Sunscreen

Baz Luhrmann’s Everyone’s Free To Wear Sunscreen was on the radio again this morning, and once again, I was left wondering if there is any other song which is just so very correct from start to finish.

What I didn’t know was that Luhrmann merely put the words of Chicago Tribute columnist Mary Schmich to music. She had written a hypothetical commencement speech for a graduation gathering that didn’t ever exist.

It’s a shame that was just hypothetical though, because it would likely have been the best commencement speech ever made. It’s very difficult to disagree with any of the advice given. Even if none of it would have ever have been taken.

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young

Sit yourself down, watch and listen for 5 minutes. Imagine if you had followed all of that from 18 years old. How different would your life be?

Now imagine if you could make your kids listen and learn…
Pipe dreams.

Good advice from the EFF

There’s no political party that speaks for me. Some have good ideas (some don’t), some have decent people working within them (some don’t), some are doing a good job (some aren’t).

They all have their drawbacks.

Much like all the others, the EFF obviously sees itself as the voice of a certain group of people. I am not one of them. A situation that I think suits us both. It doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy their press releases though. Such as this one from the Gauteng branch, complaining that some troublemakers are up to no good.

Fighters must always be super vigilant by not allowing nefarious elements to infiltrate our structures on the ground as an attempt to delegitimise our revolutionary and radical programmes… All Fighters must guard against mischief; protect the movement and its wholesome integrity, across the province.

Thing is, while it’s comical (jou ma se “wholesome integrity”) and full of self-important and reactionary rhetoric, I quite like the idea behind it.

Apply this – not to EFF ground staff, but to your life – and suddenly it makes a whole lot more sense. None of us should be letting nefarious elements infiltrate our structures, sullying our good name and delegitimising our actions. Christians do this sort of thing with Satan. Same same.

Also, ensure that your uninfiltrated structures know how organised programmes of your organisation are organised: as the EFF in Gauteng tell us:

Structures of the EFF know how programmes of the organisation are organised.

You can’t put it more simply than that. And talking of communication, make sure that mostly all of the programmes you’re doing is verifiable. No point in unverified programmes.

Mostly, all our programmes are verifiable with all [uninfiltrated] structures of the leadership of the [organised] organisation.

Mostly, all my blog posts are great.

Mostly.

Keep on keeping on, EFF.
Your media statements continue to be a joy to read.

Don’t crash

I’m hoping to get some flight time in today. The weather forecast is looking good (I’m writing this ahead of time so that I have time to get some flight time in today) and I’m hoping to have much of the local coastline to myself in the traditional pre-December tourism lull in Cape Agulhas.

I got an email from DJI today (this today, not that today, as mentioned above). DJI is the company that made Florence the Mavic, so they know what they’re talking about when it comes to drones.

The email was divided up into four different sections: each with a link to a relevant webpage on their site:

DJI Go 4 Manual: The Pilot’s Handbook
Not sure what all those buttons do in DJI Go 4? Dive into our DJI 4 manual to learn ins and outs of DJI’s powerful, multi-purpose companion app.

Helpful advice for what is (necessarily) a rather complicated app.

5 Great Third-Party Mavic Pro Accessories
Looking for new add-ons to make your Mavic even more powerful? Read this article to discover five great Mavic accessories. 

An attempt to sell you more very cool, but very expensive, toys.

How to Make the Best of Your Drone Photo
Struggling to take good-looking drone photos? Check out this article and get one step closer to becoming a master of aerial photography.

You know from reading this blog that this is a never-ending learning experience and any help is good.

And then… this:

How to NOT Crash Your Drone in 15 Easy Steps
Even the bravest drone users worry about crashing. Here’s an article that can help you prevent accidents.

I like the emphasis on the NOT, as if you were considering any other options. And look, it’s a good idea for an article (albeit that it is written about the Phantom Pro, rather than the Mavic), but are there really fifteen separate steps you need to take to avoid the fiery demise of your drone?

Of course, it turns out that many of them refer simply to following the rules and using common sense (which you were doing anyway, right?).

Presumably, this means that if you follow the rules and use common sense, you’ll be fine. So that’s what I’ll do today.

Error

This guy just got himself a beagle puppy:

image

Rookie error. If only he had asked me for advice first.
I can see that I’m going to have to set up some sort of pre-emptive advisory service for foolish individuals such as this.

That is, if I have time between repairing the garden and saving geckos from the jaws of our own huge mistake.