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Today's quotable quote: Douglas Adams: Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen.

This day in history: 11 November 2025: Kaprun Disaster Leaves 155 Dead (2000). High above the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun, a funicular railway car carrying over 160 people to a glacier caught fire after a defective heater ignited hydraulic brake fluid in the rear of the car. Only partway through a 2-mi (3.2-km) tunnel, the car came to a sudden halt. As the fire grew, the passengers were plunged into darkness and trapped behind inoperable doors. Almost all who managed to escape the burning car suffocated in the tunnel.



Home - Outeniqua Choo Tjoe

outeniquachootjoe.com, 29 October 2025

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Please watch this site for news about Classic Rails’s project to return steam trains to South Africa's Garden Route.




Klepetan and Malena - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org, 14 October 2025

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Klepetan and Malena were a pair of white storks (Ciconia ciconia) who became renowned in Croatia for their romantic endeavors. Between 2001 and 2021, Klepetan traveled from South Africa to Brodski Varoš, Croatia, each spring to mate with Malena, who was unable to travel due to a gunshot injury. On ...


The Vintage

Woah #fblifestyle, 02 October 2025

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Woah #fblifestyle


A Brief History of the Minimoog Part I

youtube.com, 23 September 2025

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Follow the life of the Minimoog Synthesizer from its inception through its prolific contributions to poplular music throughout the last 4 decades.In this fir...



Physics wins, hydrogen cars lose

medium.com, 24 July 2025

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How many times have we heard that hydrogen-powered cars are “the future”? Well, that future has been collapsing like a house of cards for a…


The Vintage

In South Portland, Maine, a group of parents sparked a quiet revolution by replacing smartphones with landlines for their kids. Concerned about the effects of constant screen time, they formed a “landline pod,” where children use home phones to call one another, plan playdates, and have real conversations—no texting, no apps, no distractions. The result? Kids building confidence, empathy, and stronger social skills through simple, meaningful connection. What began as one mother’s creative idea has grown into a neighborhood movement that’s bringing back the lost art of talking., 20 July 2025

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In South Portland, Maine, a group of parents sparked a quiet revolution by replacing smartphones with landlines for their kids. Concerned about the effects of constant screen time, they formed a “landline pod,” where children use home phones to call one another, plan playdates, and have real conversations—no texting, no apps, no distractions. The result? Kids building confidence, empathy, and stronger social skills through simple, meaningful connection. What began as one mother’s creative idea has grown into a neighborhood movement that’s bringing back the lost art of talking.



Frogsicles: Frozen But Still Alive

youtube.com, 05 July 2025

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The wood frog's body makes its own anti-freeze that allows it to survive the winter. The secret ingredient? You'll never guess.From: CRAZY MONSTER FROGShttp:...



Abandoned

These weren't just "oaks" - they were planted between larch and spruce so that they would grow tall and straight, which means the navy oak forests are rather unusual., 20 April 2025

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These weren't just "oaks" - they were planted between larch and spruce so that they would grow tall and straight, which means the navy oak forests are rather unusual.


Contact details

Dion Truter

Work: map2tech, Unit 186, Block F, Millennium Business Park, 19 Edison Way, Century City, 7441

082 389 2834

contact7@truter.org

https://map2tech.com/

In the news

Haven Demo lays the groundwork for first private space station: It may look like an ordinary satellite, but the recently launched Haven Demo is a major step toward the first commercial space station. Posted on 08 November 2025.

Modular convertible robot is one quad or two bipeds – your choice: It's now actually not that unusual to see quadruped robots that have powered wheels for feet, allowing them to either walk or roll as the situation dictates. Posted on 10 November 2025.

Hey, Microsoft: Are You Guys Also Cool With DHS And Trump Using ‘Halo’ Imagery For Fascism?: Earlier this year, I wrote about how ICE had decided to publish a horrifying recruitment video that mixed in footage of ICE raids, including one that got Kristi Noem in some hot water, along with the introduction to the Pokémon animated series, complete with the theme music behind it. Posted on 11 November 2025.


Cape Town weather

5 day forecast

  • Tue 11: scattered clouds

    17 ° - 25 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 49 %
  • Wed 12: broken clouds

    16 ° - 22 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 55 %
  • Thu 13: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 3 %
  • Fri 14: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 6 %
  • Sat 15: scattered clouds

    16 ° - 19 ° Wind 12 km/h / Clouds 34 %

See next two weeks

News (continued)

Top 10 AI Tools That Will Transform Your Content Creation in 2025: Looking to level up your content creation game in 2025? You're in the right place! The digital landscape has evolved dramatically, and AI tools have become essential for creators who want to stay ahead of the curve. Posted on 02 January 2025.

‘Roadmap’ shows the environmental impact of AI data center boom: Researchers used advanced data analytics to create a state-by-state look at that environmental impact of the AI boom and how to make the computing infrastructure that supports it more sustainable. Posted on 10 November 2025.

Data centers meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America: An expert describes how communities in some of the world’s driest areas are demanding transparency as secretive governments court billions in foreign investmentThis Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Bezos’s Blue Origin postpones second rocket launch over poor weather: Blue Origin says it is aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday as competition with Musk’s SpaceX intensifies Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced on Sunday to postpone the anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket due to unfavorable weather conditions in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Verizon is giving away free 43-inch Samsung TVs right now - here's how to qualify: Sign up for Verizon's 5G Home Ultimate plan and get a free Samsung TV (or another gift of your choosing) with this early Black Friday deal. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Government sets out plan to phase out animal experiments: The plan follows up on a manifesto promise to work towards the phasing out the practice. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Inside the unofficial movement to save the em dash — from A.I.: The extra-long hyphen known as the em dash is common in AI-generated text. Posted on 10 November 2025.

Africa's drone wars are growing, but they rarely deliver victory: In the last decade, armed drones have become one of the most visible symbols of modern warfare. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Why Debt Funding Is Ratcheting Up the Risks of the A.I. Boom: While the tech giants have plenty of money to build data centers, smaller outfits are taking on debt and taking big chances to work with them. Posted on 11 November 2025.

Japan's Orix, Qatari government form $6.5bn private equity fund: . Posted on 11 November 2025.

Blue Origin Scrubs Launch of NASA’s ESCAPADE Mission to Mars: The second flight of the orbital rocket from Jeff Bezos’s space company was halted by weather. Posted on 11 November 2025.

How a great-grandmother helped researchers unravel a dinosaur mummy mystery: A paleontologist was trying to locate the site of a famous 1908 discovery when a rancher in Wyoming shared an important clue. Posted on 01 November 2025.

Drone Fragments Crash Into NATO Territory: Romania has found suspected drone fragments on its soil, the country's defense ministry said on Tuesday, after Russia attacked Ukrainian port facilities close to the NATO country overnight. Posted on 11 November 2025.

China's CO2 Emissions Have Been Flat Or Falling For Past 18 Months, Analysis Finds: China's CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months, "adding evidence to the hope that the world's biggest polluter has managed to hit its target of peak CO2 emissions well ahead of schedule," reports the Guardian. Posted on 11 November 2025.

China’s humanoid robots are gaining ground – but they’re not there yet: The U.S. and China are racing to build humanoid robots capable of performing many daily tasks – but the complexity of home and business environments makes that challenging. Posted on 29 August 2025.

Science history: Russian mathematician quietly publishes paper — and solves one of the most famous unsolved conjectures in mathematics — Nov. 11, 2002: Mathematician Grigori Perelman solved the Poincaré conjecture, and then rejected the $1 million prize that came with it. Posted on 11 November 2025.


Some of the tech in my workday

Best programming language?

The PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language Index is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google.

The TIOBE Programming Community index measures popularity based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses, third party vendors and search engine activity.

w3techs analyses page content to determine the technology used, and also uses publicly available information from sources such as Alexa, Google, Microsoft and ipinfo.io.

While Java and Python top the popularity charts, more than 80% of all websites run on PHP.


Longer term weather forecast

Cape Town weather

  • Tue 11: scattered clouds

    17 ° - 25 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 49 %
  • Wed 12: broken clouds

    16 ° - 22 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 55 %
  • Thu 13: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 3 %
  • Fri 14: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 6 %
  • Sat 15: scattered clouds

    16 ° - 19 ° Wind 12 km/h / Clouds 34 %
  • Sun 16: broken clouds

    15 ° - 23 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 77 %
  • Mon 17: scattered clouds

    15 ° - 21 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 46 %
  • Tue 18: few clouds

    17 ° - 23 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 23 %
  • Wed 19: scattered clouds

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 47 %
  • Thu 20: light rain

    15 ° - 16 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 82 %
  • Fri 21: sky is clear

    14 ° - 18 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 10 %
  • Sat 22: sky is clear

    15 ° - 21 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 5 %
  • Sun 23: sky is clear

    16 ° - 22 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Mon 24: overcast clouds

    17 ° - 24 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 100 %
  • Tue 25: sky is clear

    18 ° - 27 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Wed 26: sky is clear

    19 ° - 26 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 0 %