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Today's quotable quote: Alex Levine: Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.

This day in history: 25 February 2026: The Calaveras Skull Hoax Begins (1866). What began as a practical joke became a famous, decades-long scientific hoax when a prominent geologist not only fell for it, but vigorously defended it as real. After miners in Calaveras County, California, claimed to have found a human skull deep within a mine, Harvard University Professor Josiah Whitney—then the State Geologist of California—announced that it was the earliest evidence of humans on the continent.


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

Video: The twisting tail of fire that can clean up oil spills: Oil spills in oceans can spell disaster for ecosystems, but options for mitigating them are limited and can come with their own environmental challenges. Posted on 24 February 2026.

Airbus unveils two copter concepts for NATO program: NATO is set to replace and modernize its current helicopter fleet, and Airbus Helicopters is giving us a look at its vision of the rotorcraft future with the release of two concepts being submitted for the alliance's procurement competition. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Trump Administration Makes The Conscious Choice To Make America Less Prepared For The Next Pandemic: Way back in the ancient days of the year 2020, the world went through this pandemic thing called COVID-19. Posted on 25 February 2026.


Cape Town weather

5 day forecast

  • Wed 25: light rain

    18 ° - 23 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 33 %
  • Thu 26: light rain

    18 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 94 %
  • Fri 27: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sat 28: light rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 1 %
  • Sun 01: light rain

    17 ° - 18 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 97 %

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.

Hackathon winners combat ear infections, parasites and animal overpopulation: Products to fight ear infections in dogs, a parasite in cattle and animal population control challenges won top honors at the Feb. Posted on 24 February 2026.

: Posted on 01 January 1970.

Police AI chief admits crime-fighting tech will have bias but vows to tackle it: Exclusive: NCA’s Alex Murray says he hopes new £115m police AI centre can limit unfairness found in tools‘It’s not Robocop’: UK police embrace AI ‘efficiency’ in complex investigationsA police chief has admitted artificial intelligence used to boost crime fighting will contain bias but pledged to combat the risks. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Baby boy born to UK mother after womb transplant from dead donor: Grace Bell says she is ‘the happiest I’ve ever been in my life’ after giving birth to baby Hugo in UK firstA baby boy named Hugo is the first child to be born in the UK to a mother with a womb transplant from a dead donor. Posted on 25 February 2026.

One of my old favorite Linux distros is back - and it's still a great Windows escape: There's another Linux distribution that's ready to welcome Windows users with open arms, only this one has been around for a long time. Posted on 25 February 2026.

'Your balloon releases aren't going to heaven': Naomi Spittles refuses to provide balloons for memorial releases and says "it infuriates me". Posted on 24 February 2026.

Hegseth threatens to blacklist Anthropic over 'woke AI' concerns: The company's Claude chatbot is one of the few AI systems cleared for use in classified settings. Posted on 24 February 2026.

How Jeffrey Epstein Ingratiated Himself With Top Microsoft Executives: For more than two decades, the convicted sex offender developed a network at the tech giant, making him privy to succession discussions and other business. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Why was Rep. Al Green escorted out? #world: What happened in the House chamber Rep. Posted on 25 February 2026.

T. Rex Ran on Its Tiptoes ‘Like an 8-Ton Chicken’: New findings about the anatomy of the dinosaur age’s fiercest predator suggest it chased prey “like an oversized bird. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Baby chicks link certain sounds with shapes, just like humans do: A surprising new study shows that baby chickens react the same way that humans do when tested for something called the "bouba-kiki effect," which has been linked to the emergence of language. Posted on 19 February 2026.

Why was Rep. Al Green escorted out? #world: What happened in the House chamber Rep. Posted on 25 February 2026.

Apple's Touch-Screen MacBook Pro To Have Dynamic Island, New Interface: Apple's forthcoming touch-screen MacBook Pro models -- the company's first-ever laptops to support touch input -- will feature the iPhone's Dynamic Island at the center top of their OLED displays and a new interface that dynamically adjusts between touch and point-and-click controls, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the plans. Posted on 25 February 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.

James Webb telescope spots giant auroras rolling through Uranus' atmosphere: JWST observed Uranus for nearly a full rotation, charting the planet's upper atmosphere and magnetic environment for the first time. Posted on 24 February 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

  • Wed 25: light rain

    18 ° - 23 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 33 %
  • Thu 26: light rain

    18 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 94 %
  • Fri 27: sky is clear

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sat 28: light rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 1 %
  • Sun 01: light rain

    17 ° - 18 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 97 %
  • Mon 02: light rain

    16 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Tue 03: sky is clear

    16 ° - 20 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 3 %
  • Wed 04: light rain

    16 ° - 21 ° Wind 5 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Thu 05: moderate rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 36 %
  • Fri 06: sky is clear

    16 ° - 22 ° Wind 7 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Sat 07: sky is clear

    17 ° - 21 ° Wind 10 km/h / Clouds 4 %
  • Sun 08: sky is clear

    18 ° - 28 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Mon 09: sky is clear

    21 ° - 28 ° Wind 3 km/h / Clouds 0 %
  • Tue 10: scattered clouds

    19 ° - 24 ° Wind 6 km/h / Clouds 49 %
  • Wed 11: overcast clouds

    19 ° - 22 ° Wind 9 km/h / Clouds 99 %
  • Thu 12: light rain

    17 ° - 20 ° Wind 12 km/h / Clouds 21 %