15 March 2015 (Sunday) - Gotham (in Sussex)

Over brekkie I read something which went some way to restoring my faith in humanity. A German crackpot has been put firmly in his place.
Anti-vaccination campaigner Stefan Lanka (who describes himself as a biologist !) had declared that measles is actually all in the mind. He was on record as saying that "It is a psychosomatic illness," to a local newspaper Suedkurier. "People become ill after traumatic separations." He even went on to offer a cash prize of one hundred thousand Euros to anyone who could prove that measles was caused by a virus.
People who *aren't* completeley stupid have claimed the prize, and fortunately for my nerves a German court has ruled that the evidence submitted by these non-stupid people has proved what we've known all along. Measles *is* caused by a virus; and this twit has been ordered to hand over the prize money.
This fool is now trying to appeal the decision. I would guess that the reason is that he hasn't got one hundred thousand Euros to give. I hope the court enforces this ruling and this twit is bankrupted. I might sound harsh, but people like him are dangerous. With just the teensiest bit of science and a good dose of bullsh*t people like this do untold harm. Let's be clear on this; measles kills. Trying to actively stop vaccinations might not *actually* be cold-blooded murder, but is it that far off?

With brekkie scoffed we rallied the troops and set off to darkest Sussex where we met Dave at the Sussex village of Gotham. It really exists; it is alledged that the tales of the Mad Men of Gotham (based on where we were in Sussex) formed the basis of the Gotham in "Batman".
Once together six of us (and two small dogs) went for a seven-mile geo-stroll. I was in two minds about wearing wellie boots. I hadn't needed them for Friday's walk; I needed them today. It was very muddy; "er indoors TM" went base over apex in the mud at one point. I did laugh. Both dogs ate dung as we went (I wish they wouldn't do that), and we even found our signature on an archived cache we'd found down there two years ago.
Despite the poorly marked footpaths we had a good stroll. And a couple of geo-milestones were acheived today. Dave found his five hundredth cache; I found find #4444.
As I often do, I took a few photos whilst we were out too.
We took a rather circuitous route home to pick up a puzzle cache that I'd solved a while back and had been waiting to collect for some time. And with the geo-stuff done I then dozed for the hour's journey home.

Once home I bathed "Furry Face TM" who then went staright to sleep. We then had a rather good bit of tea, and with "er indoors TM" off bowling I settled down in front of the telly. I spent half an hour with needle and thread stitching up a split seam on my jacket, and then (having found a magnifying glass) had another go with my dog-cam. Now that I can actually read the instructions I can see that they have been translated into English rather badly. I've had another go with the thing; at first sight it looked like it was money down the drain but I have got videos out of it... after a fashion. I shall test it for real tomorrow...
Poldark is on telly in a minute...


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