Author: 6000

No woman, no fly

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The Mavic learning curve continues.

My wife was away this weekend, and I had big plans to take the kids out for a quick flight. However, the weather was weird on Sunday. Cloudy one minute, sunny the next; calm one minute, dangerously gusty immediately thereafter.

Not flying weather.

Still, that did give me the opportunity to use that title.
Silver linings, ne?

The purpose of the planned flight was to practice some videoing. The photography thing is coming along nicely, albeit slowly. But I look at other people’s Mavic videos and I want to be able to do that too. I did try a 4K video a couple of weeks ago, but my settings were all wrong and I ended up with a pretty much completely unuseable, 2 minute long, 1.8GB file.

Some reading up and a couple of helpful Youtube videos later, I adjusted the video settings and took the risk of popping Florence (for it is she) up to 50m or so to test them out.
Good news. The quality was excellent: clear and sharp. And “only” 150MB for a 30 second flight. So basically 5MB per second. I’m not sharing it here because it (the content, at least) is rubbish, but that’s not the point. Suddenly, there are a whole lot of opportunities open to me – the world is my whelk.

There will come a time (possibly) when videoing in 4K resolution is necessary/possible (the Mavic can do it, but my PC simply can’t handle it). In the meantime, 2.7K is far more manageable, and – to an amateur like me, at least – appears basically just as good [professional videographers fall to the floor in laughter].

Watch this space, because great* things are coming.

* terms and conditions apply. 

Canal Beagle

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No, not a trip to our local waterway with the dog, a black bin liner and a couple of bricks.
El Canal Beagle  – The Beagle Channel – is a waterway right at the bottom of South America. It’s named after Charles Darwin’s vessel, which took this route between Argentina and Chile between 1826 and 1830.

Notable things about the Beagle Channel:
1. It’s got the infernal dog breed in its name.
2. It’s got a lighthouse:

3. There was a Beagle Conflict. This in itself is weirdly amusing, but – and how cool is this? – one of the major incidents in this conflict over a disputed border line occurred in 1958 – and involved three lighthouses.

Named the Snipe Incident after the uninhabitable rock which both sides claimed they owned [rolls eyes], it involved the Chileans building a lighthouse on the rock. The Argentinians quickly destroyed the Chilean lighthouse after its completion and replaced it with their own Argentinian lighthouse. This Argentinian lighthouse was removed by Chilean forces and taken to a nearby Chilean naval base. Those Chilean forces also reinstated the original Chilean lighthouse, the remains of which the Argentinians had thrown into the sea. The following day, the Argentines used heavy artillery to destroy that lighthouse (again), before placing some soldiers on the rock to claim sovereignty.

The ensuing military build-up was fortunately curtailed by a truce. The terms of this truce were that there should be no military personnel or lighthouses on the rock. So, exactly as it was before the three lighthouses and the mini invasion then.

Sabre-rattling deluxe.

Since a further treaty in 1984, there have been no disputes over this (now) Chilean territory. There is now a lighthouse (not the one pictured above – that’s the Phare Les Éclaireurs and definitely belongs to Argentina) on the Snipe islet.

Note: This post is about Beagle Lighthouses and has nothing to do with Lighthouse Beagles, who are responsible for promoting and developing the dreaded breed throughout Europe.

A morning flight?

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…I hope, anyway.

This post was written ahead of the weekend, precisely to leave ample time to (possibly) do some flying this morning.

I’m not sure exactly where yet – most of the peninsula having been comprehensively locked down by Table Mountain National Park – but 48 hours ahead of… well… now, the weather forecast is looking excellent for a quick trip up into the Cape Town skies (other regional atmospheric locations are available). And that makes a change, given that the infernal SouthEaster has been blowing annoyingly strongly and seemingly constantly for several years weeks now.

I’m sure you’ll be among the first to see some photos or footage assuming that I do manage to get up somewhere (ooer/careful now, etc etc).

Watch, as they say, this space.

Silly Diet Saturday

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Someone once said:

The good thing about science is that it’s true whether you believe in it or not.

And that person was right. Of course, there are other good things about science as well. I’m one of them, for example.
Sadly, not everyone respects science (or me, actually) in the way that we deserve.

I recognise that posting this on a Saturday won’t keep the cult away.
Comment moderation is, as always, enabled.
Don’t @ me, although previous experience has suggested that you surely will.

The thing is that this cherry-picking of convenient bits of scientific data is merely the gateway drug to ignoring facts altogether. I expect to see many vocal LCHFers to head down the anti-vax spiral with Uncle Tim anytime soon.

IF YOU LIVED HERE…

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I’m no expert at house marketing. I know some people who are, but they’re not me. I saw some house marketing while I was sitting in the traffic this morning, and it confused me.
I may be no expert at house marketing, but logic is one of my stronger points, which is why it confused me.

Obviously having spotted the long queues of stationary traffic outside the property each morning, agent Anton du Plessis has apparently aimed his ad at those already weary drivers, but does it really make sense?

IF YOU LIVED HERE YOU’D BE AT WORK ALREADY

he shouts.

Well, maybe, but since I am here, reading your house marketing sign, I’d only actually be at work already if I worked here.
And that’s a bit of an assumption, Anton.

Are you suggesting that this is like a work-from-home thing (even though I don’t live here)?
Are you trying to tell me in some cryptic way that this property has an office, Anton?
It seems a bit over the top to advertise a home office that way. After all, you can just convert any bedroom into an office by removing the bed and replacing it with a desk. (I saw something similar done on Grand Designs once.)

Or is this perhaps a very niche Public Service Announcement aimed at people who do actually work here? Although, since they are here, and therefore at work, they had probably worked it out already. I hope they have business zoning for the property.

I can’t actually believe that you’re suggesting that anyone living here is constantly being at work, already.
No-one wants that. That’s not a good way to sell a house.

I’m confused. Buy this house and be at work. Already. What?