The Two Oceans Marathon

Firstly, congratulations to all the brave guys and gals that completed the Two Oceans this past weekend. My hat off to you.

Secondly…

I think I might join you next year.

That gives me a year to prepare. Now, I may be a fool, but I am an old fool. Therefore I will only do the half marathon next year. Still… for somebody that can only do a semi-non-disastrous 5km at this stage, there is some work to be done.

Onward then, James. And don’t spare the horses.

Watch this space….

An ode to the download

I can still remember when the internet started making it’s way into our offices and lives. At that time nobody had e-mails. If you wanted to tell somebody something you had to write a letter, on paper… or use the trusty old phone. Or fax them. And notwithstanding this lack of communication everybody survived. Economies grew. And life was a lot more simple.

Then came the internet.

9500 bps. That was the first modem I ever had the pleasure of working with. Dial-up was all the rage. It took you half a day to download a file. But who cared?

Slowly but surely the whole thing took off. Faster and faster. More data. Larger files. Tons of e-mails per day. Working holidays.

Silly, really.

“What are you on about?” I hear you ask.

I am currently dabbling in a spot of programming and app development. Call it a passtime. All of a sudden I am in need of an Apple MAC. Now, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a MacBook for a week or two and frankly, I hated it. Most of the software I use is not available for Apple. Bit of a bummer. So I stick to PC’s and indulge myself on the iPad and iPhone.

So how now brown cow?

Hackintosh…. Yes. That was my expression as well.

Seems that OS X can run on the humble Intel and AMD processor. If you look at the iMac Mini, it is based on an Intel processor.

Well well.

If you are interested, Google “Hackintosh”. Interesting stuff.

I am therefore now busy building myself said equipment. Part of the exercise is to download OS x. Which I am currently doing. All 5,9GB of it. Currently on 4GB. And that in just more than 90 minutes. Impressive. (Telkom Uncapped LTE… because I know that’s your next question.)

That took me back to the old 9500 modem and me and a mate of mine downloading the “WarCraft” installation file, which was just over 5MB if memory serves correctly. The exercise took us the best part of a night and then… just before completion… the line died!!! Oh, the good old days. That file would today have downloaded in about 10 seconds.

And we wonder why we feel so overworked and pressurised.

Download speeds.

Opening an Isolator On Load

You have got to love electricity. It’s there… but you can’t see it, hear it or smell it. You can feel it… oh yes.

But then, sometimes, something happens that allow us to “see” electricity. This is an oldie but a goody.

And that, my friends, is electricity!

What happens is that, when the isolator opens the electricity attempts to continue flowing. That causes the arc to start. When the arc develops the air is ionised making the flow of electricity through the air easier. That is why the arc keeps on going even after the isolator is fully open!

Decrease in Energy Demand

I subscribed to Sharenet’s (www.sharenet.co.za) load shedding alerts. Worked like a charm, especially during the high load shedding periods. This morning I received this mail from them (all credit where credit is due etc…) Interesting reading.

“There has been no load-shedding for several months now, and ESKOM have informed they do not expect any load-shedding to occur in 2016. This is the good news and for once, we agree with ESKOM that load-shedding probabilities are low next year.

Now for the bad news – the low probability of load-shedding in 2016 and beyond is not solely due to ESKOM getting its act together with its maintenance program and horrific building delays. It’s mostly due to a massive fall-off in DEMAND caused by the shutdown in factories and mines and other energy intensive industries, as well as a slumping SA ECONOMY.

The pullback in demand is horrific.

So despite improved and accelerated maintenance (we fully accept the great job being done by ESKOM new management here), demand continues to trend downward, now down almost 8% since the Jul 2007 peak at the height of the last economic expansion.

This is bad news because this means the economy is contracting and if this continues long enough, we will be plunged into another recession. A recession will likely affect your business or employer and it will definately affect the Rand/$ which in turn will drive up costs of imported goods. Falling earnings will affect JSE shares that are heavily exposed to the SA economy, but fortunately there are many listed shares on the JSE that are immune to the local economy and actually gain in value when the Rand falls.”

Nasty Crosswind Landing

I went flying last week Friday. Nothing funny there.

Then a storm happened. I was turning final and ready to land when I was told to Go Around as there was a vehicle on the ground doing safety inspections on the runway.

No problem. Go around.

All this time I am keeping an eye on the storm to the south of the airport, hoping against hope that it will give me time to land before it hits the airport.

I turn base. All is well.

I turn final. ATC announces “The storm has just hit. Surface wind 240 Gusting 35 Knots.”

That’s bad.

I’m lined up for runway 29. That means the wind is coming from the left. Almost 90 degrees from the left. And 35 knots gusting is strong.

The Piper I am flying has a 10 knot crosswind limit.

But I need to land. The storm will keep me in the air for another hour and a half, and I am running out of daylight. Not good, especially if you do not have a night rating.

“JTO. You may go around and rejoin at a later stage if required.”

Nice. But no.

“Tower. JTO. For a full stop please.”

“Copy full stop. Clear to land runway 29. Surface wind 240 gusting 35 knots.”

Deep breath.

Crabbing works like this; You fly semi into the wind, lining your approach up with the runway. Ailerons controls drift, rudder controls direction. I’ve never landed in a strong crosswind like this. Especially one that is not constant. But I bring it in. As I come in I notice a funny phenomenon. The crosswind is so strong, I cannot get the plane lined up with the runway. If I turn any more to the left, I will be flying into the wind, and not closer to the runway.

Bummer.

Wait a second!!! Throttle!!! I have a very long runway to play with. If I slightly overshoot the threshold… no biggy.

More power and she starts lining up.

Now for the easy part. Down to the runway, and at the last moment ailerons into the wind and opposite rudder. No problem.

It’s funny how the repetition of training kicks in when you need it most. I slightly overshoot the threshold but put her down and evacuate the runway well before the halfway mark.

ATC: “JTO. Nice landing. Evacuate Charlie. Hold short Bravo.”

“Nice landing…” I smile.

I had to sit short of Bravo for a second or two just to catch my breath. That was epic!! Do I want to do it again? Not if I can help it. But, at least, now I know I can.

It’s difficult to explain how a severe crosswind landing looks and feels like, but the following video has some nice examples. Enjoy.