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Today's quotable quote: Becky Alunan: Life is a joke. The only way to survive it is to find the right punchline.

This day in history: 05 January 2026: Peter Sutcliffe Charged in the "Yorkshire Ripper" Case (1981). From 1975 to 1981, the Yorkshire area of England was terrorized by a string of murders. Though hundreds of investigators worked to find the killer, they were hampered by false leads, and the case generated so much paperwork that real clues were buried. After Sutcliffe was arrested for having stolen license plates, police noticed his similarity to the killer.



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:...



Abandoned

These weren't just "oaks" - they were planted between larch and spruce so that they would grow tall and straight, which means the navy oak forests are rather unusual., 20 April 2025

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These weren't just "oaks" - they were planted between larch and spruce so that they would grow tall and straight, which means the navy oak forests are rather unusual.




The Vintage

The real question is why was a 46-year-old interested in a 13-year-old......, 01 March 2025

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The real question is why was a 46-year-old interested in a 13-year-old......

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

'Microneedling' of plants could boost growth and reduce fertilizer waste: If you’re a gardener – and definitely if you’re a farmer – you want to spend less on fertilizer but while growing more food. Posted on 04 January 2026.

Aircraft carrier nuclear reactors could help solve AI's power problem: If you have a redundant nuclear aircraft carrier lying around, you can give HGP Intelligent Energy a call. Posted on 05 January 2026.

Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of 2025 At Techdirt: It’s that time again! Instead of our usual look at the top comments of the week, it’s time to celebrate the most highly voted comments of the year at Techdirt. Posted on 04 January 2026.


Cape Town weather

5 day forecast

  • Mon 05: sky is clear

    18 ° - 24 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 5 %
  • Tue 06: light rain

    19 ° - 21 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 99 %
  • Wed 07: sky is clear

    18 ° - 22 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Thu 08: light rain

    17 ° - 21 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 26 %
  • Fri 09: broken clouds

    18 ° - 23 ° Wind 11 km/h / Clouds 67 %

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.

Who should get paid when AI learns from creative work?: A new paper co-authored by Cornell law professor Frank Pasquale argues that the current copyright system is ill-equipped to handle a world in which machines learn from, and compete with, human creativity at unprecedented scale. Posted on 22 December 2025.

: Posted on 01 January 1970.

World ‘may not have time’ to prepare for AI safety risks, says leading researcher: AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systemsThe world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency. Posted on 05 January 2026.

Wolf supermoon across the world – in pictures: According to Nasa, a supermoon occurs when the moon, due to its proximity to Earth, appears up to 15% larger and 30% brighter than a regular full moon Continue reading. Posted on 05 January 2026.

I saw LG's ultra-thin OLED TV at CES 2026, and it made even last year's models feel outdated: The company is bringing back the W-series of TVs, with the OLED Evo W6 being its thinnest one yet. Posted on 05 January 2026.

The debate about whether the NHS should use magic mushrooms to treat depression: Many clinical trials to test the use of psychedelic medicines for conditions such as depression have been underway since 2022 - with surprising results. Posted on 02 January 2026.

The crafters powering the AI boom: America's AI boom requires a lot of power. Posted on 02 January 2026.

As Schools Embrace A.I. Tools, Skeptics Raise Concerns: More governments are rolling out chatbots in schools. Posted on 05 January 2026.

Japan stocks gain 3% on first trading day of 2026: . Posted on 05 January 2026.

The Year in Neanderthal Discoveries: They drew with crayons, possibly fed on maggots and maybe even kissed us: Forty millenniums later, our ancient human cousins continued to make news. Posted on 05 January 2026.

In the snow, these salamanders get supercool: Blue spotted salamanders have been seen walking across snow and new research suggests how they get by in the cold. Posted on 24 December 2025.

Norway’s New Car Sales Were Almost Entirely Electric Last Year: Norway Bought Almost No Gas Cars Last Year Even with Chinese carmakers increasing their market share and presence, Tesla has remained the bestseller. Posted on 05 January 2026.

Workstation Owner Sadly Marks the End-of-Life for HP-UX: Wednesday marked the end of support for the last and final version of HP-UX, writes OSNews. Posted on 05 January 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.

50 mind-blowing science facts about our incredible world: If you're looking for weird facts about animals, gross human body facts or just something a bit random, get ready to geek out with these fascinating bits of trivia. Posted on 04 January 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

  • Mon 05: sky is clear

    18 ° - 24 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 5 %
  • Tue 06: light rain

    19 ° - 21 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 99 %
  • Wed 07: sky is clear

    18 ° - 22 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Thu 08: light rain

    17 ° - 21 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 26 %
  • Fri 09: broken clouds

    18 ° - 23 ° Wind 11 km/h / Clouds 67 %
  • Sat 10: sky is clear

    18 ° - 28 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sun 11: sky is clear

    20 ° - 28 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Mon 12: sky is clear

    21 ° - 26 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Tue 13: sky is clear

    20 ° - 25 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 3 %
  • Wed 14: sky is clear

    20 ° - 25 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 5 %
  • Thu 15: sky is clear

    20 ° - 24 ° Wind 12 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Fri 16: sky is clear

    20 ° - 25 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sat 17: light rain

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 79 %
  • Sun 18: light rain

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 13 %
  • Mon 19: sky is clear

    18 ° - 21 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Tue 20: sky is clear

    18 ° - 22 ° Wind 8 km/h / Clouds 4 %