Pickle in my pocket

My kids came home from the city with this and I'm not sure how I feel about the plastic packaging

Battle Critters

I made this role-playing game for a math-based exercise in my teaching

The idea is to use a six-sided dice to roll to pick your critters' super powers, then roll a second time for how many iterations.

Such as rolling 2 for extra heads, then rolling 3 for three of them to draw onto the figure.

This super power bonus (+3 for heads) is noted when you roll for attack, then is added to the other figure to tally each critter's energy.

Each round you must roll higher than your opponent's attack roll and roll below your defend score to avoid them, until energy drops below 0.

The attack roll has the super power bonus added to increase likelihood, and these two numbers form the damage taken from your opponent's energy if they don't avoid it.

Games last 3-6 rounds, take about 10 minutes and benefit from creative descriptions of the action.

I should probably incorporate the rules of gameplay into the design of the sheet, but that will wait for another draft.

How will COVID-19 impact the arts?

We're all still living in the pandemic

Despite the rush to return to crowded venues and the low numbers of people maintaining their immunisations.

Studies are presenting shocking results of the impact of the coronavirus on our bodies, such as this one.

Interestingly, the persistent cognitive impairment appears to be contained almost exclusively to the right hemisphere.

This means if you have lasting cognitive issues from long COVID they will affect your intuition, creativity and emotional reasoning more than your ability to do math or memorise prose, for example.

Along with the rise of AI, I wonder how this will play in the spheres of artistic production.

End of Democracy Sausage?

Australia's compulsory electoral voting system means most adults* have to play a role

In previous elections this provided an opportunity for the schools selected to host AEC voting centres, as everyone nearby would visit their hall on the nominated Saturday.

This led to the pheomena of "democracy sausage," where voters would be enticed to buy processed meat wrapped in white bread and slathered with tomato sauce.

However, recent elections have seen a massive shift in voting behaviour as people choose to get their electoral duties out of the way ahead of time. 

As a result, the schools' P&C committees no longer run fundraising like cake stalls and sausage sizzles.

It's a remarkable shift in Australian suburban culture that reflects the growing isolation of individuals, as they shun community groups like P&Cs and no longer linger outside the school hall to catch-up with locals. 

Six years ago I predicted the demise of "democracy sausage" when I posted this meme on Facebook and, while the recent election result was an improvement on previous years, it is surprising to see there were no sausage sizzles on my path to the voting booth last week.

* -- I acknowledge that not all adult Australians will vote, and it's not just the "donkeys" as prisoners and some of those serving in the armed forces or police will avoid having their name on the electoral roll.

Boys who won't listen

This week I had a sexist phenomenon confirmed

Some time ago I read there is a percentage of boys who will not listen to a woman when there is a man present.

It always seemed sorta ridiculous, yet somehow plausible given the rife nature of sexism.

Recently I've been on a placement in my teacher training and ended up in a kindergarten class.

I asked the teacher if she had seen this phenomenon of boys ignoring female teachers.

Her experience was having a student repeatedly give her a blank look, until the male gardener walked over to repeat her words and this boy responded to her instruction.

So I offered my services to be a mansplainer to the boys.

Weather sayings of the old sailors

ANZAC Day

Captain John Foulkes Richardson was the first of my father's family to be born in Australia and both my Grandad and Dad share his name

Today I reflect that my great-grandfather was wounded leading a charge at Gallipoli and then, after recovering, was sent to the Somme. 

The latter was one of bloodiest and most futile battles, as Australia lost over 23,000 men and gained very little ground against German troops in muddy trenches.

He enlisted on 28 Sep 1914 for AIF WW1, as Captain of the 15th Infantry Battalion, Brisbane, Queensland. 

This photo shows him in the centre prior to embarkation on 22 Dec 1914.

Wounded on 27 Apr 1915. Promoted on 29 May 1915 to rank of Major, 15th Infantry Battalion, then discharged on 10 Nov 1915.

He enlisted again on 1 Jan 1918, which led to his role in France during WWI, then signed up again for WWII on 28 Dec 1939. 

He didn't fight in WWII -- presumably because he was 55 years old. 

Locked up

It blows my mind that a padlock is a romantic symbol

If there were an image that gave an impression of coercive control, then this would be an obvious choice.