yaleman.org

Verb

The act of having a conversation, in the future tense.

We will conversate about this later

Donated by Justin

Adjective

If you’re planful you’ve made a plan? Maybe?

We should be more planful about this in future.

Donated by Justin

Verb

To put something into production, when you know you’re doing something truly lacking in smart.

Found in the notes of a Change Advisory Board meeting, of course!

Adjective

To be not at fault for something really stupid. Typically used by people out of their depth trying to save their careers.

Donated by Justin

Today was, as the title says, a sea day. We spent the day on a Turkish boat, cruising for a short time around Kaleüçağız. Yep, take notes, there’ll be a test on that one later. It’s a beautiful seaside village with a rather large marina full of tourist and traveller boats.

On the way, we were treated to a spectacular view of Kaş from a lookout a few stories above it. Erkan described it as the place he fell in love with the city, and I certainly understand why. Also, mad props to the best hotel for advertising :)

If the status quo was the best idea we’d still be nomads scratching in the dirt for grubs. Or we’d still be bacteria.

A piece of paper which was designed on a computer and printed by a giant automated printer, then folded by robots and inserted into an envelope, again, by robots, was sent to your house. A person will have put it in your letter box, and you or your partner would have taken it into your house, a place built by men and women out of parts suffused with centuries of improvement. You can read it today by sunlight or moonlight or by the magic of electricity or even fire. All wonderful things we couldn’t live without that required people to work together and accept new things. That’s how you’re picking up that pen or pencil, to make a mark on that piece of paper, that helps our society decide if we believe in this thing that means so much to so many on both sides of the discussion.

Another early morning on the road, having had a terrible night’s sleep due to misbehaving air conditioning in the hotel. I know, privileged much? It’s alright if you know it’s going to be hot, you’ll get a fan or change how you sleep - but alternating between 21 and 30 degrees in the room was no fun at all.

First stop this morning was the Saklikent carpet weaver’s collective. A group brought together with government and other funding to promote the ancient skills of knot-work carpet weaving. They work in wool, silk and cotton to make some truly spectacular pieces of art. One of the pieces I saw today has a knot count of over 440dpi, which is incredible to see in real life.

Today we started heading towards the south-western corner of Turkey and the coastal town of Fethiye. We had a few hours’ drive ahead of us so along the way we heard a few new facts.

Roughly 65% of the Turkish population is under 35, with roughly a quarter of the 80 million residents being in school at any given time. One university entrance exam is held per year, run by the government, and if you miss it or fail it, then your life’s on hold for another year. About 2.5 million people are going for the 250k available university positions, so competition’s tough.

Today we started our third day in Selçuk with another delicious breakfast of local olives, eggs and other great things. I could really get used to this. An early start was on the cards due to the long transit, so we got our butts in gear and headed up to the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist and Ayasuluk Kalesi.

More crumblies, beautiful views and a warm day. Emphasis on the warm. It’s interesting to try and infer the designs of places based on their remaining ruins, and see how people put things together in the world’s largest incomplete 3d puzzle games.

Today was scheduled to be a long day of travel, and it definitely lived up to it. Starting in our accommodation, the ANZAC hotel in Çanukkale, we aimed to get to Selçuk by late afternoon, including a stop at the ruins of the city of Troia. Google maps says it’s five and a half hours, but that doesn’t include traffic in Izmir nor the stops along the way.