hertenberger.co.za

Saturday saw us waking very early to head to the smallish town of Potchefstroom, home of the South African Army’s 4th Artillery Regiment. A yearly event, access to information regarding the open day is fairly restricted and it took me a fair bit of effort to determine the when and where of the expensive fireworks display we were to be treated to. Never being one to miss a chance to see my tax money being blown to goodness knows where (at least in this case, the use of that money is reasonably transparent and the effect visible), I was rather interested in attending as I have never seen an artillery display live.

Gates opened at 08:00, with the static display of vehicles, guns and rockets an interesting way to while away the time until the actual display’s start at around 11:00.

There is no entrance fee and a fair number of visitors had made their way to Potchefstroom. The highlight of the day was obviously the firing of armaments of various sizes and potency, starting with machine guns, mortars and ending with G5 and G6 cannons and the most impressive piece of kit, the multiple rocket launcher.

A great way to spend the day and interesting for the younger visitors, too. Remember the sunscreen, ear protection and a few chairs for next year.

Of the many things to see and do around Johannesburg, Croc City is a venue we’ve often wanted to visit but never managed to get to. On Saturday, we finally made an effort and found the very neat, yet small crocodile farm a very interesting place to visit. Croc City is close to Fourways in Johannesburg, close to the N14 highway on the R114. As you’d expect, crocodiles form the main attraction, lurking in the water or baking in the sun.

Tons of them vie for visitors’ attention.

We we’re fortunate to arrive sometime before feeding time and had a chance to follow the very knowledgable guide along. The premises is in peak condition, featuring an area with tables for seating, children’s play area and a small store.

The most impressive aspect of the establishment is the fact that everyone had a chance to study a variety of Croc City inhabitants up close and personal. Only small crocodiles are to be handled, whilst the 6m behemoths should be kept at a safe range…

A variety of spiders and other creepy crawlies are on show, sure to pique the interest of young and old alike.

Some are not suitable for close-up inspection, though.

A very informative two hours that can be extended as you see fit. Entrance fees are very reasonable, with adults charged at ZAR 55 and children under 12 costing ZAR 30.

Since my last posts in April, a lot has happened, though nothing so earth shattering as to cause concern. 99% of all events were overwhelmingly positive and the break from the stress of having to update texts here remarkably easy to deal with. 

A big thank you to the folks who expressed initial surprise and later concern when updates stopped appearing here. It’s amazing to think that some of you actually follow what’s going on around here

The highlight of the period must be the World Cup. In that month a lot of traveling was undertaken. We got to see various stadia in a number of cities. Best of all, our tournament tickets to follow Germany through to the semi-finals could be used to good effect. An unfortunate loss to Spain did little to dent our enthusiasm for the tournament. We had a great time and I had serious doubts that normal life could be an actual reality…

There was a bit of travel and the usual influx of gadgets of which the iPad is everything I could have imagined it to be and more. It has now become the repository for all my digital magazines and books. The combination of the WiFi-only iPad with the MiFi for access to the Internet works extremely well. Wheras the iPad is a fantastic gadget, my idea to buy a TomTom for in-car navigation turned out to be less than inspired. As a long-time Garmin user, not even the Darth Vader voice-over can put enough shine on the TomTom.

I tried to do a fair bit of photography, using the World Cup as a suitable excuse. The ease with which a camera and 400mm lens could be brought along to all six games I attended was surprising. The same combination was used to good effect at this year’s Rand Airshow.

The 1D MkIV shoots 10 frames a second – fast enough to generate in excess of 1400 photographs in a scant 5 hours. I’ll be backfilling the archives to include some photos as I move along.

With some rather exciting happening initiatives in the work environment, I am now more involved with Linux, SAP and virtualization technologies, amongst other things. I’ll give some feedback of those as I progress.

My entire computing platform has shifted entirely to the Macintosh, with the MacBookPro being my primary workhorse. It’s an absolute pleasure to use and I often find myself stuck now when I need to work on a Windows system. Usually when looking for something in the Control Panel, for example.

I’ve managed to re-organize my entire photo library to conform to a filing structure I’ve had in mind for ages but could never actually set up due to practical reasons. With the photos organized, I’ve imported into Aperture 3 and am starting to add Faces and GPS information.

Thanks again for the support. I’m ready to get going again.

It’s been quiet here for quite some time…

…the last sequence of posts took place in March, with some highly sporadic activity in April and then…nothing.

It’s been a busy period and one in which I’ve purposefully kept away from here.

With the madness of mid 2010 over, it’s time to resume where I left off…

1 year old already. Happy birthday, little guy!

Happy 6th birthday, Alexander!

Finally time then to move the last Windows user in the household to a Mac!

The replacement schedule for existing number plates that cars bear in the Gauteng Provice has been published, along with the specification of the new number plates. Nothing much changes in the way the number plates look – the familiar blue on white design with the GP logo stays, though the number format changes to accommodate roughly 200 million registrations. The existing three letter, three digit scheme accommodated only 9 million variations. Differences to the letter colouring occur for governmental vehicles (red), those with personalized plates (green) and vehicles used for public transport (black).

In addition to the change in the letter/number sequence, the new plates will be metallic and will include a 2D barcode as well as an RFID chip. The purpose of the RFID chip is touted as a means of preventing illegally obtained plates from being attached to a vehicle. In my opinion, this is a secondary reason: toll roads and chip readers (already installed on the general highway system surrounding Johannesburg) will be able to utilize information from the RFID chip to charge for road usage and of course to ensure fines for speeding are allocated correctly.

It is likely that the cost of operating a vehicle on the highways of Johannesburg and surrounds will become a very expensive affair in future, not least of which is the requirement of having old number plates replaced at a cost to the vehicle owner in line with specified expiration dates.

The new plates will have a validity period of five years, after which they will have to be renewed once again.

Ciao!