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malo mystery

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Posts posted by malo mystery

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    There have been two mini gold rushes in Cape Town, one on Table Mountian which turned out to be a hoax :

     

    In 1856 Mr Salem set off a mini gold rush after displaying a gold nugget in his shop window that had apparently been found in Platteklip Gorge by one of his employees. Nobody was going to miss out on the opportunity of finding gold, after all if one nugget had been found there could surely be more. On making their way up the gorge, the people were surprised to see Mr Salem had set up a stall half way up at Silverstream Cave. He was selling food, beer, spirits and picks and shovels at double the price that they were selling for in town. No gold was ever found in the five day rush and by the time the diggers returned past the cave the shopkeeper had folded his tent and left. It turns out that the gold nugget was real but originated from Australia.

     

    and another on Lions Head a few years later in 1887

     

    from my cache GC25EGZ

    GPS Repairs

    in South Africa

    Posted

    A story of great service - Avnic, of how it should be done.

     

    On Sunday my GPS (Nuvi 205) decided enough was enough - the slide switch would switch the unit on, but not unlock the screen, and so it was constantly telling me to slide the switch to the left, but after several cachers trying the obvious, we gave up.

     

    On Monday morning I took it in to Avnic. David? checked up on system to confirm it was still under warranty ( amazing in this day when suppliers often want proof of purchase and as well as original packaging how many tv, kettle etc boxes am I supposed to store around the house ? and why? )) He had a quick look at the unit and after a few minutes told me that it was a fault with the switch and that the switch was connected to the main board and so the whole unit would have to be replaced.

     

    He filled in a form and took my details asking if he could have the replacement unit delivered? ( part of their service) - no thanks I will collect it is only a few minutes drive for me. He gave me a card with a reference if I needed to check up on anything.

     

    Q. When will it be ready? -

    A. By the weekend, probably by Thursday, they dont carry the units in stock.

     

    Q. What about all my maps etc that I had loaded? surely the registration numbers I used to unlock the maps wont work again?

    A. Bring a 2G micro card ( cards 4G and higher are HC - high capacity, and are sometimes a problem) and he would help me sort it out.

     

    Thursday morning I get a call to say the unit is ready for collection. I go collect it on Thursday afternoon. he checks to see what maps I had loaded, loads them onto the new SD card and away I go, brand new unit in hand, extremely happy with service and ready for a few more caches.

     

    It is quite unusual to get such "no questions asked" speedy service, and quite sad that when we do that it feels so good and stands out from the usual lousy service that seems the norm.

     

    Thanks Avnic/Garmin for the 10 out of 10 service. Simple, quick and efficient, will keep me as a customer.

    The Fynbos Finders

    in South Africa

    Posted · Edited by malo mystery

    So we have Trev, Henzz & ..........

     

    MnCo (including mini-me) and SawaSawa will be meeting you there.

     

    and malo mystery

     

    I was once told that the water at Clifton is actually warmer in winter than it is in summer, I have not tried it in winter so can not confirm that.

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Okay - here we go.....maybe one for Discombob?

     

    .....what is pollarding?

     

    I must have read this somewhere as before my time - I do remember going out with my dad to motor racing somewhere out on the Cape Flats maybe Faure area in the fifties.

     

    Okay - What got pollarded and why was it done?

     

    ;)

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    don't they freeze the neck of the bottle?

     

    Correct

     

    They slightly rotate the bottles daily, and increase the angle towards perpendicular until the sediment is lying against the cap. they then freeze the neck of the bottle by dipping it in brine at -25 to - 30 degrees C for a short time until the contents in the neck of the bottle are frozen, the bottle is then returned to upright, the temporary cap removed and the force of the gas ( about 4 Bar) shoots ( disgorges) the frozen sediment out of the bottle The contents are topped up with a dosage - a little champagne, wine, sugar or brandy, sealed with a cork and wire hood.

     

    Not the most widely known trivia, but I thought it was quite interesting.

     

    Tom over to you............

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Is this when the bottles are stored upside down so the sediment/precipitate is on the cork and thereby easy to remove?

     

    That is how it starts, bottles are stored at an angle and gradually rotated so the sediment reaches and settles at the top (cork side) of the bottle, but how is the sediment removed?

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted · Edited by malo mystery

    Thanks for that cincol, that sticks in my mind because I prefer the softer Pinotage or Merlot as opposed to the harder Cabernets, but I digress.

     

    Sticking with viniculture/viticulture. To get the bubbles in Champagne/ Method Cap Classique, the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, induced by adding yeast and maybe sugar.( As opposed to cheaper sparkling wines that are merely carbonated with CO2 like soda soft drinks) Once the fermentation has taken place the yeast is killed off because of the alcohol and leaves a sediment in the bottles which needs to be removed for aesthetic and taste reasons. How is this sediment removed without losing too much of the CO2 and wine?

    Puzzle caches and vactioning.

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Some hate puzzles, others love them, I guess that is part of this that makes it so unique is we get to choose which we want to do. I enjoy working through the puzzles during winter then going to hunt them down in warmer weather. It still amazes me at how many of these threads are from people moaning about something or the other and they just have to vent about it.

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    It's logarithmic is it not - so an increase of 1 number on the richter Scale will lead to an incident 10 times greater than the prvious number

     

    So in effect - a 4 on the Richter scale is 1000 times more serious than a 1

     

    Spot on CH

     

    Part of the reason I guess that an earthquake like the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004 that measured 9.3 did so much damage while one like the the recent Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand measuring 7.1 resulted in comparatively little damage, the one was 22 times more violent than the other. Note that while the shaking is ten times higher, the energy released is 32 times higher.

     

    Over to you CH

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Thank You.

     

    The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. How many times higher is the amplitude of ground shaking higher than the preceding whole number? In other words " a magnitude 5 earthquake would have ? times more ground shaking than a magnitude 4 earthquake?"

    South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

    in South Africa

    Posted

    I dont know who the payer is, but do recall the timeless test still being the longest cricket game ever played, the game having to be called off because the ship leaving to take the opposing team back to England? was due to depart after 11? days. The only bowler that comes to mind is Vince van der Bijl but think he used to play for Transvaal.

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