Good things come to lucky bastards. That’s the cynical perception. However, in a rare piece of lockdown news, today we have something positive: a shining example of good karma going to someone deserving.Christian Lewis is an ex British paratrooper who is now self-isolating on a usually uninhabited Shetland island. This came as lockdown measures were introduced while he was three years into an ongoing fundraising challenge to walk the UK coastline.As The Guardian reports, “Chris Lewis, 39, has walked 12,000 miles since setting off from Llangennith beach on the Gower peninsula near his home city of Swansea, south Wales, in August 2017.”

“He was sleeping in a tent on mainland Shetland when the government announced the introduction of lockdown measures on 23 March to limit the spread of coronavirus.”

“Lewis and his dog, Jet, travelled by boat to Hildasay, a 108-hectare island off the west coast of the Shetland mainland, and have remained there ever since,” (The Guardian).With just a tent for protection in one of the most northerly and windswept parts of the UK, Lewis could’ve been in trouble.But thanks to the kindness of strangers, he’s found himself in one of the best places on the planet to sit out the crisis – a cottage on a tiny remote island.

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“It is just super. I couldn’t be in a better place for a lockdown,” Lewis told CNN Travel from Hildasay island. “There’s nothing here but a few sheep and an array of birds.”Hildasay is one of the Scalloway Islands. South West of the Shetland mainland, Hildasay measures less than half a square mile and has been largely deserted since the late 19th century.As CNN Travel reports, “Lewis receives deliveries of water from [a] local fisherman called Victor and forages for food. He makes the occasional boat trip to the Shetland mainland [a half hour trip, by small boat] for other supplies.”While Lewis was close to completing the Shetland Islands, which has 300 islands and skerries, he has taken the postponing of his trip in good grace, telling CNN Travel, “I knew the lockdown was coming.”

“I had to make a real decision. I can’t go home, because I have no home to go to.”

“So with the help of some fellow Shetland people, who lent me a boat, I came to the island and started living off the land.”

“I can walk down now, and I’ll have a whole plate full of mussels if I want them, so I’ve got no worries there.”

Although Lewis was originally staying in a tent, “He was later given the keys to an empty house after news that he was camping on the remote island spread to its owners, who were happy to help,” CNN Travel reports.

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It hasn’t got electricity or gas, but it’s better than a tent, and it’s got a nice fire – perfect for Lewis and his dog Jet. Lewis says they will stay there “for the foreseeable future.”Lewis’ tale is also an important reminder of the challenges that face military personnel after returning to civilian life.After years of difficult times since leaving the British Army, Lewis decided to hit the road when he was about to lose his home for the second time and couldn’t face the thought of asking for more assistance (he had previously received help from the armed forces charity Ssafa).“I suffered really badly with anxiety and depression [in the past],” he told CNN Travel. “I knew I really needed to change something, so it really was a split-second decision.”According to CNN Travel, Lewis “launched a fundraising page for the charity shortly before he set off and was just a few thousand pounds shy of reaching his £100,000 target at the time of writing [last week].”

“I’d had a lot of help from Ssafa, so it was a no-brainer to go and do something to help them out, and we’re doing really well so far.”

“I made the decision and within days I was gone. I really didn’t think about it too much and that’s probably why I’ve done so well in terms of how far I’ve got.”

“I started the journey on my own, but I picked Jet up along the way [in Irvine, Scotland] and basically adopted her.”

“She’s been with me for nearly two years now. I don’t think there’s a better walked dog out there.”

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The post Hildasay: Hiker Finds Himself Stranded In Rarest Position During Lockdown appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="253518" img_size="medium" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" link="https://www.comradsocks.com/"][vc_column_text]If you're a regular exerciser then you're probably all too familiar with leg cramps and soreness after a workout or run. You might p...

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Baume & Mercier is regularly known for offering impeccably made timepieces at extraordinarily affordable prices and its latest model refresh continues that trend. It comes in the form of the Hampton; a family of watches that employ a square case design, harking back to the 1920s Art Deco movement and not too dissimilar to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. The cases of each new model have been given subtle curves so that they reflect light at different angles.

The refreshed Hampton range – comprising a small quartz model targeted at ladies and three larger automatic variants split into two categories – has one notable difference: A full set of Arabic numerals have been replaced with black ruthenium indexes on the opaline silver-coloured dial, although the Arabic numbers 12 and 6 remain on the smaller of the automatic models. The Hampton Automatic is available in two sizes, 43 x 27.5 mm and 48 x 31 mm, meaning all modern gents should be able to find one to suit their wrist.

 

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The larger models: Hampton 10528 and Hampton 10523, naturally come with more real estate on the dial and Baume & Mercier has used this to apply a small date window, along with a small seconds counter to the 10528, while the 10523 gets dual time zone and day/night indicators. The smaller model, Hampton 10522, omits all of these functions.

The size of the model dictates which movement you get: the smaller receives the ETA 2671 with 38-hour power reserve, the large model with the date and small-seconds gets the ETA 2895 with 42-hours of reserve power, and finally, the dual time zone model gets a Soprof TT651 movement. Regardless of which size, you will be able to view the movement through the open caseback, including the oscillating weight with “Côtes de Genève” engraved on it.

Every Hampton model comes attached to an interchangeable black alligator leather strap. As for pricing, Baume & Mercier has stuck to its principle of providing affordable watches to the masses. The Hampton 10522 will set you back AU$3,700, 10528 A$3,950 and Hampton 10523 retails for A$6,350. All are available now.

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The post Baume & Mercier's Hampton Release Is A Refreshing Change In Men’s Watches appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Who hasn’t fantasised about spending the next two months in a Jacuzzi, sipping Prosecco, trawling Skyscanner (next year beckons) and ordering UberEats?That just us?Whether you’re currently turning into a shrivelled prune, or whether you’re stressing about your mortgage, Australians can now access up to $20,000 of their superannuation.Many are jumping at the chance. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed last Thursday, “The Australian Tax Office has approved 456,000 applications, totalling $3.8 billion.”

“Those applications are now with the superannuation funds for their payment over the next five days.”

One hell of a cash-out.While it’s handy for those that need it, Fernando Prieto, CA at Solid Partners Accountants & Advisors told DMARGE with the amount of compound interest and special benefits you’ll be sacrificing, you should treat it as a last resort.“If you’re going to take out money, the super fund has to sell some asset to fund you redeeming part of your superannuation balance. As the share market has tanked, if you do this you’re sort of crystallising your losses,” Fernando said.

“Depending on [how things recover] you could find yourself in a situation where that $10,000 would have recovered and compounded and been hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time you retired.”

That was last week. This week we spoke to Fernando about what it means for the economy to have this chunk of super freed up. Will we see a sudden splurge on sneakers and watches?How about an uptick on the ASX? Or a flattening of the ‘recession’ curve? Here’s what Fernando had to say.“In the short term the idea of the withdrawal is to stimulate the economy. These aussies will have an extra $10,000 [or, if they do the double withdrawal, $20,000] to consume and spend, which will be good for the economy.”However, “in the long term, it will mean that these individuals will have less in the superannuation come retirement, which is meant to fund their [Golden Years] spending.”“The impact on the withdrawal will depend on the individual’s age and rate of return. Ultimately, if these individuals don’t have enough funds to retire, or [if they] run out of money, we could assume the burden will rest on the government.”

“What kind of living standard that will afford these individuals in the future, is anyone’s guess.”

It’s not just those individuals who will be affected. As The Australian reported yesterday, Australia is facing a trillion-dollar debt by 2021 – something Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the nation will be paying off for years to come.In terms of specific numbers, for individuals, Fernando breaks it down like this:

“If we assume an individual had 30 years left before they retired, and if we also assume their superannuation grew at an average rate of 8% per annum, then $10,000 compounded for 30 years would be worth $100,626.56 in 30 years time.”

“If another individual only had 1 year left to retire then that $10,000 would only have grown to $10,800 if it also grew at the same rate of 8%.”“The impact is greater the number of years left to retirement and the higher the average rate of return over that same period,” Fernando added.Shares will be hit too; Australian equities are predicted to ­account for almost 30 per cent of forced selling by superannuation funds facing liquidity shortfalls as more than a million Aussies pull from their super.As Goldman Sachs equity strategist Mathew Ross told The Australian, “This liquidity position will be further worsened by the extent of member-switching towards more defensive products, and the fact that illiquid assets may be especially hard to liquidate in the current environment — meaning any future portfolio rebalance will need to come from selling liquid assets.”On the flip side, Super Funds are now exploiting crisis-opportunities, with whatever money is left in their accounts, which has sparked “optimism” in individuals like chief investment officer of the $27bn TelstraSuper, Graeme Miller.Until the dust settles (and, to be honest, beyond), we’d recommend you focus on saving what you can from your salary.

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The post Early Release Of Super: What Australia’s $3.8bn Super Cash Out Will Do To Economy appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

With virtually all air travel suspended and the majority of us being told to stay at home until the pandemic subsides, you may think that people won’t be travelling. But in the unlikeliest of times, the record for the longest distance travelled in a rideshare taxi in Australia has just been broken.

The unexpected journey took place earlier in this month of April by DiDi driver Mr Yi He. His passenger, who remains anonymous, “urgently needed to be in Tamworth”, in New South Wales, and since he wasn’t able to fly from his home city of Melbourne, with non-essential domestic travel currently axed in Australia, he called upon Mr He’s DiDi cab to drive him the 1,166km to his destination.

It took our intrepid driver just over 13 hours to complete the journey, although we can’t be sure how much of that the two road-trippers spent in conversation. We imagine the usual “Hey mate how you going? You been busy today? You been driving for DiDi for long?” type of questioning would have been exhausted relatively quickly.

 

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A post shared by Tara Swainston (@t_swainston) on Feb 9, 2020 at 1:22am PST

We imagine most rideshare drivers would have baulked at the idea of travelling for half a day, but Mr He said, “With things being quieter since COVID-19 and the reassurance that the payment would be securely made through the DiDi platform, I decided this trip would be a memorable experience in my life, so I accepted the trip.”

And as for what he got up to when he made it to Tamworth, he probably would have stayed for at least a day to get some rest before making the trip back to Melbourne. He added, “if another long-haul trip came up and the final destination was somewhere of interest to me, I’d take the order with the intention of staying for a few days after, to explore for personal purposes.”

 

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Neither DiDi nor Yi He revealed how much the trip cost, but considering DMARGE founder Luc Wiesman was faced with the prospect of paying $1,569.70 for a similar trip from Melbourne to Sydney – also with DiDi – we imagine the passenger wouldn’t have had much change from $2,000.

Although some lockdown restrictions could start to be lifted across Australian states, air travel will still be one of the last industries to revert back to normal. Until such a time that we can hop on a one hour flight to another city, taking long journies with rideshare services such as DiDi could become the norm for a short while.

As news.com.au reports, Australians are beginning to venture out of their homes a lot more as “lockdown fatigue” sets in. Apple has recorded an increase in requests for map directions since they recorded a sharp decline in early March.

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The post Rideshare Driver Breaks Australia's Most Unlikely Record appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

In a somewhat surprising revelation, former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has revealed he would be more than happy to return to star in the iconic spy franchise, but not as the titular character. Instead, he would be willing to take on the role of one of James’ foes, were he asked to make a comeback.The Irish-American actor revealed the condition during a live watch-along of his first Bond movie Goldeneye, hosted by Esquire. During the live stream, Pierce answered questions and when the time came for someone to ask if he would like to portray a villain, he replied “Would [I] return as a villain? If asked, yes! I believe so.”He may have got rid of it for this video, but we think his previous moustache and beard facial fuzz scream villainous leader. Plus, he still knows how to dress well, so Bond would have an adversary in the style stakes as well.Brosnan took on the role of Great Britain’s most famous spy for seven years, starting in 1995 with Goldeneye and ending with Die Another Day in 2002. Despite his four movies as Bond receiving mixed reviews, they were a success at the box office and cemented Pierce as a Bond to remember. It’s reported that he was more than keen to star in at least one more Bond film, if not two, but it wasn’t to be, with his age allegedly being the factor that ultimately saw Daniel Craig take over.Pierce has however spoken out before the upcoming instalment, claiming the franchise has lost its subtle sense of humour. The Irish Post has quoted him as arguing “that the franchise has lost its way after it was forced to reinvent Bond as a more… brooding character”“When I played him you have to let the audience in that this is a fantastic joke – this man, jumping off a motorcycle and catching up a plane, is completely preposterous. But for me, you had to let them in… Sean (Connery) did it, Roger (Moore) did it par excellence.”Let’s hope the laughs return in the next movie, No Time To Die, which will see blonde Bond Daniel Craig reprise the role for the final time. The movie was originally slated for release in November 2019, before being pushed back to February 2020 and then April 2020. But then the global pandemic got in the way and forced distributors to push the release back once more to November 2020.

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The post Pierce Brosnan Bond: Actor Reveals One Condition Under Which He’d Reprise Role appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="253429" img_size="medium" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" link="https://www.endclothing.com/au/catalogsearch/result/?page=1&q=casio%20ga-2100"][vc_column_text]Towards the end of 2019, Casio shocked the watch community by releasing the G-S...

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The post The Casio G-Shock GA2100 ‘Royal Oak’ Just Got Restocked … But You Better Be Quick appeared first on DMARGE.

We’re pretty confident when we say nothing can quite compare to the smell of home-baked bread. The delicious aroma that spawns from the kitchen is enough to make us float around the house like cartoon cats floating towards a freshly baked pie.With lockdown still in place around the world, you only need to take a brief look on social media platforms to see many people are turning their hand to kneading and baking bread (what else is there to do, right?). But despite the gratification and sense of achievement a well-baked loaf can provide, should we really be consuming a vast amount of the stuff in a time where exercise may have come to a halt?

 

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A post shared by Dave Asprey (@dave.asprey) on Apr 26, 2020 at 3:22pm PDT

Dave Asprey, the founder of the Bulletproof diet, says we shouldn’t necessarily have to stop baking bread, but simply change the ingredients we use. Specifically, we should be trying to minimise the amount of gluten we consume. In a recent Instagram post, the American entrepreneur says we should be looking out for grain-free baking alternatives when heading to the shops, as they won’t cause “inflammation the way wheat and most ‘whole grains’ do.”He recommends alternatives such as coconut flour, tapioca, nut flours, arrowroot or white rice flour. He admits they’re not low carb (which technically goes against his Bulletproof diet ideology) but they still allow us to bake to our heart’s content.

i feel like everyone has entered the “baking banana bread” part of quarantine

— ilana kaplan (@lanikaps) March 31, 2020

He goes on to say that if we don’t want to use his alternative suggestions, then white flour is the lesser of two evils compared to whole wheat, as it contains “less gut damaging plant poisons”. It should be noted however that Dave isn’t a qualified nutritionist, but people do stand by the advice he gives. He has however made sure to avoid saying bread makes you fat, because self-proclaimed ‘fitness chef’ Graeme Tomlinson has debunked that myth in the past.Max Lugavere, who is a qualified nutritionist, has posted his own views on wheat recently too. He agrees that wheat is nutrient-poor and makes up far too much of our daily diets (along with rice and corn). The poor nutritional content only increases the chance of becoming obese, and so he adds the bulk of our diets should come from “properly-raised meats, wild fish, eggs, fibrous vegetables, and seasonal and low sugar fruit which provide potent nutritional value.”So by all means, continue to bake bread or make a killer loaf of banana bread, just be cautious of the amount of gluten you’re taking in because unless you’re sticking to a strict home workout routine, you can say bye-bye to that summer bod.

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The post Gluten Side Effects: Too Much Could Be Worst Nutrition Mistake We Make appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre is no stranger to developing intricate and elegant timepieces. The company has been producing watches since 1833 and in that time has amassed a number of world firsts, including the smallest movement, most complicated wristwatch and a watch of near-perpetual movement.The latest timepiece to come from the Swiss artisans may not be able to lay claim to yet another world’s first title, but it is the first time Jaeger-LeCoultre has produced such a watch. Arriving under the Master Control family of watches – introduced in 1992 – the Master Control Chronograph Calendar combines a complete triple calendar complication – written out day, date and month – with a moon-phase indicator, in a watch with a 40mm a case and a depth that’s just a smidgen over 12mm.The new combination of complications has meant Jaeger has had to develop a brand new movement and in this case, it’s the JLC 759, which also boasts a 65-hour power reserve and can be seen through the open caseback. JLC has taken great consideration with the layout of the complications on the dial so that they read logically.At 12 o’clock you’ll find the day and month indicators; 3 o’clock plays host to a 30-minute chronograph counter; 6 o’clock is where you’ll find the date and moon-phase indicators and rounding things off is a running seconds subdial at 9 o’clock. A pulsometric scale – used for measuring heartbeats – can be found around the dial’s flange.Jaeger has opted for blue hands for the central seconds, running seconds and 30-minute counters on both stainless steel and Le Grande Rose gold. Le Grande Rose gold is a new colour introduced with the refreshed range of Master Control watches, which adds palladium to the metal’s proprietary formula, the details of which JLC keeps under lock and key. It’s designed to prevent oxidation to keep the Rose gold colour looking sleek and shiny for years on end. Hour, minute and date indicator hands match the colour of the case.The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is available to order now for AU$24,600.

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The post Jaeger-LeCoultre Introduces Its First Watch With Triple Calendar Display & Moon-Phase Indicator appeared first on DMARGE Australia.