Amazing phone

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Annoying phone.

I was doing some work outside a couple of weeks ago and – long story short – a screwdriver bit flew from the screwdriver bit holder, somersaulted across the table I was working near, and bounced off my phone screen. My phone was out there because I was listening to the radio while I was working.

The screen protector on the phone did its job, although at great personal sacrifice. A small ding has appeared in the centre of the screen protector, about ¾ of the way down. It seems likely that without said screen protector, the screen would have broken.

There is an issue though. Since then, my phone has developed supernatural powers. It can do “things” without anyone touching it or even being near it, and I think it’s probably because of ghosts the damage to the screen protector. This morning it called the whole family at a very early hour (even earlier in the UK and IOM) while just being in my hand (screen off, no contact with screen). Yesterday, while sitting on my desk, it took a photo of the bottom of the shelf above my desk.

On both these occasions, the app used by the ghost was the last one that I had accessed on the phone – this morning to send this pic* of the sunrise on my walk…

…but it certainly wasn’t me that instigated these things. I’m hoping that it’s just some moisture or dirt in the teeny, tiny hole that is in the screen protector that’s causing this, and I will get it sorted out soon, but in the meantime, it is annoying.

Especially if you were in bed in the Northern hemisphere at 7:29am CAT.

* unedited, taken on iffy phone camera (see here)

More loadshedding this evening…

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…this time not in the UK or Australia, and not (holds thumbs, crosses fingers, whispers quiet prayer) in South Africa, either. Nope – this time, it’s Shanghai and Chengdu in China.

Uh-oh.

That sounds familiar.

I completely sympathise with the people in these cities: loadshedding is a complete pain in the butt, but once again, it’s somehow reassuring to know that we’re not the only ones suffering.

After all, as the famous old saying goes: “a problem shared is now a problem for loads more people than if you had just kept it to yourself”.

Google Streetview hiccup

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Spotted by someone on Geoguessr, and shared here because it’s local(ish) and also (I think) rather amusing, this sign:

Which I have discovered is just where the N9 becomes the N10 a few kms north of Middelburg, just south of the border between the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces:

That would earn me 5000 points on Geoguessr, but this is just a blog post, so I score nothing.
Not much that’s funny about that until you see how Google managed to mash up and stretch out said signpost:

…transforming De Aar into De Aar Aar (funny enough in itself), Middelberg into Middelburdelberg and – my favourite – Colesberg in Colesberolesberg. I’ve never been to this bit of SA – it’s actually a bit north, a bit west and a bit east of places I have been to – but Colesberolesberg and Middelburdelberg do make it sound rather fun.

Colesberolesberg don’t make road signs, but if they did…

Sponsored ads

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I ended up on one of those online “news” sites that exist solely on clickbait headlines and poor reporting. It wasn’t by choice. I wanted to know something and Googled, and – fair play to them – theirs was the only site that came up with a possible answer.

I got what I needed from the article, and then, at the bottom of the article, I had to endure a million* sponsored ads with increasingly bizarre headlines. Who would ever click through on any of these? I know we are a society of timewasters when it comes to online (especially mobile online) things, but… honestly?

This sort of trash…

Rotting bananas. Fruit flies. A beagle with the runs. A higher chance of cartoonesque slippage.

I’m guessing it’s lettuce. (Spoiler: it’s not.)

Yep. Finally some quality as local readers will recognise this regular scene from the Wynberg station as the vehicles come through from the massive SUV factory in… er… Fishhoek. Seems legit.

Thanks, “Kingdom Of Men”. Anyway, I didn’t click, but I’m guessing “hunger, a weird cucumberry odour and a very slight rise in the share price of local cucumber producers”.

Huge, if true. And a massive error by the Romans who clearly thought that he had when they took him down. Absolute amateur hour.

Second hand kettles are given out for huge prices.
Used toasters are shared for free.
Brand new air fryers are allocated via a means-tested price scale.

It means it’s probably got the shits because of all the bananas littering the back garden.

This could be the type of post that just keeps on giving, because there are no shortage of these sort of ads on certain sites. And you don’t have to – and indeed, you mustn’t! – click through to get the screenshot you need.

* rough estimate