Glow sticks burned brightly all over Canada yesterday as optimistic ravers partied at the thought of being able to pick up doses of MDMA at their local government run ecstasy shops. Dr Perry Kendall said that pure MDMA is “safe” when consumed responsibly by adults.

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There’s a new documentary coming out this month called Line of Sight. While standard cyclists drive me mental (only because I am convinced I am going to run one over unintentionally) these guys are even worse.

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The South African documentary Dear Mandela, directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza, won the Grand Chameleon Award for best film and documentary at the closing night ceremony of the festival.

The documentary continues to impress audiences after it won best South African Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival last year.

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This week I answer a reader’s question: In a crowded wine market such as SA, is there still space for any new entrants? And if so, how should you approach things to ensure you aren’t destined for the scrapheap of failure?

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The idea of not mentioning the war was lost on a bunch of Poms in Haworth, a small village near Bradford in West Yorkshire, who were seen wearing Nazi SS costumes as a delegation of German visitors arrived on a visit to their British twin town.

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Iran said it is drawing up designs for its first nuclear powered submarine, which if it gets built, would make it the first not nuclear armed nation to put the technology to front line military use.

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A 2oceansvibe reader has alerted us to an incredible local artist’s portrait of soccer star Wayne Rooney. Hidden in the “antiques/collectibles” section of Gumtree.co.za is an original acrylic painting of the English striker, on sale for R5 000. It may well turn out to be the must have work for local collectors this year.

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Bizcommunity, one of South Africa’s more popular sites for news, jobs and events in advertising, marketing, media, retail and related sectors, has launched an online shopping portal called BizBuy, focusing on lifestyle and business products.

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30 years later the famous case of baby Azaria Chamberlain being eaten by a dingo while on holiday has finally been put to rest. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, long maintained that a dingo took her baby, even as she was sentenced to life in jail for her daughter’s murder, a conviction that was later quashed.

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In recent years we have seen reality television sink from the lows of Big Brother down through teen pregnancy, to the dregs of Jersey Shore. Earth, it would seem has little left to offer in terms of reality TV. Enter Dutch team, Mars One, who are looking to raise an initial $6 billion to send a team to mars by 2023, and make a reality show out of it.

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The Citizen reported over the weekend that Tokyo Sexwale is to be booted out of President Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet in yet another cabinet reshuffle. The rumour comes from a “highly placed source” who told The Citizen that “Sexwale has been speaking against Zuma’s government lately. Zuma wants him out.”

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Over at Simply Sean, blogger Sean Wilson has written a very cheeky post on what former Sprinbgbok coaches think about Heyneke Meyer’s team selection for his first test in charge on Saturday against England in in Durban. From the absurd utterances of Peter de Villiers to the grumpy racism of Andre Markgraaf, Sean nails it. Here are a [...]

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I am sure I have mentioned most of these tips in the past, but there is little harm in reminding you of some solid wine-truths. One thing I promise, if you follow any of these tips, your enjoyment of wine will increase. And, hell, isn’t that what life is all about, drinking wine?

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He’s at it again. Louis Theroux has dived back into the hornet’s nest of the American porn industry 15 years after his intial foray. What he has found is that an industry that used to make billions is now fighting for survival, as so much free pornography is available online. Things have got to a point where Theroux says that pornography is now simply advertising for prostitution.

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In a rather feeble attempt to garner attention for the plight of abused animals everywhere, PETA has launched an adult content site peta.xxx [NSFW, sort of]. The site has been in the pipeline for a while now, and features porn stars like Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. Although, to be honest, there is harder porn on late night E-tv.

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Trying to avoid the title of White Elephant trainers, the City of Cape Town is considering turning Cape Town Stadium “into a hub of commercial activity”. The idea is to introduce restaurants, night clubs, sports bars and coffee spots to the stadium to make back some of the R44,6 million a year running costs.

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Are you fed up with your marriage? Well you can now check in to one of a number of Dutch hotels for a long-weekend and get your divorce sorted at the same time. A great idea, I call it the reverse-honeymoon.

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Called “pop-up forests” forest by a New York Times blogger, areas of the Arctic Tundra are greening faster and faster as temperatures rise. What is worse, is that with the increase of vegetation, more sunlight is absorbed and contributes to the increase in temperatures.

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Flying above the earth, richer areas can be distinguished from poorer ones by the amount of tree cover they have. As usual, the poor get shafted and have less trees than wealthier areas.

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Johnny Depp joined the Black Keys on stage at last night’s MTV movie awards and played two songs with the band – “Gold on the Ceiling” and “Lonely Boy” – instead of making a speech for his MTV Generation Award.

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We love to forget to learn from the past. Learning from history has never been a strength of human beings. Even though we are continually reminded of our historical forgetfulness, generation after generation thinks it knows better. We repeat ourselves over time, asking the same questions and making the same mistakes; ignoring our artists and poets who have been obsessing over this phenomenon since the first falcon lost its hearing, and the gyre started getting fat.

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Instead of ripping into these competitions again, I thought I would try to find a few ways that they can be of use to you. Let’s see if I can find a couple of ways to make these seemingly silly, almost pointless competitions useful.

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This is the first in what I hope to be a fairly regular column that offers you a guide to a day or two out in the wine lands. I, your strong livered, hard-of-constitution wine reporter will plan a weekend trip for you; giving all the directions, the best places to eat and sleep, and, of course, the best wine farms to stop at. I thought I would start with the Swartland.

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Over 150 competition winners representing 22 countries arrived in Cape Town over the weekend to experience the Heineken Star Final. The Star Final is a competition held annually, where winners are flown off to watch the Champions League Final in an awesome city. Previous cities have included Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. Cape Town [...]

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This is going to be one of those columns that is more useful if you get involved. That’s why I’m telling you now, right at the start, that it would be fantastic, absolutely bloody marvelous in fact, as wonderful as a ham sandwich and a cup of tea on a bright spring day, if you add your two cents once you have finished reading. I’ll try to keep it short, so you have more time to type your comments. This column is about tasting notes.

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Lately I’ve been drifting toward the cheaper end of the wine spectrum as the belt has unwillingly been drawn in these tough economic times. So this column’s for stretched budgets, treats, great bottles, and benchmarks. International wines that I have tasted in the last year or so that stuck in my head, that I woke up the next morning still thinking about.

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Making predictions is a fools game, but I feel as though I can see a corner in the distance. It’s a corner that local wine producers are turning, or at least preparing to turn. The big, overworked and oaked wines are on their way out. We present a few wines that demonstrate this turning point, and most importantly, you can afford them.

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I recently attended a vertical tasting of Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noirs, with a couple international examples thrown in. It got me thinking about Pinot Noir, and then about language, and then whether it is just better to get drunk. I decided it actually is better to think, so here are my thoughts.

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