Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Popular Mechanics South Africa

I’M NO BIG meat eater, but I definitely enjoy a juicy burger or steak every now and again, and biltong is my go-to snack when I’m out hiking or rock climbing. But the fact that the rearing of cattle (yes, the source of most of our meat) is one of the most harmful industries when it comes to the issues of environmental degradation and global warming is something that plays heavy on my mind. According to findings from a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (in other words, those created by human activities) from livestock now account for about 14.5 per cent of the total figure. In simple terms, it has an immense impact. Incredibly, 17.7 kg of…

As Chief of Naval Operations from 1970 to 1974, Elmo ‘Bud’ Zumwalt introduced ‘Z-grams’: Navy-wide messages that authorised facial hair, introduced beer-dispensing machines to barracks, and established two destroyer squadrons that gave promising young officers the opportunity to command sooner. Zumwalt also pushed for racial unity in the Navy and advocated for expensive, high-tech ships to be supplemented with cheaper ships that could take on lower-priority missions. His vision is reflected in today’s fleet of guided missile destroyers and littoral combat ships.…

Ptolemaic Egyptians were rolling them in 300 BCE. The Romans fashioned them from glass some 400 years later. Truly glorious, the icosahedron – a 20-sided dice – goes back to antiquity. But modern roleplaying games owe their use to the demands of statistics-heavy war-games, starting in 19th-century Prussia. Early versions used the classic six-sided dice, but centuries later, players were frustrated by its limitations, especially with percentages. How do you mimic the real-life probability that a mortar will land in the right spot almost 2 000 metres away with a six-sided dice? By the late 1960s, game designers, such as Michael Korns, started publishing manuals such as Modern War in Miniature, which were filled with tables of real wartime probabilities, often in 20 increments of 5 per cent each. For…

‘The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.’– Arthur C Clarke THERE ARE a lot of questions science can answer, but there are also a lot of wacky scientific theories so outrageous that it’s hard to imagine scientists (now, or in the past) trying to solve these crazy conundrums. Questions such as: What if our universe is actually a computer simulation? What if everything is conscious? Do diseases come from outer space? What if hallucinogenic drugs made us human? Was Jesus a mushroom or Julius Caesar? Unconventional to say the least, these are just a handful of the crazy chapters you will come across in Psychedelic Apes, a new collection of unorthodox ideas by Alex Boese. Boese…

OVER THE YEARS, Nintendo has seemingly enjoyed experimenting with the console-gaming experience. Products such as the Power Glove and Nintendo labo require gamers to stand up and do more than just push buttons on a controller, promoting physical activity and hands-on creativity. Exercise is on the agenda again, thanks to a unique game and accessories package available for the Nintendo switch. In ring Fit adventure, players must navigate through a world and battle enemies by way of body movements and gestures. This is made possible by the ring-con and leg strap accessories, into which the switch’s Joy-con controllers can be slotted. using the motion-sensor technology of the Joy-cons, players make the character in the game move by jogging on the spot, or make them fire projectiles by stretching the ring-con…

This is the story of how such a thing happens – and the heroic response that day. Thursday, 13 September, 2018 35 Chickering Road, Lawrence, Massachusetts Around 11 AM A KNOCK ON THE DOOR wakes up Omayra Figueroa. It’s Leonel. On the front stoop. Of course. Leonel is an honorary Figueroa. His mother often jokes to Omayra about moving his bed there. Shakira, Omayra’s 21-year-old daughter, throws on some clothes and joins him outside in the sun. It’s beautiful out, the temperature in the low twenties. The Figueroas – Omayra, her three children: Shakira; Christian, 20; and Sergio, 17 – moved to this working-class neighbourhood of single-family homes in 2013. It sits just around the corner from a strip mall and the Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Colonial Heights feels…

BACK IN JULY, I showed you how to make a directional cap for a fireplace flue; one that would prevent backdraughts and the resultant smoke and ash in your living room. But what’s a flue cap without a fireplace? Summer is the perfect time to work on projects such as installing your own free-standing fireplace – you have many warm months ahead to get the project completed.…

GORDON MURRAY, Adrian Newey and Colin Chapman – three car designers who’ve inspired enthusiasts the world over with their ingenious creations. But I’d suggest there’s another who, although less recognisable, is responsible for incubating even more dyed-in-the-wool petrolheads than these three legends combined. His name is Kazunori Yamauchi and he is the man behind Polyphony Digital, genius creators of the awesomely successful gaming franchise Gran Turismo. His seminal work came to be more than two decades ago with the original PlayStation 1 game that featured a mere 140 cars and 11 tracks, a veritable drop in the ocean compared to the current GT Sport game that’s had just as many cars and tracks added through weekly updates alone since its release in 2017. Nope, nowadays the world-famous gaming franchise hosts…

The USS Zumwalt is built to take on enemies at extreme ranges and has the juice to power a new generation of weaponry. Just look at its guts. VERTICAL LAUNCH SYSTEMS The ship is armed with 80 Mark 57 vertical launch systems: armoured missile silos capable of launching SM-2 and SM-6 surface-to-air missiles, Evolved SeaSparrow short-range air defence missiles, Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, and the Vertical-Launch ASROC anti-submarine rocket. It also carries the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile. ADVANCED GUN SYSTEMS The Zumwalt packs two 155_millimetre Advanced Gun Systems, long-range cannons designed to bombard targets on land with precision at a rate of up to 10 rounds a minute. The guns live in covert mounts that conceal the 9.6 metre-long howitzer barrel from the probing beams of enemy radars. Upon command, doors…

PRODUCED: CHINA TIME TO DISASSEMBLE: 4 HOURS, 56 MINUTES NOTES: On stage in 2008, Steve Jobs pulled an entire laptop out of a manila envelope. It had a full-size keyboard, a screen, batteries, ports – everything most of us would need from a laptop, all somehow fitted into a case that was 1.93 cm at the thickest point. It was a technological triumph that would go on to dictate the design of every portable personal computer that came after it. Apple updated the Air once in 2010, but otherwise left the basic design alone until last year. As much as its external aesthetics, the Air’s internal layout demonstrates the design brilliance that helped Apple dominate the consumer technology market. NUMBER OF PARTS: 508 How to open and update an older…

THE COMIC-BOOK medium has roots in 18th-century Japan, where to this day a prominent form of comic books called manga is still published. Meanwhile, in the West, comic books began to gain popularity in the 1930s, and were centred on conveying a humorous tone. In time, this evolved, and these days the medium explores all genres. But probably the most important development relevant to us today came in the form of Action Comics #1, published in 1938, which debuted the Man of Steel himself, Superman. The popularity of Superman and other superhero characters such as Batman and Spider-Man has grown to heights never before seen in the global culture. Thanks to these trailblazers, a new generation of aspiring writers and artists is set on not only continuing their stories, but…

1 Dissolve the starter and yeast in 180 ml of water. 2 Mix the two flours together in a bowl and make an indent in the middle. Add the starter and yeast mixture and slowly start incorporating the flour into the middle, combining until the dough comes together. 3 Cover the bowl with a clean dishcloth and allow the dough to rest for 20–30 minutes. 4 Uncover, add the salt and the rest of the water and then knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, lightly cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest in a warm place for one hour. 5 Place the dough on a lightly-floured surface, and stretch and fold into two-thirds, repeating on the opposite side. 6…

Most homeowners will want to position a fireplace in an alcove of some sort, or against a wall. Others may choose to have it free-standing, as I did. Whichever position you choose, the engineer in me always advocates considering the safety aspects of the positioning: • Will you need to reach over the fireplace to access anything, such as crockery, cutlery, books or DVDs? • Will the fireplace’s positioning pose a burn hazard to passers-by, especially children? • Is there any carpeting close by? This is especially important if the planned fireplace has an open front. Now, with the perfect position determined, drop a plumb bob from the ceiling to the exact centre of where the flue will go. Mark the spot and drill a 2 mm hole through into…

1. 2000GT (1967–1970) Think of it as the Japanese Jaguar E-Type … just prettier. Only 351 were ever made, making them highly collectable. 2. AE86 (1984–1987) The seminal rear-drive coupé, it became the king of underground touge racers and drifters. 3. MR2 (1984–2007) Mid-engined, rear-wheel drive, two seats; it weighed less than a ton and looked like a mini Ferrari. 4. GT 86 (2012 – PRESENT) Riffing off the legendary AE86, it is small, light, underpowered, under-tyred and drift-friendly. 5. SUPRA (1978 – PRESENT) Existent for four generations, it wasn’t till the break from the Celica nameplate in the mid ’80s that this car’s true mystique grew.…

FUNDAMENTAL FORMULA I read with interest the article in the August issue entitled ‘The importance of being square’. I love using precision tools when I have access to them, but most of those mentioned in the article are out of reach for us old pensioners. This is where the ‘Pythagoras 3:4:5 triangle’ comes in – 3 × 3 = 9 : 4 × 4 = 16 : 5 × 5 = 25 … 9 + 16 = 25. (Editor’s note: A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers a, b, and c, such that a2 + b2 = c2.) The beauty of this principle is that its application requires only the simplest of equipment – a good-quality steel tape measure. If you make your marks carefully, you can construct very…

THE USS ZUMWALT and her two sister ships are undergoing a dramatic change of mission just three years after the first ship was commissioned. The destroyers, originally meant to provide naval gunfire support for the US Marines and to bombard targets far inland, are now being reoriented as ship killers. The Zumwalt class of destroyers, which also includes the USS Michael Monsoor and the USS Lyndon B Johnson, was intended to dramatically boost the fleet’s firepower. After the retirement of the four Iowa-class battleships in the early 1990s, the US Navy studied a number of solutions before deciding on the Zumwalts. Each ship would be equipped with two 155 millimetre Advanced Gun Systems, each firing a precision-guided Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) to ranges of up to 83 nautical…

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is the oldest tabletop role-playing game of sword and sorcery – emphasis on the sorcery. Because without magic, D&D wouldn’t be very exciting, unless you like war-gaming the Battle of Agincourt while rolling constitution cheques to not contract the plague. Magic, and its evolving rules, gives D&D its storytelling power, letting players’ minds wander beyond the real world. It makes sense that, in the game’s first edition, D&D creator Gary Gygax borrowed mythical races and monsters such as ents, orcs, and the Balrog from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Gygax also modelled certain game mechanics after Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories. Like Vance’s tales, Gygax’s magic was inherent, like gravity, but could only be summoned by text-bound formulas. It was also kind of clunky. In…

THE MB16AMT portable monitor is compatible with smartphones, gaming consoles, cameras and laptops, offering the benefit of a high-definition 1 920 × 1 080 resolution 10-point 15.6” touchscreen when being mobile is also a priority. Ultra-slim, the profile measures only 9 mm, and it tips the scales at a meagre 900 g, making slipping it under your arm or into your laptop bag easy work. The on-board battery of 7 800 mAh provides for up to four hours of use, and the foldable case can be configured in a variety of ways, in either portrait or landscape modes. The two integrated speakers enhance the audiovisual experience. Having a secondary monitor to augment your laptop’s screen can be extremely useful, particularly when juggling work, emails and other tasks, which means the…

If you’re a vegetarian or vegan – or just a curious foodie – you’ve probably spotted something called the Beyond Burger on menus recently. Manufactured by US company Beyond Meat, the burger is touted as ‘the future of protein’ and is currently the most convincing meat-free ‘meat’ on the market. Created from a blend of peas, mung beans and rice, the patties appear to bleed like real meat and even contain specks of coconut oil and cocoa butter to provide the fatty marbling of beef. The Beyond Burger is distributed in South Africa by Infinite Foods. Visit infinitefoods.com to find a local stockist.…

9 seconds The time it takes a combine harvester to process enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread. It appears sourdough bread originated in ancient egypt around 3 000 bC, and, as with many great discoveries, was probably created by accident. Perhaps a batch of flour was mixed with beer, or maybe air that was saturated with wild-yeast spores from the brewery down the road made its way into some dough and produced a loaf that was noticeably lighter and rose considerably more than usual. over time, the egyptians worked out that certain sourdough cultures worked better than others, and they could keep these alive by adding a little bit of the ‘old’ dough to the new each time they baked. The baking of sourdough bread slowly made its…

THE ROUTER: Good quality. Plunge base or fixed base. Variable speed control. Preferably with a ½” collet. Reasonable power output (2–3 HP). Vertical micro-adjustment capability. Adjustable from the top of the table (not essential, but does make a world of difference). THE TABLE: Reasonably sized (600 mm deep by 900 mm wide recommended as a minimum). Made from thick, stable and very flat material (such as thick MDF, phenolic material or 32 mm post-form countertop. Covered with a wear-resistant surface such as Formica). Aluminium T-slot tracks or proprietary systems to enable the fence to be attached, to adjust and set positions. A ‘combo’-type aluminium track running along the front to enable the use of mitre gauges and feather boards. (A combo track has both a T-slot and a mitre-gauge slot.)…

Photos 1, 2, 3 and 4: I decided to build a low plinth under the fireplace in which to store firewood, making feeding the fire a bit easier. The brickwork was set out around the in-position fireplace. The bricks were laid and pointed, formwork positioned, and a 100 mm-thick reinforced concrete slab was cast. Photo 5: once the slab had cured, the fireplace was positioned on top, and a hole was cut in the ceiling above with 30 mm of clearance all around the flue (which would, in future, become very hot). Photos 6 and 7: Next, the first section of the flue was cut to length so as to enter the ceiling space by about 50 mm. It was positioned and secured in place using the supplied ceiling plate.…

UPGRADED GLUE SPOUT other readers might’ve encountered the same problem as me. I always have difficulty pouring Alcolin wood glue using the supplied spout, especially when joining 16 mm superwood edge to edge. The size of the hole in the outlet is the issue. To solve this, take a length of string and wrap it around the existing outlet. Then, using some glue, take a new spout from a silicone cartridge and screw it on to the end of the original spout, and wait for it to dry. This makes for a much more useful dispenser. To seal in between uses, use a nail of a suitable size, and insert it in the end. The large head will act as a stopper. RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT The publishers of POPULAR MECHANICS…

Master Lock Small Security Chest: The continuous jamb and waterproof seal completely insulate contents from water. Ideal for protecting valuables from fire and water damage. Resistant to fire for half an hour, up to 840°C. Master Lock Keyed Locking Cable: The 1.8 m-long, 10 mm-diameter braided-steel cable is designed for maximum strength. The vinyl coating prevents scratches and protects the cable. The keyed lock is designed to resist picking. Carries a lifetime warranty. Master Lock Spin Dial Combination Lock: Anti-shim technology withstands attempts to tamper with the latch mechanism. Features a 48 mm-wide double-reinforced stainless-steel body, 22 mm-tall hardened shackle, and a three-number dialing combination lock. Send your tips to popularmechanics@ramsaymedia.co.za with the subject line: ‘Do It Your Way’. Regrettably, only South African residents are eligible for the prize. Prizes…