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Jesse Harber

@harber.co.za
441 followers 1.3K following 531 posts

Transport planner in South Africa. Infrastructure, public transport, walking and cycling, better streets for better cities. Focused on the big questions, like “why are you building that?”. Skeets in my personal capacity.

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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 23/02/2026
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 27/05/2025
Gonna take the bait and say there’s no contest. Sephardi food ranges from North African to Persian, Indian, and others of the world’s great cuisines. Whereas, per Claudia Roden:
Cabbage

Cabbage is the historic Ashkenazi vegetable
Before the potato, it was the only vegetable, - apart from carrots. Every shtetl smelled
intensely of cabbage. It was cooked in various ways, usually boiled or braised, often with onion. A common flavouring was caraway; sometimes a little white wine was added; often vinegar and sugar gave a sweet and sour flavour. It was partnered with apples and sometimes with potatoes, mush-rooms, or chestnuts, and it was used in soups and as a filling for strudel and blintzes.
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 16/04/2025
tfw your social categories are definitely ontological
Museum plaque of a news clipping:

1985 had at least 1000 "chameleons"
Political staff PARLIAMENT - More than 1000 people officially changed colour
last year. They were reclassified from one race group to another by the
stroke of a Government pen. Details of what is dubbed "the chameleon dance" were given in reply to Opposition questions in
Parliament. The Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Stoffel Botha, disclosed that
during 1985: • 702 coloured people turned
white,
• 19 whites became coloured,
• One Indian became white.
• Three Chinese became white.
• 50 Indians became coloured.
• 43 coloureds became Indians.
• 21 Indians became Malay.
• 30 Malays went Indian.
• 249 blacks became coloured.
• 20 coloureds became black.
• Two blacks became "other
Asians!
• One black was classified Griqua.
• 11 coloureds became Chinese.
• Three coloureds went Malay,
• One Chinese became coloured.
• Eight Malays became coloured,
• Three blacks were classed as
Malay, • No blacks became white and
no whites became black,
The Star, 21 March 1986
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 03/02/2025
Trump tweet: South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn't want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won't stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!I’m in danger dot jpeg
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/01/2025
Yield: 4 servings
1 small garlic clove
2 lemons
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
Salt and black pepper
3 cups cooked quinoa, cold or at room temperature
2 mini seedless or Persian cucumbers, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 bell pepper, any color, seeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup finely chopped parsley leaves and stems (see Tip)
½ cup green olives, such as Castelvetrano or Cerignola, pitted and halved
110
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 01/01/2025
Oh to drive the little fire truck
A little bakkie-based small-town fire truck
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 30/12/2024
Kismet
Two sequential skeets from my feed. The first is a guardian headline: “Some people's ancestors are kings or poets. I'm proud my family invented ... the corridor”. The second is @theophite.bsky.social commenting on a game screenshot or something with “some good corridors”.
001
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 30/12/2024
Kismet
Two sequential skeets from my feed. The first is a guardian headline: “Some people's ancestors are kings or poets. I'm proud my family invented ... the corridor”. The second is @theophite.bsky.social commenting on a game screenshot or something with “some good corridors”.
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 16/12/2024
O no
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 06/12/2024
My Spotify Wrapped is almost exclusively the super chill album we used for the lad’s wind-down routine for a couple months. 83 bedtimes.
Spotify Wrapped showing I listened to an Agnes Obel album 83 times this year.
120
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 06/12/2024
I hate these zombie newsletters. I haven’t taken a dutch train in 12 years. There’s no way to unsubscribe. I don’t speak dutch. And they’ve got my name wrong.
A Dutch railways email newsletter
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 27/11/2024
A cartoon by Zapiro of God directing Botha to hell
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 27/11/2024
Local music festival decided my car was the best medium for their advertising
A ripped-up sticker still on a windshield
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 27/11/2024
Computer, enhance
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 20/11/2024
Took a flutter on a job-lot of old vinyls and it’s at least 50% Shirley Bassey and Engelbert Humperdink.
A box of disappointment
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 18/11/2024
Finally earning some trust at work
051
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 16/11/2024
Just got home from the new Kyle Shepherd Trio album launch. Absolutely cracking jazz. Find this album.
A vinyl record of the Kyle Shepherd Trio album “A Dance More Sweetly Played”
121
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 15/11/2024
This guy took out my wisdom teeth
Headline: “The case against Dr Shevel: Renowned Headache Clinic doctor charged with murder after death of patient”
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/11/2024
Not today, discourse Satan
Advert from the Economist, reading “What’s the best age gap in a relationship? We examine the evidence.”
120
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/11/2024
Things are heating up in non-motorised transport policy
022
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 29/10/2024
Marc Jacobs by Marc Jacobs dot jpeg
Spotify album titled “Shakti with John McLaughlin (with John McLaughlin)” and credited to Shakti.
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 15/10/2024
God give me the confidence of people who comment on articles by recently retired Constitutional Court judges.
“Garbled arguments. The writer needs to learn to write point by successive linked point.”
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/10/2024
Oooooooh baby
An outrageously sexy titanium-coloured camera
120
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 10/10/2024
Prospective nursery school has high standards
A "Title" dropdown menu reading "Prince, Princess, Pehin, Pengiran, Dato, Datin"
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 10/10/2024
This balcony adornment at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation is a choice.
A beautiful heritage building with exterior staircases leading to an exterior landing. A pretty lifelike statue of Desmond Tutu stands on the landing, arms outstretched, like he is preaching to a crowd on the street.
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 10/10/2024
Now this is a blast from the past. On sale at a library fundraiser. Without a doubt my favourite childhood books that I’m not planning to share with my kid.
A softcover copy of Willard Price’s “Adventure Collection” containing Whale Adventure and African Adventure
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 18/09/2024
Better than I thought tbh
Bluesky image saying I’m user number 156780
020
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/09/2024
You have options. This dropdown was enough for another 14 screenshots.
Drop down menu reading 

Datin Paduka

Datin Paduka Seri

Datin Sri

Datuk

Datuk Seri

District Judge

Dom
Don

Duke
Duchess

Earl
Emeritus

Empress

Field MarshalDropdown menu reading:

Shri
Signor
Signora
Sir
Sister
Squadron Leader
Superintendent
Surgeon Captain
Tan Sri
The Abbot
The Archdeacon
The Chancellor
The Deaconess
The Dean
020
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/09/2024
Dropdown menu with options:

Mr
Miss
Mrs
Ms
MX
Dr
Professor
Admiral
Air Chief Marshall
Air Chief Marshal Sir
Air Commodore
Air Marshal
Air Marshal Sir
Air Vice-Marshal
190
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 11/09/2024
Bart Simpson’s class saying “Say the line”
1380
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 11/09/2024
Email news roundup: “Good Morning, SA | News24
28m ago
Steenhuisen's chief-of-staff Roman
Cabanac denies he's 'twerking for Putin' • Key moments of the Harris, Trump clash in race to White House”
020
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 03/09/2024
Is that good
Bank transactions for large amounts of Iraqi Dinars, with merchant “Atheer Telecom Iraq”, snd status “DECLINED”
110
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 02/09/2024
Tbt the time I made a friend’s dream come true
Instagram post of a scribbled note with caption: “wa
11 likes
in.the.throes Found this today - wrote it, urgently, half-asleep, after a dream, a few weeks ago, and then completely forgot. It says "red onion and rosemary ice cream with a parmesan crisp". This is:
a) a sign that a devil is interfering with me, psychically
b) notes for a plot point - NOT a recipe
c) with reference to (b), the easiest way to find out...
?
View all 4 comments
jesse.harber I will MAKE this ice cream”An artfully arranged plate with two quenelles of ice cream garnished with a sprig of rosemary and a parmesan crisp standing upright in them.
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 17/08/2024
A not inconsiderable factor in the collapse of apartheid was that towards the end, it was run by just the baldest members of the Broederbund locked in a room looking like this
Always Sunny whiteboard meme
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 17/08/2024
He can try. By the end, that scheme was just crazywhiteboardmeme.jpg
Apartheid Museum plaque with newspaper extract:

1985 had at least 1000 "chameleons"

More than 1000 people officially changed colour last year.
They were reclassified from one race group to another by the stroke of a Government pen.
Details of what is dubbed "the chameleon dance"were given in reply to Opposition questions in Parliament.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Stoffel Botha, disclosed that during 1985:
• 702 coloured people turned white,
• 19 whites became coloured,
• One Indian became white.
• Three Chinese became white.
• 50 Indians became coloured.
• 43 coloureds became Indians.
• 21 Indians became Malay.
• 30 Malays went Indian.
• 249 blacks became coloured.
• 20 coloureds became black.
• Two blacks became "other
Asians"
• One black was classified Griqua.
• 11 coloureds became Chinese.
• Three coloureds went Malay,
• One Chinese became coloured,
• Eight Malays became coloured,
• Three blacks were classed as
Malay,
• No blacks became white and no whites became blac
110
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 17/08/2024
A yellow sun low in an orange sky, above sparse trees in an incredibly flat landscape.
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 12/08/2024
The perfect synecdoche of life in the UK doesn’t exi-
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 29/07/2024
AP fact-checking meme of JD Vance with headline: “No, JD Vance”
020
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 26/06/2024
The Tories’ disgraced candidate for Montgomeryshire has a familiar energy.
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 13/06/2024
Perhaps but also people have made trains A Whole Thing in every medium of art and aspect of life. I picked this up in a pile of old vinyls. This label had dozens of issues, all of different South African trains!
Vinyl record cover with a steam locomotive, called “Famous Fifteens: At work on the South African Railways”SIDE ONE
BAND 1 - A 15 CA waits impatiently to leave Rayton with a passenger train. The green flag! With a short, slightly hoarse whistle as though clearing her throat, she starts with purposeful strokes and then whistles in triumph as she accelerates past a level crossing with tremendous power past us and away, making light work of her load.
BAND 2 - 15 CA No 2810 is heard working resolutely up the long haul from Van der Merwe to Rayton as she sounds her warning whistle. She passes us, her bark sharp and deep then drifts into the station, wheels rolling by to stop with a squeal of brakes. The sounds of the passing freight cars have been shortened.
BAND 3 - Another 15 CA moves past us to and fro busy shunting. Then a brief warning whistle and she's off, her beat increasing strongly. She whistles a strident farewell over the rapid acceleration of her exhaust as the driver opens her throttle wide.
BAND 4 - 15A No 1791 starts up from Montrose en route to Rayton with the characteristic che
120
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 05/06/2024
Curiosity piqued/curiosity dispelled
Financial Times headline: “No, Starmer should not be bolder”Same headline, now with byline and photo of Janan Ganesh
010
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 04/06/2024
Turns out Skype lets any participant rename a group by default. Before I changed it, this was Bitcoin/Ethereum spam.
A Skype group called “Scammy scam scam”
020
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 28/05/2024
Now THIS is writing
Kindle highlight:

“The creature, it, he–it undoubtedly was a male–was a biped about six feet eight inches tall. The pink-skinned body was very thin; there were three fingers and a thumb on each hand and four very long and thin toes on each foot. There were two dark red spots below the male nipples on the chest. The face was semi-human. Thick black eyebrows swept down to the protruding cheekbones and flared out to cover them with a brownish down. The sides of his nostrils were fringed with a thin membrane about a sixteenth of an inch long. The thick pad of cartilage on the end of his nose was deeply cleft. The lips were thin, leathery, and black. The ears were lobeless and the convolutions within were nonhuman. His scrotum looked as if it contained many small testes.”
150
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 28/05/2024
I recently finished rereading the first Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer, “the man who introduced sex to sci fi” The sex in question:
Two kindle highlights:

“Burton looked at her curiously and with appreciation of her splendid bust. He called out, ‘How’s the water?’”

“He dropped back until he was by her side. This put him behind Frigate and Loghu. The view of Loghu would yield some profit even if his attempt to talk to Alice resulted in nothing. Loghu had a beautifully rounded posterior; her buttocks were like two eggs. And she swayed as enchantingly as Alice.”
2110
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 22/11/2023
Not knowing any of the context, this episode title looks like podcast Madlibs.
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 17/11/2023
Also whatever the fuck this is
000
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 17/11/2023
I found this stuck to a wall in London, which led to the nasty revelation (to me) of the far right gangs that are football fan clubs in Italy.
030
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 02/11/2023
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Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 30/10/2023
There’s an awesome Japanese “death jazz” band called SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS. When I saw them the dude on the left was billed as “activator and energiser”.
140
Jesse Harber @harber.co.za · 28/10/2023
Not sure DuckDuckGo is a Google-killer just yet.
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