Category: learning curve

Can I lick it?

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Yes, you can! As A Tribe Called Quest famously told us back in 1990.

Or can you?

But Beagle-eyed readers will already have spotted that we didn’t actually ask about Kicking it. We asked about Licking it…

Here’s a great guide to the dos and don’ts of licking elements. It’s probably not something that you think you’ll need on your journey through life, but it might come in handy, should you find yourself a bit bored and holding onto a block of Thorium (you’re already likely in trouble at this point, anyway).

So, maybe bookmark this page just in case, and as the was pointed out in the comments: Remember, you can lick any element once.

Mmm.

Roasted

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Here’s the “roast” of the blog that I promised yesterday. I’m doing this post today, because the site that it comes from has finally decided to start working, like a reticent traffic light at the end of a 4 hour block of loadshedding.

(I wrote that one myself.)

Anyway…

It turns out that there are two main things “wrong ” with the blog: the design, and the words. Given that that pretty much sums up all the bits there are to the blog, that’s a little upsetting, but then, reading the actual comments that the nasty AI left, I’m not actually very perturbed.

6000 Miles From Civilisation… or Just Bad Web Design? The title promises adventure, but the layout screams “abandoned GeoCities page.” It’s like a time capsule from the early 2000s. Is the civilisation you’re running from the internet itself?

Yeah, cos the internet is really civilised, isn’t it? /s

I did actually used to have a GeoCities page, way back in the day. But I’m actually very happy with the minimalist, uncomplicated design. I hate sites with flashy things flashing and adverts all over the place (that’s one of the reasons that I am constantly turning down cold, hard cash for banner and sidebar ads).
So if this makes it look a bit retro… well…

What’s next? Ah, yes…

“6000 miles from civilisation…”? More like 6000 miles from a decent web designer. The header looks like it was made in MS Paint after a few too many beers.

Actually, this is dangerously accurate.

And while we’re on about the header, Colin gets some honourable mentions:

The Dog: The dog is the only thing that seems to have any personality. I bet the dog has more interesting stories to tell than anything on this site. In fact, the little dog in the header looks like she’s judging the content as much as I am.

The beagle has many interesting stories to tell, but they’re mainly about chasing hadedas and dreaming about some sort of food. Still, knowing the internet, there will definitely be someone out there who would enjoy that sort of stuff more than what I share, but that’s their problem.

And it is a problem.

Again though, not wrong on just how judgmental the beagle is. Its opinions can easily be swayed with a small piece of cheese though, so it’s never really been an issue.

The Content: It’s a blog about… everything and nothing? BBC podcasts, German elections, woodpeckers, horse racing… It’s like a digital stream of consciousness with no filter.

This is meant to be hurtful. I love it. It really is the perfect description of 6000 Miles… Thank you.

The writing style is like a rambling conversation with a slightly grumpy uncle who’s had one too many cups of tea.

It’s usually coffee (or brandy, depending on the hour), but ok. This is absolutely fine. Especially the use of the word “slightly”. I’m quite chuffed by that. Thanks again.

The tags are a chaotic mix of topics, from “elections” to “woodpecker.” It’s like the website threw a keyword salad at the wall and hoped something would stick. Good luck getting found by anyone.

Well, write “about everything and nothing”, share your “digital stream of consciousness with no filter”, and that’s what you get.

And then the nice use of this recent post title.

“It sounds good until you read it”: That’s a perfect description of the website itself. This blog post is a verbose labyrinth of thoughts that could have been condensed into a tweet.

Low hanging fruit. But very good. I almost smiled at this one. But then it obviously didn’t read too far, because then it would know that I don’t do twitter, just like The Stranglers.

And finally:

Overall Impression: This website is a digital time capsule from the early 2000s, and not in a good way. It’s got the charm of a dusty attic and the readability of a ransom note. But hey, at least it’s… unique?

Isn’t a dusty attic quite charming? Intriguing? Full of character and mystery? Loads of potentially interesting stuff to be discovered?
And isn’t a ransom note rather straightforward, and also really, really important to read?
And then “unique”? Who wants the same blog as anyone or everyone else?

These are just compliments. You’re doing it wrong.

I think this roast is the thing than needs roasting here.

Why should we bother?

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Technology is the key to our advancement as a species.

We invent things using technology.
We improve them using technology.
We simplify processes using technology.
We overcome society’s problems using technology.

There’s a lot of work, a lot of brains and a lot of money that goes into developing these technologies so that they can benefit humankind.

And yet, sometimes all of that seems so very unappreciated.

And it does seem that parents are particularly unappreciative of the things that could literally save their child’s life.

Like the mother driving her squabbling kids home from school yesterday: both of them 8 or 9 years old and climbing around the footwell and passenger seat of her car – not a seatbelt in sight.

To the parents in Gaines County in Texas,

It seems that in this case, religious beliefs may have been a strong reason behind many of the (now 24) cases: all of whom *shock* are unvaccinated. Gaines Country has a high population of Mennonites, and all of the cases in Gaines can be linked to Mennonite schools. Traditionally, Mennonites reject “modern” technology (which would likely include vaccinations), which is all well and good until it backfires and a wholly preventable measles outbreak maims or kills their children.

According to this from MennoniteUSA.org:

Mennonites believe in simple living but express that simplicity in a spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others rather than completely separating from society

But if I was the parent of a baby in Texas right now (the first MMR vaccination is at 12-15 months), I would be very worried. I certainly wouldn’t be thinking very kindly about the Mennonites and their alleged “spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others” BS.

Look, religious or not, as parents we deserve to give our kids the best chance in life. And that should start with the right to health and life. Willfully ignoring or rejecting the proven technologies that we have developed to keep our children safe and well is tantamount to child abuse. As one commenter points out:

It’s difficult to have sympathy for an adult who refuses a vaccine and then gets the disease.
The children didn’t have a choice.

Yep. The children deserve better.
And everything they need is right there. It’s readily available.

They’re just not being used.

And that does raise the question: Why should we bother?

Make life (a bit) better

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Look, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media.
Maybe I’m just too old for it, maybe I have better things to do with my life.

Maybe both.

But when I am on there, the algorithm tends to give me a lot of similar stuff. In no particular order: football, travel, photography, geography, quiz questions. Those kind of things.

And it was while I was watching a video from an American lady preparing to visit Africa (specifically Nigeria and Kenya), and asking the online world if she should be taking anti-malarial medication*, that I noticed that a local “influencer” – who is not medically qualified, obviously – commenting and saying no, she shouldn’t, because (and here I quote):

They just mask the symptoms of the actual illness.

This is quite clearly bullshit.

Now, we should all be well used to influencers spouting BS, because that’s how they make their money. Honestly, who in the right mind is going to genuinely criticise a brand or product that is paying for their flights, accommodation and everything else? But doing puff pieces for money is one thing (and yes, it’s actually rather iffy, isn’t it?). Giving medical advice – and at that, terrible, potentially life-threatening medical advice to strangers on the internet – when you have no qualification in the field at all, is quite another.

And so I called the local influencer out on it. Now, I should note here that I’m not a doctor either, but I do have plenty (or more) experience and qualifications in Microbiology and Biomedical Sciences.

I’ve also had malaria, and I know that it’s no joke. It can kill you (mine didn’t). You don’t want it.

Anyway, she chose not to reply [colour me shocked], but she did instantly block me on all platforms.

And OMG, it’s been so wonderful. I hadn’t realised how much of her content was being served to me and how intensely irritating I found it.

Are there any downsides to this? Well obviously, yes:
Now I’ll never know about “this secret beach just 30 minutes from Cape Town” that’s actually so “secret” that it’s completely packed every weekend. I don’t get to “guess which airport she’s flying into” from the shots out of the plane window. And I’ll never get to see another composite shot of her in a wood-fired hot tub beneath a startrails sky.

On that note, I took the hint and blocked her influencer boyfriend as well (IYKYK), and now my social media is now like a breath of fresh air.

Well, not that one, obviously, but I don’t go there anymore, anyway.

If you want to find me on those other platforms, look here.

And if you want my advice on how to make the online cesspit just a little bit more bearable? Unfollow all those influencers that are telling you how great so-and-so brand or product is, while not being completely honest, because if they were, they’d not get any more business. Rather look at Trip Advisor for more honest answers from people who actually had to pay their own way to get to where they were going.



* hey lady, hot tip: maybe try asking your doctor?

Patterson Airport, Louisiana

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Much chatter (a single message) this evening relating to Patterson Airport. There was another airport – one I have flown from – hinted at as well, but that was far less interesting.

Harry P. Williams Memorial Airport is a public airport located near the U.S. 90 highway outside of Patterson, Louisiana, United States with the airfield also serving Morgan City, Louisiana. The airport currently has no scheduled passenger service but is served by charter flights.

Which is all rather dull, but then, this:

It has two runways, one of them being water for seaplanes.

And I guess that if you are used to seeing seaplanes, then you’re used to seeing seaplane runways. But I’m used to neither of those things, so this is quite interesting (to me, at least).

And so I had a quick look on Google Maps, and to my surprise (maybe… I’m not really sure what I was actually expecting) the seaplane runway isn’t a demarcated bit of a local river or lake, but a purpose built… canal?

The airport has a long history of local flights, and obviously, the seaplane aspect must have been fairly important for them to go to the trouble of making a 1.4km long dedicated runway.

And as for Harry P(almerston) Williams? A prominent business man, born in Patterson in 1889 (great year), a plane racer, an airline owner, the mayor of the town, the president of the local bank, and a well-recognised socialite. His second wife, Helen, presided as acting Tsaritsa of the Mystic Court at the Duke of Alexis Tableau Ball in New Orleans, 1924. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds important.

He was killed – appropriately? – in an air crash in 1936. Not in a seaplane, incidentally.

The Orange Shitgibbon would likely have blamed the accident on diversity in air traffic control or something, but I doubt that was really a thing in Louisiana in the 1930s.

Or maybe even now.

Anyway: That’s PTN airport.
You live, you learn.