(It also features a lighthouse, and I like lighthouses.)
A little bit of detective work led me to this guy – Veselin Malinov – and a quick look at his recent photostream indicates that this shot was anything but a chance effort.
There are some amazing photos on there and it’s well worth popping over if you have a few minutes to spare.

That’s the tagline of a new campaign by UNICEF in Sweden. They’re encouraging people do donate money rather than just click a button. Because while the clicks are absolutely lovely, they don’t actually do anything. They’re just an easy way to pretend you’re making a difference. It’s slacktivism at its worst.

Of course, far fewer people will put their money where their click was. But it’s worth remembering that even a single cent is still worth more to charity than any number of those likes.

(Oh, and while we’re on the subject, actually, “one like ? one prayer”, although both are worthless, as mentioned above, it’s likely to do about as much good. i.e. none.)

Very simple, very clever and a great way to get around those really frustrating delays while you wait through yet another spiel of options to direct your call.

We like.

Some wonderful juxtaposition of hardcore electronica and simply-delivered lyrics. And because I have personally bought this version of the track, it can officially go in the 6000 recommends section of the blog.

A new type of weapon, the bouncing bomb, was designed and tested by Barnes Wallis specifically for the mission.

Two of the dams were breached while another sustained only minor damage. In the valley, 1,600 people drowned.

The raid was carried out by 133 airmen in 19 Lancaster bombers who formed the RAF’s 617 squadron. Fifty-six men and eight aircraft did not return.

The bomb in question was tested on the Derwent dam in Derbyshire, just down the road from my hometown of Sheffield. And yesterday, to commemorate the anniversary, there was a flypast over the dam wall (which you may remember from this flickr set) in front of huge crowds.

Notably, there’s a lot less water in there than last July. And a whole lot more World War II bomber over it too.

There’s video too – click here.

All in all, the Dambusters Raid was a huge boost to the British morale at what was obviously a hugely difficult time. The effects of the actual bombing on the German war effort were soon overcome, but the bravery of those young airmen deserves to be remembered – even now, 70 years on.

This was tucked away behind the counter at the equally aging Constantia Nek Restaurant where we stopped in for a quick beer and ice cream after acrobranching.
Covered in dust and grease (again a similarity with the rest of the place), it felt clunky, awkward and HEAVY!

It was the first one I’d ever seen in South Africa. But then it’s only been 9½ years since I arrived…

Hadfield returned to earth this week after 146 days in space on board the ISS. And while there were other astronauts up there with him, he was the one who kept us updated with the goings on aboard the vessel and gave us brilliant pictures like this.

* actually, now I do. Real tweet, but not the real man.

As I mentioned yesterday, I (with no little assistance from The (long-suffering) Guru) am playing with some of the settings behind the scenes of 6000 miles… 

I’ve installed the JetPack plugin which comes highly recommended and now I’m trying to ensure some degree of compatibility, specifically with reference to the media (flickr, youtube, vimeo and soundcloud) stuff, on posts.

Currently, historical posts featuring:

• Soundcloud – seem to be working, despite an initial conflict.
• Youtube – will only work if I keep the existing plugin activated.
• Vimeo – are dead.
• Flickr – are also dead.

Work in progress, then.

Allegedly, now that JetPack is up and running, I should just be able to drop a YouTube url in here and it should display it. Streamlinetastic.
So let’s see what happens when we lob in a bit of Radiohead.

And there we go, but a bit small, no? Let’s try adding some dimensions:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTB-iiecqk&w=678]

Much better. The only awkward bit being the fact that the coding required to make it the correct size is actually more laborious than the current plugin I’m using for this purpose.

So now the big decision: to move the media over onto JetPack’s tidier, less bulky, all-in-one solution or to stick with what I’ve got?

Things may look a little weird for a while.
And then they’ll hopefully look better again and be a bit quicker and generally tidier.

Please bear with me.

If I break it completely, it’s been nice. Thanks for reading.

Ah. Stay classy, Sheffield.