The fantasy self [435]

Greetings from the shed...

Me again. Thanks for opening this email/link.

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#TheAction

After finishing last week’s assignment without a voice I remained unable to speak for another three days. There was something zen-like about this forced silence. Unable to make smalltalk on public transport, I immersed myself in a book and journeys flew by.

There is an understanding in silence. At home there was less bickering. At least from me. I was nodding ‘yes’ more than shaking ‘no’ and got to thinking about how many of the words I use daily are superfluous. If I missed anything it was singing.

On Tuesday morning a raspy version of my voice returned just in time for an assignment in the north of England.

The alt text has more details as to what’s going on.

I was filling in the gaps in the story of how the wool gets from the sheep, into a Baavet wool duvet. This involved documenting the grading and scouring process in Dewsbury and Bradford. One of the sites has been operating on the same site for 100 years and is one of only two raw wool scouring (cleaning) plants in Northern Europe. A fascinating process and i’ll be trawling through the content over the next week.

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#ThePictures

Adventure Time, my favourite cartoon series of all time has a spinoff series called Fionna and Cake. I watched them all this week.

I’m so glad they took their time formulating how to turn what was effectively a cameo from Fiona and Cake into solidifying their place in Adventure Time canon. Brilliant stuff.

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These photos from my four adult passports were each taken 10 years apart. I can’t find my first kiddie passport to complete the set. The first photo (shot in film) and the last, taken with a Leica lens are the best in regards to quality.

I use my passport for travel. But it is no more my identity than the clothes I wear.

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#TheWords

What are the new end goals of academic workflows? How can we reimagine these for interdisciplinary collaboration and a shared purpose?

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#TheSound

When phoning up Triumph Garage to arrange a motorbike service I was put on hold and heard this…

You might remember the track as being named the worlds best hold music in a Reply All podcast. You can hear more music from Macroform here.

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I can’t believe this podcast slipped me by. Sliced Bread from BBC Radio 4 takes a look at products making bold claims and with the help of experts it decides if something is the best thing since sliced bread or marketing BS. Listen if you’re curious as to if hand sanitiser’s are effective, if kombucha is as good for you as it says it is, what CBD products do for you, or why people who make sourdough loafs are healthier.

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A fascinating collection of rare sounds captured from the polar regions.

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#TheConsumed

I usually only drink whisky with friends and have a number of open bottles that are very slowly diminishing. I’ve not bought any new whisky since my trip to Arran in August. I’ve also not bought these two bottle pictured below. These have been sent to me for research purposes. (Thanks Sagasudrinks!)

This is unpaid research, but you never know, it might be that I’m engaged in some story gathering work in the coming months. Good work if you can get it. And as I enjoy both whisky and story gathering, it’s a no brainer for me. But why this distillery? Glenwyvis already has a niche following internationally but it’s the fact that the distillery is 100% community owned. Not only that but they have been pioneering sustainable distilling by powering their operations with solar, wind, hydro and biomass energy. Just to show you how niche they are, here is a map of the few locations you can grab a bottle. But of course there is always online. I’ll report back after I have sampled a dram.

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#TheThings

While offering some podcasting advice this week I found a hole in my kit list.

I was chatting about effective ways to use Zencastr to grab high quality recordings. It’s way better than Zoom as it records a HQ version of the chat, plus enables a basic edit right there in the browser.

Ideally you’ll need a decent mic in your computer and I often recommend the things I have been hands on with or use day to day. Rode microphones feature heavily in this.

The most important thing is to have the mic as close to the sound source as possible. I mostly use this mic on a boom but a A lav mic also works well. 

You can monitor your audio easily with the NT-USB but if you wanted to monitor your lav mic audio while recording, this audio interface will do the job well.

The more I thought about my set up, the more I wondered if the Rode NTH-100 headphones would be a better option with the plug in broadcast quality mic. It’s quite a compact solution (at least compared to my boom mic). I really should grab that little mic and see what the it sounds like. The Rode NTH 100 headphones are super comfy. Even when worn for hours.

When offering free consultation (mainly to supporting subscribers) I’ll occasionally use affiliate links (like I have above) in recommendations. Sometimes I get a voucher. I just wish there were better linking options than Amazon.

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I bought this handheld games console for my Lad. Boasting 10,000 retro games and 10 emulators, it looked a little too good to be true. Especially for £27.

It arrived with more games than I’ll ever manage to play and many familiar ones hidden behind weird titles. The screen quality was ok, bit laggy with some higher spec games, but I thought it was worth the money. Till I saw these other, slightly better consoles out there.

In short (should you not watch the video), for less than a hundred quid there are some interesting little retro game emulators out there that will play pretty much anything. Arcade, NeoGeo, GB, GBA, GBC, FSC, FC, MD, Wii, PSP, PS1, PS2 and some Switch games. Of course you can get software emulators for a PC or Mac, or even dongles that plug straight into a TV. But although I still have my old Game Boy and PSP. I love the idea of getting one device to rule them all. Plus there is something satisfying about mashing buttons over swiping a screen.

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#TheThanks

Thank you those that pay $5/month to support this publication. Let me know if you want to join any of the Wire groups by adding Documentally on Wire.com. And if you are able, please upgrade to become a paid supporter.

Or if you prefer you might like to buy me a coffee or send a tip via PayPal or Monzo. I’ll give you the equivalent in supporting subscription. A good option should you want to peek at the podcast etc.

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#TheWeb

• Chinese biochemist Ting Zhu is determined to create a new form of life by reversing the shape of key molecules.

• Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map?

• Apple signs an agreement on right to repair.

• Andre Louis has a free music archive but can also be hired to compose for you.

• How to find a lost phone in a campsite with no mobile coverage.

• Some of my other places include GoodReads, FarceBook, Flickr, Strava, Untappd, Diaspora, Vivino, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, a ham radio newsletter or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Birdsite, T2 or Bluesky.

• A Bangkok bidder paid $100,000 for a pair of jeans.

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#TheEnd

Thanks for reading. It’s good to be back in the country. I have a lot of catching up to do. With family, with friends, with writing and with work. Have a great weekend.

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“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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Discuss.

See you out there.

Over…

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