Category: learning curve

Tent camping in Australia

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If Geoguessr was an Olympic sport, I’d be all over it. I already enjoy watching the regional qualifying for the upcoming World Cup. If you have a few minutes, take a look at some of these games. The skill level is right up there with anything it would take to be an Olympian. Incredible stuff.

But Geoguessr isn’t an Olympic sport. So I’m watching handball instead.
France 22-27 Norway. Thanks for asking.

But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been playing Geoguessr.
And today, I got dropped here:

Easy for you to say.

Actually, easier for everyone to say when you realise that Google Maps has maybe added an extra syllable again. But why hasn’t it added anything to the second line.

I’m confused.

Anyway, it’s up in the Northern Territory of Australia, in case you were wondering. I came pretty close from the name (whatever that is), and the vegetation: just 22km away.

The two main things to do there, according to their website, are “birdwatching and croc spotting”.
And not swimming, presumably.

Crazy name. Crazy place.

Schooled (sort of)

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OK. Apparently, that wasn’t the Last Supper at the opening ceremony.

Except also, it clearly was:

The Paris 2024 organisers have apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups angered after a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous The Last Supper painting during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night.
A kitsch tableau parodied the iconic painting, recreating the biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion.

See?

However, this facebook post tells us (while dripping with condescending sarcasm):

It was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal.
Because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!

Image link

But hang on. It was the Last Supper – the organisers foolishly apologised for that above – and Bacchanalia (the plural) were a ROMAN thing, not a Greek thing.
Bacchus was the Roman god of wine. He wasn’t Greek.

So actually, the Olympics are ancient and… er… Roman? No. Because that wasn’t a depiction of a Bacchanal. It was a depiction of the Last Supper with some added Dionysus.

Dionysian Mysteries are the Greek thing on which Bacchanalia were based: parties in honour of their god of wine-making: Dionysus.
Dionysus was also god of… just off the top of my head:

Orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.

And yes – if you saw that bit of the opening ceremony – that does seem to fit the bill a little more accurately.

But if you’re going to write 500 words on how stupid people were to think that was the Last Supper (which it was), then at least get your facts straight. Because, as mentioned above:

The Bacchanalia were Roman festivals of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy. They were based on the Greek Dionysia and the Dionysian Mysteries, and probably arrived in Rome c. 200 BC via the Greek colonies in southern Italy.

To be fair though, both Bacchus and Dionysus (I can’t speak for Jesus) regularly had their scrota (and often a lot more) hanging out when depicted in contemporary media.

So at least that bit was right.

New Nick Cave

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OK, so there’s only a lyric video out for Long Dark Night so far, but wow.
This was goosebump-inducing when I heard it on 6 Music this week. And so powerful was the reaction to that first play, that Mary Anne Hobbs (for it was she), played it again immediately afterwards. I’m not sure I remember that happening with any other record before.

Apparently inspired by the poem “Dark Night of the Soul” by the 16th-century Spanish poet St. John of the Cross, which Cave describes as:

…one of the greatest and most powerful poems of conversion ever written

Judge for yourself here.

Either way, it’s a compelling, dramatic, haunting track, which continues to bode well for the new album out at the end of next month.

Back to footy next week?

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I’m getting older. Looking back, this has been going on for just about my entire life.
Have a think: it might be happening to you, too.

My body is not as resilient as it used to be, and there are regularly a couple of aches or strains that wouldn’t have been a problem 20, 10 or even 5 years ago. The irritating thing about with these minor injuries is that they happen more often, they take longer to heal, and they are more likely to reoccur if you’re not careful.

But I’m also getting more sensible about getting older, and so I am being more careful.

I spotted this Unspiration-style image online, this morning.

Brilliant.

And it resonated. My hamstring isn’t exactly killing me (that was last week, lol!), but it isn’t quite 100% either. Still, I want to play some football and it’s annoying that I can’t. A few years ago, not playing wouldn’t have even been a consideration. And indeed, I could go back this evening and give it a go, and it might go well. But then also, it might go twang, and then I’d be out for n weeks or even longer.

The temptation to play is strong though, and so that sensible bit of me was looking out for a way to convince myself not to. And then the call came through that the MBCC dinner was likely to be moved forward by a day, and the decision – which was 95% made anyway – was rubber-stamped, popped into a brown envelope, and ceremoniously sealed.

A couple more days looking after the leg with kid gloves (arguably the best goat-based products I’ve ever bought) will undoubtedly do it a lot of good, especially when compared to 40 minutes of 5-a-side. Add in some helpful protein molecules this evening, and hopefully (because you can never be completely sure), it’ll be absolutely ready to go for next week, and won’t choose to break when I give it a run out.

Let’s hold thumbs.
But not too tightly: you’ve got to take care of those ulnar collateral ligaments at this sort of age.

The second most interesting fact I learned today

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I’m still reeling from the one that beat it.
But more on that when I’ve gathered enough data to make it into a blog post.

Still, this probably would have made first place on just about any other day. Because I’m a nerd.

Traveling South-Southwest from Hawaii toward Antarctica, there’s a perfectly straight path which crosses the International Date Line seven times, going today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow.

And here’s that path:

I always get a little confused around things with the International Date Line, but technically, wouldn’t it actually be:

today – tomorrow (which is now today) – yesterday (which is also now today) – tomorrow (today) – today (also called yesterday, since you’re crossing from tomorrow, which is today) – today (which is tomorrow) – yesterday (today) – today – tomorrow?

I think it would. And even if it wouldn’t, can we not just agree on it being something like this, and move on before it becomes even more baffling?

Of course, if you are doing this trip, you wouldn’t really notice all of this crisscrossing and time difference stuff. Nothing actually happens when you go over this man-made, invisible line in the ocean, and really – much like taking an international flight -all you really need to know is the date at your destination.

Which is tomorrow.
And also today.