Hola mahigh school april 2017

Hola MaHigh School Volume 6, issue 4 April 2017

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Gauteng, home to Africa’s economic powerhouse, Johannesburg, boasts an exciting mix of urban lifestyle, diverse cultural and natural attractions, as well as advanced infrastructure.

Call us and we’ll show you why Gauteng in South Africa is the perfect location to bring your big idea to vibrant, colourful life.

Contents 06 Editors letter 07 Poem 08 We need writers 10 Contributors 11 Holler at us 12 The importance of Open Day 14 Volkswagen donates to charity 16 Democracy where did it come from 18 Types of democracy 20 1994 from a person who was there

Contents 22 1994 from a person not there 24 Democracy overseas 26 Parliament where did it come from 28 Masiziba going home 32 Scotlan after Brexit 36 April Month 38 High performance computing 44 Conspiracy again Titanic 46 Next issue

Editors Letter

April - impossible not to talk democracy. There are defining moments in history and April 1994 is one of those.

It is not just South Africa. April 1994 was a defining moment in a global context. It showed the entire world that peaceful transition is possible. So we did contribute something to the world.

This time we talk about democracy - a lot. Where did it come from, what are the components and everything in-between.

Is it important? we believe it is.

Science is a major topic.

We visited Rand Easter Show this year and found inspiration in a lot of things out there. Read on!

The international stuff? this time very speculative! Brexit and the break-up of the United Kingdom. Back again to Braveheart!

Sybil

Time for poems:

Autumn, Settling in, school is back A new year, and it is already Half gone now So many things Happenings in the past In history Mitigating the sadness Autumn as always A new beginning And no looking back

Sybil

We need writers!

Our writers are growing up and getting older That is og course good. BUT.... it means they are leaving us Therefore: would you like towrite for us?

What is required?

That is easy You have to be in grade 10-12 Impeccable in your preferred language-and that might not be English. We try to be more than just English Passionate about your topic of choice no dull articles here

Do you get anything out of it?

Well, not money, sorrry. BUT if we publish your articles you will have: Your bio in a commercial magazine A photo of yourself You can put it all on your CV you can use us as a reference ... and it goes in your portfolio

Is it important?

YES it is.

Look what Rofhiwa said: My name is Rofhiwa and I love to write.

I think I am rather decent writer too.

I took my talent and have used it to express my thoughts on international dealings of the world which have been published in Hola MaHigh-School. It has paid off, not only is my work printed for young people in the country to read, but it also contributed to me gettng a bursary from CNBC-Africa to do my post-graduate studies. Would be a lot harder to get by if I didn’t have platform like Hola MaHigh-School.

What

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n iva n co.za @romele . : nam e scho Cell n ol E-ma umber ... and il addres s we w ill tal k!

Meet our contributors I am Masiziba Hadebe. I study a BSc in Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State. I am originally from a small rural town in Mpumalanga, Balfour. My hardworking trait proves that anyone, regardless of the background, can make it. I love plants and animals. During leisure, I read anything readable and interesting. Writing is and will always be my passion, I would starve food just to write!

Pinky Rapoo is a creative writer by nature and not yet by profession.She lives in Vosloorus and is currently in grade 12 at Vosloorus Comprehensive SecondarySchool. Listening to music is her hobby,writing is her passion. Her motto is “Think twice before speaking,think three times before acting and think thoroughly before writing�.

My name is Fikile Unifire Zulu, I hail from Evaton West in the Vaal Triangle, Gauteng.

I love art and started doing so ever since I can remember. I am a go-getter, determined, ambitious and diligent young woman, I strongly believe in reading because it allows you to look at the world in a new perspective and writing .. well you get to express your thoughts and imagination without any fear.

Besides writing, I am passionate about serving the community, currently I am a Provincial Secretary-General for Disabled Youth South Africa, Deputy Chairperson for Evaton West Local Drug Action Commitee, PR officer for Educate South Africa and part of Gauteng Youth Road Safety task team.

HOLLER AT US Hola MaHigh-School

The stuff we need to mention: Editor & Publisher Sybil Otterstrom sybil@romele.co.za

Website www.romele.co.za

Advertising sales Next level Management services cc 011 614 5046 076 360 1792 sybil@next-level.co.za Publlishing Romele Publications cc 32 Eleanor street Troyeville 2094 011 614 5046/076 360 1792

Hola Ma High School When you post your comments here, it will go to the website

Enquiries Romele Publications cc 32 Eleanor Street Troyeville 2094 Production and Art Direction Ivan Otterstrom ivan@romele.co.za Distribution On-The-Dot Printing United Litho

follow us on Twitter @holamahigh When you post your comments here, it will go to the website

Is it important? Is it also for me, as ‘only’ grade 11? What is it all about?

OK, let us just ‘kill’ some myths. It is not only for grade 12. As a matter of fact, start early. Get to know what the options are. Get to see new things.

University is vastly different from school as Masiziba through all her articles can testify to. So Open Day gives you the opportunity to see for yourself.

The ‘fun’ part is that you get to meet the lecturers and to see if your ‘passion’ is going to be ‘passion’ for life. Does your interest match reality?

The ‘bonus fun’ is that you also get to see what else a given university can offer. And it is always a great idea to broaden the horizon.

Use Open Day to know!

Vaal University of Technology Your world to a better future

Volkswagen donat to local charity org Four charity organisations in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area have become the latest beneficiaries of the Volkswagen for Good Initiative.

The latest donation of R334 338 to the four deserving local charities brings the total amount disbursed by Volkswagen in 2017 to local non-profit organisations to R2.3 million.

The four beneficiaries are The Igazi Foundation, Gelvan Park Frail Aged Home, Bet Sheekoom House of Restoration for Women in Crisis and Cleary Estate Cheshire Home. Each organisation will receive a portion of the donation from Volkswagen.

The donation will help the beneficiaFrom left to right: Dennis Be ries to continue with the good work that they are already doing in their com- Home); Nkosinathi Clay (VW Heynes (Cleary Estate Chesh munities.

(Bet Sheekoom House of Re The Igazi Foundation provides haemasis). Absent from pic: Cole C tological services which include haematological diagnosis as well as treatment options workshop for general medical practitioners and medical officers.

The Gelvan Park Frail Aged Home cares for 115 elderly residents. The home offers in-home services, homemaker services,

tes R2.3 million ganisations transport facilities, recreational activities, meal programmes and other services relatable to senior citizens.

The Bet Sheekoom House of Restoration for Women in Crisis helps women in crisis within the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area.

The Cleary Estate Cheshire Home cares for 43 severely disabled adults from impoverished communities. The residents are given different jobs within the home and they also run a beading and fabric painting project which helps the residents to generate income.

“We value the support that we provide to our local communities ellairs (Gelvan Park Frail Aged through the Volkswagen for Good W Community Trust); William initiative. It is vital for businesses to hire Home); Gary Koekemoer help communities where they operestoration for Women In Criate by making financial contributions Cameron (Igazi Foundation). that will impact on the lives of the people that they serve. At Volkswagen, we also give back to our communities through other initiatives such as employee volunteer programme which we call the Show of Hands,� said Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa.

Where did it rea Well, democracy sort came from all over and from nowhere specifically. At least this is my take on it. So let us explore this a bit more.

Human nature is more or less the same independent of geography and time. Has human nature changed a lot in the last 2,000 years? No? that proves it.

So let us look at the realities. If a small group of people grab all power to rule all by themselves without taking into account other groups and people, these ‘other groups’ might just get together and kick them out. So it is a good idea to be inclusive. That is the very raw explanation.

Democracy might be one of these ‘ideas’ transitioning time. Because it makes a lot of sense.

So whenever a larger body of people had to act in unison, it had to be by agreement. Otherwise some might just opt out and the entire social fabric of the community would fall apart.

Vikings, of course, had to agree on a raid. Where to go and who to plunder. The chieftain was elected and was more a focal point than a ‘leader’.

My favourite: the same with the pirates! If the captain didn’t deliver (i.e. find plunder and not having people killed too often) he would be voted out and a new captain found!

ally come from?

Athens – the cradle of democracy – was more or less the same.

Even with all kind of rules limiting the ‘vote’ (land owner, income, gender – no women to vote, slave or free, etc) democracy was in essence a way of achieving social cohesion.

Making sure all are in!

Let us turn it around a bit. A dictator might ‘demand’ people to go to war, but their hearts might not be in it. If people on the other hand have been won over and can see it is a good idea and they want to go to war, things are a bit easier.

Was it then a realisation in Athens and Rome some 2,500 years back in time?

Gilgamesh: Sumerian ruler: some 4,500 years back – probably had to get all on-board India: some 3,000 years back. Again rule by consensus is a great idea. All in!

China: maybe, but that is a good guess Conclusion is simple: wherever a larger body of people wanted to act in unison, the idea of ‘democracy’ would come to the fore. And that is actually quite reassuring!

Types of de Is democracy the same all over? Well, not really. There are some things in common. Let us look at the basics.

Typically, a democracy has three ‘arms’: The executive (the government/cabinet), the parliament (agreeing on laws) and the judiciary (the one to judge the adherence to law).

That is the separation of powers.

Typically a parliament is made up of different political parties. Parliament elects a prime minister or president who then forms the executive – the cabinet ministers. Most European parliaments do not have a majority party hence a government is typically made up of parties getting together and forming an alliance. The twist is that a government can govern as long as there is not a majority against it. What does it mean? A party does not need to have a majority to govern as long as the other parties do not agree to vote them out (a vote of no confidence). The whole thing is about compromise.

Now let us turn to Wiki for some definitions.

The voters Typically all citizens above a certain age can vote. The citizens vote for a person to go to parliament representing them. That is representative democracy. In France the MP are even called deputies as they deputise for the citizens.

That is spelling it out!

emocracy Parliamentary democracy vs Constitutional democracy This is a tricky one! A parliamentary democracy is where parliament is the final voice on what goes or not. In essence, a law is a law until parliament decides to waive it. That (I believe) was the system before 1994.

Constitutional democracy is where even parliament’s actions can be brought before a court – in this instance the constitutional court. The constitutional court’s only reference is the constitution and that can only be changed via 2/3 vote. Checks and balances.

Presidential democracy This is the US! The citizens elect – directly – a president. The president appoints the executives. The legislative powers are sitting in a parliament (congress in the US) where different political parties are elected in a separate process. The president may not even be a member of a political party (although it is the norm).

Kingdoms?

A lot of European countries have kings and queens? And democracy? The king’s powers got diminished through the 1700-1900’s to the point where it is only ceremony and tradition. The King (or queen) is head of state and on the stamps and coins, but cannot interfere in the running of the country.

There are more types, but this is the essence!

I A wa pr s il TH 1 E 9 R 9 E! 4

I am Sybil. The ly new experienc in the process was t whites whether to con understand why. Nobod ca. It showed overwhelmin

27 April 1994. We were up early cold. And the queues were long. I school. from festive day.

What was most and we were all spoke to people we our lives. But it was cold!

My husband went home to And cups and sammies. So we all just good.

Finally afterwards, we took a nice mood had extended to all at the

What did it all mean? We probably all felt that we were coming ou was not only for this one special day.

Other events cemented the importance. The rugby world cup in 19 about rugby or not, we all celebrated and were together.

We were one nation. THAT was what I felt in those days. It is impo brothers and sisters of a different mother.

Humanity conquered all on 27 April 1994 and I feel rather lucky th membering.

publisher of Hola MaHigh-School and I was there! It was a totalce and it was not confined to only that special day. The first thing the ‘white referendum’. You may know that FW de Klerk asked all ntinue negotiations or not. It felt like a slap in the face, really. I fully dy could afterwards claim that whites didn’t want a new South Afring support for a new beginning.

y. And it was a cold day. Typical high veld day. Blue skies, sun… but voted at city hall. But it was a glorious day. It felt like last day in Or as someone said: “like coming home boarding school for holidays”. It was a striking was the mood. We all queued treated the same. And we all talked and otherwise would never have ‘seen’ in fetch gallons of coffee in the thermos. shared, all who stood next to me. It was drive to have lunch somewhere. The restaurant. All spoke to everybody.

ut of a bad dream. It was finally over! It also meant that the mood

995. Mandela in the rugby jersey. And whether we knew anything

ortant to carry that message. Despite all our differences, we are all

hat I had this experience. It sits with me forever and is worth re-

4

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Freedom is som ers all the rights,

I can walk into a clinic know or my financial sta age, had no opportunities to her, primary health care w

Freedom of expression is further e still receive the view of others throug about certain things and gives us the fr dispensable and without it, we wouldn’t b

Freedom continues to give us a right to choose want to associate with. No government or teache friends or the religion we should practice. We can b Nevertheless, freedom comes with responsibility.

Pitching up at a traffic department and expecting a licence fo freedom, is absurd because I have to work for it first. Conversely shouldn’t shred the future of this country through abrupt commen ductivity and turn future professors to illegal protestors.

In addition, there are miscon our freedom. People think it really, the case should lie in w with the freedom of choosin a shot at the job where the e

Sincerely as a born free, I lov I want, as long as I work for it and take responsibility. My educatio should respect and partake in freedom day because we have a lot t

mething that born-frees like me experience on its best level. It cov, not ‘privileges’, that we can implement in our dynamic lives.

c and ask for primary health care, not because of ethnicity or who I atus but because I can. My grandmother, however, at the very same like these. She had to save money for treating a common cold and was a privilege not a right.

evidence of our freedom. We can voice our thoughts, opinions and gh platforms such as social media. This shapes our understanding reedom again to make our own decisions. It is one thing that is inbe the generation that we are.

e our religion and the people we er have the right to choose our be who we want to be.

or free, thinking it is part of my y, my freedom of expression nts that can put particular individuals down and reduce their pro-

nceptions. Employment perfectly explains false impression about t is part of their freedom to automatically somehow get a job. But working to acquire the skills and/or qualifications that can equip us ng our own work and having the right, not privilege, of being given employer can’t get rid of you that easily without a solid reason.

ve my freedom. I have the freedom to study what I want wherever on is no longer a privilege but a right. Then, as this generation, we to be thankful for.

Masiziba Hadebe

What is democra Denmark Parliament has 179 seats. The country is divided into constituencies. People vote in their constituency and a party may field more than one candidate in a constituency.

The one with the most votes will go to parliament. Note the fun part: Candidates from the same party may compete for the vote!

BUT only 135 seats are bound to a constituency. Smaller parties may not win a constituency but will still have a lot of people having voted for them. So the Danes reserved 40 seats which are distributed according to total votes cast on a national level. That way no vote will be wasted. It is probably as fair as it can be.

UK The UK parliament has 650 seats. It is purely constituency based. The one who gets the most votes in a constituency goes to parliament.

government.

The downfall is that a party may win several constituencies with s very small margin. And another party can win fewer constituencies but with like 90+% margin. That will entail that a party may not have the majority vote but still have a majority of constituencies – and thereby form the

Wiki says: Switzerland’s voting system is unique among modern democratic nations in that Switzerland practices direct democracy in parallel with representative democracy. Direct democracy allows any citizen to challenge any law approved by the parliament or, at any time, propose a modification of the federal Constitution. In addition, in most cantons all votes are cast using paper ballots that are manually counted.

acy like overseas? … And Switzerland only allowed women to vote in 1971! The last canton to accept women as voters was in 1990 – and that was by a court judgement. In the canton of Schaffhausen, voting is still compulsory. In some villages, it is the town meeting, where all adult citizens may vote by show of hands.

And their governance system is a complete mystery to me – and to a lot of other people!.

European Union – Super-national body.

The European Parliament (EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council) and the European Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU. The Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009).

Although the European Parliament has legislative power that the Council and Commission do not possess, it does not formally possess legislative initiative, as most national parliaments of European Union member states do. The Parliament shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council.

It likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and approves (or rejects) the appointment of the Commission as a whole. It can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure.

Something to think about? and to know?

Parliament: A Let it be said: Parliaments have had a life of their own. Parliaments were there before democracy dawned on nations (in the way we typically view it).

In essence: In early days (like Viking era and the time around 500-1,000) parliament was there to formulate what the population at large wanted done. If there happened to be a ruler (a chieftain or a king), parliament had an advisory role. Legislative powers came in much later.

True enough, the roman senate was also an inspiration. With a funny twist, England became a role model in many ways. Why actually? Well, England was inspired by the roman settlements and then the Vikings and anglo-saxons came along. All had a tradition for assemblies (proto-parliaments) and now it all came together in England.

What happened really? It was an important discussion: if there is an all-powerful king, what are the powers of parliament then?

Can the king discard parliament? One of things that were discussed was arbitrary arrests (and executions!). That lead us to King John (yes, Robin Hood and Richard and Mariam) and Magna Carta.

Magna Carta, among other things, laid down the ground rules for the King’s powers. That flowed into modern day’s constitutions and the separation of powers (executive, legislative, judicial). But the battle was far from over.

separate life!

When the kings throughout Europe settled on being all-powerful, parliaments (or people’s assemblies) revolted. So although the king could dissolve parliament, parliament still had one little function: they voted the budget! Meaning they could ‘starve’ the king into some sort of submission.

The civil wars in Britain somehow settled it, especially after Charles II got to be king. At least some sort of tradition was created. But the battle was far from over.

We need to get into the late 1800’s before we see ‘real’ constitutions coming into play and ‘real’ parliaments. And even so, the discussion of the king’s powers versus the parliament’s powers was far from over. The factor here was now the ‘people’s power’ was also expressed outside of parliament.

The First World War changed a lot. Also people’s perception of what a governance model should be. And now parliaments got settled – in many ways at least. Laws would be passed in parliament and it was the executive’s task to implement and to be accountable to parliament.

And that was it, really. That is what we have today as the base model for democracy.

Going home

Time for holidays and well, residences and campus start emptying out. case?

These holidays mark three months of not going home if you live extrem father or siblings for months. And if your b

Phone calls and pictures are not enough. A home more. The desperate need to fast-for there. Especially if you are first year. As a fi not adjusted to varsity life.

However, some, even though they want to question of whether the trip will be econom trips require Two thousand rand for going may need a textbook or food (since 70% of

Others may simply decide not to go home ately after calendar c translates whole wee for the les ably were ends (for t excluding ter and Ho

I went home either way, I missed my family a lot. It was so sad leaving home, I was so glad to physically see all my loved ones, even though it

Masiziba

for holidays

. Almost everyone is willing to go home. But why is that really the

mely far away. This simply means that you have not seen your mother, boyfriend/girlfriend is not in the same institution; them too.

As soon as the final week of the first quarter starts, you start to miss rward time to when you hop into that bus or taxi just to go home is first year, you are used to being at home and in some cases you have

go home, really cannot. This is because of financial troubles and the mical or not. These holidays were only cut out for a week, and some and another two thousand rand for coming back while the student f the students on campus are food insecure).

because they know when at home, there will be no studying. Immedir the holidays, the university clearly states “test week�. This to back to back tests for the ek. This means more studying ss-prepared (those who probat home) and tying a few those who did not go home) postgraduate students (Masonour students).

the university behind, but I missed home dearly. As soon as I arrived t is for a week.

a Hadebe

We provide loans and bursaries to students at all 26 public universities and 50 public TVET colleges throughout the country.

Scotland: Independ Now, here is something to ponder. We all know now that Brexit is going to happen – somehow.

Ms May put in the paperwork by March 2017. But what is not so clear is for what part of the United Kingdom. After all, it is not so ‘united’ now.

Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in European Union (EU). But is it possible to have another referendum? There was one in 2014.

The Scottish referendum of 2014 was important. Some 55% voted to stay in the UK. And the reason? Because they wanted to stay in the EU as well and that, it was felt, was best secured by being in the UK. … and that has now changed insofar as the Brexit vote was to leave EU. It is of course more problematic. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay. So did Northern Ireland and Wales. England chose to leave. There is also an element of age groups in this. Younger people wanted to stay, whereas middle-class and middle-age wanted out. Those were probably the sceptics from 1976 anyway.

However, is it about money?

Scotland is some 5,3 million people. Comparable to the entire population in Johannesburg of either 4,4 or 7 million. The UK population is some 65 million, Scotland being 8% of the total. The UK GDP per capita is $42,514 and Scotland some $45,904. Scotland is slightly more affluent but less compared to England at $56,890

dent after Brexit? per capita.

But is Scotland more than sheep and whiskey? It is indeed a lot more. Scotland was a part of the industrial revolution; hence factories and heavy steel and heavy industry has a history in Scotland.

Ship-building is a part of Scotland.

The oil industry off Scotland into the North Sea is a major money spinner and is essential in this mix.

European Union subsidies and money must also be evaluated in this context.

Employment is linked to industrial ventures but Scotland is also diversifying into services industry. That means banking, insurance, financing and software development.

Finance means access to markets and here again EU is essential.

Whiskey is a major industry in Scotland (of course!)

Looking at all of this, it might be said that it is indeed about money. But Scotland also has a history as an independent country.

History is always good. But we will just mention that this ‘United Kingdom’ only got into play in 1707 and that Scotland got a Scottish Parliament in 1997. Is this then a sign of Scottish nationalism?

Maybe. And that could mean the break-up of ‘United Kingdom’ --turn to the next page!

Breakup of United Ki Let us look closer at this ‘United Kingdom’.

It does – currently – consist of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. According to Wiki: The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational, religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 union with England.

So Scotland is distinctly different. And the ‘united’ thing may not be so clear-cut after all.

Let us also just look at Wales. Wales was annexed by England in 1535. That is like an invasion and conquest. Wales has some 3 million people, comparable to Scotland.

BUT!!! The per capita GDP is only $18,000.

Wales has always been the poor relative in the UK. Maybe they don’t like to be independent with England after all? Maybe it would be better to be a part of EU? The EU subsidies must mean a lot to Wales.

Ireland is different as well. In 1922 the best part of Ireland chose to become independent country (again) whereas the Northern part of Ireland chose to stay with UK. This one was (also) religion. Southern Ire-

ingdom after Brexit? land (the Irish Republic we have today) is overwhelmingly Catholic and Northern Ireland is Protestant.

But Northern Ireland voted to stay! So maybe they would rather belong to Ireland and be 100% Irish than being in a union with England (only)?

That leaves Scotland which might be the forerunner in this movement of British nationalism.

The way forward is nearly impossible to map out.

Do we see a ‘United something’ consisting of Ireland (inclusive of Northern Ireland), Wales and Scotland being a part of the EU and England as a country being outside? The integrated economy and currency and all should make it impossible. HOWEVER, nationalism is seldom rational anyway.

The question is really: is it possible to ‘create’ new countries in Europe today?

We need to look towards Eastern Europe, where a lot of ‘old’ countries’ are suddenly back in business. Ukraine 1994, Serbia 2006, Macedonia 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992.

So Western Europe could be in for the same with the break-up of United Kingdom

April month - ne April - Nearly there with winter. Of course we could talk about April Fools’ day and so on. But we have chosen something else:

Geologists Day is a professional holiday of geologists, geophysicists and geochemists. It is traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday of April.

The establishment of this holiday was initiated by a group of prominent Soviet geologists headed by academician Alexander Yanshin.

an petroleum province.

Following their initiative, the Geologists Day was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on March 31, 1966 to commemorate the achievements of Soviet geologists after discovery of the West Siberi-

The timing of the holiday, the first Sunday in April, was chosen because it marks the end of winter and beginning of preparation for summer field work and expeditions.

Geologists Day is traditionally celebrated in almost all geological and mining organizations of the former Soviet Union with festivities starting at the end of preceding week. With tens of thousands of geologists from the former Soviet Union working around the world, the tradition of celebrating the Geologists Day is becoming more international.

In addition to geologists, many others involved in related fields also consider this day as their professional holiday and celebrate it.

early winter now World Malaria Day (WMD) is an international observance commemorated every year on 25 April and recognizes global efforts to control malaria.

Globally, 3.3 billion people in 106 countries are at risk of malaria. In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 627,000 deaths, mostly among African children. Asia, Latin America, and to a lesser extent the Middle East and parts of Europe are also affected.

World Malaria Day was established in May 2007 by the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, WHO’s decision-making body.

The day was established to provide “education and understanding of malaria” and spread information on “yearlong intensified implementation of national malaria-control strategies, including community-based activities for malaria prevention and treatment in endemic areas.”

Prior to the establishment of WMD, Africa Malaria Day was held on April 25. Africa Malaria Day began in 2001, one year after the historic Abuja Declaration was signed by 44 malaria-endemic countries at the African Summit on Malaria.

World Malaria Day allows for corporations (such as ExxonMobil), multinational organizations (such as Malaria No More) and grassroots organizations (such as Mosquitoes Suck Tour) globally to work together to bring awareness to malaria and advocate for policy changes

High-performance We were at the Rand Easter Show this year. Very impressive. We visited (among a lot of things) the CSIR/DST stand. A lot of things going on in South Africa and we picked some brochures on the High Performance Computing environment we are building in SA. I have freely quoted and collected text from these.

Let us just recap a bit on this.

Supercomputer We are now talking massive parallel environments with massive arrays of CPU’s. The operating system might be Linux. Programming these environments is nearly an art-form as the scale and the architecture of the quest to be solved necessitates different approaches to utilise the supercomputer at its top. In essence: this is not so simple! The fastest supercomputer today (The Sunway TaihuLight) has some 10 million CPUs and runs at 100 Petaflops. Storage is some 20 PT (now look that up!). This is where we are heading.

e computing in SA CSIR’s Centre for High Performance Computing provides worldclass performance which enables cutting-edge research – and this is not bragging! – we are at the forefront here.

The centre is one of three primary pillars of the national cyber-infrastructure intervention of SA. The SA National Research Network and the Data Intensive Research Infrastructure of SA (DIRISA) complement the CHPC. One of the ‘customers’ as we have seen in previous articles is SKA, but this is not the only one. The goal is also to support industry and here a range of companies are on-board in the likes of Sasol, PetroSA, Eskom, DeBeers and so on.

The type of expertise to meet at CHPC is finite element analysis, astronomy, space physics, material science and everything else.

The website is: www.chpc.ac.za Interested in being a part of this? This is cutting-edge and worldclass. Read on!

CHPC contrib This is a bit of an update on what has happened since we last wrote about. SKA is reality now and the computing environment is even more exciting than before.

First of all the raw power required will be in the order of 100 Petaflops (look it up). This is what the currently fastest supercomputer - The Sunway TaihuLight from China - can produce today (number 2 produces some 33 Petaflops).

SKA will produce some 14 exabytes per day, so we are talking massive storage and massive networks.

Because of the contributions to making SKA a success, there are plenty of additional benefits. CHPC is now recognised by the global HPC community and we are now member of the Science Data Processing Consortium where we are into three things: Science data processing, test-bed architecture for exascale computing and data distribution models.

There are three work packages identified for HPC in SA: • Cloud services will be required for the SKA; Currently the CyberSKA has been configured into the test cloud platform at CHPC • Existing data centres are required to develop a host of HPC systems that till be used in the exascale computing • New technologies need to be tested for exascale computing. The CHPC is currently working with vendors to explore this.

bution to SKA well).

On a side-note: When we talk about cloud computing we are talking world-wide environments. Running virtual reality in the cloud requires some massive resources and also bandwidth like nothing else. That is exactly where we are focusing research (as

Sounds like a lot of science stuff? Well, it is.

A significant HPC ‘customer’ is Southern Ocean Carbon – Climate Observatory (SOCCO). This is climate change predictions and data modelling. None of it is possible without HPC and that is exactly where again we step forward with our CHPC. And it does not stop there! As of late we are now also a Tier 2 partner of CERN’s collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The one in Switzerland and France.

How come we are on the forefront of science in ‘little’ South Africa?

Because we have the human capital to be there. We are good at what we are doing and when a Department of Science and Technology (DST) work with universities and industry, we have a ‘symphony’.

Be proud!

Unhappy with your stud Know your rights!

This is a piece we have obtained from Respublica Student Accommodation. The opinions are theirs and not necessarily those of ours. We have edited it a little bit.

The first semester is almost up, with many students assessing their current living conditions. Students at tertiary institutions across the country find themselves living away from home in rented accommodation – often unaware of their rights when it comes to the property they’re staying in.

For those unhappy with their current accommodation, it is important to understand their rights and obligations when it comes to moving before the lease expires.

Regardless of if you’re staying in a conventional apartment or in a university residence, you should have signed a lease agreement with your landlord before you moved in – and this document is your first port of call for guidance if you decide to relocate.

• Every lease should have a cancellation clause, outlining the conditions under which either you or the landlord can cancel the contract.

• You can cancel your lease contract if your landlord has not delivered on what they promised in the original agreement, despite you reminding them. This could include things like major repairs not being done, poor security, hidden costs, etc

dent accommodation?

• If you want to cancel your lease even though your landlord has done everything they’re supposed to, your best bet is to chat to them, to see if you can come to an agreement • If your landlord refuses to release you from your contract, the Consumer Protection Act says that you can give your landlord notice if you want to leave before your lease expires. If the landlord hasn’t done anything wrong, however, they are entitled to recover any reasonable costs that they incur while they’re replacing you.

• If you find someone suitable to take over your lease, the landlord cannot turn them away and make you pay the penalties that are described in your lease.

• If your landlord won’t release you from your contract, they are not allowed to make up penalties that were not initially agreed upon in the lease agreement.

Staying in quality student accommodation that provides the right amenities and a safe and secure environment is of great importance to be successful in your studies. To succeed in your studies, look for accommodation that provides an environment conducive to studying, that offers laundry and cleaning facilities, and which offers culture activities and res-life programmes.

It’s your right to do everything you can to make sure you have access to these – but it’s also your responsibility to treat the terms of the contract you have with your landlord with respect and care.

A great conspiracy:

Titanic: the ship that never sank This is all from Gardiner’s book: Ship that never sank. Probably not the truth, but still.

Titanic had a sister-ship. An identical twin. Olympic. Both were built at the same time, but Olympic got finished first.

HOWEVER, Olympic collided with another ship in the harbour and that was so bad so Olympic was unsafe. White Star Line started to lose money as Titanic was not yet ready and Olympic was beyond repair.

What to do? On top of, the insurance would not pay out as the collision was deemed to be Olympic’s fault.

So they switched them! Olympic became Titanic and set off to meet her fate. And that was to slowly sink next to a rescue ship! No loss of life, no panic but insurance money for a brand-new ship! … and then they hit an iceberg!

So Olympic sank and Titanic sailed until 1936 as Olympic. She never sank!

A great conspiracy!

Olympic and Titanic next to each other!

Spot the difference (hardly any)

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR CAREER Knowing yourself and your capabilities

Choo se Subj your ects

Care Plan er ning

eer Car ice o ch

For you to pursue your career choice.

You need to pass your Nationa l Senior Certi ficate!

The Eastern Ca pe Department of Education enco urages learners to choose suitable career path, by collecting inform ation that will he lp them pursue their career / field of study.

“it is in your hands “ - Nelson Rolihl

ahla Mandela

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