A spin-off from GeoWizard, Tom Davies’ occasional series here. (See what i watch in the sidebar.)
Basically a photo of a place (or a person in a place), and you have to find out where they are. Tom has been doing this for a while now, and as you might expect, he’s pretty good at it.
But now a fan has made a site dedicated specifically to it, and as a first attempt, it’s really rather good.
Basically, you are given an image of a place, and you have to locate the place. You can use whatever means you like: googling is actively encouraged – but you do have to find something to google.
This was the first one that I attempted. And I got it spot on in about 3 minutes. So clearly, everything you need is there.
Anyway, the only downside is that you have to create a (free) account to play. But it’s well worth it as an occasional fun distraction from the misery of modern life.
Because we are (hopefully) arriving on the Isle of Man today, here’s a great article about this year’s IOM TT Races. Much maligned by many in the “mainstream media”* (especially the pisspoor Sky News), there is still something very special about this two week period for many, and it’s often seen as something of a pilgrimage for motorcyclists the world over.
And if you think “oh, well it’s just more motor racing”, you really couldn’t be more wrong:
Formula One has turned itself into a mainstream sport by focusing on everything outside the racing. The way F1 is marketed makes it seem almost like they want you to ignore the racing because they understand that it is dull, and that they cannot fix that it is dull, and instead focus on that there are things to do to distract you from that dull racing.
It’s true. One guy wins all the races…
…and so you have to turn to Netflix documentaries and pitlane feuds to prop up the excitement.
The TT is the same, but also almost totally the opposite. If you have only ever experienced the TT from the sofa – rather than a grass bank, a garden, or a hedge – it is likely that, on arriving to the island for the first time, you will simply be blown away by the amount of people there, and the amount of motorcycles. There is a lot going on outside the racing, but it is all created by people who are there primarily for the racing, so it doesn’t detract or distract from the racing, because it is, ultimately, generated by the racing.
I don’t envy the author. It truly is an experience which is near indefinable in words. But he gives it a good go, and I quite like the honest, warts-and-all approach he takes. Less so the awful photos that he took, but hey, you can’t have everything.
It’s a good read. Especially (but not exclusively) if you like your island-based, two-wheeled motorsport.
A disproportionate amount of my UK readers are from in or around the Sheffield area, so maybe this is of more use that you think.
Welcome to The Tribune – Sheffield’s new independent quality newspaper, delivered via email.
We publish thoughtful, in-depth stories about the region’s politics, business, culture, history and local people. Plus our free Monday Briefings keep you informed about all the Sheffield stories you need to know, plus lots of great recommendations for things to do and read.
The Tribune is a brand new venture, started in 2021 by local journalist Dan Hayes to provide a totally different kind of local journalism — one that doesn’t chase cheap clicks and doesn’t cover stories in horrible ads. Instead of pumping out dozens of stories every day, we pick a handful of topics each week and look into them properly, giving you the insight and context you need to understand what is really going on.
Yes. To compare the reading experience with the ad-filled pages of the Sheffield Star:
there’s a story in there somewhere…
…and it is chalk and cheese. And it does seem that there are some high quality stories there too. Interesting, quirky, informative stories.
Anyway, if you’re interested, give it a go on that link above. There are many different paid subscriptions available, but maybe give the free stuff a go first and see how you get on.
I’ve been following this for a while now, and I’m really glad to see that it finally seems to be getting a bit of traction (no pun intended).
Step forward (no pun intended) 26 year old Russ Cook aka “Hardest Geezer”, who is running the length of Africa. It was going to be North to South, but there were Algerian visa issues* and so he weirdly decided to start at the bottom and go uphill.
Nuts.
He’s running between 50 and 60 kilometres per day, and he’s knocked off SA in just over two weeks. Bear in mind that Cape Agulhas to the Namibian border will take you about 11 hours in a car, so 15 days is already just a ridiculous feat. He’d still got another 215 days to go once he got to that border crossing though.
No rest days. 50 or 60 kilometres of running every single day. It’s unbelievable.
There’s an initially – and I’m going to use this word in the nicest possible sense – ramshackle support team with him in a beaten up old Iveco van, and they’re not only doing the prep and the food and the logistics so that he can concentrate on the running, they’re also documenting his progress on social media: there are updates on Instagram every day and two Youtube videos each week. You can already see how the team is learning and growing together. The nervous energy is giving way to solid hard work. There’s a bit of swearing, there’s some silliness, but there’s also an absolute will for Russ to succeed. It’s clearly an adventure for all of them.
Obviously, I had my eye on his progress through SA, especially the start at Cape Agulhas and through Cape Town. Here’s the video of his departure from just down the road:
That place where he started: I run there on cold Saturday mornings at the cottage. And then I go home and I stop.
I don’t carry on until Tunisia.
Do watch the videos. The accent grates to begin with, but you soon warm to his positive attitude, his will to overcome any obstacles in his path, and his sheer bloody-mindedness.
Of course, the aim of all of this is to raise money for charity. You can support the project (ie. help pay for internet, food, lodgings, van repairs etc.) via Patreon here, and you can support his two charities:
As I said at the start of this post, I just get the feeling that this is really about to take off, and it’s really well deserved. I can’t wait to follow Russ and his team all the way to Ras ben Sakka.
*Algerian Visa Issues are in session for Marc Riley next Wednesday
It’s been a while since i did one of these and my Pocket is filling up again. So…
It’s Springtime! (in the UK) and time to switch to BST. But this isn’t the correct way to put your clocks forward:
And this might work, but is also very confusing:
Pro-tip: Use a whiteboard marker and you can simply use a damp cloth to change the clocks back again in October.
Good news for me on this change is that evening football matches now kick off at a more reasonable time and so I can watch them and still get enough sleep (see below).
However, that good news is tempered somewhat by the fact that their Spring means our Autumn. And the weather has been doing its bit to remind us of the changing seasons. We’re losing 2 minutes of daylight a day in Cape Town each day at the moment, and we crossed the 12 hours daylight/12 hours nighttime line yesterday.
I was reminded of this Soy, Ginger and Chili salmon recipe today. I must cook it again. Today is all about the big boneless gammon joint on the hob, though. The whole house smell of cloves and all-spice (coincidentally also the name of the giant robot formed when all the Spice Girls zigazig-arred together like the Power Rangers). Delicious.
The future is bright: Sheffield United win the Professional Development League (North) for the third season running.
A fact made even better when you look at the whole league table:
tl;dect (didn’t even click through) – risk of developing LC drops after a secondary infection (UK 4.0% to 2.4%), but that’s still not zero!
and just for reference, 2.4% of the UK population is one and a half million people. That’s a lot of potential cases, and a huge burden on individuals, families and the health service.
Covid really is just like the common cold.
I was out on a run earlier this week and was thinking about how I couldn’t even manage a staircase in the aftermath of my acute Covid experience. Things are clearly much, much better now, although it took over a year to get back to normality. That said: three things I have noticed post-Covid: I need more sleep, my lung capacity still isn’t what it was before, and my memory (which use to be very good) really isn’t as good any more. Especially on people’s names. Other random nonsense (phone codes, capital cities, song titles/bands) – generally fine. Names (famous ones or personal acquaintances) – nope.
…The problem is that people are increasingly building rock cairns to leave their mark or symbol of their presence in a natural setting or for posting on social media. Therefore, when engaging in this activity, it is important to be mindful of the potential negative impacts on the environment, wildlife and other people’s experiences.
Moving rocks and stacking them can disturb the natural habitat of tiny creatures. On the rocky shore, these organisms, such as crabs, molluscs, and algae, depend on their environment’s rocks and other structures for shelter and protection. By moving or stacking rocks, we may inadvertently destroy or disrupt their homes, harming their populations. Similarly, rock stacking can also have adverse terrestrial impacts on insects and moss in wilderness areas.
The article has a (terrible) picture of Agulhas National Park in it. So this is a local thing, close to my heart. And when the kids were younger, we did used to do this from time to time, albeit that our towers were built near the low tide mark, ready to be knocked down as the waves came in, and never for social media purposes.
Anyway. No more. Stoppit.
Lastly for today: a new way to filter flights on flightradar24. This is the update that everyone as crying out for. And it works. From being a very cool tool, its now also massively powerful. You can now get it to do whatever you want (and even more if you pay for a subscription). A lot of the features are in the free Beta version at the moment, but it seems to be stable and full rollout isn’t likely to be far away.
