19 Jun 2021

Twenty Sixth of 40 Donations

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The 25th of my 40 donations goes to Stronghold Rescue and Relief who protect and care for families in conflict zones around the world. Read some of the stores and watch the video below, it’s really something.

https://strongholdrescue.org/

Stronghold Rescue and Relief send small teams of highly-skilled former special operations members into conflict zones to conduct and organize humanitarian rescue and relief operations.

Stronghold Rescue and Relief teams serve local families by providing emergency medical aid and delivering situation-specific humanitarian relief.

When appropriate, Stronghold Rescue and Relief‘s highly-experienced operatives advise and accompany local authorities during high-risk, life-saving rescue operations.

Over time, Stronghold Rescue and Relief organise and employ teams of locals to conduct their own rescue and relief operations with minimal outside help. Stronghold Rescue and Relief call this “Charity With Dignity.”

https://strongholdrescue.org/

I looked into making a donation and found that they prefer longer term support for cash flow and planning reasons. They actively encourage monthly subscription on their website including by giving a t-shirt to all monthly subscribers. Therefore, I signed up to provide $15 a month and I will do this for four months.

https://strongholdrescue.org/support

According to XE.com today $15 equates to £10.86 so over the course of four months I will end up paying almost 10% / £4 over £40 but I guess that will pay for the t-shirt!

https://www.xe.com/
$15 x 4 months = $60 / 1.38040 = £43.47
Khallas

I came across Stronghold Rescue and Relief on a YouTube channel called MrBallen by a dude called John Allen, a former Navy SEAL who now tells strange, dark & mysterious stories…

The story of how Stronghold Rescue and Relief became established is incredible and is summarised nicely in MrBallen’s below video:

You can find MrBallen’s YouTube channel here; if you like his content, subscribe.

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen/videos

Instagram: @johnballen416

Twitter: @johnballen416

2nd YouTube channel: MrBallen Shorts

TikTok: @MrBallen

LinkedIn: John Allen (MrBallen)

    18 Jun 2021

    Twenty Fifth of 40 Donations

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    The 25th of my 40 donations goes to Sofia Sofia; whilst it is blatantly obvious what first caught my eye about her, the energy and positivity of her YouTube shorts have brightened up nearly every day since.

    For what it’s worth, I haven’t quite learnt how to shuffle… yet

    Having been spending a bit more time on YouTube and coming to appreciate a little more how it works and how copyright claims can be so constricting, I was disappointed to hear that despite how many views Sofia Sofia gets on each of her videos, her earnings were low to non-existent. Added to that, her Mother became unwell and so this is where I thought #40s440 could help – albeit in a way that is new to me.

    A bit like supporting a local band or a busker a bar or in town, becoming a Patron is an contemporary international vehicle that enables the provision of regular financial support to your favourite creators and being recognised for doing so with a sort of membership.

    I initially thought I’d pay a pound a week for 40 weeks but the transaction had to be per month and 40 months is a lengthy time frame so I may yet change it. Irrespective, my donation will add up to £40 in total.

    Furthermore, if each of her subscribers paid even just once pound each, I’m sure that would make a significant difference – here’s to my £40!

    £1 x 40 months = £40

    https://www.youtube.com/c/SOFIASOFIA9379/featured

    Edit: I was mindful of transaction costs (unclear on the platform but could be detrimental to the artist and / or me) so amended my pledge to £10 a month for 4 months. This is also a much more appropriate period of performance that aligns with #40s440.

    £10 x 4 months = £40

    https://www.patreon.com/sofiasofia9379 Instagram –

    https://www.instagram.com/sofia_sofia9379

    Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sofiasofia9379

    Venmo: sofia9379venmo

    More about Patreon:

    Patreon powers membership businesses for creators by giving them the tools they need to acquire, manage, and energize their paying patrons. With a subscription-style payment model, fans pay their favorite creators a monthly amount of their choice in exchange for exclusive access, extra content, or a closer look into their creative journey.

    This model is a win-win; creators retain creative freedom while getting the salary they deserve, and fans get to rest easy knowing that their money goes directly towards creating more of what they love.

    https://www.patreon.com/about

    https://www.patreon.com/home

      14 Jun 2021

      40 subscribers to my YouTube channel!

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      I’ve been uploading content to YouTube for some time now but initially used it more like cloud-based storage for videos I wanted to keep but not necessarily share. More recently, I have been creating content that is more viewer friendly and shared publicly.

      My original videos were either from a Mobius Action Cam or a GoPro and for a while, I was creating content on my Samsung Galaxy S10+. It was surprisingly effective but copyright claims on licenced music were really causing me a headache so I recently upgraded to a decent programme on my Dell XPS-15; it’s like night and day!

      I enjoy creating content and sharing my experiences via this medium and will try to improve my offerings as I learn more about editing and production. I have a lot of respect for those who have ‘mastered the algorithm’.

      I guess a lot of viewers like to see a particular topic on a channel but mine is an eclectic mix of things I enjoy participating in from freediving to mountaineering and loads of other stuff in between.

      In April 2021 a total of 40 people had subscribed to my YouTube channel and I was made up!

      40 for 40!

      By June 2021 my subscribers had increased to 47 – a 17.5% increase in two months!

      If things carry on like this, I might achieve 440 subscribers in October 2023!

      Seriously, thanks for all your support – I hope to keep entertaining you for years to come.

      Check it out here or click one of the above images – like and subscribe!

      3 Jun 2021

      Twenty Third of 40 Donations

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      My twenty third donation goes to Cancer Research via Beth and Laura who are raising funds to help fund life-saving research and to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

      https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/lauras-giving-page-2115

      https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/lauras-giving-page-2115
      31 May 2021

      Stay awake for 40 hours (& climb Jabal Sawda)

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      As one of the Forties for 40 challenges, I stayed awake for over 40 hours and climbed Jabal Sawda plus lots of other things.

      Jabal Sawda is (at least officially) the highest mountain in Saudi Arabia at over 3,000 metres and the highest point on the Asir mountain range, located approximately 20 km away from the city of Abha.

      The Asir mountain range is covered green forests of juniper trees and all different kinds of flora and fauna can be found there. It rains in the Asir more than anywhere else in the Kingdom and people holiday there in summer to enjoy the cooler weather.

      I do not recommend staying awake for 40 hours to anyone but made a video log of how I felt and what I did over the whole period:

      Some pictures of the incredible landscape:

      Ultimately, because I was in good company and kept moving through very stimulating environments and circumstances, it was fairly easy to stay awake. That said, after being awake for around 24 hours, any time I stopped (for example when as a passenger in a vehicle or after taking a shower) the desire to lie down and let the wave of slumber wash over me started to influence my thoughts and behaviour.

      Thankfully, I was able to ignore it and carry on. I found moving and talking helped. Not sure everyone else would agree… 😉

      22 May 2021

      Twenty second of 40 donations

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      My twenty second donation goes to Help for Heroes in memory of my friend and colleague Jason Ferdinando, who passed away unexpectedly recently.

      It is appropriate that this donation follows the ‘Setting my alarm for 04:40‘ post because Jason’s untimely passing was a wake up call for many of us and will remain so.

      You never know just how long you’ve got left; respect Jase.

        3 Feb 2021

        I Summitted Aconcagua (and climbed 40,000 feet)

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        I summited Aconcagua and set the foundation for achieving a total climb of over 40,000 feet.

        It was at base camp that I really gave consideration to the viability of 40s 4 40 and what sort of activities might be included – I decided better to explore my limits than be subject to a series of restrictive resolutions…

        For the purposes of this retrospective blog, I am going to post my favourite of the many pictures and videos I took in an order that tells a pictorial story of my journey.

        Hopefully the captions will allow the pictures to speak for themselves but if anyone has any questions, just ask!

        Proper Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance / A Man With Too Much Stuff
        Happening!
        My first brush with Aconcagua
        Incredible to fly below the mountain you’re travelling to climb…
        Permit Office, Mendosa
        Gear rental, Mendosa
        All my baggage was delayed – Mendosa
        Reunited at last!
        Camp 1 – Penitentes
        Entrance to the park after securing permit
        My permit and the bags I was issued – one for rubbish, the other for human waste (so it doesn’t remain on the mountain)
        Confluencia, 3,380 metres (11,090 ft): A camp site a few hours into the national park.
        New Year’s Eve 2020
        Plaza de Mulas, 4,370 metres (14,340 ft): Base camp – climbers are screened by a medical team to check if they are fit enough to continue the climb.
        Camp Canadá, 5,050 metres (16,570 ft): A large ledge overlooking Plaza de Mulas.
        Nido de Cóndores, 5,570 metres (18,270 ft): A large plateau with beautiful views. 
        Landscapes
        Summit Attempt Night Weather Report (80kmph winds and -34c!)
        Summit elevation of 6,961 metres (22,838 ft). 
        My permit with official stamps to prove I summited and returned both bags (full)
        Celebration!
        First bath in weeks proved transformative!

        24 Jan 2021

        My 40th Birthday

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        Some people felt hard done to when their Birthdays fell during the first lock down but it soon became apparent that nearly all of use would experience a ‘lock down Birthday’ as this terrible pandemic developed.

        I had made arrangements to summit Puncak Jaya with a friend for my Birthday but Indonesia closed its borders and I found myself unable to travel internationally.

        Nonetheless, I was lucky to be able to celebrate over the course of a week by travelling to the coast to freedive and driving off-road into the desert to camp overnight. I even got a cake to mark the occasion and am very grateful 🙂

        I feel so lucky to have the amazing friends that I do, they made my time so special and memorable.

        A time lapse I made of the camping expedition

        On the day, I managed to achieve my personal best freediving to a depth of 41.2 metres on one breath; I will capture my experience via a separate post but here is a picture in advance:

        Over a metre deep for every year I’ve been alive!

        The alternative Birthday allowed me to spend a lot of time reflecting, catching up with friends old and new on small memories and life events and of course speaking to my Family to let them know how much I love and missed being with them.

        It was great to still be able go through old pictures that my Mum had kept – thanks to God for modern methods of communication!

        Pictures of me when I was much younger than I am today…
        Masha’Allah

        Zakaria Diving Instructor Freedive Master Instructor & scuba
        كبير مدربين غوص حر و سكوبا
        00966503645482📱
        Instagram:@zak_dive

        14 Feb 2020

        40 Press-Ups in 1 Minute & My Current Baseline

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        I previously referred to the 40s 4 40 challenges as ‘stretch targets’ and to appreciate why, I have attempted to record my current performance in this post. This will help me to understand how big a task I’ve got ahead of me. I’ve listed some of the challenges below with various reference points; my plan to completion will be the subject of a future post…

        40 Press ups / push ups in a minute: the easiest thing to do is watch the video; I reckon I’ve already nailed it and with a bit of work I’ll have this one sorted by the end of 2020…

        In early 2022 Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh from Manipur broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute. Niranjoy, who is a two-time Guinness World Record holder, broke the old record of 105 push-ups by achieving 109 push-ups in one minute during a Guinness Book of World Records attempt organised by Aztecs Sports Manipur at Aztecs fight studio in Imphal.

        The previous record holder in most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute is Graham Maly from the United Kingdom who set the record in 2009. These incredible records really put my achievement into perspective!

        Run 10k in 40 minutes: My Personal Best (PB) for 10 kilometres is 45 minutes 11 seconds and currently I feel comfortable running at 5 minutes per kilometre so really I’m probably running 50 minute 10ks. I therefore need to improve by between 12% and 20%. Not insignificant.

        Ironman 70.3 in 4 hours and 40 minutes: My PB is 5 hours 7 minutes, split as follows:

        Bahrain

        To achieve a 4:40 means I need to take just under half an hour off my best ever time and I’ll be looking to the run to achieve most of that…

        Marathon in under 4 hours and 40 minutes: No baseline as despite all the running I have done in my life, I have not yet run a marathon – hence the challenge! My PB for a half is 1:43.

        Free dive to 40 meters: I am AIDA Level 2 qualified (20m depth in constant weight class) but I once touched 22.4 meters, according to my dive watch. 40m is practically double my current depth and so quite a challenge. As a sub-category of this, I will attempt a 3 minutes 40 seconds breath-hold (my current personal best is 3 minutes 20 seconds). This is a mere 10% improvement and ideally I’d like to get over 4 minutes.

        @zak_dive / #zak_dive / https://www.facebook.com/zakaria.dive

        40,000 feet of climbing: The highest I’ve ever climbed is the summit of Aconcagua at 22,837 feet (6,962 meters) in January 2020 and until now, I’ve only ever climbed one high-altitude mountain per calendar year.

        The most I’ve ever climbed in a calendar year before now is 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) when I did Kilimanjaro in 2018. In a rolling year I’ve climbed a total of 56,370 feet (EBC & Kala Patthar in 2017 plus Kilimanjaro and Elbrus in 2018).

        I need to climb more than twice as high in one calendar year than I’ve ever done before but actually less than I have done before in a rolling year to reach a cumulative 40,000 feet (or more).

        Climb my 4th of the World’s 7 highest summits: I have climbed 3 of the World’s highest summits (Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua) so the next will be my 4th. This goes hand-in-hand with climbing 40,000+ feet.

        Cycle 40km in an hour: I completed a 25 mile time trial in October 2019 and was I’m 8 minutes over 1 hour so I need to improve by 12%.

        Drink a ’40’: I’ve seen them on American films but I’m yet to see one in the flesh and of course, drink it!

        Giving £40 to 40 charities: I think is better described as a privilege than a challenge….