Dan Martin's Blog

TED Thursday: Guerrilla Gardening in South Central Los Angeles

Dan — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:49:19 +0000

“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.”

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?

If You Go Down To The Nene Today….The Nene River Swimming Glossary

Dan — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:23:17 +0000

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

TED Thursday: Are Mushrooms The New Plastic?

Dan — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:41:34 +0000

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?

Life Changing Books: Born To Run: The Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Dan — Wed, 08 May 2013 07:49:36 +0000

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:

Buy it on Amazon here.

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!

Environment: The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive

Dan — Tue, 07 May 2013 07:58:14 +0000

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

TED Thursday: Want to help? Shut up and listen.

Dan — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:16:10 +0000

This a great talk by Ernesto Sirolli. He’s funny, articulate and importantly-hugely right about charity and aid. His hippo story is a great example and he now runs a facilitating charity that works with no preconceptions or ideas, it just functions to help answer any problems local entrepreneurs may have. Amazingly simple and spot on. A hand up is ten times more powerful than a hand out.

If this interests you then this book is great: Dead Aid by Dambiso Moyo

Previous TED Thursday Talks:

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?

Life Changing Reads: The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t born. It’s grown

Dan — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:59:27 +0000

Over my life there have been a few books that I’ve read and that have completely changed my view on huge swathes of my life. I’m going to highlight a few of the over the coming months.

The first one is The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.

Talent is not born, it’s grown.

Show me anyone who can be described as talented and I’ll show you someone who has put in hours and hours of work into getting where they are. This book highlights the power of purposeful and deep practice and shows the talent myth for what it is. You are not born good at maths. You are not born good at golf. You are born with a brain with a phenomenal capacity for learning and skill acquisition. The more that skill is practiced with perfect form the more the neural pathways are insulated with myelin. The myelin allows the message to pass down these pathways quicker and easier allowing a skill to be performed easier and easier.

This may all be difficult to swallow, it was for me too. I grew up in a world where “talented” people were just born that way and there was nothing you can do to counter that. This is a dangerous mindset to have kids growing up in. This book shows the true power of deep practice, expert coaching and self motivation. Right now you are ten thousand hours of purposeful practice away from mastering a skill. In this book Daniel Coyle travels to talent hotspots to see why one small tennis club in Moscow can produce as many top twenty tennis players as the entire United States? Why does one music camp in New York produce so many world class musicians? Why do so many top baseball players come from tiny Caribbean islands?

This book is fascinating and has really liberated my mind with respect to talent. I know that I’m not bound down by what my family is good at. Swimming, cycling, running and endurance were never things I would have been associated with at school but I’ve practiced and practiced. I’ve analysed my technique and motivation. And I have improved unrecognisably.

Here’s a short video from Daniel Coyle about the book:

Buy The Talent Code on Amazon here.

Environment: The Black Fish

Dan — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:44:11 +0000

Bluefin tuna is the most expensive fish on earth. The critically endangered species is heavily overfished in the Mediterranean Sea and the ongoing fishing effort globally continues to push it further towards the brink of extinction. Join The Black Fish in its mission to combat the illegal trade in bluefin tuna and end the consumption of bluefin before they disappear forever.

JOIN THE BLUEFIN TUNA CAMPAIGN HERE

The Story of the Bluefin from The Black Fish on Vimeo.

You can follow The Black Fish on twitter here and keep up to date on facebook here.

Inspiration: The Sea Appreciation Project

Dan — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:20:51 +0000

This video is great. It’s short, the music is catchy, the story is properly cute. It’s about a girl and her surf board but it sums up how I feel about swimming.

TED Thursday: The world’s oldest living things

Dan — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:58:54 +0000

Rachel Sussman has travelled the world to photograph and study the world’s oldest living things. From 2000year old coral to an underground forest in South Africa that’s been around since the dawn of agriculture!

Previous TED Thursday Talks:

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?