Perfect Detective

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I’m back on Geoguessr, playing on a really enjoyable map with (allegedly, at least) just enough clues at your starting point to work out exactly where you are in the world. And yes, it’s just the right amount of a challenge to get me back into things after a bit of a break.

It’s still worth mentioning that sometimes, more clues aren’t exactly helpful. Initially, I was a little overloaded by this particular spot:

Although, I came right in the end:

And now I know all about Highway 278 and it’s (mostly) east-west route from South Carolina through to Arkansas. Especially this bit in back of beyondville, Alabama.
Will I ever use this information for anything useful? No. Probably not, but that’s not the point.

I’ve done the Brazilian/Peruvian border, a bit of St Petersburg (booooo!) and some downtown Tunis already this morning, and I’m having some fun and getting the old grey matter working a bit.

All over for the bluebird?

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It’s the beginning of the end
The car went up the hill and disappeared around the bend
Ask anyone, they’ll tell you that
It’s these times that it tends
To start to break in half, to start to fall apart
Hold on to your heart

It seems that being a bit of an arse to your staff isn’t the best way to be a boss. I think that this is fairly well understood, but sometimes, people get too detached from reality to remember these sorts of things, and so they persist in their being a bit of an arse to their staff, and things break.

It’s been a hilarious rollercoaster ride of fanciful allegations (most of which then turned out to be true), and subsequent backtrackery since the Loud Mouth Space Wanker bought Twitter, and immediately tried to change things that didn’t need changing, just to show what power he could wield.

That’s not to say that some things didn’t need changing. Twitter used to be great, but had more recently become a cesspool of misinformation, insults, hatred and division. Pretty much a metaphor for the rest of the world, but concentrated into one small app, so that the nastiness could really be amplified.

When Musk took it over, the only people smiling about it were the right-wing, anti-vax Trump fans. And that was a pretty good indication of where it was heading. But that was just on the surface. Beneath the crusty exterior, Elon was… well… being an arse to his staff. But apparently, there’s only so much boss arsery that staff are willing to take:

Who knew? Well, even I did: just check out the first sentence of this post.

So, is this the end for Twitter? To be honest, I’d been using it less and less over the past few years. But I’ll still miss it.
Maybe it’s for the best, given the direction it was clearly about to take. Of course, Musk doesn’t think so, but the replies to his tweet are exactly the reason that I’ll miss Twitter so much when it chooses (or I choose) to give up completely.

There are still many, many interesting, erudite, important, humorous and entertaining people on the app, and still plenty of useful information, from valid local and international sources, and it’s sad that those informal bonds and communities seem likely to die the death now.

Everyone is bailing (see Titanic and Old Testament references above) for other places, and yes, I am there (see the link at the top of the sidebar), but I’m really not sure I’m ready to start over with the 13+ years of building things up again. Maybe.

Still, if all else fails, this place will always* be here.

* T&Cs apply

It’s been a day

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I am not a fan of shopping, but I had to do some shopping this morning. Thankfully, I managed to get through the ordeal with minimal fuss, but I’m sure that if there was anyone observing (I doubt that there was), then there was no doubting the displeasure with which I did so.

Anyway, that’s done for another few months.

And once the Boy Wonder is back from his evening activities in about an hour (via Uber Dad), I shall be heading the bed asap. I am knackered. A combination of exercise, age, shopping and just… stuff.

Still, at least I’m still very much alive, apparently unlike Afrikaans.

That latter comment prompting Afrikaans speakers all over… er… South Africa to roll out the #1vandie44 hashtag. (No idea what it means: I’m not one of the 44.)
I love everyone commenting on the language in that piece though, basically saying that yes, Afrikaans pretty much still alive, and then reminding us that (bad thing) it was the language of oppression during Apartheid and (good thing?) it’s really useful for insulting people.

A fairly simplistic binary view of things, but for me (and millions of others), the former probably just about outweighs the latter.

Uber

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Lots and lots (and lots) of ferrying people around today. I’d have made a fortune if I’d registered as some sort of metered taxi or e-hailing service.

Sadly though, I didn’t do that, and so it’s just been a lot of financially unrewarding running around: schools, taxi ranks, hospitals, more schools, stables, and – inevitably – Dodgeball training.

If they don’t win this World Cup, it won’t be through lack of effort.

So, in the absence of anything more substantial, here’s an image of the lighthouse at Cape St. Blaize. Just because.

13 metres shorter and 15 years younger than the iconic Cape Agulhas lighthouse, climbing to the top of this one was one of my highlights of our recent trip to the Mossel Bay area.

Fit by jogging (apparently)

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Glancing through my apps while waiting out a loadshed-interrupted Dodgeball World Cup training session, I found my “Garmin Fitness Age” on my Garmin app. Well, where else would it be?

And what does it mean?
Google is your friend here:

What Does Fitness Age Mean in Garmin Connect?

Available on select Garmin watches, Fitness Age is an estimate of how fit you are compared to your actual age. Compatible Garmin watches will calculate your Fitness Age using your VO2 max estimate.
While your VO2 max estimate describes your current fitness level, it is not always easy to know what it means. Fitness Age reinterprets your VO2 max score in terms of age to make it more relatable.
Regularly engaging in the right types of physical activity will help you boost your VO2 max estimate score and will reduce your Fitness Age.

OK. So run a bit and you’ll get fitter. Wow. Whatever next? Steps?

Anyway:

If your Fitness Age is lower than your actual age, then you are on the right track. If it is higher, there may be some areas you can work on to improve it.

Right. Well, I’m on the right track. In fact, according to my Fitness Age, I’m the same age as I was when I moved to South Africa a whole 18 years ago. Ha!

I must say that I have been working really hard to regain some fitness since you-know-what, and I’m glad that it appears to be paying off, but I certainly don’t feel 18 years younger than I am right now. I might be able to run like that occasionally, but people 18 years younger than me don’t wake up each morning wondering if their knees are going to work that day.

At least, I didn’t when I was that age.

Anyway, now I know what’s going on with my Garmin Fitness Age, I fully plan to drag it all the way back to my late teens, when I was pretty-much unbroken (L5/S1disc excepted). So, look out for me on the road: I’ll be the blur of velocity racing past you (and everyone else), pretending that I’m still 18 years younger than I actually am.