Ouch, this “Suggested for you” recommendation was a bit hurtful:
Thanks a lot, Facebook algorithm.
Honestly though, considering how well Facebook is supposed to “know” me, the amount of misplaced ads and posts that it sends my way is quite laughable. Rap stuff, Trucking videos, Ads for Prime (the drink and the TV channel), the latest news from PJ Powers. No.
I think I’ll put this one down to being the same thing. Misplaced. Inaccurate.
Not me.
Definitely not me.
The weather has turned in Cape Town, and after a long, wet, cold winter, it would seem that spring is on its way. This oak tree in Constantia certainly thought so yesterday:
The trouble is – and hear me out on this one – we don’t really want it to be spring just yet.
[Capetonian people arrive en masse Chez 6000 with pitchforks and flaming torches]
No. Actually, we want spring to come at the normal time, which is probably about a month from now. Because while the dams might be nice and full (99.6% this week, down from 100.4% last week, to be exact), we need them to be like that in the middle of September too, when spring should start.
And if there’s going to be no more decent rain, that isn’t going to happen.
Also, it’s no secret that when it doesn’t rain, Capetonians use more water, so there will be a compound reduction of the amount of stored water we have going into what we’re told will be a long, hot dry summer.
Of course, this is just what climatologists and meteorologists are telling us, using their years and years of collective training and education, their cutting-edge computing models, and their interactions and collaboration with experts around the world.
You might well hear something different from your mate Keith, who has read something on Facebook. And we must thank Keith for taking some time out to share his thoughts on this, busy as he is also being an expert on Eurasian geopolitics, the New World Order paedophile network, cryptocurrency, and the reasons why Elon Musk is a “great guy”.
But I digress… often.
All I’m saying is that while it’d lovely to have a bit of nice weather right now, starting spring this early will have unpleasant knock-on effects in March and April. And I know that might seem a long way off at the moment, but we’ll look back on this post once we get there’re in the midst of heatwaves and water restrictions, just so I can say I told you so*.
* I won’t do that**
** OK, I might do that
Yesterday, I went to the gym to see if I could survive a workout and therefore pronounce myself fit to play football in the evening. The workout went very well, thanks for asking, and so I pronounced myself fit to play football in the evening. I then played football in the evening.
Dream day.
It was only after playing football in the evening that I realised that I had done a gym workout that morning. 20000+ steps. 600 (or at least the equivalent of 600) Discovery points. All in just under 10 hours. This is what is known in gym/football circles as “a bit much” for one day.
Consequently, today I am feeling battered and I did not want to get up.
I will not be exercising today. I feel that I have earned a rest day.
There is still plenty to be done around the house though, so it’s only a rest from actual exercise, not from life. And that’s sad, because with dark grey skies up above and disappointingly chilly temperatures, I’d honestly rather be in bed.
This looks like fun (depending on your idea of fun). It’s the Manitou Springs Incline: an ex-funicular railway track in Colorado which has become a… “thing”. It’s about 1.42km long, and gains (or loses) an incredible 613m in height over that distance.
(c.f. Winnat’s Pass 188m over 1.6km; Constantia Nek to the dams: 473m elevation over 6.6km; Platteklip Gorge 680m over 2.8km. I think that’s all the major reference inclines covered.)
So basically almost twice as steep as the front of Table Mountain. Yeah – it’s mental.
This excellent video sums up what it was, what it is, and documents the odd community (are we allowed to say “cult”?) which has grown up around it:
As a one-off visit or as part of a regular exercise regime, I guess that it’s all good. And yeah – I get the speed thing, because there are records for speed in everything (the record for this 1.42km is 17m25s). But then middle aged men came along and because they couldn’t break the speed record, they invented a new record: they had to do it more than other middle aged men. And this is where it gets a bit obsessive and weird. Because that record is (obviously) the number of ascents in a single (365 day) year, and that figure currently stands at 1,825 (that’s 1,100,000m of ascent). When each up and down trip takes at least an hour… that’s at least 5 hours a day, every day. Plus getting there, getting back and (hopefully) some shower time.
Nope. I mean, well done, and each to their own, but that just seems like a colossal waste of time over 12 months when you could have been sleeping or drinking or blogging. Or, quite plausibly, all three.
Still, I guess that if I lived there, I’d also be using it as a free gym (and people have moved there just to do this). Can you imagine your calves after a few weeks? Bulgy.
Given that it is unique, it’s obviously going to be difficult to recreate something similar here in Cape Town (or anywhere else), but it does seem like the sort of challenge worth trying at least once.
With the economy as it is at the moment, unemployment rife and actual inflation a whole lot more than the figures say it should be – R52 for a litre of fruit juice: WTF?!? – you can’t blame South Africans for wanting to try and save a bit here and there.
But there are things which you should try yourself, and there are things that you shouldn’t. Lest we forget that during lockdown, homemade pineapple beer became very popular. But homemade alcohol can be dangerous. Pineapple beer killed at least two people and another homebrew killed 19 more.
So, one can only imagine where this idea is going to lead:
Honestly, what could go wrong? I mean, I can’t be alone in seeing ruined engines, garage fires and yes, some people drinking the stuff “just to see how it tastes”.
Biodiesel is produced through a multi-step process called transesterification that requires the mixing, heating, cooling and filtration of the oils or fats combined with methanol and a catalyst.
Methanol is what killed those 19 people.
Common catalysts are caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) or caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).
Ah Jesus. Caustic soda is called “caustic” for a reason. Potash is what dissolved Desmond Tutu’s body.
I’m just saying.
The process is quite intricate but does not require higher-grade chemistry.
While this line is clearly meant to indicate just how straightforward the process is, I can’t help but read it and think that we’re going to have people who only got to Grade 7 in General Science having a pop at making gallons and gallons of this highly flammable liquid in their homes.
Several websites provide guides on the process,
Oh, well that’s ok then. As long as the loadshedding doesn’t take the internet out at some vital stage or other.
Despite the alleged savings which could be made, I’m putting this article – and the whole idea of homemade diesel – down as a really bad idea.
Don’t do this.