Vuvuzela Blog - Getting Ready for the 2010 World Cup

My new VuvuzelaSouthAfrica Blog isn't just about Vuvuzelas. It is about soccer - local and international; about South African tourism and interesting places to visit and things to do and of course about the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.

And I have a partner in this venture, Lantz from Afromedia, who is doing all the technical stuff, which leaves the writing to me.

Vuvuzelas Banned in Austria

Now, I know there are people who don't like the vuvuzela. They don't like the noise, they say, and recently we were told Austrian League Bans Vuvuzelas because they were afraid that the vuvus would be "used as missiles"

But, fortunately there are some of us who love these brightly colored plastic trumpets, and we don't care what the history of the vuvuzela really is. All we care about is the sense of excitement in the stadiums that they create and the support that the sound of the vuvuzelas give our boys when they are on the field.

FIFA will not Ban the Vuvuzela from the 2010 World Cup

We know that FIFA will not Ban the Vuvuzela from the 2010 World Cup .

“We approach this in a relaxed manner. I am convinced the vuvuzelas will be a hit at the World Cup. It will be a World Cup with African sound,” Hans Klaus, director of communications at FIFA, told reporters .

Shortened Links - Choose Carefully

Shortened links have now become a way of life!

It amazes me how quickly we adapt to change and innovation on the Web - I mean it wasn't that long ago that shortened links didn't even exist, and now we all have our favorites.

I found this really handy post on my trusted resource Daily Blog Tips that warned Careful with those Shortened Links. I warned to be careful of shortened links because one couldn't see where they were coming from and as with most things in life, those with sneaky minds has already found a way to exploit this.

"Shortened links also have a drawback, however, which is the fact that you can’t see where the link is pointing. Bring malicious users into the picture, and you can see the security risks."

And they warn that you should only click on shortened links if you know who they are coming from - which is sometimes very hard on Twitter, isn't it?

Unshortening Tool

But they do offer a great solution, and direct me to an unshortening tool, if I want to check out a link - Sucuri. It supports all the shortening tools.

Wide Range of Shortening Tools

So what do you use to shorten urls?

At the moment I'm using tinyurl but I use bit.ly on tweetdeck

Cope is Better off Without Lynda Odendaal and Simon Grinrod

Cope is not my party, I'll say it upfront. But as I'm interested in politics and feel like having a skinner, I just want to say that I think Cope is much better off without Lynda Odendaal and Simon Grinrod.

Now they need to regroup and organise in the "old fashioned way".

I looked at the Cope website - off course it wasn't updated!

Youth Sad to See her Go

The Congress of the People's Youth Movement (COPEYM) on Wednesday lamented the departure of party second deputy president Lynda Odendaal.

"After having been one of the most committed members and leaders that this organisation has had, it really is difficult to let go of her unexpected departure," COPEYM said in a statement.

This amazes me that anyone in the party feels any loyalty towards her because Ms Odendaal did not only leave the leadership, she also resigned as a member of parliament and has said that it is possible that she will be joining another party. And she is sort of trashing the party... making allegations that Shilowa is plotting to oust Lekota.

Lynda Odendaal leaves Cope

I can remember my amazement at Lynda Odendaal's election to such high office and I knew when I saw her that it didn't bode well for Cope. As far as I know the woman made no significant speeches or real contributions - I just saw her as a white chick with connections - people the party can hit up for donations and contributions - she certainly isn't any kind of IT specialist as is claimed.

Odendaal confirmed this week to the Cape Times that she had quit the troubled party.

"I've resigned from COPE. I've decided to move on and serve the people in another vehicle. I'm not moving out of politics, I'm going to take stock of the current political landscape and then take it from there," she said.

She didn't rule out the possibility of joining another political party.

Simon Grinrod on the Move

Party hopper, Simon Grinrod alleges one of the reasons for his leaving Cope is that former ANC members had abandoned the promise of a new party with their continued idolisation of former president Thabo Mbeki.

Cape Printing Business Sues Cope

In addition to having two of its leaders - second deputy president, Lynda Odendaal and elections head Simon Grindrod - resign on Tuesday, it has emerged that COPE is now being sued by a Cape Town printing business which claims the party failed to pay it for work done ahead of the elections.