Last night I powered up Gran Turismo 7 for the first time in quite a while and I enjoyed myself. I even managed to enjoy myself driving Willow Springs which, as a circuit, I don’t like. I did the Circuit Experience section of the game as it’s about thirty minutes play to smash the gold on these. I’m still distracted quite a bit by Fortnite, which feels such a terrible admission but I do enjoy that game. Anyway, I recorded the gold winning lap and zapped it to YouTube.
It’s Been More Than A Fortnite
Recently I’ve been persuaded to have a go at playing Fortnite. The last month has been an interesting time learning all the little ways that Epic Games manage to keep the interest within Fortnite. There are lots of challenges and quests that can be completed alongside the actual game of trying to kill everyone else. If you don’t know this game is based on Battle Royale – kill all the others until you are the only survivors. It’s actually pretty good fun and I have enjoyed learning things about the maps, the weapons and the gameplay.
I never thought I’d be into different skins and customisations in a game. I’ve quite enjoyed putting liveries on Gran Turismo cars but not ones that I’ve had to work hard for, or even pay for. If it ain’t free I’m not having it. Except, I have done that in Fortnite. I’ve paid for a decent looking glider that I will try and embed in another communication – it’s loosely based on the Grumman Goose. I’ve also paid a little money for some rather cool looking skins, and they were in the sale so that’s probably OK? Anyway, I’m an adult and can spend my money on whatever I want I guess.
I’m currently at level 184 or something. The shiny skin I have in the image took a fair amount of play and even trying third party games which are generally quite shit. You get bonus XP for completing tasks and the XP goes to give you levels. I will admit, I am hooked, and with other people in my team we can regularly come in the top 5 on the island so I enjoy this game a lot.
F-14D Over Brazil – Nothing Else To Say
Gran Turismo Progress
I’m still playing Gran Turismo occasionally. I’m slowly working through the challenges and completing racing tasks. It’s still great fun and a really nice way to shut the brain off.
I have currently driven a total of 8395.10 miles. I think my favourite statistic is that my average fuel consumption is 35 litres per 100km driven. The real car I drive can do 2 litres per 100km. I suspect that in the future, driving virtual cars will be the only way to enjoy the noise and feel of these vehicles. They should be banned already. Oh, by the way, electric cars aren’t the answer either – they won’t save the planet, they will only save the car industry.
A Very Enjoyable Time
I’ve been playing Stray on the PS5 recently with guidance from Legend and it’s been really enjoyable. A Lovely story with a completely believable world. The detail was amazing and I’m looking forward to exploring the game some more, there are a few trophies I’d like to get.
Stray
— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 8, 2022
Catwalk (GOLD)#PlayStationTrophy #PS5Share, #Stray pic.twitter.com/tVKNWZMoFp
The screen capture of the gold trophy for finishing the game is far less interesting. Maybe I’ll try to livestream some playing to YouTube later.
Stray
— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 8, 2022
Eye Opener (GOLD)#PlayStationTrophy #PS5Share, #Stray pic.twitter.com/wvGcFINhCP
All Seven Continents
It’s been a while since my last update to the list of airports and countries I have visited as part of my around the world flight in short hops. I can now confirm that I have reached all seven continents and am about to start making my way back home to the UK. There are some other communications from the first part to the second. So, here are the places I have been since the last communication and since updating X-Plane a short while ago.
Klyuchi Air Base Airport, Russia
Adak Airport, Alaska, U.S.A.
Lihue Airport, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Kahului Airport, Hawaii, U.S.A.
San Francisco International Airport, California, U.S.A.
Monterey Regional Airport, California, U.S.A.
San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, California, U.S.A.
Santa Barbara Airport, California, U.S.A.
Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach, California, U.S.A.
San Felipe International Airport, Mexico
Loreto International Airport, Mexico
La Paz International Airport- Manuel Márquez de León, Mexico
Los Cabos International Airport, Mexico
Mazatlán International Airport, Mexico
Tepic International Airport, Mexico
Lázaro Cárdenas Airport, Mexico
Chilpancingo National Airport, Mexico
Puerto Escondido International Airport, Mexico
Commercial Cd Ixtepec Airport, Mexico
Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport, Mexico
Toncontín Airport, Honduras
Juan Santamaría International Airport, Costa Rica
Enrique Malek International Airport (DAV), Panama
Ruben Cantu Airport, Panama
Tocumen International Airport, Panama
Enrique Adolfo Jiménez International Airport (ONX), Panama
Airport Antonio Roldan Betancur, Colombia
Olaya Herrera Airport, Colombia
Aeropuerto Antonio Narino, Colombia
Aeropuerto Mariscal La Mar, Ecuador
FAP Captain José Abelardo Quiñones González International Airport, Peru
Jorge Chavez International Airport, Peru
Aerodromo Maria Reiche, Peru
Juan Simons Vela Airport, Peru
Juan Mendoza Airport, Bolivia
Diego Aracena International Airport, Chile
San Pedro de Atacama Aerodrome SCPE, Chile
Las Breas Airport, Chile
Aeropuerto de Fiambalá, Chile
Aeropuerto Internacional Domingo Faustino Sarmiento – San Juan, Argentina
Santo Domingo Airfield, Chile
Mocha Island airport, Chile
Melinka Airport, Chile
Caleta Blanco Airport, Chile
Drummond Twins International Airport, Chile
Porvenir Airport, Chile
Almirante Schroeders Airport, Chile
Ushuaia Airport (USH), Argentina
Guardiamarina Zanartu Airport, Chile – moved to X-Plane 12
O’Higgins Skiway, Antarctica
RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, UK
So, that’s all the continents completed. Now to head up the east coast of South America, North America and then home to good old Great Britain – not so great these days!
I Said I Wouldn’t But I Did
On Friday I was chatting to the Legend and I said I wouldn’t buy X-Plane 12 because XP 11 is pretty good and most of my payware might not transfer over. Well, it took all of about 12 hours to change my mind and buy X-Plane 12 even though it’s the development product. It took a while to download because I got the scenery for the whole world – why wouldn’t you!
I had to set up the joystick and configure the keys so they work as I like. This didn’t take a massive amount of time but it’s frustrating when all you want to do is fly around and see the world.
The scenery is amazing. I have turned most graphics settings up to maximum and this works well with my RTX graphics card. I’m getting >20fps which for a flight simulator, especially X-Plane, is pretty darn good. Also, using the taskmaster I can see that the GPU is being used at around 90% and this pleases me. It’s worth having something you’ve paid for working as it should.
I’ve added in some of my custom scenery and it seems to be working well. So, I have my airport in Keswick, which doesn’t exist in reality but it does mean I’m in the Lake District immediately and can fly around and bomb shit.
Now all I have to do is continue my flight around the world and get back to the UK so I can attempt to learn more. My payware aircraft from XP11 kinda work. I’ve tried the T-7 and as long as I keep the throttle high enough it seems to work ok. If I drop the throttle to idle the engine dies and that’s a touch embarrassing.
I’m somewhere in Chile at the moment and I’m heading to an airport on Antarctica. I have no idea what will exist when I get there and I’m only doing it so I can say I’ve “been” to every continent in my around the world flight. Here’s to many more hours of fun.
Nazca – Peru – Flight Sim
I’ve written here about my current Flight Sim challenge which is to fly around the world in short stages. Each leg is somewhere from 50 miles to 2000 miles, sometimes you have to fly over the Pacific and there isn’t a load of airports there. I’m currently in Peru and my previous journey had me landing at Aerodromo Maria Reiche in Nasca. While heading there I flew over the Nazca Lines and so I decided to download a scenery pack and go back and see what it looks like. I didn’t want to zoom over at 500 knots so decided to take a Grumman Goose out for a trip. As I’m heading to Lake Titicaca next I might make that trip in the Goose and land on the lake. It’s not very fast so I’ll have to see how much time I have. I might take the T7 to closer to the lake and then swap.
What A Feeling
I’m still playing Gran Turismo 7 as it’s most likely the only game I will be able to get a Platinum trophy. There’s quite a bit of work to do, but I’m not in a rush. I have plenty of time. I just enjoy playing the game. I know there’s been annoyance from players because of lots of the internal economic market but I don’t really care about that. I’m happy to just keep playing.
I don’t currently spend huge amounts of time online racing as other people can be terrible and it’s hard t get the balance right. I’m happy to nudge an AI car now and then but it’s different when it’s another person. This is not something most people think about it would appear given how many times I’ve been knocked off. Anyway, I recently did some qualification laps and I was surprised that I claimed Pole Position. Not entirely sure how that happened and I don’t know how Polyphony allocate people to races to it could be entirely random. Anyway, I got Pole. I also won the race and got fastest lap. This was the first time this had happened for me and I was super proud.
Heading South
I’m still flying around the world in X-Plane. There are a few very boring communications about this within this site. This communication is just to have my recent Avro Vulcan landing published somewhere other than my YouTube channel. I think most of my landings in that airplane had been “less than satisfactory” but this one went ok. I’m still going to keep trying. I’m starting to vary the aircraft a little to see how they are different and to stave off the boredom of another flight sitting at 35,000ft for half an hour.
Upgrade In Quality
I’m still playing on the PS5. Recently I’ve been messing around in Minecraft and organising some things in that game within a new world – expect some videos at some point. The first thing I build, once the resources are ready, is a kelp farm with XP generator. This is handy for enchanting equipment and fixing equipment, anything where you need plenty of XP. I’m also still working my way through Gran Turismo. I reckon I’ll be able to get my first Platinum trophy on a Playstation Game within a year. I’m nearly there, just have to take part in 100 online races and 100 time trials. This will take time. Oh, and I need to buy three of the most expensive cars. Anyway, there’s no rush.
In the meantime I’ve been working my way through the circuit experience challenges. You have to complete sectors of each circuit within certain time targets and then the final challenge is a complete lap. Sometimes I smash this easily and within a few goes. Sometimes it takes a little longer. I don’t mind it taking longer, I get a better sense of achievement when I do get a Gold lap in.
Goodness, did I just take 122 miles of Laguna Seca to get a gold? Yes I did. #GranTurismo7
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2022
I reckon the 122 miles I did of Laguna Seca is tiny in comparison with the distance I did around Spa to get the I-10 licence gold. But I’ve got the dedication to keep going in this game even with all the frustrations.
I’ve recently found the 4k screen recording option within the PS5 for capturing clips of play. I only really capture stuff that I’m proud of and normally this will be a replay of a decent lap or race that I’ve saved. I can’t imagine anything worse than watching actual gameplay! Can you imagine seeing me crash fifty times in different places on a lap as I build up to a complete Gold medal win? Here is a 4k video I took of my gold lap around the Dragon Trail Seaside Circuit as part of the circuit experience. It took a while, mostly because of the walls of death and not being allowed to scrape the barriers!
Along with this here’s my lap around Deep Forest in the circuit experience. I got gold but it took some time to completely hook up a decent lap in every sector!
Stavelot – Belgium
I spent some time racing around the gorgeous circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. I was slightly bothered about the challenge being made in a Porsche but it turns out this particular car was very well behaved. This will be a 4k video [when processed] which I recorded and uploaded. My god, it looks amazing.
While I was watching the replay I noticed the amazing graphics of the brakes getting hot and decided to take a photograph. This was taken at the end of the long straight after Eau Rouge.
When I played this session it was far more satisfying than some recent gameplay. I’ve been attempting some races that I’ve actually struggled in! I also really love the dynamic weather but it’s a bit irritating to not know at the start of a thirty minute race what weather might be affecting you about fifteen minutes in! I will persist and get better.
You’ll Get Bored Soon
I’ve been playing a lot of Gran Turismo 7 because it’s fun and looks nice. There’s a photo mode which I mess around with now and then but it’s not really why I play the game. You can take a car and place it somewhere in the world where GT7 people have got high res images of certain locations. Then you can pretty much adjust every aspect of the car, position, lighting and camera details until you get the photograph you want. I then screen shot the best ones and we are at a stage in device connectivity that these media files now appear on my phone in the PS app. I quite like how it all links up. This makes it quite a bit easier for me to save the pictures rather than using a USB memory stick or sharing to Twitter and then downloading that file.
This image was set up and taken quickly for a bronze trophy within the game. You have to photograph a BMW Gr3 car at the Nürburgring. Fortunately I had won a BMW Gr3 car for completing some challenge or other so I already had that vehicle. The other photograph trophy is an Audi R18 at Le Mans and I’ve got to save up to buy that particular car as it’s three million credits in game and I only have about 1.2 million at the moment. The time will come though. In a short while I’m going to work on the Dirt Track trophy so look out for that tweet.
This is my car at the Nürburgring, I own a grey Prius like the one on the photograph except mine doesn’t have a body kit fitted to it, or a wing. While you can’t see the details in this photograph I have modified the car body as far as I can and reduced the weight of the vehicle by taking out everything that’s not needed. The engine has been tuned to a high degree and the suspension and brakes have been uprated. I’ve install some super sticky racing tyres and added a few racing details for fun. I think I’ll take a few more photographs of this car with a standard Prius next to it so the details stand out a little more.
I still don’t have the real Bora Horza Gobuchul because, oddly enough, the parts that are needed to replace the stolen parts are in high demand because too many of the catalytic converters are being stolen. I probably could get a decent one from eBay, and it might even be the one from my car, but it’s with the garage people right now and I’ll leave it there. Meanwhile I have an FR branded Ibiza which you might think was a little hot hatch but it most definitely not. I’ve counted the cylinders and I got to THREE before I ran out of cylinders to count.
All Gold – Licence Tests – Gran Turismo
Today was the day I managed to complete all Gold in the Gran Turismo 7 Licence section of the game. I had been struggling with the final test which was a drying lap around Spa in some crazy-assed Porsche. I struggled so much that I even watched some YouTube videos about completing the lap. I spent around 300km yesterday going around Spa and in that time I think I managed to complete about THREE laps. I constantly went off track or crashed. Today I spent another few hours working on this. The idea being that the track settles in my brain over the night time and I get better each day. I’m not sure I got better because it took another 395km to get a lap completed within the Gold time. I did find that I was getting better at Eau Rouge and was generally coming off in the later part of the lap more and more so I knew I was getting better and it was only a matter of time before I smashed it!
It doesn’t look much, the video. But trust me. It took a fuckton of effort to get to that point. If you touch the wet line you are fucked. If you touch a kerb you are fucked. If you accelerate too much in some corners you are fucked. Basically you are pretty much fucked at every stage of this track. You need to pull off a perfect lap and also make sure you don’t crash on the last few corners which you only see a few times because you spend the rest of the time in the chuffing barrier.
Here’s a map of Spa and here’s my list of troublesome corners in this test:
- La Source
- Eau Rouge
- Radillon
- Les Combes
- Malmedy
- Bruxelles
- Double Gauche
- Las Fagnes
- Paul Frere
- Blanchimont
- Chicane
That’s right people, pretty much every shitting corner caused me problems and I crashed regularly at every single one [except Kemmel]. Obviously I crashed most at La Source because once you’ve crashed there you can’t crash anywhere else around the circuit.
It’s Beautiful And Hard Work
I’m clearly still playing Gran Turismo 7. I have the PS5 version and I have to say it looks absolutely amazing. The lighting is fantastic. I’m enjoying the game but it is quite challenging and I’ve struggled at a couple of the licence tests and also some of the circuit experiences.
Goodness, did I just take 122 miles of Laguna Seca to get a gold? Yes I did. #GranTurismo7
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2022
I took quite a while to complete the Brands Hatch circuit experience mostly because it was in a Radical and they are a touch twitchy as you head around the track. I got there but it took about an hour. I’m currently on about two hours of work on the final licence test. I’ve passed at the silver level but I really want a gold. That would mean I have every licence at gold level and I would consider that an excellent achievement. The test is around a drying Spa circuit in a 1970 Porsche beast that doesn’t like a single wet patch. You have to really stick to the dry line around the circuit and so you don’t have any room for error. I’ve found it so frustrating I’ve even watched a few people on YouTube to get some tips.
Sometimes when you come off the track again at any of the bloody corners – I’ve crashed at every corner multiple times – you get this chap popping up onto your screen telling you to watch the demonstration. At first this seems like good advice but after two hours of trying and seeing this comment multiple times you end up telling that person to “fuck off” whenever they show up. I almost want to scream “leave me alone”. It’s emotionally challenging and I’m not sure how I will feel when I finally shave the last three seconds off my time and get gold.
At least the whole game looks amazing. The above clip is from a race at Spa and these aircraft I could only hear while the race started. I couldn’t see them from the car. I had to go to the replay to see them. Such attention to detail is pretty good. I also think the lighting in the “winner” screen is gorgeous and it makes me feel good:
Right. I have to get on the PS5 to have another day of swearing at the Spa circuit and hating my car.
How Long To Platinum?
I was a little upset the other night as I had finished a particular championship on Gran Turismo 7 and I got the ending movie! I wasn’t expecting it so soon. I’m hoping they add more championships over time but there’s still plenty of game content for me to work through. Apparently I have 294 trophies to get through to unlock the platinum trophy. Now, I have never unlocked a platinum so maybe I won’t make it but it is something to aim for. I had the following in a nice email from the Sony people:
Everything’s Connected
I have been quite impressed with the capabilities of the PlayStation 5. The graphics look amazing, the load times are impressively short and the sound is great. They recently added the ability to link screen captures into the app on a mobile phone making it much easier to save images and videos from games. I can now save a short video, get it on my phone and then send it anywhere I want. This is brilliant. PlayStations have had the ability to directly share with YouTube and Twitter for a while, they might even do Faceshit but I don’t really do that one. Having said that it’s impressive that I can now get this stuff on my phone I’m going to show you some captures I made recently and then uploaded to YouTube.
This first video I captured from Gran Turismo 7 was me driving a Ferrari thing and absolutely smashing it. I really enjoyed this short test. This most definitely wasn’t the first go at this licence. You see, the first go is generally learning about the car; how good are the brakes, how well does the thing turn in, what’s the oversteer like, what’s the engine sound on gear shift? Once you’ve got a grasp of all of that you can then start with a solid run to get the licence and then build up to the limit to get the Gold. Well, that’s how I do it.
This video is another Ferrari but this time a complete circuit around Monza. I really enjoyed this but it definitely wasn’t the first attempt. See the previous paragraph.
The final video I put on YouTube, for now, is me completing one of the Super Licence tests which is a complete lap around Interlagos in a Pagani. This took quite a few attempts and was good fun, although I don’t really like the accidental change into first at the last slow corner.
Getting Gold on every licence test is a bit of an obsession. I mean, why wouldn’t you? One of the Super Licence tests is an F1 clone type car around Laguna Seca. I think it took about an hour of my time to get gold. Sometimes I went off at the third corner, sometimes the last corner. It’s quite frustrating to get close to the end of the circuit knowing you are a couple of tenths ahead of the ghost car [your previous best lap] and then bin the car in the gravel.
Goodness, did I just take 122 miles of Laguna Seca to get a gold? Yes I did. #GranTurismo7
— Ian Parish (@iparish) April 2, 2022
Having said all the stuff above I am enjoying the game. I like the challenge and I’m happy plodding along doing a little each day. I know there’s been quite a backlash to the rewards and “lucky dip” that the game designers have made but I also wonder if people just aren’t patient enough to want to play a game long term. I very rarely finish a game but one thing I know for sure is that I’d rather enjoy it that complete it, if that makes sense. I don’t see games as movies which I suspect is how many other players see them. If the game can allow me to do something I can do in real life and make it fun then I’m happy.
Still Flying Around The World
I am still flying around the world in a series of flights on the flight simulator. I’ll have to look back through here to figure out when I started but I’m currently on the Kamchatka peninsula heading towards the Bering Straights. My most recent flight looks like this:
I’ve generally been doing flights of a few hundred miles but every now and then I put in one of a few thousand. I’m not sure if I’m going to Hawaii or not at the moment. I wonder if I head there, then California and on to South America. I honestly am not sure. I do know that once I get to Iceland I am pretty much done and then what do I do? It’s been fun planning the flights and heading around the world in this simulated world.
The last communication that covered a list of airports ended at Tenzing Hillary Airport in Nepal and so here is the rest of the list to bring us up to date:
Tumling Tar Airport, Nepal
Lhasa Gonggar Airport, Tibet
Paro Airport, Bhutan
Yonphula Airport, Bhutan
Kyaukhtu South Airport, Myanmar
Yangon International, Myanmar
Kyaukhtu South Airport, Myanmar
Dawei Airport, Myanmar
Myeik Airport, Myanmar
Kawthaung Airport, Myanmar
Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore
Brunei International Airport, Brunei
Syamsudin Noor International Airport, Indonesia
Selaparang Airport, Indonesia
Sumbawa Besar Airport, Indonesia
Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin Airport, Indonesia
Komodo International Airport, Indonesia
El Tari International Airport, Indonesia
Darwin International Airport, Australia
Broome International Airport, Australia
Port Hedland International Airport, Australia
Karratha Airport, Australia
Kalbarri Airport, Australia
RAAF Gingin, Australia
Bunbury Airport, Australia
Albany Regional Airport, Australia
Ravensthorpe Airport, Australia
Esperance Airport, Australia
Norseman Airport, Australia
Port Lincoln Airport, Australia
Adelaide Airport, Australia
Kingston Airport, Australia
Portland Airport, Australia
Warrnambool Airport, Australia
Apollo Bay Airport, Australia
Moorabbin (Harry Hawker) Airport, Australia
Burnie Airport, Australia
Hobart Airport, Australia in the Avro Vulcan
Te Anau Airport, New Zealand
Invercargill Airport, New Zealand
Ryan’s Creek Aerodrome, New Zealand
Queenstown Airport, New Zealand
Christchurch Airport, New Zealand
Woodbourne Airport, New Zealand
Wellington Airport, New Zealand
New Plymouth Airport, New Zealand
Auckland Airport, New Zealand
Nouméa Magenta Airport, New Calendonia
Honiara International Airport, Solomon Islands
Rabaul Airport, Papua New Guinea
Lae Nadzab Airport, Papua New Guinea
Goroka Airport, Papua New Guinea
Kagamuga International Airport, Papua New Guinea
Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International Airport, Indonesia
Rendani Airport, Indonesia
Domine Eduard Osok Airport, Indonesia
Buli/Halmahera Island Airport, Indonesia
Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Indonesia
Naha Airport, Indonesia
General Santos International Airport, Philippines
Francisco Bangoy International Airport, Philippines
Lumbia Airfield, Philippines
Surigao Airport, Philippines
Panan-awan Airport, Philippines
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, Philippines
Catarman National Airport, Philippines
Legazpi Airport, Philippines
Bagasbas Airport, Philippines
Fort Magsaysay Airport, Philippines
Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, China
Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, China
Zhoushan Putuoshan Airport, China
Jeju International Airport, South Korea
Pyongyang International Airport, DPRK
Orang Airport, DPRK
Yanji Chaoyangchuan International Airport, China
Vladivostok International Airport, Russia
Sapporo Okadama Airport, Japan
Monbetsu Airport, Japan
Iturup Island Airport, Russia
Elizovo Airport, Russia
Klyuchi Air Base Airport, Russia
And there we have it. The list so far since the last communication. Not sure how to conquer the Pacific, will keep thinking about it.
This is communication number 2021 and so here are some things that happened in that year of our lord:
- NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter performs the first powered flight on another planet in history.
- Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
- The number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 5 million.
- Barbados becomes a republic on its 55th anniversary of independence while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
So Close But Absolutely No Gold
So, in this new Gran Turismo version we get to try and complete all the licences again to be able to race in all the different series. I think I’m on the third licence and it’s not really one of those parts of the game I really enjoy. Mind you, I find it incredibly frustrating so when I do pass the actual licence I am cheered by it. Some of the licences I have got gold first time, others have taken me about half an hour on continuing to try.
The above licence I missed out on gold by four one thousandths of a second. That was really annoying.
I like that GT Auto is back and you can wash your car. I also like the fact we can change the oil and other parts. There are options for a whole new body and also a new engine so wouldn’t that mean it was a brand new or different car? Looking at my profile I can see that my average fuel consumption is 2.47 km/l this is 6.9 miles per gallon for the UK and USA audience. I’m going to have to see if I can get that more uneconomical.
I’ve been writing a few things that happened in the year of the communication number and this is number 2020 so here are some things that happened then:
- Covid 19 causes a heap of shit around the world and it is amplified by poor leadership in many countries.
- Brent Crude falls to $27 a barrel. It is currently $109. But there’s a war going on and shortness of supplies.
- King Salman issues a royal decree, declaring that people will no longer be executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes they were convicted of when they were minors. Well, this means they were doing it before this date. It’s bloody 2020!
- The Royal Astronomical Society announces the detection of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere, which is known to be a strong predictor for the presence of microbial life.
Probably The First Of Many
Just a short communication today to point out my first screen share video uploaded to my YouTube channel. I’ve uploaded a few short clips to my Twitter feed but this is the first I’ve really thought about. I saved the replay of this in GT7 and then video captured it. I guess I should have a go at streaming from the PS5 but that can happen later. The video shows me attempting, and passing, one of the challenges. I had to overtake all three jeeps in front of me [well, the couldn’t be behind me]. I passed, but only just. I was really impressed with the dirt graphics and the headlights. Man, the headlights.
This is communication number 2019 and in keeping with a recent tradition and genuinely not having a clue about what to do in three communication’s time here are some things that happened in that year:
- A mine dam breaks in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. At least 248 people are killed, with 22 missing.
- Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, located in the centre of the M87 galaxy.
- The redefinition of the SI system of measurement adopted by the majority of countries in the world takes effect.
- First known human case of Coronavirus disease 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei, China.