Sergei Müller Just another mediocre bad guy

South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) doesn’t allow citizens living abroad to vote

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in South Africa has recently come under fire from the SA blogging community and traditional news websites for failing to provide an accessible website to users of software other than Internet Explorer on the Windows operating system.

As a result of the recent Presidential succession in South Africa and (most likely) the overwhelming result of the US elections, there’s been a host of South African expatriates seeking to take part in the upcoming 2009 National Elections.

Unfortunately, they have discovered that the IEC does NOT in fact allow South African citizens living abroad to register or vote in National Elections.

This is in direct contravention of the country’s constitution and the electoral act that governs the IEC.

I’ve decided to cover the developments of this issue at http://freemyvote.co.za and will be reporting on these issues daily.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I should proceed with this cause, please visit the site, drop me an email or comment on this discussion.

Justin Bond’s Lustre

Last night I went to the Soho Theatre in London for Justin Bond's cabaret show called Lustre.

I had no idea what to expect because it was the first time I've ever been to a cabaret show.

Coincidentally… this would also be my first time to a theatre show in London.

On the whole, it was great. The venue was small, but didn't feel crowded. Acoustics were great and the performers seemed to connect really well with the audience.

Justin was accompanied by Our Lady J on piano and her performance was something to experience. I haven't seen piano playing skills like that in years. Here's a clip of her performing Pink Prada Purse.

Also performing was Novice Theory who rocked out on the accordion and seriously impressed everybody who attended.

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Obama 2008

Callie Shell had the privilege of photographing Barack Obama during his 2008 Campaign for the US Presidency.

View her website for some great photographs.

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Computer History in Legos

"German engineer and computer pioneer Konrad Zuse posing in front of his almost-finished masterpiece, the Z3."

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Brendan Adams Trio

Brendan Adams Trio from South Africa rocking a very melodic song called Butterfly Chronicles.

Check out more of their work at http://www.brendanadamstrio.com

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3 steps to stop smoking.

After my move to London (just under 2 years ago) I started smoking quite regularly instead of my usual social fag or two.

I put this down to a stressful work environment and to missing my family, friends and home in SA.

Anyway… I’ve been smoking for nearly 2 years now and I’ve recently decided to quit.

This is mainly because of health reasons, but also because I’m tired of living a lifestyle that causes friction in relationships and in socialising with / meeting new people.

So this is how I stopped:

1. I made my excuses and enjoyed the numerous smoke breaks at work.
2. I then developed some severe chest pains and a nasty cough that made me rethink things.
3. So… I got shit scared because of known heart problems in my family and gave up cold-turkey style.

So… I’m confident that I’ll keep up this no smoking thing… but if I fail miserably I’ll be sure to confess here.

Coincidently - a buddy of mine has set up a new group on Facebook.

Check it out.

dConstruct 2008: The Urban Web

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Ushahidi launches to monitor crisis

Berocca Blogger Relief

This is absolutely brilliant and much needed when one is maintaining in the region of 3-4 blogs daily.

I think I’m definitely running on empty and might have to pop on over and request a relief pack.

Check it out for yourself.

Banking woes in Britain

I’ve been living in London for just over a year and one of the most frustrating things I’ve experienced so far is definitely the UK banking system.

The first frustration I experienced was the simple task of opening a simple current account. This was severly delayed & forced me to live off my South African credit cards. - which obviously charged ridiculous withdrawal charges.

The 2nd frustration was some problems receiving a pin number for my card and the 3rd was getting Internet banking working.

Well… After all this I thought my troubles were over, but today I had even more.

I went to the bank to get a letter stating stating that I’m covered indefinitely for travel insurance. I just needed this to apply for a Schengen Visa for Germany.

Apparently nobody is allowed to type up a letter containing my name and the fact that I actually pay for travel insurance.

This means that I now have to purchase additional travel insurance just to apply for a Visa.

Again… Even though I’m already covered.

Barclays… Please get your act together.