Finally!

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Finally feeling a bit better today, and ready to actually do stuff. Well, that was until I actually did stuff, and now I’m a bit knackered. But I am on the mend and that’s good news.

I do plan to take things easy for the rest of the day though.

And that’s why I hope that if we are invaded by giant anythings this afternoon (and given just how crazy the news has been just lately, who would rule that out?), it’s these guys…

Yeah, even in my current condition, I’d fancy my chances of escape here.

What I’m actually going to do is go horseriding (not me) and then watch some football, hopefully involving a big turnaround in our fortunes (and given just how crazy the news has been just lately, who would rule that out?).

About yesterday

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Given that today is the anniversary of 9/11 – arguably the biggest news day in living memory – it was probably fitting that yesterday was probably right up there with it in having the most “big” stories in a single 24 hour period, although none of them quite toppling the gravitas of that day in 2001.

Yet.

But wow. There was a lot that went on, and I think it’s worth documenting them, just in case “9/10” or more correctly “10/9” doesn’t become a thing, and future us forget that an awful lot happened that day.

And so, in no particular order:

Riots, a government toppled, ministers beaten and the parliament building burned down in Nepal.

Late annual riots in France, and the resignation of the Prime Minister there.

The shooting of Charlie Kirk, grandson of the famous Star Wars captain, James T.

I’m not a fan of political violence, nor any violence at all, really, but I couldn’t help but think of the words of Clarence Darrow, who wrote in his 1932 book The Story of My Life, “I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction”.

It’s perfectly possible to condemn everything that Kirk stood for (and I do) and also condemn his murder (which I also do). But “awful people certainly don’t deserve to be killed, but they certainly don’t deserve to be praised, either” seems to be a difficult leap for a lot of minds out there.

Russia sends drones into Polish airspace.

Almost forgotten about with potential starting points of various civil wars going on – the potential starting point of World War III. A reminder that Russia objects to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO because “it doesn’t want NATO on its doorstep”, but it already shares borders with Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Finland.

Israel bombs Qatar and Yemen. And Gaza, obviously.

Almost forgotten about with potential starting points of various civil wars going on and the potential starting point of World War III. Another potential starting point of World War III.

Oh, and they still haven’t released the Epstein Files. Let’s not ever let them forget about that, no matter what else is sent to distract us.

But as I said, there was a lot of news yesterday. Just none of it was very good.

What a complete and utter mess the world is in.
Let’s let this all subside a little (hopefully, at least) and then see which bits carry forward, and deal with them as we need.

Problematic graphic

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I’m not a social scientist or an economist, but I’ve done enough looking at graphs to see when a graph doesn’t look good. Whether that’s to do with money or infectious diseases, a bad graph always looks… bad.

This isn’t a graph per se (I think that it’s a treemap chart), but it could be a graph if it were presented just slightly differently. But it still looks bad.

Really bad.

How people spend their disposable income is of course completely up to them. But that almost 55% of it goes on any one thing is bad. That almost 55% of it goes on gambling is really bad.

The fact is that when you spend money on anything recreational, you’re know that not going to get anything tangible back. You spend it on the “entertainment”. Gym fees, tickets for sporting events, video games, movie tickets. You spend it on the experience. You know that you’re not seeing that money again.

With gambling, however, you might just get something back. Evidence suggests that you’re unlikely to, especially long term. But that doesn’t stop people trying. In fact, it’s the number one reason that they do gamble:

The worrying bit is that because there is that chance of winning, the outlay on gambling is often overlooked. Because you might get it – or more – back. That’s not happening with a cinema ticket.

But it’s a false premise. South Africans are spending R1.1 TRILLION on gambling every year. And sadly, in the vast majority of cases, it’s money that they can’t afford to lose. This is not a second income stream, no matter how good you think your football knowledge is.

None of those links and none of these graphics make good reading. Gambling apps are now so easy to get hold of and use, and we are surrounded by ads 24/7: on the TV, on the internet, and – of course – at the racecourses, where it’s not unusual to see a horse sponsored by Betway winning a race sponsored by World Sports Betting at a track sponsored by Hollywood Bets.

And yes, I’ve posted occasional ads on here for various betting companies. Hey, gotta make ends meet. But I didn’t know it was this bad. So, while gambling addiction has always been a problem, this flooding of the market with betting apps and the insane 42% per year increase in online betting since Covid means that I won’t be doing that any more. They clearly don’t need my help (although they keep asking for it), and I don’t want to be part of the problem, which is obviously spiraling out of control.

I would say that this problem needs nipping in the bud, but I think we’re well into the flowering stage right now, and no-one is doing anything about it.

Rough

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It’s been a while since I’ve been unwell.

But I’ve got a virus. Not sure how.

Maybe like one of those things out of The Day Of The Triffids where they all went blind from the alien meteor shower firework show.

But you just feel crap and viral after seeing the lunar eclipse.

Either way (and I fully suspect that it’s neither of those ways), I’m hitting the sack early in the hope that I’ll feel better tomorrow.

Got a shot

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I know that I have probably missed the zeitgeist for last night’s lunar eclipse. People have moved on to politics, record-breaking cricket scores and other such nonsense, and so this is clearly old news.

But just for the record, the clouds did clear, making for a good view of the moon (although it cunningly tied to hide). In fact, the only real issue was the wind, which made long exposures rather difficult, and thus getting a photo required some patience, some perseverance and some ISO twiddling.

Still, I’m relatively happy with this shot, and as documentary evidence of what the event looked like from Cape Town… well, it looked like this.

Job done then, and now back to editing horse photos.