What is most important is invisible [270]
Greetings from my shed...
Our dog is three years old today.
She has been sung too, walked lots and spoilt rotten. She is a great listener, protector, play mate, and she reminds me who I am.
#TheAction
In other news I’m cycling again. Although I never really stopped. I’m just cycling more for fun than necessity now.
And when you’re cycling you are going somewhere. Fast enough to cover a good distance, but not too fast that you can’t enjoy it as you pass though.
You can pedal hard, head down, or you can freewheel like a child off to the park, head high and smiling.
I do both. Like a kid with a new toy.
I got bored waiting for my Alpkit Sonder Camino to be delivered so searched for ‘gravel bike’ on Ebay and this popped up. The new toy.
I can see why people own a number of bikes. They are beautiful, enabling objects.
My acquisition is a Kinesis Crosslight Pro. It’s technically a Cyclocross bike and rides well on both paved road and dirt tracks. That’s all I’m really after. Yes it has more gears than I need, no mounts and a slightly more aggressive riding position, but there is little I can’t mod. If you don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty you can easily turn a bog standard bike into something special, a unique sculpture you had a hand in creating. I’ve already flipped the stem upside down (after the photo was taken) to have a slightly more upright riding position.
You may also have noticed that it has odd wheels. Same size just different. That might be why I got it at such a great price. That and the fact it was for sale in my village so when I made a ridiculous offer it was accepted. Much to my surprise.
Seriously, I have not spent this little on a bike since I rode a secondhand Rally Burner in 1984. In fact a set of decent pedals cost more than I paid for this bike. This makes me love it all the more. I’ve only had a couple of trips out but already I feel it owes me nothing. Also I think we have bonded. So much so that I’ve named it Ken.
The best ride of the week so far was this 13mile loop round a reservoir…
The sun was streaming though the woods, and bouncing off the water. The air was fresh and the views stunning. I was the only bike on the rough tracks with drop bars. Ken coped well but I might need to change the rock hard saddle. Or toughen up.
If you want to connect on Strava this is me. I have to know you or we’ll have to have met IRL for me to ok the connection.
Remember issue 210 when those ducklings waddled into my garden? It happened again. But this time the mother did a runner with 8 of them and I had to track down the four left behind and ferry them to the field she escaped into.
This was the last one. Carefully put in a shoebox and carried the last 200 yards.
Very cute, but is that tear on its beak or a bogie?
#ThePictures
The Lost Bullet was a good watch. Another recommendation from @Sizemore.
Who can sell NFT’s of Wonder Woman? The 87 year old guy who drew her for one.
This is the incredible hand drawn work of Oscar Ukonu. Check out his other work.
#TheWords
When was the last time you read ‘The Little Prince’.
For me it was last night. I read it to my lad. He’s 12 and voraciously reads stacks of books through the year. Sci-Fi and Fantasy mostly. But last night we took a trip back to a time when i’d read to him by bedside light and he’d stare into space giving pictures to the words.
It’s been over 20 years since I last read this and it is still so very beautiful.
How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation.
#TheSound
There are more listeners to my podcast ‘On The Line’ than there are paying subscribers. This means it’s getting forwarded on to others that might find it interesting. Please keep the sharing going. You folk are better at plugging this thing than I will ever be. And thank you Don McAllister for the kind comment…
“Really enjoying listening to this mini podcast series. My usual podcasts are very topic focussed so the wide and varied interests of your guests is so refreshing. Keep it up :)”
A simple open source alternative to Clubhouse anyone? Check out Jam.
Meet the stranded Australians.
Struggling to get my head around this. Steering sound beams with origami-inspired phononic structures.
#TheConsumed
You can tell a quality drink emporium by what crates await collection outside.
And if you’re going for quality over quantity, go for the really good ones. You only need one of these for the whole night. To sip and savour.
The Donker was the last alcoholic beverage I had back on Sunday. I’m more than ready for another Trappist ale but am saving myself for the pub. I’ll just have to try to ignore the ‘Triple Extra’ Rochfort sitting in the fridge. #FatChance.
Take a look at Shume. This is not a paid endorsement but i’d happily take payment in ale or money (i’d use to acquire ale) in exchange for space in this email. Just in case Luan (pictured above) is reading.
Lab-made Lobster is on the way.
At breakfast i’ll occasionally drizzle a little honey onto a bowl of cereal. This morning my lad asked me how much time does it takes for one bee to make a jar of honey?
It turns out a single worker bee only produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its entire lifetime. As a kid I had no idea that teaspoon of honey and lemon I had when ill was the life work of 12 bees. There is a lot to process here.
#TheThings
You may wonder what might lie at the oceanic pole of inaccessibility (48°52.5′S 123°23.6′W). The point in the ocean farthest from any land. The spot known as Point Nemo. I initially thought it would be a great place leave something interesting. Treasure, or at the very least a mixtape. Then I wondered how easy it would be to colonise by building a floating island with a yurt on it. But of course it already has a use. It appears standard human practice is to turn everywhere into a rubbish dump. Although in this case it’s slightly more interesting rubbish. Point Nemo is a ‘spacecraft cemetery’. A dumping ground for decommissioned space stations, satellites, and other crash-landed spacecraft.
These titanium tent pegs are now in a small backpack I use for my QRP radio gear.
I plan to use them to hold up an antenna mast, but they are equally good for holding up a tent or shelter when super-light camping.
#TheThanks
I thank you paying subscribers. Those of you that drop the £3.60/month to get the archive, podcast and all the content I share into this feed. I’m thinking of dialling down the free ones for a bit. I feel I write more openly in the issues that go to the supporting subscribers and would like to play with this.
If you don’t want to miss anything please upgrade to become a paid subscriber.
If you don’t care and won’t miss it then we’ll see you on the other side. If you do care but don’t have the pennies to support right now, drop me an email. :-)
#TheWeb
Covid-19 changed education in America
How many of you on the Documentally community map are keen cyclists? I can see @tom_bray is.
There has been some good news for fans of the magic mushroom. Tests are once again showing that psilocybin can help as a treatment for depression.
This is cool, in space refuelling of satellites and in some cases bringing them back from graveyard orbits.
In France you can scrap your old car in return for a £2,200 grant to buy an electric bicycle.
#TheEnd
Tomorrow I’m off for a pub lunch and next week i’ll be filling a skip. But right now I’m thinking about the supping of beer from said pub. And eating food cooked in a pub. Surrounded by other people (at a distance) and my family (close by).
Right. I’m off to open that beer I said I was saving. I shall toast the next supporting subscriber. You know who you are. I don’t. Yet ;-)
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Go for a spin.
See you out there.
Over…
