Florida's Hurricane Season Officially ends

The 2006 Hurricane Season officially ends today.
The date conventionally points to the annual estimated time when most tropical cyclones forms in the Atlantic basin.
This season was unusual in that no hurricanes actually made landfall in the US. This is in spite of the fact that forecasts predicted it to be one of the most active hurricane seasons in many a year. Only Hurricane Ernesto caused any serious threat, hitting Haiti and killing 7. It is the quietest season since 1994, my last Eendrag-year!

Picture of the Week #2

Taken deep in the Lesotho Highlands, Southern Africa, by my friend Lawrette McFarlane, November 2006.

The SKYPE's The Limit

Are you connected yet?
Skype (www.skype.com) is a small downloadable program that makes it possible for you to make free calls over the Internet to anyone else who has Skype. Calls to landlines and mobiles are also free within the US and Canada until the end of '06.
Skype is 'n fantastiese manier om in verbinding te bly, om lang-afstand vriendskappe en verhoudings in stand te hou, uit te bou en aan te bou!
Ons Skype-naam: marcosarahbouwer
Kontak ons gerus. Ons sien uit om van jou te hoor.
(Pic: Taken from our webcam during a Skype conversation with the Hennings in Amsterdam yesterday.)

Picture of the Week #1

I thought this picture of the retired couple enjoying the sun on a hot Sunday on Vero Beach was a winner! Maybe some Travel Mag'll be interested. (Click to enlarge.)

Weekend On the East Coast

Sarah and I headed North on I-95 on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start of the mad Xmas shopping spree. We visited our old friends Art and Adele Termorshuizen, somewhere between Jupiter and Vero Beach along Florida's East Coast. Art was my colleague in Taichung and then Sarah's colleague last year in Miami. Small world.

It was simply fantastic to spend time with them, to get out of Miami for a breather and some cooler weather. The Termorsies live on the edge of a State Park, with the Atlantic Ocean less then 2 miles away.
I'm ready for a change of lifestyle. I'll let ye'all know when my business plan is finished and accepted...

Pics below: Florida teems with beautiful birdlife. The sandhill stork (left) and the pelicans weren't camera-shy.

Thanksgiving 2006

"'n Liederlike gevreet!"

Dit was 'n groot bird, gaargetroetel deur talentvolle hande.

Ek wil 'n paar van hierdie disse Kaap toe bring, ek sal 'n ryk man word...

Thanksgiving Prep

Meet Fred. I met this ol' farm boy recently at Miami's Harvest Festival.
He'll be joining us for a royal Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday...

Re-enactment Village

Playstation 3 To Die For

Sony's Playstation 3 game console is official released today. Since Monday, people have been camping in line at the supply stores like Best Buy. This morning, at a large retail store in Orlando, there was a very limited number of the Playstations available. The first four buyers had to be escorted to their cars by policemen, for fear of physical harm from a crowd of bystanders/failed buyers!
In another incident in Fort Lauderdale a man was attacked and shot outside a Wal-Mart, when he failed to hand over his newly purchased Playstation 3.
How does ordinary people transform into mental cases over a game console?! Part of the answer propably lies in the fact that within hours of it's release, some of these game consoles were for sale on E-Bay for 5-7 times it's retail price of $599.

Larry Did What?!

Last night CNN's Emmy Award-winning talk show host, Larry King, appeared as a guest on another talk show last week and admitted to having never used the Internet.
Wow! It is possible.

South Africa "Shines" Again on the World Stage

It's official. Gay marriages are now legal in South Africa.
No more shall there be discrimination against a person, not only on the base of race, culture, language or religious beliefs, but also on the basis of his/her sexual preferences.
All righty then...

The Florence of Florida

Busch Gardens Africa

Tampa, Naples and St. Petersburg

Table Mountain at Dusk - 11/7/06

There's a link on my Blog to live webcam views of different areas of South Africa - "Cape Town Webcam Views" (right hand column).

I visit this site often to remind myself how beautiful my hometown is.
(The picture was taken this evening, just shy of 7:00 p.m.)

US Midterm Elections - Tomorrow

The trouble with elections in America is that somebody will get elected!

Here in the States voters have been flooded with ambitious advertising and expensive and very nasty election campaigns by candidates from both the Republicans and the Democrats. This election will determine the balance of power in Washington for the next two years, leading up to the next presidential elections. Analysts predict a stronger than usual showing from Democrats during this election.

As an outsider I was startled to see what transpires when democracy evolves like it has in the land of the free = The amount of mudslinging, accusations and negative advertising has surely made the American public very hesitant to vote for any candidate. During an episode of CSI, we saw at least 5 political ads last night - Not one of them spurring the public on to vote for a certain candidate, but all asking voters NOT to vote for the opposition. "They are worse then us", is the basic message. Politicians!

In South Africa we have a young democracy, but at least with youth comes (and excuse the pun here), clearcut black and white issues. Voters have a clear idea where candidates stand on issues (definitely NOT referring to Cape Town politicians, who are worse than their American counterparts!). Apart form the huge debate about the war in Iraq, the elections has hinged on scandals and other negativities.

In Florida, Charlie Christ, the Republican candidate for governor, reclined to appear at a large rally in Pensacola with president G.W. Bush. This underscored the reluctance of some of Bush's own candidates to be closely linked with him in public.
(Picture: NYTimes/Reuters)

South Africa's Growing Exports

The Business Report had a very interesting report on South Africa's growing exports to the US.
According to the US International Trade Commission, SA exported goods to the US increased by 29% during the past 12 months. Around $5 billion worth. These goods are mostly made up of platinum group metals, diamonds and cars. (Cars? Interesting.)
Another interesting fact is that SA are in fact only the third-largest sub-Saharan exporter to the US, with Nigeria and Angola being ahead of the Republic.

Click below to view the full article.
Exports To The US Soar