Tag Archives: South Africa

Aerial Travel: ‘Cape Town – South Africa’ (Video)

Cape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum. 

South Africa is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems. Inland safari destination Kruger National Park is populated by big game. The Western Cape offers beaches, lush winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl, craggy cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope, forest and lagoons along the Garden Route, and the city of Cape Town, beneath flat-topped Table Mountain. 

Top Home Design: “House Of The Tall Chimneys” In Waterberg, South Africa -Frankie Pappas Architects

House of the Tall Chimneys - Frankie Pappas Architects - South AfricaThe brief: A bed amidst the trees; a shower amongst the rocks, the site sits in a nature conservation in rural South Africa; where trees and shrubs and rocks create the architectural backdrop for any home.

A bedroom that opens itself out into the treescape; that invites in the smells, and wind, and rustle; a bathroom that grounds itself against the landscape; that speaks of earth, and rock, and shrub.

House of the Tall Chimneys - Frankie Pappas Architects - South Africa

The idea: The originating idea was to root the bathroom into the rockscape, whilst allowing the bedroom to float amongst the trees. The building is organised as a long thin building which allows it to fit snugly between the forest trees. The two chimneys are not only essential to the structure of the building, but also naturally ventilate the bedroom  (the building was designed in such a manner as to not disturb any tree during construction).

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Top Designers: “Imagined Architectural Spaces” By Alexis Christodoulou

Alexis Christodoulou - Imagined Architectural Spaces

Alexis Christodoulou logo

Alexis Christodoulou, a self-taught 3D artist living in Cape Town, South Africa has spent the last 6 years building a collection of works focusing on imaginary architecture. While working professionally as a copywriter for the last decade, Alexis taught himself 3D rendering as a hobby.

From a lifelong fascination of digital worlds and 3D graphics from playing video games a boy, Alexis became frustrated with the lack of modern aesthetics represented therein. The images he creates are a simple extension of this desire to see fantastic spaces come to life that echo a more modern and clean aesthetic.

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Archaeology: “Blombos Cave”, South Africa – First Human “Technological Innovations” (Video)

See the first laboratory on Earth – Blombos Cave. Here our ancestors conducted the first chemistry experiments.

Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blomboschfontein Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. 100,000 and 70,000 years Before Present (BP), and a Late Stone Age sequence dated at between 2000 and 300 years BP. The cave site was first excavated in 1991 and field work has been conducted there on a regular basis since 1997, and is ongoing.

The excavations at Blombos Cave have yielded important new information on the behavioural evolution of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological record from this cave site has been central in the ongoing debate on the cognitive and cultural origin of early humans and to the current understanding of when and where key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens in southern Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Archaeological material and faunal remains recovered from the Middle Stone Age phase in Blombos Cave – dated to ca. 100,000–70,000 years BP – are considered to represent greater ecological niche adaptation, a more diverse set of subsistence and procurements strategies, adoption of multi-step technology and manufacture of composite tools, stylistic elaboration, increased economic and social organisation and occurrence of symbolically mediated behaviour.

The most informative archaeological material from Blombos Cave includes engraved ochre, engraved bone ochre processing kits, marine shell beads, refined bone and stone tools and a broad range of terrestrial and marine faunal remains, including shellfish, birds, tortoise and ostrich egg shell and mammals of various sizes.[20][21][22] These findings, together with subsequent re-analysis and excavation of other Middle Stone Age sites in southern Africa, have resulted in a paradigm shift with regard to the understanding of the timing and location of the development of modern human behaviour.

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Interview: 71-Year Old Model And Dietitian Maye Musk On Getting “More Fabulous” As She Ages

Excerpts from a WSJ. Magazine interview (Feb 24, 2020):

A Woman Makes A Plan Maye Musk bookWell, when you get older, you are more fabulous, actually. You go through a lot of hard times in your life… and then, at this stage you get out of those bad situations quicker and they are less painful. You figure them out, and you move on. And I’m having the best time ever. I’m 71 now, it’s the best time ever, and I think at 81 it will be great. My mom [had] her best times when she was in her 90s. So I look forward to that.

A model since age 15, Maye Musk was in her 60s when her life took a turn for the fabulous. In her seventh decade, the former dietitian appeared in a Beyoncé music video, signed a contract with top modeling agency IMG and became a CoverGirl spokesperson, setting a record as their oldest yet. At the end of last year, Musk, now 71, added memoirist to her resume. Her book, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty and Success, chronicles her career and experience raising her children—SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon, restaurateur and philanthropist Kimbal and filmmaker Tosca—as a single mother who fled a turbulent marriage.

Born in Canada, raised in South Africa and now residing in L.A., Musk spoke to WSJ. about what she eats for breakfast, how she stays on top of emails and why she doesn’t miss hustling all the time.

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Healthcare: U.S. “Total Hip Replacement” Costs Were $32.5K In 2017, Up To 4 Times The Cost In Europe (Chart)

From a Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) release (12/17/19):

iFHP 2017 prices Hip Replacement Costs in USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, UAE, Switzerland, South Africa and Holland Health Costs Institute December 2019 chart

 

  • Holland had the lowest prices for hip and knee replacements with prices less than 25% of the US price. Prices for hip and knee replacements in the United Arab Emeritus (UAE) were the closest to the US at 71% of the price.

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