This is a classic Damn Interesting article that originally appeared on 08 September 2006.

About two and one-half billion years ago, life on Earth was still in its infancy. Complex organisms such as plants and animals had not yet appeared, but the planet was teeming with microscopic bacteria which thrived in the temperate and nutrient-rich environment. Greenhouse methane lingered in the atmosphere and trapped the sun's warmth, creating a climate very accommodating to the stew of microbes life that made their home on primitive Earth.

But a billion years of bacterial evolutionary progress was soon stunted by a catastrophic global event. Geologists find no signs of a great meteor impact nor a volcanic eruption, but they have uncovered the unmistakable geologic scars of rapid worldwide climate change. Average temperatures, which were previously comparable to our present climate, plummeted to minus 50 degrees Celsius and brought the planet into its first major ice age. This environmental shift triggered a massive die-off which threatened to extinguish all life on Earth, and paleoclimatologists have good reason to believe that this world-changing event was unwittingly caused by some of the planet's own humble residents: bacteria.

Maho Beach is a beach situated in St Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles, on the Dutch side of the island. The place is known worldwide because of Princess Juliana International Airport that is situated adjacent to the beach.

Maho Beach (Image credit: sunsetbeachbar).

Incoming air traffic have to touch down as close as possible to the beginning of runway 09 due to the short runway length of 2,180 metres/7,152 ft,^[1], resulting in very low altitude aircraft on their final approach over the beach.
 

The local government warns that approaching too close of departing aircraft can “result in seriousinjury and/or death.”

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An additional fence has been added recently behind the runway 09 to prevent irresponsible tourists from hanging on to the main fence surrounding the runway to be “blasted” by the aircraft engines flow.

The beach itself is white sand and has little to none vegetation because of the jet blast erosion. The Caravanserai Resort, the popular Sunset Beach Bar and other restaurants/night clubs such as Bamboo Bernies and Bliss are located nearby. Watching airplanes over the beach is such a popular activity that daily arrivals and departures airline timetables are displayed on a board in most of bars and restaurants.


Demand Media Video

After averaging 40-50gb a month thanks to buying games on Steam and PSN, watching HD video on gametrailers/TED/university lectures, etc. I decided that paying R580 for 10gb through Allyoucaneat.co.za was a bit much and went in search of the mythical uncapped account we hear of being available in developed countries.

After reading many good reports on Web Africa and finding their DSL Data Uncapped Express offering I pounced on the opportunity. A 512kbps line speed with a threshold of 30gb in a ten day window sounds marvellous. After all, that means I can use just under 90gb in a month at the full line rate, and if I go over 30gb in a ten day rolling period they will halve the line rate until I keep my usage under 10gb in the 10 day rolling window. Exactly what I want!

Imagine my surprise when, after downloading all the demos and software updates I’d been itching to get hold of, my line rate gets halved after downloading only 16gb. Thinking it’s just a system error I phone their support - which is fantastically responsive and helpful - only to be told that the limit is 10gb in a 10 day window, even though the website says 30gb. After struggling to convince the support chap of the logic contained in their webpage, I gave up and phoned their sales division, only to have the sales guy emphatically agree with me that I can download just under 90gb at the full rate. Now I’m confused, so I tell the sales guy that his support team doesn’t agree with him, and he says he will phone back. Later on I get a phone call from someone else who once again tries to convince me that I can’t understand basic logic, even though I studied philosophy and computer science, and that the 30gb threshold shown on the website magically translates into a 10gb threshold because some months have 30 days. I call bullshit. Go to their website or look at the screenshots I took below and you tell me who is right! It’s false advertising and while I don’t want a refund, I’d like someone to admit that their website is wrong instead of indirectly insinuating that I’m two rolls short of a picnic!

Now they suggest that I go with the fully uncapped line, but then I have to pay a R1700 setup fee, wait ten days for a special router, and sign a 12 month contract. I’m sorry, but if I’ve just been sold a service that promised one thing and delivered another, I sure as hell am not going to sign a 12 month contract to get royally screwed on something else I’ve allegedly “misconstrued”.

And all this time I’m thinking of my buddy in America paying $30 for a 16mb uncapped line, and hating our rubbish infrastructure.

Update: Netconnect ISP offers the same service but their explanation isn’t misleading.

Threshold of 30gb over a ten day rolling window:

10 day rolling window limit of 10gb after hitting the 30gb threshold before you get returned to full rate.

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Thanks to all who have sent e-mails in support of our book efforts! I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I also promised myself that I would post this re-run from 06 August 2007 while we continue to earnestly rattle away on our keyboards.

In the early 1990s, a Russian drilling rig encountered something peculiar two miles beneath the coldest and most desolate place on Earth. For decades, the workers at Vostok Research Station in Antarctica had been extracting core samples from deep scientific boreholes, and analyzing the lasagna-like layers of ice to study Earth's bygone climate. But after tunneling through 414,000 layers or so– about two miles into the icecap– the layers abruptly ended. The ice below that depth was relatively clear and featureless, a deviation the scientists were at a loss to explain. In search of answers, the men drilled on.

Unbeknownst to the Russians, their drill had mingled with the uppermost reaches of one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world; a pristine pocket of liquid whose ecosystem was separated from the rest of the Earth millions of years ago. As for what sort of organisms might lurk in that exotic environment today, no one can really be certain.

I had high hopes for the Crysis map editor, but was let down by yet another steep learning curve. The Far Cry 2 editor on the other hand looks like it has a flat learning curve for the basics; and by basics I mean creating entire worlds as easily as throwing down some mountains, slapping on trees and rivers with a few clicks, and then running around in first person burning it all down. Hoo boy, I can’t wait for this game!

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