Petrology - πέτρα

07 December 2015 Cape Town: 42.4 Robben Island: 40.8 Paarl: 41.9 Robertson: 41.2 Riversdale: 40.8 Worcester: 38.9 Langebaan: 41.5 Clanwilliam: 43.2 Vredendal: 43.9 Lamberts Bay: 40.8 Malmesbury: 44.4 Porterville: 41.8 The above temperatures are in °C not Fahrenheit All time high temperatures measured in many towns and cities - Is it a once - of occurrence or will it happen again? This is only the seventh day of our official Summer. Are we going to wait another year or ten to find out or are we going to act now. We did measure some extraordinary high temperatures last year as well but it seems that the events are not isolated anymore this year.  Extreme weather has become the norm over the last decade and the increase of the number of incidents over the last two years seem to be logarithmic. What I do know for certain is that it is becoming impossible to sleep without at least a fan blowing at full blast directly onto one's body. The minimum temperature measure

At last - Zuma's reign nearing it's end. It took the populace twenty two years to realize that a country can not be ruled by a nincompoop. Political jargon and renaming of streets, towns and cities does very little in providing work, education, medical services and the like which are the things that actually matter. A city called by any other name will soon smell of excrement if the sewers are left to their own device, if garbage collection is done at the whim of the Municipal workers Unions and if streets are used as urinals as per the squatter syndrome. If the urge strikes, squat and void the old bladder and bowels. I the old days, when people still had some values, they would at least look for a bush to hide behind, not anymore. I saw a woman taking a crap on the sidewalk, in front of everybody and just walking off as if nothing has happened. A taxi pulled over in front of me and five or six of the occupants, male and female just did their thing - no problem. Th

Distracted Driving AASA sent out a newsletter regarding this topic yesterday (12/05/2016). I believe that those who subscribe to this publication are already concerned about the death rate on our roads and should not be the target audience. We have a well-developed broadcasting system that could – and should be utilised to graphically bring this message to the attention of as many citizens as possible. I have on many occasions experienced the result of the distractions caused by texting, applying make-up and general inattention of fellow drivers. People seem to forget that they are often travelling at 120 Km per hour or 33 meters per second or more.  It simply means that if you look down for 1 second, you will be 33 meters further along when you look up again.  To text one word or read one sentence will often take in excess of 5 seconds.  That will place you 150 meters or the length of one and a half football fields further down the road. Should someone in f

Kan nie glo dat ons alreeds besig is met Februarie 2016 nie. Dit is veronderstel om die maand van die Geelperskereen te wees i.e. twee weke van reenweer wat lei tot sowat 100mm neerslag in totaal. Ek praat nou van die dae voor Valentine se sekskapades  in hierdie land besing is. Een of ander persoon het gesien dat dit n geleentheid gaan wees om baie blomme, klere (vir die baldanse, dit is nou die Afrikaans vir "Ballroom dancing" - dink ek)) en sjokolade te verkoop. Ek weet net dat ek nie sommer sal deelneem nie - klink of dit dalk kan seer wees. Dollar is koning. My oupa, hy was omtrent so ses en tagtig toe die ding nou so posgevat het dat hy ook daarvan kennis geneem het, het dit Vaaltuin-se-dag genoem. Niks van Valentine nie, die soort van naam is eintlik deur kulkunstenaars gebruik wat so eenmaal per jaar die kinders (en hulle ouers) se geld by n skooloptrede gevat het. Die ouens het teelepels gebuig en geselekteerde lede in die gehoor se horlosi

Decided on Sunday, 24 January 2016 to fast for a few days, just to detox and mainly to show my body that I will not allow it to dictate when and what I must eat. Today is day four (nearing it's end) and I feel extremely good. The first day was difficult but after that it actually became quite easy. (I structure my life around the principal of doing the right thing(s) right for the right reason(s) I was 7 Kg overweight on Sunday, I am now only 3 kg overweight and I expect to reach my target (ideal weight for my age and body type) of 87 Kg by Sunday 31/01/2016. Quick-Quick and relatively painless. I have fasted before but only for 3 or 4 days in succession. It helps to rectify the battle of wills between body and soul but not really to allow the stomach to shrink in order that one can feel satisfied without having to eat too much. A certain advantage is the return of the body's ability to process sugar(s) After a three day fast one will experience a rush of energy if

For the poor individuals who are genetically inclined to become obese . Nine out of ten times the problem is not inherited, it is taught. I have so often witnessed parents (at restaurants) tell their children to eat up, otherwise they will not be given sweets afterwards. Poor kids, they are already stuffed to the gills, they are forced to eat whatever is on their plates and afterwards they forcefeed themselves with sweets in order to get some joy from the meal. Two hours later, they feel nauseous and have to be given medication to stop the nausea. It only postpones the inevitable – what should have been an afternoon barf becomes a two-o-clock-in-the-morning session, bedding full of something resembling a pizza that ended up in the dishwasher. Poor kid gets whacked for eating too many sweets and stinking up the entire house with barfodou r – the sticky smell with the same retention qualities in the atmosphere as in the poor individuals mouth. You can brush your teeth

For the first time in decades, Crude (Brent) is below $30 per barrel. If you are residing in a country where your currency is worth more than the paper it is printed on, this is great news. The ZAR was worth more than the USD when I was a youngster. we paid ZAR 0.82 for a USD and prior to the sanctions and the '71 oil price crisis Ford and GM products were more abundant than VW beetles. We paid approximately R2.00 for a British Pound. You could buy a Benz for less than a Chevvy or a Ford. Even after the oil fiasco during the seventies, we still had the strongest currency in Africa. The infrastructure was better developed than most European countries and Nothing in Africa could touch us. This state was maintained until 1994. Now we have to multiply the USD price by 17 to get the Rand value and the British Pound by 23 - the slide is so rapid that one has to check the exchange rate at the time of purchase, or else you may be underpaying for your import with the resulting incon

As members of the class - Mammalia, we are required to eat every day, more or less. This, being the life sustaining prerequisite of our race has been turned into a  (normally) enjoyable ritual where family and sometimes friends gather to consume food and beverages. We often forget that we are also spiritual beings and that the spiritual also requires sustenance, albeit of a different kind. The foods that influence our spiritual wellness are not sourced from the physical world and selection of the sustenance that will keep the spiritual being alive is a crucial factor - infinitely more important than the meat and veggies that we often select with great care from the shops. Experiment with different spiritual foods - negativity for instance - if you constantly allow this nutrient to enter your spiritual realm, you will become negative, not maybe, not sometimes but every time, without fail. This is also true for hatred, avarice etc. - we know the negatives. Experiment with the f

As Omnivorous beasts, we consume almost anything - some with a preference for meat, others leaning towards the veggies. What remains true is that excess consumption, be it vegetable matter or meat will lead to obesity. I have studied family members and friends (and my own eating habits) over the past forty years or so and there is only one conclusion; If you eat in moderation, you will not become obese, regardless of you preferences (except of course the obvious high sugar, high cal foodstuffs and beverages). People often blame their blood group, glandular dysfunction and many other excuses crop up - bull es h one tee. Look at photographs of the people in concentration camps during WW2, the camps during the Anglo Boer war, and photographs of those unfortunate individuals in famine struck regions - not one fat person, sorry OBESE person in sight. What could be the mystery? Lack of excess nutrition maybe? The groups mentioned certainly contained individuals with glandular pro