Fascinating project that scans Wikipedia and reports the most famous person from just about any city and town on a big global map. Even my own tiny home town of about 3000 people had an entry. While many places have people famous for politics, sports, music, Nobel prize winners, and so forth, you might also discover that the most notable person from your town might have been a pretty terrible person – name recognition is fickle.
I think I have a new bucket list location. The Exumas (travel info here) are a district of the Bahamas, consisting of over 365 islands, also called cays. Renown for sapphire-blue waters, deserted cays, swimming pigs on Big Major Cay, and ultra-excusive resorts (like David Copperfield’s Musha Cay that rents for $50,000/night). It’s a real paradise on earth that draws people the world over.
As of August 1, 2022, Scottish Pladda Island is for sale via Knight Frank. Besides the 27 acres of island, it also houses a working lighthouse, walled garden, lightkeepers house, various outbuildings, stone landing jetty, and even a helipad – for any offers in excess of £350,000 (approx. $426,000 USD).
There are some caveats. The lighthouse is still owned and operated by the Scottish Northern Lighthouse Board and they have right of servitude and access to the lighthouse and solar array for inspection, maintenance, repair, and renewal. They maintain right of access to tie up boats at the jetty and land helicopters. There is no power or water supply to the island. A well exists but the pump and storage tank must be replaced. None of the houses have been lived in for some time and renovations will be required.
However, for the cost of a house in a major city, you might just own your own Scottish island.
Checkout out the brochure and floorplans – or make your bid!
Latin based languages share a massive amount of common and overlapping words. RobWords offers these 3 tricks for English speakers to scuttle through the French language. I find these kinds of tips super helpful for a casual traveler. As always, these are not hard and fast and some require some lateral thinking to make the connections – but it’s good enough to really improve your muddling through the French language.
Put them together and:
L’écureuil étudie guillaume le guerrier à l’école dans la forêt.
We translate as:
L’ scureuil studie willaume le werrier à l’scole dans la forest.
becomes:
The squirrel studies william the warrior at school in the forest.
Are you a fan of Bridgerton? Would you like a fancy dress-up night in 1800’s garb? Well! The Queen’s Ball Bridgerton Experience might be for you.
The Queen herself invites you to a once-in-a-lifetime evening of music and dance complete with acrobatic performances, interactive experiences, a stunning dance show, and plenty of surprises.
As guests at this delightful soirée, you will be transported to 1813 London to take part in the most coveted ball of the season. Prepare to mingle with other members of the Ton as you immerse yourself in an evening unlike any you have ever experienced before.
Enjoy a beautiful ballroom decorated in the Regency-era style, interact with actors dressed in exquisite period costumes, savor delicious cocktails, and listen to live music inspired by the iconic Bridgerton soundtrack.
Even more interesting, when you buy your ticket, you get a discount to local costume and clothing providers like Rent the Runway and Ponton costumes so you can fully dress the part.
When visiting Tokyo Tsukiji fish market, you should definitely try some of the freshest sushi in the world. But which spots should you check out?
This list from Savor Japan had 2 of my favorites, and the others seem like good recommendations too.
One of the best 4k walkthroughs of the Tokyo installation from Feb 2022. It’s even more mind blowing in person if that seems possible.
Arita Japan was likely the first place porcelain was found in Japan. Since then, it’s become the center of Japanese Porcelain. They make some amazingly intricate and delicate porcelain. Arita Porcelain Labs turns out some amazing items.
Here’s a movie about their work:
Tokyo Weekender also did an article on the labs and some other porcelain makers in the area.
Sublimotion is a fascinating restaurant experience located in Sant Josep de sa Talaia in Ibiza, Spain. As of 2015, the restaurant is considered the most expensive in the world with an average price of around USD $2,300 per person.
What makes it so expensive? First, it is only open from June 1 until Sept 30 with only 2 seating’s of 12 guests per night – making reservations very exclusive. Second, 2-star Michelin chef Paco Roncero utilizes molecular gastronomy in the 20 course tasting meal. And finally, you get a fully immersive VR/Projection mapped experience with actors, laser light shows, DJ’s, virtual reality experiences, and actors.
Give this a look to see what the experience is like:
This isn’t the first restaurant with similar experiences.
Ultraviolet Restaurant in Shanghai was very similar but slightly more playful/experimental feel. Some have accused Sublimotion of having copied their original concept since there are some clear similarities.
There are also lots of other restaurants and dining experiences adding projection mapping to their menus as well. A few years back, I went to Inamo in London that had projection mapped dining surfaces as well as the ability to pay your bill, order more drinks, and even order a cab from the table.
Belgian artists Filip Sterckx and Antoon Beeck, who work under the collective name Skullmapping, to create the interactive eating experience called Le Petite Chef.
Two pretty cool museums to visit if you are ever in Kent UK.
First the one of the largest private collections of vintage microcomputers in the UK: The Micro Museum in Ramsgate.
This Museum is (Not) Obsolete is right next door and contains TONS of amazing vintage electronics – most of which still works! Working telephone switching hubs, scopes, and lots of crazy modern rebuilds done by Look Mum No Computer.