Can you believe this!
ZUMA – The Bar is listed Number 17 on the 2021 list of the BEST 50 Bars in the World. Situated in Dubai, Zuma also offers high class & private dining.
So now we know where part of the state capture capital was invested. And it appears to be a solid investment – for Duduzane & other investors from the inner circle.
A perusal of VIP drinks for New Year’s Eve, include:
· Sandton Shebeen Royale – Johnny Walker Blue Label + Ice + Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut Champagne
· Gigaba Triple XOS – 50ml Hennessy Paradis Cognac + 90 ml Guava juice + 4 dashes of Bob’s cardamom bitter
· The Carl Niehaus – Witblits, straight
· House Red – Chateau Margaux 2000 [known for its lush opulence]
Prices are not listed, as it is immaterial to those who dine here. You can feast your eyes here https://zumarestaurant.com/locations/dubai/
The Zuma exists; that much is true. The rest is pure absurd fantasy. [But I submit it would make for a Netflix blockbuster. Think Succession, mixed with even more powerbrokers and obscenely expensive drinks.]
OMICRON CATASTROPHY
The world is truly in the grip of Omicron fever. Southern Africa has again been relegated to second-citizen status by the rich nations of the world. Even though first observations are that Omicron is less deadly than other variants, Southern Africa’s former colonial master has decided that it needs political spectacle to placate the locals [in the UK]. So while the British Prime Minister’s minions are on video laughing & joking about their corona busting parties in Downing Street, we are the HAVE NOT’S again.
PROGRESS – AS AN ABSURDITY
In amongst the awfulness of an empty December and a sick humanity, we were being told this week here in South Africa, by our highly respected Auditor General – responsible to audit government public finances for good financial housekeeping – that only 27% of the 425 government departments & entities were given clean audits. A total of 167 BILLION was irregularly spent over the past financial year, and, we are told, that this actually reflects progress. Progress?! Well if we have fallen so far in the mismanagement of our national finances that multi-billions of irregularly spent money, is progress, then I am not sure of anything anymore. Basically.
UPSTANDING – WHEN THE CURVE THREATENS TO FLATTEN YOU
Meanwhile South Africa’s well-meaning President Ramaphosa has continued to pick fights with the world’s Super Powers for Red-Listing Southern Africa again. On his return from his Grand African tour this week he stated the obvious; 2021 was a catastrophic year. But he added that he is still UPSTANDING and ready for the next fight. Yes that was good to hear – an acknowledgement of reality AND the resolve to tackle the future head-on.
2022
It has been my habit to see out the Old Year and welcome the New with a glass because I have always believed that the end of one journey presupposes a new adventure. I am about to lose that belief. I started this year fighting a serious attack of coronavirus and I am heading into 2022 fighting separation, not having seen my only child for 21 months. It feels like the Carpenters’ hit song of yesteryear, ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ is no longer the optimistic depiction of a new journey, but mocking humanity with: WATCH THIS SPACE – CORONAVIRUS HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.
MEET THE MAN WHO PREDICTED CLIMATE CHANGE
… and then I met this amazing man.
This week I [virtually] met, for the first time, the man who predicted climate change in 1966 – Syukuro Manabe.
In 1966 Manabe, then 35, was heading a team of computer programmers tasked with building a mathematical simulation of the planet’s atmosphere. They were based at the United States Weather Bureau in Washington D.C. Manabe had access to a computer called Stretch, one of the most powerful computers ever built. It was larger than a family home.
Manabe got a printout from Stretch, confirming what he suspected. The simulation predicted that carbon dioxide would trap heat energy in the lower atmosphere. The earth’s surface and its oceans would therefore get hotter, while the upper atmosphere would cool. This combination – cooler above, hotter below – is now regarded by climatologists as the smoking gun of human-caused climate change.
On December 6, at the age of ninety, Manabe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. The prize committee cited Manabe’s 1966 simulation as the first reliable prediction of climate change. WHAT A WELCOME NEW ADDITION TO MY KNOWLEDGE BANK IN A CATASTROPHIC YEAR.
Philosophy is the ‘love of wisdom’ – and you will agree that we need plenty of it in this catastrophic time. Nietzsche was a philosopher who has exerted a profound impact on modern intellectual thought. He highlighted the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral issues in pursuit of new values – of which mankind is in desperate need. I quote him here, as I think that what he says in this one sentence is profound – for You & Me & All of Us – especially taking into account that at age 45, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister. A towering beacon of intellectual guidance, felled by a catastrophic intervention.
“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.” Friedrich Nietzsche