Don't interfere with an athletes nature

So, are they going to rule that runners must have a leg length restriction? Or that swimmers must have a certain size of hand? The list goes on. All athletes use their physical features to their advantage.

To require women athletes to artificially interfere with the naturally occurring testosterone in their bodies is totally against the spirit of honest sport. Caster is being discriminated against for whatever devious reason the IAAF has.

I hope that Caster refuses to take drugs to alter her God-given body make-up. 

Be careful with your brew. Home made #beer can be fatal & here's why

While making your own beer at home can be a fantastic idea, it can also be harmful if done incorrectly.

Recently, Northern Cape police said they suspect that two people may have died from drinking homemade beer. A 42-year-old woman was found dead and her 54-year-old partner was found very sick at their flat. The man later died in hospital.

Police said that two empty bottles of a homemade brew was found at the scene and seized for forensic tests.

Pietermaritzburg's Megan Gemmell, head brewer at Clockwork Brewhouse, said a lot of people are now interested in home brewing.

"I am all for home brewing and recommend people chat to experienced brewers first. Facebook and Twitter are full of advice."

She said that if people brewed correctly using fruit, yeast and ingredients that are ordinarily edible, and if clean water is used and everything sanitised, then there are very little risks, except maybe a bad hangover.

It becomes dangerous when other ingredients are put into it such as methylated spirit, hand sanitiser or acetone, which can be dangerous once consumed, she said.

Some people are fermenting fruit until it gets rotten. When consumed this can cause liver failure, said Dr Rashmee Bagirathi.

UKZN head of public health Saloshni Naidoo, confirmed that a homemade brew can be dangerous depending on the ingredients used and the concentrations used.

Naidoo said some metal pots may contain heavy metals. Long-term exposure to the heavy metals can cause toxicity. 

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Now here's a #chocolate that won't melt

MARS has patented a chocolate bar that won't melt in hot weather.

The heat-resistant snack uses an organic sugar replacement instead of cocoa butter – which will put an end to chocolate bars going soft in summer.

Grocery delivery services all South Africans can utilize during level 4 #lockdown

As we are facing level 4 of the lockdown, many of us are wondering what grocery services will be available to us.

Most people are taking precautions by limiting their time spent in grocery stores, trying to get all their supplies for the next week or two. Others prefer to have groceries delivered to their homes.

It is recommended that we use a home delivery system if we can, as it helps us to maintain social distance and reduces the chances of spreading the coronavirus.

Grocery delivery has become popular in many parts of the country because of its convenience.

It also means you do not have to wait in line and you do not have to carry your groceries home yourself.

So, if you are practising social distancing – which is one of the essential ways to stay safe – you may want to buy groceries online.

Below are grocery delivery services you can try.

Zulzi

Zuzi, an online delivery platform that allows customers to order from retail stores such as Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Dis-Chem, will have goods delivered to your doorstep within an hour. According to their website, they are the first digital mall in the world where you can find multiple categories of stores from groceries to pharmaceuticals.

Daily Dish

Daily Dish has been delivering meal kits with fresh ingredients and dinner recipes throughout the lockdown period. Their customer base has been steadily increasing to double the volume of orders they had before lockdown. Their main goal is to supply as many dinner kits to as many South Africans as possible to help them stay safe.

Quench

Quench is an alcohol delivery app that has changed its business strategy to include same-day delivery of groceries from Woolworths to customers in major centres across South Africa. They have seen a significant spike in downloads and new users.

Yuppiechef

From pasta, olive oils, nut butter, flours, spices and other pantry staples, including eco-conscious cleaning products, Yuppiechef has been stocking customers' pantries for years. They have received the government's permission to continue to bring us these quality ingredients during the lockdown period.

Sixty60

Sixty60 is Checkers' on-demand one-hour grocery delivery service. With Sixty60, consumers can shop for their food and grocery needs from their home or office, and have it delivered to their preferred address.

Bolt Food

Bolt Food is the most recent service of ride-hailing tech company Bolt (formerly Taxify). The service helps retailers, greengrocers, butchers, pet stores and independent pharmacies who don't have delivery partners to stay in business during the lockdown.

OneCart

The company's main mission is to be South Africa's most trusted fastmoving consumer goods marketplace and logistics platform. OneCart partners with malls and their retailers to provide this convenience and flexibility, without an added price burden to the consumer.

NetFlorist

NetFlorist has teamed up with food wholesaler and distributor Fruitspot to deliver fresh produce to consumers within one day.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats recently joined forces with essential goods providers to help deliver everyday products. From frozen meals to toiletries, household goods to vitamins you get no-contact delivery.

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The #Covid_19 good stories diary: #Eatify breathes new life into restaurant

What started as a good deed to help out a friend whose restaurant business has been "Covided" has become one of East London's fastest-growing foodordering digital systems.

"I was, and hope to be again, a regular at Ciao Bella in Nahoon," Jason Mark, founder and digital director of Floeo, an online marketing company, said.

"Ciao's owner, Shaun van Huyssteen, is a friend.

"Aside from being a customer I was a spectator and watched as he worked incredibly hard to get the Italian-themed eatery from zero to full-house signs in just more than a year.

"To see it collapse under Covid-19 restrictions was tough. I felt I had to do something about the situation."

Mark's Floeo team designed and activated Eatify in record time. It is a free app that gives customers a one-stop-shop for orders and deliveries.

Now that the pandemic has been reduced from stage five to four, restaurants can deliver meals.

"The Eatify app has already turned Facebook and website visits into online ordering for restaurants, and it ' s free, as long as they are active online."

He said food outlets without an online presence would struggle to survive if lockdowns continued.

"Floeo's marketing role is about giving customers options when buying, and our role is giving our clients media presence to serve them — which is what we did for Ciao and other local eateries, though the app can be used anywhere in SA and the world.

"Eatify, once the emphasis on ordering and delivery slows with the virus's lowered impact, is effectively a free restaurant management system: ordering, delivery and table reservation software that drives online sales, with zero fees.

"It integrates easily with existing websites and Facebook. Getting started takes minutes."

Van Huyssteen said he had started Ciao more than a year ago in "very hard economic times" but the hardships were nothing compared to the lockdown impact.

"We went from doing well to doing nothing.

"We are fortunate to have built up a good name, especially for takeaway pizza.

"Aside from good value-formoney food, our biggest selling point was service. We would open for coffees at six and keeping going until well into the evening. With lockdown that was not on."

He said the decision to run very lean financially had added to his chances of survival.

"I keep my eye on the cash balance. No investors or partners are involved and when we succeed — and we will — it will be a family effort."

Mark said fortunately for Ciao it already had a strong online presence with more than 1,600 Facebook friends, a following that would prove crucial to success.

"The virus has created havoc for entrepreneurs, but out of this disruption may come a new way of doing business, and digital will drive much of it."

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Inspire your life. Get a copy of Inspire Mzansi digital magazine from PressReader

Virtual #poetry proves just how much people love poetry. Go on & indulge

The odds are heavily stacked against mass gatherings assembling anytime soon due to the Covid-19 outbreak. This has negatively affected many industries that rely heavily on mass gatherings to rake in the money. 

Talk of the cancellation of music concerts, movies houses, sporting events etc.

Poetry has also not been spared. Festivals, readings and live events have bore the cancelation brunt. But the emergence of virtual poetry readings and festivals have proven that poetry is still very much alive and loved. 

Infact, poetry has kept many people motivated, inspired and entertained during these times of uncertainty.

Afro Poetry Times May 2020 edition is keeping up with that spirit of keeping the soul activated through poetry. You are in good hands!
This edition features:

 Why virtual poetry is proving that poetry is alive
•       Gabrielle Union talks about her new book
•       Teacher, pupil publish poetry book
•       How Covid-19 will change poetry
•       Short Story: Excitement triggers guard down
•       You'll never walk alone (poem
•       Book Review
•       In the spotlight: Flash Fiction
•       Literature events and competitions
•       PLUS POEMS POEMS POEMS AND MORE

Get your copy now from PressReader – The world's leading digital press distributor. We are here to serve and promote poetry and the literary arts.

http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/afro-poetry-times/20200501

#PhoneReview: #Huawei unveils its 2020 flagship device in South Africa - the P40 Pro

Covid-19 forced Huawei to unveil its flagship device for 2020 by livestream. The P40 Pro is the first smartphone that will go on sale in SA without Google Mobile Services (GMS) post-lockdown.

The handset runs Android 10 but gone are apps like the Google Play Store, Chrome, Gmail, Youtube, Maps, and so on. Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) will replace GMS and it has its own app gallery, browser, mail, reader, cloud, video and music apps.

The P40 Pro has a large 6.58inch screen that runs at a 90Hz screen refresh rate, features a camera cutout on the front, and is powered by a Kirin 990 chipset with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage. It has a dual SIM slot plus ESIM functionality, 5G support and a 4200mah battery.

Flip it to the back and you cannot miss the large camera bump that houses a quad camera. It has a 50MP wide angle lens, a 40MP ultrawide lens, a 12MP periscope with 5x optical zoom and a depth sensor for portrait shots.

The handset has a glossy-looking yet matte finish that does not attract fingerprints.

Huawei's app gallery makes a special effort to include SA services from banks, travel and lifestyle but it does not have some big global names such as Twitter, Instagram and Netflix. An external link is available to download Facebook and Whatsapp. Though both Twitter and Instagram carried over onto the P40 Pro, I'm still not clear if I'll be able to update those apps.

Like its predecessor, the camera is excellent. From portrait to low light to ultrawide, you can't really fault it. The only feature missing is super macro mode. The 32MP selfie camera supports 4K videos at 60fps.

The P40 Pro runs smoothly and offers top-notch hardware with 5G support. The phone's biggest limitation is its software. The app gallery still has a long way to go. If you rely on GMS particularly for apps such as Chrome, Youtube or Google Maps and the Play Store itself, the P40 Pro is not for you. It will be a long time before Huawei can replicate the diversity of the apps in its store.

The Huawei P40 Pro will be available after lockdown for R20,999.

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Love poetry? Have you tried the monthly Afro Poetry Times digital magazine?

Get your copy on PressReader and allow your mind to sail away.... far far far away from all this Covid_19 panic. We are here to serve great poetry and to promote the literary arts.

http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/afro-poetry-times/20200401

Gem to ponder from Fight Club

IN this time of Covid-19 there is a quote from the book and film Fight Club that we should remember.

"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."

Please note that I have broken the first two rules of Fight Club just by talking about Fight Club so consider this carefully.

The power of spoken word #poetry in building change

I am very passionate about being and creating a voice for women. One of the best and safest spaces to allow women to fully be themselves is through poetry. 

The arena of poetry and spoken word has been dominated by female poets who have graced the stages with their written accounts of life journeys.

In the past, stories that were told around the fire and or at gatherings were only done by men; however, the situation has changed because now, women have been elevated to telling their own stories as well as experiences. 

Deviating away from the traditional sphere of storytelling and oral performances being done by men only, to the time where women are allowed to openly tell generational tales and recite their story, is a huge improvement within the area of patriarchy.

To account for it, female poets have started to embrace the freedom granted to them by gracing the performance poetry platforms and telling their stories.

The greatest thing about slam is its malleability, the way this impossible form can do so many things, all of them simultaneously draw a crowd, saturate the audience with power and set the art of poetry free in a friendly atmosphere.

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Step up your poetry game by getting your copy of the Afro Poetry Times from PressReader - the worlds leading digital press distributor.  

Afro Poetry Times is a monthly magazine that's dedicated to promoting poetry and the literary arts. We feature poets, poem reviews, book reviews, interviews with poets and authors, events, competitions and more.  

Masks can save lives #coronavirus

Six weeks ago wearing a mask on SA streets looked like a silly idea.

Footage was around of people in China wearing them as the virus spread in their country.

But there were barely a handful of cases in Mzansi at that point.

And experts told us that wearing one would not stop you catching Covid-19.

All they would do was scare and panic people.

Obviously things have changed a lot. Four weeks into lockdown it's no wonder people are worried about getting "back to normal".

And we've got to the point where NOT wearing a mask may scare and panic people.

There are many who may think they are unnecessary and annoying.

But if wearing them helps to get the country back on track then surely it's a discomfort worth tolerating?

At least the experts are now focusing on the next move.

Getting us past this dreadful virus.

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Love poetry? Have you tried the monthly Afro Poetry Times digital magazine?

Get your copy on PressReader and allow your mind to sail away.... far far far away from all this Covid_19 panic. We are here to serve great poetry and to promote the literary arts.

http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/afro-poetry-times/20200401