South African Politics!?!?

Ok football was crap, the refereeing was crap though, Jabulani or Jobulani whatshisname was crap, and my knees "hurt" when i think of all those tackles dished out by van Bommel and co ala Orange. The only thing that won it was the Vuvuzela (toppled at the end by a slimy looking caphalopod). That Octopussy spoilt the fun for me because i'd put in a wager for Germany to sweep all, so i lost a few quid because of him. So i'm in support of the folk who wants to fry him. I personally wouldn't mind having his sushi-ed brain, that might give me some psychic powers i think, and maybe then i'd be able to tell if i'd score with me missus or not.

FEEL IT? was the cry of the month for June/July. Now the footy is gone, and what do we have? a mother of all babalaases to carry thru till some league somewhere starts. While waiting for the J-League or the PSL to commence, there's still the issue of SA politics to deal with. Foreigners are being blamed for taking local folks jobs, women, social grants, cars, houses, etc. To think of it, the people blaming me for taking their jobs do not realize that as a Professional Engineer, I've got the licence to practice anywhere i fancy, and did i take anyones freaking job? FUCKING HELL NO!! So this thing has to be looked into properly, critically and with clear minds. In one of them Times blogs I've realized that people think that if you're foreign you're directly competing. I'd rather think of it as directly complementing. For example, I came with my skills from wherever i acquired them, somebody pumped the money, one brought the muscle, one trucked in the materials and as a team working together Soccer City, Gautrain, etc were built. Everyone is happy, job competition? hell no!

Then 12th of July everything almost collapsed into such a load of thrash that you never really thought people will do. Somehow somewhere somebody has been planning some xenophobia attacks, or was it planned this?
(p.s. the X in xenophobia is a very deep Z like slur, as in er.....like........... Xavi, ah that simplifies it).
So who do we blame? Can't blame the government, we voted for them init? Yip we did. The foreigners for taking the jobs? well i dunno.

There's gotta be an understanding of the exodus of people dynamics. Until then, we can blame whoever we hate. Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt in fear of persecution by Herod and his cronies back then. They went and landed into the "Land of milk and honey". And what is it now? the most volatile and violent region in the history of mankind in recent times. Why all this fighting? It's because some warped mind thinks they're superior from another. South Africa? It's more or less the same. It's the same bullshit happening in the Middle east that's about to blow up in this land. Watch this space.

In the days of the struggle, our very own political leaders and icons had to skip country so they can garner support and hide from the then rule. And where were they? Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, etc..... and hence when the land is back into the hands of the "rightful" owners our brothers want a slice of bread and instead they're the ones being sliced with machetes!! And I really can't blame the political leaders for that. It's people who don't even try to read the History of South African politics that are to blame. If and only if they had good education to read that is.

We need to start somewhere (school maybe so we can read). And let's show some love. Yeah, where's the love?

Arividerchi!!

Hydraulic design of pump sumps and intakes

Chapter 1 of ?

The Design of a pumping station involves many aspects of civil and mechanical engineering, the hydraulic design forming only part of the whole process. The hydraulic design deals with the channelling of liquids into the pump, the flow through the pump, and the discharge system.

An unsatisfactory hydraulic design of intakes and sumps could have far reaching implications on the overall performance of the pumping station. The design of pump intakes and sumps is amenable to solution by hydraulic model analysis. However, without proper appreciation of the design criteria, an indifferent first design and layout often results, requiring extensive alterations to the model and considerable difficulty in achieving a satisfactory design.

This document deals only with the flow and control of water from it’s entry into the pumping station up to it’s entry into the pump.

The fluids under consideration are water and air, the water being pumped and the air being above the free surface or, in some cases, being entrained as bubbles within the water. However, the results will apply in principle to other fluids used in the process industries as long as allowance is made for effects arising from the difference in the fluid properties. Viscosity and specific gravity are the most important properties considered.

MORE TO FOLLOW. . . . . . I'm out for now

Gautrain Construction

Guys, anyone needs to know anything about the Gautrain? Let's talk about it...........

Safety Codes

Some clients, when it comes to safety, usually want their own codes to be adhered to. This is mostly done by mining houses and therefore mostly on plants and machinery use. However, there's the small catch on this one.

What if you're working for a mining house and developing a new Greenfield site for them. Do you have to adhere to their codes, or do you have to have your own codes that will be in line with the construction/drilling or whatever it is that you'll be doing on that particular "green"?

You simply cannot duplicate daily requirements on the normal operation of a large industrial plant or power station in a construction project. Requirements will, inevitably, hinder productivity rates and or productivity for that matter. This is simply because the work is completely different. I've read something similar on the Civil Engineering Contractor Bulletin and so it's a little bother.