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Showing posts from 2015

Letter in Cape Times 29th December 2015 "Ratepayers Ignored in City's Grand Centralisation Scheme"

Letter in today's Cape Times "Ratepayers Ignored in City's Grand Centralisation Scheme" I live in the City of Cape Town, so I will use the City of Cape Town as my example, but I believe this example to be applicable to Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa. The City, which works for its corporate citizens, providing them with a "red tape to red carpet" special service that us mere mortals can only dream of, is implementing a massive growth strategy to increase square meters of office, conference, hotel and private living space in the Central Business District (CBD) and close to it. This makes the land in the CBD much more valuable, making billions for the property developers and hundreds of millions in additional rates annually for the city. People are forced to travel into the city where in the rest of the word, cities are moving to decentralised "pod" offices as Shelley Childs wrote about in your newspaper recently. At the same t

"Burning witches at a stake"?

Article in Thursday 26th Cape Times where Judge Ismail says "You raped her, killed her and finally tied her to a pole and set her alight as if she was some kind of witch at a stake". I took exception to this and write a letter which was published today: Your article in Thursday's paper "Two Life Terms for Rape, Murder of Girl" refers. I am concerned with High Court Judge Mohamed Ismail's use of the term "burning witches at the stake". Fortunately for our modern society there are very many men and women with intuition. One could include Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, and probably every single woman that I know on this list. In the Middle and Dark Ages, if you knew something that no one had told you, or if you were a homeopath or a naturopath or a healer, then you were likely to be labelled a witch and burnt at the stake. There are also very many "witches" in our modern societies who practice wicca and many

City of Cape Town warns that vehicle licence disc renewal notices are still not being sent

Please bring it to the attention of the Sector you represent and to the attention of your members respectively. CITY OF CAPE TOWN 27 NOVEMBER 2015 MEDIA RELEASE City warns that vehicle licence disc renewal notices are still not being sent Motorists whose vehicle licence discs expire on 30 November 2015 and are renewable by 22 December 2015 and those whose discs expire on 31 December 2015 and are renewable by 22 January 2016 will not be receiving renewal notices. Read more below: The City of Cape Town asks motorists to act proactively and to check the renewal date on their existing licence disc to ensure that the necessary arrangements are made, and to renew discs online where possible. Motorists are also reminded that the National Department of Transport’s new requirements apply, i.e. of providing, amongst others, proof of residence when applying for a motor vehicle licence disc renewal. ‘It is currently the busiest time of the year for our municipal offices, which include our motor

Banning Yoga

As the pharmaceutical companies ban everything good about our planet, including quite a few natural remedies that I used to take, they are now at war with the things that make us whole, like Yoga. http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/university-of-ottawa-bans-yoga-classes-over-cultural-genocide-concerns-20151123-gl693i.html In South Africa, besides the banned natural remedies, we are also seeing an attack on our sangomas and witchdoctors. Probably because they are doing great work and this is affecting the pharmaceutical companies' drug sales. I don't believe in conspiracy theory. All the things I've said so far are based on fact. Meditation, Tai Chi, Homeopathy, HeartMath: are they going to be banned next?

Multipotentialites

It turns out that I'm not so crazy after all, according to Emile Wapnick :) Multipotentialites : the world needs us Super Powers we have: 1) Idea Synthesis. At intersections. 2) Rapid Learning. Because we start so often. 3) Adaptability. To thrive. Needed in the 21st Century. Also known as Renaissance Man.

Should we be Facebook friends just because we have lots of Facebook friends in common?

You are probably all aware that Facebook suggests friends. Over the past few weeks, I've been friending everyone where I have more than 100 friends in common. I used to do it above 50 friends, then 60, 70, 80, 90 and now 100 friends. I thought that if we have 100 friends in common on Facebook then we probably have something in common. But I have discovered this not to be the case. Counter-intuitive? The fact that we have perhaps a hundred friends in common doesn't make us friends. It just makes us people with 100 friends in common. It could be because the other person is a famous person, or famous in their field and so lots of people are connected to them. It doesn't make them a "friend". I have very few really close friends, probably like many of you, i.e. people with whom I can share anything. And then I have the regulars on Facebook with whom I communicate almost daily and then I have followers who want to know what I post, but don't want to frien

VW: a classic case of strategic malfunction!

Why did VW cheat? http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100225_why-did-volkswagen-cheat-on-diesel-emissions-in-its-tdi-cars They said that EV's and Hybrids were a waste of time!! And that diesels were the way to go. They dug themselves in so deep in this (stupid) ethos that they "had" to start cheating to keep proving themselves (wrong)!! A classic case of strategic malfunction.

Happy New Year 5776: Meeting the strangers in our lives

I thought that everyone should know that whilst the ANC distances itself from Israel, other parties are actually going there and seeing for themselves what's going on. As we approach the Jewish New Year tomorrow (Sunday) night and Monday, we must remember that we are all strangers to each other. We are even strangers to ourselves, hence Buddhist Bodhisattva training and introspection and meditation. It is time for us to understand the strangers in our midst, be they ourselves, in our families, our cousins and uncles and aunts, our neighbours, the people with whom we work, and even our "enemies." Many of our enemies are simply those that we just don't know or don't care about or don't understand. I heard a beautiful message by someone who wrote to John Matham on 567 Cape Talk last night where this someone said that after 9/11 he went to his local Mosque and said to the Imam that he would like to join in Friday lunch time prayers. He is an American person

Energy Keynote Speaker

Dear all Just a reminder that I'm available for motivating your staff to reduce their cost of living, increase their performance, be motivated to share their energy efficiency experiences, and become power stations. Power Stations in the external and internal sense of the word. My links . Regards David

Music Producer? Max Your Spotify Song Plays, 3min

Traktomizer: Music Producer? Max Your Spotify Song Plays https://youtu.be/3A7NRvt9ies I don't normally advertise, but this is my brother

Change your language; change your life

Change your language; change your life. There are so many expressions where we blame money for all our problems, but if we see money as having both good and bad purposes and if we use the good expressions, then we change our thinking about money and more money travels to us for the good we will do. So instead of saying: "Shitloads of money" and "Money is the root of all evil" say: "Shedloads of money" and "Money is the root of all possibility." Another thing we need to do is change "Killing Time" to "Using time wisely". If you think about it, you'll realise that Time is our most valuable asset. If we had more time, we could do more things, make more money, spend more time with our friends, spend more time exercising, spend more time learning, etc. Please don't kill time.

David Lipschitz, the Global Keynote Speaker

Dear all See my new web site: Global Keynote Speaker Energy – Keynotes by David Lipschitz Keynotes Conference speaking Presentations: choose a subject or select from a list Chairing debates and panel discussions Advisory panels Or invite me to your conference because of the questions I ask. I get the debate going! I am a keynote speaker at conferences, amongst quite a few other energy related work I do. I take the technical detail from the energy world to non-technical people to show them how they can reduce their cost of living for themselves and the environment and how they can make their own electricity so that load shedding doesn’t affect them, and so that they can protect their environment, their income and prepare for retirement. To keep busy when I’m not talking about or researching energy, I develop financial, manufacturing, incentive and loyalty software using Delphi and Oracle. Looking forward to your comments and to working with you. Regards David

The Lindt Joyride

"Yours in sweetness, The Lindt Hello Team" Enjoy Lindt :) The best chocolate in the world. ok, ok, home-made chocolate is better, but Lindt is easier to buy. #SINGHELLO Dion and I trying to sing something we've never sung before. Enjoy, like and help us go to the Big Apple. Hopefully with our partners :) http://videos.instavid.co.za/view/yipnsnai And the original here: It's a really nice video too :)

Greece and the Greek Economic Crisis

Greece: I) Countries can ENTER the European Union. But when they EXIT , there's a big hoo-hah! Why? II) The Greek Government owes the money. (Where's Julius Malema when you need him?) Pay back the money government! For the past 5 years the people have paid the huge taxes you have levied on them, for example VAT at 23%!! "An employer is obligated to deduct tax at source from an employee and to make additional contributions to social security as in many other EU member states. The employer's contribution amounts to 28.06% of the salary. The employee's contribution is 16%." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Greece

Happy birthday America

Happy birthday America in your most recent incarnation. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html It is worth reminding ourselves what this Independence Declaration says and that we need to throw off the yoke of those who shackle us, actually mainly ourselves through our ignorance and unwillingness to trust ourselves and each other. "The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription "IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. "We hold these truths to be self-evide

Attack an idea; don't attack a person!

Attack an idea; don't attack a person! When people start attacking people, then I delete posts. If people persist in this behaviour then I unfriend them on Facebook (I'll still pray for their souls), no matter how interesting they are! If you want to explain something to me that you think I don't understand, then fair enough, go ahead. If a discussion is comparing R5,000 backup systems with R80,000 backup systems, then that is also fair enough. We know what we are paying for and we understand that there is a difference between a R5,000 system and an R80,000 system. I actually liked the discussion because my friend in India was telling me how he hacked a UPS and made it a whole lot better. I'd never heard of anyone doing this before and it excited me. Perhaps it was only going to be better for a week; I have no idea. But I am going to talk to him and I'm going to pursue this option, just out of curiosity and to see what we can do with a R5,000 system. Somet

Repair Your World - Start Now

Dear friend Sit with yourself (your-self) for an hour. Don't do anything, Disconnect everything from the outside world. Don't think about your problems. Spend the whole time thinking about everything good that has ever happened to you; everyone who has ever phoned you to spend time with you (have you ever phoned yourself to spend time with yourself?). Repeat every time you feel a bit low: "May I be filled with loving kindness; May I be well; May I be peaceful and at ease; May I be happy." And add if you like: "I am unique; I am worthwhile; there is no one in the world like me." And if necessary think about your body and the millions of things that are going on every second and be truly thankful that everything is working just as it should. And if you can, change the I in the affirmations above to someone's name. or a group of people: firstly people you love and cherish; then your friends; then your acquaintances; and then in a few months of sitting, pe

Riots or Jobs?

This is what happens when government sees grants as the way to solve the unemployment crisis. 3.5 million taxpayers pay for everything and 17 million people get grants in South Africa. One day when government realise that they need to create an enabling environment for small business and when government realises that home owners and SMME's can make the electricity this country so sorely needs, we will be on a road to mending.

Westake, Statues, Electricity, and our City and Country

Dear all http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/00eba98047ffa988b8d2ff4405f77b26/Nine-arrested-during-Steenberg-taxi-protest-20150413 It took me 1 hour 40 mins to get to Westlake Business Park today. It normally takes 45 mins during traffic and 60 mins on a bad day and 30 mins without traffic. At least it kept the petrol companies happy! But it really destroyed the productivity of every business in Westlake today and possibly this entire week due to additional stress. Additional unnecessary stress after the recent fires in the area where people also couldn't get to work. Some of us really want to work and continue helping to make South Africa great - for ALL its people! For myself, I returned to SA back in July 1995. I left the OLD South Africa in 1987 and returned to the NEW South Africa in 1995, 20 years ago this year. As you all know, my blood type is B+ (be positive) and I am an optimist. I believe that if you are a cynic or pessimist, then you cannot survive in South Africa. South Afric

The Wealth (Rich and Poor) and Minimum Wage Debate

Question 1: I am 50 years old. I earn more than I did when i was 18 years old. After I left school, I studied a degree. Then I studied another one. Then I studied one part time for 2 years and basically stopped my life during those two years to do it. I went to work and came home and studied. Why should I earn the same as an 18 year old? Question 2: I work anything up to 60 to 80 hours a week. And every hour I work is a real hour. Why should I earn the same as someone who has a 9 to 5 job and perhaps only does 5 hours of real work in that time? Question 3: If I am wealthy, which itself is relative: I don't have a Mercedes; I don't have a yacht; I don't live in Bishopscourt or Fresnaye; I don't own a plane: then I use my money to better my life: I build houses, shopping centres, etc. I use my wealth to build stuff which allows other people to have jobs. If I earn more because 400 people have jobs because of me, then why should I earn the same as some

Pesach / Easter 2015: Energy, Aromatherapy and Crystal Healing’s Place in Judaism

I wrote this in 2007 for the Limmud Conference. It is applicable to Pesach / Passover / Easter, so I have published it here. I hope you enjoy it. Energy, Aromatherapy and Crystal Healing’s Place in Judaism Integrating Modern and Biblical Techniques Talk by David Lipschitz at Limmud 10 th August 2007; 26 th Av 5767 © David Lipschitz 2007. Permission is given for the making of extracts from this work, subject to the author being acknowledged. Energy Healing (Using Energy to heal) Just like planets, our human bodies possess energy fields .  These energy fields are called auras and can spread from the body to a few centimetres from the body to metres from the body.  Eg you may “feel someone’s presence” as the walk in to a room – and you want to be close to them. On the other hand, you sometimes find that you can’t stand too close to some people because they are draining you. These kinds of people are known as energy vampires. One notices energy when someone