Next Expedition: Dan will embark on his biggest journey to date, as he attempts a Global Triathlon – swimming, cycling and running around the world. This will include a grueling 5700km swim, as Dan attempts to become the first man in history to swim the Atlantic.
Hello I'm Dan Martin. This is my world:
“If kids grow kale, kids eat kale. If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes. But when none of this is presented to them, if they’re not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever you put in front of them.â€
Ron Finley talks about his guerrilla gardening projects. Turning barren wastelands and unused bits of public land into food forests for the people. Legend.
Previous TED Thursday Talks:
TED Thursday: Are Mushrooms The New Plastic?
TED Thursday: Want to help? Shut up and listen.
TED Thursday: The world’s oldest living things
TED Thursday: How Mushrooms Will Save Us And The World
TED Thursday: How We Found The Giant Squid
TED Thursday: How I Fell In Love With A Fish
TED Thursday: Were We Born To Swim? Aquatic Ape Theory
TEDThursday: Can we control climate change by reversing desertification?
As with any strangely dedicated group of people, our local swimming group have developed their own language. Here are a few terms and phrases to allow you to properly converse with our oddest of odd bunches:
Bioprene
Definition: Bioprene is used to describe body fat.
Usage: “I’m packing a bit more heat than you as I have more bioprene.”
Swuggle
Definition: A swuggle is a non swimming friend.
Usage: “I can’t come swimming today I have some swuggles coming to visit.”
Calorie Window
Definition: A calorie window is the half hour time period after an open water swim during which no calories count. You can eat whatever you want during this period.
Usage: “I’ve bought muffins and cake for the calorie window.”
Fresh Water Jellyfish
Definition: A fresh water jellyfish is a nettle that has been cut and is floating in the river.
Usage: “Bloody b@$&ard fresh water jellyfish just stung me!”
Wimpsuit
Definition: Wimpsuit is a derogatory term for a wetsuit.
Usage: “No, of course you can’t wear a wimpsuit, this is swimming not bondage.”
Tansor
Definition: A Tansor is a measurement of current used almost solely by me. It’s measure by how many seconds it takes for a stick to float a third of the jetty at Tansor Rowing Club.
Usage: “The river was at 6 Tansors when we had the mega flood but now it’s back to it’s normal 50 Tansors.”
The Black Plague
Definition: Derogatory term for either a person wearing a wetsuit of a group of people in wetsuits.
Usage: “Looks like he’s got the Black Plague.” Or “I’ve been swimming all winter and I turned up today and the Black Plague were everywhere.”
Tricky
Definition: Tricky describes a swim that will end in certain death.
Usage: “These ice covered rapids look tricky.”
Toasty
Definition: Toasty describes water temperature ranging from absolute zero Kelvin up to about 8C after which it’s referred to as tropical.
Usage: “Man alive, this water is toasty today.”
Tropical
Definition: Tropical describes water temperature over 8C.
Usage: “Blimey, this water is tropical today.”
Let me know of any of your in jokes, terms and phrases either in the comments bit below or on twitter here: DanielMartinAdv
This is a great talk by Eben Bayer about how with a bit of ingenuity we can cut down our use of plastic and replace it with bio-degradable materials that don’t last for thousands of years and don’t wash out to sea.
Previous TED Thursday Talks:
TED Thursday: Want to help? Shut up and listen.
TED Thursday: The world’s oldest living things
TED Thursday: How Mushrooms Will Save Us And The World
TED Thursday: How We Found The Giant Squid
TED Thursday: How I Fell In Love With A Fish
TED Thursday: Were We Born To Swim? Aquatic Ape Theory
TEDThursday: Can we control climate change by reversing desertification?
This is the most dangerous book I’ve ever read.
I have a painful disdain for running. I am ‘big boned’ and running for me equates to smashing my feet into the ground as hard as possible and receiving very little forward momentum as a result. I’ve done a couple of marathons and these have produced shin splints, stress fractures and countless knock on injuries (ankle, knee, hip, back). Running had never been my thing. This book changed that.
You start reading it and somehow running gets under your skin, it infects you, and not just running but long distance running, really long distance running. And then you learn all about the history of running and how our bodies are designed to do it and then you hear of epic races with weird and wonderful people from all over the world and before you know it you’re searching the internet for ultra marathons in the most far flung places!
This book brings joy back to running. It’s no longer a slog, the aim is to glide. I’m no longer pulverising my feet, I’m unleashing their amazing mechanical potential. I’m no where near perfect yet but this book has set me on the right course.
Here’s the author explaining it better than I can:
WARNING! Put the book down and step away from the internet. I only lend this book to friends after they’ve made a solemn oath not to register for an ultra for at least a month after finishing reading it. WARNING!
Forestry has caused a survival of the UNfittest situation to occur where the biggest and talest trees are cut down and taken out of the gene pool. This project is trying to take cuttings from some of the world’s largest and most important trees and spread them round the world to ensure their survival.
I love this project, it makes so much sense.
Ancient Future: The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive Story from rivetentertainment on Vimeo.
Check out their work on their website here: www.ancienttreearchive.org
Related Posts:
Environment: The Black Fish
Environment: The Woman Who Swims With Killer Whales
Environment: This is the Landfill Harmonic
Environment: Citizen Science-Get Involved!
Environment: Save Bristol Bay
Double click video to enlarge
Faffalete – someone who has loads of kit, swim toys (paddles, pull buoys etc) and notes left at the end of the pool or circuit with loads of notes on them. As in, “I wanted to do a continuous swim, but the faffaletes were having a conference at the end of the lane.”
Sealfest – Tooting Bec lido between 6 and 7.30 in the morning. Usually accompanied by the faint aroma of urine.
I love Faffalete, that’s definitely going in! Sealfest is pretty similar to The Black Plague though.