Luke Shelton’s Tolkien Experience Project | A Pilgrim in Narnia

Luke Shelton’s Tolkien Experience Project | A Pilgrim in Narnia:

The basic format is that participants reflect on a set of five questions, and then respond to them in short-answer format. This means that answers can be one sentence, or a few paragraphs! The great thing is that there are no wrong answers, because you are just sharing your own experience!

The questions are:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?
What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?
What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?
Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?
Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

These questions are intentionally vague to allow contributors to talk about a variety of things. ‘Tolkien’s work’ is not meant to exclude adaptations, so they feel free to share experiences about movies, video games, board games, etc. All of these are important experiences in someone’s fan history! If they want to use ‘part’ in question two to talk about a specific scene from a book, great! They could also use ‘part’ to talk about their favorite book in general.

Participants can take as much time as they need to answer these questions, then they send their answers to me using the Contact page on my website or by direct email. I usually respond directly to the participant once or twice to clarify what they would like to be called on the post and to fix typos, but the answers are largely unedited/unfiltered.

Tech Hero Mark Shuttleworth Launches New Software Aimed at Robbing South Africa’s 1%.

Tech Hero Mark Shuttleworth Launches New Software Aimed at Robbing South Africa’s 1%.



Looks like very fake news

Time to put Nelson Mandela where he belongs | IOL News

Time to put Nelson Mandela where he belongs | IOL News:

Our leaders seem to have forgotten how to speak of and to us as a nation. It is one thing for our leaders to speak truthfully and honestly about economic and political disparities.

It is quite another thing, when leaders conceal their lack of a unifying vision of South Africans as a people, by pandering to sectional, provincial and tribal interests.

Every time a South African leader invokes the phrase “our people”, we look at one another with bewilderment, wondering which particular people he or she is talking about.

We have come to know instinctively and to take for granted, that today few leaders if any use the phrase “our people” to refer to all South Africans.

Pitch your book and convince Jacana Media it needs to be published! | The Reading List

Pitch your book and convince Jacana Media it needs to be published! | The Reading List:

We are offering you the chance to participate in a 15- to 20-minute session where you’ll be able to pitch your book to a panel comprising of three publishers and a high-powered bookseller. External panelists so far include Michelle Magwood from the Sunday Times and Sharon Naidoo from Exclusive Books. This is your chance to impress and persuade us in person to consider your work for publication. We realise this isn’t an approach that will work for all authors, but if you would like to be one of the 20 candidates who will present at the Live Pitching Session on 28 August 2018, we encourage you to submit an entry on our website.

CS Lewis Was a Red

CS Lewis Was a Red:

He did not believe that Christianity was the same as capitalism. He did not believe that Christianity had anything to do with material success. (Lewis gave away the money he made from religion—unlike many famous preachers and authors.) He did not hobnob with the powerful. He hated British imperialism.

The Boers are coming to Russia? | demographia.ru

The Boers are coming to Russia? | demographia.ru:

The Boers, descendants of the Dutch settlers of Africa, who are studying the possibility of re-deployment to Russia, may move to the North Caucasus. The Komsomol Prada informs that in the beginning of July the delegation is expected to visit the chapter with Jan Andrian Slebus. They want to communicate with the administration, the local population, politicians and religious figures. If approved by the authorities, over 15,000 Boers from the Republic of South Africa can move to the Stavropol Territory. If successful, other Boers may settle in the Crimea, the Krasnodar Territory and the republics of the NCFD.

The Shocking Truth About Jordan Peterson – Tablet Magazine

The Shocking Truth About Jordan Peterson – Tablet Magazine:

The rawest forms of identity politics, grounded in the metaphysical premise that “whiteness” and “masculinity” are constructs solely predicated on a domination that we cannot hope to escape until those toxic forms of identity have been “dismantled” or “abolished,” began as provocations by radical academics. They have since become viral memes infecting the thinking and rhetoric of a certain strand of progressive activist, and through them, an ever-growing swathe of the media-making class. The resort to them is indicative of a profound failure of the political imagination.

The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award: Call for Submissions | Jacana

The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award: Call for Submissions | Jacana:

If you are an aspiring author and want the chance to get published, then this is the opportunity you have been waiting for.

For the past 14 years, first as the European Union Literary Award and now as The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, the submission process has unearthed great new South African literary talent. The books that have been published under this award have reflected the many strands of conversation that are woven together in the common language of fiction. The latest winner, Selling LipService by Tammy Baikie, is longlisted for this year’s Barry Ronge Fiction Prize.

This year, the prize is not only open to South Africans but also citizens of all SADC countries.

The overall winner, selected by a panel of judges, stands a chance to win R35 000, be published by Jacana Media, get great coverage as a debut author and be part of Exclusive Books’ Homebru campaign.

The JLF will also present the Kraak Writing Award, dedicated to the memory of Gerald Kraak. Valued at R20 000, it offers mentoring and intensive coaching from a published author, editor or a publishing expert, enabling the author to refine and develop their work further.

Submissions will be open from the 1 April 2018 to 30 June 2018. Enquiries can be directed to: awards@jacana.co.za.

My Father's Calling | Hazlitt

My Father's Calling | Hazlitt:

I don’t remember the eulogy spoken for my father at his funeral.

On that day almost six years ago, I sat in my childhood church’s well-worn pews of pale wood unable to comprehend the words offered as both a supposed comfort and a celebration. Although my body ached with loss, it wasn’t the fogginess of grief that created this disconnect for me. I couldn’t grasp a single word because the eulogizer spoke in Russian, a language my father did not speak and a language none of his family, including myself, understood. The man who took this honor of remembrance was the Bishop assigned to our Russian Orthodox parish, and he barely knew my father.

The demise of the nation state | News | The Guardian

The demise of the nation state | News | The Guardian:

Nothing advertises the crisis of our nation-state system so well, in fact, as its 65 million refugees – a “new normal” far greater than the “old emergency” (in 1945) of 40 million. The unwillingness even to acknowledge this crisis, meanwhile, is appropriately captured by the contempt for refugees that now drives so much of politics in the rich world.

Submitting Your Novel: Key Tips for Success | Now Novel

Submitting Your Novel: Key Tips for Success | Now Novel:

Submitting your novel to an agent or publisher is a multi-stage process. It helps to know the fundamentals of what makes a strong submission. At book fairs, aspiring authors often ask, ‘How can I get ‘discovered’? What can I do to make my submission stand out?’

Racism, Justified: A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory | The Harvard Law Record

Racism, Justified: A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory | The Harvard Law Record:

By now, most of you have heard of Critical Race Theory. Its narrative, ideology, and even vocabulary have become a familiar refrain. “Systemic oppression,” “institutional racism,” and “white privilege” have become common topics of debate. At Harvard Law, a group of protestors calls for $5 million and three tenure-track faculty to establish a program on Critical Race Theory at HLS. But, beneath the demands, there remains a lack of clarity about what Critical Race Theory actually means.

ANC Floats New Deal On Land Expropriation Without Compensation

ANC Floats New Deal On Land Expropriation Without Compensation:

The ANC is trying to provide for land reform without uncompensated expropriation, to ensure that the Constitution does not have to be amended and take the sting out of the party's latest attempt to get more land into black hands.

A parliamentary motion for muscular land expropriation sponsored by the EFF and supported in an amended form by the governing party sailed through the legislature in February and has raised fears about property rights in general.

Since then, the number of sporadic land occupations by poor, homeless and landless South Africans has increased. The seaside town of Hermanus faced an attempted occupation, as did Midrand and other areas in Johannesburg, over the past week.

Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson | Mere Orthodoxy

Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson | Mere Orthodoxy:

Before they get carried away, the Christians now tuning into Jordan Peterson need to realize that this man is not the next C.S. Lewis. On the contrary, Jordan Peterson is the man C.S. Lewis warned them about. It’s not that I don’t understand why Christians are attracted to Peterson’s message of personal responsibility, especially as it is addressed to young men. For one thing, everything Alastair Roberts wrote in his recent essay is basically true. Peterson really is an effective communicator (though a better speaker than a writer), who could teach most pastors a thing or two about sermonizing. And Peterson has many admirable personal qualities, especially intellectual virtues but also compassion and a strong sense of justice.

We must end the manipulation of history

We must end the manipulation of history:

Systematic lies and propaganda have colored the Zionist agenda to keep alive the myth of Zionist Israel as a Democracy. Jews-as-victims is hammered in, to include many references to the Nazi Holocaust and quite horrifyingly has twisted, lied and distorted the reality of Zionism, which includes jailors, occupiers, murderers, persecutors, torturers and profoundly fiendish victimizers. The obsessive propaganda reference to Jews as victims has colored many in the older generation of Jews who maintain a strong allegiance to Zionism. In this way, references to the Nazi Holocaust are used to imprint and inflame the fear of a second Holocaust. The identification is as eternal victims destined to be wiped out. This time the perpetrators are “Arabs,” hated would-be destroyers of Israel, sub-human monsters who must be countered or destroyed in order for a Jewish state to be born. Yes, Zionism an ideology of Nationalism and racism has managed to keep the lies alive through domestic intimidation that obscures the violent agenda of genocide that continues to reign.

Jordan Peterson & Fascist�Mysticism | by Pankaj Mishra | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books

Jordan Peterson & Fascist�Mysticism | by Pankaj Mishra | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books:

12 Rules for Life is only Peterson’s second book in twenty years. Packaged for people brought up on BuzzFeed listicles, Peterson’s brand of intellectual populism has risen with stunning velocity; and it is boosted, like the political populisms of our time, by predominantly male and frenzied followers, who seem ever-ready to pummel his critics on social media. It is imperative to ask why and how this obscure Canadian academic, who insists that gender and class hierarchies are ordained by nature and validated by science, has suddenly come to be hailed as the West’s most influential public intellectual. For his apotheosis speaks of a crisis that is at least as deep as the one signified by Donald Trump’s unexpected leadership of the free world.

Fox News and Alex Jones could pay for pushing fake news about real people.

Fox News and Alex Jones could pay for pushing fake news about real people.:

It’s been a bad week for white supremacists and fake news. First, Matt Heimbach—the founder of the neo-Nazi group the Traditionalist Worker Party and a man famous for shoving a black woman at a Donald Trump rally—was arrested for assaulting another woman (his wife). Since Heimbach was also accused of choking the co-founder of the party as part of what seems to be a complicated love rhombus, it now appears the entire group is defunct. Also this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center discovered that the wife of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the alt-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers, had filed for a temporary restraining order, claiming her husband was abusive and violent. Alt-right servers are being shut down, as are YouTube channels, albeit too slowly. And Richard Spencer, who was meant to be the alt-right’s palatable offering, has ruefully declared that his white-supremacist rallies—as a result of which at least one woman has been killed—are “not fun anymore.” He says he is considering canceling his whole not-fun, poorly attended speaking tour. He’s also dropping his lawsuits against colleges that had barred him from speaking. Also, he can’t get a lawyer to represent him.

And in a law suit against fake news:

Are lawsuits like the two filed this week attacks on newsgathering in general? Not really, because both suits distinguish between what real media does and what media scams and hatchet jobs do, and how the latter victimizes literal bystanders. As the Gilmore complaint puts it, in describing Alex Jones and his ilk:

Fact-based journalism is essential to our democracy, because it provides citizens with objective, reality-based information on issues of public concern. Defendants are not fact-based journalists. Defendants spread lies to construct false narratives that terrify a gullible audience, all in a desperate attempt to generate revenue and momentum for a hateful agenda. The First Amendment necessarily creates space for democratic debate, but it does not and cannot protect the spread of deliberate lies driven by hate and designed to incite violence against private citizens. In this era of ubiquitous smartphones and social media saturation, ordinary citizens like Mr. Gilmore increasingly find themselves in situations where they capture breaking news and are compelled out of civic duty to share it. The consequences for fulfilling this civic duty cannot include becoming the target of premeditated character assassination, based on lies and carried out by professional conspiracy theorists instrumentalizing their throngs of followers.

South Africa votes through motion to seize land from white farmers without compensation | The Independent

Fake news:

South Africa votes through motion to seize land from white farmers without compensation | The Independent

Thousands Sign Petition Asking Trump to Let White Farmers in South Africa Migrate to U.S. After Country Votes to Force Them Off Land

Fake news from Newsweek.

Thousands Sign Petition Asking Trump to Let White Farmers in South Africa Migrate to U.S. After Country Votes to Force Them Off Land

Mondli Makhanya: The great land return lie | News24

Mondli Makhanya: The great land return lie | News24:

The ANC has over the past two decades developed comprehensive policies on land reform and restitution and put in place an institutional infrastructure to give effect to these policies. Study after study – including those by the ANC government – have shown that the failure is due to capacity weaknesses, corruption and shoddy implementation, not any constitutional impediment.