Latest news with #Rusty
BBC News
16 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Surfers rescue teen girl swept into rip at Newquay
A teenage girl was dramatically rescued from the sea at Newquay's Fistral Beach after falling from rocks into the Riley, 27, and fellow surfer Rusty, also 27, were catching waves near the beach bar at about 20:00 BST on Saturday when they heard cries for girl, believed to be about 15 or 16 years old, suffered scrapes from the rocks but was otherwise unharmed. Her parents were waiting on the beach and were reunited with her shortly after the rescue. "We spotted someone waving and screaming," said Mr Riley from Trewint."At first we thought it was just someone swimming, but it was a really sketchy spot." The pair paddled over and found the girl struggling in the water near the gully, a rocky area notorious for strong currents."She must have fallen off the rocks and got stuck in a rip," said Mr Riley."She still had her Crocs in her hands."Rusty managed to get the girl onto his board while Mr Riley helped push them toward shore. "Rusty was grabbing the back of my leg as I paddled. It was all a bit manic," he said."Probably not a perfect rescue, but we got there in the end." "She was in a real panic," said Mr Riley. "It's hard to stay calm if you're not used to that environment. "We were just lucky to be in the right place at the right time." He hopes the incident raises awareness of the potential dangers of the sea."People who aren't familiar with the beach need to be more cautious," he said."These things can happen fast. She was in a real panic."Even though you can see the shore, being out at sea in unfamiliar territory can be pretty scary. "I'm just glad it turned out the way it did."DJ and surfer Rusty, from Newquay, said: "It was chaotic, but I've had a few scare moments myself so that helped me stay calm."She was being thrown over the rocks like being in a washing machine."People just don't realise how the conditions can change so quickly, from peaceful to carnage in a minute."
Vancouver Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Presumed Innocent writer Scott Turow brings new book to Vancouver Writers Fest event
After a 15-year absence, Rusty Sabich is back on the pages of a Scott Turow crime thriller . The star of two previous Turow bestselling novels , Presumed Innocent and Innocent, Rusty returns to centre stage in Turow's latest offering, titled Presumed Guilty. Rusty, now in his mid-70s, is living in a fictional rural U.S. Midwest community. A retired judge who does some mediation and arbitration work, Rusty is enjoying his third act living on the edge of a lovely lake with a lovely partner named Bea. Things are going along smoothly until Bea's young adult son, Aaron, who is living under the couple's supervision while on probation for a drug charge, disappears. After he turns up, it's discovered he was camping with his troubled on-again, off-again girlfriend. But things didn't go well and he left angry and returned home. She did not return home, and is found dead two weeks later. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Aaron is arrested and Rusty is forced out of retirement. 'I've never been much of a person to keep journals. So, my personal reflections tend to find their way into the fiction. And, certainly in Rusty's case, that's been particularly true,' said Turow over the phone from Florida recently. 'I would say Rusty is always with me. He's not front of mind, but the two times I've done this now, that is to say, going back to Rusty, I have found it remarkably easy just to go back to that voice. It's very natural to me.' Through the story, Aaron and Rusty grow closer as Rusty sees the reality of Aaron's life as a young Black man. (He was adopted at a young age by Bea, in a predominantly white community.) 'Aaron is a pretty isolated guy. He's to himself, he likes to spend time alone. He likes to get into the wilderness,' said Turow. 'I began saying to myself, 'So what would make him that way?' I realized that, certainly, being a Black kid in a white family in a rural area where there are not a lot of other Black people, would help explain that.' Turow explained that his editor was 'apprehensive,' about Turow, a white guy, writing about a young Black man. 'I do accept the fact, the big risk, if somebody is writing about a character of an identifiable group of which the author is not part. The big risk is inauthenticity,' said Turow. 'I don't accept the idea that white people shouldn't write about Black people, or Black people shouldn't write about white people, or whatever category. Not men about women and vice versa. I was not afraid of that.' Turow will be in Vancouver on June 3 (7:30 p.m.) at the Granville Island Stage for the Vancouver Writers Fest event Books & Ideas: Scott Turow — Presumed Guilty, along with award-winning author and screenwriter Susin Nielsen, the creator of Global TV's Family Law, whose latest book, Snap, is out now. 'I think that my audience has always been disproportionately lawyers,' said Turow when asked about who comes to his live events. 'There are always some lawyers who want to write. The law is all about words. So, lawyers are word people to begin with. So, it's kind of natural.' When wannabe writers turn up, they invariably seek some sort of advice from Turow, who has penned 13 novels and sold more than 30 million books. 'My advice is that there aren't any magic formulas, and you've got to stick your butt in the chair and do it,' said Turow. 'It's like everything else in life. You get better at it by doing it. You know the old joke; how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.' After doing a creative writing degree in the early 1970s, Turow went to law school and then practised law. He stepped away from commercial law in 2022. But, today, he still has his hand in the legal game as he is working on a pro bono civil case — which he thinks will be his last — leaving him to get his legal fix at a keyboard. While Turow's previous novels took place in more urban settings, Presumed Guilty is set in a small town with dynastic legal family. 'The setting that I'm describing in Presumed Guilty is one that I know very well, and I've watched it with interest, even though I think we'll always be outsiders up there,' said Turow, who lives part of the time in rural Wisconsin. 'You're talking about an area, for example, where you know the economic prospects are limited, so you're basically raising your children understanding that they're likely to leave and not leave because they want to, but because they have to … This really is something that I thought I ought to write about, eventually, because it's not a part of American life that's glimpsed as often in our fiction.' He also liked the idea of a story surrounding a family where one member is suspected of a serious crime. 'I've seen lots of good writing about this. There's just been a series on, I think it's on Netflix, called Adolescence, so this seemed really rich to me, because I'm always interested in drawing into the intersection between the law and family life,' said Turow. 'That's kind of a good matrix for me … When I got the idea, I thought wait a minute, this would be a really good coda for Rusty to end up as a defence lawyer. Then I was off to the races.' It's been 15 years since Rusty last appeared in a Turow novel, but the author said he has always had plans to revisit Rusty and his life. 'When I left Rusty at the end of Innocent, I was sort of like, 'Well, you know, I'm not sure I can leave this guy in this position,'' said Turow. 'I always had the sense I would go back to him one more time.' While Turow's books have been major bestsellers, his novels have also enjoyed successful TV and film adaptations. Most recently, Presumed Innocent was made into a hit limited series in 2024 by David E. Kelley starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The Apple TV series was the second time the novel was adapted for the screen. The first outing was a feature film in 1990 starring Harrison Ford. Turow confirms that Kelley has optioned Presumed Guilty and will begin writing it this fall. The question is, now that Rusty is a septuagenarian, could there be a chance Ford, 82, could come back to the role? 'That's out of my hands. Yeah, I think David is thinking about somebody in his 60s,' said Turow. 'I would certainly be happy to see Harrison, you know, reprise the role. And he's a Midwestern guy. But, like I said, this is beyond my control. And the other thing, it's not like the grocery store. People aren't necessarily there on the shelf when you get there.' Hollywood aside, Turow is not sure about Rusty's leading role in another book, but he thinks his famous lawyer still has some literary worth. 'The way my novels interrelate with one another, Rusty may pop up in another book,' said Turow, noting he is working on a new novel right now. 'But, as for him being the centre of attention, I kind of think not.' Dgee@
Calgary Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Presumed Innocent writer Scott Turow brings new book to Vancouver Writers Fest event
Article content Article content Turow will be in Vancouver on June 3 (7:30 p.m.) at the Granville Island Stage for the Vancouver Writers Fest event Books & Ideas: Scott Turow — Presumed Guilty, along with award-winning author and screenwriter Susin Nielsen, the creator of Global TV's Family Law, whose latest book, Snap, is out now. Article content 'I think that my audience has always been disproportionately lawyers,' said Turow when asked about who comes to his live events. 'There are always some lawyers who want to write. The law is all about words. So, lawyers are word people to begin with. So, it's kind of natural.' Article content When wannabe writers turn up, they invariably seek some sort of advice from Turow, who has penned 13 novels and sold more than 30 million books. Article content 'My advice is that there aren't any magic formulas, and you've got to stick your butt in the chair and do it,' said Turow. 'It's like everything else in life. You get better at it by doing it. You know the old joke; how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.' Article content Article content After doing a creative writing degree in the early 1970s, Turow went to law school and then practised law. He stepped away from commercial law in 2022. But, today, he still has his hand in the legal game as he is working on a pro bono civil case — which he thinks will be his last — leaving him to get his legal fix at a keyboard. Article content While Turow's previous novels took place in more urban settings, Presumed Guilty is set in a small town with dynastic legal family. Article content 'The setting that I'm describing in Presumed Guilty is one that I know very well, and I've watched it with interest, even though I think we'll always be outsiders up there,' said Turow, who lives part of the time in rural Wisconsin. 'You're talking about an area, for example, where you know the economic prospects are limited, so you're basically raising your children understanding that they're likely to leave and not leave because they want to, but because they have to … This really is something that I thought I ought to write about, eventually, because it's not a part of American life that's glimpsed as often in our fiction.' Article content Article content He also liked the idea of a story surrounding a family where one member is suspected of a serious crime. Article content 'I've seen lots of good writing about this. There's just been a series on, I think it's on Netflix, called Adolescence, so this seemed really rich to me, because I'm always interested in drawing into the intersection between the law and family life,' said Turow. 'That's kind of a good matrix for me … When I got the idea, I thought wait a minute, this would be a really good coda for Rusty to end up as a defence lawyer. Then I was off to the races.' Article content It's been 15 years since Rusty last appeared in a Turow novel, but the author said he has always had plans to revisit Rusty and his life. Article content 'When I left Rusty at the end of Innocent, I was sort of like, 'Well, you know, I'm not sure I can leave this guy in this position,'' said Turow. 'I always had the sense I would go back to him one more time.'
The Verge
18-05-2025
- The Verge
I used two GPS hiking apps for backpacking and I'll do it again
For most of my life, I've relied on a paper map when I go outdoors. Then, in March, I joined my friend Rusty on the Appalachian Trail for two weeks. He told me to download FarOut. FarOut was my introduction to the world of app-based navigation. It's focused on thru-hikers, and has useful details, including comments that tell you whether a specific water source is flowing, and if so, how well. It took me a minute to get the hang of it — I was hiking southbound, and it defaults to northbound — but once I did, I was impressed. FarOut works like a guidebook. But the kind of backpacking I ordinarily do is on more offbeat trails in the local national forests — not the wilderness highways FarOut specializes in. So for my first solo trip, to the Ventana Wilderness area of the Los Padres National Forest, I thought I'd try out some of the other navigation apps, as part of an absolutely transparent ploy to get my job to let me fuck off outdoors more often; there are a lot of hikes I want to do. I suspect many of our readers are connoisseurs of the great indoors, but I also know you love gadgets, and let me tell you something: so do backpackers. You would not believe the conversations I have had with absolute strangers about gear. Now, I'm not going to top Outdoor Gear Lab — I love their reviews, and have found them reliable guides when it comes to big purchases * — but I do work at the phones website. We kind of specialize in having feelings about apps. I considered several options. I quickly discarded onX Backcountry when I discovered on one of my trial hikes how quickly it drained my phone battery. I also used CalTopo to prepare for the hike, but because it's a fairly complex platform with a steep learning curve, I don't think I've spent enough time with it to give it a proper review.I figured I might as well keep it simple. I already knew Google Maps wouldn't cut it; the acquisitions Google has made over the years suggest that the company's more interested in cars than pedestrians. Looking at the Health and Fitness category on the Apple App Store, I noticed AllTrails ranked #10, so trying the popular app seemed natural. The other app I saw frequently mentioned on hiking subreddits — besides CalTopo — was Gaia GPS. So I figured I'd start with those two. There are a few other apps in the space I didn't consider. The most notable are Avenza and Goat Maps. I've found Avenza limited, but it seems the feature set has been updated since the last time I played with it. Goat Maps is new to me, but it's from the same team that created Gaia GPS before it was sold to Outside. (More about that in a minute.) Route planning Because this was my first solo hike, I was not interested in doing anything especially difficult. I've been to the Ventana Wilderness before, and am familiar with the Pine Ridge Trail, which I viewed as the backbone of my trip. One of the things AllTrails has going for it is suggested routes — for this area, 41 possible hikes. I had originally contemplated doing an overnight at China Camp before heading down the Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes Camp as an out-and-back, but after hiking with Rusty, I decided I could be more ambitious. I considered a few routes before settling on what AllTrails calls the Big Sur Sykes Hot Springs Extended Loop. That was partly because I'd checked in with the Big Sur Trail Map, a volunteer information repository hosted by Jack Glendening for trail conditions, and discovered a few trails I might have otherwise wanted to use were overgrown. AllTrails has user comments, which can be useful. One user told me to prepare for ticks and poison oak. Another suggested a stop at Timber Top for a meal or snack as it was beautiful, even if it was a detour, so I worked that into my agenda. In order to get a sense of what I'd be doing, I used tools to create my routes, with different lines for each day. CalTopo, AllTrails, and Gaia all have 'snap to route' tools that let you automatically follow a trail the map knows about, which makes creating a route easier. But once I started mapping my route, I noticed some trouble. AllTrails said this was a 32.8-mile hike. I had trouble getting Gaia to acknowledge the fire road that would be part of my route with its auto-route tool set; also, the app insisted I was hiking 40 miles. Both the AllTrails and Gaia 'snap to route' tools were easier to use than CalTopo, and it came up with a totally different mileage count than either: a 35-mile hike. Similarly, looking at elevation gain, AllTrails told me to expect 9,160 feet, CalTopo told me to expect 8901 feet, and Gaia, for some reason, was insisting on 19,000 feet. I gotta say, 19,000 feet did not seem like it was in the vicinity of right. Looking at the map I created on Gaia, I think that's because the 'snap to route' tool had given me some weird detours. Well, what's a couple miles and a few hundred feet of elevation between friends? I decided the smartest move would be to plan a four-day hike with three overnight stops: Sykes Camp, Rainbow Camp, and Outlaw Camp. I figured having more stops meant I could more easily absorb some unexpected miles if I had to. AllTrails' route-building tool was easiest to use, and the easiest to edit if I made a mistake. While I appreciated Gaia's similarly easy snap-to-trail function, it was a profound pain in the ass to edit after I'd made a route. And CalTopo was the most finicky for route-building of the bunch, requiring painstaking clicking. But it also had the best feature set, in terms of lines, colors, and editing. It also had more base layers and overlays showing, among other things, where to expect cellphone service. CalTopo and Gaia let you build and edit maps on a phone, but I primarily used my laptop because a big screen is better for planning routes, and a mouse is a more precise tool than my finger. Tinkering with Gaia on my phone, I found route creation buggy. AllTrails doesn't seem to offer route creation on the iPhone at all. This didn't matter much for me, but if you're creating routes on the fly in the backcountry, you're out of luck with AllTrails, and Gaia may suddenly quit working. Why use apps at all? I harbor a deep and profound pro-paper bias. A notebook is the best organizational tool available to you. I own hundreds of paper books because they don't have DRM and they can't be altered post-publication, or removed from my devices. I like paper maps a great deal, and have used them as my main navigation tool for my entire hiking career. Paper maps have downsides. They don't respond well to water, for instance. Wear and tear can render them unusable. They may be out of date. And, of course, there are no crowdsourced comments telling you about trail conditions before your hike. The obvious benefit of the navigation apps is the reassuring little blue dot The obvious benefit of the navigation apps is the reassuring little blue dot that tells you exactly where you are on the trail, without requiring nearly as much work. You can pull out your phone and see how much farther you need to go before arriving at a landmark. And most of us have our phones on our hikes because they're the most convenient way to take photos. Gaia and AllTrails offer downloadable maps as part of a premium service — for a subscription fee, of course. That's either $59.90 for Gaia or $89.99 for Gaia's Outside Plus, which includes access to Outside's assorted publications. The AllTrails Plus subscription I tested was $35.99 a year; after I went on my hike, it announced AllTrails Peak, which costs $79.99 a year and includes AI tools for route planning. (Given what I know about LLMs, I personally would not trust an AI to plan any hiking route, but I suppose your mileage may vary.) CalTopo, which offers its own set of subscription plans at $20, $50, and $100 a year, shows weather data and information about how much sunlight any part of its map gets at any hour of the day. There are a couple downsides to these apps. They drain the phone battery, which necessitates carrying a portable charger, which means more weight. If the phone doesn't work — because, say, you dropped it — the app won't work either. And there are, of course, the privacy issues. I don't want people to know where I am at all times My location is sensitive information; I don't want people to know where I am at all times. AllTrails defaults to sharing your data publicly, so anyone on Earth can look up your hikes. While you can change this setting, defaults matter. 'Public trail activities and community reviews are a big part of the AllTrails experience,' spokesperson Mia DeSimone in an email. I was also prompted to review my hike afterwards — part of the crowdsourced data that makes AllTrails work, I suppose. AllTrails also shares your data. Some of that is unobjectionable — payment providers, for instance — but some of it, like sharing data with marketing partners, raised my eyebrows. 'AllTrails does not process sensitive personal data, including precise geolocation, for purposes other than actual use of the AllTrails platform,' DeSimone said. I can't speak to the pluses and minuses of AllTrails Peak, which I haven't experimented with. But after my hike, AllTrails also discontinued its 'Advanced Conditions' feature that showed weather along a prospective route, what to expect from the ground (wet? icy?), and mosquito activity. AllTrails Peak users will get access to 'Trail Conditions,' which DeSimone says is 'significantly more robust and precise than Advanced Conditions.' Some AllTrails users seem unhappy about the new pricing tier. Gaia similarly defaults to public sharing, because of 'a social component designed to help users connect, share experiences, and discover trails,' said Devin Lehman, general manager of Gaia GPS, in an emailed statement. 'Public sharing of hikes is the default setting to encourage this community engagement.' Gaia also shares some data, including location data, with unnamed 'service providers,' but Lehman said this is done 'under strict data protection agreements' and is used to 'support and power specific features and functionalities.' Last year, Gaia began requiring sign-ins, catching a few people who were on multi-day trips by surprise. 'To ensure minimal disruption, we implemented a 'snooze' option allowing users to defer login for up to 28 days if prompted during an active trip,' Lehman wrote. 'Users entirely offline (airplane mode or zero cell service) would not see the prompt at all. However, we understand some users in areas with intermittent service did encounter unexpected prompts. We've taken user feedback seriously and continue refining our app experience to better support uninterrupted outdoor adventures.' Its parent company, Outside, also jacked up the cost of subscriptions, and on April 14th this year, it removed access to the National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps. 'While we understand some subscribers valued the National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps, these maps offered limited regional coverage and lacked the global scope and dynamic functionality our growing user base needs,' Lehman wrote. He says Gaia 'substantially expanded' its offerings in the last few years, and the price increase reflects 'the ongoing investment required to maintain and continuously improve Gaia GPS.' Be that as it may, I've got several friends who are disgruntled Gaia subscribers looking around for another option. And I personally do not have faith in Outside's management of Gaia, or its other properties, in the long run. On the trail Because I was uncertain about my mileage, I decided to track myself several ways: AllTrails, Gaia, and my Apple Watch Series 6. The Apple Watch isn't really an ideal fitness tracker for outdoors enthusiasts — it's flimsy and its battery drains too fast; even the Ultra 2 only gives you 72 hours in low power mode. What it does have going for it is that I already own it, and there are other pieces of gear that were more important to upgrade after my experience on the AT. The Big Four in pack weight are your tent, sleeping bag or quilt, sleeping pad, and pack itself. Updating my tent and quilt, both expensive, also meant I lost about 5 pounds of weight from my pack immediately. Since this wasn't a long hike and I was already carrying a battery, the Apple Watch's propensity to drain quickly, even with both low power mode and theater mode on, didn't seem too terrible. I set out from the trailhead Monday morning, and turned on tracking for AllTrails, Gaia, and my Apple Watch. As with all tracking, there are opportunities for user error — I am of course capable of forgetting to turn this stuff on, or pausing it and then never unpausing it. I mention this because there was user error: I paused the AllTrails tracker and then never unpaused it, so as far as it's concerned, I hiked 3.7 miles that first day. I was more successful with my watch and Gaia. I started my watch late — looking at the map, I seem to have missed at least a mile before I started it; it recorded 9 miles of walking. I did start Gaia at the beginning of my hike, and it recorded I hiked 11.6 miles. Both watch and app recorded about 2,400 feet of ascent, a little less than what CalTopo told me to expect (2,600 feet of elevation gain) and significantly less than what AllTrails told me to expect (3,000 feet). I arrived at Sykes Camp, alongside the Big Sur River, a little after 4PM, and set up my tent. It was close enough to dinnertime that I decided to eat. As I was hunched over the stove, a woman walked by, so I said hello. She was looking for the hot spring, and continued walking upriver. About 45 minutes later, she returned. She hadn't found it. The hot spring wasn't listed on the AllTrails map, the CalTopo map, or either of my paper maps. But it was on Gaia, and after dinner, I found the hot spring, a half-mile hike on a somewhat overgrown path downriver, and soaked blissfully for about half an hour. I'd post a selfie, but this is the internet, and I know better than to post feet for free. The next morning I packed up and headed off to Rainbow Camp around 8:45AM. This, I knew, would be an up-and-down day of ridgeline hiking; AllTrails had a helpful elevation map telling me roughly what to expect. Unlike Sykes, Rainbow Camp was likely to be a place I'd be alone. Most of the people I'd spoken to the day before were doing an out-and-back, with Sykes as their only stop. But this ridgeline hike was spotted with wildflowers. I'd planned for this to be a fairly short day, only about 7 miles. I pulled into Rainbow Camp around 2PM and was underwhelmed — it was buggy and not especially scenic. So after eating lunch and refreshing my water supply, I decided to push on to Cold Spring Camp. The AllTrails map suggested it would only be 5 miles more. It was uphill, though, about 2,000 more feet of climbing. Even if I dragged along at 1 mile an hour, I'd still arrive before sunset. I'd thought about camping at Cold Spring before I set off, and had shied away from it both because of the climb and my uncertainty about the actual mileage of my hike. But I was feeling good, and I'd used my Garmin InReach Mini to check in about my change of plans, so I shoved off. According to my trackers recording my actual route — Gaia and AllTrails — it was more like 6 miles, not 5. Gaia tracked 4,884 feet of climb over a total distance of 13.6 miles; AllTrails suggested I'd climbed 5,213 feet over 14.6 miles. (Did I miss a mile somewhere on Gaia? I don't see a gap in the recording, so I'm not sure how to account for the difference.) My Apple Watch said I'd gone 11.5 miles, also with 4,884 feet of climb — but its battery died before I made camp. I set up camp at Cold Spring, and watched the sun go down over the ocean as I ate dinner. The extra mileage meant I could plausibly make it home the following day. Sure, there were several camps available if I was too tired to do the rest of the hike, but depending on which tracker I used as my source of truth, I had somewhere between 11 and 13 miles left, a fairly easy day of hiking, particularly since it would all be downhill. The third day opened with ridgeline views; I was above a thick ceiling of clouds hiding the ocean. There were, of course, more wildflowers. When I turned off the dirt road onto Terrace Creek Trail, I met a day hiker going the other direction, who warned me about ticks on the grassy descent toward a redwood grove. (Maybe because he went through just before me, or maybe because of the permethrin I'd used on my clothes, I didn't see any.) I made it back to the parking lot a little after 4PM. I'd had some user error with my Apple Watch — forgetting to start it again after breakfast at Timber Top, so there was an hour and a half gap in its data — and it recorded 11 miles. AllTrails crapped out at some point between when I set off from Cold Spring and breakfast, so it didn't record my entire hike. Still, it got 11.63 miles. Gaia also had a gap in its recording (something wrong with my phone?) and put me at 12.7 miles. I thought the hike would settle how long the route was. It did, in a way — certainly the hike was longer than the 32.8 miles AllTrails had promised. If we take Gaia's tracking, which was the most complete of the bunch, as the source of truth, I'd hiked 38 miles, 39 if I added the hike to the hot spring. Conclusion… of some sort While I had my paper maps (and compass) with me, the point was to test the apps, and they worked well enough that I didn't have to refer to my 'real' maps at all. But I also didn't come away with a single clear winner, whether AllTrails or Gaia was best. AllTrails offered better route-planning features, while Gaia was more reliable on the trail. Both had worrisome inaccuracies in their data, which meant in practical terms that I lugged around another day of food in extra weight because I wasn't totally sure how far I'd be climbing or walking. That's consequential — food and water are usually the heaviest things a hiker carries. I certainly wouldn't recommend relying on either of these, particularly without a backup map, and I'm not sold on how they handle my privacy. AllTrails seems to be aimed at people who are more casual hikers than I am. I don't think Outside has been a good steward of Gaia (or of Outside Magazine). I also hesitate to recommend pricey subscriptions to these apps, given the issues I had with them. In fact, as I was writing this, I realized the most useful app in planning the trip was the one I hadn't downloaded maps from: CalTopo. I haven't tested CalTopo in the backcountry yet, so consider this a cliffhanger. Please feel free to pop over to the comments to demand I be allowed to go backpacking for work sooner rather than later, so you can hear more about my map-related misadventures. I've been eyeing the Tahoe Rim Trail for later this summer, and if I'm testing gear, it doesn't count as vacation time, right? Right? * Except in the case of bras. Outdoor Gear Lab's top bra recommendation's largest size is a C cup, and the reviews are written primarily for teeny tatas. That's an astounding editorial failure. Not only do athletes of big titty experience have a harder time finding bras at all, we are more likely to experience boob pain — which is a major reason women quit sports. Breast tissue is dead weight, so bra structure is crucial. A bra that's stretchy enough to fit over your head won't keep the girls in place during high-impact exercise. Some other rules of thumb: racerbacks press on your traps; thin straps cut into your shoulders; a thick, tight band is a must for weight distribution. A low-cut bra means an astonishing amount of cleavage, but a high neckline will make your gazongas look even bigger, so pick your poison, I guess. (Also, a high-cut bra worn for a long time will incubate a real banner crop of cleavage zits and, in some cases, chafing.) For running, I like Enell's High Impact Bra — it's the only one I've tried that's kept my rack from bouncing. (It's also recommended by Swole Woman Casey Johnston
The Review Geek
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Poker Face – Season 2 Episode 4 'The Taste of Human Blood' Recap & Review
Episode 4 The Murder Episode 4 of Poker Face Season 2 begins with a cop named Fran arresting a thief who tried to steal from an old woman's house and failed. The man has a family and needs money for his kids. Fran understands that he simply made a stupid mistake and allows him to go. Fran's boss then tells her that she's been nominated for the Cop of the Year award at the annual Florida award show for cops, the FlopaCopa. She is reluctant to spend time on things like award shows but her boss convinces her to go. However, during the event, the award goes to Joseph, a cop who saved a little alligator and then named her Daisy. Fast forward six years and the man has now won six Cop of the Year awards and is known as Gator Joe. He is still in possession of Daisy, who is now a fully grown alligator. What's more, Fran is now extremely frustrated at constantly losing to him. She gets her seventh nomination, but her boss is worried about how fixated she is on winning the award. The night of the award show arrives and Fran sees the awards being taken to a back room. She sneaks in and sees that Gator Joe is winning the award again, which makes her tear up. Gator Joe arrives as well and gloats about it, making Fran angrily walk away. She goes into a green room and finds Daisy there, in a cage. She goes through a box of Daisy's things and finds a reptile laxative that Gator Joe had previously talked about on his social media videos. She quickly consults an animal control cop named Rusty, asking if she can take reptile laxative for her stomach issues. He writes the amount that is safe to ingest on a piece of paper. She then heads back and puts the laxative into Gator Joe's tiny bottles of energy drink. The lunch break soon begins and Fran watches Gator Joe run to the toilet. She follows and gleefully listens to him outside the toilet. But she then hears him collapse and goes inside to check — he's dead! She realises she read Rusty's directions wrong and gave Gator Joe too much laxative. Realising that an autopsy would point to her, Fran decides to frame Daisy for the crime instead. She uses Oreo biscuits, Daisy's favourite snack, to lure Daisy out and to the bathroom where Gator Joe's body is. When she doesn't do anything, Fran takes a bag of meth (the FlocaCopa has used real guns, ammunition, and drugs as props) and dumps it out on Daisy. This is more than enough for the gator to go haywire and attack Gator Joe's body. Fran leaves and not much later, other cops find Gator Joe's remains. The Investigation We then shift to Charlie, who randomly drops her finger on a map. She then uses the radio she got from the film shoot in Episode 2 to try and connect with someone. She manages to speak to a man, a truck driver also on the road, whom she calls Good Buddy. She then finds herself at an animal sanctuary with a group of animal activists, led by a man named Hutch. They feel strongly about saving Daisy from Gator Joe, since he drugs her up all the time, and rope in Charlie to help. Their plan is to save Daisy at the FlopaCopa award show. Charlie heads in and finds Daisy in her green room. The plan is to wheel the cage out during the lunch break, but she notices that the cage doesn't have wheels. At that moment, Fran comes into the room and has her little cry. Charlie comforts her and then leaves. Hutch tells Charlie to break the cage and use the leash to get Daisy out by hand. Charlie does so and in that moment, looks into Daisy's eyes and feels a cosmic connection that proves Daisy is a gentle creature. However, she refuses to move. So, Charlie heads out to find some Oreos. By the time she's back, the cage is empty and Gator Joe is dead. The cops are all in a flurry and want to kill Daisy. But she's still agitated and they can't open the door. Hutch wants to abort the mission but Charlie wants to prove Daisy's innocence. But now that Daisy has had a taste of human blood, Hutch and his team give up on the alligator. Meanwhile, Fran's boss calls her up, concerned. He tells her Gator Joe uploaded a TikTok of Fran crying over the award. Fran realises Gator Joe was wearing sunglasses with an attached camera. She goes to the cops outside the bathroom who are waiting for a chance to kill Daisy and asks about the sunglasses, making up a story about how they were a gift from Gator Joe's mother. One of the cops tells her that the sunglasses are probably inside Daisy by now. The cops finally decide to go inside and attack Daisy but the room is empty. The gator broke open a vent and is now in the walls. Meanwhile, Charlie speaks to Rusty about what could have changed Daisy's behaviour so drastically. She realises it could be the bags of meth around them. By checking the event's photographs, she learns that one went missing. As the cops arm themselves to hunt Daisy down, Charlie goes to the storeroom and finds the gator there, having munched on a lot of Oreos. Fran arrives as well and Charlie tries to convince her of Daisy's innocence. Fran doesn't want the sunglasses found inside Daisy, so she helps Charlie sneak the gator out and into her police car. They head towards a swamp and Fran pretends that she's going to set Daisy free. Of course, Charlie knows better and catches Fran just as she's about to shoot Daisy. The truth comes out and Charlie encourages Fran to just confess her mistake. Fran decides to shoot Charlie instead but Daisy swipes her tail and brings Fran down. Fran then looks into Daisy's eyes and sees the same cosmic realisation that hit Charlie. She agrees to confess. Right before going into the swamp, Daisy takes a dump and out come Gator Joe's sunglasses. Fran gives them to her boss and confesses the whole thing, but he refuses to let her go down for this. He wants her to stay on since she's a good policewoman. But Fran gives up her badge and goes to work at the animal sanctuary instead. Meanwhile, Charlie gets back to her car and tells Good Buddy about her escapades. She then sees Daisy go by in the nearby river and calls out to her. Daisy approaches Charlie relatively fast. Charlie remembers the warnings about the taste of human blood and quickly drives away. After she leaves, we see Daisy roll over in the water and Poker Face Season 2 Episode 4 comes to a close. The Episode Review Season 2 Episode 4 offers one of Poker Face's more whimsical episodes, what with Charlie not only bonding with Daisy but also getting a cosmic realisation by looking in her eyes. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but I definitely enjoyed watching Charlie defend an animal instead of a person. It ties in so easily with the kind of person she is, she wouldn't let an innocent gator be framed! The murder itself is a bit different from the usual. Instead of killing someone in cold blood, Fran makes a mistake. The first scene of the episode with the thief nicely ties into this theme. The one thing that feels odd is the fact that an actual cop would leave a literal trail of crumbs that proves her crime. But aside from that, Fran's character is established really well and the entire investigation is riddled with laughs — from the jokes about the undercover cop to the fact that Hutch has never eaten bread to Charlie's epic one-liners. Previous Episode Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
