Category: learning curve

Seize the day

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I’m writing a quiz.

It’s a fundraising thing that I’m presenting next month, and while the best quiz experience is the one that you take part in (and win, probably), for obvious reasons, I’m not allowed to take part this time. And so I want to make this one right up there for all the people who can do it, and are spending their hard-earned money in this economy to help others out.

It’s been a while (like lockdown) since I have done a quiz (from the writing the questions point of view, at least), but it’s fun to be back.

Well, sort of.

I’ve actually been pussyfooting around for a couple of weeks, jotting down questions (and answers), since I managed to delete all the work that I had previously done (entirely my fault, rookie error, despite being far from a rookie). Since then, my stupidity has been irritating me each time I return to the project.

But today is the day to break the back of this thing and get all the hard yards done.

I know that some people who read the blog will be going along, so I’m not dropping any hints or tips for them, but who knows: maybe I’ll chuck a few questions or even a whole round out on here once the event has happened, so that you can all test your knowledge of [redacted] or even [redacted].

So I’m seizing the day right now, and I’m going to nail the specialist round.

And then I’m going to get a coffee.

China Power Pics

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Not a pro-China post. But also, yeah, a bit of a pro-China post.

China might be one of the world’s most polluting countries, but it’s also investing really heavily in wind and solar power, and the stats are nuts:

  • Last year China installed more than half of all wind and solar added globally. In May alone, it added enough renewable energy to power Poland, installing solar panels at a rate of roughly 100 every second.
  • As of late 2025, China leads the world in renewable energy, with total installed capacity exceeding 2,200 GW, making up 59.1% of its total power generation capacity.

2,200GW of renewables is huge. In comparison, South Africa has a TOTAL theoretical power output of 48.5GW. And that’s when it’s all working, which it never is, so we have an actual total power output of about 32GW.

Drop in the ocean stuff. But then – because this is the reason for this post – just look at the infrastructure that’s going into China’s renewable energy drive.

“From the ground, it’s hard to grasp the scale of these power plants,” said Chinese photographer Weimin Chu. “But when you rise into the air, you can see the geometry, the rhythm — and their relationship with the mountains, the desert, the sea.”

Chu has spent three years capturing the shift underway using drones to photograph power plants from overhead. His work, which draws from the visual language of traditional Chinese ink paintings, was featured last year in an award-winning exhibition, presented by Greenpeace.

Look, this can only be a good thing for the rest of the world’s air quality and attempts to slow down climate change. It might be less good for the global geopolitical situation in the future, but then things are looking pretty ropey on that front right now anyway.

More photos on that link above, and more information about China’s journey into the renewable energy space, here.

Cool story

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I’m not usually one for dramatised versions of true stories on the internet, but (if you ignore the third paragraph), this one doesn’t go over the top, and is an interesting account of the Koeberg bombing, with just enough whimsical input to give it that personal touch.

Some good insight into the way that MK and ANC operative worked in the Apartheid state, without too much detail bogging things down, and the personal story of Wilkinson – who is as far from James Bond as you could possibly imagine – gives it a very human edge.

The link?

Oh yes, here you go:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/the-man-who-blew-up-a-nuclear-power-station-koeberg-south-africa

Definitely worth 5 (or more) minutes of your time.

Landmarkr

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Done your Wordle today?
Sorted the Daily Challenge on Geoguessr?
Connections?
Flagle? Tough one this morning, hey?
The NYT mini?
Worldle? Completed. (Spoiler: it was Nepal.)

Good. Now you can get on with your day and start… HANG ON A SECOND!

Here’s Landmarkr!

Super straightforward: 6 photo clues to a Landmark, City or Country. The clues get progressively easier, and you get a guess each time a picture is revealed. And there are some helpful hints along the way:

Lisbon, Portugal is not on the right continent.

which can really help to narrow it down (this is sarcasm).

Much like Wordle, the quicker you get it, the better person you are. But of course, you’ll need to tell your friends about it so that you can boast to them about your superior record.

And with a full archive of over 200 days available, free of charge, it’s also super addictive. This post has taken me three hours to write, because I just keep popping back “for one more go”.

100% record so far.

My first failure will hurt.

Bring out the horse paste!

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Here we go again!

A couple of points here. And they’re important ones.

Firstly, while Hantavirus is an RNA virus, and there is some evidence that Ivermectin blocks some viral proteins from entering the host cell nucleus, Hantavirus replicates outside the host cell nucleus, so Ivermectin would have precisely zero effect on that process.

Well done.

Secondly, Mary Talley Bowden was reprimanded by the Texas Medical Board after she prescribed er… Ivermectin to a patient infected with Covid. A patient who she didn’t have permission to treat.

I honestly can’t think why she’s suddenly trying to be controversial again now, aside from the fact that her book: Dangerous Misinformation: The Virus, the Treatments, and the Lies, “a memoir about her COVID-19 work and clashes with medical institutions”, comes out – gosh – it comes out this month.

Grifters gonna grift.

Meanwhile: SO MUCH more evidence that someone screwed the pooch when that boat got to St Helena and the couple of weeks that followed. Ah Jesus.