Toll Roads - THE way forward

Dear South African motorist,

TOLL ROADS ARE TO BE IMPLEMENTED NATIONWIDE. Finish and klaar.

This is not just a Gauteng concern, every province is targeted for tolls.

IT SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER SCAM ON US ALL FOR THE ENRICHMENT OF A FEW. Consider….

1)    To fund the road costs by way of a small addition to the fuel levy would cost absolutely nil in collection fees. Nada, zilch!

2)    The proposed tolls collection costs amount to nearly 40% of what you will pay under tolling.  40% versus nothing. Where is the reasoned thinking?

3)    The collection fees (R5 billion a year) goes offshore to Austria, far from the auditor general’s reach and oversight powers. Petrol levies stay in S.A. and are audited.

4)    R5 billion exported impoverishes us all. Our current account is already disastrous. R5 billion is the equivalent of just 20 new Zumaseraglios, but is still a klomp geld

Wayne Duvenage says we already collect R40 billion p.a. in fuel levies, much more than we need to sustain  decent road structures.

Tolls are just another disguised tax like A.D.T., private schools and Discovery, paying for services which you have already paid for with your tax buck.

For-profit taxies are exempt from tolls, we producers still have to pay. Our Lords and Masters are dead scared of the taxies. So, I guess, are we all!

Daily we read  of the huge financial scams being perpetrated on us by our scurvy elected Lords and Masters. Daily. Huge amounts and no one is ever brought to account.

We are punch drunk and feel powerless. We know that this latest scheme is like the others. We know why they will not release the contract details, and are united in gatvolheid.

TOLL ROAD DISOBEDIENCE IS OUR CHANCE TO FIGHT BACK! And no one gets to bleed for a change. You can simply suck it up (again) or fight back.

A very simple solution is at hand. It will cost you nothing, give you immense satisfaction and screw those scumbags who wish to accumulate huge offshore bank accounts at your expense.

DO NOT REGISTER FOR E-TOLL TAGS. REGISTERING IS NOT A LEGAL REQUIREMENT. IF YOU DO NOT REGISTER THEY HAVE TO SEND YOU AN ACCOUNT, 300 THOUSAND ACCOUNTS A DAY, 10 BILLION ACCOUNTS PER YEAR, 10 BILLION! Quite impossible, and the scam will collapse.

Then query your account! What fun. They will have to send you a photo of every toll you have passed through, maybe 20 billion in total. Then argue that it was not you but a cloned licence plate. Demand proof that you were the driver. With individual identification.

DEMAND THAT THEIR 'LETTERS OF DEMAND' ARE SENT BY REGISTERED POST. Oh! The cost, the cost, the cost!

Defend the case if you have time, but it will never reach that stage, the logistics and costs would be too overwhelming for the possible scamsters to contemplate. Insist, in writing, that the guy in charge of the camera attend the court, then pay your R15 due the day before trial.

Over 20 years there is perhaps R160 billion at stake here, many times that when every province is targeted.

R160 billion of your, my and South Africa’s money, possibly diverted to crooks ( they will not disclose the contracts which divulge where and to whom the toll fees are to be paid, so we cannot know).

Sincerely, if you are tired of being a milch cow, tired of seeing your hard worked for earnings being ripped off for the benefit of a few connected yobboes, tired of being scammed

DO NOT BUY AN E-TAG, THEY CANNOT LOCK YOU UP, CANNOT BEGIN TO FIGHT US ALL, CANNOT HOPE TO WIN.

Remember, the more draconian they get in trying to extort money from you, the more they will lose at the polls, and losing power is something they cannot afford as it would deny them the unlimited power of plunder they now enjoy.

Please send this to as many of your contacts as possible.

Petrolatum, petroleum jelly, Vaseline,

Recently I discovered that I am allergic to petrolatum, (petroleum jelly or Vaseline). It cause contact dermatitis.  After I had used aqueous cream for a long time my hands started peeling and the skin started breaking open, especially on my index fingers.

No matter how much I put on the skin got worse.

SO I stopped putting cream on and my hands slowly healed.  At night I would put my hands in water and then into polythene gloves.  This helped moisturise them.  Then I tried pure olive oil (the edible kind) which helped quite a lot but the result was oily marks all over everything for at least an hour. Fine if you are not in a hurry.

THEN I discovered why my skin reacts to this mix. When you read the recipe for AQUEOUS CREAM B.P. I understand why I react to it. The following is extracted from the British Pharmocopaeia 1968:


AQUEOUS CREAM
Hydrous Emulsifying Ointment
Emulsifying Ointment     300 g.
Chlorocresol 1 g.
Purified Water   699 g.

Dissolve the Chlorocresol in the Purified Water with the aid of
gentle heat. Melt the Emulsifying Ointment, add the solution of
Chlorocresol while still warm, and stir gently until cold.
Storage. Aqueous Cream should be kept in a well-closed container and
stored in a cool place.
Action and Use. Water-miscible cream basis.

Then I read what was in Emulsifying Ointment:


EMULSIFYING OINTMENT

Emulsif. Oint.
Ung. Emulsif.

Emulsifying Wax                       300 g.
White Soft Paraffin                    500 g.
Liquid Paraffin                   200 g.
Melt together and stir until cold.
Preparation. Aqueous Cream.

I hunted for products which did not contain mineral oil, petrolatum or liquid paraffin and found very few.  Most of these contained Shea Butter (to which I also react) or glycerin (which is OK if it is of vegetable origin but in South Africa it is mostly a by-product of Coal refinery and comes from Sasolburg).

I tried all sorts of raw materials in an effort to find something which would help with the healing process and stop my hands peeling. I even tried a product which supposedly promoted healing with Calendula.  It just made the condition worse and when I wrote to the manufacturer asking what the base cream was I received no reply.

I  have done a bit of research on Vaseline, petrolatum and have found on this site:
fablenaturals.com  the following:

The bad: Surprise, surprise, it’s made from petroleum! And why would that ever be good for our skin? Petrolatum forms a barrier on the skin, clogging pores and causing acne. Like SLS, it’s been found to be contaminated with other chemicals (like 1, 4 dioxane) linked to cancer.The alternative: Use a natural version of petroleum jelly – such as a salve or a body butter. They will contain oils and a natural wax like beeswax to moisturize and protect your skin.Some people will argue that there is nothing wrong with these chemicals. And there are so many studies and conflicting pieces of advice that it’s hard to know who to listen to. But with all the safer alternatives out there, why would you choose to use a product that could be bad for your health?

There are other sites which also pan petrolatum, for clogging pores, damaging lips. An alternative is coconut oil, beeswax, honey, lemon juice, mixed together make a cream.

Eventually I wanted to try pure lanolin and couldn't find any. I eventually remembered something my grandmother used to make and could not find the ingredients. I hunted and hunted and hunted, and then I remembered UDDER CREAM and started asking around.

It is marketed as MILKING CREAM and is available from farm supply stores.  I patch tested a tub at the price of R40 per tub and found that it works.  There may or may not be petrolatum in it but it seems to be easier on my hands than the commercial hand creams with all their fancy additives and seems to soak in relatively quickly and doesn't leave oily patches on my keyboard as I type.  

It also works on my cracked heels.  A nice alternative to Eulactol Heel balm which I find expensive and ultra greasy.

I HATE MICROSOFT

AGAIN Microsoft XP has failed on my Desktop computer.

I wonder if it is a built in obsolescence from Microsoft.  Probably.  OR it is just that dear Microsoft wants to make sure you are using a "legal" paid for version of their software.

Now is the time to chuck Microsoft out the window.

When I google the error of :

"desktop keeps trying to boot  but goes to safe mode options screen"

I get loads and loads of advice including: "reboot from your XP cd"

or a wonderful explanation from 

bleepingcomputer.com/

which explains very nicely what to do but that doesn't work on my desktop

So I insert my "legal" paid for XP and reboot.

"Press any key" to boot from CD.

Can't find the "any" key. LOL

The setup screen presents three choices.

To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER
To repair a windows XP installation Recovery Console, press R
To quit setup without installing Window XP, Press F3.

Press R

Pretty blue screen with a ribbon of  stuff happening at the bottom of the screen
BLACK screen:

Microsoft Windows XP (TM) Recovery Console
The Recovery Console provides system repair and recover functionality
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.
C:\>

So here goes.
And back to the black screen of

safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompt
restart manually
last known good configuration

around and around in circles we go.

SOD this crappy MIcrosoft garbage.  

I HATE MICROSOFT AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR.
So typical that someone else has to fix an error that you cannot make right in the first place.  

All this is probably because you want me to buy your crappy DOZE 7 or 8 or whatever.

NO no no and again no.

SWEETIM THE HIJACKER

Now there is this disgusting hijacker of computers, called SWEETIM which you cannot get rid of.

It links itself to any number of websites in and then downloads onto you system.

You can't destroy it as it will come back.

I wish SWEETIM would die and never return.  It thinks it is JESUS CHRIST AND KEEPS RESURRECTING ITSELF.

No matter how many CCLEANERS and SPYBOT programmes you install this SWEETIM crap will return and attack your computer.

I hate  SWEETIM.  I want it destroyed along with its host MICROSOFT

Microsoft outlook

O MIcrosoft!  How do I hate thee?

Maybe I shouldn't use a word as strong as hate.

Maybe loathe and despise are better words to use.

Over the years I have had to use your crappy packages because the companies I have worked for know no better than to have to pay for your garbage.

When I worked at Microsoft I had the misplaced opportunity to purchase a legal copy of your last halfway decent Windows - XP and the current MS Office 2007 Ultimate for a reasonable price.

About two and a half years ago my Outlook 2007 failed.  I don't remember what the symptoms were but they were severe enough for me to install Thunderbird and run that instead.  It ran successfully for six months until my desktop computer bluescreened and died.  The hard drive did not fail but the XP did!!!

I had to reformat my hard drive and reinstall all my programmes.  Fortunately, I had performed a backup of all my documents a week before and I discovered a fantastic package named PANDORA with I which resurrected 95% of my documents.

Now my Outlook 2007 has failed AGAIN!!!!!!  IT has changed its settings without a by your leave from me and refuses point-blank to download my e-mails.  This time I will install Thunderbird and leave MS Outlook in the trash where it belongs.  Microsoft's "help" does not and no one ever comes back from MS to even offer solutions.

I seldom use the other packages in the MS Office 2007 suite other than Excel and sometimes Word (which is about as user-friendly as a rabid pitbull).  When someone sends me a powerpoint file I will read it in powerpoint BUT I never use powerpoint, Access, Publisher, Groove, Infopath or Onenote because  I have absolutely NO use for them.  There are so many far more useful FREE packages available on the internet.

I purchased a laptop last year because the genealogy programme was conflicting with the my OCR package.  AND neither supplier would willingly offer solutions other than to tell me to upgrade (at a price) to their new version. That laptop came installed with Windows 7 starter (another useless apology for a platform).  It also came with MS OFFICE 2010 loaded - not installed.

The first thing I did was uninstall/unload MS OFFICE 2010 and load Apache OPEN OFFICE 3.4.0.

I have not looked back, in fact I so enjoy working on a package which does not crash that I am now going to remove MS OFFICE 2007 from my desktop computer and carry on using the Open Office 3.4.1.  Even my 1998 OCR package talks to Open office.  AND open office does everything MS OFFICE does with more quiet efficiency like removing itself from the RAM when I have finished using it.

South African Politicians

What South Africans really think of Jacob Zuma:

Jacob Zuma - Jungle Book Spoof

GARBAGE IN YOUR MAKEUP

With reference to my earlier posting on Saccharin,  have you ever read what is in your moisturizers and make up?

Read the labels and you will never wear make up again:

For example:

Mineral oil is a waste product from refining gasoline. You’ll find it in thousands of products in the beauty aisle.

Toxic formaldehyde is used in embalming. It’s also used in many so-called beauty products.

BHA – a common ingredient in facial moisturizers and sunscreens – increases your skin’s sensitivity to the burning rays of the sun.

Ammonia is highly corrosive to your skin, but cosmetics companies use it in facial moisturizers. Hand creams are mostly made from aqueous cream which has a base of petrolatum which is vaseline. Ever wondered why you feel you must put lipstick on all the time? The reason is that the main ingredient of most lipsticks and lip glosses is Petrolatum.  Petrolatum is another name for Vaseline, petroleum jelly or mineral oil. Many years ago I worked as a laboratory technician in the pharmaceutical industry and part of my job was to test petrolatum.  While I was testing it I decided to do some research and was horrified at where it came from, and what other uses it could be put to. One example is to extract perfume from rose petals (or any petals for that matter) and one smears petrolatum on glass plates and stick the petals onto the vaseline.  You then put it in the sun so that the petrolatum heats up.  The perfume oils and colour is extracted from the petals and is transferred to the petrolatum.  You then take a solvent such as petroleum spirit, alcohol, acetone to wash the petrolatum into a beaker.  After much washing of the petrolatum  and drying off of the solvent you hopefully get an aromatic perfume which is then used to perfume soaps, etc. Petrolatum does the same thing to your skin, especially your lips.  It extracts the oils from your skin and because your skin feels dry you add more cream or lipstick and the cycle starts again.  Your lips dry and you add more. The solution to this is to use a beeswax or castor oil (ricinus) based lipstick. For hands and bodies, use glycerine or shea based hand creams.  Personally I use udder cream which is made to sooth cows udders during the milking process.  Udder cream or milking cream, however, does have lanolin in it. Other horrible additives to make up and cosmetics are the preservatives, such as E.D.T.A, (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid,) which is usually used to dissolve limescale. Limescale is that stuff that coats the inside of your kettle, pipes, iron or wherever water evaporates. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylenediaminetetraacetic_acid