Football this evening

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Not playing, like we do most Tuesday evenings in Green Point.

No. Watching, like we are doing this Tuesday evening in Green Point.

When we bought tickets, South Africa v South Sudan could have been an all-important, must-win game for Bafana Bafana. But because of results in the intervening period (a win for each of them, as it happens), it doesn’t matter quite as much.

Still, a nice home win in front of a sold out (2 tiers) crowd would be very welcome. And it’s been too long since I’ve watched live footy. So we’re going to go down there and enjoy it.

And then eat some tentacles at the home of tentacles a little later.

On That Whale

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A dead humpback whale was brought ashore onto Hout Bay beach this weekend. This is very unfortunate, but is also just one of those things that happens. You don’t need to blame climate change or toxic oceans here: animals sometimes die, and animals sometimes die in the sea close to a shoreline. And if they are a 14m, 35 tonne humpback whale, you’re possibly more likely to notice them than if they were a small crab. Sadly, they can also be a bit of a hazard. Aside from the smell and the health risks, whale carcasses on the shoreline can also attract sharks, and so removal of the carcass is something that needs to happen timeously.

Usually, the whales which are washed up around the Cape Town coastline are taken – by truck – to the landfill site at Vissershoek. This is a fairly unusual thing, but we’re probably looking at a few every year, so it’s hardly unheard of.

This one seems to have caused a bit of stir though. Maybe because it was moved on a weekend and a nice day when people were out and about.

And just look who commented! With that emoji.

It’s always sad when a family member passes on. Sorry for your loss.

But it was the Reddit post referenced in the link above that really got me laughing.
The original question here:

Was answered in typical Reddit form by a super helpful local user:

“Probably dead”? Amazing.

You think?

Not just popping out of the water and onto a low loader for a Township Tour of Imizamo Yethu and a drink or two in the Constantia Valley before being dropped back into the Atlantic, then?

Dead, you say?

Yes, I think you might be right.

Probably.

Saved bird

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There has been a Cape Bulbul nest in the creeper outside our living room window for a few weeks now. The parents have been very attentive, and yesterday, we saw the first sign of junior. Sadly for junior, the best that he or she could manage is to get to a bush on the side of the garden.

And then he/she got stuck.

The parents were getting quite anxious, and so, as dusk fell and the temperature along with it, I went out and took him from his perch, and placed him back into the nest so that he could be nice and warm for the night and maybe give the whole flying thing another go this morning.

The plan worked well, and this morning, fledgling and one parent were happily together in the tree across the garden.

Mum was even so relaxed with us being her babysitters that she enjoyed a bath in the sunshine.

Job done.
Happy customers.

Always happy to help out some #BackGardenWildlife

PIN (number) fun

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Here’s some interesting… oh, hang on, the power’s just tripped. Let me have a quick look at my DB board.

Sorted. I just needed to check the LCD display.

Anyway, from here, this:

Here’s some interesting data on the most common PIN (numbers) that people use.

White are ones that are used more often. Black are ones that aren’t used much at all.

Of course, with limited chances to guess your PIN (number) should your card be stolen, there’s not too much danger in choosing a white or yellow one, even though the top 20 (of 10000, obviously) make up more than a quarter of all the numbers used.

I was particularly delighted to see that 4916 – my PIN (number) for all my important things – was not one that might be easily guessed.

Happy to know that I’m pretty safe and secure.

Today’s chuckles

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We had a lovely school concert last week (as briefly documented here), but what if school concerts were like festivals?

I mean, no offence intended, but yeah, you might think twice.

We’ve been through this one before.

Just with slightly different terminology. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

In fact, if anything, the mental images conjured up by these descriptions are actually more accurate.

Look, Climate Change is a real thing…

But don’t worry. Whoever the Big Orange Goon puts in charge of the USA’s Environmental Department will surely sort it all out. After all, President (Elect) Spanky McLiarface is doing wonderful work already, putting a rabid anti-vaxxer in charge of Health, doubling the number of wankers in charge of Government Efficiency, and putting this tosser as head of Defence:

Of course, he later claimed he was joking about that (you decide), but he’s still deadly serious about…

Women in the military:

“I’m straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated,” he explained. “Our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where traditionally—not traditionally, over history—men in those positions are more capable.”

About who he thinks is going to command the military:

He wrote that “affirmative action posts have skyrocketed, with ‘firsts’ being the most important factor in filling new commanders. We will not stop until trans-lesbian Black females run everything!”

About how stupid Ivy League graduates are:

“I have a new rule, the more elite the university and advanced a graduate is, the dumber they are. If you went to an Ivy League, prove that you have any common sense at all.”

Hegseth went to Princeton and Harvard, which actually does kind of prove his point.

And about how he just wants to get along with everyone:

“Next to the communist Chinese and their global ambitions, Islamism is the most dangerous threat to freedom in the world. It cannot be negotiated with, coexisted with, or understood; it must be exposed, marginalized, and crushed,” he wrote in American Crusade.

Wait. What?