Port Elizabeth, Approximately

Hunter’s Village

So it’s been three days in a happy little suburb in Port Elizabeth, and this is what we find:

I still haven’t gone down to the Boardwalk Casino with Cousin Joey.  This is not a case of extraordinary willpower or a sudden puritanical urge to avoid all sorts of diabolical temptation.  In fact, I don’t seem to recall any biblical references that prohibit gambling.  Judeo-Christian scholars amongst you may correct me, but wasn’t there a parable wherein three servants were given some talents, and the servant that saved and did not risk his wealth was slapped down very roughly?  Matthew 25…

24     Then he which had received the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25     And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth:  lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26     His lord answered, and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27     Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28     Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29     For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away, even that which he hath.
30     And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Not that I want to start a biblical debate, but I want to play the “Young Frankenstein” slot machine again, and I reckon that a person can use the Bible to justify anything, if you find the right citation.

Economics

For those of you interested, I've tried to keep track of what things cost over here.  Although there is nothing mind-bogglingly astonishing, it gives you an idea of the commercial spending power of a travelling Canadian. Very roughly, these are the exchange rates...

1 Canadian Dollar = 8 South African Rand 

1 South African Rand (ZAR) = 11 Canadian cents

Here are some quick snapshots of prices:

• Pack of 20 cigarettes =  R30
• Lamb loin chops = R100 per kilogram
• Case of 24 bottles of lager = R140
• DVD Player = R200
• Top-loading clothes washer/dryer = R1700

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Those of you that don’t own a copy, I would suggest that you purchase a copy of the Alberta Biology 20 SNAP study guide from Castle Rock Research.  A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and toil went into the creation of that book, and I would venture to say that a lot of professional pride hinges on its contents, particularly some of Richard Yeoman’s illustrations.

One of the more interesting chapters of the book dealt with hypereutrophication and hypoxia in freshwater and estuary bodies.  The central case study was situated in Hartbeespoort, South Africa, and having been to the spot, I can say that the problem is not solved. Point of interest, the first "t" in the name is pronounced as its own syllable, so the place name sounds like "Har-te-BEES-port."

Basically, all of the fish died and the entire lake became filled with bright green scum.  Turns out that if you’ve got a bunch of agricultural land and you fertilize the snot out of it, a lot of the phosphates gather in the water table.  If you dam off a whackload of little tributaries to make a lake, you give a spot for all of these nutrients to pool.  There’s an explosion in the population of algae and cyanobacteria, and they choke the life out of anything else in the lake.  After decades of studying and attempting various types of remediation, the lake isn’t quite as nasty as it once was.  I’m still not going to go swimming in it, though.

That’s all for this morning.

Until next time, good night England and the colonies,

—mARKUS