Everything is cake [228]
Discover more from Documentally
Everything is cake [228]
Greetings from the bar...
If you are reading this you are alive.
So it’s not all bad news.
It’s glorious outside. I started writing this in the shed, but it got way too hot. So now I’m leaning on my home made bar, basking in the sun’s warmth and hopefully writing something you’ll find interest in.
I’ve even been out this week. A couple of times. Just enough it seems to catch a slither of a cold. Yes something appears to have slipped through despite social distancing and masking up. I bet it was that one time I went out without hand gel.
So far I’ve been the only person wearing a mask in my local shops. Supermarkets are slightly different but not much. Maybe I’m one in thirty there. I wish I could feel an air of superiority at my cleverness. But I don’t. I mostly feel mild despair. It’s mild because the optimist inside me hopes the projections are wrong and the second spike won’t be all that bad.
I’m preparing to shave if I need to go to a city. None of my increasing collection of masks fit perfectly and I think a shave will fix this. Especially after watching this video explaining the magic workings of an N95 mask.
To me an N95 will always be a game changing smartphone by Nokia. But not to the rest of the world. Not any more.
On Wednesday I finally got the ability to share audio directly into Twitter, only to find out my account was locked. No biggie as I write more here than I do there. If you are not up to speed on this week’s Twitter hack this post is a decent start.
Anyway. This was my first native-into-Twitter audio moment that got stuck in the pipes.
I like to have a backup of my audio outside of the platform it resides in, so I think I will only use this for those disposable moments. And when I do I’ll try to remember to post to #Audio365.
If this were a donkey it would be dead.
And I’d be sad because me and this cart have become good friends.
It’s a shame they don’t do loyalty cards for skips. We must be on number seven. And with limited access to my garden, filling yet another cavernous steel container has been a long slog. This cart has a tighter more stable turning circle than a wheel barrow and has shifted tons soo far. Best tool purchase in a long time. Also my only real exercise.
I’ve only had one beer this week. Propping up my half finished garden bar I soaked up the last rays of the day and supped this.
At 8% it creeps up on you and I didn’t need any more. Besides later that evening I was due online for a whisky based video chat where we sampled our latest subscription delivery from Whisky-Me (Here is my affiliate link should you want to join). And if you do and want to join us once a month in Eds Virtual Bar let me know.
I didn’t drink any booze over the rest of the week. But I was glad for that one night with friends. It felt close to having a much needed night out.
Despite Wish.com offering me the weirdest of things…
(Ok so I have bought a slingshot and a miniature working crossbow from them in the past)
I have bought very little this week apart from some stationery from a local stationers and some new Vivobarefoot sandals. I live in Vivo’s and calculated almost 10,000 miles in my original pair.
Structurally they are still sound and amazingly still have tread. They are tatty though and I figured it was time to throw them away.
But I couldn’t do it.
I figured I could still use them in the sea, wild swimming or kayaking. So had a little life skills class with the kids and taught them to stitch repair. There’s a few more miles in them yet!
Apple are seeing people damaging their laptop screens by placing stickers over their webcams and shutting the lids. The say you don’t need one as apparently the little green light is hardwired to the camera and you cannot turn the camera on remotely without that being on. Nevertheless, after seeing how easy it was for someone to intercept my webcam, I’ve used a little lens sticker ever since. The same stickers I use to blank out annoying LED’s I don’t need to see. It’s super thin and probably inside the 0.1mm thickness that apple state won’t do any damage. So by all means use a sticker if you want to, but make sure it’s a super thin one if you are going to be opening and closing your laptop.
I’ve listened to very little audio that did not come from a radio this week.
Here is a little tape based time travel. And here’s a great Science VS episode on the virus.
I really like Drew Gardner’s photographic series entitled ‘The Decendants’.
This is Hugo de Salis, fourth-great grandson of Napoleon. There are loads more notable figures on Drew’s website.
Patagonia commission some great little films.
Freediving and motherhood with Kimi Werner as she dives with Korea’s first working mothers.
Banksy gets masks.
If you are in need of some transparent PPE to aid lip reading check out the shop on the Molly Watt Trust shop.
Whatever your thoughts of the Royal Family and all this pomp and ceremony… I got a warm fuzzy feeling watching a really old lady wave a sword over an even older man and make his year. Possibly the most important year of his life. If nothing else I felt it’s never too late to make some epic change in someone’s life and Sir Tom certainly did that. In many people’s lives.
But don’t dwell too long on this distraction. It doesn’t matter how much money the Toms of this world raise for great causes like the NHS. Behind the scenes there are those that crave money and power and will do all they can to obtain it. And they are doing it right under our noses. While we try to survive.
As I’m unable to retire without a pension I’m now a writer. This not only gives me an excuse to have less cash and drink more, but I also get the chance to embrace hope. One small hope is that you might someday like to support this dispatch with a few quid a month.
Here are some links. Please check them out. There are some fine words and even better ideas:
A black hole glitches as it bites off more than it can chew.
My favourite headline of the week. Robot fleet steals storms' secrets and fights sharks.
Looks like we may have to get used to living at work. I mean working from home.
‘I was a teenage conspiracy theorist.’ Weren’t we all?'.
I can empathise with Amy in this article where she talks about the rapid passing of time and creative blocks.
Bison in the UK. Yes please.
Journalism has a class problem too.
How pandemics wreak havoc and open minds.
Looking for something to read. Here are the five best books on long term thinking.
And if that’s not enough reading reading material, check out The Commons, social change library.
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight.” ~ C. JoyBell C.
The sun’s rays have come round. Under the canopy of the tree that till now offered me shade. It obviously wants me to go get a beer from the fridge.
Damn I like Fridays. Even if all days seem to morph into one, I’d like to keep hold of this fleeting feeling that anything can happen on the run up to the weekend.
Next week? Who knows.
I hope a delivery of sleepers will break up the tired days and nights and give me a little more Rocky Balboa type exercise.
Having hope is akin to having a super power right now. But if you squint a bit — if you stare into the darkness, there’s a glimmer of light.
How are you doing?
Express yourself.
Over.
