It's been years since I picked up a paintbrush
This was done in my role at a primary school, where I'm based in a class called Stingrays.
Writing with AI
It's interesting to me how quickly the discussion of AI shifts
As a teaching student I have seen big changes within less than a year.
Then
last year the NSW Department of Education brought in an AI service to
help teachers draft comments about students for their reports.
I
began to wonder how the uni could continue to warn teaching students
from using AI, seeing as they need to train people to take roles in a
profession that has moved toward this technology.
This term the
lecturers started saying we could use AI, but only as a tool to clarify
thinking and structure ideas. At this rate I’ll be able to hand in an
AI-written assignment by the end of my degree!
Not so fast, Jason.
A recent report found that AI worked best when “finding and summarising information, generating meeting minutes, knowledge management and drafting content.” This report for the Department of the Treasury describes those as “basic administrative tasks.”
It's still early in my degree so I expect to be writing assignments for a while yet, but clearly this tool will become more important in what remains of my working career.
Memory loss
Seriously, the fact there's an NBA player with my name has hidden a number of things online that should be forgotten.
Archimedes
Younger lovers
Sometimes one doesn't recognise the significance of an event until much later
As a sometime historian I know this is true, but this morning I was prompted to reflect on the statement above.
We'd been together for maybe six months and this might've been our first road trip together.
Jo wanted to visit her friend Rosie and it was little more than a stop for a cup of tea in my mind.
Yet, when she talks about this visit now, Jo says it was a test for me and our blossoming relationship.
She says it was the opportunity for her to get her best friend's perspective of me.
I'm
not sure if I accepted the cup of tea or didn't put my feet on the
table, but Jo and I are still together after about 23 years.
Just Dance
One of the most profound observations from my training in teaching children came from the art teacher who starts classes with Just Dance videos
Her words were something along the lines, "this is one of a few scientifically-proven ways to create social cohesion."
You see the kids go from being rowdy, to joyous, to concentrating on art-making within the space of an hour and it's like a secret power that I wonder why more organisations aren't using this technique.
Can't help thinking that 'dance like no one is watching' has led to no one seeing the potential for dancing to change our lives.
W.I.L.F.
I've been trying not to smirk when I see it.
Fatherly advice
Saw this online yesterday and shared it on Facebook
I have been surprised at the number of friends who liked the post and some went on to share it.
It reminded me when my oldest started school and said he couldn't talk with other students.
My fatherly advice was to compliment them on something as an opening gambit and to this day he will often start a conversation by telling me that I have a great shirt or something.
Are you cool?
We're working on an international collaboration later in 2025 and you're invited to get involved
The Stay Cool exhibition is looking for photography, poetry and music inspired by the landscape.
"We're asking people to share the locations where they feel a connection," said Curator Jason Richardson.
"It would be great if you have a photograph of the site to bring it along to one of the online workshops planned for March and April."
Details will be added here on this page, so please bookmark it in your browser and visit again in early March.
A series of tutors from different parts of the world will share their tips for creating short, three-line poems that encompass insights into responses to the places identified by participants.
"These will draw on the hundreds of years of tradition that inform haiku to prompt observations of seasonal change and a connection to place," said Mr Richardson.
A selection of these poems will be distributed by Naviar Records, whose online community have been creating music and soundscapes from these creative prompts for over a decade.
"This project builds on a collaboration with Naviar that created the Crossing Streams exhibition in Narrandera during 2017, where dozens of poems were contributed by locals aged between eight and eighty."
The resulting installation at the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre included nearly six hours of music, as well as performances and workshops.
"We're looking forward to bringing together textual, visual and musical elements in a collaboration with like-minded creatives from around the world," said Mr Richardson.
This project is supported by the NSW Government through Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW.
New beaks for activity sheets
Red Earth Ecology will return to Fivebough Wetlands in 2025
This location was the focus of an art installation at the Leeton Community Op Shop in 2020 that resulted in the design of a banner that's displayed at the Wetlands, as well as stickers that use the same design which are sold in the Leeton Visitor Information Centre.
This year our aim will be to develop an activity sheet for schoolchildren that educates about waterbirds ahead of an excursion to the Wetland.
"The significance of Fivebough as a destination for migratory birds from as far away as Siberia is one that attracts twitchers but is not as well known to Leeton locals," said Jason Richardson.
We will detail a handful of birds, although Fivebough's role as a jewel of the Riverina stems from being habitat for the highest number of waterbird species and it ranked second within the Murray-Darling Basin for the total number of species recorded in a single survey.
"Our aim is to help kids identify the significance of different beak shapes among those feathered residents in an extension of our Beak Technique Activity Sheets," said Mr Richardson.
In recent years Red Earth Ecology has been running workshops for children that use their interest in birds as a way to understand the significance of habitat.
This year REE will be continuing with both those projects by developing an activity sheet that focuses on the beaks of waterbirds to be part of an excursion being planned for students at Parkview Primary.
"We are planning to share a draft of the waterbird activity sheet with the Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists in coming months," said Mr Richardson.
"It will be wonderful to draw on the experiences of members, whose assistance has been greatly appreciated over the years — particularly in the development of the first Beak Technique sheets and the delivery of the Fivebough At The Heart of Leeton project."
Red Earth Ecology is supported with a Country Art Support Program grant administered by Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW through funding from the NSW Government.
Everyday magic
There's something magic for me about this stand of kurrajongs
Hi gay lord
This photo appeared in my Memories today and it prompted me to consider how times have changed
One of the things about working for councils has been they handed me phones that belonged to departed staff members, so you end up getting a lot of their "friends" contacting you.
It was kinda sad and seemed to reflect the lack of interest the former staff had with people, I guess.
Admittedly, most people don't use a provocative slur like this one but I heard this particular general manager described as "antagonistic" — so maybe it reflects the language he used?
This message would've arrived more than 18 months after that person left the role, but maybe it shows a closer relationship than I first thought.
If anyone called me a "gay lord" it would have been a provocation, unless I was wearing something fabulous.
I expect my kids will school me for sharing this image, as they have corrected less and I appreciate their efforts to assist minorities but I also couldn't help but write this reflection and hope it won't offend anyone.
My Orthoceras family
This morning I was accused of making impulse purchases from the Marketplace
I won't name names as it was very hurtful because this description likely contains some factual basis.
It is true that I often struggle with being an opportunist and Facebook puts an incredible variety of secondhand items in front of me.
For example, on Monday I bought this Orthoceras fossil.
Before last weekend I never knew an Orthoceras and now I own the remains of a family.
This Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestone must originate from the Baltic States or Sweden, which is the known extent of the nautiloid cephalopod sometimes called Orthoceratites.
Their temporal range was the Dapingian to Darriwilian eras, around 470-458 million years ago.
It is possible these fossils are another of the Michelinocerida genus.
They are characterised by long, slender, nearly cylindrical orthocones with a circular cross section.
The long body chambers have a central tubular siphuncle free of organic deposits.
I find it interesting that tiny teeth have been found in one species along with ten arms, two of which formed longer tentacles.
They died out during the Devonian period, which is still a mystery but fossil records show it led to the evolution of plants during levels of greenhouse gases to rival today.
At that time sea levels were around 200 metres higher than present oceans and Australia was part of Gondawanland.
The greening of the continents acted as a carbon sink and a cooling climate may have led to the late Devonian extinction.
Winding around the world
Wind organs are a simple instrument that struggle in a noisy world
I learned how to make them from the website of Didier Ferment, which seems to be no longer online.
His experiments included describing the results of variations, such as:
A slit of 8 cm by 10 mm produces a deep sound except when the wind picks-up and brings the sound one octave higher.The idea of repurposing a plastic vessel to make a spooky sound was one of those wonderful discoveries of the early internet.
A slit of 11 cm by 9 mm gives a medium sound, relatively clear within a wide wind range as well in speed as in angle of attack.
A slit of 20 cm by 6 mm gives a shrill whistle but requires a very precise angle of attack of the wind.
A slit of 16 cm by 17 mm will deliver a hoarse sound.
It might've been 2008, as that's when I published my first recording (although it's a short and rough one, so be warned there's a lot of noise).
In 2020 I remembered the idea and thought it was worth sharing, so I made this instructional video.
One of the great things about sharing one's enthusiasms is getting that enthusiasm back again.
In recent weeks I've had a couple of comments on my instructional video from Ronald and have enjoyed seeing his creations.
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