life skills

The benefit of social conventions

Tuesday, 25 January 2022

I was stuck in a rush hour traffic jam in Harare, Zimbabwe. The reason? The busy intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Enterprise Road had traffic lights out of action. As a result, every motorist simply piled into the intersection hugging the bumper of the vehicle in front. Add to this two massive tractor trailers trying to turn across the intersection at the same time… 

The logjam meant we sat there for 30 minutes until a single metro police officer pitched up, took charge of the situation, and traffic flowed again. 

It's okay...

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

It's okay to not carry a gun but support gun rights.

It's okay to not be gay but support gay rights.

It's okay to be an atheist but support religious freedom.

It's okay to believe in charity but oppose a welfare state.

It's okay to be anti-abortion but support a woman's right to choose.

It's okay to support the right to kill in self-defence but oppose the death penalty.

It's okay to respect someone's decision to change their gender but know biology is real.

It's okay to know Covid kills but lockdowns don't work.

Want to get rid of your reading glasses? R50 per day will do it.

Thursday, 13 January 2022

Most of us might not know the word "presbyopia", but most of us will suffer from it at some point. As we get older, our eyes lose elasticity of the lens, which makes focussing on near objects more difficult.

The solution to this problem for most us is to get reading glasses. But many of us who are too vain to admit that we need reading glasses, we hold our phones at arms length and squint when we think no one is watching.1