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Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name's Jason Newland. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. This is Let Me Bore You To Sleep.
Today is Trivia Tuesday. Oh yes. Trivia, Trivia, Trivia, Trivia.
Tuesday. Last week, my jingles are getting worse. Last week I talked about, what did I talk about? Halloween, I do believe.
This week I'm going to talk about peaceful places around the world. Trivia facts. Peaceful places around the world? What does that mean? Well, I'm going to tell you.
I thought that'd be quite a nice, a nice subject really. I know some of the things I talk about are a bit strange, a bit weird sometimes, a bit unusual. But I thought something nice and peaceful, because that is kind of what these recordings are generally, you know, trying to be.
So that you can relax, maybe fall asleep. And I'd just like to, oh itchy head, say another big thank you to those of you that sent me PayPal gifts, very much appreciated. So Saul sent me a gift this morning, early hours this morning.
So thank you very much Saul. And Maria sent me a gift yesterday, or Sunday rather, sorry. So I just want to say thank you very much to you, and Ben, and make sure I list everybody.
Ben and Emil. Sorry, I just, I know their names, I just off the top of my head. And Jackie.
So I thank everyone individually, and I post a thank you on my Facebook group, which is called Jason Newland's Boring Group. And it's quite stuffy in here. That's the thing, because I've got, I got the door closed.
I got the window closed. I've got the curtain drawn over. And it's probably just a mixture of like no air, Vinnie's hair, and my stink.
Probably a mixture of all that, it's just a little bit. By the way, I'm single ladies, if anyone's interested. Let's get it straight.
So you're bald, you stink, you're three foot tall, you're really, really obese. You got no teeth. What else? A micro, oh, don't say that.
So yeah, perhaps I'm not selling myself. It's, I'm just trying to think what's happened. Last night, there was a little bit of fireworks, and then it stopped.
So lucky it was like two, I mean, it might not have been fireworks. It's possible it was, I don't know, something like a backfiring car. But I don't generally hear cars backfiring so much in the last 30 years, to be fair, you know, that's a thing from the 70s and the 80s, really.
It might have happened. Or it might have been just a car drove over a little carton and made it pop. That's another thing it could have been.
So Vinnie's just eating his breakfast, which has been there for hours. But he just wasn't hungry. But he was hungry for treats, but not for food.
When he eventually got the message that he was not going to be getting anything other than his dinner. Funnily enough, he ate his dinner. Bless him.
So he's been out twice today, I took him out this morning. It's quite weird because I went to bed the night before. I went to bed very early.
Like half six, five, six, I just wasn't feeling great. This is on Sunday night. And then I woke up about half 10.
And I got up and I had something to eat because I was really hungry. So I hadn't had any dinner. And I felt better.
And I ended up going to bed about half 12, one. Woke up about seven. Just, you know, everything was fine.
And then last night, Monday night, probably went to bed about half 10. And then he woke me up before four o'clock. And wouldn't leave me alone to look out of bed.
So I get out of bed. I give him a treat thinking that's all he wants. I should have stopped saying that word.
And he seemed happy and I thought he'll come back to bed. No, he came into the living room. So I just thought, oh, he's not gonna, he's just gonna be, well, if he's in the living room and I'm in bed, I can't trust him to be quiet.
So I get up and just, you know, check on the internet, check stuff, make sure, check the stats. Just a general morning thing that I do. Check the stats on my podcasts.
Check Facebook, check my emails, check YouTube, you know, just see what's going on, to see how many people have been visiting and whatever. And then I just thought I'm just gonna eat. I'm just gonna have my dinner.
I'm just gonna have my breakfast, so I'll have my breakfast as I'm up. And after having my breakfast, listen to some classical music on TV. I think it was a, it was either a video or it was on an Apple podcast.
I think, no, Apple music. I think it was Apple music that I was listening to. And it was just, I listened to quite a lot of orchestra, classical stuff.
Every day I listen to that stuff. I find it very relaxing. So I fall asleep to that, sitting in my chair, bearing in mind I got up way too early.
And then I woke up, probably about seven. So I think I fell asleep for a couple of hours. This, this, it was a playlist, I think, of, yeah, I think it was a playlist that I was listening to, of like, you know, an orchestra and relaxation and whatever, which lasts for like, I think, 22 hours.
So I think I was all right. I wasn't going to run out. And I climbed back into bed.
Vinnie was fast asleep at this point. I think he was sitting, laying next to me when I was like, laying down, like sitting on a chair. And when I woke up, he was gone.
I climbed back into bed until about 10 o'clock. So the whole morning was very different to normal. Usually I'm walking Vinnie around nine, just after, I wait till there's no one around and then I take him out.
So, you know, just after nine o'clock. And I'm usually back in time to watch Frasier, which is on about 10 past 10. But today, no.
It was, I think I got back about 10 to 11. And it just feels like a very short day. He's been out twice now, I took him out again, got back about quarter to, quarter to, yeah, quarter to, no, quarter to three rather, 10 to three.
It's now 16 minutes past three. So out for probably, I'm usually out for about half hour, sometimes longer, sometimes less depending on the weather. And he was relatively good today with other dogs.
He's got a tendency of barking big dogs and I don't encourage it, if I'm honest. I quite like it. I quite like it when he doesn't do that.
And there's a couple of giant dogs, as big as a house as they are. And Vinnie always barks at them. But on this occasion, we were far enough away from them.
And he kept looking at them, but he had a little, little grumble like, and then he was fine. And if for some reason they walk their dogs on, because they were on the pathway, but then they walk our way. So it's kind of moves it into almost like a triangle.
So we were getting closer to them, they're getting closer to us. They're on the grass. And so there's no way of avoiding them.
And Vinnie had a little bark, a little, a little yell, a little shout, a little shouty shout. Then I turned him away and he was fine. So he's doing quite well.
He's just, he's just doesn't like big dogs, for whatever reason. I mean, these are huge, honestly. You could see them from space.
Seriously. I mean, they're so big, I could actually use one of them to cover up my bald patch. You could just sit on my head, and you'll be able to see my bald patch anymore.
I mean, bald patch. Can't see it when I leave my flat, right? I've got a camera on my door. Can't see the back of my head.
Can't see the bald patch. But when I come up the stairs, I can see it. That's all I could see.
So I'm walking up the stairs and this is big, massive, white area. Big round circle. Just moving.
It's almost like someone's shining a light on the back of my head from above. Like they do on stage, you know, when you get these people in the spotlight, but it's just on one part of my head. Other than that, there's not really a lot going on.
It's not raining today, which is nice. Still wearing my hat. But yeah, it's not been raining.
Probably rained last night. I don't know. I wasn't out.
Although yesterday, about six o'clock, I took him out. And I just can't, I just really, I'm moaning now and I moan in alert, moan in alert. I just, being out in the dark, I don't like it.
Because I can't see, even with my lights, which need, I need better lights than the ones I got. So I can be seen. I've got this like belt thing with these lights, so I can be seen from other people.
But I can't see other people because most people don't have lights. For some reason, I don't know, walking around with a black top on in the dark is just normal. People seem to be okay with that.
And I suppose I used to be okay with that, but not anymore. It's just, maybe it's just, I mean, did I ever have a torch as an adult? Ever? Did I ever have a torch? Other than last year when I had a torch. So I bought a torch.
I don't think I ever, ever have had a torch before that. My whole adult life. So yeah, I can't really moan other people don't have torches because I never had one myself.
Apart from when I was a security guard. Because when you're a security guard and you do patrols and stuff, especially if you're at night, you have these torches and they're huge, huge rubber, really heavy things. So, you know, they're good for obviously letting you see where you're going, but also self-defense as well.
Because they're big, really strong things. Took me two hands to hold it. Never said that before.
So, yeah, I can't think of anything else that's really gone on. Had some strange dreams last night, but I can't remember what they was. Yeah.
Just trying to think anything at all happening. No, I don't think there's anything happening. Not in the world.
There's loads happening in the world, but in my little world, not a lot. Not much at all. So, peaceful places around the world.
Trivia facts for trivia, trivia, trivia, trivia Tuesday. Number one, Button measures success in gross national happiness instead of GDP. Bhutan, sorry, Bhutan measures success in gross national happiness instead of GDP.
I don't even know what GDP means. I should really, shouldn't I? So, I'm guessing it's gross decrepit peanuts. I don't know GDP.
What does that mean? Gross domestic product. All right. It's a monetary measure of the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a specific time period.
All right. So, Bhutan doesn't do that. It measures it by, in fact, I'll have a look a little bit.
I'm going to dig a little bit deeper for this because I'm interested in Bhutan measures success in gross national happiness. Okay. Bhutan's gross national happiness framework measures success, not by GDP, but by a holistic approach that integrates emotional well-being, social equity, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation international policies.
The GNH philosophy, oh, gross national happiness, was introduced by the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Sigiwangchuk, in the 1970s, and has since become the heartbeat of the nation. It is built on all four pillars, on four pillars, sustainable development, cultural preservation, ecological balance, and good governance. These pillars are woven into every aspect of Bhutanese policy and society, making happiness more than just an abstract dream.
The GNH index, built from nationwide surveys, transforms the idea of happiness into actionable data, guiding national policy and ensuring that policies are not driven solely by economic gain, but by the contribution to long term happiness and harmony. So I'm interested a little bit more about Bhutan. Um, let's have a look.
I just want to see. I've got this feeling, I've got a friend who used to do voluntary, well used to help out a children's orphanage in Bhutan. And I remember him saying it's very difficult going there.
Oh, the internet's just run out on us back. Okay, just run out. I've never been there, but I know that it's a Buddhist country.
So, that's interesting. It's just listed some of the hardest places to live in the world. Really Vinnie? Bhutan, I just, I just don't where this, I'm just confused.
I'm just not, I mean generally in life, the hardest countries in the world to gain citizenship. Bhutan, formerly the worst football team in the world. That's rude.
I'm just wondering where Bhutan stands because I keep saying the word Bhutan. I don't know why. What are the worst countries? Well, that's a bit negative, isn't it? Human Development Index.
It's saying here that Switzerland. That can't be true, surely. Really? It's got to be one of the best places in the world to live, surely.
Maybe I'm wrong. South Sudan, China. Nah.
Right, I'm guessing some of these ones at the bottom are probably way worse to live. Just because of all the economic stuff that goes on. I do, I just want to just, I'd like to go, I'd like to go to Mexico.
And I'd like to go to, what's it called? The, like the dangerous part. What's it called? Mexico, dangerous. Celine, not Deline, Celine.
Mexico, dangerous part. Tijuana, Acapulco, Colima, Zacatecas, and Cuinnard, darned, dad, Victoria. I'm not sure what that did.
I just wanted to, I thought that the, the place where the, you know, where the famous people lived. Okay, so Mexico, famous, famous part. Beaches.
Maybe I've got the wrong country. Okay. Me.
Right. So, if I look at this. Mexico.
Oh, where is it? It's not telling me. Why is it not telling me? Right. Anyway, I've seen pictures, I've seen videos, and it looks so nice.
And I don't think, I'm not sure how safe it would be to go to some of those places, but I don't know. I guess it's like anywhere. I mean, even in this little town I live, well, it's a city, supposed to be a city, but there's, there's a particular part of this area, this town, this city that I kind of, it's quite a long way from here, but it's classed as one of the most deprived parts of the whole country.
So, I don't know. I don't know. Where I live, it's, it's almost, it's classed as a very good, according to the internet, a very good place to live if you commute to London.
If you commute to London, and you've got a really good job in the city, there's a train station that takes you straight there and back. And somewhere you can park your car at the train station, or if you want to walk, you know, from where you live. And I suppose you just enjoy your weekends.
If you have a weekend off, you could just come back on a Friday night and just enjoy the weekend. But with all that travelling, I mean, I have done it, and it's a lot. You know, I've travelled up to London, and when I was at university, I travelled up to London twice a week for a while to help out in the comedy club.
This was leading up to Christmas. Was it leading up to Christmas? I think so. I can't remember.
But anyway, I was, I was there, let's say a Tuesday and a Thursday. And the amount of time it took to get ready and to get up to the train station, and the time travelling on the train, then the time from the train station to the comedy club. And then in the evening, finishing at like six or whatever, or five or six, then getting back.
It'd be like, you know, it'd just be time for bed. So it was very, I imagine working, because I wasn't working hard. I mean, I was, I was working, but I wasn't, I was just helping out my friend.
But if I'd had some kind of full on career going, that would have been, yeah, hard work. I think I'd want to be closer to London, because I think I'm like 60, 66 miles or 60, 70 miles from London. But still an hour on a train.
Yeah. What's that got to do with Bhutan? All right. The Maldives is so flat, that it's highest point is just eight meters above sea level.
Is, is that a good thing? I don't know. How's that? What's, what's that got to do with peaceful? I mean, I've not, I've not been so don't, don't judge me. I just don't know what that, how is that relevant to the place being peaceful? I want to have a look at some pictures of some of these places.
So the Maldives. Oh my goodness. Beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful. Wow. Where is it? Is it near France or something? Let's see where? Oh, it's in the Indian Ocean.
The Arabian Sea. Just past the Ecuador, equator, sorry, Ecuador, the equator. And let's see if we've got a bigger.
No, that, that image, that map's not big enough. No. I wonder where it is on a map then.
Maldives map. World map. So if I get that back down to a normal size.
So the Maldives, the smallest country in Asia, its land area is only 9, 298 square kilometers, 115 square mile, but this is spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometers. How does that work out then? If it's a land area of 200, 298 square kilometers, how can it be spread out over 90,000 square kilometers? That, that makes no sense to me. I never mind.
Looks lovely. I don't know. Has anyone been to the Maldives? I do wonder though, I mean, if it's only eight inches from the water, like high, then if you get a high tide, that wouldn't be so good, would it? It's nice to have a, well, I imagine, you know, if you've got a beach, you need to have a high spot for protection, like we do in Dover.
We've got the great Dover cliffs of Dover, white, they're white, and they're huge, and they protect that area from, from the sea. And people live, I mean, people do live down near the sea as well, but, you know, basically, you can live up there. And I don't think anything would be able to reach above the, the great cliffs of Dover.
It's too high, too big. I wonder if the, the great cliffs of white of Dover are the biggest cliffs of Dover. In the world, I'm going to check that, because that'd be a nice trivia fact.
Are the white cliffs of Dover the largest in world? World. Now, I reckon they are. No, apparently they're not.
The white cliffs of Dover are not largest in the world. They are a prominent feature of the English coastline, reaching a height of up to 350 feet, and stretching for about eight miles. While they are a significant landmark, they do not surpass the height of other cliffs globally.
Yeah, that's what you say. Doesn't mean it's true though, does it? Look at them, there's a picture of it, they're massive. There's actually, there's a lighthouse, and you can hardly even see the lighthouse.
I mean, you might argue, well, how do you know there's a lighthouse if you can't see it? Okay, we don't have to be pedantic, just, I'm just saying it's, there is a lighthouse, but it's, it looks tiny compared to the white cliffs of Dover. Oh, there might be other cliffs, but I bet they're not as beautiful as the white cliffs of Dover though. The white cliffs of Dover are white.
I wonder what the line, 350 feet. Okay. Okay, right.
See, yeah, I'm just looking, 350 feet is good protection, but, okay, fair enough. I'm just having a look at some of the highest waves, but, wow. So let's have a look.
The Maldives. It definitely looks peaceful. It really does.
Iceland. See this, I actually saw this, well, I mean, I read this right at the beginning, so, you know, I did the little bit of research before I even started the recording, just by asking to find 60 trivia facts. It wasn't, I didn't really do much, but this did jump out at me.
Iceland has no army. And I'm not talking about the frozen grocery store. I mean, Iceland, the country.
Has no army and ranks among the most peaceful countries on earth. To be fair, if you've got no army, you've got no choice, have you? To be peaceful. You can't be like, throwing your weight around.
Oi, just, or you, country next to us. You just, you behave yourselves, or else, or else what? I'm going to chuck some fish at you, I don't know. I mean, there's not a lot you can do if you don't have an army, is there? It's, how lovely is that? Does that mean they're, I mean, are they protected? Who protects them? Because they can't protect themselves.
I mean, you know, I'm talking about like, the, is Iceland, isn't Iceland a country that's not owned by anybody? And wasn't there someone wanted to buy Iceland? I should say Ice-land, shouldn't I? Ice-land. I'd quite like to visit Iceland. I was quite surprised though, because Ice-land isn't covered in ice, and Green-land is.
It's kind of like, that makes, doesn't make any sense. Let's have a look at pictures of Ice-land. Ice-land images.
Oh, there is some ice there as well. Wow, what a beautiful place. So there is ice, I mean, you know.
I'd have thought it'd be covered in ice, just because it's called Ice-land. I mean, why would you call something Ice-land, unless whoever landed there, I think it was the Vikings, wasn't it? And it just happened to be very icy. Someone slipped over and thought, oh, let's call it Ice-land.
Ice-land. Again, a very beautiful country. Then you've got Green-land.
And that seems, this is just what I've seen in the past. Green-land images always seem to have pictures of snow and ice. But, because of all the polar bears and stuff.
Is it Green-land that has 12-hour or 24-hour days, like, you know, six months of one weather, or one, yes, six months of dark, and then six months of light. Is that Green-land? It's the largest island in the world. Green-land.
How can it be the largest island in the world? That doesn't make sense. Our largest island in the world, Green-land. How can it be? So this is by landmass, continental landmass.
The Americas, yeah, that's what I'm thinking, because you've got the islands, Green-land, 2,130,000,000, no, 2,108,000,000, no, let's go for square miles, 822,700 square miles. The largest island in the world. New Guinea second, Borneo, Madagascar.
Great Britain is number nine, which is really weird, because we've got the tiniest island, absolutely ridiculously small, but there are smaller ones. Iceland is smaller than England or than Britain. So that makes no sense, okay, okay, I'll tell you why.
So, Britain, Great Britain. But there's three different countries in Great Britain, England, Scotland, Wales. So if we're going to do that, then you've got America.
The Americas, let's say. Okay, any landmass that has surrounded by sea, that's an island. No, but it's a different country, so are we.
We're different countries. England, Wales, and Scotland, we're different countries. We're still a separate island.
So, you know, Canada, Mexico, United States, that's an island. Is it not? Is it not surrounded by sea at some point? You know what I mean? Asia, Afro-Eurasia. So African, 48 countries in the mainland, 78 countries.
Okay, so there's a lot of countries there. But then is that connected, isn't it? Because if you've got a map, let's have a look at my map. You've got certain parts of a map where it's an island, but then you've got a massive bit which is all connected.
So, you know, New Zealand, for example, or Australia. Canada is part of the Americas, isn't it? So that's all one island. The Falklands, or the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, what is that? Maps showing the 25 largest islands.
I mean, that is a, yeah, it's a landmass, so it is. Afro-Eurasia is the largest island. America's is the second largest.
Antarctica is the third largest. And mainland Australia is the fourth largest. Yeah, Australia is definitely an island, isn't it? I mean, if it's surrounded by water, it's an island.
But it's really weird. I don't think people, well, don't seem to class the Americas as an island. It's a bunch of countries, but it is an island.
I love, I don't know why I said the word island so often. I've never said that so often in one word, one sentence, one recording rather. That's it.
I've not heard the phrase the island of Ireland recently. That's a really popular thing for news presenters and stuff like that to say that the island of Ireland. Instead of just calling it Ireland and then Northern Ireland, the island of Ireland.
And I didn't realize, I really didn't know that somewhere like, I think my friend, Uncle Sausages was born in Derry or County Derry or London Derry. So apparently, if someone believes that they're English or British who live in Derry, they call it London Derry. Those that class themselves as Irish call it Derry.
And I didn't know that. So Uncle Sausages, he classed himself as British. I mean, he had a British passport.
And, you know, that was his, you know, that's just the whole Northern Irish thing. But I didn't know that. I had to have that explained to me by three Northern Irish people after Uncle Sausages' funeral, telling me, no, this is how it is.
Okay. I wish I hadn't mentioned it. What am I doing? Okay.
Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan was once the imperial capital, and those over 1600 temples. Yeah. And that's why I always kind of got a little bit confused with how a place that was predominantly Buddhist, you know, like Thailand and Japan back then, and it was very much kind of Eastern philosophy, very peaceful, lots of temples and stuff, meditating.
And yeah, how things worked out when it came to worldly conflicts. I've never been to Japan. I quite like to visit.
It looks like a very interesting, especially going to the capital, really visiting and just having a look around and the high techness of it does quite appeal to me. I mean, they have robots doing everything. And I think they've even got places where you can't even use cash.
Everything has to be like digital. You pay for everything digitally. Yeah, I'd like to go to Japan.
I think it'd be a cool place to go to. It's quite rainy though. I do believe it rains a lot.
I might not be true, but that's what I believe. If I believe it, I'm going to, that must be true. Yeah.
In New Zealand, sheep outnumber humans roughly five to one. Yeah, I've heard, I've heard about the sheep. Lake Louise in Canada turns turquoise, turquoise? Why don't I just say purple? That's what turquoise is, isn't it? Due to glacial rock flour in the water.
That is a peaceful colour. Norway's fjords were carved by glaciers thousands of years ago. I don't know what a fjord is.
Should we just check this up? Let's check this up. Have a little look. Have a little looky.
Let's have a little looky. Fjords. It's basically like a, what, a gap in between the mountains.
Is that right? I mean, just a gap, a gap? It doesn't say list. It looks like it's just a gap in the mountains. Oh, okay.
It's very nice, very scenic. Many rural towns in Finland still practice sauna and silence evenings. I'd like to go to Norway as well.
That'd be nice. Many rural towns in Fin, oh, I just read that one out. I do apologize.
Santorini's white houses were historically lime washed to reflect the sun. Oh, cool. Bora Bora has more palm trees than permanent residence.
Wasn't there a movie called Bora Bora? I'm sure it had a palm tree in the movie picture. I'm going to check it. Bora Bora images.
Okay, movie. Bora Bora images. Bora Bora.
Maybe there wasn't a movie called Bora Bora. Yes, there was. And yes, it did.
It had palm trees. Isn't that weird that I remember that? Bora Bora is a picture of a man. Okay, this is, yeah, it's palm trees.
I thought I'd feel a bit more excited and, you know, realized that my memory had worked, but it didn't quite, didn't quite work out how I thought it would be. I mean, I wasn't expecting to start doing cartwheels and setting off fireworks, but just a little bit. I thought there'd be a bit of a, hmm, hmm, but no, there wasn't really.
Switzerland has more lakes than you could visit in a lifetime of a 1,500. Okay. How did they work that out that you couldn't visit 1,500 lakes in a lifetime? You just visit one a day.
Visit one a day. 360, so what's that? Three, six, nine, 12, 15. So it's less, there's about four years.
If you visit one, Switzerland isn't that big a place. So if you've got a car or horse and cart, whatever, you know, you need, you could visit all 1,500 lakes in four years. What are they saying in a lifetime? I think they're exaggerating.
I don't think there's any need to exaggerate. You know, the other day, chatGBT, it writes the description of my podcast based on the transcript. It added its own stuff that I hadn't said.
I was kind of surprised at that. Let me have a look. I'll tell you which one it was.
It was, I'm not sure if it was Q&A Friday. It might have been Thursday. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh.
Let's have a look. Right, it doesn't seem to be here. Right, okay, so it wasn't that one.
It wasn't Q&A, it wasn't Thursday. Let's see if it was Q&A Friday. Q&A Friday.
No, it wasn't yesterday, I know that for sure. so it was nearly end of the writings okay okay blimey it does I'll tell you what's weird the descriptions of my podcasts or you know the transcripts I do it takes a lot of stuff it's getting it quite good I mean technically I should be checking I do skim through it but I've done enough for them to just to trust it but wow how weird he didn't it's even got okay so well doesn't always get the spellings correctly for people's names but
doesn't spell my name correctly sometimes sometimes it's Newlanders and n-u-l-a-n-d or n-u-l-e-n-d it's like really I mean how long I've been it's supposed to learn information about me over time so for example I said today okay so I've got a particular page which is called what's it called trivia Tuesday ideas so I just ask it for new ideas and just see what comes up and then I go deeper into that one and it comes up with whatever it just gives me an idea this is you know it's I'm doing this
every week it's hard to really think of I mean I could do to do the research to search the internet for trivia facts would take forever and I have not got forever to do it so of course not all the information is going to be correct I forgot to say that so on this page I just put it's that time again for trivia Tuesday any ideas and it says absolutely happy trivia Tuesday time again since you since you just did Halloween this is last week here are some fresh fun sleepy
friendly trivia theme ideas for upcoming episodes and sort of cozy and relaxing themes nostalgia travel in places food and drink animal and calm creatures music and memory lane domestic everyday oddities mildly strange but soothing so I looked at that and I thought okay it's coming up with some stuff that isn't necessarily going to be relevant for this because I put I just put a let there I typed in from now on I will be keeping nostalgic stuff for Thursdays and I didn't think you would know what I meant but it
did it said understood nostalgia is now officially reserved for Thursday throwbacks and then it gave me another big list of possible you know things for today because I thought you know you can give me trivia on charts or the movies or stuff like that but that is something I'm going to be focusing on with my Thursday throwbacks any you know all kind of like electrical equipment on inventions and things like that so yeah I kind of saved that for then Hawaii Hawaii has laws to protect its mug seals residents must
keep distance we have a similar thing here in the UK or in England anyway for swans swans are protected species and we have to keep our distance which is quite easy because swans attack they're not friendly birds they're really not they got a proper attitude on them in fact I wouldn't want to go near one there's been a couple of times when I've just been in the park minding my own business and suddenly a swan's like chasing me a little bit I'd say a little bit like kangaroos but they're not
really are they but they've got the attitude of a kangaroo you know like I don't know how to explain it annoying that's it the seashells is home to beaches with naturally pink granite borders boulders it's seashells it is that in France isn't it seashells seashells on the seashore lake bled and it's a weird name isn't it Slovenia has a tiny island with a single church hmm I'm not sure if I'd want to go there I don't I'm not sure I'd want to go to an island where there's nothing like literally
nothing you know I just yeah maybe when I was younger but probably I'm not saying that I need a Costa's but you know there needs to be McDonald's or whatever but just there needs to be something yeah Ireland's west coast is known for peaceful cliff walks and ancient stone walks Ireland's a very beautiful country I never went to the coast though I suppose technically I did in the sense of I got off the ferry I went into Dublin but I've not been on any of the cliffs or anything like that
so I've got I've got two two friends that live in Ireland and it's lovely when it's not raining it's lovely when it's raining probably as well if you're indoors Tuscany's rolling hills are shaped by centuries-old farming patterns oh and South Korea's Jeju Island has volcanic landscapes and quiet tea fields mmmm, they have tea fields what fields of tea what do they just buy in the shop French lavender fields bloom intensely for only a week each year each summer French lavender fields so lavender is only available for one week or for
a few weeks every year that's Wow Scotland's outer Hebrides have more sleep than people Oh sheep sorry sheep than people Wales and Scotland hmm there's a pattern there Austria's lakeside I like sheep Scotland's outer Hebrides I don't know where that is though is the outer Hebrides one of the islands or you know Scotland's got quite a few islands I think Austria's lakeside village Halstatt inspired the design of a town in China oh cool Patagonia or Patagonia sorry has skies so clear you can see the Milky Way with the naked eye
that sounds like a really good place to go if you like looking through a telescope so there's a tree outside my next-door neighbor's bedroom window no I'm joking the Lakewood district invited William Wordsworth's poetry Yeo's might despite millions of visitors still have valleys where you can hear nothing but wind they have valleys where you can hear nothing but wind how do you hear the wind if it's a valley how does a wind travel through a valley that's confused me the Maldives banned plastic bags to protect coral reefs in Japan forest
bathing Shinrin-Yoku is considered a form of therapy Lapland experiences months of snow but is one of the quietest places on earth I'd like to go to Lapland the thing is you know you get there I imagine you can just choose any presents you want but how are you going to get them home does Lapland have an airport Costa Rica protects over 25% of its land as national parks yeah good the Galapagos Galapagos islands inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution hmm and Bali's rice terraces use a cooperative water system dating back
1,000 years yours how do they know I don't think anything was ever written down a thousand years ago no I don't think when when was the the first pen created maybe there was pens thousands years ago maybe the Algarve Portugal is famous for peaceful sea caves and Swiss trains are so quiet and punctual that almost meditative meditative when were pens invented 3200 BC pens been around for thousands of years with the first pen known 32,000 BC the quill pen was invented around 600 AD and became a prevalent writing tool in
Europe if that's the case thousands and thousands of years 32,000 BC so why why is there no no nothing written all the way back then hey oldest book let's have a look at the oldest book what's the oldest book so the oldest book is the Madrid Codex estimated 494 years Oh blimey what I thought number one would be the longest but the the oldest was wrong according to this this is the archaeologist or org 10 you you Truscan gold book estimated age 2673 years old the us a Truscan gold book
dated to about 660 BC is thought to be the world's oldest multi-page book comprising six sheets of 24 karat gold bound together with rings this remarkable artifact features a Truscan characters and depictions of a horse a horseman a siren a lie and liar and soldiers it was donated to Bulgarian National History Museum in Sofia by an anonymous donor oh just look at all I found one that looks more like a book though the Nag Hammadi library considering amongst the oldest five in bound books so this is an actual book not
one made in metal or gold that the Nag Hammadi library consists of 13 leather bound papyrus codices discovered in 1945 in upper Egypt these codices done we know what that means contain gnostic texts and are dated to the first half of the 4th century AD they are currently housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo shedding light on early Christian thought 1693 years Wow look at this St.
Cuthbert Gospel 1315 years old so it's the Europe's oldest known surviving intact book is the St. Cuthbert Gospel it was acquired by the British Library in 2012 for 9 million as part of a fundraising campaign this book was buried with St.
Cuthbert an early British Christian leader around 698 AD its journey throughout history surviving Viking conquests and rediscovery in 1104 AD adds to its historical significance is actually intact the book is intact but have they have they deciphered what it says interpreted what it says whatever you want to call it just that's what I'm wondering it'd be interesting to hear what they had to say like you know literally what the real real words the real sentences so Swiss trains nice and quiet wonder how do they make them so quiet I always
quite like the look at the Swiss countryside looks very peaceful and beautiful Japan's Zen gardens are designed for silent contemplation yep I was very into Zen in the early 90s loads of book on Zen and cones and or koans or you want to say it and the poetry the books just reading it and being influenced by it in a positive way probably not understanding a lot of either nevermind a Banff National Park has turquoise done that one in me Svalbard is so calm that polar bears outnumber humans yeah but that
might be I mean if the polar bears outnumber humans they're gonna continue to mean what do the humans do why do humans live there would be a question I mean I've got to look this up Svalbard where is that where's Svalbard anyone Svalbard Svalbard is an archipelago archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe between Norway and the North Pole it lies at a latitude it making all the most uninhabited making it one of the northmost inhabited places on earth so it's a long way away north known for
its stunning natural beauty Svalbard features glaciers the northern lights and a unique wildlife population including reindeer walrus and polar bears the main settlement in Longyearbyen which serves as a hub for adventure tourism and exploration of the Arctic wilderness Svalbard is also notable for its remote location and is a popular destination for those seeking unique Arctic experiences I was looking on look at some images so I need images I don't know I'm sure I've seen this before I mean is this is it somewhere right the computers is frozen brilliant why is
it frozen why is it done that oh that's very strange all right okay for some reason I seem to have fixed the page but now it's gone back I don't know what I feel about living with bears I don't know it looks beautiful but at the same time I'm looking at the houses and I don't know I'm not sure if I mean how would you be able to go out so this is Norway it's Norway would you be able to go out does anyone I've got people listen from Norway I'm
come visit you you wouldn't like that I'm gonna come see you I I mean I've seen other some programs or maybe stuff on YouTube documentaries where the polar bears are just helping themselves and eating out the bins and stuff but I don't know if I'd really hmm I'm sure I saw one and it was this place and they stayed in I think it's a place where a lot of exploration is done like scientific experiments and things like that I don't I think I think I might be wrong I want to
visit that's why I want to live forever so I can just visit everywhere maybe not everywhere but you know hmm the Faroe Islands have no traffic lights outside the capital well traffic lights don't really mean that much depends on where you live in Thailand traffic lights are ignored I couldn't believe it when I was over there I mean I'm talking about a big road in no way you're gonna get across it about four four lanes of traffic ain't you ain't gonna get across it if Pete if the cars don't stop
at the traffic lights and it was like a zebra crossing massive thing and I remember that the lights just going to red and every time went across the people just the car would just keep going until eventually enough people were walking the road where the cars had couldn't do anything but stop and I was there one day and I'm thinking I would go it's gonna take ages because there's no one the other side waiting to cross and they had a tendency of letting Thai people cross more than they would do
forangs as they call us which is like you know foreigners so they they seem to be a bit more bit more bit more giving towards not their own species that's wrong isn't it towards their own people I suppose which seems a bit rude I mean I did find the Thai Thai people to be very friendly some a lot of them but anyway I'm some standing thinking all at this traffic lights and it turned red and it's like an intersection so there's other cars going the other way so they still basically
it's ridiculous that the fact is the rows are ridiculous so but for some reason all the cars stopped on all four lanes all four row you know like lanes of road they all stopped and I'm thinking I'm good at last they realize who I am and they've got some respect for me my reputation my reputation precedes me and realize I'm a VIP and what I didn't know is there was three police women next to me walking behind me walking towards the road and they just walked there and I just walked
with them and I was just laughing at the drivers just looking at they said like this is the only reason they stopped because I saw the place so I started laughing one of the police woman I said were you gonna go over the other part of the road as well because I'll follow you there as well so even though it's against the law for them to drive through a red light like it is anywhere else in the world they do it if there's no one to stop them I mean people
do that in this country but generally you know I've seen some weird things over the years that's why I always look both ways even on a one-way street why are you looking both ways in a one-way street because it's a good thing to do it's the proper thing to do trust me the Faroe Islands have no traffic lights okay Mount Fuji is climbed by thousands suddenly at sunrise each year okay province hosts quiet early morning markets where locals don't rush yeah I'm not a rusher never been a rusher a rushing
person I'm not okay it's not that I've never never been it but generally I don't really see the point in rushing around I noticed that when I try and rush that's when I make a noise when I I'm trying to be quiet that's when I drop things if I rush around it's when I bang my toes on things and yeah nothing good comes from it Namibia's desert dunes are some of the quietest landforms in the world cool never been in a desert been on a beach never been in a desert
I've been surrounded by sand there's never been in a desert I've seen deserts on TV never been in one I wonder what it's like Lake Baikal in Russia is the world's deepest freshwater good for diving I suppose Nepalese monasteries practice daily silent meditation that is a I guess that's a Buddhist thing as well I mean there is silent meditation done in Buddhists different Buddhist organizations where maybe they'll meditate in the evening and not speak at all during the night whatever this this one Bhutan has a law requiring at least 60%
forest coverage at all times Wow and New Zealand has official dark sky sanctuaries for stargazing how does that work does that that I suppose it would that mean that no streetlights no lights in houses no planes I guess must be I suppose well I imagine if you live near the sea and New Zealand because they're so far away from anything you'd be looking up it I don't know it just that must be lovely I want to go to New Zealand now I think my auntie lives in New Zealand well she's
at least traveling there she's either in Australia or New Zealand they're not the same no but they're the same part of the world and they come on they're not near each other but they're nearer than we are New Zealand is closer to Australia than I am it's just like that whole thing now in your clothes I'm not saying it's the same place I know it's two different countries stop it I'd like to yeah I'd like to go to New Zealand in a way I think I prefer New Zealand over Australia
I'd like to visit Australia as well there's something I think the reason because New Zealand has a very kind of similar set up to England from what I understand and I quite like that you know drives on the same side of the road has some of the same kind of laws has the same kind of weather I think I don't know just yeah just appeals to me be I suppose that'd be a little bit like us really Vinnie I'd be a little bit like us traveling to another to another planet
and find a one it's like this that's probably what it felt like when people from England first went to New Zealand and for I don't know who discovered New Zealand probably the people that would live in there and never discovered was it really I mean maybe someone moved there once and there was no one living there to start with but is it possible isn't it can then Japan's moss garden has over 120,000 to 120 species of moss I've been wondering about that for ages do you ever like think to yourself
I wonder how many species of moss are in Japan's moss gardens that's bugging me for years and I just I've been meaning to look it up but just you know you get distracted by life stuff and now I know so that's good Canadian canoe routes can stretch untouched for hundreds of miles the Canadian is a big old country huge huge country like proper big and only about 17 people live there so I mean it's got how many people live in Canada I know it's more than 17 Wow don't Canada pop
population what 40 million so you think about it and 40 million one hundred and twenty six thousand seven hundred twenty three no one's going to know to that specific amount it's not never going to be that correct it's 40 million we have about 70 million living in this country and we are tiny tiny you've got the population density in Canada is 4 per kilometer square or 11 people per square mile here I was going to check this one out okay so how many did I say 11 we have 287 per
square mile in this country in England right because the UK covers you know more different places in England approximately 1119 people per square mile but per square mile my part of country 1061 per square mile let's go in London because that's going to be the most populated place or part of the country London Wow 8900 to 9000 people per square mile so if we go look at New York New York that's even more twenty nine thousand three hundred and two people per square mile in New York 9000 in London it
just goes to show that I thought it would be higher in London what about Japan Japan 875 we're also going to look USA USA 93,000 per square mile so just see 93,029 93,000 per square mile no 93.29 sorry I thought was 93,000 93.29 so let's say 93 people per square mile in America and where I live in the UK is 1119 in England it's weird and you got Canada Canada I'm pretty sure it was 11 wasn't it 10.2 people per square mile that is just ridiculous interesting though I think kind
of Tibetan prayer flags I believe to spread peace throughout the wind yeah the Cotswolds are known for honey colored stone cottages we've got some lovely parts of this country though you've got these places where there's all these walls made of stone and the cottages and all this stuff that's just very scenic Iceland's Blue Lagoon is naturally heated by geothermal energy Blue Lagoon is that where the movie was based the Blue Lagoon is it anyone the Blue Lagoon you know I'm gonna movie with Brooke Shields boobies remember I was a bit
louder Brooke Shields she she was in what happened to him I obviously got tired making the movie but what did he go on to do anything I mean she she became famous for I don't know I mean she dated Michael Jackson I think didn't she for a while but did yeah this is that where it's based the Blue Lagoon in Iceland seashells but if you don't know what the Blue Lagoon is it's basically a couple of kids get stranded on an island they grow up and then fall in love basically
I don't know if a gorilla takes them in I forget seashells giant tortoises can live over 150 years Wow it's a long time in it Norway's midnight Sun creates weeks of soft endless daylight so that'd be strange I just just never experienced that so that'd be interesting to see Bora Bora's Lagoon changes color with tides and you've got Island's Lake is that the island of Island Island's Lakes were formed by glaciers thousands of years ago is that just all Island's Lakes or Island's Lakes I'm not sure Japanese tea houses were
designed for calm ritual not socializing yeah they're very peaceful Hawaii's turtles nap on beaches at sunset and Kenya's quiet Savannah are home to gentle grazing animals like giraffes and Giselle's Maui has a bamboo forest where the storks clack together like wind chimes is that where the panda bears live because they like bamboo don't they Scottish locks are often mirror still at dawn again another beautiful country Scotland I do sometimes wonder why like based on some of the scenically beautiful parts of the world I'd have thought that they would be a
place where the economy would really thrive for example Scotland would be everybody living Scotland would be living a really good lifestyle because people from all over the world would want to visit Scotland because of its beauty as well as the architecture 60 there are places so quiet such as the Atacama Atacama Desert you can hear your heartbeat I've never been to the Atacama Desert I've been on a beach surrounded by sand but I've never never been to a desert I'd like to go to a desert but just on the edge
the edge of kind of as long as there's a diner close by so I guess I'm thinking more of like an American American desert what is a diner lots of water hospital you know all the stuff you need and then maybe just walk for five minutes and come back maybe ten minutes and come back do a live stream so you know everyone can see where I am I don't know maybe this seems to be all of the recordings finished or this recording finished so I hope that was it's been quite
informative to me actually the stuff there that I didn't know about what's the glacier I should know that shouldn't I it's just a it's just it's a what's it in it like an ice mountain it's the mountain made of ice Glacier is a persistent body of dense ice a form of rock that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight a glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation blah blah blah blah so when a bit of the glacier breaks off that becomes an iceberg is that right Glacier
iceberg yeah icebergs that calves from glaciers in Greenland are often irregularly shaped while our Antarctic ice shells often produce large tabular oh never seen never seen an iceberg I've seen one TV I've never never actually sort of been on one I've been surrounded by snow in the winter but I've never actually been you know like to the Antarctic I think I'll be alright if I was dropped off there but I don't know if I fancy living in the Antarctic because I've heard it's quite cold at times can be a bit
chilly and we do have winters here we have cold weather we have warm weather windy weather wet weather in some ways it's relatively mild compared to some other parts of the world yeah on that note I'm gonna go so thank you for listening remember to be kind to yourself because you deserve to be happy and be gentle with yourself you deserve to feel safe lots of love bye
Paragraph spacing and recurring name or title errors have been tidied. Because this began as a voice transcription, an occasional word or piece of punctuation may still be incorrect.