The UK's Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales has published some recent aerial shots of cropmarks, ancient ruins now covered by farm fields. Unusually dry weather conditions have created a golden opportunity to see these sites from the air. Read the rest
Choosing to live as far from cities as I can, as often as I can, I spend a lot of time on the cusp of sanity trying to do my online job, keep up with the news, and keep in touch with the people I care about over a cellular connection that stays attached to my carrier’s network by a thread. On rainy days, or the frequent times when the gods have had enough of my bullshit, I can’t connect at all, forcing me to put my life on hold. It’s a part of choosing to live in the country! As mad as I’ve gotten at my lousy connection speeds in the past, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to connect to YouTube badly enough that I was willing to dig 15 miles of trenches to make it happen — but that’s exactly what the residents of a small village in Wales did.
Michaelston-y-Fedw, located between Cardiff and Newport in the United Kingdom, has a population of around 300 people. They were all putting up with shitty internet, with speeds as slow as 4Mbps. It was possible to pay for high-speed broadband service in Michaelston-y-Fedw — someone is always willing to take your money — but the infrastructure to pipe the bandwidth into the village didn’t exist. Sick of their internet connectivity being caught in the late 1990s, some of the villagers got to drinking, which led to talking and, after a bit more drinking, resulted in a plan: They’d sort the mess out themselves. Read the rest
The South Wales Police deployed a facial recognition technology at the June 2017 Champions League soccer final in Cardiff, and 92% of the people identified by the system as matches for suspiciousness were false positives. Read the rest
Craig Evans, accompanied by his dog Llew and his son Dafydd, mosey around a beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, picking up everything worth eating and finally enjoying a delicious December meal.
Read the restcalm dry weather and a very good low tide low tide.We caught and cooked Edible crabs,Velvet Swimming crabs,3 Bearded Rocklings,Winkles and Whelks on a wooden "Solva" stove.
Goldstone Books, an online used-book seller in Wales, spruced up their offices with this gorgeous reception desk skinned with books. (via Blog on the Bookshelf) Read the rest
In 1987 or so, the Welsh island of Anglesey, legendary redoubt of the druids, hosted a similarly legendary gathering to which only people with fish-themed surnames were invited. In Fish Story, Charlie Lynn (with the help of one Caspar Salmon) sets out to unravel "the truth behind a fishy tale." Read the rest
Today in 1% villainy: UK property developer Kim Davies broke a bunch of laws when he used children's gravestones from a derelict church he owned to build an illegal patio at a historic home. Read the rest
Leia is a beautiful dog whose sharp eyes spotted a struggling fellow mammal on the beach. Leia's owner recorded his rescue of the little guy. Read the rest
The Port Authority in the Welsh town of Milford has installed a "Mosquito" -- a sonic weapon that produces tones that are mostly perceptible to children and teenagers -- at the library, where it has been used during opening hours. Read the rest
Spotted at the Contemporary Craft Fair, the amazing teapots of Rylatt of Wales: improbably shaped ceramics with metallic, dark glazes. I wheedled my wife into getting me one for my upcoming birthday, and it is destined to be a favorite and a source of joy around my office. Read the rest
A prisoner in Wales made these astounding Final Fantasy weapons out of toothpicks, only to have them confiscated because they were so realistic that the prison authorities felt that they constituted a threat to safety. It's this kind of dogged, enthusiastic creativity that makes dinners with my Welsh in-laws so exciting!
Prisoner Builds Final Fantasy Swords out of Matchsticks (via Neatorama) Read the rest
Clubgoers in South Wales are to be fingerprinted, with the resulting biometric data to be retained indefinitely. The scheme is "voluntary" -- unless local councils make it a licensing condition for clubs. Gerry Shy notes, "The march to sleeping submission of our biometric data to anyone and everyone who can invent a security/convenience justification continues. So many familiar elements here: think of the convenience; we can change mindsets..."
Mr Newman, whose forum represents about 100 premises in the city, said the benefits of digital ID scheme were "many and varied".
In addition to identifying fake identify documents, information could be shared between venues about people who have been banned, he said.
He said: "Commercially, you benefit from a reduction in people trying to get in underage, if they are using someone else's ID.
"As word spreads, people will know they are easily identified if they are associated with an incident of disorder.
"If you have less trouble, that's good for business."
South Wales Police back fingerprinting for clubbers Read the rest
