzzFuse account, and get a simple widget to post with the content on your website (like the one above this post)
4. Anyone who views your content can click on the widget, and get taken to your BuzzFuse page where they can:

a. Comment on your content
b. Rate it
c. Discuss it
d. Share it with their friends

5. At the end of the day, all BuzzFuse members get a personal email, which suggests new content based on their friend recommendations, rankings etc
6. You can check the interactivity around your content, the ranking and general feedback with the Reporting tools.

Wow.
I can easily picture a time, in the not too distant future, where content providers are going to be adding the BuzzFuse* widget as readily as they are adding the Digg This feature.

What that means is that we have a locally developed application with global appeal. Now we must just spread the word. If you are a content provider, I suggest you sign up and give this a go.

Have you noticed how your email box is full of messages that aren’t spam exactly, but also are not a one-to-one meaningful communication? Notifications from facebook are a good example, as are comment links for blogs I have commented on myself. As Andy Quale from Techburgh puts it: “Notifications you want. But not right now.”

Now there is a new word for them: bacn (as in bacon). Better than spam (which for those who don’t know is a yucky canned, processed pork luncheon meat).

Start setting the trend - use it in your everyday speech. As in

• “Got thirty emails this morning, and twenty of them were bacn”
• “Facebook is great, but its bacn can overwhelm your inbox”

Apparently, this term originated with Podcamp Pittsburgh.

The Dalai Lama answers “Nothing”. I love it.

Personally, I dread this question.

First of all, because there is no all-encompassing answer. What I do almost depends on what day of the week it is.

Second, the complexity of the answer also depends on who is asking it. If you are my hairdresser, the chances are you don’t really want to hear that yesterday I “helped a client recognize and act on synergies between his offline and online marketing efforts, and thus facilitated a deployment of a new project to harness the value of his market-community”.

Thirdly, because I am involved in such diverse projects, the conversation often turns awkward. If I tell someone I am in “the Internet business” and he says he is an artist, is it then necessary for me to mention that I am also hugely involved in some of the best art galleries in Pretoria?

My business card says I am an Idea Facilitator. Take that at face value, I always say. People either look confused or actually thrilled at the concept. The latter group is the one I really like ☺

The truth is, that I cannot envision myself being pigeon-holed into a limiting job description. I am, of course, lucky in that I work for myself , and thus do not really answer to a boss. I am free to be grabbed by projects that I find inspiring, challenging or simply fun.

But the best part of all this is that most people that I meet through the blogosphere and Internet in general, even if they have a specific title in the job, are not really tightly bound to specific functions. I know a copywriter who is also getting involved in community building via her company’s website. I know a web application designer who is a powerful voice in promoting the open source movement. I know a venture capitalist who opened up a chain of fashion stores on the side. We are now more free to do what drives us, which means we are more likely to be living our “optimal life”.

Theo Aspeling recently pointed me to a though-provoking article on “Being Yourself For a Living”, by Robin Wheeler. The crunch of it is that any career should be premised on three cornerstones:

1. You must do what you enjoy
2. You must make a contribution to the world
3. You must generate money

Wheeler says that if any of these three are missing, you’re not going to be fulfilled. On the other hand, if all three are present, you are living an optimal life. He goes on to offer suggestions on how to implement “being yourself” in your life, your organization and your community.

If you are reading this blog, then I venture to say that you also struggle to define what it is that you actually do (although the answer in inherently known to you).

So tell us – what DO you do? And don’t worry – we’ll understand, even if your hairdresser won’t.

I received this in my email box recently. Stinks of some sort of scam, but I cannot prove it. Some warning signs are:

1. Even if I wanted to help out, South Africa isn’t on the PayPal list either
2. The email from which this was sent is not the email to which they want you to reply
3. And the contact page of the company has been hacked!

Good day!

I m Cathryn Sneed from BelsysGroup, located in Republic of Belarus, Minsk.

Over the 10 years Belsys specializes in truck transportations across the countries of Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and CIS through its owned and operated truck transportation units. Since 1993 the company is the member of the National Association of International Road Carriers.

We have a lot of payments every day and some clients want to pay via Paypal for our services.

We visited Paypal site and didn’t find Belarus in country list of registration form!

You can check it here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_registration-run

This way we can’t work with Paypal directly and need to recruit exterior co-workers.

BelsysGroup is pleased to offer you a position of Paypal Manager in our company. It’s a part-time job and we need fast reliable partner, who can help to solve this little problem with Paypal payments. You can do this job without leaving your main job. There are no any fees involved!

REQUIREMENTS:

+ Only English speaking employees!
+ Premier or Business PayPal account!
+ Ability to be on the connection during the working day (phone, email)!
+ Ability to make operations so fast, as we require!
+ Precisely follow all our instructions!
+ Western Union, Moneygram office in your city and must have little experience of work with this systems and Wire Transfers system also.
+ Possibility to visit a bank or cashing location any day of the week if needed.

More priority to candidates who have a Paypal CARD with high withdrawal limit!

SALARY

The Employee will be paid on a Commission basis, daily on the day when working operations be carried out, into Paypal or bank account nominated by the Employee. We’ll pay 5% from total value of every transactions. All additional charges (like WU, MG and other comission payments) will be paid by the Employer. You can earn up to 2000 EUR per month.

If you are interested in this offer, please, contact me for more information.
Please, send your offers and questions to e-mail: ****@gmail.com

With best regards,

Cathryn Sneed
http://www.transgroup.by

I don’t usually use an ATM to draw cash, but I had reason to do so this past Friday, and as a result, I was shell shocked.

There was one ATM, and there was a man using it ahead of me. I waited patiently for him to finish his transaction, but he simply took forever. I was getting frustrated and annoyed. I could see the red screen of “SORRY …” on the ATM machine, and concluded that the man was clueless as to how to use it.

Eventually, he turned around and asked for my help. He was a black labourer, still dressed in his blue overalls and was visibly distressed. The machine would not give him any money. After deciding that it was safe to help (how sad to even have to think about this) I put in his card, he entered his password and we proceed to try an withdraw R140. As it turned out, he only had R120 available, with an additional R50 in ‘reserve’ that the bank does not make available for withdrawal.

As a result, he was getting INSUFFICENT FUNDS error. Fair enough. BUT but but !!!!
HE WAS BEING CHARGED FOR EACH TIME THIS HAPPENED!!!!!!!!

Now, to someone who has R120 in the bank, the R2 or R3 charge is A LOT. And to someone who is incurring the charge because he doesn’t understand why he cannot access all HIS money, it seems decidedly unfair. He was devastated, and I was devastated for him. I helped him withdraw his R120, gave him the missing R20 from my wallet, and he went on his way.

But I’ve been bothered by this incident all week-end. How can the working class be encouraged to save if the banks are such bastards? I employ about 10 black workers in one of my businesses, and I have long encouraged them to allow me direct deposits into their bank accounts. They balk, and now I understand why. So the result is that they get cash each week, and it is obviously difficult (impossible?) to save.

The banks should be held accountable for this. It is not just a “good feel” factor at stake, but the financial future and potential of this country. I think it is hugely serious, it affects all sorts of other things (education, or lack thereof if there are no saved funds, etc).

And actually, it does not just affect the working class of course. Adii posted recently about his bank not giving him full access to his OWN money, unless he was willing to incur a R48 fee. And only because he is a student, with a student account. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! SURELY a bank should be smart enough to recognize that if there is a student who has considerably more money (of his own) than the average student, that he should be treated extra well, instead of being charged for his success.

How are we going to put a stop to this tyranny? (I miss 20twenty.)