Category Archives: Technology

Updated: Glorious GTI

Ilana Mercer, Political Correctness, Sport, Technology

He’s black, he’s beautiful, and he’s mine. He’s a 2006 Volkswagen GTI, with a high-tech 200-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged engine.

My favorite features are the spectacularly smooth six-speed manual transmission (I won’t drive an automatic, never have; never will.), the 18-inch alloy wheels, and the six CD changer. But it also sports leather seats with heating, along with electronic lumbar control, power sunroof that can tilt up or slide open horizontally, satellite radio, heavy-duty mats for floor and trunk, and dual zone climate control.

Carey Russ and Wayne Cunningham of CNET write that, “The Volkswagen GTI has been a performance icon since its debut on American shores in 1983, when it offered a high degree of fun and performance nearly matching those of much more expensive German sports sedans for a very reasonable price. ‘A pocket rocket,’ they call this thing. Consumer Reports name the fifth-generation Volkswagen GTI the top sporty car in its price range.”

You can say that again. A one-time race driver in South Africa, my brother-in-law is a fan of the GTI and is responsible for piquing our interest in the “pocket rocket.” Sean told him, “We had both planned to test drive it. Ilana started out driving and that was it; she liked it so much that I never got to try it! It goes like a bat out of hell.”

Oh, you’ll laugh at this one. I thought I was driving suspiciously fast. Yet Sean kept tut-tutting, “You’re not going fast enough. Well, he was looking at the Rev counter not the speedometer. So it turns out I must have been going about 40 miles per-hour in the zones designated for “our children.” A pox on them!

We immigrants from the Third World are not spoilt. This is the first new car we’ve ever owned; I’ve been driving my second-hand, 1986 two-seater, Toyota MR2 for quite a while. I loved “Mr. Two” (other than some rust, it looks just like this; still a classic beauty).

What’s more, the engine is fantastic. It goes just splendidly. I have to confess, though, that once I was speeding down the highway in the GTI, I fecklessly forgot my old chariot.

Update: I am now able to report that zero to 60 takes 7.0 seconds. The stick-shift GTI–mine–is apparently an imperceptible one tenth of a second slower than the automatic and a great deal more fun. (Related, and equally revved reading: “Make Friends With Your Fast“)

Holland Keeps Afloat; Why Can’t New Orleans?

America, Europe, Government, Hollywood, Technology

It ought to be called The Anatomy of a Disgrace. The latest word on why the levees of New Orleans failed, faults their design, construction, and maintenance. In shorthand: everything about them!

I have not read the report, however, if it didn’t, it ought to have mandated, first, that the US Army Corps of Engineers be summarily dismissed—and then dismantled. And second, that the job be privatized. And pigs will fly, I know. Since these solutions are a pipedream, let our excuse for an Engineering Corps be forced to visit The Netherlands, and and learn from the masters who designed the great Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier in Hoek van Holland.

You must have heard the saying, “God created the world and the Dutch created the Netherlands.” This is not an exaggeration:

“The name the Netherlands refers to the low-lying nature of the country (nether means low). Its highest point is the Vaalserberg hill in the south east, which reaches 321 meters above sea level. Many areas in the north and west, constituting more than 25% of the total area of the country, are below sea level. The lowest point near Rotterdam is some 6.7 meters below sea level.

I believe New Orleans is only about 3 meters below sea level.

Earlier this month I visited the Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier, a true monument to human ingenuity. Engineers should find the information on this site fascinating. The mechanism is described as follows (I watched the mini-models in action):

“If a water level of 3.00 meters above NAP is anticipated for Rotterdam the Storm Surge Barrier in the New Waterway has to be closed. In these circumstances the Storm Surge Barrier computer – the Command and Support System (Dutch acronym BOS) instructs the Control System (BES) to shut the barrier. The BES implements the BOS’s commands.

In the event of a storm tide, the docks are filled with water, so that the hollow gates start to float and can be turned into the New Waterway. Once the gates meet, the cavities are filled with water and the gates sink to the bottom, thus sealing off the 360 meter-wide opening. After the high water has passed the gates are pumped out and the structure begins to float again. Once it is certain that the next high water will not be another abnormally high one, the two gates are returned to their docks.

When the New Waterway is sealed off it is no longer possible for shipping to pass. The storm-surge barrier will only be closed in extremely bad weather—in probability once every ten years. A test closure will probably be conducted once a year in order to check the equipment. This will be done when there is little shipping. With the rise in sea levels the storm-surge barrier will need to close more frequently in 50 years time, namely once every five years.

Incidentally, CNN subjects us to endless Katrina kvetching from its edgy, newest, girl reporter, Anderson Cooper. But Cooper is no journalist; he’s an instrument in the Oprahfication of the news. Has he done a story on how the Dutch stay afloat? Of course not; why supply your viewer with useful information, when you can continually tug at their heartstrings instead? Or has he deigned to report on how many people died due to the colossal collapse of these Third-World compatible structures? We still don’t know.

Holland Keeps Afloat; Why Can't New Orleans?

America, Europe, Government, Hollywood, Technology

It ought to be called The Anatomy of a Disgrace. The latest word on why the levees of New Orleans failed, faults their design, construction, and maintenance. In shorthand: everything about them!

I have not read the report, however, if it didn’t, it ought to have mandated, first, that the US Army Corps of Engineers be summarily dismissed—and then dismantled. And second, that the job be privatized. And pigs will fly, I know. Since these solutions are a pipedream, let our excuse for an Engineering Corps be forced to visit The Netherlands, and and learn from the masters who designed the great Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier in Hoek van Holland.

You must have heard the saying, “God created the world and the Dutch created the Netherlands.” This is not an exaggeration:

“The name the Netherlands refers to the low-lying nature of the country (nether means low). Its highest point is the Vaalserberg hill in the south east, which reaches 321 meters above sea level. Many areas in the north and west, constituting more than 25% of the total area of the country, are below sea level. The lowest point near Rotterdam is some 6.7 meters below sea level.

I believe New Orleans is only about 3 meters below sea level.

Earlier this month I visited the Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier, a true monument to human ingenuity. Engineers should find the information on this site fascinating. The mechanism is described as follows (I watched the mini-models in action):

“If a water level of 3.00 meters above NAP is anticipated for Rotterdam the Storm Surge Barrier in the New Waterway has to be closed. In these circumstances the Storm Surge Barrier computer – the Command and Support System (Dutch acronym BOS) instructs the Control System (BES) to shut the barrier. The BES implements the BOS’s commands.

In the event of a storm tide, the docks are filled with water, so that the hollow gates start to float and can be turned into the New Waterway. Once the gates meet, the cavities are filled with water and the gates sink to the bottom, thus sealing off the 360 meter-wide opening. After the high water has passed the gates are pumped out and the structure begins to float again. Once it is certain that the next high water will not be another abnormally high one, the two gates are returned to their docks.

When the New Waterway is sealed off it is no longer possible for shipping to pass. The storm-surge barrier will only be closed in extremely bad weather—in probability once every ten years. A test closure will probably be conducted once a year in order to check the equipment. This will be done when there is little shipping. With the rise in sea levels the storm-surge barrier will need to close more frequently in 50 years time, namely once every five years.

Incidentally, CNN subjects us to endless Katrina kvetching from its edgy, newest, girl reporter, Anderson Cooper. But Cooper is no journalist; he’s an instrument in the Oprahfication of the news. Has he done a story on how the Dutch stay afloat? Of course not; why supply your viewer with useful information, when you can continually tug at their heartstrings instead? Or has he deigned to report on how many people died due to the colossal collapse of these Third-World compatible structures? We still don’t know.