Not a nerd. Well, not that much of a nerd.

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Yeah. Halfway through the title, I realised that my opening line was going to be “Yes, I play Geoguessr…”, and that is quite a nerdy thing to do. So I had to add the second bit.
To be fair, I was going to follow it up with a “but”, but actually, it’s still quite a nerdy thing to do.

Not that I have a problem with that.

Nor do I have a problem with what follows, but it does rather put my nerdiness in perspective.

You see, I might be nerdy, but there are levels to nerdiness. In this case, there’s playing the game, there’s knowing some of the vagaries and giveaways for identifying which country you are in, there’s being aware that the roadside bollards might be one of those vagaries (you’ll find me here); then there’s identifying each design of each roadside bollard and assigning them a country, and finally(?) there’s knocking up vector images of each of the most common bollards for each country, making a 14-page long document and sharing it on Reddit.

No matter how much I play, and no matter how much I want to learn and win, I think it’s unlikely that I will ever take it to that level.

Although you never say never.

Dark Horse Art Piece

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After the footy yesterday, we retired to the Dark Horse on Kloof Street for beers and schnacks. It’s a wonderful bar, delightfully atmospheric and eclectically furnished. But whiile it has that “gently lived in” feel, it’s all clean and tidy and well kept.

So it was initially disappointing to see the damage to the back of the bathroom door.

Ugh. Violent and toxic masculinity. But this was actually done by a young lady. I hope you enjoyed your first class of Assumptions 101. Anyway…

Obviously, the ideal (but costly) way to deal with this is to replace the door. But there’s always another quirky option available if you add a bit of Dark Horse vibe:

When is a damaged door, not a damaged door?*

When it’s a piece of art:

I was actually almost tempted. It definitely represents better value than an NFT.

* when it’s a damaged jar

Sunday morning

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Nice way to spend a Sunday morning: a friendly 5-a-side under the mountain and by the sea.

It would have been even nicer if someone had told the opposition that it was a friendly. I have a messed up ankle and sore ribs from a bit of a naughty tackle.

But as you can see above, all’s well that ends well, and we had fun (and we won).

Drinks, prego rolls and Japan v Costa Rica followed, and then it was home to get some ice on my swollen leg.

Memorable morning out.

“Good luck to the west”

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This one‘s a bit of a stretch. And from a usually fairly reasonable and reliable source.

So much so, that I’m wondering if it’s actually sarcasm. But…

“Good luck to the west”?
Based on this? OK, Boomer.

If you ask a 8-12 year old what they want to be when they grow up, and you give them just five possible answers of which only one is a “real” job (and they can only choose up to three), then of course you’re going to get fanciful results. So I’m not going to spend too much time on this, because I think it does kind of speak for itself.

That said, how weird that Chinese kids don’t really want to be Youtubers, in a country where Youtube is blocked, and free speech isn’t exactly encouraged. And how weird that American and UK kids don’t want to be astronauts: one of very few professions that would potentially bring them into closer contact with Elon Musk. [/s]

And what’s the issue with 25% of western kids wanting to become teachers? It’s an honourable and worthwhile career, but we simply don’t require that many teachers. Something like 10% would surely more than cover our needs. By the same token, 11% of people aren’t astronauts. I’m sure that the number of astronauts will inevitably increase in the future, but we’re not going to need one of nine people to be an astronaut. That would mean a billion astronauts by 2035. Ridiculous.

And yes, I know that’s a silly extrapolation because this is a silly survey, but it wasn’t me that started with the serious analysis here.

Still, if we’re really taking this as a meaningful questionnaire and a genuine thing to be concerned about, then maybe we should have a look at the results in another way. That being that there were 108% of choices by American children, 105% by UK kids, and an incredible 210% by the Chinese. That, to me, points to a wishy-washy lack of decisiveness; a trait which surely has far greater implications for the future downfall of their society, as they repeated dawdle over making important decisions (just before more than half their population chooses to go into space).

In which case: Good luck to the Chinese.

Hard at it

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I’ve spent a good length of time in the gym this morning, working off some of the many excesses of a very enjoyable final MBCC meet of the year. No December meal because let’s face it, we’re all going to be in Struisbaai by that time.

Well, most of us.

This morning was a session of weights, kettlebells, stepping, spinning and sprinting. All the major bases covered then, and I’m still feeling remarkably fresh after it all. And it was required after appearances from Jack Black (and almost his mate Jack Daniels), Rupert and Rothschild, a superb ribeye steak, and goodnight prayers courtesy of Don Pedro.

What’s this? Oh, just the border post between Paraguay and Bolivia on the Ruta Nacionale 11. It looks like a rather uninspiring place. But it also looks like a place that exists.

“But, but” I hear you ejaculating, “If Paraguay has a border with Bolivia, then surely Bolivia has a border with Paraguay, no?”

Strange you should ask. Literally weird.
Yes, of course it does. 466 miles (750km) of it:

If you had better eyesight, you’d be able to see the tiny conurbation that is Mayor Infante Rivarola towards the horizon. One meteorological station, and – somewhat implausibly – it’s own aeródromo. But your eyesight isn’t that good. So you’ll just have to take my – and Google Maps – word for it.

That’ll be R2000, please.

It’s not always been so dull and quiet there though:

A border dispute between Paraguay and Bolivia existed for 74 years. The dispute, which began with the Chaco War (1932-1935), is believed to be related to a large oil reserve that both countries wanted to control. Paraguay eventually won control of approximately 66% of the entire region (about 22,000 square miles of land). The war, supported by two opposing oil companies, is remembered as the deadliest encounter of the twentieth century in South America. Over 70 years passed before any petroleum was located, and the discovery occurred in an area that was declared as part of Bolivia after the war.

I – as I think we all were – was well aware of the border between these two countries, but knew less about the war. It wasn’t nice. (Wars aren’t, generally.)

Humph. Typical Czechoslovakia sticking their noses in where they had no business. Will they ever learn?

Apparently, some of their veterans from World War I advised the Bolivians and helped supply them with weapons. They replaced a German general, Hans Kundt. No comment.
Anyway, it didn’t end well for any of them, as you can see above.

Fortunately, Bolivia and Paraguay (neighbouring countries which share a border) now exist in peaceful harmony.