ICU Resource Allocation in the New Millenium

“Will We Say No?”

Released this month by Springer, edited by Dr David Crippen, a neurointensivist and the “Fearless Leader” of CCM-L (the International Critical Care Mailing List and discussion group) and including two chapter on ICU in South Africa, in the past, present and looking towards the future.  I am particularly proud to have contributed the latter (Chapter 22).

Continue reading ICU Resource Allocation in the New Millenium

Western Cape PG XC League – Task 2

Here are some details regarding this weekend’s WCPGXCL event.  This month’s task will be held in Porterville, to coincide with the yearly Gatskop fun competition (which is on the weekend of 19-21 October).   Two tasks have been set, to allow for winds that are north or south of west.  Looking at the Saturday 14:00 weather forecast, it will probably be the Northbound task this weekend.

Northbound Task:

  • Take Off/start: PL1080 – Pampoenfontein (Radius 400m) – 32°55.630’S 19°02.189’E
  • Turnpoint 01: P17010 – Eendekuil Silos (Radius 400m) – 32°41.125’S 18°53.002’E
  • Turnpoint 02: PG6020 – Renosterhoek  (Radius 400m) – 32°32.287’S 18°50.231’E
  • Goal/ES: P17010 – Eendekuil Silos (Radius 1000m) – 32°41.125’S 18°53.002’E

Click here to link to Livetrack24 Northbound task

Southbound Task

  • Take Off/Start: PL2070 – Dasklip (Radius 400m ) – 32°54.302’S 19°02.294’E
  • Turnpoint 01: PG1024 – Flyers Lodge (Radius 400m) –  33°00.299’S 18°59.569’E
  • Turnpoint 02: P80006 – Misverstand T-junction (Radius 400m) –  33°02.907’S 18°50.135’E
  • Turnpoint 03: P62008 – Halkmanshof Silos (Radius 400m) –  33°08.828’S 18°57.631’E
  • Goal/ES: PG1024 – Flyers Lodge (Radius 1000m) – 33°00.299’S 18°59.569’E

Click here to link to Livetrack24 Sounthbound task

Porterville Turnpoints

Click the link above for all the GPS files compatible with any GPS (in the Porterville Turnpoints .zip file) as well as the Google Earth file for both tasks.  Please let Eugene Claase know if yo need any help either loading the TP files onto your GPS or programming your device manually.  He will be at the Glen Club tomorrow afternoon from 17:30 until 18:30 to help anyone setting up their devices.

A few important notes about this weekend’s flying:

1. Pilots are all meeting at 36 on Main (Coffee shop in Porterville) at 10:00 Saturday morning. There will be time for a quick tea/coffee and to sort out the recovery & site fees for the day.  Note: Yearly site subscribers to Pampoenfontein and/or Dasklip do not have to pay any site fees.  The Recovery vehicles will leave from 36 on Main taking everyone up the mountain at 10:45.

2. There is a possibility of a lift to Porterville from Cape Town (courtesy of Ant Allen and the Aerial perspective Vito bus) on Saturday morning leaving Cape Town at 08:00, coming back either Saturday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon, depending on everyone that wants join the group.  Please call me Eugene and let him know if you would like to take up the offer – cost will depend on numbers.

3. There will be a possible 3 Turkey recoveries, driving back up the mountain during the day. The exact times will be decided on the mountain.

4. There will be a site and flight/task briefing on take off (most probably Pampoenfontein) at 11:30 by local site guru Paul Penning.

There are 8 pilots confirmed for the weekend so far… I’m committed elsewhere but wish them all good luck!

WCPGXCL Score Update – 7 October 2012

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The first task of the Western Cape Paragliding Cross-Country League has almost run out it’s month – less than 5 days remain to complete the task.  I was blessed with brilliant conditions on Saturday, launching from Llandudno and completing the task with spectacular soaring conditions.  I had to scuttle away from the Table Mountain turn-point in order to get out of the lift before I violated airspace, and arrived over the goal field at the Glen with almost 900m altitude above sea level.  I decided to try fly back to Llandudno to fetch my car, met Ant Allen piloting a tandem on the way, secured a lift with them, turned around at Llandudno and did the task for a second time in the same flight wing-tip to wing-tip with Ant’s Gradient BiGolden.  Tracklog is here on Leonardo.  The final pass down the Apostles had much less dynamic lift as the wind dropped off, but we began to have fantastic thermal climbs, cranking several 3+m/sec’s along the way.  At Table Mountain I rocked up past startled abseilers in a sustained 4+m/sec with the XC3 turning on a tip, and I’m sure I heard a startled gasp as we popped up over the top right in front of the viewing decks.  What a special day, and a spectacular flight. More photos:

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Current league scores are as follows:

Special final mention to Ant, who has done the task on both a solo and now a tandem glider 😉

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Ozone XXLite

Single-surface ultralight (<1.4kg) paraglider in development launched in the last week by Ozone.   Sounds like a very special animal – official information is here on the FlyOzone site.  One has already top-landed on Mont Blanc during testing.  Need I say more?

UPDATE:  Found this launch video, too.  Sureal location, too.

Are you listening, Ozone?  This is all I want for Christmas.

Oh wow… X(KCD)ploring the world

One of my favourite web-comics, XKCD, has once again managed to capture a concept core to my psyche so poignantly that it aches.  You may find that it appeals to you too…and that if it does, your mouse hand may be aching soon too.  The title explains the process…I leave you to decide what it means.  Want to see what is in the big box?  Click here or on the image to go to the cartoon.

If you’re anything like me, you will soon be compulsively exploring the entire world.  I’m not going to tell you how far it goes, but be on the lookout for XKCD’s signature philosophical quips and quirks…

…and plenty of somewhat nerdy references (*tips hat to Carl Sagan*):

One of the glories of this incredible creation is the fact that you are forced to explore using the small window in little steps, as if you were travelling through the landscape yourself.  It’s also crucial to move slowly like this if you don’t want to miss anything small, or fail to notice that those rocks in that grass actually make the shape of a naked sleeping man, or a face; or that there are a pair of velociraptors in the long grass (it wouldn’t be XKCD if there weren’t raptors somewhere!).  However, the feeling that you want to find open vistas and be able to see more of the picture (and a healthy fear of missing something) begins to build.  Thankfully, within hours of the comic being published the international geek brain trust (those people who use the web for more than LOLcats, cathcing up on the Kardashians or Kate’s boobs or downloading episodes of 2.5 Men) had created a few useful ‘hacks’.  If you’d like a full-screen, zoomable version of Randal’s XKCD world, click here… but wait until you’ve explored a bit so as not to lose the magic.

3.2 seconds of powered paraglider fame… the Mazda BT-50 TV advert

Regular blog readers may recall that we travelled up to the Augrabies area on the Namibian border some weeks ago to take part in a shoot for the new Mazda BT-50 TV commercial.  It was a long distance made oh-so-worthwhile by the chance to fly in and over the spectacular Riemvasmaak desert and through the Kai Garib gorge.  After a long day of waiting, conditions finally allowed a launch about 2 hours before sunset, and we flew every last minute we could, generating hordes of footage… of which about 3 seconds makes it into the ad 😉

This is the ‘Making Of…’ video, which gives a good feel for the vibe, and features the commercial at the end.  Would I do it again?  Of course… you only live once 😉