₦airaland Forum

SKA Precursor – MeerKAT


South Africa’s SKA Project is building the MeerKAT telescope, located at the SKA site. MeerKAT will be incorporated into Phase one of the SKA. The MeerKAT telescope will comprise 64 offset Gregorian dishes each 13.5 m in diameter. The first seven dishes of MeerKAT are now complete and are known as KAT-7.

Working with South African industry and universities, and collaborating with institutions around the world, the South African team has developed technologies and systems for the MeerKAT, including innovative composite telescope dishes and cutting edge signal processing hardware and algorithms.

The first five years of observing time have already been allocated to international project teams for ten priority large surveys.

SKA a game changer for African science and technology revolution
Author: SKA Project | Monday, 16 September 2013

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is more than a major feather in SA’s scientific cap – it could also catalyse significant science, technology and engineering business opportunities, jobs and innovation. It also has the potential to put Africa firmly on the map as a world Big Data and analytics hub. This is according to Simon Ratcliffe, technical lead for scientific computing at the SKA office in Cape Town.

The multi-billion rand SKA, to be hosted in South Africa and Australia, will extend into eight African countries and will be the world's biggest telescope. It is also one of the biggest-ever scientific projects and multinational collaborations in the name of science. The project has already entered its first phase, with radio astronomy scientists and engineers finalising its design, with construction to start in 2016. The radio telescope should be operationally mature by 2020.

With thousands of linked radio wave receptors in Australia and in Southern Africa, the SKA radio telescope will constantly scan space and feed the data to astronomers around the world. The amounts of data being collected and transmitted will be staggering – the SKA says the data collected by the SKA array in a single day would take nearly two million years to play back on an iPod.

This means the project requires supercomputing power and Big Data management and analytics capabilities on an unprecedented scale. SKA is working with the world’s most significant ICT powerhouses – such as IBM – on the project. One aspect of the project will see ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and IBM collaborating to research extremely fast, but low-power exascale computer systems, data transport and storage processes, and streaming analytics that will be required to read, store and analyse all the raw data that will be collected daily. The SKA project will also have unprecedented data connectivity needs.

Meeting the advanced technological and engineering needs of this massive project will result in significant local skills development, revolutionise science and technology research and enable innovative new businesses and employment in the science, technology and engineering fields, Ratcliffe says.

“Aside from the benefits to African science, Big Data capabilities could be our biggest spin-off from the SKA project,” says Ratcliffe. “The innovations, skills development and commercial potential emerging as a result of the project are huge. The potential is not just academic – we develop the taxpayer-funded intellectual property to a point where it’s ready to become commercialised and benefit the economy. We will increasingly be an incubator of science and technology innovation.”

Ratcliffe says the human capital development is already taking place as a result of the SKA project, with bursaries and scholarships already being granted to allow students to learn the necessary cutting edge science, technology, maths and engineering skills to support the project. “We have a business development unit looking at making the innovations already developed for the SKA viable as commercial public space entities. Because the SKA is a long term project over decades, its impact will increase,” says Ratcliffe.

"Going forward, there will be a strong drive to leverage the SKA as a spearhead for other programmes – including next generation high performance computing challenges and Big Data challenges. Throughout Africa, we now have an extraordinary opportunity to become an important global player in Big Data processing innovation,” he says.

"The SKA project is much more than a exercise in academia," says Sean McLean , Sub-Saharan Africa, University Relations Leader for IBM. He says that leaders in education, government and business need to be prompted to not only support this but take action now to foster a new generation of talent with the technical expertise and disruptive ideas needed to make the most of this Big Data opportunity. " If they do , they can not only kick-start the next wave of innovation and growth in Africa’s business ecosystem, but establish the continent as the world’s go-to source of skills and counsel for Big Data.

And says McLean by establishing itself as a go-to source of Big Data skills and expertise is only the first step for Africa’s business and technology industries. By fostering creativity around the potential of Big Data – both through start-up communities and scientific research – Africa’s policymakers and industry leaders can influence the course of technological development on a global scale, generating results that enrich not only their but other nations’ economies and quality of life. Developing a generation of Big Data professionals, with the technical skills necessary to manage data and its analysis, is fundamental to all these outcomes: addressing it should be considered a matter of urgency.

“There are only a handful of Big Data drivers around the world,” he says. “The kind of data rates and processing challenges the SKA project will present put it right up there with only a handful of projects around the world.”

SKA says that since 2005, the African SKA Human Capital Development Programme has awarded close to 400 grants for studies in astronomy and engineering from undergraduate to post-doctoral level, while also investing in training programmes for technicians. Astronomy courses are being rolled out in other African countries, including Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. Career opportunities will increase substantially and new business opportunities will emerge.

Ratcliffe says the project has already changed the world’s view of SA’s scientific capability. Now it also presents the potential to spark virtually overnight growth in SA’s science, research, technology, ICT and engineering industries.

“This project is a once in a lifetime combination of science and engineering in SA – we won’t see the likes of it ever again. It’s tremendously exciting and an opportunity to change the narrative for SA,” says Ratcliffe.

Gillooly's Interchange construction completion.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NXZD-Ke8J0

[quote author=Mthimbane.ZA]Its funny enough 4 all4naai-ja 2 claim that we beat foreigners but yet the influx of foreigners increases day by day.[/quote]No need for arguments, Mthimbane.

Let the pictures speak.

Wliiam Nicol upgrade completion.

Gauteng Maboneng.

Kwamfaz'ushayindoda.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMxLPV_1o3w&feature=player_embedded

Why South Africa is building the Square Kilometre Array: Adrian Tiplad


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uQvQ8mOy6Q

zetdee: Wow!! what a great evening it's been, thank GOD for our beautiful country Suid-Afrika the great ..

I see the slum dweller is still at it..

I enjoy the platform he gives to us.

He's practically admitted he's all about hate.

South Africa is basking in the glory of being the foremost Paleo-sciences centre in the world. This is thanks to some remarkable discoveries made at Malapa, which is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site in Gauteng. Today Malapa is one of the richest early hominin sites ever discovered. In this episode we find out what the opportunities are for paleao-tourism and how can the "origins industry" continue to thrive as a separate entity.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whJXP4hVRSw

Keep moving

Don't let the door bang ya


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPmHj7OI9XQ

SA sending 150 tons of food to Moz
2013-01-31 17:14

SAAF C130 (Picture: Supplied)

Mozambicans seek refuge from floods

2013-01-30 09:13
Families are fleeing to higher ground as floods engulf entire villages in Mozambique. Watch.WATCH


Johannesburg - The SANDF and the charity, Gift of the Givers, will deliver over 150 tons of food to flood-stricken Mozambique.

"This deployment also includes primary health care nurses, dieticians and environmental health officers to assess the needs of the people and where necessary to identify special dietary needs," SA National Defence Force spokesperson Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said on Thursday.

More than 150 000 people had been displaced by floods in the country.

Mabanga said the Gift of the Givers had already collected and tagged donations, and was expected to land in Mozambique on Thursday. It would work with the SANDF.

The areas helped would be determined by local authorities.

The Associated Press news agency reported that flood waters were receding. Chokwe was the city worst hit.

It reported that the United Nations had said at least 38 people had died in the floods.

Mabanga said the SANDF was on standby with helicopters, medical personnel and search and rescue teams.

He said SANDF chief General Solly Shokwe "would like to commend all the members involved for their swift mobilisation and deployment to assist our neighbours".

Lovers Triangle | South Africa | IDO Hip-Hop World Championships 2012


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbpUNNkL3bQ

New regional airport for ECape
Sep 15 2013 14:56

Johannesburg - The rural development and land reform department plans to hand over management of a new airport to the council of a small town in the Eastern Cape next year, it said on Sunday.

"Somerset East... is poised to make history, when a R413m [regional] airport which is being constructed by the department... is handed over to the town’s city council next year," said spokesperson Mtobeli Mxotwa.

Minister Gugile Nkwinti made the announcement at a memorial ceremony held at the Zuurberg heritage site on Friday.

"The airport will be a regional operation to boost tourism and commercial activity in the area. Construction is underway and we expect it to conclude sometime in 2014," said Mxotwa.

The project was expected to create viable job opportunities over the next eight years.

Nkwinti also announced that new roads would be upgraded and paved by the department’s youth co-operatives division.

"Other projects in and around the Somerset East area are expected to take at least eight years to come into operation, so there will be a lot more opportunities commercially in the region coming up."

Mxotwa said plans to develop the Addo Elephant Park and the Shamwari game Reserve were also underway.

Once it was completed, the airport would be the fifth operational airport in the province, he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeR2Hw3KcyY


Oprah's South African Leadership Academy for Girls; First Graduating Class From Media Mogul's School

Top Billing gets to tour Thandi Sibisi's beautiful art gallery and finds out more about this inspiring young South African!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rYBSHdH38o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8QwPv3Iwe4

The Pavilion Shopping centre, affectionately known as The Pav, is one of the largest shopping centres on the East coast of Africa. Adjacent to the N3 national highway and only minutes away from Durban and Durban International Airport, this shopping Mecca is easily accessible. Open 7 days a week - with extended trading hours over month end and during holiday seasons, as well as late night shopping the last weekend of every month - the Pavilion Shopping Centre is KwaZulu Natal's number one shopping and entertainment destination for locals and tourists alike. More than one million shoppers a month enjoy an unequalled choice of jewellers, fashion outlets, shops, restaurants, cinemas, entertainment areas and banking facilities. International shoppers enjoy a choice of fine curio and gift shops




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0W3opoMlMs

Gateway Theatre of Shopping has become one of the greatest super-centres on the African continent, since its opening in September 2001. With an array of accolades and awards it has been recognized by local and international retailers as being one of the few truly world-class shopping experiences in Africa. This centre has become the heart of the Durban North community, through special events, community programmes, regular entertainment and a carefully planned and maintained tenant list. The mall offers plenty of parking, with all parkades easily accessible from any of the 13 mall entrances as well as a valet parking service. Gateway theatre of shopping is steaming ahead having opened an extension of its south wing and offers a safe and comfortable facility for shopping and entertainment.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jh6xNBGCk

We spent the afternoon at Sandton City, a huge shopping complex that is adjacent to Nelson Mandela Square. In the Square, you can also find the Sandton Public Library, which is very nice.

If you have a long layover or, like us, are stuck at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, you can easily go into the city by taking the Gautrain, a commuter train. Most of the stops are in residential areas, but if you want to do a bit of shopping, see a movie, etc., take the Gautrain from OR Tambo to Sandton City. You'll have to buy a Gold Card, which costs a one-time fee of 11 Rand, then add value to the card. A one-way trip from OR Tambo to Sandton City costs 115 Rand per person, which is pricey but still cheaper than taking a taxi.

If you're staying at the Garden Court Hotel, which provides a free shuttle bus service to and from OR Tambo Airport, take the Gautrain back to Rhodesfield Station, which is one stop before the airport. This will cost you just 27 Rand (compared to 115!)! The hotel is about a 10-minute walk from Rhodesfield Station. We strongly suggest that you take this option during daylight hours. If your shopping trip extends into the night, then we recommend that you pay the extra money to take the Gautrain to the airport then ride the free shuttle bus to the hotel, which is the safest option.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAUy3NCaixU

http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/mapungubwe.htm

Mapungubwe: SA's lost city of gold

One thousand years ago, Mapungubwe in Limpopo province was the centre of the largest kingdom in the subcontinent, where a highly sophisticated people traded gold and ivory with China, India and Egypt.


The Iron Age site, discovered in 1932 but hidden from public attention until only recently, was declared a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in July 2003.

Mapungubwe is an area of open savannah at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers and abutting the northern border of South Africa and the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana. It thrived as a sophisticated trading centre from around 1220 to 1300.

In its statement on the listing, Unesco describes Mapungubwe as the centre of the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned in the 14th century.

"What survives are the almost untouched remains of the palace sites and also the entire settlement area dependent upon them, as well as two earlier capital sites, the whole presenting an unrivalled picture of the development of social and political structures over some 400 years," Unesco said.

Mapungubwe was home to an advanced culture of people for the time - the ancestors of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They traded with China and India, had a flourishing agricultural industry, and grew to a population of around 5 000.

Mapungubwe is probably the earliest known site in southern Africa where evidence of a class-based society existed (Mapungubwe's leaders were separated from the rest of the inhabitants).

Gold, copper, exotic beads ...
The site was discovered in 1932 and has been excavated by the University of Pretoria ever since. The findings were kept quiet at the time since they provided contrary evidence to the racist ideology of black inferiority underpinning apartheid.

Nevertheless, the university now has a rich collection of artefacts made of gold and other materials, as well as human remains, discovered there. According to the University of Pretoria's Mapungubwe website, "Subsequent excavations revealed a court sheltered in a natural amphitheatre at the bottom of the hill, and an elite graveyard at the top - with a spectacular view of the region.

"Twenty-three graves have been excavated from this hilltop site", the website continues. "The bodies in three of these graves were buried in the upright seated position associated with royalty, with a variety of gold and copper items, exotic glass beads, and other prestigious objects.

"These finds provide evidence not only of the early smithing of gold in southern Africa, but of the extensive wealth and social differentiation of the people of Mapungubwe."

The most spectacular of the gold discoveries is a little gold rhinoceros, made of gold foil and tacked with minute pins around a wooden core. The rhino, featured in one of South Africa's new national orders - the Order of Mapungubwe - has come to symbolise the high culture of Mapungubwe. The rhino is also a symbol of leadership among the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

Other artefacts made in similar fashion include the Golden Sceptre and the Golden Bowl, found in the same grave on Mapungubwe Hill.

Evidence of complex social formations
What is so fascinating about Mapungubwe is that it is testimony to the existence of an African civilisation that flourished before colonisation. According to Professor Thomas Huffman of the archaeology department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mapungubwe represents "the most complex society in southern Africa and is the root of the origins of Zimbabwean culture".

Between 1200 and 1300 AD, the Mapungubwe region was the centre of trade in southern Africa. Wealth came to the region from ivory and later from gold deposits that were found in Zimbabwe. The area was also agriculturally rich because of large-scale flooding in the area. The wealth in the area led to differences between rich and poor.

In the village neighbouring Mapungubwe, called K2, an ancient refuse site has provided archaeologists with plenty of information about the lifestyles of the people of Mapungubwe.

According to the University of Pretoria website: "People were prosperous, and kept domesticated cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. The charred remains of storage huts have also been found, showing that millet, sorghum and cotton were cultivated.

"Findings in the area are typical of the Iron Age. Smiths created objects of iron, copper and gold for practical and decorative purposes – both for local use and for trade. Pottery, wood, ivory, bone, ostrich eggshells, and the shells of snails and freshwater mussels, indicate that many other materials were used and traded with cultures as far away as East Africa, Persia, Egypt, India and China."

Mapungubwe's fortune only lasted until about 1300, after which time climate changes, resulting in the area becoming colder and drier, led to migrations further north to Great Zimbabwe.

Mapungubwe National Park
In 2004, South African National Parks (SANParks) opened Mapungubwe National Park, incorporating the Unesco-designated Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape in an area covering well over 28 000 hectares.

The park forms part of an ambitious project to develop a major transfrontier conservation area, the Limpopo/Shashe Transfrontier Park, which will cross the borders of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, linking Mapungubwe National Park with Botswana's Tuli Block and Zimbabwe's Tuli Safari area.

Besides the rich cultural heritage of Mapungubwe National Park, most of the continent's big game roam here. There is also a tremendous diversity of plant and animal life.

Sandstone formations, mopane woodlands and unique riverine forest and baobab trees form an astounding scenic backdrop for a rich variety of animal life.

Elephant, giraffe, white rhino, eland, gemsbok and numerous other antelope species occur naturally in the area, while visitors can spot predators like lions, leopards and hyenas, and birders can tick off 400 species, including kori bustard, tropical boubou and pel's fishing owl.




Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/mapungubwe.htm#ixzz2fZYvLTzU

Vehicle 19 - Trailer



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJusN7qAlu0

Vehicle 19 - Soundtrack.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo53vmGp1rs

Go away.

Ba busy bayas - claimera

Lezimpatha zisemvakwami njengo 7 no 8.
Angeke zifike to my level of my weight.

No favours to all to haters.
Mangab'une kwaai

Sithi Go away. Go Away. Go Away.

http://www.investec.com/research-and-insights/countries/its-true-south-africans-are-better-off.html


The good news is that South Africans have become more affluent (on average) since the ANC came to power in 1994. This cheering fact may appear at odds with the bearish views sometimes dispersed on SA, but the hard data confirms it.

Rising Incomes

On average South Africans have seen their incomes rise from R27 521 per person in 1993, to R38 734 in 2011 and this is in real terms. In other words, the distorting impact of inflation has been removed to give a picture of whether South Africans have really become better-off.
Figure 1: Gross national income per capita (per person) vs household consumption, in real terms

And if inflation is included then the estimated income per person in South Africa has risen almost four times since 1993.

This explains the proliferation of shopping centres and upmarket housing estates, the rise in property prices and the ongoing good performance of the retail sector over this period.

Indeed, the SA economy has virtually doubled (excluding the impact of inflation) in the last eighteen years - a compounding effect where growth begets growth.

While GDP growth has only run around a very modest 3.3% year on year over the ANC’s tenure of 1994 to date (still an improvement on the average growth of around 1.6% year on year from 1976 to 1993), the net effect of the last 18 years of virtually uninterrupted economic expansion has been to substantially raise incomes, and the size of the economy, to the point where not only has inflation been consistently combated but South Africans have typically experienced a continuously higher standard of living each year.

The Living Standard Measure

The poor have benefited from welfare payments and a massive rollout of services under the ANC’s tenure (although further rollout and improved quality is outstanding in areas) which has been responsible for lifting most out of the lowest living standard and income measures.

Living standard measures (LSM), as calculated by SAARF (South African Advertising Research Foundation), look at whether the individual owns certain items/has certain services and not what the different income levels are, although incomes have been matched to LSM groups in later years.

The items/services range from motor vehicle, TV and fridge/freezer ownership to whether the household is connected to running water and electricity, has a domestic worker and uses the internet. Changes in technology/services have been updated through the years and additional items/services included.
Figure 3: Breakdown of LSM, with corresponding monthly income estimates for 2011

Prior to the global recession of 2009, SA experienced its longest recorded expansion in the business cycle beginning in 1999. However, individuals continued to move to higher living standard measures during the recession and income per person only fell by R141 in real terms. Including inflation meant income per person actually rose in 2009.

Falling Population Growth

It should be noted that part of this marked rise in incomes has been due to the significant downward trend in population growth, to only 1% year on year in 2011, as fertility levels fell back noticeably (from 5.8 children per woman in 1970 to 2.3 children), while life expectancy has declined on the back of Aids.

Population growth is likely to remain at less than 1% (excluding cross border migrant labour and illegal immigrants) over the next 10 years, meaning that real economic growth faster than population growth will push real income per person noticeably higher.

South Africans are therefore expected to become even better off, on the back of a real economic growth rate of 4.5% over the next five years.

Ungas'thathi kancane.
Mfanakith'asazani
We rollin. We rollin. We rollin.

Ungas'thathi kancane
Ubabuz'ekas lami
We rollin. We rollin. We rollin.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATF22M4-Z0w