wrm

Namibia trip

So we saddled up the teardrop, and headed north, half past six one Saturday morning.

First sleepover was Grunau, a tiny little place known pretty much as an overnight stop where the great North road (B1) crosses the great West road (B3). I had booked (and paid for) the house-in-town advertised by Grunau Chalets, but when we got there they’d given that to someone else, banking on completing the new units by the time we got there… they didn’t.

So the kids slept in the teardrop, and management gave me a sixpack of beer rather than some kind of a refund. And since (1) we all slept over, so I got what I wanted in the first place and (2) beer places were closed (Namibia stops selling beer at 13:00, not 17:00 like I’m used to on a Saturday) all was good.

(Like the road, this post is a bit long, so here’s a cutline for you)

2012-10-09 by wrm Uncategorized 5

Curator Needed, Part Four…

To follow up on Tamara‘s Curator Needed, Part III…

Aside: I still have to tell all of y’all (both of you) about the teardrop trailer I built and then dragged up to Etosha for the school holidays. But that’s not important right now.

Just north of Windhoek there’s a little town (most towns in Namibia are little, and there are not so many towns either) called Okahandja, and there we passed a military museum. I was kind of sad that we didn’t have time to visit.

But after checking out their web page, I’ve changed my mind.

Some gems include:

“DFSH 41: The gun is made out of brown wood and black metal. It has openings at the end of it, where bullots will come out when it is used.”

“60MM Mortal: Its made out of metal, plastic and leather and its green in colour. It has a metal object fixed on it, where it can stand.”

Yes, thank you. I go to museums to glean these arcane and obscure bits of inside knowledge, carefully researched and tastefully presented to discerning visitors from distant climes.

2012-10-07 by wrm Farting around Guns 0

I thought he was taller

No, it’s not JayG… it’s Neal Stephenson, an intellectual giant if not a physical one.

He was here, in Cape Town, and the publicity was… nonexistent. I heard of it on talk radio, and only because I nipped out to buy some ally over lunch hour or something. The discussion was lead by some fellow with a consonant for a surname who was trying to make himself appear clever, and who now and then allowed Neal a word edgewise.

But it was worth it, I got to meet the man and get a signed copy of Reamde.

2012-09-25 by wrm Geek 1

Truvelo

This is Ralf Gebert of Truvelo. I worked for him, briefly, back in… 1988 or thereabouts — holiday work when I was studying. That’s before they started building these toys.

The top rifle is a 50 BMG (although everyone at this show calls it 12,7 x 99 mm) and the bottom two are babies — 308 Winchester and 338 Lapua.

I’d like me some of these but (1) expensive (2) what do I use it for stupid question (2) expensive.

But nice.

The biggest rifle on display, in 20 x 110 mm Hispano. Longer than the Solothurn (20 x 105 mm), shorter than the Lahti (20 x 138 mm) (for UC fans).

This would take some serious explaining to CFR to get a licence. I don’t like saying impossible, but in this case the word is probably appropriate.

2012-09-21 by wrm Geek Guns 0

GPS notes

When we were touring America, I bought a GPS in Las Vegas. A Garmin Nuvi 1300, the cheapest one I could find at the local Fry’s.

Back home I loaded the Southern Africa map onto it, and it’s been working fine since.

Now, I’m planning two trips, firstly up to Pretoria for AAD and then up to Etosha for fun. I’ve identified places of interest using Google Earth, they’re all stored in a .kmz file.

1. Save As .kml (which is just the uncompressed kmz)

2. Download GPSBabel, convert “Google Earth (Keyhole) Markup Language” to “GPX XML”.

3. Download EasyGPS, load the .gpx file, plug the Garmin in via USB, select the waypoints, transfer them to the GPS.

Easy and free.

(AppData\LocalLow\Google\GoogleEarth)

2012-09-12 by wrm Geek 0

Situation normal…

(Scene: Tanya is away for a couple of days for some sort of a conference thing)

Cellphone: <ring> <ring>

Wouter: “ello”

Tanya: “Where are you?” (I detect a bit of panic)

W: “I’m at home, but I havn’t seen the kids all day”

T: “I just spoke to Jessica, they don’t know where you are, they’re starving, and Tamsyn hasn’t showered for two days”

(We’d just finished a supper of roast beef and veggies, with mash and gravy, and between the two of them they pretty much polished an Ina Paarman cheese sauce).

Gotta love this family. Or go completely insane. I’ve been quietly chuckling to myself for the last half an hour. *twitch*

2012-09-06 by wrm Farting around 0

It’s like aliens took the last 100 years of music broadcasts and mashed it up into a bittersweet party soundtrack for the apocalypse.

Via MetaFi… GRiZ – Mad Liberation.

And you can download it for free.

This. Is good.

2012-09-06 by wrm Geek 0

Leonor Fini Appreciation Day

Leonor Fini would have been 104 (or maybe 105) today.

She liked cats.

This post is not completely random.

2012-08-31 by wrm Geek 1

A Girl and Her Gun

A Girl came into guns fairly late in life, after being vehemently anti. She went on to write a post heard ’round the world.

This is her story.

I started this blog as a journal to my daughter, who being raised by me, believed guns were bad and scary, so now that I was carrying one, well, it rocked her world.

I wanted her to see the struggle I went through and how I came to carry a gun. I didn’t want her to think it was casual or that she couldn’t trust me or my opinions. I was very nervous that she would doubt everything I said because I had changed my mind on an issue I felt so strongly about.

I had no idea when I started this journey that I would change so much. That I would actually enjoy shooting or that it would become a passion of mine and I had no idea how my daughter would feel about me or guns.

2012-08-21 by wrm Guns 0

The Death of the Book

We live in a truly amazing time.

Not that long ago, one had to really search to find books, enlist the help of librarians or book shops to order books which were not available locally, or just plain make a note for a future date when you maybe spot the book you’re after in a second-hand bookstore.

Then came the internet and Amazon, and pretty much everything in print can be ordered and shipped halfway across the world.

And then came the iPads and Kindles, and the same books can be downloaded straight from Amazon.

Or bought all over the place — Baen is my favourite. Alliteration Ink is also interesting.

Or downloaded for free from Classicly and from the authors themselves.

Which is why the New York Times article on The Death of the Book Through the Ages is interesting.

2012-08-15 by wrm Farting around