Ramon Thomas Blog — South African Internet Evangelist .recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding: 0 !important;margin: 0 !important;}Ramon Thomas Blog BlogAboutContactMediaSpeakingInterview Zooming In On Men, SABC3¶ Published Thursday, October 9th at 5:10 am ∞ In Dating, Media ∞ No Comments » On Sunday, 21 September I was interviewed in a pre-recorded episode “Dating Games” for the fascinating show Zooming In On Men (ZOIM). ZOIM now in it’s 2nd season is broadcast Sundays at 4.30pm, following Car Torque, with the target market being the mature South African man - apparently the rest of the media believes we are in short supply!Anyway this is the first television show where I was introduced as South Africa’s #1 Dating Coach aka Hitch…lol…The host Pepsi Pokana and his wife, who does the make-up, helped me relax quickly and the director, the camera crew and sound engineers have by far been the most professional I have worked with in the broadcasting industry in South Africa. I was extremly confortable before and afterwards the filming of my segment.Melanie Son, the content producer confirmed the following transmission information: Channel : SABC 3 Date: Sunday, 26th October 2008 Time: 16h30More about this show that I highly recommend for all men. And for women who want to understand men, instead of trying to “fix” them:Zooming in on Men is a quirky, humorous television property that is partly influenced by, but not limited to, men’s print formats like Best Life, GQ and magazines like Afropolitan, Tribute and Blaque. It is an entertaining, engaging and informative platform that moves away from being merely a lifestyle show, but rather uses topics relevant to men to create a space where “real men talk” about the variety of issues that affect, confound, inspire, anger and humour them. One of the key pillars behind this new season of ZIOM is to create a platform where we can laugh at ourselves in our exploration of the constructs of Masculinity. We discuss debate, argue, laugh and experience a range of topics ranging from the serious to the frivolous. The show, hosted by an anchor host, supported by a comedian, will be studio-based, which serves as the foundation for the show. It will be driven by the banter between our two hosts and their interaction with the various guests in studio. The space will reflect men and their interests. Each show is driven by a topic/theme, and all the elements in an episode serve to explore the relevant topic. The core of the show is the conversation between men, which will happen in our location studio.Target Market: Urban men aged 25-40Popularity: 3% [?]Share this post:           Thank you very much to Dave Duarte and Max Kaizen who have both supported my drive to create stronger relationships between South African bloggers and those bloggers from the rest of Africa. This has nothing to do with with the Xenophobia attacks, although it will restore tremendous goodwill that has always been there in the blogging community - most South African bloggers may not have been aware of this until this talk at the bi-monthly 27Dinner event in Cape Town.
I delivered for me one of the most important messages since I began blogging in 2003. I have taken up the cause of bringing blogging to the masses and also using these platforms to enhance entrepreneurship. We can never have enough collaboration or communication between. Through a series of experience and travels I have met and become friendly with many bloggers in South Africa as well as the rest of Africa.
The journey for me started back in 2006 when I attended the inaugural Digital Citizens Indaba. I am returning to Uitenhage via the Garden Route and will blog more about the background to this project this weekend…
Anyway here’s the Presentation, cleaned up a little bit from 27Dinner in Cape Town:
Mutual Aid Between African Bloggers
(1)Live-Blogging the Gartner Africa Symposium 2008¶ Published Monday, August 18th at 9:10 am ∞ In Events ∞ No Comments »For the next few days I am live-blogging the Gartner Africa Symposium at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Here’s what you can read more about on my NETucation business blog:The Economist Intelligence Unit has declared 2008 to be the year of the emerging market. They are not alone in this prediction. Emerging economies present companies with some of the biggest opportunities for growth this year. And this doesn’t refer just to China and India. In fact, the three most buoyant economies in the world are on the continent of Africa. In 2008, sub-Saharan Africa as a whole is predicted by The Economist to grow at a rate of 6.3%, with South Africa growing at 5% (reported at 3.7% on www.businessday.co.za on 8 February 2008). The world is no longer dependent on the developed economies – which will grow only 1.8% in 2008 – to bring growth to the rest of the world. It is precisely because of, rather than in spite of, the challenges facing growth in Africa that the potential returns are great. The ICT sector is both a foundation and an agent of this growth and plays a critical role in solving developing world problems in a sustainable and profitable way. In Cape Town, from 18 – 20 August 2008, at this year’s Gartner Africa Symposium, you will learn about the tools, technologies and management techniques to position your company to take advantage of this growth in emerging markets, while maintaining the fundamentals of efficiency.On of the people I am looking forward to meeting in Johnny Clegg, especially after I have been to one of his shows in Johannesburg. He will be delivering the guest speaker today, the opening day at 11h45am.Popularity: 14% [?]Share this post: Qhubeka moving South Africa forward with Nine Million Bicycles¶ Published Sunday, August 17th at 8:01 am ∞ In Projects ∞ No Comments »The song Nine Million Bicycles by Katie Melua is perhaps not the most inspirational song in the world. However, it does make you feel good, if you are even just a little bit as nostalgic as I am. Recently the Facebook social networking website has moved from a boring distraction to a powerful communication tool for me in the last two months. I cannot say exactly what the trigger is; maybe it is simply connecting with like-minded people directly and just in time.One of those people is Anthony Fitzhenry whom I first met in May 2007 at the now defunct Futurex event. Anthony is the founder of a non-profit organisation, Qhubeka Bikes for Life, which helps poor, previously disadvantaged communities across South Africa purchase bicycles to solve a serious transport and movement problem that exists, especially remote towns or villages. This has been my first exposure to this project and it hit my like a ton of bricks…here is a real solution.It was starring me in the face all along. And its especially poignant for me because I’ve been talking about purchasing a bike to increase my fitness levels. I’ve always hated jogging and the machines in gyms are even more mechanical. The beautiful things about a bicycle is that I can do some sight seeing while working out as well. In this day and age I suppose the environmental concerns are valid when it comes to reducing car pollution.Anyway I still have to get my own bike but maybe the Qhubeka movement I can get one for me, and for the Uitenhage community. Taxi fare from the Rosedale, Gamble suburbs into the Uitenhage town area is R7.50 and that makes a return trip R15. Now multiply that by 5 or rather 6 days a week and you’re spending R90 per week on travel and a whopping R378 per month. That monthly amount is particularly important because its about enough to purchase food for a week if you stretch it. The taxi drivers, in my view, do very little to give back to the communities. They monopolise transport, especially in Gauteng where trains and in general, the entire public transport system, is horrendously unsafe and unreliable for a multitude of reasons.Back to bringing Qhubeka to Uitenhage and the Kwa-Nobuhle township…this is really something tangible for the community to work towards. Its just ironic that most of the people working at the Volkswagen factory in Uitenhage, the biggest employer in the town, will never, ever be able to own the vehicles they are building.Here’s some more from the Qhubeka Facebook group:In the Nguni languages of South Africa , of which Zulu is one, Qhubeka means “to carry on”, “to continue”, “to progress” or “to move forward”. Transportation is a fundamental element of development. Most of Africa’s rural population have no access to any form of transport and people have to walk long distances to access economic opportunities, education, healthcare, shops and other community services. Rural schoolchildren are particularly badly affected by this lack of mobility. Of the 16 million children in school in South Africa, 12 million walk to school. Of these, 500,000 walk more than two hours each way, spending four hours getting to school and back each day. The bicycle is the most effective and economical method of quickly (and permanently) addressing some of the problems relating to lack of mobility in the disadvantaged communities of South Africa. Bicycles play a vital role in advancing sustainable socio-economic development in both rural and urban communities around the world. Some of the potential benefits attached to bicycle transportation include: Cost effective transport Environmentally-friendly transport Time savings Healthy extra-curricular activity Popularity: 13% [?]Share this post: Algoa Sun interview with Ramon Thomas¶ Published Monday, August 11th at 8:21 am ∞ In Interviews ∞ 1 Comment »The following interview was published on page 8 of the 31 July 2008 issue of the Algoa Sun, a community newspaper in Port Elizabeth. The title for the article was fascinating choice by the editor, The Ethics of IT Dating. I will add a scanned copy of the interview with their own intro to this post later today…Question: You say that children below the age of 13 should not have cell-phones for health reasons do you not think that in todays world all kids should have access to an adult in case something does go wrong? Yes, kids should have access to adults. However, the access that is required has always been there. Before cellphones parents had a relationship and understanding with the schools they go to as to when and how they are dropped off and collected after school, from sporting events or when traveling with the school. When visiting friends, arrangements were made with the parents of the friends to look after your children as if they were your own. This is a fear-based myth that cellphones is the only or safest way to make kids safe. The more you buy into a fear mindset, the more you create a dependency on technology or anything outside yourself. So in a very warped way technology has made people more insecure than ever before. Question: Do you have kids? If so, are they allowed MXit and Facebook? No I do not have any children because I am not married. I would only allow my own children access for for a limited time per day or on weekends. I recently bumped into a guy who was at school with me, and he has one son in high school and one in primary school. He treats them like this: they only get access for 1 hour on Saturdays between 5-6pm. This is radical, yes, but he succeeded as father by setting the ground rules from day 1. Question: Do you believe parents should be more “internet and cell-phone aware”? Parents need to understand that the technology is growing and improving at a vast rate. The best way they can maintain some sense of confidence about the technology is to cultivate an open discussion on a regular (weekly) basis with their children about technology. This is much easier than you may think, simply because technology is so high on the values of children. What I mean is you cannot stop them talking about it when you ask the right questions. Question: Do you believe the internet is a good way to meet people and start dating? I have used Internet dating successfully because I have been so persistent and made a tremendous effort to educate myself about the best ways to write my online dating profile. After hundreds articles, books and interviews, and comparisons with other forms of dating and the psychology of attraction, I do not believe its the best way to meet people. You will always have some uncertainly about that elusive obvious called “chemistry” with the opposite sex. So overall your chances are very slim to find a compatible match and sustain the relationship. I consider my last relationship, which lasted about 18 months; as well as best friend of mine, who married a woman he met on www.datingbuzz.com, the exceptions. ∞ Continued After The Jump → Popularity: 22% [?]Share this post: Dr John Demartini works with SAPS, EMS and Metro Police¶ Published Wednesday, August 6th at 2:39 pm ∞ In Dating ∞ No Comments » Over 600 senior police men and women flocked to the Montecasino Ballroom in Johannesburg and a week later a further 600 to The Westin Grand CT Arabella Quays to hear human behavioural specialist Dr John Demartini speak about ways in which they could empower their positions as police men and women in South Africa.This Demartini Institute initiative, partnered by The Star (Independent Newspaper Group) and The Community Policing Forum (CPF), was designed to inspire and empower the people who play such an integral role in protecting South Africans. This is the second presentation to the SAPS, the purpose of the first talk was to inspire vision whereas this second talk was designed to address practical steps to assist the SAPS take their inspiration into action. Dr Demartini pointed out that they (the police) are at this talk which means they truly care and are receptive to innovative ideas. “You obviously have a vision to protect society or you wouldn’t have joined and sustained your police service and whether you realize it or not your very presence makes everyone become more accountable,” he said. He likened their fight against crime to moving a large boulder. It is tough at first, but the boulder starts moving slowly and it eventually gains great speed or momentum. ”You can create or build almost anything through persistent action and by momentum and this can be applied successfully to crime fighting.”Dr Demartini said life is designed to be challenging and only through challenge can we grow. He explained that focusing on problems alone is futile and that great things can be achieved by concentrating efforts on solutions and by taking accountable actions. Dr Demartini shared that in most of his talks and interactions in South Africa, in his experience the majority of South Africans are truly behind the police force and are grateful for their persistent efforts and accomplishments. He urged them to hold onto their vision of possibility, have clear objectives and apply prioritized actions that have a high probability of achievement and make sure that their vision is bigger than any criminal’s. “If man can set foot on the moon through one man’s vision, you can, as a collective force, change the crime statistics in South Africa,” he said.Special thanks go to:Montecasino and Dalene Devereux in Johannesburg and The Westin Grand CT Arabella and Martin van Oordt in Cape Town for assisting this crime combating drive by arranging and sponsoring the talk venues and to Gear House (Kelvin) and Integrity Sound (Alex) for sponsoring the sound equipment. To Commissioner Naidoo, Commissioner Reddy and DCP Daniels for their time, trust and permission to activate our vision of empowering and inspiring police men and women in South Africa. To Moegsien Williams, Editor of The Star (Independent Newspaper Group) for activating the opportunity and assisting in the coordination of these events. To Lionel and Geoff Green from the CPF for their invaluable insights. To Tracy O Brien for the introductions that made this all possible. Most importantly, thank you to the men and women in South Africa who dedicate their lives to the service of South African society, you are the heroes within South Africa and your actions make a difference in the lives of many every day.A Special Note:When someone believes in you, you increase in self worth and rise to the occasion. Long-term visionaries know to stay the course. They don’t focus on how things aren’t being done; they wisely look at what is being done and what can be done. They are solution orientated, not problem focused. As a nation, hold a vision for South Africa, don’t let outer forces deter your vision and actions towards it; look for what is working; acknowledge the heroes; be grateful for the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect and serve South African society. When you see the genius in another, you have the power to awaken the genius you see. Acknowledge the heroes and show your gratitude, for when you are grateful, you get more to be grateful for.Popularity: 24% [?]Share this post: The Bank Account of Life in South Africa¶ Published Saturday, August 2nd at 11:26 am ∞ In Inspiration ∞ No Comments » My mother, Illona Murray, gave me this message in 2000, while recovering from a severe depression. Maybe it is ironic that she has just retired from 33 years of working for First National Bank.Share this message with someone that is going through a hard time because they need to know someone cares about them. Colman McCarthy often starts his lectures with this, “Nobody makes it alone. It’s always important to show appreciation for what we got.” And one way of show you appreciate them is sharing this message with them when they need to hear it the most.The Best Bank in the World…Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with R86 400. It carries over no balance at the end of the day. Every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you have failed to spend during the day.What would you do? Draw out ever cent of course!Each of you has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning it credits you with 86 400 seconds. Every night it rights off, as lost, whatever balance you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance and it allows no overdraft. Each day it opens up a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the daily deposit. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow”. You must live in the present on today’s deposit. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success. The clock is ticking. Make the most of today. To realise the value of ONE YEAR ask a student who failed a grade To realise the value of ONE MONTH ask a mother who has just given birth to a premature baby To realise the value of ONE WEEK as two lovers who are waiting to meet To realise the value of ONE MINUTE ask the person who just missed the train To realise the value of ONE SECOND ask the driver who has just avoided a head-on collision To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND ask the person who won the silver medal in the OlympicsTreasure every moment that you have, and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special to you. Remember TIME waits for nobody.YESTERDAY is history, TOMORROW is mystery, and TODAY is a gift, that’s why it’s called the PRESENT!Give a copy of this message to a friend, for it’s a special gift and may just change their grey dull lives into brightness. There is also a Powerpoint presentation called “The Bank Account of Life” you can view here.Popularity: 25% [?]Share this post: Buying The Secret in South Africa is a bad idea!¶ Published Monday, July 28th at 10:08 pm ∞ In Money ∞ No Comments » Last week I went to purchase some ink for my Lexmark printer at CNA. While there I asked the saleslady whether they had a copy of The Secret DVD (not the book!). As it turns out they were sold out. But what really shocked me was the retail price of R450! That is about US$65 and about 3.8 times the retail price the current retail Amazon.com of $17!When it comes to The Secret, you either love it or hate. And if I had to go by the very heated Amazon.com Customer Reviews I would say that those who love it, cannot stop talking about it; while those who hate it, absolutely loath it. From 1681 total votes at the time of writing this is the overall feelings about those who purchased The Secret DVD:58% love it *****13% think it’s great ****8% though it was average ***6% didn’t like it **15% hated it * ∞ Continued After The Jump → Popularity: 23% [?]Share this post: Avoiding the uninspiring Flying Solo Unconference¶ Published Wednesday, July 23rd at 10:45 am ∞ In Events ∞ 5 Comments »At the Cape Town 27Dinner event in June 2008, Jo Duxbury made a great pitch for people to attend the first Flying Solo Unconference in Cape Town and Johannesburg. I really liked the idea because it was all about sharing ideas on growing your business with like minded people. And the idea of the unconference is that unlike the traditional conference there would be more panel discussions and interaction with the audience.Over the last 5 years I have experienced various ups and downs in my own business growth. For the most part I was self-employed as described in Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant. And it’s only in the last 6 months I have taken the idea of working on my business more seriously than working inside my business. This is not something that happened over night and I have bumped my head time and time again trying different things to grow my business. Maybe the best part of the experience is that I have now figured out how to generate cash flow at will. And for the most part this has to do with being clear about my products and services that I offer.Anyway Jo Duxbury and Pam Sykes are organising this unconference and asked for volunteers to do short presentation on their areas of expertise. I jumped at this opportunity because I get more practise as a speaker in front of a new audience. And with their feedback, I can constantly improve my material. So since the above mentioned 27Dinner event I have been reworking my business networking presentation and more importantly the way I want to deliver that to this audience. In all my other training programms I offer the delegates a free CD with resources I have collected and collated from the Internet. This ads tremendous value because they now have something specific to go through upon completing my seminar or workshop.What turned out to be a surprise for me was this message requesting a deposit of R200 that goes toward the food and drinks for the day. I emailed Jo and Pam to ask if the speakers also had to put down this deposit - and I received ZERO response from them. I take my presentations and talks very, very seriously as a member of Toastmasters and the Professional Speakers Association. More over I also subscribe fully to the principle of Fair Exchange as advocated by Dr John Demartini in his excellent book, How To Make One Hell Of a Profit and Still Get To Heaven. At the very least I would expect any fees to be waivered for the speakers because I am forfitting my fee and paying for my own travel to Cape Town.Oh just before I forget to mention this: I fully understand the Wild Fig restaurant is sponsoring the venue, however, forcing people to buy your food is not the way to go. What about all the people who may have wanted to bring their own picnic basket or fast good?Anyway what do you think is fair exchange for speakers to speaker at no cost at this event or any other?Popularity: 29% [?]Share this post: Fathers, Sons and questions from reading Manhood¶ Published Monday, July 14th at 9:26 am ∞ In Masculinity ∞ 1 Comment » Last weekend I spent some quality time with my best friend Bradley Minnaar. He’s mother passed away recently and now moved back in from a granny flat into the main house. All his sisters are married with kids and his one brother is married with kids, while the other became a missionary after his wife passed away only a few years after getting married. Sometimes while growing I envied to luxury, as I perceived it of having both your mother and father available to you.One of the things we discussed was the missing father syndrome in so many families, including my own. One obvious thing for me is how strong the link is between poverty and missing fathers. I grew up primarily with my mother in Uitenhage, outside of Port Elizabeth, and probably one of the poorest towns in South Africa. The biggest employer is Volkswagen, Goodyear and some other factories, all which remove fathers from the houshold.Anyway back to my own story. Until my father married his 2nd wife, when I was about 12 years old, I used to visit him for extended holidays in Johannesburg. I recall the feelings of trepidation I had when I realised my father was having another son i.e. my brother. The love that comes with a new born soon replaced whatever insecurity or anxiety I had about his arrival. Looking back, maybe the biggest disappointment for me was when my father could not make it for my 21st birthday in 1996. This was also the same weekend I graduated with a BSc degree, becoming the first person in my extended family to complete a university degree. ∞ Continued After The Jump → Popularity: 31% [?]Share this post: ← Explore the Past ∞  You could use this spot to introduce yourself. Add your contact information, hobbies, passions, or whatever. This might be a good place to mark up a natural language hcard. Here's a second paragraph. I use it for books I'm reading and quotes, but it could be used for wahtever.Here's a second paragraph. I use it for books I'm reading and quotes, but it could be used for wahtever. Here's a second paragraph. I use it for books I'm reading and quotes, but it could be used for wahtever.      Blog Action Day 2008 - Poverty | NETucation Online Blog on Blog Action Day 2007 - More efficient living in JohannesburgBemused on How to stop smoking one day at a timePR 2.0 Blogging Workshop with Marlon Parker’s Team | NETucation Online Blog on Algoa Sun interview with Ramon ThomasMyEggNoodles on How to stop smoking one day at a timeGlobal Voices Online » Africa: Mutual Aid Between African Bloggers on 27Dinner talk, Mutual-Aid between African Bloggers Interview Zooming In On Men, SABC3 27Dinner talk, Mutual-Aid between African Bloggers Live-Blogging the Gartner Africa Symposium 2008 Qhubeka moving South Africa forward with Nine Million Bicycles Algoa Sun interview with Ramon Thomas BeliefsBody LanguageBookscape-townConscious-Media-NetworkDatingdating-coachdavid-deidadepressiondr-evedvdEventsgenius-mindgroot-constantiaHealthHumourinterviewInterviewsiron-johnjo duxburyjohannesburgjohn-demartiniMediamodelMoviesnapoleon-hillnlposhopaul-dobranskypaul-scheelePersonalprofessionalsPsychologies-Magazineramon-thomasRelationshipsReviewssabc3sexpoSpeakingtoastmasterstom-leykisuitenhageVideoWomenworkshop Advice Beliefs Blogging Body Language Books Business Celebrity Dating Events Friendship Health Humour Inspiration Interviews Masculinity Media Money Movies Music Online dating Personal Podcasts Poetry Projects Publicity Relationships Reviews Role Model Romance Sex Social Networking Society Speaking Success Television Travel Video Website Women Subscribe ∞ Site Map ∞ Tao of You || Basic Concept ∞ Art by Jessica Doyle ∞ Valid XHTML & CSS |
|
