Blood from stones

I posted the quote below on my Letterash blog but thought I may as well post it here on WP as well due to the growing numer of bloggers who are moving over.

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
– Winston Churchill

Here in South Africa we have the ANC government thinking up new taxes just so that they can keep on filling up their coffers. And the 4,5 million taxpayers still have to support the 44 million who dont pay taxes!! This doesnt include the more than 4 BILLION that has been wasted by the ANC in the last while. The government thinks it is easy – If you need more money, just add a new tax and it keeps rolling in. So what we have is that every tax payer is supporting at least 10 people. We end up with our taxes paying for murderers, rapists, thieves and such other miscreants of society to be housed in prisons which have become more luxurious than some of the residential housing that the majority of the population is used to.

Our taxes pay for medical care for those people who are too lazy to work. They find they make more begging outside the various shopping malls than having a normal job where they would end up paying taxes like you and me. My contribution to my medical aid (which I am compelled to belong to as it is part of my contract) is already so high but I need to stay healthy so that I can continue to work and pay more taxes!

The police and defence forces are paid from our taxes. But the way they abuse their assests you would never say that they really need to look after it. Just have a look at how many government vehicles are being used for private use over week-ends. Look at how the very vehicles they need to do their jobs with are broken due to mis-use. I was in Koedoespoort the other day where I saw a policeman throw his vehicle into a slide before hitting the brakes and stopping in front of the cafe in a cloud of smoke from the tyres. He then casually got out and sauntered into the cafe, from where he emerged a few minutes later drinking a cold drink. I helped pay for those tyres as well as the vehicle!!

Our taxes pay for the salaries of teachers. Yet half of those currently employed are not capable of teaching the subjects that they are supposed hire for. When you hear stories of pupils knowing more than the teacher then you need to address the problem. But no wait, we retrenched thousands of teachers because they were the wrong colour, and replaced them with these who can teach because it was the right thing to do. I must admit I hate the idea of my hard earned taxes paying for someone who only results in the standards being lowered every year just to keep the pass rate up.

My taxes are also used to keep the roads in good shape so that I can safely drive to work and back (so that I can earn a salary and pay more tax!). Yet I can no longer drive down the road at night because of the number of potholes waiting to swallow an unsuspecting wheel or two just seem to keep on growing. Sections of the road which have finally lost all of their tar layers and now resemble a rural gravel road are in better condition than those that still have predominatly more tar than gravel. All the levies (also a form of tax) that were supposed to pay for the repairs have been spent on everything else but road repairs.

My taxes also pays for the upkeep of buildings used by the State. Yet I look around me and I see only decay. The buildings are looking very forlorn and drab. Windows are broken but not replaced. A bit of masking tape and some old piece of cardboard are now used to keep the elements out. At the department of home affairs I noticed that there were floor tiles missing in the foyer, the paint was peeling off the wall in some places, and the public ablutions were in such a state of disrepair that I couldnt even get myself to use them even though my bladder was now joined to my tear ducts!  Take a walk into most police stations and see how run down they are – no wonder their prisoners just walk out.

But in the last while I have heard of my taxes being spent on upgrading ministerial housing just because they didn’t like the shade of paint on the walls. Or because there were too many mosquitoes flying inside the house! The president is having a R17 million worth of makeover to a house that was just done less than two years ago!

Now that is just a total waste of my money that I paid in taxes. No wonder I today that I am being robbed and cant do a damn thing about it

 

 

 

Look before you leap

When I saw this today it was a reminder that there are times that we start something that isnt easy to stop (like heading down the slide). Then we suddenly realise that we are heading for a serious situation (like getting yourself shafted!) and we have no way of stopping it. So it is just one of those things that we need to consider before taking the plunge.

 

Best Laid Plans

Best Laid Plans

 

Workplaces clamp down on smokers

Workplaces clamp down on smokers
We in South Africa have been enforcing certain regulations around smoking in the work place as well as in public areas for some time. This has in its own created some problems and irritations within our society. We now have workers heading out of their office buildings and smoking on the pavement. Passer-by’s in turn end up breathing in the second hand smoke as they go by. Not to mention the cigarette butts that litter the area just in front of your business being totally unsightly.
The Tobacco Products Control Act actually goes so far as to empowers employers to ban smoking at the workplace and it has been noticed that more and more companies are now implementing a total smoke-free building policy so as to regulate the use of tobacco products on their premises. In some cases the implementation goes so far as to include all public areas as well such as gardens and walkways which falls within their control.
A few shopping malls have banned all smoking within the mall. This move means that they no longer have to set aside smoking areas in eating establishment/pause areas. The creation of smoking areas within our building (4 per floor) with their fancy double doors, extractor fans etc cost just over R245 000 each to implement, and we have three floors. So work out the costs involved!
I happened on an article by HealthDay News that highlights steps now being taken overseas to reduce the number of smokers. I totally agree with the statement that the many smoking breaks discriminate against non-smokers. We are expected to be productive while in the office yet a smoker is allowed to go stand outside in the sun shine for 15 minutes or so and be paid even though they are totally unproductive for the duration of their breaks .
I have added the article in here in its entirety as it pretty much covers what could possibly be coming here pretty soon.
One step further
HealthDay News reports that the Cleveland Clinic, along with a growing number of other US hospitals, is turning away job applications from people who smoke. This move has flamed debates between workers’ rights organisations and health advocates over whether denying jobs based on tobacco use is just. The former group argues that it equates to employment discrimination, while the anti-tobacco group says that turning away smokers reduces health care costs and absenteeism, and also sets a healthy example. Non-nicotine hiring policies are legal in many US states.
It’s another way to get the message across that smoking is bad for your health, pulmonologist Dr Aditi Satti, director of the smoking cessation program at Temple University Hospital (US) told HealthDay News. But it’s complicated, she said. “I think a pretty fine line runs between public health and personal liberties. Whether or not this is going to be an incentive, time will tell.”
No more smoke breaks
A German business owner has announced that it is banning staff from taking smoking breaks. This move, he argues, will improve productivity and improve the health of staff.
Mario Ohoven, president of the BVMW Federation of Mid-Sized Businesses told the German newspaper Bild that “that smoking breaks cost employers money.”
Ohoven argues that every employee who takes three smoke breaks daily, each five minutes long, costs an employer on average well over 2000 Euros (more than R20 000) annually in lost work.
Another German business owner, Ursula Frerichs told Bild that smoking breaks discriminate against non-smokers who keep working while smokers are unproductive for the duration of their breaks. Frerich maintains that many employers in Scandinavian nations have successfully implemented a “smoke-free work time” policy.
However, representatives from the nation’s trade union denied the economy was hurt by Germany’s smoking minority, adding that more breaks are needed for employees in stressful jobs.
(Health-e News, January 2012)

 

THE SILENT SERMON

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the preacher decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his preacher’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace…and waited.

The preacher made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the preacher took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The preacher glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the preacher reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, ‘Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.’

We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little.
Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

 

Reloading Query

Is there anyboby out there that has any plan as to how I can build an inexpensive case tumbler which can clean handgun cases?

I also have a tin of NOBEL PISTOL POWDER No 3  (unopened) which I have not been able to find any data on. I want to use it for reloading 45 ACP using a 230 SWC. I found nothing apart from knowing that it was made by ICI in the UK (Glasgow)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Have loaded some shot in my 44 mag and 357 mag using some of our local powder with great results. Used cardboard as over wads and sealed the case using my glue gun. Found the recoil was destroying the nail varnish I first tried as a sealant.

Has anybody tried using thin steel rods (eg. tack gun nails) trimmed to approx 1 cm and tightly packed into a 44 case instead of shotshell? Was thinking of using it on snakes at max 5 m distance.

 

Seen on the water

Noticed that this duck ( Cape Shoveler) was coming up to the waters edge peering at its reflection, walking away and coming right back to see if the other bird was still there.

This happened about five or six times before the duck finally turned and walked into the bushes where I lost sight of it.

Great way to spend time relaxing.

 

Flooding causes chaos in Kruger National Park

This reminds me of the flooding in 2000 when Mozambique was also flooded. Hope everyone is evacuated in time.

Related Links

• Kruger National Park is floodingview
• Mpumalanga warned of heavy rains

flooding

Mbombela – South African National Parks (SANParks) issued an urgent warning on Wednesday that certain Kruger National Park gates and roads have been closed as a result of heavy rainfall in the area.

It said that the Phalaborwa, Crocodile Bridge and Giriyondo border post entrance gates have been closed.

Biyamiti Bush Camp, Shimuwini Bush Camp, Talamati Bush Camp and Tshokwane picnic site have also been closed.

Evacuations

The Tinga Private Lodge is being evacuated and guests that were on the Sweni Wilderness Trail have already been evacuated. The SANParks helicopter is currently being used for evacuations where necessary.

The roads between Letaba and Olifants and Letaba and Phalaborwa are not accessible, and all gravel roads and low level bridges must be avoided, SANParks warned.

Letaba camp is without electricity as the generator room flooded.

The causeway on the tar road between Skukuza and Malelane/ Pretoriuskop at Delaporte Waterhole flooded.

The tar road between Nwamanzi Lookout and Olifants River High level bridge on H1-4 has been extensively damaged and closed.

The causeway over Nshawu River on the tar road between Mopani & Letaba (H1-5) flooded, as has the causeway over the Letaba River on the tar road between Mopani and Phalaborwa Gate (H14).

The causeway on the tar road between Letaba and Phalaborwa gate (H9) near Letaba flooded, which resulted in the closure of Phalaborwa gate.

As a result of the above, Olifants and Letaba cannot be accessed at the moment.

 

Some old age humour

A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor’s office.
“Is it true,” she wanted to know, “that the medication
you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?”
“‘Yes, I’m afraid so,”‘ the doctor told her.
There was a moment of silence before the senior lady replied,
“I’m wondering, then, just how serious is my condition
because this prescription is marked
‘NO REPEATS.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An older gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery
and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.
As he was about to get the anaesthesia, he asked to speak to his son.
“Yes, Dad, what is it?”
“Don’t be nervous, son; do your best, and just remember, if it doesn’t go well,
if something happens to me, your mother is going to come and
live with you and your wife….”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aging:
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age
and start bragging about it.
This is so true.
I love to hear them say “you don’t look that old.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The older we get,
the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some people try to turn back their odometers.
Not me!
I want people to know why I look this way.
I’ve travelled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth,
think of Algebra.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the many things no one tells you about ageing
is that it is such a nice change from being young.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, being young is beautiful,
but being old is comfortable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And this final one (especially for me,)
“Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder
and Your hand over my mouth!”

keep going!!

 

Wikipedia

Wikipedia goes protesting!

The days of us using the internet freely to obtain and spread information might soon be something of the past. The proposed restrictions have been doing the rounds for a while and seem to be gathering momentum. This is being driven by the USA who was embarrassed by revelations published in WikiLeaks in the last while.

Having lived through some serious government censorship I fully support their action.

Extract quoted from update as to why Wikipedia will go offline for 24 hours. Check out article using link below:

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate—that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

 

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_anti-SOPA_blackout