Bye, Bye 2009.

Bye, Bye 2009., originally uploaded by gomario.

Thu 2009/12/31 21:09. We decided to have the new year's party at my wife's brother. He has a cattle ranch about 150Km west of Port Elizabeth. I thought we're going to have a quiet, private affaire. How wrong I was :-) Wish you all a happy and prosperous new year. See you in 2010.

My new Cyber4 L wing.

My new Cyber4 L wing., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/12/27 18:36 2009-12-27 Cyber4 L. After a few days of strong wind, I managed to get a bit of ground handling done with my new wing. Is a basic rated paraglider which I am going to use for paramotoring too. It is better behaved then my previous one (the golden2). However, I already see a problem - the Cyber4, been a basic rated design, tends to hang back a bit more. Shouldn't be a major issue though, now that I am aware of it. I will post a bit more as soon as I have had a flight. For paragliding should be ideal - very safe and well behaved, even for a basic rated wing. Obviously, I do not expect much performance wise. In my case, safety is more important. After all, I only fly 20-30 hours a year (if that much)

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/12/13 13:22 Marina-Flower 2008.

2009/12/13 The Wizard of Oz.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Mon 2009/11/30 17:28 Mario in Johannesburg 2009-11-30. After 10000 or so years, I once again had to visit our biggest city - JOHANNESBURG -.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Wed 2009/11/18 07:50 Michael at the Shoping Mall 2009-11-15

Birthday Party . . .

Birthday Party . . ., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/11/14 10:11 Marina Birthday Party2 2009-11-14

Birthday Party . . .

Birthday Party . . ., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/11/14 10:08 Marina Birthday Party3 2009-11-14

Birthday Party . . .

Birthday Party . . ., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/11/14 09:56 Marina Birthday Party5 2009-11-14

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/11/14 10:24 Marina Birthday Party 2009-11-14. I sort of can't believe my daughter Marina is eight . . .

Hard Drive sizes.

Hard Drive sizes., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/11/08 08:27 Six Hard Drive Form Factors. If I think back, to the early 80's, when I began with computers (programming in Basic, Assembly and C - later C++), I had a mighty 20MB hard drive from IBM. I was the envy of my colleagues (the only had the old 10MB and some had none). Today we are in the 21st century. Not even in my dreams I though one day I will have 2x4TB drives in my desktop PC. How much is that? . . . Hmmm . . . Just over 400000 drives I had in 1982. If one considers, my old hard drive was just under a pound heavy, it means I needed about 4 x 50 Ton trucks, if I want to take my desktop to the office. And that's just for the hard drives! :-)

More Pictures from my Israel trip in March 2009

Here are a few pics (out of 847) taken durind March this year while on holiday in Israel.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/11/01 11:39 Emerei Michael and Marina at the Lion Park 2009-11-01. The above pictures where all taken during the last weekend's visit at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. The ceetah is non other then the legendary 'Duma', the main character in the likewise named South African action/adventure movie.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/11/01 11:02 Lion Statue 2009-11-01 The above pictures where all taken during the last weekend's visit at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. The ceetah is non other then the legendary 'Duma', the main character in the likewise named South African action/adventure movie.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Tue 2006/10/31 11:07 Mario and the Chetah 2009-10-31 The above pictures where all taken during the last weekend's visit at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. The ceetah is non other then the legendary 'Duma', the main character in the likewise named South African action/adventure movie.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Tue 2006/10/31 08:18 Monkey Walk 2009-10-31 The above pictures where all taken during the last weekend's visit at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. The ceetah is non other then the legendary 'Duma', the main character in the likewise named South African action/adventure movie.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Tue 2006/10/31 07:59 Chetah 2009-10-31 The above pictures where all taken during the last weekend's visit at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. The ceetah is non other then the legendary 'Duma', the main character in the likewise named South African action/adventure movie.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/10/31 17:00. Last weekend we went to Ersteriver. That was my wife's idea. It was nice. However, this weekend she had a even better idea. She knows I love wildlife and she surprised me with a weekend at a nearby privat game reserve. We are residing in a 'Lapa'. From the upstairs porch, I can see giraffe, bluewildbeast, impala, buffalo, watter buck and warthogs roaming the plains. At night one can hear all sorts of wildlife sounds.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Thu 2009/10/29 19:40 Emerei school choir. End of the school year and distinctions award function.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Mon 2009/10/26 19:34 2009-10-25 ErsteRiver outing. With my birthday party just over, we decided to go for a walk on the beach. Because my father in law has his birthday on the rand date as I, every year I have two celebrations. On the first weekend (this one) after the 24th Oct., we have his party. And on the second weekend is mine. How nice :-)

2009/10/10

This is the diagram of my very first processor I learned programming. Even today I run some of my old routines on the simulator. Nothing beats the 4040.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Thu 2009/10/08 12:33 2009-09-16 Team Work + GPS . This is our M.I.C. team from Humansdorp cluster.

Michael in Humansdorp.

Michael in Humansdorp., originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/08/22 12:45 2009-08-22 Michael at the Train Station in Humansdorp. The derelict premises have seen better times during the 'old' South Africa. Theft and poor managing have turn this, once vibrant place, into a rubbish dump. How sad :-(

Nevil and I :-)

Nevil and I :-), originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/08/15 16:44 2009-08-15 Nevil and Mario at our local Hawkwind Paragliding AGM. Well, once again we had our Annual General Meeting. And once again most club members attended the function. But this time around,we had a champion among us. And a 'true champion' at that.Nevil Hulett, did manage to fly 500+km on a paraglider.It happened last December and it happened here in South Africa. For more info regarding the feat, go to www.paraglidingforum.com What makes it more interesting is that Nevil is in his fifties and while not old, certainly not that young either :-) I did put the moment to good use and after having a fellow pilot hastely take a pic (with a cell phone), I've asked Nevil a few questions regarding the flight. Although I see him now and then, we never really discussed about the 'big one'. You chaps may not know, but I, Nevil, Duncan, Gerhardus and Penny, fly now and then from a hill called 'Rondebosch'. This is our 'local' Site and apart of me and Penny, all the other (3) pilots are top class. On quite a few occassions, what should have been a relaxing flight for our group, ended up with the less apt pilots (me and/or Penny) driving for hours after the other 3 :-)My first question to Nevil was, will he try again this coming season (December)? He gave a very short answer: No, but if someone will better it, he might give it another go. I asked him: Was it dangerous? (I have read lots of comments on the above mentioned Paragliding forum and I got the impression, the flight was quite dangerous) The answer suprised me a bit. He said it wasn't more dangerous then Rondebosch on a 'big day'. Now that expression is used localy when the air is fairly turbulent with strong,punchy thermals. A gread day for a good pilot - not suited for me though.Nevil went on saying,the flight itself was fairly uneventfull apart of the one occassion when the vario showed -5 and he was less the 50m high. Not a big deal one might say, until you realize the wind is 60+kmh.

2009/08/10

If we can't get it, we break it.

If we can't get it, we break it., originally uploaded by gomario.

Wed 2009/07/29 08:41 2009-07-29. Low IQ behavior shown by the local municipality striking workers. The road has just been fixed a few weeks ago. Now the workers decided to damage it again. The employer offered a 14% salary hike. They want 15%. Well, I guess this is how 'Modern South Africa', looks after 'liberation'.

Messy strike.

Messy strike., originally uploaded by gomario.

Tue 2009/07/28 11:30 2009-07-28-Geotagged Pic. Why must people, while striking, behave like a bunch of monkeys. Does this happen in your country too? Violent strikes are part and parcel of the South African life. What a mess :-(

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post, originally uploaded by gomario.

Sun 2009/07/26 21:39 Screenshot0025

2009/07/26

2009/07/23 Paramotoring in Humansdorp.

This is my first posting using the 'PixelPipe' application.

Billabong Pro 2009

With the Billabong Surfing competition drawing to a close, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the finalists (semi finalists). Once again, my old and trusted N95 cell-phone, took some nice pictures. The first one is a panoramic composite (3 vertical pics aligned next to each other). The light was very much unfavorable (sun in the clouds at the top right) and so I decided to do justice to the nice camera my cell got and took a picture of myself with the light coming from where it should :-)

My last flight on G2?

I hope not -

My 'old' Prop is fixed.

It was hard work indeed ! No kidding. Although the local workshop has all the tools one could think of, still lots and lots of 'hand work' goes into a prop not to mention the know-how. I was fortunate to be able to use a proper aircraft workshop (they are building the 'whisper' motorised glider on the same premisses). I want to thank to Stuart and Dr. Russels (aeronautical engineering) for allowing me to use the premisses and advice. The prop you see is probably one of the most efficient Snap-100 props around ! At 122cm tip to tip and 1013mb air pressure (sea level)) 22deg C and 75% ambient humidity, it has a static thrust level of 56kg ! At 2400rpm it converts almost 78% of the mechanical energy put into it in static trust ! And its best efficiency should go up if it moves at 36km/h ! (is tuned for that speed) The prop is made of a fairly thin layer of wood covered in thin layers of fiberglas. It has a disadvantage though. Is slightly heavier than a composite prop, which means is not suitable for competition flying. One nice side effect of the 'perfect' aerodinamics is the fairly low noise level at full thrust. And that counts for me a lot :-)

Snap-100 Prop.

Snap-100 Prop.
Originally uploaded by gomario.

Tue 2009/06/23 14:48 2009-06-23. My new Prop from Thailand has finaly arrived. The craftmanship looks 110%. This weekend I will test it on my paramotor. I expect at least 100lb static trust. My scale is not very accurate though.

My new Prop arrived x 2

Today I went to the local Post Office and fetched my brand new paramotor prop which just arrived from Thailand. The whole transaction went very smooth. The import tax was just over 12% which I had to pay at the said Post Office before I took ownership. It took exactly 10 days to get here.
Furthermore, today the fixing of my old prop was completed. Is all yellow now . . . I still have to paint the tips though :-)

Hubble Space Telescope

What a beautifull pic. We all are used to see/enjoy pictures from HST. How about a pic of and not from HST?

MacPara Spice.

MacPara Spice.
Originally uploaded by gomario.

Sat 2009/05/23 18:57 rails. Have a look at this pic. my friend Keith from Ctown posted to our local PPG forum. The wing is the new 'Spice'. Is a comp paramotor wing, which the SA team will use in the comming world champs. MacPara sponsored the wing. Keith said 'it goes like is on rails'. And he prove it :-)

Michael singing.

Michael singing.
Originally uploaded by gomario.

Fri 2009/05/22 09:39 2009-05-17 Michael in the Church. Hey, look at the left most child with the very dark blue top. Yes, is Michael, my 4 year old son, singing for the first time, in our local church.