NEWS WHALE FESTIVAL HERMANUS

News item - VTM Nieuws - correspondentie Karl Symons

ZUID-AFRIKA WIL HOOLIGANPROOF WK 2010

Afgelopen week werden drastische maatregelen aangekondigd in de aanloop van het WK voetbal 2010.

Eerder al stelde de nieuw aangestelde nationale politiechef dat er een nultolerantie van kracht was ten aanzien van vluchtende verdachten. In de praktijk zou dat betekenen dat al wie op de loop gaat voor de ordediensten tijdens onrusten, overvallen of schermutselingen kan neergeschoten worden.

Deze week werd bekend gemaakt dat de stadions voorzien zullen worden van speciale cellen om oproerkraaiers in op te sluiten. Daarnaast wordt er ook een snelrechtbank geïnstalleerd en zullen er extra 8500 speciaal getrainde politiemensen worden ingezet.

ZON BREEKT DOOR

Eindelijk. Het ziet er naar uit dat vanaf vandaag de zon stilaan terug present zal zijn. De laatste weken is het vreselijk regenachtig en koud geweest.

Maar de voorspellingen geven weer hoop op goed weer, al is dat dan wellicht maar tijdelijk, tot aan het nieuwe koudefront.

Noordelijker, richting Namibië en Botswana is het al een tijdje weer lekker warm, met temperaturen rond de 30°C en een permanente blauwe infini!

HERMANUS WHALE FESTIVAL

Volgende week is het weer "Walvisfestival" in Hermanus. Elk jaar in september wordt de komst van de nieuwe lichting gevierd.

When it's Spring it's time to celebrate! The Hermanus Whale Festivalbeckons with a superstar line-up of southern right whales and top entertainers from 24 - 27 September 2009. check: www.hermanus.co.za The Hermanus Whale Festival, the only Enviro-Arts festival in South Africa, is held from 24 - 27 September tocelebrate the return of the Southern Right whales to the waters of Walker Bay, our magnificent environment and the arrival of Spring!

DUIF SNELLER DAN INTERNET IN ZA

Wed Sep 9, 3:54 PM

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg. Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SEA POINT DAYS documentary of filmmaker François Verster.

Sea Point Days is een prachtige, poëtische documentaire over één van de meest fascinerende gemeenschappen in Kaapstad. Aan de uiterste rand van de oude citybowl, in de greep van Atlantische oceaan en gehuld in een zweem van vergane glorie en krampachtige pogingen om weer een beetje de Boulevard des Anglais van Afrika te worden.

Alongside the southernmost urban centre in Africa, separating city from ocean, lies an unusual strip of land. The Sea Point Promenade - and the public swimming pools at its centre - forms a space unlike any other in Cape Town. Once a bastion of Apartheid exclusivity, it is nowadays unique in its apparently easy mix of age, race, gender, religion, wealth status and sexual orientation… Yet, in a country that will not fully deal with past or present, is all as it appears?

South Africa 93 mins Completed August 2008/March 2009

DISTRICT 9 - Fantastische nieuwe Zuid-Afrikaanse film

District 9 is a 2009 South African science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and Robert Hobbs. Copley plays the role of Wikus van de Merwe, a bureaucrat assigned to relocate a stranded alien species from a refugee camp in Johannesburg, South Africa to a new one outside the city. After his exposure to a substance that alters his DNA, Wikus must help the aliens escape the planet to save his own humanity.

The story, adapted from Alive in Joburg, a 2005 short film directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Sharlto Copley, deals with the issues ofxenophobia and social segregation. The title and premise of District 9 were inspired by historical events that took place in South Africa under apartheid in a residential area of Cape Town named District Six. The film was produced for $30 million and shot on location in Chiawelo, Soweto, presenting fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras in the style of a mock documentary. A viral marketing campaign began in 2008 at the San Diego Comic-Con, and the theatrical trailer appeared in July 2009. Released on August 14, 2009 in North America byTriStar Pictures, the film received positive reviews and earned $37 million on its opening weekend.