TᏋRᏋᎦᏘ MᏋᎽᏋR

🚨 JUST IN: President Trump TERMINATED the Obama-era mandate that pushed auto start-stop systems into vehicles. You know the one. You stop at a red light. Your engine shuts off. Every. Single. Time. Doesn’t matter if you hate it. Doesn’t matter if it wears down the starter. Doesn’t matter if you have to turn it off manually every time you start the car. It was forced in the name of “efficiency.” Trump just ended it. No more government telling automakers how to design your engine. No more being annoyed at every stoplight. Build better cars. Let consumers choose. Common sense is back.

There’s a power station on the Garden Route that was converted into a 5-star boutique hotel and spa😮 For the history lovers, here you go: Long before Knysna was built up, the area was home to the Khoisan people. Then, in the 1600s, Dutch settlers arrived. In the early 1800s, George Rex showed up. There’s a rumour he was the illegitimate son of King George III, but what we do know is that he played a major role in shaping Knysna, opening shops, building a port, and starting a timber business that exported wood worldwide. In 1870, the Thesen family arrived from Norway and expanded the booming timber trade. In 1904, Charles William Thesen bought what is now Thesen Islands and began processing timber there. The mill's leftover wood powered a station that supplied electricity to Knysna and Plettenberg Bay until the 1970s. So this place, now known for cafés and boats, was once keeping the lights on. Buildings on the island were moved around over time, often without formal plans, which explains the unconventional layout today. The main power station building, now the Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa, was built around 1939–1940. In 1974, Barloworld bought the logging operations, but by 1980, they were shut down due to environmental impact. The site was then sold for redevelopment, and CMAI transformed it into the marina-style destination it is today, with homes, canals, shops, restaurants and hotels. The power station continued operating until 26 June 2001. Plans to turn it into a museum never materialised. Instead, in 2007, Geoff Engel and Dandre Lerm bought the site. After about three years of approvals and construction, the hotel opened in August 2010. Today, the Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa includes rooms and suites, a spa, a restaurant, a gastro pub, conference spaces, a pool deck, and a jetty. What makes it stand out is how much of the original power station remains. The wood boiler, generators and machinery have been restored and worked into the design. Each room is uniquely themed, reflecting Knysna’s history and character. So when you walk through the hotel, you’re not just in a luxury space. You’re inside a piece of history that’s been repurposed. And that’s what makes it special. In today’s experience-driven hospitality world, it shows how powerful it can be to take what already exists and turn it into something people can connect with. It’s proof that good development doesn’t always start from scratch. Sometimes, it’s about seeing potential in what’s already there.

Life hack that changed my life 🥚

Flawless. That’s it… that’s the tweet.

@Wisdom_HQ Rumor has it that she was paid $1m every time she broke the world record, so she upped it little by little. In practice she was jumping way higher than in competitions! Still love her! What a competitor!

At 15, they told her she was "too tall" and cut her from the gymnastics team. She didn't quit. She just found a bigger stick. 28 World Records later, Yelena Isinbaeva owns a 5.06m mark that hasn't been touched in 15 years. Proof that when your first dream dies, the second one might just make you immortal. GOAT

Great couple! One of my favorites!

🔖 Bookmark this for later. A little fabric, a little Korean technique, and suddenly it’s art. Bojagi wrapping magic 🤎

Countries with the largest Air Forces in the world.. 👀

What would you do in this situation?

What a Boeing 747 looks like at cruise speed from another plane.

Wally Wallington claims he demonstrated how a single person can manipulate massive monoliths, or how they could have been moved in ancient times. He claims that a pyramid could be completed using primitive tools in 25-year with only 520 workers.

130 schools said no. He led the losingest program in college football history to a national championship anyway. Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit from Miami. He tried to walk on at his hometown school. They passed. So did FIU. So did FAU. So did everyone else. At 17, he was sitting in his bedroom, crying over a silent recruiting inbox—after driving to 18 camps with his dad and sending highlights to more than 100 programs. Not one FBS offer. His only option? Yale. No scholarship. No NFL path. Everyone told him to be “realistic.” “Know your place.” “Be grateful.” He didn’t listen. Because Mendoza understood something most people miss: The worst outcome isn’t failing. It’s never getting the chance to try. Two weeks before signing day in 2022, his phone rang. Cal needed a body. One offer. Out of 134 schools. He took it. He arrived as the third-string quarterback. Spent a year on the scout team. Lost his first four starts. Got sacked 41 times behind a broken offensive line. Still got up. Every time. Then Cal brought in a transfer instead of building around him. So Mendoza left the only school that had ever said yes. He transferred to Indiana—the losingest program in college football history. People laughed. “Career suicide.” “Graveyard program.” “Nobody wins there.” One coach told him something different: “I’m going to make you the best Fernando Mendoza possible.” That was enough. Mendoza wasn’t just playing for football. His mother has battled multiple sclerosis for 18 years. Before every snap, he thought of her. “My mother is my why.” Indiana went 16–0. Beat six Top-10 teams. Won their first Big Ten title since 1945. Mendoza threw 41 touchdowns. Won the Heisman—first in school history. First Cuban-American to ever do it. Then came the title game. Miami. Near his hometown. Fourth-and-4. Season on the line. Quarterback draw. The kid 134 schools rejected spun through defenders and dove into the end zone. Game over. Indiana—national champions. The losingest program became the best team in America. All because a 17-year-old refused to believe “no” was the end. Rankings don’t decide your ceiling. Gatekeepers don’t write your ending. Being overlooked isn’t a verdict—it’s a starting point. Sometimes all you need is one shot… and the courage to bet on yourself when nobody else will. Don’t quit. Credit: Barclay Mullins

@popped_blog Some good advice we received with our road trip in the USA last year - always keep right! If you stick to that and repeat it to yourself while driving, you will be fine! Enjoying your updates! Good luck!

🚨 Refugee Programme Update 🚨 7th day in the USA * I want to thank everyone for all of their encouragement about driving in the US, but after spending a ton of the day shotgunning with my caseworker, it's a big, fat, hard 'no' from me 🤣 The opposite side of the road thing does my head in, ek stomp opi brikke aan my kant vani kar (for my US friends, 'I stomp on the brakes on my side of the car) * For the Safugees coming over, don't be surprised if you have some PTSD when you get here. I'm in a constant state of mild anxiety at the moment (my body is behaving like I drank waaay too much coffee) Living in SA, in a chronic state of hyper-vigilance, our brains process 'new info' as something to be monitored as a potential threat so all this new info (even though it's amazing and wonderful and safe etc) is having a physical effect because my brain is still in SA mode. Mine isn't debilitating, but it's definitely there, like trying to shave my legs in the shower this morning was very entertaining 🤣 Key points for the day 1. Went to the resettlement agency offices to sign all the admin and paperwork. Safugees be prepared, the US is waaay better legislated than SA, so you have to sign to consent/acknowledge/waive/etc, with most things here. So the reverse is also true here too, don't sign anything you don't understand. 2. I may be moving into my new apartment as early as next week 3. I got enrolled at my Primary Healthcare Advisor, she's lovely. The medical group was enrolled with has a 'sliding scale fee model' so because I'm classified as homeless (that will humble you🤣) I only pay $15 per visit, regardless of what is done at the visit (like any tests etc) and my meds are included too. As always, let me know if you have any questions in the comments or pop me a DM Disclaimer: views expressed are not official and are merely an opinion based on my own research/experience and/or feedback from other Programme participants and will always be subject to change as I receive more info.

@RoryDuncan1966 @ConCaracal I can just picture that farm taking care of so many families! Heaven on earth! My dear father too had the privilage to work the land in Kenya, then Zim, then SA, then Namibia & lastly in Bots... a true child of Africa! His foot prints are all over this land... ❤️

Some days, my mind wanders back to a farm I managed in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe in the late 80s. It was something special. We produced apples, peaches, pears, and kiwi fruit for local and export markets. We grew broccoli and cauliflower for the frozen veg market and did seed potatoes for a major contract. All on a large scale. Im talking about 1000s of tons of produce. We had a herd of Jersey cows for milking and made butter and cream. We plowed huge hectarage to grow maize, sweet potato, and vegetables for the farm workers. We had a junior school there with a headmaster and 5 classes. We had a clinic with a permanent nursing sister with meds and staff. We had a church with a pastor and a football team competing in provincial leagues. Every worker, 550 of them, lived in a brick home with electricity, running water, and a wood stove with unlimited firewood. There was a large store that provided everything from blankets to bicycles. There was a section of the farm dedicated to wildlife conservation. We had a proactive workers committee and had regular updates and meetings and professionally integrated management systems. We had huge refrigeration facilities and a modern pack shed with a fleet of trucks. The engineering division had everything it needed, including skilled workers to maintain a large estate. We had a beekeeping division, everything worked, and our people were cherished. We had adult literacy courses in the evenings at the farm hall and transport to functioning hospitals at any time of day or night. We had professional security services with a canine unit. A football field with a coach and smart uniforms and boots provided to the teams. The annual turnover was in the multiple millions, and the wage spend was huge, as was the tax bill. We spent millions on tractors, implements, fertilizers and fuels. Today, it is a village of subsistence level agriculture, all of it gone with hardly a memory of what was once there. Why?

How the rich train their kids.

How Kevin O'Leary's son went from spoiled trust fund kid to working with Elon Musk.

How Morse Code works! Here's the examples :

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Sometimes the most powerful moments are the unplanned ones. During a quiet Mass in Capri, Andrea Bocelli stepped forward, unannounced and sang Ave Maria. No stage. No spotlight. Just a voice offered in reverence. It’s a reminder for this week that beauty doesn’t always arrive with ceremony. Grace can appear quietly, in ordinary moments, if we’re present enough to notice. May this week bring a little stillness, a little humility, and an openness to moments that lift the soul often when we least expect them.

@catturd2 Christmas greetings from Kitzhoff! 🐈🐈

I’m burned TF out on politics right now. I know a bunch of you can relate. But I do wanna wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Reply with pictures of your fur babies. Let’s get into the holiday spirit, without the stressful politics.