A different view on current affairs & history
Some recent discoveries by scientists have debunked various long held theories on exercise. Certainly a new era is awakening in this regard.
As all of these revelations have been uncovered by conventional scientists at traditional universities, their results can be classified as reliable.
Main picture: Conventional exercise regimen
Today taking a cure at a mineral spa is definitely out of vogue. However in the past, the belief in the curative properties of the various minerals was widely extolled. Even Erwin Rommel, at the height of WW2, spent time at a spa. Perhaps it was the relaxation that was the cure and not the minerals. Nevertheless, the supposed healing properties were invoked by all and sundry.
Even Port Elizabethans adopted this cure, now a distant memory
Main picture: Swartkops Mineral Baths after the developments in 1936
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Interfering with Mother Nature might not produce a Newtonian response i.e. an action is followed by an equal and opposite reaction. Rather it generates sometimes arbitrary unintended consequences but responses nevertheless. In the case of Port Elizabeth, there has been interference with nature on a vast scale in the southeast area relating to the driftsands and the dune fields.
The ultimate consequence of these ill-conceived projects to redirect nature will result in the denuding of all the main beaches in Port Elizabeth, stripping Port Elizabeth of a potential lucrative tourist asset.
Main picture: Map showing the dune field systems in 1890. Summerstrand and Humewood were just one big sand dune
Main picture: Thunderstorm viewed from Stanley House Port Elizabeth in 1916
Port Elizabeth periodically experiences floods. Amongst the most devastating was the flood from Tuesday 19th November to Thursday 21st November 1867. During 11 hours on the Wednesday and Thursday, 161.5 millimetres of rain fell bringing the total for the three days to 225.5 millimetres. While only two lives were lost, damage to roads and houses was estimated to be as much as £30,000.
Perhaps its effect was exacerbated by the fact that the roads were not tarred and the flood waters gushed down the natural water courses, formally kloofs or streams, causing mayhem. But the most catastrophic effect was the silting up of the harbour. As a consequence, the recently completed breakwater had to be demolished.
Main picture: Rudolph Street, South End after the floods of November 1867
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South End has experienced a tumultuous past. From devastating floods in 1867 to the destruction of a culturally diverse community through forced removals in terms of the Group Areas Act in the 1960s, South End has experienced it all.
The focus of this blog is the early beginnings when the Baakens River isolated South End from Port Elizabeth and its subsequent transformation from a huge farm into a residential area.
Main picture: Port Elizabeth from an agrarian South End in 1830
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Any criminal justice system, apart from the Wild West, comprises several independent components: the constabulary, the magistracy and the prisons. This chapter deals with all three elements during the early years of the town’s development.
Main picture: Commercial Hall which housed both the Magistrate’s Court and the Police Offices before their relocation. Ultimately this site became the public library.
Viewed through the sanguine eyes of nostalgia, Port Elizabeth in its formative years is naively seen as idyllic. This is not altogether true. Port Elizabeth not only exemplified a “frontier town” with all its attendant travails but it also bore the undesirable hallmarks of a busy, under-policed port.
This blog exposes the seamy, sleazy underbelly of that era.
Main picture: The sea wall from the north jetty in 1885. Beyond it was the Strand Street, the den of iniquity
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When Trump entered the fray to become President, his chances of success were almost universally rated as being as low as the single digits. Notwithstanding that, Trump confounded all the critics and naysayers and ultimately captured the Presidency.
Are we now any closer to take the measure of the man? What has been revealed so far? Has he already blotted his copy book and should he even he given the benefit of the doubt in future?
Main picture: A smirking Donald Trump, a defining characteristic of the man
Generically these are known as Animals Crossings as any fabricated structure, which facilitates the movements of animals across an impeding obstacle such as roads, or railway line could serve as a crossing.
However, as the most spectacular crossings are bridges, the focus will be on bridges.
Main picture: A Green Wildlife Bridge over an Autobahn in Germany