Category: that’s a bit mad

Recommended website

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Not by me, I hasten to add. No. This is by Google, which thinks that I am interested in [checks notes] Travel And Tour World.

Actually, the only reason I am interested in Travel And Tour World is because of their bizarre SEO-grabbing headlines.

Headlines like:

or:

Mmm… catchy. It really does seem to be the aim to get as many countries into one headline as possible, but this policy then really does limit the amount of extra information that is shared in the actual article. Because you’ve already given us the whole story in the headline.

I love the “all the other countries in the Caribbean” bit here. Mentioning six by name clearly wouldn’t be enough for the reader to get the gist of the story, but mentioning eight? Ridiculous.

Seven, it is. We can easily just lump the rest of them…

There are 13 sovereign countries in the Caribbean, along with approximately 12 to 13 dependent territories (such as Puerto Rico and the Cayman Islands) that belong to the U.S., UK, France, and the Netherlands.

… together. We’ve name-checked all the important ones.

Attached to each of these “articles” is an AI-generated image (of course). And they range from the somewhat unlikely:

All sorts of maritime rules and regulations being broken here. Including that ship with the wake coming out of the bow.

Right through to the downright apocalyptic:

I’m fairly sure that it’s not looking quite that bad in all of the Middle East at the moment. But if you are there and you see a massive yellow suitcase, run.

OK, ok… Calm your tits, mate. Passenger numbers are down a bit because of rising fuel costs. It’s an economic matter.
That doesn’t mean that the stern section of your cruise liner is going to explode. What sort of prompt did you stick into Chat GPT for this nonsense to come out of its rear end? And once you’d done that, why did you think that it was a good idea to publish it?

I’ve switched off suggestions for Travel And Tour World now, because it’s clearly just an AI-generated travel “news” site designed to produce lots and lots of really poor-quality copy with the aim of selling adverts.

A bit like this blog, except I write it and it’s basically advert free.

But the copy bit? Absolutely.

That’s no fun

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Pretty exhausted after a busy – but good – weekend.

And then I find out that I’m not able to do the important experiment that I was planning to carry out tomorrow.

How am I supposed to deduce the molecular composition of my baked goods now?

It’s no wonder that scientists are leaving the field in droves when all the enjoyable research projects are suddenly being pre-emptively terminated by the fun police.

Important to know

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With the World Cup coming up (and although I’m really not invested at all) (just yet), you might not want to miss a single minute of the ridiculous number (104) of matches.

But nature will still call from time to time. And so it pays to be prepared.

Thankfully, I spotted this handy hint on the letters page of a magazine (IYKYK) before I started work on our house.

I was really leaning towards the “loo-ving room” plan, so it does feel like I’ve dodged a bit of bullet here.

Thanks, Hector.

And now I’m looking into a waterproof TV for the shower wall. And maybe some padding for the toilet seat.

Not at work today

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Always be kind to service industry workers. Often, the conditions they work in and (especially these days) the abuse they face really isn’t worth the money that they are paid. And yet they still have to smile and be polite and look after you.
The best way that you can understand exactly what working in that sort of job entails is to do it yourself for a while. I’m close to suggesting that it should be mandatory, like some sort of National Service Industry Service. A deeply upopular idea, perhaps, but it would definitely make the world a nicer place.

And so fair play to the guys that turned up for this shift, despite the – somewhat concerning – issues with the refrigerator.

Wow. Whiny, entitled customers, hard work, long hours, poor pay and now there’s a bloody demon in the fridge.

Enough is enough.

You can really understand why some of the staff didn’t show up. But those who did, those who stepped up to the plate when the chips were down, well, they deserve a medal and – at the very least – your understanding and respect. Because (like it says) no one wants to work anymore, but they still are doing. Serving you.

So just remember:

Elements of this post.

And no, obviously Socrates didn’t say this, but still, this is good practice. Because God only knows what’s going on in the fridge behind the counter.

It’s hard work

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Honestly, when it comes to keeping fit, the younger generation just don’t know how good they’ve got it. And obviously, I was the same when I was the younger generation, so fair enough. But wow – keeping fit as you get older is HARD WORK.

Sarcopenia – the age-related progressive loss of muscle mass, strength and function – is a real thing, and while it (allegedly) starts at 30 years old, I never really noticed it until fairly recently. But now suddenly standing still (metaphorically, and literally) is just not good enough. You have to work twice as hard: once to build the muscle mass, strength and function, and once to overcome the age-related progressive loss of muscle mass, strength and function.

That doesn’t seem fair.

But honestly, you still need to live your life as well. All work and no play and all that. There’s zero fun (as far as I’m concerned) in devoting all your time to just trying to stay fit. You need to enjoy your life, and not make every decision about your health.
And so when I saw this, it rang very true, and I did actually laugh:

Yep. That’s me.

I will occasionally do a 7am run, but you’re not ever going to see either of the others in any way, shape or form.

And if that means that I have to work even harder in the gym and on the road when it comes to keeping fit and combatting my age, well, so be it.