In the State vs Oscar Pistorius case, we all know what may have happened. The trial can also aspire to a record – the worst forensic evidence in South African legal history, ever. This does not... 

I recently told a group of people at a pub (a pub, can you believe?) that I thought Donald Trump was a "good idea".  There was the sort of silence that you get when the stage magician vanishes... 

Some time ago, I was in a court case as an expert witness. The advocate gave me a number to call him. It was his wife's cellphone number; he said it was no good me calling his cellphone because it... 

When the Trojans found a horse on the beach, I am quite sure that the first thing they thought was not: "How kind of those Greek lads", but rather: "Whatever are they up to?" We have similar horse.... 

I thought I would write about how we, at my consulting practice, work. We have a fairly unique working system – perhaps the only one of its kind in South Africa. Read on. But, first, what we do. We... 

Oh, woe to all of you who are married to engineers. Engineers are generally useful people to have around. But, when watching TV, if something is shown that is not correct engineering-wise, the... 

We all know that there IS a thing called a bitcoin. All over the show, there are stories about bitcoin investors who are now millionaires. What is the truth? A little story: Tim and I were working... 

Sometimes I get involved in advertising film shoots. The first advertising film shoot that I attended was in the 1980s. It was held in a large open concrete yard owned by Eskom. The storyline was:... 

About 20 years ago, I wrote the following: "What do you see? You see the ruins of a building. It has burnt down. There are pathetic little burnt bundles of bits strewn around everywhere. And the... 

One commentator said this: "The renewable energy purchase programme, launched in 2011, has been celebrated as a spectacular success directing private capital into public infrastructure and a model... 

Recently, somebody was  discussing minibus taxis and how badly they drive. It was mentioned that, in fact, they drive very well: they pass through the narrowest of gaps between cars, they glide... 

On May 8, 2016, supporters of the green movement reached a moment of nirvana – the state of perfect peace, highest happiness and liberation from the repeating cycle of birth, life and death. Not... 

So, since the 20-year rule (the period that has to elapse before I can tell embarrassing engineering stories where my clients who were involved) has lapsed in some cases, here is one of the... 

Sometimes certain things just come to a logical plateau. The best way of doing them or the best process for achieving a result has been found. I have this belief that the process of safety... 

A few things we should possibly all know if we wish to talk about energy. The national grid is not a energy storage dam. What goes into the grid comes out of the grid very shortly, almost... 

A well known South African electrical cable manufacturer will not hold it against me when I say that, at one time, about 25 years ago, the manufacturer ran the most unsafe cable making operation... 

It has long been clear to me that it is about time that State-owned power utility Eskom was sliced up and sold. You have to understand that I am a great supporter of Eskom; I worked for the utility... 

Communications on the planet began when the world was at a stage where messages from one tribe of people to another did not involve the messenger being executed on arrival. The top speed of... 

On the November 26, 2011, I wrote: "After a recent tour, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba has said the December 2013 deadline for the Medupi power station, in Lephalale, Limpopo, to start... 

We all know that Charles H Duell, the commissioner of the US patent office in 1899. His most famous attributed utterance is that "everything that can be invented has been invented". In point of... 

Do they still have, one wonders, the good old engineering Friday afternoon braai? For the sake of moral, it used to be that, at the end of every month, on a site, they would have a braai, usually... 

About two years ago, I was travelling on a train from London to York. On the way I passed the Drax power station. Drax was built to fire coal but at the time it was burning imported wood chips,... 

It is storms and rain in Cape Town. I have been in countries where natural disasters have occurred and have been reported on the television (okay, clever clogs, they have been reported on radio,... 

At the time of the first free elections, in 1994, I shared an office with Alan Campbell. His nickname is Camel, since many people spell his surname without a 'p'. Camel is eccentric, and so am I.... 

A year ago, we had electricity load-shedding and now, in the Western Cape, we may have water-shedding. There is a very very serious water shortage in the Western Cape. There is a website that gives... 

I was talking with a Zimbabwean recently about his country and he said, "Very bad." And then he added: "Your turn next", referring to South Africa. Some think that, back in the days of apartheid,... 

There is a most wonderful musical, A Little Night Music, which is based on a film by Ingmar Bergen, Smiles of a Summer Night. Probably the very best known song from A Little Night Music is Send in... 

The incandescent light bulb, rated at about 60 W, is one we all know and which endeared for about 130 years. Along the way had been invented various other types of light: gas-discharge lamps (such... 

In a previous instalment of this column, I wrote about Mercedes-Benz going to produce an electric car. By this I mean the automaker is going to produce a car for sale to the to the public that will... 

Michael Douglas, the actor starred in the 1987 film, Wall Street, played Gordon Gecko, who decreed that "greed is good". In the sequel to the film, Gekko, in 2000, is released from prison after... 

Not too long ago, I asked a young engineer to build an item of equipment. It was not very complicated; when the temperature rose above a certain level, a relay should close, which would energise a... 

In the film The Remains of the Day, Anthony Hopkins is a butler in a large country house. It is before World War II. The upper-class guests are all discussing the state of the world and of Germany.... 

In South Africa, for some crimes, the right to institute criminal proceedings lapses 20 years from the time the offence was committed. And so I am going to tell you about some of the things I did... 

You probably do not know, but there has been much discussion concerning the Integrated Resource Plan of 2016 (IRP 2016). I am sure you have heard people discussing it at cocktail parties and... 

I quote from an obituary (of Nancy Wertheimer, which refers to her partner, Ed Leeper – both were American): "In 1979, Wertheimer and Leeper reported that children living near high-current... 

Older speedometers are analogue. Clocks with hands are analogue. In fact, anything that indicates a quantity using a needle is analogue. By this we mean that the value of the quantity is indicated... 

Some of my relationships have failed as a result of my interaction with TV. There we are, she and I, hands entwined, hers around a bar of chocolate and mine around a glass of whiskey . . . and... 

The other day I realised that I had eaten food in many African countries outside South Africa and had never passed on my experiences. So, here, in no particular order, beginning with Swaziland, are... 

Thomas Brassey and William Mackenzie built the greater part of the Paris and Rouen Railway. They were British. Their firm got the job because the French contractors were too expensive. Between 1841... 

  I had to explain to somebody that the United States in 1945 dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. The first bomb was a uranium atom bomb. The second bomb was a plutonium bomb. Following the... 

About 43 years ago, my friend Charles and I decided to see if we could make the letter 'E' appear on an oscilloscope screen. I could easily explain to you how we did it by varying the Z intensity... 

There has to be somebody out there who watches Gold Rush on TV. A short summary is as follows: three different crews are mining for alluvial gold in Alaska. In the programme, every tenth sentence...