This is Joe Botha’s personal Blog.
I’m an old soul amphibian geek and a connector, currently living in Bakoven, Cape Town, South Africa. I like: walks around Lions Head, swimming, running, Debian, Cape Town in the summertime, tea, (panoramic) photography, Dvorak (the keyboard layout), cocktails and design. Maybe not in that exact order. Also, fast convertible cars on winding coastal roads, the beach at sunset, food, fun and friends.. and I like to be ahead of the curve.
I’ve been known to be a bit fanatical about a few topics and I seem to enjoy analysing the obvious. Some people say I’m an impatient idealist.
I keep myself busy with a need to change the telecommunications space in South Africa. I’m passionate about a few (disruptive) revolutions: Linux, the Internet, Blogging, indoor and outdoor Wifi, VoIP and all the tools, technologies, partnerships and entrepreneurial passion that glue these together.
I started blogging in November 2006 after attending a GeekDinner in Cape Town. I’ve been a WordPress fan ever since.
For some strange reason I find myself interested in Blogging, PR and general online conversation technologies, a.k.a. Social Media. “Reach is the number of people you touch with your message”. You need good reach for a revolution.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
– George Bernard Shaw
I’m an unreasonable man.
I’m an optimist, anarchist, maverick and hedonist (pure pleasure seeker).. I like the ideas of order without leaders, morality without religion, for the common good, decentralisation and democratisation.
“We reject: kings, presidents and voting.
We believe in: rough consensus and running code.”
– David D. Clark
I’ve been involved with various non-profit organisations for 10+ years. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a political animal, but not that interested in general politics. I care about things with local relevance.. things that affect my little planet.. things where I can have an impact: mostly Cape Town, the ISP industry, geeky things and technology.
I seem to make lots of notes at the moment.. I guess it’s a form of self discovery. I’m currently amused by the ideas of Lifestyle Design and Value Layer Abstraction.
I’m a founder of four companies: Frogfoot, Amobia, Blio and Teraco. You can read more about my business activities in my resume and CV.
I’ve been known to give talks on topics ranging from GTD, Lifestyle Design, Peering Points, Open Source and Geeky Lifestyle things. If you would like to invite me to speak at an event you are planning, have a look at my public speaking bio.
If you like this blog, you may also want to look at my more static homepage content.
If you want to find out more about Joe, look at my /me page.
Other sites I sometimes write content for:
Fine Print:
Content is proudly produced in Cape Town, South Africa.
All opinions on this blog are my own. If they make you feel bad about yourself, grow up or take sleeping pills. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. All other material is owned by Johann Botha. All contents Copyright © 1999-2009, Joe Botha. Some rights reserved. Caveat lector.
The SwimGeek Blog by Joe Botha is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.swimgeek.com/contact/.
