Monday
VR Adventure:
Good ol’ Until You Fall game attacking zombie knights, and we play more Pistol Whip. It’s pretty great low key workout. And I’ve found success in staying moving throughout the game to avoid getting shot. Just a lot of fun.
Food: 35
Weight: 188.4
Today’s Awesome:
I saw something on Twitter about having been born too late to explore the planet and two early to explore the galaxy. If all you care is about the shape of landmasses, sure, probably.
But how much of our planet have we explored? For starters, let’s consider that 80 percent of the ocean is unmapped.
Using devices such as a sonar to generate maps of the seafloor, these maps can only be so effective on their own. In total, they’ve accounted for less than 10 percent of the global oceans that have been mapped (out of a twenty percent total).
Around the United States, sonar has mapped close to 35 percent of the coastal waters.
We have used nautical maps and charts to provide rough estimates of the ocean land that lays beyond our purview, but those are also subject to some scrutiny, since they can’t pick up on important features like shipwrecks and seamounts that can aid in measurements.
For Your Consideration:
Tuesday
VR Adventure:
None
Food: 28
Weight: 187.8
Today’s Awesome:
Okay, but what about the part we can actually walk around on? How much land is unexplored? Well, not a direct answer but a little interesting to know that about 50 percent of land has had little to no human influence. That said, only about 3 percent of land has been unaltered.
For Your Consideration:
How all YouTube ads sound to me
Wednesday
VR Adventure:
Supernatural boxing and flow!
Food: 37
Weight: 186.2
Whoa! What the heck!
Today’s Awesome:
Really cool look at the places with the least mapping.
Nevertheless, even digital maps skew toward the things that their users deem most important. Those areas that the majority sees as unworthy of attention – poor neighbourhoods like the Orangi shanty town in Karachi, Pakistan, or the Neza-Chalco-Itza slum in Mexico city – as well as those places that mapmakers do not often go – war-torn regions, North Korea – remain grossly undermapped.
This neglect means maps of remote regions can contain errors that go unnoticed for years. Scientists paying a visit to Sandy Island, a speck of land in the Coral Sea near New Caledonia, recently discovered that the island simply did not exist. The “phantom island” had found its way onto Australian maps and Google Earth at least a decade ago, probably due to human error.
For Your Consideration:
Thursday
VR Adventure:
None
Food: CHEAT DAY
Weight: 187.6
Today’s Awesome:
Meanwhile, if you want to break some ground, here are some spots unvisited by “modern man.”
For Your Consideration:
Friday
VR Adventure:
More Supernatural.
Food: FAIL DAY
Weight: 187.6
Today’s Awesome:
Here is another round of extremely remote locations.
Gangkhar Puensum stands at 24,981 feet above the ground, according to the BBC. It's believed to have never been conquered, but in 1994, prospective climbers were barred from ever attempting to reach the top of the mountain, as the government closed it to climbers.
The BBC reported that all peaks in Bhutan that were higher than 19,800 feet were closed that same year out of respect for local spiritual beliefs.
For Your Consideration:
Saturday
VR Adventure:
None.
Food: FAIL DAY
Weight: 188.6
Today’s Awesome:
We probably can’t go over the unexplored places of earth without mentioning Antartica.
Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, 10% of Earth’s land surface is protected as a wildlife and wilderness refuge. I have set foot in places in Antarctica where I know no one has ever been before, and the treaty sets areas aside that no one will ever visit. Antarctica’s landscapes are unlike anywhere else on Earth. The best comparison may be the Moon.
For Your Consideration:
VR Adventure:
None.
Food: FAIL DAY
Weight: 188.6
Today’s Awesome:
Finally, we’ve talked about the surface. We’ve talked about under the water. We’ve talked about on the ice. How about under the earth?
Inside an Indonesian cave, remains of a civilization that was discovered where the humans stood just 3-feet tall. They were named Homo Floresiensis. They got their name because they were found off the Indonesian island, Flores, inside a cave called Liang Bua. It is believed that they died out 50,000-years ago.
For Your Consideration:
Outro:
We hit 187.8! Well below last week’s 189.2. About a pound and a half down in a week! Feels nice to beat the plateau for a bit, having been losing around a tenth of a pound per week lately.
Been going easy on the VR workouts lately. In part because I’m spending a lot more time walking as the weather improves. You cannot beat a nice, outdoor walk.