If you haven't already heard of the Monopoly fever taking Cape Town and South Africa by storm, then let me do my duty of keeping you in the know.

Just a week ago, visitors to monopolyworldvote.com began voting for 22 cities that will be included in the first-ever worldwide edition of the game - MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition:

Voters are invited to cast their ballots for ten great cities each day of the vote, which will be open until 28 February 2008. The city that receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property.

The twenty cities that receive the most votes will be part of MONOPOLY history as the first cities selected to be on the World edition game board. However, two spaces on the board will be reserved for cities that are nominated through a wild card vote. Any city in the world can be nominated for these property spaces.

Only two African cities constitute the list of 68 that were nominated for the top 20 position: Cape Town and Cairo. When I first registered after reading eishman's blog post, Cape Town was placed outside of the top 20. But by the power of social media - the FB group 'Vote for Cape Town on the World Monopoly Board' and some blog posts, the Mother City is now sitting fine at 9th position, and climbing steadily. How awesome is that?

As a wildcard entry, Johannesburg is sitting at 13th position. Voting for the top 20 of the wildcard cities will commence on 29th February, when voting for the nominated cities comes to an end.

If you've got a minute to spare in your daily routine, I urge you to register at monopolyworldvote.com and join in the fun of getting Cape Town and Jozi to the top. I've also been voting for our African brother Cairo, which has dropped down to 23rd, so share some of that ubuntu lovin' while you're at it.

Aanndd... go!

Oh.. as it happens, myself and a group have been talking about organizing a pub crawl around Cape Town soon: 10 pubs/bars in 10 hours. By blogging it here, I'm putting the word out and committing to it, so stay tuned if you think that's something you'd fancy having a go at. Maybe when it's time to celebrate that Cape Town has reached number 1 position, which will be sometime in early March if the voting trend continues...!

UPDATE [04/02]: One week later and now we're 4th! Keep up the voting! Jozi is now 9th on the wildcard list and needs that extra push.

To be honest, I was a little sceptical when fellow saffer Gareth e-mailed me with his ideas for the reboot, given the time frame, my current workload, and the Make Povery History campaign's existing and extensive involvement resources. But after a week of e-mail exchange, I became convinced that it was certainly something worth at least attempting.

So I threw together a logo, we met up a few days later (it turned out that Gareth lives just around the corner from my flat) and over two nights working into the early morning, we completed and launched the website. Gareth wrote a press release on Thursday and has done a good job of getting the word out.

It's over to you now - if you own a website, or know someone that does, please lend us your screens. Community create awareness. Also take a second to add your voice. Saturday July 2nd will be the day the world demands justice. And if you're one of the lucky-1-in-7-chance buggers to attend the London concert and see Coldplay live, but can't decide who to take with... how ya doin'! ;)

And on that note, bands your iPod will love you for. Taking Back Sunday. Last Sunday. F-awesome! Oh yeah, and that Green Day band were good too. ;) We unfortunately missed the beginning of Jimmy Eat World's set, and didn't quite get into it after that. I'd love to catch them as a headline act. It's the humble opinion of this blogger that they would've stolen the show given the chance. I flickr'ed a couple of photos - or if you prefer, my four favourite shots. And.

What else. Web Designer magazine invited me to feature in an upcoming issue, in a profile Q&A format along with selected items from my portfolio. I'll let you know when it hits the shelves. Also thanks to WellVetted (twice over), CSS Import and cssdesign.se for the recent linkage lovin'.

And lastly, random rant - what's with people misspelling Cape Town as "Capetown"! R.E.M. did this on their latest tour which really grated me, as have a few others since. Or coda.coza as "Coda Coza", for that matter. Come now, respect the brand. :)

Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.
On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic.

8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and made the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history.

But they'll only do it if enough people tell them to.

We don't want your money - we want you!

Visit these sites to find out more:

• Make Poverty History
• Commission for Africa
• Live 8 Live

I just read this article on CNN that the Bush administration will announce plans to spend $674 million for "humanitarian emergencies" in Africa. BBC News are also covering the story: 'Bush to pledge Africa aid cash'.

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration will announce plans to spend $674 million for "humanitarian emergencies" in Africa during a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to a U.S. official."

It carries on to say:

"U.S. officials have made it clear the White House doesn't want to double aid to Africa or forgive debts unless countries weed out corruption and reform their governments.

Bush told reporters last week that developed countries "are not going to want to give aid to countries that are corrupt, or don't hold true to democratic principles, such as rule of law and transparency and human rights and human decency.""

Ok, so let's look at the figures. $674 million is 0.0016% of the US military expenditure alone (2005 FY budget). And under double what the US contributed to the Tsunami relief fund earlier this year.

The final Tsunami death toll, from what I could find out, was around 220, 000. According to Make Poverty History, every single day, 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty. Which is 210, 000 every week.

"The US has also refused to agree to give 0.7% of its national income in international aid, a long-term commitment Mr Blair wants from all G8 countries."

I'm disgusted.

Before I get there...
I was watching the BBC coverage of Sunday's tsunamis disaster shortly after the earthquake struck, at around 5am. At that early stage, they were reporting only 9 confirmed deaths. That figure, as we're all aware, has now risen to over 118 000 and I fear yet expect it will climb even more over the next few days. The magnitude of this disaster has had worldwide effect, and was even felt back home, where mini tsunamis hit the South African east and south coasts resulting in reported drownings near Port Elizabeth. Apart from the reported 4 SA citizens that have already lost their lives, a further 16 are still missing. FNB have set a standard by creating a Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund, making it easy for those of us who use eBanking to contribute. There are many alternative ways to do your bit. Well said, Michael Jordaan (CEO):

In many cases this disaster has tragically struck those who are most vulnerable. Those of us able to offer assistance should not hesitate in sharing the benefits of our good fortune. FNB urges everyone to look beyond their own interests and make generous contributions that may very well save lives in the coming days and weeks.

I don't feel comfortable ending off what has been a relatively awesome year on that note either, but that's life. It happens.

I've been looking forward to 2005 for some time now, a year in which almost every month has something planned. Which feels unfamiliar and a little anxious - I've never been forced to plan my life so far ahead. It's going to be a little crazy at times I expect, but for someone who avoids routine I can't complain.

For starters, I move in with my new flatmates next month. They don't know it yet. *evil laughter*

My year return flight to Cape Town is booked for early Feb, when I plan to make the most of the Afrikan sun by attending the Savanna Up The Creek music festival on the Breede River, the weekend after I arrive. Line-up includes Plush, Fokofpolisiekar, Flat Stanley, freshlyground, Bed On Bricks, Wonderboom (love their site), Prime Circle... And then like earlier this year, spending my time between Stilbaai and Cape Town. Until the big one - R.E.M. perform in Africa for the first time ever, to my knowledge. It will be HUGE!

In mid-June, I'm heading up to Scotland (Glasgow) again to visit Moira, John, James and Andrew for a week at least - I'm looking forward to that. Also during which time I'll catch another R.E.M. performance - at the Balloch Castle Country Park, Loch Lomond. Wherever that is; it sounds nice.

My UK Visa expires on July 1st. My SA Passport expires 3 months later. It'll take some stressful admin on my part to ensure that these aggravating yet fundamental documents, together with another Schengen Visa, will allow my backpack to return to Greece and Turkey for a month or two starting in July.

All the while fitting in as much freelance work as is humanly possible. And then eventuallyyy, there's the whole moving back home and settling in Cape Town again. This time it'll be "out of the nest", so to speak.

I'll end there, and wish you and your loved ones all the best for the year ahead. Stay safe but party hard! I've done well if I don't jump through any photographs like last year, and remember past 2am.

Dress up, leave a false name, be legendary.

I am hwevoer gald to see taht Lribety Gorup's wstbiee now wroks in non-IE bwreorss too, atefr mcuh rantnig in the psat. I deidced to sned tehm smoe stie fdecbaek, olny to dcivoser taht hiinttg the "Smbiut" buottn on the cnocatt from did aotulebsly nnihtog. La la la........

Very little bugs me more than the ignorant misapplication of technology, especially when a large content provider with a recently-acquired global audience is concerned. Don't think I wouldn't have picked up on the fact that M-Net's new M-Net On Demand offering, an Internet Broadband service, has several flaws that render it completely unacceptable to someone such as myself.

A brief introduction: Currently live and available commercially in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, South Africans living abroad (me, for example) are now able to choose from 80 hours of viewing material, at a cost of R112 for 10 hours each month. One catch: provided they have...*sirens and flashing lights*... the required web browser - the de facto browser - the discontinued browser - Internet Explorer. And Windows. And Media Player. And Macromedia Flash Player.

It would be naive to claim that a service such as this wouldn't really be possible without the latest technology - but streaming content is a well established broadcasting medium, so there's no excuse for lack of similar services from which to gain some technical insight.

But let's take a step back for a second. It's been recently widely speculated that the removal of IE as a free, downloadable software application could have a profound effect on the Web and the development of Web standards. Read that as a good thing.

So what does all of this mean? I've always liked comparing the cross-browser compatibility of websites and web-based applications to something we all do daily; watching television. All television sets, however physically different they appear, still receive exactly the same picture. Why should the web be different? Well, it shouldn't - but it is. Different browsers interpret the presentation layer of the same content differently. As web developers we've learnt over the years to accept this fatal drawback as just another limitation to work around. Removing IE along with it's list of proprietary standards is in my mind a big step forward in providing a much richer web experience.

Not wanting to sound like a stuck record, but if M-Net had considered employing even the slightest hint of forward thinking, they would have realised the multiple benefits of developing their new subscription-based service to support existing AND future browser applications 5 years from now. There's no debate - other browsers do everything Internet Explorer does, and much more - much better. This would open their service up to a wider audience for years to come.

But M-Net's problems don't start and end with browser software. Microsoft's Windows OS is another requirement. Linux and Macintosh users, whatever small percentage of web users they make up - this is insignificant - don't even receive the choice to use Internet Explorer if they wanted to: it was discontinued for UNIX almost a year ago and was dropped for Mac over a year ago. These users will have to spend in excess of R3000 to switch to the required Windows platform, and then they'd still need to download the other requirements. Taking into account that M-Net On Demand's target market have established satellite networks to choose from, why would they subscribe to a computer monitor-based service such as this one?

M-Net might not even be the ones to carry the blame - they appear to have partnered with Entriq Inc., who enable "content and broadband service providers to protect, track, sell and syndicate online media in an efficient and secure manner". Entriq are an independent subsidiary of Naspers (a multi-national media company located in South Africa) who I've picked apart here before. (A quick visit to their site redirects to an IP address - 196.2.157.131 - how professional of them.) A demo at Entriq's own website also spews out the same 'Browser Not Supported' page. The noticeable different between their and M-Net's site however is that M-Net have chosen to restrict the entire site to meet their requirements, locking out anyone who doesn't have the correct software installations from even finding out whey they're denied access in the first place.

All that said, experience has shown that contacting M-Net directly about these issues will prove pointless - I e-mailed them about their online newsletter unsubscribe "option" months ago, and am still awaiting a reply. That, and you're required to use Internet Explorer just to send a basic contact e-mail.

And I'm sure I'll live quite comfortably without Die Kasper Rasper Show. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but in all honesty their target market is only expats - students and young professionals living with a visa won't bother - and if you're missing South African broadcasting that much then you shouldn't have emigrated in the first place.

Don't be fooled, their knowledge of computers does not mean they're wise when it comes to developing their site for cross-browser compatibility. Open the site in your Gecko browser (of course you're using one, right?) for the full story.

Apparently just by entering the site you add an imaginary item to your shopping cart. How lovely.

And Oh! This one almost slipped through unnoticed: delapse 2003 - one of the public favourites over at linkdup.

As with my experiences of the local industry, it's mostly banks who are not complying.

WaSP have also picked up on the article and have posted the following: More on banks and so-called alternative browsers