By ALEX DAVIES At 30 metres long, the Gran Artic 300 is the world's largest passenger bus. Volvo has launched the world’s largest bus – a behemoth of a transporter that can carry up to 300 passengers at one time. The Gran Arctic 300 is a biarticulated bus, meaning it has two bendy parts connecting the three passenger-carrying sections. The 30 metre long bus has been developed in Brazil specifically for use on Rio de Janeiro's dedicated bus lanes. Each biarticulated bus replaces three of the standard bus models and carries up to 30 more passengers than previous biarticulated buses. “This vehicle will provide more efficient transportation systems, offering a higher quality for the passengers and improved cost efficiency for the transport operators,” said Fabiano Todeschini, head of Volvo Bus Latin America. The bendy Brazil bus might be one of the largest mass transporters of its kind, but it’s not the most futuristic form of public transport we’ve seen this year. The Transit Elevated Bus – a huge bus that carries passengers over the traffic below – has been tested for the first time in China. The electric-powered bus was unveiled in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province in August this year. The 22 metre long, 7.8 metre wide and 4.8 metre high bus trundled along a 300 metre stretch of road at an excruciatingly slow speed for its inaugural test run, but the finished version should hit speeds of 40 mph. The spacious interior of each bus looks more like an luxury airport departure lounge than a public bus and can squeeze in 300 passengers at full capacity. Original designs for the TEB showed multiple carriages linked together to carry up to 1,200 passengers. Passengers will board the sixteen-wheeled bus via elevated platforms on the roadside, although commuters in a hurry are still better off taking the subway as no high-speed tests of the bus have taken place yet. "Its construction can be finished in one year," said Bai Chiming, the engineer in charge of the TEB project when the bus was unveiled. London had its own infamous flirtation with ‘bendy buses’ after mayor Ken Livingstone introduced the vehicles to the capital’s roads back in 2001. After ten years of service the last articulated bus trundled back to its depot in December 2011 as its kind were replaced with new Routemaster double-deckers.
THIS QUOTE IS WRITTEN BY ANDY ROONEY, A MAN WHO HAD THE GIFT OF SAYING SO MUCH WITH SO FEW WORDS I've learned .... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person. I've learned .... That when you're in love, it shows. I've learned .... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day. I've learned .... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world. I've learned .... That being kind is more important than being right. I've learned .... That you should never say no to a gift from a child. I've learned .... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way. I've learned .... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with. I've learned .... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to un derstand. I've learned .... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult. I've learned .... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. I've learned .... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for. I've learned .... That money doesn't buy class. I've learned .... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular. I've learned .... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreci ated and loved. I've learned .... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts. I've learned .... That love, not time, heals all wounds. I've learned .... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them. I've learned ‌ That life is tough, but I'm tougher. I've learned .... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss. I've learned .... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere. I've learned .... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time be fore she passed away. I've learned .... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, be cause tomorrow he may have to eat them. I've learned ..... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. I've learned ..... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life. I've learned .... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happi ness and growth occurs while you're climbing
3 BESTANDELE BRUINTJIES (BROWNIES) deur Koekoes Vorster
Three little letters, 645 meanings. BY BRANDON SPECKTOR Imagine you’re a dictionary editor. For eight hours a day, five days a week, every week until the heat death of the universe or the day human beings stop speaking English (whichever comes first), it’s your job to ensure that your trusted reference book keeps pace with the relentlessly evolving definitions of our ceaselessly expanding English language. “No sweat,” you think, picking up two boxes of citations for words beginning with the letter R. “Where do I start?” That’s when you realize these boxes of citations, hundreds of scraps of paper showing each word in every possible context, are all for a single word. A three-letter word—the most complicated, multifaceted word in the English language. (These words mean the exact opposite of what you think.) You might think it’s absurd (and maybe it is), but Oxford English Dictionary editors recently revealed that “run” has indeed become the single word with the most potential meanings in all of English, boasting no fewer than 645 different usage cases for the verb form alone. The copious definitions of “run” featured in the OED’s upcoming third edition begin with the obvious, “to go with quick steps on alternate feet,” then proceed to run on for 75 columns of type. This entry, in all its girth, took one professional lexicographer nine months of research to complete. How could three little letters be responsible for so much meaning? Context is everything. Think about it: When you run a fever, for example, those three letters have a very different meaning than when you run a bath to treat it, or when your bathwater subsequently runs over and drenches your cotton bath runner, forcing you to run out to the store and buy a new one. There, you run up a bill of $85 because besides a rug and some cold medicine, you also need some thread to fix the run in your stockings and some tissue for your runny nose and a carton of milk because you’ve run through your supply at home, and all this makes dread run through your soul because your value-club membership runs out at the end of the month and you’ve already run over your budget on last week’s grocery run when you ran over a nail in the parking lot and now your car won’t even run properly because whatever idiot runs that Walmart apparently lets his custodial staff run amok and you know you’re letting your inner monologue run on and on but, you’d do things differently if you ran the world. Maybe you should run for office. It bears mentioning that “run” didn’t always have the run of the dictionary. When the OED’s first edition came out in 1928 (after 70 years of editorial research), the longest entry belonged to another three-letter juggernaut: “set.” Even today, the print edition of the OED contains some 200 meanings, beginning with “put, lay, or stand (something) in a specified place or position,” and continuing on for about 32 pages. So what happened? Why is “run” suddenly the Swiss Army Knife of verbs? British author Simon Winchester fancies it “a feature of our more energetic and frantic times,” making words like “set” seem almost stodgy and passive by comparison. ‘Run’ appears to have earned some major lift during the boom of the Industrial Revolution, when all manner of mechanized innovation adopted it as their verb of choice. “Machines run, clocks run, computers run—there are all of those [meanings] which began in the middle of the 19th century,” Winchester says. So, ready to run through the whole list of definitions? Alas, to read all 645 meanings you’ll have to wait for the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. The print run is expected in 2037.
BESTANDDELE: 1 1/4 Koppies Nutella (of ander sjokolade smeer) 2 Groot Eiers ½ Koppie Koekmeel METODE: Verhit oond op 175C (350F) Meng al die bestandele saam tot glad. Giet uit in n gesmeerde Bruintjies (Brownie) pan en maak glad bo Bak vir ongeveer 15min of tot die toetspen skoon uitkom.
EGG CARTON DINOSAURS Do you have a budding paleontologist that loves all things dinosaurs? Maybe they just love painting and crafting fun things out of egg cartons. Either way, these Egg Carton Dinosaurs are for you!
There's more behind the cat noise than you realized. BY MARISSA LALIBERTE When a purring cat rubs against you, you can’t help but feel pleased with yourself for being so lovable. But don’t move on from petting that kitty to patting yourself on the back just yet. Happiness isn’t the only thing that makes cats purr. Sure, you might hear purrs when your pet feels relaxed or friendly, but cats also purr when they’re hungry, stressed, or in pain. “All behavior depends on history, context and expectation,” Tony Buffington, a cat expert and veterinarian at Ohio State University, told Wired. “So it’s naive to think that cats can only purr for one reason—it’s like thinking that people can only laugh for one reason.” Like how some guffaws are a reaction to humor while other giggles could come from nerves, cats’ purrs are open to interpretation. Mother cats purr to lead their kittens—which are blind and deaf when they’re born—to them for food and warmth. In turn, vets believe, kittens purr to show they’re okay and help them bond with mama cat. Purrs release feel-good endorphins, so experts think cats use the vibrations to soothe themselves. That could mean purring while enjoying some cozy cuddles from their owner, or it might help calm their nerves—or literally heal their pain. Studies have found that whole-body vibrations of 35 to 50 Hz could help stimulate bone healing. Cats’ purr frequencies range from 25 to 150 Hz, and some suggest the vibrations could help kitties keep their skeletons strong. (Sounds crazy, but even NASA astronauts have used vibration therapy in space, where lack of gravity means no bone-healthy weight-bearing exercise.) As for purr frequencies go even higher than150 Hz, those serve an entirely different purpose. One study in the journal Current Biology found that when cats were trying to get their owners to feed them, their purr frequency shot up to 220 to 520 Hz—awfully close to the 300 to 600 Hz of a human infant’s cry. Researchers suggest the higher frequency makes the sound harder for cat (and baby) parents to ignore. Bottom line: Not all purrs are created equal. The best way to figure out your cat’s message is by looking at what else is going on. At dinnertime, your furry friend might have food on the brain. But a kitty curled up on your lap is probably just enjoying your company.
We used every piece of an empty 6 count egg carton for our dinosaurs. Ours happened to be foam, but of course paper would work just as well. The egg cups are the actual dinosaurs. We made some longer with 2 cups, and some smaller using only 1. Then the top of the egg carton was painted and made to look like a hill for the dinosaurs to climb and perch on. And you can’t forget their pipe cleaner spikes! SUPPLIES NEEDED: 6 count egg carton small hole punch pipe cleaners in assorted colors acrylic paints in assorted colors small googly eyes green and yellow paper scissors Glue First, cut your egg carton apart. We made our 6 ct egg carton into 2 longer dinosaurs, the Amargasauruses of the bunch if you will, along with 2 smaller dinosaurs, like the Stegosaurus. Of course you can make your dinosaurs however you like. Paint each and let dry. They made need a few different coats. For the top of the egg carton, paint it a brownish color then cut and glue a piece of green paper to fit. Then, bend a pipe cleaner so it makes 3 or 4 spikes going along the back, bending the ends down. Make 2 small punches on your dinosaur, one on the back towards the bottom, the other as high up on the front as your hole punch will reach. Insert the ends of the pipe cleaners in the holes and bend them up around your egg carton cup so they stay in place. Glue on some googly eyes. We used a jagged piece of yellow paper for the mouth, like the dinosaurs teeth. Red would work, too, but we made ours friendlier. Obviously these Egg Carton Dinosaurs aren’t exact replicas, but it’s a really fun way to learn even more about the different kinds of dinosaurs while having fun with paints and pipe cleaners along the way!
“I came very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions." BY MARISSA LALIBERTE
Princess Diana’s sudden death in 1997 stunned the world—but few were affected like her youngest son, Prince Harry. Now, decades after her fatal accident, he’s opening up about the mental health issues he struggled with as he came to terms with the loss of his mother. Prince Harry, now 32, was just 12 when his mother died in a car crash. During the painful years that followed, he stifled his emotions, forcing himself not to think about her as a teenager and in his 20s, he reveals in a candid interview with The Telegraph‘s podcast Mad World. When he finally allowed the grief to finally come to surface, he admits that he came “very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions.” At 28, Prince Harry’s life felt like “total chaos,” he says. “I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I just didn’t know what was wrong with me.” So three years ago, he finally listened to his brother, Prince William’s, pleas for him to seek help. He started by taking up boxing to let out his frustrations. “Everyone was saying boxing is good for you and it’s a really good way of letting out aggression,” he says. “And that really saved me because I was on the verge of punching someone, so being able to punch someone who had pads was certainly easier.” (If you know someone with mental health issues, make sure you don’t fall for these myths.) To be clear, Prince Harry stresses his mental health issues stemmed from his mother’s death, not his time serving in Afghanistan. However, working with a personnel recovery unit in 2015 actually helped him work through his own struggles. As he listened to stories of wounded or sick soldiers’ serious mental health problems, he began to understand his own better. Eventually, he learned to follow their lead and talk about his emotions instead of just beating them out boxing. Coming clean to counselors and loved ones, he finally addressed those stifled feelings. “Started to have a few conversations and actually all of a sudden, all of this grief that I have never processed started to come to the forefront,” Prince Harry says, “and I was like, there is actually a lot of stuff here that I need to deal with.” Once he started opening up, he realized just how common mental health issues are. In fact, he’s spearheading the Heads Together campaign with his brother and sister-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to empower people to discuss mental health. “Once you start talking about it, you realize that you’re part of quite a big club … and everybody’s gagging to talk about it,” he says. “I can’t encourage people enough to just have that conversation, because you will be surprised firstly, how much support you get and secondly, how many people literally are longing for you to come out.”
What does someone who has suffered a sudden trauma and grief most need? BY MADGE HARRAH Stillin shock, I stumbled about the house trying to decide what to put into the suitcases. Earlier that evening, I’d received a call from my hometown in Missouri telling me that my brother, his wife, her sister, and both the sister’s children had been killed in a car crash. “Come as soon as you can,” begged my mother. That’s what I wanted to do—to leave at once, to hurry to my parents. But my husband, Larry, and I were in the midst of packing all our belongings to move from Ohio to New Mexico. Our house was in total confusion. Some of the clothes that Larry and I and our two young children, Eric and Meghan, would need were already taped up in cartons. Which ones? Stunned by grief, I couldn’t remember. Other clothes lay unwashed in a pile on the laundry-room floor. Supper dishes still sat on the kitchen -table. Toys were strewn everywhere. While Larry made plane reservations for the following morning, I wandered about the house, aimlessly picking things up and putting them down. I couldn’t focus. Again and again, the words I’d heard on the phone echoed through my head: “Bill is gone—Marilyn too. June—and both the children …” The love in the act released my tears at last, healing rain to wash the fog from my mind. It was as though the message had muffled my brain with cotton. Whenever Larry spoke, he sounded far away. As I moved through the house, I ran into doors and tripped over chairs. Larry made arrangements for us to leave by seven o’clock the next morning. Then he phoned a few friends to tell them what had happened. Occasionally, someone asked to speak to me. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” that person would offer kindly. “Thank you very much,” I’d reply. But I didn’t know what to ask for. I couldn’t concentrate. I sat in a chair, staring into space, while Larry called Donna King, the woman with whom I taught a nursery class at church each Sunday. Donna and I were casual friends, but we didn’t see each other often. She and Emerson, her thin, quiet husband, were kept busy during the week by their own “nursery”—six children ranging in age from two to fifteen. I was glad Larry had thought to warn her that she’d have the nursery class alone the coming Sunday. While I sat there, Meghan darted by, clutching a ball. Eric chased after her. They should be in bed, I thought. I followed them into the living room. My legs dragged. My hands felt gloved with lead. I sank down on the couch in a stupor. When the doorbell rang, I rose slowly and crept across the room. I opened the door to see Emerson King standing on the porch. “I’ve come to clean your shoes,” he said. Confused, I asked him to repeat. “Donna had to stay with the baby,” he said, “but we want to help you. I remember when my father died, it took me hours to get the children’s shoes cleaned and shined for the funeral. So that’s what I’ve come to do for you. Give me your shoes—not just your good shoes, but all your shoes.” I hadn’t even thought about shoes until he mentioned them. Now I remembered that Eric had left the sidewalk to wade through the mud in his good shoes after church the previous Sunday. Not to be outdone by her brother, Meghan had kicked rocks, scuffing the toes of her shoes. When we’d returned, I’d tossed them into the laundry room to clean later. While Emerson spread news-papers on the kitchen floor, I gathered Larry’s dress and everyday shoes, my heels, my flats, the children’s dirty dress shoes, and their sneakers with the food spots. Emerson found a pan and filled it with soapy water. He got an old knife out of a drawer and retrieved a sponge from under the sink. Larry had to rummage through several cartons, but at last he located the shoe polish.
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Emerson settled himself on the floor and got to work. Watching him concentrate intently on one task helped me pull my own thoughts into order. Laundry first, I told myself. As the washer chugged, Larry and I bathed the children and put them to bed. While we cleared the supper dishes, Emerson continued to work, saying nothing. I thought of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Our Lord had knelt, serving his friends, even as this man now knelt, serving us. The love in the act released my tears at last, healing rain to wash the fog from my mind. I could move. I could think. I could get on with the business of living. One by one, the jobs fell into place. I went into the laundry room to put a load of wash into the dryer, returning to the kitchen to find that Emerson had left. In a line against one wall stood all our shoes, gleaming, spotless. Later, when I started to pack, I saw that Emerson had even scrubbed the soles. I could put the shoes directly into the suitcases. We got to bed late and rose very early, but by the time we left for the airport, all the jobs had been done. Ahead lay grim, sad days, but the comfort of Christ’s presence, symbolized by the image of a quiet man kneeling on my kitchen floor with a pan of water, would sustain me. Now whenever I hear of an acquaintance who has lost a loved one, I no longer call with the vague offer, “If there’s anything I can do …” Instead I try to think of one specific task that suits that person’s need— such as washing the family car, taking the dog to the boarding kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral. And if the person says to me, “How did you know I needed that done?” I reply, “It’s because a man once cleaned my shoes.”
And how does that sixpence fit in? BY CLAIRE NOWAK
The traditional wedding rhyme goes: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe. It describes the four (technically five) objects a bride should have with her on her wedding day for good luck, and brides have been following this custom for centuries. But why? The mantra started as a Victorian-era rhyme that came out of the English country Lancashire. In that time, the “something blue” was usually a garter, and the blue and old items protected the bride against the Evil Eye, a curse passed through a malicious glare that could make the bride infertile. “Something borrowed” was preferably the undergarment of a woman who already had children. Legend says that wearing this would confuse the Evil Eye into thinking the bride was already fertile, and the curse would be thwarted. These special items have taken on slightly different meanings today, but their symbolism is still important for brides on their special day. According to The Knot, “something old” stands for continuity; “something new” shows optimism for the future; “something borrowed” symbolizes borrowed happiness; and “something blue” represents purity, love, and fidelity. And if a non-British bride is so lucky to find a sixpence to put in her shoe, she uses it as a wish for good fortune and prosperity.
APRIL 28 -29/04/2017 OUTJO WILDSFEES Sophienhof Lodge Marinette kunadmin@iway.na 29/04/2017
WINDHOEK BOEREMARK WINDHOEK SKOUGRONDE Kiet v/d Westhuizen 081 436 3049
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ZUMBATHON COAST 2017 Jan Wilken Indoor Sport Centre School of Dance 081 146 3320
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LAGOON PARK FAMILY MARKET Walvis Bay 081 143 9290
NAMPOL TRAFFIC NUMBERS WALVIS BAY SWAKOPMUND HENTIES BAY KARIBIB OMARURU CITY POLICE
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KRUISWATER Kruiswater is situated 13.4 km from the Uis Road just north of Sarah se Gat and is called this because the water forms a cross by flowing in opposite directions.