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Today's quotable quote: Compton Mackenzie: Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whiskey makes it go round twice as fast.

This day in history: 18 March 2026: Landmark US Supreme Court Decision Guarantees Right to Counsel (1963). After he was accused of breaking into a bar in Florida in 1961, Clarence Gideon was unable to afford a lawyer and was forced to defend himself. Sentenced to five years in prison, he had ample time to study the law, and he began petitioning the courts with the claim that his right to legal counsel had been violated. In 1963, the US Supreme Court agreed with him, establishing that state courts were required to provide attorneys for poor defendants.



The Vintage

Fair point tbh, 10 January 2026

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Fair point tbh


The Vintage

I'd be afraid of tomatoes, too, 06 January 2026

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I'd be afraid of tomatoes, too



Home - Outeniqua Choo Tjoe

outeniquachootjoe.com, 29 October 2025

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Please watch this site for news about Classic Rails’s project to return steam trains to South Africa's Garden Route.




Klepetan and Malena - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org, 14 October 2025

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Klepetan and Malena were a pair of white storks (Ciconia ciconia) who became renowned in Croatia for their romantic endeavors. Between 2001 and 2021, Klepetan traveled from South Africa to Brodski Varoš, Croatia, each spring to mate with Malena, who was unable to travel due to a gunshot injury. On ...


The Vintage

Woah #fblifestyle, 02 October 2025

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Woah #fblifestyle


A Brief History of the Minimoog Part I

youtube.com, 23 September 2025

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Follow the life of the Minimoog Synthesizer from its inception through its prolific contributions to poplular music throughout the last 4 decades.In this fir...



Physics wins, hydrogen cars lose

medium.com, 24 July 2025

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How many times have we heard that hydrogen-powered cars are “the future”? Well, that future has been collapsing like a house of cards for a…


The Vintage

In South Portland, Maine, a group of parents sparked a quiet revolution by replacing smartphones with landlines for their kids. Concerned about the effects of constant screen time, they formed a “landline pod,” where children use home phones to call one another, plan playdates, and have real conversations—no texting, no apps, no distractions. The result? Kids building confidence, empathy, and stronger social skills through simple, meaningful connection. What began as one mother’s creative idea has grown into a neighborhood movement that’s bringing back the lost art of talking., 20 July 2025

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In South Portland, Maine, a group of parents sparked a quiet revolution by replacing smartphones with landlines for their kids. Concerned about the effects of constant screen time, they formed a “landline pod,” where children use home phones to call one another, plan playdates, and have real conversations—no texting, no apps, no distractions. The result? Kids building confidence, empathy, and stronger social skills through simple, meaningful connection. What began as one mother’s creative idea has grown into a neighborhood movement that’s bringing back the lost art of talking.



Frogsicles: Frozen But Still Alive

youtube.com, 05 July 2025

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The wood frog's body makes its own anti-freeze that allows it to survive the winter. The secret ingredient? You'll never guess.From: CRAZY MONSTER FROGShttp:...

Contact details

Dion Truter

Work: map2tech, Unit 186, Block F, Millennium Business Park, 19 Edison Way, Century City, 7441

082 389 2834

contact7@truter.org

https://map2tech.com/

In the news

Google says its upcoming data center will cool itself without water: Among the many problems posed by the rapid proliferation of data centers around the world is the strain on local water supplies. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Retro reusable digicam draws on the spirit of the disposable film camera: The Rewindpix, a non-disposable digital camera currently on Kickstarter, is a throwback to the single-use film cameras for people who missed the 90s the first time around, now that the era is vibing all over again. Posted on 18 March 2026.

U.S. District Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Against RFK, HHS For Its Vaccine Schedule Changes: It was mere days ago that we were discussing an interesting lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics, among others, challenging RFK Jr. Posted on 19 March 2026.


Cape Town weather

5 day forecast

  • Thu 19: light rain

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 100 %
  • Fri 20: light rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 66 %
  • Sat 21: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sun 22: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Mon 23: scattered clouds

    17 ° - 27 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 48 %

See next two weeks

News (continued)

How I Get Free Traffic from ChatGPT in 2025 (AIO vs SEO): Three weeks ago, I tested something that completely changed how I think about organic traffic. Posted on 04 December 2025.

AI on deck: assessing impact of MLB’s new ball-strike system: Major League Baseball is instituting a major change this season, and it has inspired Cornell researchers to study how stakeholders are integrating the Automated Ball-Strike System, or ABS, into baseball’s sacred gameplay. Posted on 18 March 2026.

: Posted on 01 January 1970.

Inside the fiery, deadly crashes involving the Tesla Cybertruck: Cybertrucks have locked passengers inside and burned so hot they’ve disintegrated drivers’ bones. Posted on 19 March 2026.

Butterflies crossing oceans, moths navigating by the stars: unravelling the mysteries of insect migrations: Trillions of insects embark, largely unnoticed, on epic journeys every year across mountain ranges, deserts and seas, and it is only now, as their numbers suffer huge declines, that scientists are tracking their movementsOn a cloudless sunny day in October 1950, ornithologists Elizabeth and David Lack stood on a mountain pass in the Pyrenees and observed a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle – clouds of migrating insects. Posted on 19 March 2026.

This AI tool turned my messy browser tabs into something actually manageable: Meet my new secret weapon for automatically organizing online articles, research, and YouTube videos. Posted on 19 March 2026.

Fly tippers face clearing up own rubbish as punishment: Fly tippers could face up to 20 hours of community service removing rubbish they have illegally dumped. Posted on 18 March 2026.

Do you understand this billboard? If not, that's the whole point: San Francisco's streets are plastered with cryptic ads from AI startups. Posted on 18 March 2026.

Silicon Valley Bet on War. The Bets Are Paying Off.: After years of criticism and financial risk, Palantir, Anthropic and small start-ups are generating rewards from their investments in defense tech. Posted on 19 March 2026.

Why did Democrats storm out of DOJ briefing? #world: What happened at the DOJ briefing Democrats walked out of a closed door Justice Department briefing involving material related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Posted on 19 March 2026.

NASA’s Hubble Telescope Spots Comet K1 Exploding Into Fragments: In a stroke of luck, astronomers saw the comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) break into four or five fragments in November after it passed close to the sun. Posted on 19 March 2026.

These roaches form exclusive long-term relationships after eating each other's wings: Salganea taiwanensis, a kind of wood-feeding cockroach, may engage in what's known as pair bonding, a new study finds. Posted on 18 March 2026.

Why did Democrats storm out of DOJ briefing? #world: What happened at the DOJ briefing Democrats walked out of a closed door Justice Department briefing involving material related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Posted on 19 March 2026.

FBI Is Buying Location Data To Track US Citizens, Director Confirms: An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The FBI has resumed purchasing reams of Americans' data and location histories to aid federal investigations, the agency's director, Kash Patel, testified to lawmakers on Wednesday. Posted on 19 March 2026.

China’s humanoid robots are gaining ground – but they’re not there yet: The U.S. and China are racing to build humanoid robots capable of performing many daily tasks – but the complexity of home and business environments makes that challenging. Posted on 29 August 2025.

Artemis II: NASA is preparing for a return to the moon, but why is it going back?: NASA's Artemis II mission is sending humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era. Posted on 18 March 2026.


Some of the tech in my workday

Best programming language?

The PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language Index is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google.

The TIOBE Programming Community index measures popularity based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses, third party vendors and search engine activity.

w3techs analyses page content to determine the technology used, and also uses publicly available information from sources such as Alexa, Google, Microsoft and ipinfo.io.

While Java and Python top the popularity charts, more than 80% of all websites run on PHP.


Longer term weather forecast

Cape Town weather

  • Thu 19: light rain

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 100 %
  • Fri 20: light rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 66 %
  • Sat 21: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sun 22: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Mon 23: scattered clouds

    17 ° - 27 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 48 %
  • Tue 24: broken clouds

    18 ° - 25 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 72 %
  • Wed 25: light rain

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 4 km/h / Clouds 66 %
  • Thu 26: sky is clear

    17 ° - 21 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 1 %
  • Fri 27: sky is clear

    17 ° - 21 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 1 %
  • Sat 28: broken clouds

    17 ° - 22 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 76 %
  • Sun 29: overcast clouds

    17 ° - 22 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 100 %
  • Mon 30: light rain

    18 ° - 20 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 45 %
  • Tue 31: broken clouds

    17 ° - 22 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 81 %
  • Wed 01: sky is clear

    17 ° - 22 ° Wind 4 km/h / Clouds 2 %
  • Thu 02: broken clouds

    18 ° - 22 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 58 %
  • Fri 03: sky is clear

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 3 %