Monsters of the road

These pick-ups (bakkies) and cars always catch attention. Some I would like to own, others would just not be worth the effort of finding parking (and paying the fuel bill). Let’s start with the Ford F250. It is definitely of the biggest pick-ups I’ve seen. Ever. It is very American, but I like it. Its impressively big.

It has a 4,2litre turbo diesel 6 cylinder engine which has a 144 litre tank and gives 132 kW @ 3800 rpm and 500 NM @ 1600 rpm. Its biiiiig! I had a look at the cab and there is enough space for you, your family and your mother-in-law with her poochie as well.

Next is the Hummer or High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. It is also American, but jeepers!... It is even more impressive than the F250! On my way home from work, I drive past one ever so often and it grabs my attention every time. It’s a black one and it’s the colour I would go for if I had the bucks to buy one. It has such presence on the road. One drove past me the other day on the freeway and I tell you, the other cars just made way for it. The H3 has a 3,5 litre engine with an 85 litre tank. It outputs 164 kW @ 5,600 rpm and 305 Nm @ 2,800 rpm. So it has a smaller tank than the F250, with less torque. Hmm, interesting… One would think that the Hummer would have more torque for such a big body. And the tank is not much bigger than a Toyota Hilux.

Talking about Toyota, they actually have an alternative to the Hummer. Well, it looks more like the H1, but still, it’s a Toyota. Its called the Mega Cruiser, and its pictured above. It’s a 4,1 litre engine that kicks out 111 kw of power @ 3400 rpm and 380 nm @ 1800 rpm. I’m a big Toyota fan, but the fact is, its not as powerful as the F250 or the Hummer. The fuel tank is 108 litres, which is what you expect from this sort of vehicle. It has more torque than the Hummer, which earns it Brownie points. I don’t think its as luxurious though. I’ve heard about a similar Russian car called the GAZ, but I can’t find enough information on it.

The last one is a real monster. It is just ridiculous. It’s a product of the same company that manufactures International trucks, those big 18 wheelers. One day, their R&D department had nothing to do, so they came up with this idea: Why not make a pick-up out of a truck! The monster is called the International XT and has about 4 or 5 models in its stable. I’ll tell you a bit about the CXT. Its 6,5 m long, 2,7m tall and weighs 6,5 tons! It has a 265 litre tank, which you apparently have to fill up every 5 kilometres or so. The engine is just as monstrous: a 6 litre which puts out 220kw of power and 1160Nm of torque!!! And the cab is as big as my living room and very luxurious. Let’s put it this way, no-one will come in your way on the roads and parking is a non-issue!

If this is your sort of thing then you will probably also go for one of those monster trucks with the humongous wheels that crush cars on a Saturday night.

Sadly, I will soon get into my 1998 Toyota Corolla and drive home while looking up at the pickup truck drivers in their air-conditioned cabs while I struggle along behind them. One can only dream….

Open Source. Not Micro, not Soft.

I don’t think many people know a lot about open source software and the drive behind it. Open source is a broad concept. Basically, it means that if software is labelled as “Open Source”, its source code is made available with the software, allowing anyone with programming skills to modify, improve and redistribute the software again. It does not necessarily mean that it is free, but in most cases it is so. There is a whole drive behind Open Source (see this website ) and even our own internet guru Mark Shuttleworth joined in this drive with the OpenCD project. They distributed cd’s with (free) Open Source software (OSS) on it. Check out the OpenCd link for more info. He is also the founder of the Ubuntu operating system. Ubuntu is based on Linux, an alternative operating system software to Microsoft Windows, for instance.

OSS includes software equivalents for all the well-known software out there. Let me give you a couple of examples. For an OSS equivalent of Microsoft Office, try Open Office. It can read MS Office files such as .doc, .xls, etc, and you can also save documents in the Microsoft formats. And its completely free. Then as a very impressive alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), you have the already well-known Mozilla Firefox. This is simply brilliant. They’ve gone places where IE still haven’t dreamt of (I’ll write more on this in a later post – it deserves its own post). And it’s free. Many of you out there, still use Outlook Express. Forget about it. Firefox has a sister and she’s available. Her name is Thunderbird. Once you have tried it instead of Outlook Express, you’ll never look back. Normally Content Management Software (CMS) and intranet software is helluva expensive. Enter Plone. It is the most comprehensive CMS I’ve ever seen. It has add-ons questionnaires, forums, document management, etc. And it’s free. How much did your dad pay those days for an encyclopedia? Visit Wikipedia (Also try Fact Bites) online. All done with free software. There is software for science, web design, games, audio, hobbies, databases, etc. All Free! There’s too many to mention here. I’ll leave you with this last link. It’s a link of some of the favourite free software for Windows. Also try Sourceforge, although that site is not easy to use. Remember there is also Google. You can always find open source software by typing in the type of software you are looking for, followed by the word “open source”.

Go forth and may the “source” be with you!

Vorsprung Durch Technik

I was just invited to have a look at a friend’s brand new Audi Q7. It is the 4,2l V8 Quattro. I am speechless. This is the most sophisticated machinery I have ever been allowed to touch. For starters, it looks smooth and elegant. It doesn’t appear big from the outside, but it is really big on the inside. And its got everything you can think of. Name it. SatNav, built-in phone, optional TV tuner, fold-down trays behind the front seats, leg space, leather, wood-inlays, and the list is endless. It about 5m long and 2 m wide, so it’s big. Everything works with voice prompts, you press a button on the steering wheel, and say something like “phone”, and it opens the phone display on the centre of the dashboard. The same display changes to a camera when you reverse, so that you can see behind you. It also shows lines of where you are going, superimposed in the video image, so you know where you are “aiming”. The lines change angle as you turn the steering wheel. When you open the hatch in the back, there is a button you can press to lower the car when you want to load stuff. Also, there is a button on the hatch door that closes the door automatically when you press it. Inside, it has a four zone climate control system, so the passengers in the back have individual control. It produces 171 kW @ 4000 r/min and torque of 500 Nm @ 1750-2750 r/min, and it weighs 2300kg (this is for the TDI). It has a radar sensors that monitor the blind spot on the sides of the car and flashes a signal to the driver via flickers mounted on the inside of the mirrors, alerting the driver that a car is in its blind spot.

In all, a bloody technologically impressive car! You have to experience it yourself. Go out now and check it out!

When in Rome...

Now, I don’t know why, but I never really showed an interest in history or anything related when I was at school. But now I find the subject extremely interesting. Take ancient Rome for example. It all started with the TV series “Rome”. I started watching and wanted more information. The internet is a wonderful place! I found a wealth of information. One of the most interesting characters, was Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar only became a title after he was in power. The naming convention is also most fascinating. For instance, they only had about 18 first names which they used. Caesar’s father was also Gaius Julius Caesar. The “Julius” refers to the clan he belonged to, the Julii. The last part “Caesar”, normally referred to a nickname or some sort of attribute of the person. It was often used in irony: Caesar means “hairy”, although he was balding! For the women, the names were just as weird. Sisters would often have the same name, the only way to discern would be the postfix of either “major” or minor”, depending on who was first born. For instance, Caesar had two sisters, both called Julia. One was Julia major and the other Julia minor. This obviously caused great confusion for historians, who often did not know who was referred to in ancient texts. Also, if the father’s name was Lucius, the daughter would normally be called Lucia.

Another thing I found interesting was Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius’s (not Marc Antony as the series calls him) infatuation with the co-ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra. Caesar had a son (Caesarion) with her, and Marcus Antonius had three children with her, twins (boy and a girl) and a boy. Caesarion later became Ptolemy Caesar and ruled Egypt. Cleopatra was in fact not Egyptian, she was Greek. Her father was a lieutenant under Alexander the Great.

On my bedside table is the “"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries by Julius Caesar”. What a fascinating read. It is all about Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (France) and describes many intricacies of Roman life at the time. I will post an update on this later when I’ve finished reading it. I’ll finish with this: many of Caesar’s quotes are famous, such as “Veni Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered), which he said after defeating Pompey. When he crossed the Rubicon river into Italy from Gaul, on his way to Rome to take care of Pompey, he said “Alea jacta est” (the die is cast), because he was not supposed to enter Italy with his legions, according to Roman law. One very famous quote by Marcus Antonius, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” was apparently poetic licence by William Shakespear. He never said those words after Caesar’s assassination.

Lastly, on that note, Caesar was not just assassinated by Brutus, there were about sixty men involved. Brutus was merely one of them and Caesar asked "Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi" ("You also, brutus, my son?"). Therefore most people think its Brutus.

So, I leave you with the Latin : curate ut valeatis (take care that you fare well).

Moving the soul

Can I just say that so-called “superbikes” do nothing for me. Yes, I know that speeding along at 260 km per hour is supposed to get your blood moving, but that’s not all biking should be about. I mean, the look of a standard superbike does absolutely nothing for me. But lets go to their cousins, the cruisers, adventure bikes classics and choppers (not so much the latter, but the first three).

Just take a look at the Triumph Bonneville T100 for instance. They have a new one coming out in 2007, in a category called “Modern Classics”. Now that’s the sort of bike that draws my attention. What I like about it, is the classic styling, nothing flashy, it just says “come for an easy ride” and it just looks solid. The Thruxton 900 has a more sporty look and is only slightly more powerful than the T100. But again, a clean classic look. Then the Triumph Scrambler. Immediately the twin exhausts catch the eye, giving you a challenging stare. Then there’s the Ural Wolf, a bike I did not know existed, but immediately fell in love with for its rugged “biker club” look. It’s a Russian make, and they have been doing it since the 1970’s.

If we look at cruisers, Truimph again has some beautiful products, of which the Rocket III and the Rocket III Classic, will look especially nice in my garage. Yamaha also has a great looking cruiser in their “Star” series. Also for 2007, they have the XVS1300A Midnight Star. Very sleek, with a lot of low speed torque. If you are want a really classic look then check out Royal Enfield. Their Bullet Electra and Euro Classic hits the bulls-eye for classic styling. It makes you want to go out on the open road in the country, and just eat up the miles to no-where. Even the superbike kings, Ducati, knows that not all people would want a speeding bullet, so, in 2007, they are bringing out the SportClassic GT 1000. A very rugged looking adventure bike. But, lets be honest, there is no other adventure bike that the BMW GS 1200 Adventure. It does its name so much justice! It has been said by many enthusiasts that its “there is no better endurance bike…”. That says it all.

Lastly, lets not forget the Harleys. They have a “Sportster” called the XL 1200 L Sportster Low, which is similar to the modern classics mentioned earlier. The next is the “Dyna” series, in particular the FXDB Dyna Street Bob. And I cannot forget the Softail Fatboy! In the VRSC series, there is the VRSCDX Night Rod Special, that makes the blood run faster. It’s a liquid-cooled 1300cc beauty, you just want to wear leather when you look at it! I am not mentioning the Touring range, because they’re too big in my opinion. I’ll end off with this quote – its so true: “Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.”

Volcanoes

Came across this very interesting site on volcanoes. The best part is the Google Earth link they provide for each volcano. It absolutely great! They also have a page on current eruptions of all volcanoes around the world. You can download a link that will take you on a Google Earth tour of the week’s volcanoes. Then there is this site that shows recent seismic activity around the world on a map. Here is a map of the last 24 hours’ activity. The worlds most active volcanoes are listed here, and list of the worlds “super volcanoes” can be found here. With temperatures up to 1600 degrees Celcius, eruptions that can last up to a year, with 70,000 people having died since 1902 by volcanic eruptions and their related impacts, super fast lava flows of up to 360 miles per hour and up to 150 km in length, explosive eruption plumes of up to 40km high, volcanoes are a force of nature to be reckoned with!

New Pajero

Is it just me, or is the Mitsubishi Pajero getting uglier every year? There is a new one scheduled for release next year, and it sure as hell is no Mona Lisa. I actually prefer the older models. Since I first saw one in 1992, it has gripped my attention. Especially with the new (well, new to me at the time) technology, such as an altimeter. I thought it was great. In all fairness, I must admit that the current short wheel base one looks ok. I drove one recently, and its luxury all the way. But if I had a choice, I would still go for the older ones. Its the same as the Merc ML. Ugly as hell. I don't care that its a Merc. They have to bring beauty into the equation somehow. Ok, they have improved somewhat, but it still is not a pretty car. I would have to say that the best looking luxury offroad vehicle has to be the VW Touareg. Have a look!

TracLite

Well, this little tool has been indispensable since I got it in January 2006. As an It Consultant, I get to crawl into dark and unpleasant spaces often and normally forget to attach my third arm before I do so. Enter the magnetic Traclite from Tool Logic!. Check this out, its got an LED which lasts almost forever, and a swivel base, allowing you to continue your work without having to hold it between your teeth to see what you are doing. A really brilliant tool!
Every once in a while a someone actually uses their noggin and designs something you can actually use!

Pony cars

I am kicking off this blog site with a post on pony cars. According to Wikipedia, pony cars : "... describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image."
Now, some people might consider these cars, such as the Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Corvair, etc, to be a bit beneath them in the sense that a S-class Merc would not be beneath them. But they are missing out on something more exciting than just a "drag-racing" car. These cars were designed to be out of the ordinary, an alternative to mundane run of the mill family sedans.
When Ford Motor Company created the Ford Mustang in 1965, that's exactly what they had in mind. The Mustang was in fact the first pony car ( or "muscle car" as they are also called). Since then there have been a few others that raised the eyebrows, but I still feel the Mustang and its cousins are the greatest. On Top Gear they drove a Dodge Charger and spoke about which was the better one between that and the Challenger, and I must say, the Charger doesn't look too bad. If you talk about what they have under the bonnet, its muscle all the way! Typically they had a six-cilinder or V8 engine.
The 2007 Ford Shelby GT500 is a 5,4L V8 and it outputs 372kw with a torque of 650NM at 4500 rpm. If the look of this beast does nothing for you, well, there must be other problems in your life as well!