What wonderful experiences we shared with old and new friends at the 2021 NAG ! 

From game drives to skits 

from karaoke to bird watching 

from drumming to meeting celebrities 

from talking politics to board games 

from early till la...early-the-next-day and the next..and the next!! 

Feast your eyes on these photo's and video's that bears testimony to the fun!! it truly was 

Africa's Greatest Showman !!

click there ^^^

 

 

Jacqui Uys - Spheres of Government and Citizen Involvement 

Jacqui is a member of Mensa and involved in local politics, she sparked our thought processes by talking about democracy in South Africa and the structures surrounding it.

Being the November speaker evening only two days after the NAG - a lot of tales were shared !!

 

 

Grant du Plessis - Randomness

 

In October Grant showed us how the rules of probability and randomness dictate our lives without us even realizing it.

He also explained us why the human mind can never fully understand randomness, and what makes this so interesting.

Grant is one of our own, he studies Applied Mathematics at the University of Pretoria and is the Youth Advisor for Mensa Pretoria.

 

Cornia Hugo - Cycads

 

In September Cornia presented a talk on the history, status, legislation and even smuggling of cycads before introducing us to her excellent book: Identification of Indigenous cycads.Wow I learned a lot, Cornia sure  knows cycads !

Cornia Hugo works for the Department Agriculture and Rural Development. She has 28 years’ experience of cycad inspection and court cases. She is currently the Deputy Director of General Investigations North; the unit is responsible for all the permit inspections related to plant and animals.

Cornia has published two books: Identification of Indigenous cycads of SA and Using cones to Identify Indigenous cycads of SA.

She was also involved in the development of SA first cycad stamps which were printed in France during 2019, a total of only 1200 stamps were printed.

 

 

David Toma - Aircraft Design

 

 

For the month of August we took to the skies, or at least went through the rigorous mental process of planning the design of a special 1/1 aircraft! 

 

 

 

David Toma obtained his BEng Mechanical at the University of Pretoria and majored in aeronautics. He holds a Commercial Pilot License and a Multi-Engine Instructor’s Rating with +2550 flight hours and more than forty aircraft types on his license.

He is a Project certification engineer on Falcon 400 series aircraft and he indulges in aircraft flight testing and design in his own time.

 

 

Cassie Nienaber - Internal Ballistics

We just can not get enough of things going BOOM!! In July we were treated to a talk by Cassie who explained that Internal ballistics refers to the process happening inside a barrel during the firing of a weapon, from the time the propellant is ignited until the subsequent gas pressure sends the projectile out the muzzle.

The study of internal ballistics involves the properties of the weapon and components, the pressures created by the burning propellant, the influence of these on bullet acceleration and the resultant muzzle velocity of the projectile.

Cassie has a master’s diploma in Civil Engineering from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and worked at the CSIR, consulting engineers and in the construction industry until a few years ago. Shooting and hunting have been a part of his life since primary school.

He has published several articles in the SA Jagter/Hunter magazine.

The biggest part of his time is spent on developing custom reloaded ammunition, tailor-made for the client’s rifle and components. He also reloads ammunition for some.

 

Darren and Justin Oats - Alternative Fuels

Roll on June and we were introduced to Darren and Justin Oats, exploring a tried and tested greener internal combustion engine fuel option. The future seems green !

Darren and Justin Oates hold BEng degrees from the University of Pretoria. 

They specialised in Vehicle Dynamics and Vehicle Engineering and finished top of their class.

Justin has been involved in the motorsport industry in South Africa for more than 10 years, gaining valuable technical knowledge and experience and building valuable relationships. He has conducted numerous research studies and tests on motor vehicles, the majority being race cars, for both motorsport and general research and development purposes. Justin is also a member of Total Excellium Racing as a driver and director, where he is involved in the management and technical development of the vehicles.

Darren is a director and part of the management team at Total Excellium Racing, one of the largest motorsport teams in South Africa. The team has successfully competed in the Volkswagen Polo Cup and is currently building a Mercedes Benz GTC 1 car to compete in the most challenging Motorsport series in South Africa.

Darren has more than 10 years of experience and knowledge at the top level of the South African motorsport industry, which includes hands-on testing of road vehicles and race cars. This involvement has provided valuable relationships with key players in the industry.

 

 

Dr J David Reinecke - Ballistics

On May 5th we were (not literally) blown away by Dr. Reinecke's insight and ability to convey in laymen's terms the impact, forces and varied characteristics of all things going BOOM!  

We were treated to an introduction into traditional ballistics (internal / external / Terminal), map onto energetic material (explosive) "ballistics" of detonic, blast impact loading and structural response quantification.

Dr J David Reinecke has been involved in military domain his whole career, starting in aviation but spending the last seventeen years developing capabilities and executing blast impact research at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Dr Reinecke completed his graduate, honours and masters degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering management at the University of Pretoria and then went on to complete his PhD at Cranfield University (Defence) in the UK. Though his work Dr Reinecke has developed a number of blast impact technology demonstrators focussed on researching blast impact and structural response as well as related trauma biomechanics. In addition to collaborating extensively with local defence industry, local and international tertiary education institutes and defence research organizations, Dr Reinecke is privileged to serve on several international research task groups related to protection and mobility.

BRAAI !!

Yoh !! We had so much fun interacting at the Quiz Night we promptly arranged a social braai for the whole family on 12 April. 

Catered for by PHSOB in the open-air venue we were entertained by Grant and Theo performing original songs and a few of our favourite covers. 

Feasting with old friends and new - this braai was a absolute hit and definite future tradition!! 

Quiz Night

7 April launched our first quiz night for 2021, right into orbit and the participants felt an hour or two of weightlessness - high above the blue globe and its troubles.

Dr. Zané Lombard - Human Genetics

On March 3rd we had the distinct pleasure of listening to the insightful Dr. Lombard discuss population genetics and how we can use information contained in our DNA to learn more about population history and our health. (Webinar)

 

Zané Lombard obtained her PhD in Human Genetics and Bioinformatics in 2008. She is currently a Principal medical scientist and Associate professor in the Division of Human Genetics, where she oversees the Research laboratory and is a member of the Research & Development team in the Department. Before this she worked as a Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics in the School of Molecular & Cell Biology, also at Wits. Her research interest areas are genomic medicine and rare diseases. Zané is passionate about promoting science in Africa, and therefore participates in several academic service domains at University, national and international level, like the SA Society for Human Genetics and the H3Africa Consortium.