Andy Warhol - super scream

"Andy, where's my 15 minutes?" -

David Bowie
Found this great online radio station, Pandora, that creates playlists based on your own taste. Fantastic. For instance - if I create "David Bowie Radio Station" it will assume that I probably also like Pearl Jam.

Amazing what one finds to entertain one at 4am in the morning after a long night of midnight oil burning.

Talking Shop

“Who on earth invented the silly convention that it is boring
or impolite to talk shop? Nothing is more interesting to listen to, especially if the shop is not one's own.”

Wystan Hugh Auden

How to win friends and influence people: Chapter 1

Another day in the life. I have only changed one word (somewhere in the last paragraph:).

Memo: To all Staff,

The recent transfer of our payroll to a new service provider has highlighted and made us aware of an error in the way that our previous system was calculating the tax payable by employees. This error has only affected staff who were on the company medical aid scheme.

The effect of this is that since March 2006 staff who are on medical aid, while they have been receiving the correct salary, have had less than the required PAYE amount deducted from their salaries every month and have therefore have been receiving an inflated cash amount every month. This will be evident if staff compare their February 2006 payslip to their March 2006 payslip. The gist of the system error is that the fringe benefit in respect of the company contribution to Medical Aid was not being recognised as taxable income as it should be. The unfortunate result is that staff with higher medical aid costs are most affected.

The payments now reflected now indicate the amounts that should be the net cash component. The result is that affected staff have had a cash benefit over the last 12 months which has now been corrected going forward.

No adjustment has been made in respect of the prior 12 month underdeductions and it is likely that the taxman will detect the underdeduction and the individual tax payer will have to pay the shortfall in the assessed tax for the 2006/7 year of assesment. Should this situation arise the company will assist employees if they receive a tax assessment and they have to pay the taxman the under deducted PAYE, in the form of a loan to the employees to be recovered over an agreed period of time.

On a more positive note - the March 2007 tax amounts have been calculated using the prior year tax tables. When the current year tax tables are applied this will result in a reduction of the tax payable amount which will be adjusted in your next payslip. The exact adjustment will depend on which particular tax bracket you fall into.

I must emphasise that the company has received no benefit as a result of this fuckup and that I am aware that this turn of events may place a unexpected burden on those so affected. I have personally reviewed and recalculated each payslip and while this has confirmed that the majority of payslips are correct a number of errors have been noted which have been forwarded for immediate rectification. If any staff member would like to discuss this with me I encourage you to call me directly at head office or on my cell.

Sincerely,...

Gooi die dice - freakonomically

This is something that has bugged me for a while in the International cricket arena. But it is really just basic economics. And while the tragic end to the life of Bob Woolmer may have reminded me of my thesis it is not really restricted to a comment of underworld matchfixing. This is much bolder than that.

As I said – basic economics. Take a normal series (Test or ODI). A simple 3 matches. Just how often is it so: The home side wins the first, the visitors take the second game and it all ends in a thrilling finale in the country’s largest stadium. If the score is 2-0 either way by the time it gets to the third match the stadium will be half full. What is the value of a half the seats in a stadium? What is the difference in TV viewership?

There are exceptions – but sometimes they tend to prove the rule rather than discount it. Take Australia’s recent test match series showcasing Shane Warne’s retirement. No need to rig the series because everyone wanted to see Warnie’s last game in their town. So here we had Australia’s crowds packing stadia to ride the success wave rather than view a thrilling contest.

Some indications.

In the last 10 years only 13 test series (of at least 180) have taken place where a side has won the series outright without conceding a match. (9 times this was Australia, 1 involved Sri Lanka klapping Zimbabwe and 1 involved Pakistan doing the same to Bangladesh)

But over all time (many hundred series since 1882) only 13 sides have won a series after a bad start (defined as Down 0-1 in 3/4 Test Series or 0-2 in 5/6 Test Series)

I've always thoght that in any 2 horse race, on most occasions, one can identify the stronger candidate. The stronger candidate usually wins the race – right?

Let us assume we have a classic 6 sided dice. Pakistan are playing Ireland so the dice is entirely a light green colour. 1 side has a shamrock emblazoned on it and the other 5 sides have the crescent and star emblem of Pakistan.

We gooi the dice the first time and up comes the crescent as expected.

The odds remain the same (same dice!) as we gooi it again. Good golly gosh! Now we get a shamrock! Entirely plausible – 1 in 6 aren’t ridiculous odds are they? But then, over time, there should be an even spread of the 1 in 6 winners no matter what stage of the series one is at (1st game, 2nd game or 3rd game) – and there are clearly not!

The third throw (same odds remember). Aha, Pakistan have dug deep and ups pops the crescent & star again. Series won. Delirious crowds in home stadium and the visitors depart on the next plane having held their own. Sound familiar?

Maybe one can argue some psychological angle that the side winning first game let down their guard, are overconfident, are faced with a regrouped opposition, etc etc , but I think the psychologists are not as influential as the bankers.

Games get thrown – and I don’t think that the players feel particularly bad about it. It is basic incentive economics.+

Ag, man – maybe I’m just a bit cynical?

+Steven Levitt in his book : " Freakonomics" deals with three basic flavors of incentive: economic, social, and moral.
In this case. Economic ? - Oh Yeah - "cash is my king". Social ? - "We're providing great entertainment, aren't we?". Moral? - "Who cares? - nobody will know, it's not like we're murdering people or anything!"

Some Random Things

Random quote of current relevance:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . . "

- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

Random interesting blogs out there.

Bonobo World

Jaysus, but it's one piss-poor book. Let's deal with the
editing first. I'll admit that I'm as prone to error as anyone and I can't proof read for shit - but that someone is actually credited as having edited this book defies the imagination. There are numerous repetitions.

TwentyMajor

Now, if previous to this statistic Dublin wasn’t the most
likely city in Europe to meet your maker then I would respectfully suggest that crime isn’t really falling at all, so much as escalating. In that sense I can very much understand the government’s frustration at the rate of falling. Negative falling, I think it’s called. Maybe they can use that in their election campaign. Crime is falling negatively

Casa Az

I love this programme. And I’m also slightly in lust with Hugh Laurie - who’d have thunk that Bertie Wooster had such a gritty & sexy side to him?

Woodpigeon

When it comes to skiing I am absolutely fearless. I am also
absolutely clueless. A dangerous combination, I think. We were absolutely wrecked by the end of the day. I had a very pleasant Indian meal in Burlington followed by a few drinks close to my sister’s apartment.

And a bit from the underbelly..
Japanese Forms

Photos from the men's magazines of
yesteryears.

A brief history of Peas

Peas broke up with her beau today.

March 2007

the end

We broke up.

It was mutual.

And amicable.

I feel like Captain Shiteski right now.

This breakup has, like the preceding ones been reasonably public (and on this one, one can even read the other side of the story.)

There was even a bit of warning last month.

February 2007

We had a relationship review at the beginning of this year and it made me realise that if we don’t work, I’ll be okay, I’ll get over him

Things have changed a bit though.

Peas has been blogging for some time now and I have been a regular visitor. A vicarious way of living I guess. I really do dearly love this amazing person. She wears her heart on her sleeve and has a unique style. Full of halarious misspellings but behind it all immensely sharp and very funny. The classic say as you think it sort of girl. And no less than 4 SA Blog Awardes nominations this year to boot.

Anyway …..Peas used to blog on a site simply called Peas on Toast. (although if you visit that site now – its been hijacked by some online dating website!)

She moved to the Mushy site in March 2006 when things went seriously mushy. It took a few days to track her down.

March 06

the worst day of my life

That's today.If there are three people that should never ever come across my blog, they are in order of importance:

My ex S

My ex R

Small Bum

But ESPECIALLY not my ex S.

This has got to be the biggest fuck up ever. He found it without me
even having saying anything. I went out with him for 6 years. This blog would've hurt him like nothing on Earth.I'm actually sort of floating on this dark cloud of Hell, not sure whether to throw myself in front of a bus, or just drink myself to death on the bottle of whiskey I have sitting at home.

Henceforth, please spread the word. My new address is:
http://mushypeasontoast.blogspot.com

Too little too late.

From then on Peas was a bit wary and stopped linking to her Archives on her site. But google rarely forgets. So one can still get there with a bit of sleuthing.

(Try substituting other single syllable words to access the rest : “I”, “the”, “it”, “she” etc.).

It does seem that the bits that would have/did hurt ExS have gone though. So the details of those departures (S & R) have been erased.

But the end of Small Bum is still around…

May 2006

tears in the traffic

"50% of me wants to stay with you, the other 50% thinks its better I leave now."

He left.

Small Bum broke up with me.

I am devastated.

Anyway – why do I go to this effort to haul out the history? Is it some vindictive reminder to Peas of all the crap times she has had to deal with over the last year?

On the contrary.

With the passage of each of these men in her life, we have, through Peas writing, been witness to a life (that between breakups) she has seriously enjoyed and lived fully. Each of these men have been special to her and have been a large part of her being able to enjoy and live her life fully. Each time she has bounced back, stronger, more mature and happier. I want to remind Peas of that.

Before you can say cotton doondies - she will do so again.+

Fly by night

Mate K (phonecall 5.15 pm): “Hey Wit, I’ve been in your town for the last day or so, had hoped to see you but the bloody meeting went on a bit. Must dash and catch the 6 o’clock back to Durbs.”

Mate K (phonecall 5.45 pm) : “Hey, bloody airlines! Flight is seriously delayed – something about a delay this morning turning round. My boarding pass now says feckin’ 8.20pm!! We’re going to beg the car hire guys to give us the car back for a while - How do I get to your place?”

Wit: “Left out of the airport, left again, right into 6th, duck the camera on Target Kloof. When you see the Solly Kramers, left again. Stop – 1 x 6 pack please. My house is about a km from there. See you now.”

6pm (my place). Everywhere in PE takes 15 minutes to get to. The old folks still talk of the good old days when it used to be a “10 minute” town – but how things have changed.

Wit: “Howzit Mate K & Mate D – want a cup of tea or two?”.

Watch some cricket on the box – minnow 1 vs minnow 2. 50 overs of mediocrity coming to a conclusion.

7pm: Mate D’s phone rings: (He is polite and stands up to take the call in the hallway).

Mate D: “Hello …………Yes this Mr Mate D?”

Mate D: “No I don’t need a new credit card – I’m up to my eyeballs in debt as it is. Bye now. ….OK I won’t hang up. SAA you say? My flight has boarded already!!! …….But the boarding pass in my hand says I board at gate 3 at 8.20 – in about 80 minutes! …Where am I? ……….At a mates place having a cup of tea……..Oh, you’re sorry but has there has been a stuff up! …Damn right….and now?….You’ll hold the flight for us. …OK. See you shortly.”

Wit: “Cheers folks. Just watch for that bloody camera on Target Kloof!”

9.20 pm (Phone call –it’s Mate K.) “Hey, we’re back in Sharks territory. That was fun. Must do that again. Never had an entire plane stand up and give me such rapturous applause when I boarded a plane before.”

Got to love our national airline.