Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2020 i Popular Mechanics South Africa

BARELY SIX MONTHS of this decade have passed and already it’s been anything but what we expected. You’ve probably seen the memes that are doing the rounds: Time traveller from the future arrives and asks what year it is… Time traveller is informed that it’s the year 2020… Time traveller quickly descends into a state of inconsolable panic. Yes, it’s understandable if you’ve let yourself get swept up in all the hype. But, I think in spite of all that’s been happening, we should all take a deep breath (through our N95 masks) and enjoy a slow moment of reflection. Sure, every recent news article has mentioned that from here on out the world will need to get used to a new state of normal. That’s likely true, but there…

IN THE PAST 12 months, I played as many new board games as I could get my hands on. And I’m not particularly picky, so if it was popular, I played it. If it had a fascinating theme or novel game mechanic, I played it. And if other reviewers said they loved it, I played it. I only avoided games that required any sort of phone or app. In total, I tested just shy of 40 new games. I played most of the games in Rwanda, where I work in international development. There are no personal mailboxes in the country, so I had the games ferried over in suitcases, one visitor at a time. Often, they were the only copies in the entire country. I’ve played several hundred board games…

4000 BCE Ancient Greeks mined the toxic mineral asbestos – named for their word meaning ‘indistinguishable’ – and used its fibrous crystals to make wicks for candles and lamps. 450 BCE Greek historian Herodotus reported the use of asbestos shrouds in funeral pyres to preserve a body’s ashes. Meanwhile, the Romans sewed asbestos fibres into tablecloths and serviettes. 755 King Charlemagne of France ordered an asbestos-woven tablecloth to prevent accidental fires (a major party foul) at his many feasts and fêtes. 1725 As the Italian government doled out asbestos-fibred bank notes to their citizenry, Ben Franklin touted a purse made of the fireproof material during a visit to England. 1821 French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac fused boron salts with ammonium phosphate to create a fire-protective agent for clothing, but the…

A NO-BRAINER BUILD Find a log at least 20 cm in diameter and 40 cm long (make sure both ends are flat) and stand it upright. Using an axe or chainsaw, make two or three cuts down the length of the log as if you were slicing a pie, stopping 12 cm above the base (some wire will hold the log together if it starts to fall apart). Stack kindling atop the log at the intersection of the cuts, and light it. It will fall through the cracks as it burns, lighting the log from the inside. AN ULTRA-FOCUSED FLAME Traditional fires can take hours to produce embers suitable for cooking or warming your camp. But a Swedish fire log’s contained heat makes it hot enough for cooking in as…

MORE BEERS MADE WITH WEIRD INGREDIENTS 1 TWISTED PINE BREWING COMPANY’S GHOST FACE KILLAH This wheat ale is brewed with six different types of chilli peppers – ghost, serrano, jalapeño, Habanero, Fresno, and Anaheim – for maximum heat when you taste it. 2 HIGH WATER BREWING’S CAMPFIRE STOUT Brewed with graham crackers and molasses, this beer also has hints of chocolate and marshmallow so that it tastes as close to a real s’more as you can get without an actual campfire. 3 SCRATCH BREWING COMPANY’S OYSTER WEISS This sour wheat beer is brewed with the brewery’s own turmeric and oyster mushrooms, and it’s fermented with Scratch Brewing Company’s house-mixed culture. 4 WYNKOOP BREWING COMPANY’S ROCKY MOUNTAIN OYSTER STOUT Initially an April Fool’s joke, this stout is brewed with roasted barley,…

YOU’RE out cruising on the highway, and a gap opens up for what you think is going to be an easy overtaking manoeuvre. The truck ahead isn’t going fast, and surely the slight hill won’t affect your acceleration too much, right? Halfway through, you’re in the oncoming lane alongside the truck, and suddenly you find your car has got no more power to give. The throttle pedal is flat on the floor, revs are screaming, but you’re just not going to get ahead of the truck in time. The only thing left to do is brake quickly, and tuck back in behind it. It’s an unsuccessful overtaking attempt, all because your car ran out of oomph when you needed it most. The fact is, it’s not only in this scenario…

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? WRITE TO US • popularmechanics@ramsaymedia.co.za I grew up with a handy and self-sufficient mother, so I am no stranger to tackling everyday household issues. Nonetheless, when my husband and I bought our first house – a 100-year-old charmer in Melville – just six months ago, with a newborn in our arms, the amount of work and challenges seemed overwhelming at times. We learned some expensive lessons – do not switch on the dishwasher and washing machine at the same time, because old pipes are not forgiving! This came after paying for emergency plumbing services twice when the drain completely blocked and overflowed back into the machines and we were on our knees trying to catch the water with buckets and old towels. Although the house was…

IF YOU’RE AN email user – and who isn’t? – you’ve definitely received that pesky email newsletter you signed up for years ago, but rather than hitting the unsubscribe button you just ignore it and move on to the next email. While those newsletters are usually harmless (and sometimes even informative if you bothered to read them), others can pose a danger to our cyber lives. Over the last two decades, spam emails and phishing scams have become the go-to tools for would-be cybercriminals. While we, as a society, are far more internet literate than in the past, the less savvy among us are still vulnerable. Spam encompasses not only commercial information – it often includes links that lead to phishing or malware sites, and spamming techniques are constantly refined…

‘… by writing about eels, I have in some ways found my way home again.’– Patrik Svensson FROM CRIME noir to bedside books about hygge, there’s no doubt that Scandinavian literature is having a moment. And then there is this small, strange science memoir about eels, of all things, that became a Swedish bestseller in less than two months. Already up for the country’s most prestigious literary award, the August Prize, author Patrik Svensson’s The Gospel of the Eels is not only about the world’s most intriguing fish but also how, over the course of time, a wide variety of people have become besotted by these mysterious creatures. It’s also about Svensson’s relationship with his father. The life cycle of an eel is rather intriguing and the author immediately draws…

14 BILLION BCE The Big Bang creates the universe, the result of the destabilisation of Omega particles. 4.5 BILLION BCE Ancient humanoids seed DNA throughout the galaxy, creating humans, Vulcans, Klingons, and all other humanoid species. 65 MILLION BCE A species of dinosaur related to the Hadrosaurus genus survives the mass extinction event on Earth. Eventually, they leave Earth for the Delta Quadrant. 42 600 BCE Aliens visit South America and ‘gift’ the indigenous people with a genetic bonding, forming what would become the native people of the Americas. 2700 BCE Aliens visit Earth again, this time in the Mediterranean, and eventually become worshipped as Greek gods. 1666 Quinn, a member of the Q Continuum (a superspecies of hyper-intelligent aliens), causes an apple to fall on Isaac Newton’s head, thus…

Whether we’re staring into the depths of a campfire or watching a space shuttle burn almost 2 million litres of fuel as it rises off the launchpad, humankind’s obsession with fire is so innate we almost take it for granted. Yet, fire has catalysed the human race’s most significant innovations. It’s helped us survive. It’s helped us flourish. It’s given us one heck of a backyard toy (see ‘That’s right: I built a flamethrower’, page 36). Yet the path that took us from hunching around a lightning-struck tree for warmth to carrying lighters in our pockets has many reminders of fire’s volatility – from the epic scope of The Great Chicago Fire to the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon. Fire comes with a big fat warning sticker, but…

Borax powder 1. Add 370 g of borax powder to 3.8 litres of hot water. 2. Let the powder dissolve, pour the solution into a spray bottle, shake, spray, and leave to dry. Alum powder 1. Mix 450 g of potassium aluminium sulphate with 470 ml of hot water. 2. Dip the material into the solution, wet it completely, then let dry.…

When we brainstormed an element to take this story over the top, someone joked that we should build a flamethrower. After the laughter and legality questions subsided – interestingly, in the US, flamethrowers are legal in 48 states (they’re banned in Maryland and require a permit to be owned in California) – I said, ‘I can build one’. And with that, this project became as much about building a flamethrower as it was about my becoming (only somewhat reluctantly) the envy of my friends, the chief concern of my loved ones, and maybe the top name on a watch list somewhere. The basic theory of flamethrower operation is simple: An inert gas pressurises a vessel holding fuel, the fuel is released via a valve and ignited as it exits an…

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND MACHINE LEARNING (ML) Machine learning enables algorithms to ‘learn’ from existing mining data. Once the algorithm is trained, it can then predict future outcomes based on new data. THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) Although mining companies have been using IoT for some time, it’s now possible to connect the entire mining value chain across exploration, production, supply chain and sales. ADVANCED ANALYTICS This provides real-time visibility into a changing environment, simulates the impact of business decisions, mitigates risk, and is used to achieve better customer outcomes. BLOCKCHAIN The blockchain model of trust, through massively distributed digital consensus, is reshaping supply chains and commerce across the digital economy. In mining, it is particularly relevant to ensuring responsible and ethical mining practices. VIRTUAL- AND AUGMENTED REALITY Already in…

PRODUCED: MEXICO TIME TO DISASSEMBLE: 3 HOURS, 4 MINUTES NOTES: I’m sure, if you were five years old, you’d be pretty stoked to see this under the Christmas tree. Its 12 V drive system whisks you up to 8 km/h. A power lift-and-lower tailgate can carry your toys. There’s even a speaker with a 3.5 mm aux jack to bump ‘Baby Shark’. But eventually, you’d get bored of it, and so might your parents. That’s how stock Power Wheels become juiced-up miniature race cars. Bigger batteries, motors pulled from cordless drills, custom-fabricated axles, slick tyres – Power Wheels upgrades are only limited by your ambition. Thanks to online communities in Facebook groups and on forums such as modifiedpowerwheels.com, there’s plenty of knowledge to go around. NUMBER OF PARTS: 284 HOT-ROD…

ANIMAL Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) is a friendly vacation simulation for the Nintendo Switch. Your getaway begins with the trip of a lifetime to a remote island. With only shells on the beach and fruit on the trees, Tom Nook (that rich business racoon) will set you up with a tent, and what you do next is entirely up to you. From helping the game’s quirky animal companions move in, to learning how to craft essentials and more at Nook’s workbench, there are so many details to uncover. And because ACNH runs in real time, certain things happen when they happen and you can’t always hurry them up. So when you play at night, the stars are out, the shops are closed (if you have a shop), and some characters are…

1. FIND YOUR FUEL Keep seasoned wood – meaning it’s been air- or kiln dried – near the fireplace (a couple of days indoors should dry out most pieces). Wood with rough surfaces will catch easier than smooth wood. For tinder, gather two handfuls of twigs and break them so they resemble an HB pencil in length and diameter. Half a section of newspaper or a grocery-store mailer will work as kindling. 2. SHAPE YOUR KINDLING After making sure your chimney’s damper is properly open, tear the newspaper into 5 cm-wide lengths and rub the strips between your fingers so they separate into ribbons. Put the ribbons in the fireplace in a mound roughly the size of a tennis ball. Rest some of your tinder on top of the mound…

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 THE COVID-19 outbreak and national lockdown forced most of us to spend almost all of our time at home either working or with family. For some, keeping in shape and avoiding human contact has been difficult, as laziness and demotivation easily set in. Huawei’s latest smartwatch, the GT 2, helps to monitor physical indicators and sends detailed reports to your Huawei phone using the health app. Watch GT 2 tracks your walking- and running movements, and free training, which enables it to accumulate accurate data on your workout progress. Your critical physical indicators, such as heart rate and stress levels, are also under its watchful eye via Huawei’s TruSeen 3.5 heartrate monitoring technology and TruRelax technology. The smartwatch also guides you through breathing exercises when your…

MINING IS ONE of the few remaining industries to not yet be affected by 3D printing. However, this technology has matured, and is no longer just the domain of hobbyists or specialist prototyping companies. ‘The parts are as good as, or better, than those produced using legacy technologies,’ says Ryan Beech, Interim Managing Director of Mentis 3D, the first 3D print farm in Africa. We spoke to Beech to find out why the mining industry needs both robotics and 3D printers to flourish. POPULAR Mechanics: How will robotics change the mining industry? RYAN BEECH: Mining is about to undergo a massive transformation, where we will see robots taking over most of the underground mining activities. They’re able to go deeper, much faster and safer, and mine much more cost-effectively. At…

OUR DRIVEWAY has a high retaining wall between us and our neighbour’s property. During a particularly wet winter a few years ago, a crack opened at a point closest to our house. Over time the crack widened to 15 mm, so, as a midsummer project this year, I decided to stabilise it before the problem escalated and potentially caused the wall to collapse, which would’ve cost a lot to rebuild. Solution The repair method I settled on entailed making a corner bracket with double tension lugs, which I connected to two anchor brackets that I set back into a sound section of the wall. The anchor brackets are firmly supported by M16 × 15 mm bolts, hammered into 16 mm holes that were drilled into the wall. The big corner…