Counting Everything

Convincing mum I need Assassin's Creed Revelations

2011-11-30T16:05:00.011+11:00

Showed this video to mum earlier now time to convince her to get it:D wish me luck.... i'm gonna need it only got 18ish hours left if I want the bonus content.

Despite what this guy says about the Den Defence, and although I have not personally played Revelations, from what I have heard apparently you play a high ranking assassin and command other assassins and the assassins have always been attacked by the templars so it makes sense that they would occasionally attack and I don't see why it shouldn't have been added into the game. Maybe because I don't mind tower defence gameplay.

Can anyone help me convince mum? Comment below please.

Thanks Ibrahim. and JayNSai.

Brink - that's what she said

2011-06-30T21:51:00.005+10:00

Brink Review - PC Review at IGN via kwout

Brink is exactly what is says - on the brink of being a great game. A good game, shows a lot of potential, not quite reaching fantastic.

This time I'm not going to write about the game, I agree with Peter Eykemans at IGN:

Brink PC Review by Peter Eykemans at IGN via kwout

I went to find about Brink because my Steam buddies were playing it, and comments like this:

"one shining aspect is SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain). Using SMART, holding a single button lets you navigate up walls, over obstacles, and through the game world. Depending on your body size, you can do more or less with movement, but overall this finesse is fantastic. Nothing in Brink feels quite as good as sliding under gunfire into someone, taking them out with a shotgun."

made it sound interesting.

Some other reviews complained that NPCs were poorly programmed, either weak (no challenge) or overpowered or without a good backstory of their own. The strength imbalance things must have been fixed before I got the game, but the lack of individual stories for characters remained. I'd also been warned about lag - but that also seemed to have been resolved before I tried it out.

I would have liked more rewards to earn, and challenges specific to weapons to unlock attachments for those weapons.

The story was very novel for me - my brief synopses interested my mum, and we would like to have seen the story go further. In Red Dead Redemption they revealed the story slowly, enticingly, while you played; but in Brink they threw most of it at you in the lead-in trailer. There were interesting story developments from the different campaigns but I want to find out where the story can go.

I had 24 hours of game play before getting bored.

If there is to be a 'next', for me to play it, it needs to go "beyond the brink": A story off the Ark; another playing mode like 'capture the flag' or team death match - something to mix it up a little bit; perhaps some more interesting and more even weapons.

Mount and Blade: Warband

2011-05-12T21:04:00.012+10:00

There is plenty of hours of play to be found in this game and a massive amount of replayability.

There is a great variety of weapons ranging from:

Daggers
Spears
Swords
Axes
Crossbows
Bows
Polearms
Staves.

I extremely enjoyed how open worlded this game is the freedom you get.
The range of roles you can play in this game each affecting the world around you in different ways:

A Bandit: raiding villages and caravans and sneaking into forts to sell your goods. But remember the more bad things you do the lower your reputation (honour, trust) gets with villages and nations.
A Trader: looking at the stock exchange in different towns and then buying,transporting, and selling your goods at different towns for the most profit.
A Lord: recruiting and training great armies, joining a nation and invading your enemies to become owner of villages, forts and even cities.
Or combining all 3 into a combination of awsomeness.

Great thing about this game is that even if you decide to play like one of these 3 you aren't stuck with playing that you can always start training your units for sieging purposes or start trading or start being a meany and stealing from the poor - developing your character.

I had a great deal of fun improving my reputation with Lords and Villages over the land to the point where they would follow me into combat against my enemys and to the point were they would support me in gaining land

There is a good range of Battle scenarios:

Defending a village that is under attack;
Sneaking into a fortress to rescue random lords;
Fighting on an open battlefield with each battlefield being near unique depending where it is on the world map;
Invading a fort where you either have to climb ladders to enter the fort and fight on the walls until you have destroyed their forces. or have your soldiers push a large seige wagon which plants a walk bridge for you and your troops to use once it gets close enough to the walls.
And defending a fort which is pretty much the same as above but instead you are the ones on the walls and they are the ones pushing the seige wagon or climbing the ladders.

The graphics were ok for a game back in 2009 but definitely not the best from the year.

I was often encountering glitches with the world map after I left a town but this did not ruin the game for me just made it a bit annoying.

I definitely think that this game is worth the 30 dollars at Steam, even for the one play through.

Portal 2: Part 1 - single player

2011-05-01T04:31:00.011+10:00

First thing I want to say about this game is that this game is fricking AWESOME.

I completed Portal 2 in about 14 hours. That does include finding and completeing all Singleplayer achievements.

I found every puzzle GREATLY enjoyable. No matter how easy or hard.

I had 107s of fun getting to the end of a puzzle using the wide variety of tools around the map including:

Spiralling tractor beams pick up objects (or you) that touch them, and move you along the beam backwards or forwards depending on the colour of the beam blue or orange;
Laser beams which can be used to destroy hostile turrets, shoot into switchs similar to using a box on a button but instead it can only be done by a laser;
Sunlight bridges which allow you to walk on pretty much anything heh pretty 1337 ehh?
Repulsive gel which can be spread around the test room and used to jump higher when you land on it you will go higher depending on how high you jumped onto the gel from;
Acceleration gel which can also be spread around the test room and when walked on greatly increases walk speed;
Portal gel which can also spread around the test room and be used to place portals on surfaces the gel has hit.

Next time: Portal 2: Part 2 - coop

Graphics. Not the best Graphics I have seen for a game in 2011 but definently enough for me to stop somtimes and just look around the map

Here is a GameSpot video review VIA youtube:

Next time, Portal 2: Part 2: co-op

Brutal legend

2011-04-21T02:34:00.037+10:00

Gameplay.
One great feature in Brütal Legend is that at the end of every mission you are given the chance to go and upgrade or explore the world or do sidemissions before the next part of the main mission no matter how storyline vital that mission is.

You have 2 weapons: your Axe of Pure Awesomeness, and your Guitar. The Guitar can be used to hit the enemy with lightning or shoot an enemy into the air with a firebomb detonating from under them. You can also use the Guitar to summon your car, melt the faces of your enemy within range that have faces and don't have face protection, make a rally point which automatically orders new troops to come to that location in Stage battle (more information on stage battle further down), and much much more.

Your axe is your main damage dealer and is for close quarter fighting, whereas your guitar is mid-long range attacking and also stuns the targeted enemy for about half a second-1 second if used enough on the target.

There is plenty of after game completion stuff to do. For example:

You can go around the world looking for serpent statues. 10 serpent statues will give you a stats bonus like: health increase, health regeneration increase, guitar strings cooling down quicker.
Looking for Ormagoden Orbs which reveal more story behind ormagoden God Of Metal.
And many other statues/relics you can find

There are also plenty of side missions to do: ambushes on enemy, riding the Death Rack to rain death upon your enemy, races, helping cannon targeting, and the occasional unique sidequest. You can only do each sidemission once but they are there for the entire game even if you decide not to do it when it first becomes available to you.

Another great feature is that while you are driving between missions or exploring or just running over random animals for fun and to see some guts/blood (this can be turned off in the games settings in the options menu) you can listen to different metal/rock songs that you unlock through finding statues and progressing through the game.

There are multiple animals for you to stun and then mount. Mounts can be used to travel or fight with instead of using your car; although when you use animals as a mount you don't get to use your music player until you use your car again. There are still random songs in certain areas so you don’t have to worry about having nothing to listen to while riding a mount other than your car.

And if you are bored of playing by yourself beating up defenceless animals (or bored of getting beaten up by animals) you can go to online mode and play stage battles.

In stage battles you spawn and command your troops from the ground or from the sky. You can fight with your troops, upgrade your stage to unlock new units or upgrade certain units. In the game mode you use fan tribute as a resource. You can gain fan tribute by making a merch booth on a fan geyser. And then build an awesome army of Metal and Rock and then march on to destroy the enemy's stage.

Stage battles can be played against the computer or against real players. You also get to play stage battles throughout the campaign.

There are 3 different teams you can play as: the Iron Heades, the Coil, and the Black Tear.
The Iron Heades being variously deformed humanoids you play as through the campaign; the coil being demons, and the Black Tear being undead people who fell to the sadness of the black tear in the Black Tear Rebellion years ago.

The Coil specialize in strong units but fewer units;
The Black Tear specialize in large amounts of units and are great against infantry;
The Iron Heades are a mix of both: able to amass a fair few troops and still able to do good amount of damage.

My preference is the Iron Heades - mainly because I got to know them throughout the campaign and developed strategies.

One other type of relic that you can find and then pull out of the ground is a vehicle entrance which you can enter and it will automatically take you to the underworld. The underworld is where the titans are and where you can upgrade or paint your car, get new guitar strings (each with different unique powers) or generally upgrade your guitar, upgrade your Axe of Awesomeness, and also buy rock statues of the different people who are in the campaign. While in the underworld you meet Ozzy Osbourne who gives you your upgrades, and makes jokes. I on occasion went in and out of the underworld to see if he would make new jokes.

You can team up with your troops in stage battle mode unlocking a special ability while you are teamed with them.

Graphics. The graphics are pretty good. Extremely smooth graphics for a game in 2009.

Throughout the game I don’t remember ever seeing any glitches or faults in the graphics.

Awesome particle effects when using abilities such as: guitar lightning, firebomb, facemelter, car weapons.

Story.
The game starts off as you: Eddie Riggs, a roadie for a rockband, sent into the past into a world of rock and metal music. Where he meets the group Iron Heades and begins helping them to liberate their people from the rule of Lyonwhite.

There is a lot more to the story but I doubt I can say more without releasing spoilers.

Mathematics = discovery of truths through play?

2010-12-20T14:53:00.000+11:00

Today, thanks to Pamela at Always Learning, who linked to Robert Krulwich's I Hate Math! (Not After This, You Won't), here is a snippet of an idea that mathematics is about expressing truths within patterns discovered through playing with ideas.

I wish to share this video with my boys - and as neither are beside me right now, I wonder if I have this blog linked to my facebook?

Halo Reach review

2010-11-06T14:14:00.008+11:00

Graphics. I really liked the graphics very detailed with the grass and trees I also liked the water detail they did the graphics for explosions and flames very well.
They did the jet pack visual effects very well I didn't see any glitches with it.

The assassination effects looked really cool instead of it being just whack them with weapon you actually pull out a knife and stab them in the back.

Gameplay. I liked the variety in weaponry and vehicles.

Plenty of armor power ups like the jet pack,armor lock which pretty much makes a unbreakable shield around you that can only be destroyed by being run over by a car or vehicle,bubble shield which makes a bubble that lasts a few seconds and is able to sustain much damage before being deactivating,evade which allows you to roll out of the way of grenades,missiles and enemy vehicles,also there is sprint which allows you to run much faster than normal great for swapping cover,active camouflage which makes you invisible when you are standing still or walking slow running will make you more visible to enemy's and the same with shooting your weapon, and my favourite a hologram which you can active and make it run to a certain spot very good for trying to flank the enemy.

I liked in the campaign they introduced new armor ability's slowly and weapons so you wouldn't rush through them all.

I really liked being able to buy and customize my character with the different colours and armour.

I also liked that the hostiles weren't to easy to deal with and took some planning to deal with.

I got between 1-3 hours of game play with each mission.

Another cool thing was the forge mode being able to create buildings statues hidden caves and more.

I am glad they made it so you cant dual wield in halo reach to keep it in line with halo combat evolved.

Storyline.
I really liked how they connect halo reach to halo combat evolved the original by explaining why they were looking for the weapon in halo combat evolved and how they knew about it.
Also how they explained how cortanna was in halo combat evolved.
I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Fable 3 review: ehhhh

2010-11-06T12:53:00.020+11:00

Graphics. I was a little disappointed in the graphics they didn't change alot from the fable 2 graphics.
I saw a few bugs where the hair would stick out of someones hat or helmet and then go back in.

I was a disappointed with the loading screens a bit disgusting and weird I preferred it when it had the area as the loading screen like in fable 2.

When digging in fable 3 I would have preferred it if the dirt graphics were a bit better and actually being able to see the dirt on the spade instead of just digging up nothingness and then have dirt appear out of nowhere and then disappear when it gets to the ground

Game play. I would have preferred a larger variety of enemy's.
again like in fable 2 it was a bit too easy for my liking and mostly the same reasoning with the death system.

I wasn't to fond of the changes they made to the experience system and the range of ability's completely changed it instead of having your 4 experience groups will,skill,strength and your normal experience they replaced it with guild seals and you use guild seals to get expressions, level up jobs and get new spells.

The weapon evolvement was pretty cool made the weapons a bit more exciting instead of the same thing through out the game.

I would have preferred it if there was a bit more king options I think they really rushed the king stage of the game.

There is a lot of quests to do although they are mostly easily finished in a few minutes.
The real estate was pretty cool fun to do was pretty easy to maintain because you could just have a look at all the houses and buy adjust prices from your map in the sanctuary
the real estate was a bit harder than in fable 2 which I was happy with because the reason it was harder is because you actually had to be playing to get gold from it unlike in fable 2 where you could buy some houses then not play for a week or so play again and have a few million gold in your bags also when you buy houses in fable 3 you need to check up on your houses time to time and repair them.

There was a fair few finishing kill moves for example jumping off hands and snapping neck with knees or parrying then slashing them with sword or the classic turning head into pancake with hammer.

Storyline/Spoiler alert
The idea of having to build an army to overthrow your brother the king I liked but I would have preferred it to go a bit longer than only half the game

I didn't like the final half of the game you have to fight this enemy called the darkness with only a small story behind it and that is that it attacked Aurora and it wants to kill everyone in Albion
so you have to save up 6.5million to get proper defences for your people.

I think that the darkness was a bit pointless and instead after overthrowing your brother it should have been a bit more focused on the kingdoms economy.
Although I was glad there was a finally boss fight
I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars

Update: pc version

I got the Fable 3 PC Version a few days ago and to be honest there wasn't really any improvement in the game except for the smoother graphics.

Also I found I could hear the sound effects better in the pc version. When I played the xbox I couldn't hear the voices through the sound effects and music. This could be because I was using a headset for the PC. But I did not have any on the xbox so I had to keep the volume loooooowwwwwwwwwwwww.

The aiming for weapons was a bit easier in Fable 3 PC but that's mainly because I am use to pc games.

Red Dead Redemption

2010-10-22T11:34:00.004+11:00

One of the things I liked about the was that the storyline wasn't quick. I hate it when games are short and completeable in 1 day.

The story was interesting I havent quite seen a storyline like that before at first you have to find one of your old workmates/friend and arrest him because of the crimes he has commited and take him to the government

One of the things I am looking for in a game is to be able to finish it and then still want to finish it again and i didn't quite find that in red dead redemption

****SPOILER ALERT****
I was a bit disapointed at the end at bit to easy and it felt like I was in the starting spot again
I also didnt like it how the that you played characters changed I found the new character AKA your son to be a bit more rude he speaks a bit ruder to the animals you skin and mount unlike your first character who trys to comfort the mount

Fable 2 review

2010-10-19T23:28:00.013+11:00

I've completed it 3 times and all 3 profiles are rich and own most of the properties and are all masters of melee and 2 are masters of all 3 skills and I still like to play it.

First time took me a few weeks although I was still learning. Second time through it took I think 1 weeks and then third time around 2-3 days without intense playing.

Gameplay
Plenty of hours of gameplay; plenty of abilities to learn; so much to find in the game.
Storyline was okay; the game was a bit easy although unlike in Fable 1 in which if you die in the middle of a mission without a res potion you have to restart, in Fable 2 if you die in the middle of a mission without a res potion you only get a scar and lose all exp that is on the ground and then you can get right back up and keep fighting.
I found the ending cutscene a bit too long

GUK / Tacoma-Vancouver

2010-07-01T23:59:00.018+10:00

Thursday: Sadly, Uncle Karel's illness was playing up again, so we had a relaxing morning at the hotel until Julie was able to pick us up to take us around for another delightful chat at Karel's.

Julie and I shopped and I was thrilled at the low cost berries and nuts for our trip. After another beautiful meal, Julie took us to the station. The Amtrak Cascades continued to provide a comfortable train trip to Vancouver. Black top cab disappointed to have short fare to YWCA. So tired we went to bed without showers.

Albany-Tacoma / GUK

2010-06-30T21:57:00.036+10:00

Previous posts on trip: Departure...Arrival...Day 2 ... Day 3 ... Day 4 ... Day 5 ...

Wednesday:

After another delicious and delightfully presented breakfast (Ursula sets a high standard for hospitality which would be heaps of fun to try to return)

with a special treat courtesy of Stephen:

we were sad to say goodbye to Ursula who graciously drove us to Albany to catch the Amtrak to Tacoma.

We were very impressed with the uniformed guard and the business class service on Amtrak Cascades.

While the boys enjoyed the supplied power for their digital devices: Kakuro were my entertainment:

Uncle Karel picked us up at the station in Tacoma, showed us his work and introduced us to colleagues. Had a lovely chat while he drove us to check in at a hotel that appears to provide a beautiful accommodation (which struck me to be similar to Australia's Best Western and favoured of the military), and then to his home.

Julie made lovely meal of cold meat subs with beautiful salads. Uncle Karel drove us to hotel and we agreed to meet for breakfast.

Oregon coast

2010-06-29T21:55:00.029+10:00

Previous posts on trip: Departure...Arrival...Day 2 ... Day 3 ... Day 4

Tuesday: to the coast: Sean took us tidepooling, so we saw anemone, starfish, rockfish babies, seals.

Ran out of breath climbing up through Hobbit Walk, so stopped to photograph funghi.

Visited sealion caves

then an insect-eating plant.

Climbed sanddunes while Sean shopped at his favourite coin collection store.

Into Florence

Tea at Waterfront Depot

where I tried crab-encrusted halibut which Ursula said was disappointingly unlike the first she'd had there. The Calamari fingers were okay, but I forgot to salt them, and they were served with a tomato based sauce! Pomegranate cocktail was lovely. Boys had icecream from BJ's but after receiving a taste (the store offers) Ursula and I were unimpressed and avoided it. Regret to admit I slept much of the way back in the car.

Horses, wine and bicycles

2010-06-28T21:54:00.017+10:00

Previous posts on trip: Departure...Arrival...Day 2 ... Day 3

Trip Photos at Flickr

Today's:

Monday. The boys spent the day with Sean while I went with Ursula to observe her grad student's tests of horses. I was pleased to get a few cuddles, well... nuzzles. Not so pleased that night to realise I had let myself get sunburned. After observing the vet students Ursula and I went to Ankenny for winetasting and a spot of cheese (Ursula what was that cheese?) and crackers and grapes. Saw some birds, maybe osprey but only got photos of a fake one on a string.

After grocery shopping (I got to drive Ursula's cart back into store) and unpacking the boys played Bocce.

For tea: bbq, with grilled corn and a butter I squished together (didn't quite follow the recipe which I must get from Ursula), Chicken and garlic sausages, spicy coleslaw... (again must get recipe). Beautiful brownies for dessert.

Bicycles and Risk

Snow kangaroo and frogs

2010-06-27T21:44:00.047+10:00

Previous posts on trip: Departure...Arrival...Day 2

Trip Photos at Flickr

Though awake at 8am, by end of beautiful breakfast: seeded pancakes (pikelets) syrup, blueberry jam, rockmelon, Indonesian tea: we had a late departure for the next tour Ursula had planned.

We saw two squirrels on the way out of town. Unfortunately I am making these notes in retrospect and have forgotten some details. We visited a lookout to Mt Washington; Suttle lake (apparently the Canadian goose and gosling are a common sight). Yummy memory = lunch: Ursula's beautiful turkey sandwiches with avocado, havarti cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise. Cherries. Nectarines, Chips, Ursula's mum's cake. Chips for the goose.
Took photos of feet in the water.

Aargh! I have forgotten to charge the camera - :( So frustrating - now I see it would have been worth having a second battery. Silly silly.

Ursula wanted to show us the lava flows along a particular road - but that road was closed, so we ended up at ?was it? McArthur Ridge? - SNOW! - oh the conflict in my memory - excitement and joy about snow in summer - delight at just the right quantity: enough to make a snow kangaroo when challenged by Ursula and to have a snow ball fight with the boys; but also sympathy and guilt remembering Ursula silently struggling with her injured leg across the squelchy skiddy snow.

Drove back past ?- oh Ursula can you remind me of the name of the? Lake where we stopped to catch frogs. I caught two - ursula has photos. I'll post when I get copies.

We did end up seeing Lava flows and Ursula spotted one shaped like a squirrel.
The hour getting on we again changed plans, this time for tea to Mexican in Sweet Home at Los Dos Amigos. Huge plates, Grilled chicken, beans and mixed vegetables.

Good morning Oregon: Portland / Corvallis

2010-06-26T22:13:00.042+10:00

1st post in trip diary
2nd post
Trip Photos at Flickr

I woke at 3:54 and 8 am to an odd purring/flickering sound that may have been associated with the airconditioning from the next room - perhaps paper stuck in the vent. Unfortunately Fish had woken 5am and was not able to get back to sleep.

Breakfast was good: scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, yoghurt.

Breakfast buffet at Hilton Garden Inn Portland Airport via kwout

The lovely waitress kindly obtained tea for me, but the milk option (half and half) as on the plane was not very pleasant to me. Perhaps I should stick to herbal teas here.

We managed to be ready for when Ursula and Steven picked us up at hotel in a blue Prius. Apparently this was funny for the boys – something to do with jokes by Jeff Denham.

Steven drove us to Multnomah Falls. I will upload photos of the waterfall, wildflowers, highway restoration, railway line at Flickr.

Flickr: Your stuff tagged with multnomah via kwout

Oh drat I haven’t yet taken a photo of those interesting train cargo trucks with central support rail – what do they normally transport? Then we stopped at Vista House which now provides a history of the building of (?Oregon’s first) highway. The attendant told us that this rest spot was an afterthought and they just went overboard: pink limestone walls, marble floor, busts of Indians as ?cornices (is that the word I mean?).

For a late lunch at Pappa Haydn's Fish and I had some fancy sort of Tuna Salad (yes I wish I remember what specific kind) in which nicely herb-crusted slices of half-cooked tuna sat atop a bed of avocado with lettuce dressed with vinaigrette on the side – I quite enjoyed it, Fish found it strange but did eat it all; followed by delicious lemon and blueberry cheesecake. Cricket enjoyed his hamburger.

We enjoyed exploring Powell's bookstore in Portland and although I wished I had my wishlist with me, I couldn’t have bought more: just not enough room in our bags. I kept looking at the residences in that part of Portland with almost everyone of them having steep steps to a verandah of some sort at the front door, often balconies. The steps reminded me of the "stoop" described in a book I read as a child, probably by Scholastic, I think was called Amy and Laura.

During the drive to Corvallis when we weren’t unfortunately falling asleep I noted varieties of homes I don't see in Australia.

After a tour of Ursula's lovely home and garden, and chat over gin and tonic, I tried a fresh cherry - yum. I’ve always disliked cherries – based on the nasty things in cans of tropical fruit salad and fruitcake. For tea: lasagna and salad: yum yum. Rhubarb and strawberry pie with cream and Rooibos red tea for dessert. Yum. Drambuie.

Such a long day – we are very grateful for such generously kind hospitality.

America, here we are

2010-06-25T23:59:00.027+10:00

1st post in trip diary

Trip Photos at Flickr

We were very glad to arrive in LA. There was a longish wait at immigration, but finally our finger and thumbprints were taken, and there were no problem with ESTA visa waiver - we didn't even need the printout I had ready. We had no problem getting our bags thanks to Fish: Cricket and I were walking around not seeing Cricket's bag but it was the first one Fish had collected so Fish was looking for his own bag. It was a longer line at customs although when we got to the point, the actual procedure to get through was very quick. Turned on phones and found we had local services, thank you AAPT.

We asked a couple of people and found the domestic terminal (Alaska airlines) rather quickly and within walking distance. Used a machine outside the terminal to get boarding passes and start checkin of bags (feeling proud of myself for use of new-to-me technology). Completed checking inside then entered line for security passage to gates. Long line. We could have taken our little suitcases as well as our backpacks as carryon, saving $20 each but we knew this before we left and had brought toiletries which were not permitted in carryon. We were early for flight so after finding our gate we had tea at Burger King, having forgotten that American "large" meals would be too large.

During the flight I tried Gogo internet which was free on Alaska airline at the moment, and had no problem connecting, but I was too tired to think of what to write where and to whom. It was also the wrong time of day to communicate with anyone.

There was hardly anyone at airport in Portland when we arrived (11:30pm)ish, so we followed signs nervously to baggage claim, which was right near the exit and friendly staff helped us find the taxi rank, as Sarah had told us the hotel did not have a shuttle (perhaps she meant at that time of night). I wasn't sure the taxi driver had understood which hotel to take us to, but he got us to the right one and my first tip was incidental as the $20 bill I had was a good tip over the cost of the fare.

Portland Hotels - Hilton Garden Inn Portland Airport Hotel, OR - Oregon via kwout

The night superintendent at Hilton Garden Inn Portland Airport was a welcome and sympathetic sight. There was some confusion over our rooms as he saw in the computer only a room with one bed and no spare, certainly not the connecting rooms Sarah had told us about. He changed our room, then when we arrived at it he rang through to apologise for the confusion as he had found another booking under Cricket's name. We ended up with a second room down the hall, a king bed for me and double each for the boys. My key wouldn't work and on the way down to sort that a staff member was on his way up with a letter of apology for the confusion and vouchers for complimentary breakfast. After showers, a quick email to Ursula as I had forgotten to send her a text about our safe arrival and it was now too late at night, we tried to sleep.

America, here we come (playing Kenken)

2010-06-25T18:00:00.021+10:00

This day was 34 hours long…(and this post has no photos, yet - but friends & family with Flickr accounts can see our departure photos in our Flickr set for the trip)

Up at 8am (Australian time), final packing, remembered I had not enrolled for course next semester, chatted with Ontario friend on MSN.

Toni took us to the Ballarat Station to catch the Ballarat Airport Shuttlebus, via Ballarat Books to pick up book for Cricket's course next semester. We were early to the station so we bought wedges and many packets of chewing gum at the cafeteria.

GUF called to check our departure time, and decided to meet us and wait with us even though we would be hanging around for three hours. Check in went smoothly although I felt a little nervous letting go of our bags which would be transferred to our international flights at Sydney. After a loo call we strolled to Subway for the boys' lunch, picked up Australian flags for Melissa’s children, then strolled back to McDonalds and caught GUF on the way - he knew where I would be.

Over lunch Cricket remembered he had not told Centrelink about his new course or going to US - okay we would phone it in. On our way to the gate looking for a quiet place to phone we spotted strudels, so GUF bought the boys donuts, and then we spotted phones and an internet kiosk.

Unfortunately the reception over the airport’s Telstra booth was lousy so we called home again via Cricket’s phone, and while Div sought the appropriate number for Youth Allowance at Centrelink for us, we bought internet time but that was incredibly slow and we forgot Cricket's password anyway. With the number from Div and a typical (yet to see how expensive) period on hold, we managed to give relevant information over phone. Also called AAPT to confirm global roaming would be on both phones.

Finally we strolled to Gate 1 and GUF waited with us till our flight. It was great to have his company. I began my pile of puzzles with Kenken - GUF helped me understand how they work.

We don’t recall anything about the domestic flight, but the transfer to international terminal was made easily with clear directions, streamlined check in and a shuttlebus. The international flight began well if a little cramped. There was a selection of free tv shows and movies, although I needed the attendant to press a few buttons to make mine work. Tea on the plane was ok. It was all but impossible to sleep. Long painful night. Trying not to think about return trip. Breakfast was not as nice as tea.

Was the 4x4 Kenken too easy for you? Try this one:

modernwarfare 2

2010-05-24T14:11:00.009+10:00

Gameplay

. I liked the campaign a lot. its not entirely concentrated on the 1 character but instead you play as 3 different characters on different missions.
hours and hours of gameplay which is great if you like to stick to a game for as long as possible but dont want to be repeating it all the time.
I found multiplayer alot of fun funny killcams.

this is just a small clip of me sniping on multiplayer

Graphics.

graphics were awsome very detailed.
Ive recently made a few videos on hiding spots for multiple maps on multiplayer I think there will be some links inside the video that I have placed above.
scenery is one of the most important things in multiplayer often people will prone in the bushes and be almost invisible in certain maps.

Just Cause 2

2010-05-20T18:28:00.014+10:00

Gameplay. A few of the things I liked to do is drag people from planes cars and helicopters.
Another fun thing is climbing buildings with a parachute and a grappling hook yeah I know: sounds ridiculous.
Another thing is driving my car over a cliff and watching the car spin around and around and around and then somehow survive the fall W.T.H.

There is plenty of play time: it took me over 14 hours to just get 27% of the game done though painfully I cant finish the game because when I finish the second last mission the game quits on me and I can't make a new profile!!!
Plenty of achievements to work on.

Graphics. Good detailed (realistic) graphics which is awesome: the scenic detail in the rocks, plants (shapes of trees), grass, roots, moving tree leaves.
Just Cause 2 has the best underwater graphics (again, the scenery: waving seaweed, starfish, shifting light patterns) I have seen though I haven't been underwater in many games. The character even appears wet when he comes out of the water.

War Rock vs Combat Arms

2010-05-04T12:48:00.014+10:00

While I was loading War Rock I realised that it had the same HackShield as Combat Arms (mum these are both first person shooter games) and both have the problem with hackers. I found, last time I played Combat Arms, there were a lot less hackers than War Rock.

The graphics for Combat Arms are better War Rock's, possibly because War Rock is older. By better I mean: I think the scenery in Combat Arms was maybe a little more detailed; but also the guns look better.

CombatArms has a larger variety of game modes than War Rock. For example I loved quarantine mode. In this mode there is a maximum of 16 players on the server all on 1 team; there is a 20 second timer and once that timer gets to 0 a proportion of players will become zombies - and for up to the next 3 minutes the zombies try to convert everyone else that is trying to stay alive. How to stay alive? RUN... RUN...RUN. Or: have everyone team up in a room and just defend with mines, flamethrowers, machine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles. I say those weapons because they are the most effective. Or I've seen some people just blow themselves up with bombs - chickens.

CombatArms has a larger variety of weapons that you can get without actually spending real life money. I liked the SCAR because it did good damage at short and medium range with good accuracy and the G36E which performs even better damage than the SCAR but can also scope and was a bit more accurate.

Another good thing about CombatArms is that you dont have to pay for maps.

Interesting, cool, freaky, disgusting...

2010-03-18T13:57:00.002+11:00

Fish's reaction to Ben Hillman's How Weird Is It?

How Weird Is It? by Ben Hillman via kwout

Playful studyful Sunday

2009-07-12T18:27:00.001+10:00

As I lean back from studying Australian Sign Language: an introduction to sign language linguistics courtesy of UB's ebook service from Ebook Library, I noticed that the scene at our computers is not as "same everyday" as I had recently begun to imagine.

When I shared my thoughts with the boys they pointed out that it isn't unusual really, we each have a huge variety of occupations at the computers and away from them. Tonight it just happens to be that Fish is playing Combat Arms and Cricket: Star Trek Legacy, although since I began posting Fish has moved on to Star Trek Legacy and Cricket to watching Star Trek Voyager on DVD.

Earlier today I practiced at the violin, entered dockets into our budget, posted notes about my last placement shift to the unit's Blackboard discussion forum; Cricket bought new bowling shoes and practiced at TenPin thanks to his aunt playing chauffeur; Fish played with his cousin, the kitten and a double handful of internet games.

Clip to ponder

2008-11-12T09:48:00.001+11:00

"Living from principles, rather than fears,.. " [borrowing the start of Maya's next sentence in the source of the following clip]...is the way I would like my boys to learn how to live.

clipped from sandradodd.com

Maya wrote something wonderful on the Family Radical Unschoolers Network forum:

If I'm really going to be a kind, joyful, generous person who values freedom and choice, then I'm really not going to control tv or sugar or sleep or whatever because that wouldn't be kind, or freedom-creating, or joyful, or generous. Full stop.

Learn Nothing Day!

2008-07-24T23:59:00.000+10:00

To play it safe, Cricket spent the first 12 hours of Learn Nothing Day in bed.

Both boys swore that they would endeavour to do only the same old quests, using the same strategies and not try anything new.

Dulse = purple seaweed

2008-05-16T01:03:00.002+10:00

Dulse ona string
Originally uploaded by Dulsechick

Following another word I didn't know in Scramble... I've learned about this very interesting seaweed.

Firstly a definition search told me dulse is "a reddish-purple seaweed. Used in soups, salads, and vegetable dishes. Very high in iron."

Quite aside from some a lovely variety of photos of dulse fresh-picked, dried and packaged, google image search also led to Laurie Murison's informative page (kwouted below) where I was interested to learn how dulse is picked:

every two weeks--corresponding to the new and full moons. The pickers clamber over slippery rocks, tearing off only a portion of the dulse leaving the holdfasts and part of the fronds. ... Dulse pickers often travel along the shores in dories, wooden, flat-bottomed boats that can be safely landed on the rocky shores. Traditionally rowed, most dories now have small out-board motors. They may use headlamps (similar to the ones miners use) when the low tide occurs at night.

I was also fascinated to read how many different ways it is eaten. Read for yourself:

The Best Dulse! via kwout

Syce = groom

2008-05-16T00:56:00.000+10:00

Via google, Reverse Dictionary gave me:

syce , sice, saice n
1 (formerly, in India) a servant employed to look after horses, drive carriages, etc.
2 (in Malaysia) a driver or chauffeur
(C17: from Urdu sa'is, from Arabic, from sasa to administer)

Again I thought an image might help, though only one appeared relevant this time:

The Tibet Album. "Syce with horse and mule on the Kambala Pass" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. Accessed 15 May. 2008 .

Syce with horse and mule on the Kambala Pass via kwout

Notes from The Tibet Album "A syce leading a mule and a pony across the Kamba La Pass. He is dressed in a knee-length, striped robe, a hat and a scarf wound around his head. The animals have leather saddles which suggests the syce is in the service of the Mission."

The Froe - antique splitter

2008-05-16T00:36:00.000+10:00

Scramble has been presenting me with bundles of words that I've not come across before, or at least not enough for them to have sunk in. One tonight was froe. Now a definition search told me what it was but I thought I might remember this more easily if I had an image in mind - google image & its sources, like: Antique Tools helped out wonderfully.

Antique Tools via kwout

Play for water

2008-05-08T22:14:00.000+10:00

Fantastic Idea:

You've got to play WOW

2008-05-07T10:27:00.002+10:00

I really like this song I found last night:

It is SO TRUE... you've got to play WOW... :D

Philanthropy

2008-03-29T14:10:00.003+11:00

Reading Empathy today (which I discovered via Have Fun Do Good via EducateDeviate), I was particularly struck by Matt's story about Combatants for Peace and determined to share it with the boys when they get home from their weekend away.

The boys and I have had a few discussions about social activism, social justice, community action and individual actions in essential social concerns and I guess they'll also be interested in two other links Tiara mentioned recently:

Act Now

and

How I changed the world today via kwout

Victoria Fossil Cave

2008-03-25T19:29:00.003+11:00

Rock formations inside the caves
Originally uploaded by riana_dzasta

Touring Victoria Fossil Cave at Naracoorte (on the way back from Woodchester near Adelaide). We were told a lot about how the different rocks are formed, how the fossils came to be there and the history of the caves. I wish I could recall it all more precisely, perhaps a virtual tour would strengthen the memory cells.

Halfway into the cave I realised I'd left the camera in the car - lucky me other Flickrers are better prepared.

If only the holiday at coincided with OzAct's appearance at the cave for a performance of MacBeth - I envy everyone who goes there for it, we're not up for another long drive so soon.

View Larger Map

YouTube - Sort Of Dunno Nothin' - not so unusual

2008-02-05T21:19:00.001+11:00

Ah ha. Thanks Cool Cat Teacher.

YouTube - Sort Of Dunno Nothin' - Peter Denahy

Funnily though my boys are not typically like this, at least not unless:

they don't know you or

they know you but

they don't trust you or

you're being nosy or

it's none of your business or

they suspect you won't like the answer and it's none of your business anyway or

they're thinking about something else (or nothing in particular) right now.

High speed photography

2008-01-28T15:46:00.000+11:00

This looks like a lot of fun, I wonder if one of us might give it a go one day?

Drumming

2008-01-15T23:38:00.000+11:00

No, none of us are drumming. Tonight after Monarchy and My Architect, I channel surfed into Session 3 : Slave to the Rhythm (about the rhythm that holds music together - be it the beats in today's urban music or percussion in orchestras) of Pop[b]session ("a series of documentaries about rock and pop's greatest instruments and instrumentalists - about passion and virtuosity, about the seduction of musician and audience alike.").

It has been fascinating, and I've noticed Cricket tuning in every now and then. I'm enjoying the journey through percussion history, culture and styles. I think I was probably able to follow along because of the frequent glimpses of the people - the percussionists and their individual stories.

I'm not sure how much I will retain - we're all suffering colds at the moment - stuffy and sneezy and coughy - I'm afraid I'll drown when I go to sleep tonight.

Mythbusters

2008-01-15T18:41:00.000+11:00

Today I watched Mythbusters and they were putting 1500 pound (3000 horse power) rockets on a car to answer "Can a '67 Chevy turn into a 350-mile per hour road warrior "

They were also testing to see if pop rocks + cola can cause your stomach explode (it didn't explode the dead pigs stomach until they added bicarbonate of soda).

L'Alouette

2008-01-14T21:35:00.000+11:00

Big sister rang this evening to ask for translation of the song we know as Alouette. I couldn't bring it immediately to mind, so quickly found my (now catalogued, classified and shelved) Form 1 French text book - A new french course - Part 1.

The lyrics were there, but aside from remembering that it was about plucking a bird, precise translation still eluded me. Babel Fish identified the bird as a lark but le bec as a nozzle instead of a beak. But not all the body parts were in my textbook so google helped me find the answer at Answers.com : Alouette

Slightly different lyrics on YouTube.

Naturally in the process I've been singing the song to my boys.

..you live, you learn...

2007-11-29T00:38:00.000+11:00

Looking for uplifting or happy songs - songs that express celebration without being about romantic love (I'm finding such quite difficult to find)... this one happened along - the boys and I think it seems celebratory of our kind of learning.

My trophies 2007

2007-11-01T16:25:00.001+11:00

My trophies 2007
Originally uploaded by dartril

These are my tenpin trophies. The middle one is for 2nd place. The others are for my highest game and series scores.

Reflecting on Late Night Learning

2007-10-17T01:59:00.000+10:00

Sandra Dodd recently enhanced a few of her pages, including: Late Night Learning.

I've noticed the article before, and often reflected that a lot of our learning happens late at night.

Last night Fish requested a bout of Dance chasey - the night before I had tried to teach the boys the basic modern waltz steps... they weren't really interested and for some reason I began to chase them with a constant forward waltz step - the next second they began laughing and encouraging me to continue chasing them... I got a work out and we all had a laugh.

Tonight we watched At Five in the Afternoon; last night it was A Rake's Progress. I wish I'd made note of all the other movies that have caught our curiosity at different times - but who thinks about making a note when one is enjoying the movie?

water fight

2007-10-03T15:08:00.000+10:00

Today Fish and I had a water fight.

I soaked about 75% of his body LOL.

This is my weapon.

Freelancer firefight

2007-09-30T14:31:00.000+10:00

I am dueling someone on Freelancer:

2007-09-18T13:38:00.002+10:00

I like colours i made a picture and i think i over saved it with this one

2007-09-18T13:26:00.001+10:00

This is one of Fish's WoW charecters from a year ago wearing a full armor set witch I made for him.

Fish plays: Radical Aces

2007-09-17T13:35:00.000+10:00

Radical Aces is a game about defending a mars station. Players get a choice of planes. I normally go with the Sky Bullet because it is the fastest so it is easy to get to the other side of the map because the attackers normally come from two directions.

Ramadan

2007-09-13T15:42:00.000+10:00

Apparently Ramadan (the ninth Muslim month, featuring daily Fajr, fasting, Iftar and culminating in 'Eid-Ul-Fitr) begins today. Langwitches' links for 2007-09-10 caught Mum's bloglining curiosity and we were all reminded about a program we watched recently: 30 days as a Muslim. Cricket was interested in the program's occasional exploration of blind blaming attitudes towards *all* Muslims based upon terrorist acts by a few.

Subsequently we discussed use and misuse of the thought process: generalising.

soccer

2007-09-03T10:51:00.000+10:00

Let me tell you my excitement of a few weeks ago. I kicked three goals for the Koalas, my indoor soccer team. We won by 7 goals.

Now, to spell "goal" I tried "goll" and "gole", but they didn't look right so I asked mum. Naturally she wanted to talk about words spelled with 'oa'. The only other 'oal' words she can think of are foal and shoal, neither of which we use at all. 'oa' is in our phonics book, but for the long 'o' sound like in boat and coat... foal was on the page but mum and I think the l makes 'oa' sound different.

Raptor

2007-08-30T01:05:00.000+10:00

I was doing the quest The Bait for Lar'korwi on World of Warcraft and I had to place to items on a rock to summon

My pet was dead and I had to revive him and I did not have my buffs up.

Lunar eclipse 28 August 2007

2007-08-30T00:36:00.001+10:00

IMG_0135
Originally uploaded by Niroshana Fernando

Cricket did suggest I get my camera, but I still don't have a tripod. So for colour and recollection I have to rely on others (eg thanks Niroshana Fernando). I love the photogallery at Backyard.

Graham phoned while we were watching Numbers, sending us running out the front to catch the blood moon. I think we may have missed the reddest (was that before the full eclipse? - or maybe clouds drifted over).

Still it was exciting just to watch an eclipse even if we didn't see the colour that others did.

How is capsicum spray made?

2007-08-19T01:22:00.000+10:00

How is capsicum spray made? Annotated

this answered Mr14's question: how is capsicum spray made? - post by moonflowerdragon

Compass - The Fundamentalist

2007-08-12T23:11:00.000+10:00

Tonight we caught a portion of The Fundamentalist series on Compass - ABC TV Religion. We caught up with Mark Dowd when "He travels to Gaza and meets the mother of a suicide bomber and also visits Jewish settlers committed to living on disputed land no matter the cost."

I haven't tracked many of the things we've been doing because I'd hoped we might make posts here a little more thoughtful and contemplative or reflective, but then I don't have much record at all. So, as our principal reason for blogging is actually for a fun way to record-keep; while it being a forum to communicate our thoughts and benefit readers is more of a potentiality... we just might merely post more items like this (ie this is what we watched).

When I was a Lad

2007-06-06T14:06:00.000+10:00

How curious... I keep up with Sandra Dodd's updates to her webpages, she recently mentioned this one: When I was a Lad and I played the mp3. The boys loved it - which surprised me. Then "Cricket" recounted a Simpson's episode in which Sideshow Bob sang the whole HMS Pinafore musical to fulfil Bart's last request.

I will *not* be torturing the boys with a bunch of comprehension questions, it will be absorbed into other experiences and we'll discuss our thoughts from time to time. Like: we find it funny as I believe we're supposed to, that 'the rule of the Queen's Navee' would not have naval experience - but really how much of what type of experience would such an authority require to do the job well?

Lots to think about...

2007-05-09T14:03:00.000+10:00

Bloglines (via Mum's RSS Subscription to) mentioned a post from Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Mum went to see what the World's Best Presentation at Slideshare was all about, and ended up with concepts very worth all of us discussing. How will these interesting snippets affect our lives in 10-20 years?

Mum is thinking it is important that we learn effective thinking, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills; adaptability, flexibility, creativity.

Current Events: Britney's Hair

2007-03-01T15:44:00.000+11:00

Mum peruses The Current Events in Education blog, and although we pay extremely little attention to 'celebrities', today mum decided that Britney's Hair was a nifty short little thought activity we could do together.

So after checking out the article: Britney's Mane Event: Day 2 Hair for sale? we're considering the suggested questions:

1. Why would Britney have done this?

Cricket: annoyance, frustration, separation, any reason.
Fish: maybe one of her songs went wrong, if she was married maybe she got divorced, depression,

Who knows, any reasons that anyone else might have could be equally valid for Britney. Wanting a change or celebrating a change, expressing 'letting go' after a relationship separation (cutting them out of your hair eh Ceccy?), or letting go of a previous image or attachment to appearance.

2. What can we learn about the nature of fame from Britney's behavior?

Cricket: Nothing.
Fish: Nothing.
Nothing, even non-famous people shave their head.

3. What is hair? Check out Wikipedia?

"a filamentous outgrowth of dead cells from the skin, found only on mammals. "

4. Is it actually fair to call Britney's behavior absurd? Why/why not?
Definition of absurd: inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense;
Cricket: No, because deciding to change one's hairstyle is not illogical, or unreasonable or uncommon.
Fish: No, because.
No: If she wants to shave her head it is up to her, it is not absurd. Just shaving your head is not absurd.

Painted Swift spider

2007-02-22T19:04:00.001+11:00

supunna picta 9mm
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

As I blogged over at moonflowerdragon, Cricket spotted this spider running very fast up the fridge. While he and Fish wanted me to just squash it, I was curious - not knowing what kind it is.

We know now, thanks to my new digital camera, and the entymology department at the Melbourne Museum.

We might have identified it ourselves at the University of Queensland Find-A-Spider Guide, but I was looking at medium-sized spiders, not small ones because I measured it at 9mm rather than 8mm or less. The boys didn't want to look at the photos at all. I must admit I didn't enjoy it either.

From Cassowary to India

2007-02-22T18:44:00.001+11:00

Cassowary
Originally uploaded by chatallot.

Today, upon reading of the Tarzali home-edding family's cassowary spotting, I asked the boys whether they knew of the Cassowary. "Yeah" said Cricket, launching into his associations " a flightless bird... lives in the rainforest ... related to the emu". Fish didn't know.

...Wikipedia or Google? ... okay Google's first suggestion is Wikipedia anyway...

From there we learned that the Tarzali Tales would have been referring to the Southern Cassowary. But first we explored what 'ratite' meant ("any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin ... hav[ing] no keel on their sternum and, lacking a strong anchor for their wing muscles, could not fly even were they to develop suitable wings); then checked that Gondwanan did indeed mean that the cassowary is supposed to have descended from beasts particular to the Gondwana supercontinent.

In the process I learned (I think for my first time) that the name of the supercontinent Gondwana is "derived from the Gondwana region of India", "because some of the earliest rock formations of this continent were first investigated in part of the region"

Puzzle Pirates

2006-11-29T19:53:00.000+11:00

It was Lucas who introduced Cricket (and thus Fish and I too) to Puzzle Pirates. Thank ye very much ye little blaggard ;-)

We had begun to tire of the grind ('kill' lots and lots of monsters to achieve the quest) on Silkroad and this much lighter game offered a less violent, more amusing form of play.

Both offer the opportunity to explore social issues particularly in the online world. That other players may be real people on the other end means that what you do makes a difference to someone else - if you don't keep up your end of the pirateship tasks your character could be planked (and I think I witnessed recently robbed into the bargain). I think also that how well you do your task impacts on others' tasks (though I don't know that for sure in puzzle pirates). And when it comes to melee when one ship grapples another to plunder - your skill (and luck) may affect the consequence for the whole crew.

Curiously we have found beggars in both games - players who ask other players for game-money. How we feel and what we think about the begging is also interesting to observe. Fish can totally relate to the desire to have someone just give him the money so he can get the thing he wants NOW (a wolf in Silkroad, doubloons to play different games in pirates), and so he is inclined to give people the game-money they ask for because he would like to be given for his own asking. Me: "getting money in this game is quite straightforward and easy, if time-consuming... if you want the game-money play the game".

Enough of each begins to feel as monotous as bouncing a ball against the wall but Cricket loves another opportunity to play poker.

Silkroad Online

2006-11-20T19:27:00.001+11:00

Which friend do we have to thank for the introduction to Silkroad?

It has kept us happily busy for the last few weeks. It is contributing wonderfully to Fish's reading and Cricket's spelling as we party up with game-friends (and strangers) to quest and try to survive trading on a fantasy silkroad.

Fish has enjoyed Trader and Thief jobs and I've tried out Hunting.

Issues we've explored have been: balancing such games with health and family needs; world-wide timezones; comparing virtual with real-time behaviours (what do we ever know about other people's motives).

I want to expand on that last one first. We discovered (although the game discussion forums did warn) that clever thieves are undetectable while they mark traders out... a new young trader trusts this friendly player who offers to escort you with your carefully loaded trade horse (which is such a low level it may not be attacked by player-thieves) only to be killed by strong npc thieves spawned in the area by the 'helpful' guy's thief friend, after which the 'helpful' guy now in his thief suit and his friend make off with your trade gear.

Watching Fish discover intricacies of the game first hand, despite the warnings, I was reminded that his learning style is very much to leap in and give it a go. It is a huge emotional challenge to support such learners. He is of an age where "it is just a game" is not comforting or consoling, mind you he is also of an age where not winning is almost intolerable. Having said that, it occurs to me that my own style of playing (reading about the strategies, watching others) reflects my own distaste for losses.

Update: 17 February 2008
This post has attracted advertising comments for bot services - please don't make such comments, I will only delete them. If you wish to pay for the advertising space I guess you could make us an offer.

Moonflowerdragon: Scenarios for Internet Ethics

2006-11-08T12:34:00.000+11:00

Moonflowerdragon: Scenarios for Internet Ethics

I just blogged over at moonflowerdragon:

Thanks to my Bloglines account, and Francey from Gargoyles Loose in the Library, I now have a bunch of new scenarios to raise when discussing internet issues with my boys.

Our local library gave us material from the government's initiative to promote internet safety (can't remember what it is called), which didn't really address anything we hadn't already discussed ... but finding the material prompted a refresher discussion in a timely way for our exploration of Silkroad (about which more later, right now I want to PLAY).

Mum has claimed us at Technorati

2006-11-07T23:07:00.000+11:00

We have a few games to post about when we run out of steam on them. In the meantime mum has continued with the 23Things project and is claiming this blog at Technorati with this link to her Technorati Profile

2006-10-14T15:47:00.000+10:00

numa numa warcraft in english

The boys loved this one at YouTube today.

supercoolpic

2006-10-09T19:51:00.000+10:00

supercoolpicshot1
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

Take a look at this, they were right to call it supercoolpic don't you think?

ProtopageWithBlog

2006-10-09T03:12:00.000+10:00

ProtopageWithBlog
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

I've posted at my own blog about maybe changing from protopage as my start page, and in the process have been reflecting that the boys use links from two of our protopages (mostly page 2 {I think} of the public pages). Actually that numbering of pages instead of naming is the reason I'm thinking of changing to Pageflakes.

2006-10-08T00:16:00.000+10:00

Lexington Library Commercial #1

Way to love the library guys.

Laugh

2006-09-30T01:04:00.000+10:00

Now this is the way I love to laugh, reminds me of the time ... no I can't remember what was so funny but I spent 15 minutes laughing ... anyway here 'tis.

Update 11/10/06: Cricket reminded me what I had been laughing about - and it still cracks me up. I asked Cricket to do something - he said 'in a minute, I've just got to...' and when I turn around to see what is so urgent to him - he is tapping at a keyboard (?entering data ?programming ?communicating ?setting off a program?)...

... - which is not actually hooked up to anything ...
... - the urgent matter was a part of some imagination - a game or role play

ROTFLMAO

It just tickled my funny bone. Still cracks me up.

Unschooling workbook - getting to unschooling

2006-09-19T21:33:00.000+10:00

There's a funny thing about my experience of Sandra's lists (recently summarised on AlwaysLearning that she might appreciate. I read them, think they're great, decide yeah I might do some of those, I save them, print them, link to them, try to memorise them, then I get off the computer, find the boys heavily engaged in whatever they're into that day, and the mood passes.

What I have learned is that whenever possible I share with the boys what I'm into, appreciate what the boys are into, appreciate what our friends and family are into, invest my attention into positive relationships, and enjoy life.

If I have to (or feel inclined to) seek out stimulating ideas, Sandra's lists are my first places to look:

http://sandradodd.com/checklists
http://sandradodd.com/deschooling
http://sandradodd.com/stages
http://sandradodd.com/typical
http://sandradodd.com/math
http://sandradodd.com/music
http://sandradodd.com/arts
http://sandradodd.com/connections
http://sandradodd.com/history
http://sandradodd.com/movies
http://sandradodd.com/mirrors
http://sandradodd.com/help
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling

WOW and Darkheart

2006-09-17T17:29:00.000+10:00

Today I played WOW and I did a battleground where you have to capture a blacksmith, a farm, a lumber mill, a mine, and a stable, and by holding the bases to get resources the teams need to get resources up to 2000 to win.

My friend Darkheart is staying with me for 8 days

Paper Hats

2006-08-29T13:37:00.000+10:00

On September 9, at the Australian Breastfeeding Association Goldfields Regional Meeting I have planned a deBono Thinking Hats session to contemplate the issue of the cost of 2007 conference and training. I thought it might be fun to have coloured hats to wear while we think in each colour, so I went looking for paper hat instructions.

Using a large coloured sheet might get a little pricey - but perhaps the boys could paint some made from newspa per. CreativeKidsAtHome had suggestions to achieve the different shapes I'd like to use. Enchanted Learning offer an origami samurai hat. Then there is one way to make four different hats. Then there is the white chef's hat or, from about.com a green leprechaun ha t or black top hat.

A green garden hat (from Playschool).

No so usable for me, but fascinating: While the Smithsonian introduced the Mad Hatter, they don't have images online, so it is Mr Paper I thank for my first image of Moses' beautiful headware sculptures. I'm equally grateful to the student artists, their teacher and Dwight-Englewood School for displaying the students' Mad Hatter inspired creations.

Blue whale Photo, Balaenoptera musculus :: Image #05824 :: Phillip Colla Natural History Photography

2006-08-26T20:28:00.000+10:00

Now there is something you don't expect to learn every day.

Blue whale faeces (Photo, Balaenoptera musculus :: Image #05824 :: Phillip Colla Natural History Photography)

It was St. Joseph County Public Library's library for life blog (specifically Ewww, Gross!) that piqued my curiosity.

A study of small fluffy creatures and library usage

2006-08-18T12:06:00.000+10:00

While my boys are not small fluffy creatures, it is never too soon to learn about appropriate library usage - perhaps this lesson from Peeps will prove valuable .

Weather site for Fish

2006-08-18T11:12:00.000+10:00

Fish asked yesterday what makes tornados - maybe Web Weather for Kids can tell him.

Dewey Decimal Classification

2006-08-16T12:57:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure how relevant the DDC will be to Cricket or Fish. Possibly they'll only need a basic appreciation of the system in order to use libraries. I'd like to learn enough to classify materials myself. There is an animated tour of the DDC at the Online Computer Library Centre. I wonder whether the notion or practice of classifying websites to DDC is at all useful.

Cows with Guns AND StarGate

2006-08-15T23:58:00.000+10:00

I'd love to look at it: http://stargate-sg1.hu/amanda/videos.php

Power out

2006-08-15T13:46:00.000+10:00

Last night the power went out right when we were about to have tea.

I grabbed the torch and Mum and Fish lit candles.

At the time that the power went out I had just cooked tea and has watching M*A*S*H.

Fish was playing Warcraft on the pc.

Mum was washing a pot.

The power was out for 20 min.

A friend said the police did it, to help resolve a hostage situation.

Mythos

2006-08-14T16:14:00.000+10:00

Today I looked at Mythos, a game that a mate sent me.
Its kind of confusing but I think it will be a good game.

So far I've found out how to build things and train people.

I still need to learn how to attack.

WOW quiz

2006-08-14T15:55:00.000+10:00

I got 30 correct out of 50 questions in the WOW epic quiz.

2006-08-14T11:57:00.000+10:00

Today I'm looking for Cows with guns to show a friend.

Considering categories

2006-08-13T21:09:00.000+10:00

I'm delighted to discover that a form of categories *is* possible in blogger.

I'll wait till I'm not so tired, and not so overcommitted to give it a go.

But when I do I'll have another look at delicious2blogger
or before that How to do categories for blogger

Ballaarat Observatory

2006-08-13T12:08:00.000+10:00

Today we went to the Ballarat Observatory for National Science Week.
We did a scavenger hunt.
The Jelbart building was built in 1918 - I guess, from the date over the door.
The longitude on the sundial was east 143º51'.
On the leadlight window on the front of the baker building there was a magpie and a kookaburrawith a snake in its mouth.
The federation telescope was opened in 2001.
The gears used to open the roof on the baker building were made by tennant&co in Edinburgh.
One of the leadlight windows on the baker building has a eye in the middle of it.
The observatory was built in 1884.
The Jelbart building has leadlight windows facing each direction, the window to North contained an N, to west W and to east E. The south window does not have a S.

Books for boys?

2006-08-05T15:26:00.000+10:00

Because I have to note it somewhere...

I might want to find a copy of Great books for boys by Kathleen Odean. RandomHouse have generously extracted seventeen suggestions:

So when I'm not supposed to be working I might search at my local library for:

Lobel, Arnold. Days with Frog and Toad. 1979. Harper. Ages 3-8.

Every child should get to know Frog and Toad. Five short chapters, beautifully illustrated in greens and browns, tell funny, touching incidents about these two friends. One in a series of four outstanding books.
Jukes, Mavis. Like Jake and Me. 1984. Knopf. Ages 5-10. Alex admires his strong, cowboy-like stepfather Jake, and wishes he could be more like him. To the boy's surprise, he finds out that Jake is afraid of something that Alex himself isn't afraid of: spiders. Beautifully written and illustrated with warmth and humor.
Scieszka, Jon. Knights of the Kitchen Table. 1991. Viking. Ages 7-ll.: This lively book combines adventure, magic, slapstick humor, and droll illustrations to appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Three boys use a magical book to travel back in time and confront a knight, a giant and a dragon. Readers will laugh their way through this and the other books in the "Time Warp Trio" series.
Soto, Gary. The Pool Party. 1993. Delacorte. Ages 8-12.: Ten-year-old Rudy Herrera, whose tight-knit family lives in Fresno, California, knows how to have a good time, whether he is helping with the family's yard work business or hanging out with his best friend Alex. Laced with Spanish phrases, this is a warm, funny book about an engaging boy. -2-
Peet, Bill. Bill Peet: An Autobiography. 1989. Houghton. Ages 8-12.: Children's book illustrator Bill Peet has created an award-winning autobiography by combining a conversational text with energetic, often comical, illustrations. In describing his work as a Disney animator, the pictures include many characters from popular films. With pictures on every page, this is an unusually appealing biography.
Shannon, George. Stories to Solve. 1985. Greenwillow, Beechtree. Ages 9-12.: Few children can resist the lure of the mini-mysteries in this entertaining folklore book. Each of the fourteen short stories gives the reader a puzzle to solve, then provides the answer on the following page. Readers can stretch their minds, then pose the puzzles to their friends. Great fun.
Alexander, Lloyd. The Book of Three. 1964. Holt, Dell. Ages 9-12.: In this modern classic, an assistant pig-keeper named Taran longs to be a hero. He leaves his home with a kind enchanter to go on a great adventure where he fights battles, makes unlikely friends, and changes his views on heroism. The first in a wonderful fantasy series.
Brandenberg, Jim. To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves. 1993. Walker. Ages 9-13.: Spectacular photographs of an Arctic wolf pack give this memorable book wide appeal. Brandenberg's highly readable text tells the story of his months camping in the Arctic to photograph the wolves. A fascinating nature book.
Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission. 1979. Dell. Ages 12-14.: Jack Raab, who is fifteen years old and Jewish, lies about his age to join the Army during the Second World War. He ends up in the air corps, flying dangerous missions over Europe. Sympathetic characters, vivid descriptions, and an action-filled plot make this a popular novel with boys.
Crutcher, Chris. Ironman. 1995. Greenwillow, Dell. Ages 13-14.: In this powerful story, high school senior Bo Brewster channels part of his anger at his unreasonable father into practicing for a triathlon. Forced to take an Anger Management class, Bo finds a caring teacher, a possible romance, and some strange new friends who help him through hard times.

Although those particular selections seems a little more what we'd like boys to read than what would particularly draw them in?

I also wonder if they have Connecting Boys With Books: What Libraries Can Do?

WW2

2006-08-02T21:21:00.000+10:00

TodayI'm looking for WW2 things in the year 1944 to show Fish, this is a howitzer.
These are some photos of the D'day landings.
This is the U.S. troops liberating Cherbourg.
This is the US troops entering St Lô.
It says here (Oct 14, 1944) that Rommel committed suicide - I gusee that is the short story- I( think I saw a show on tv saying he was forced to kill himself.
On sept 1944 Operation Market Garden began.
In dec 1944 the allies were sent to the Ardennes ( or Battle of the Bulge)

librarys

2006-08-01T21:10:00.000+10:00

Today we went to the library so Mum could finish her assignment.
Fish played with the toys then when he was looking at a book, he found that he could read some of the words. We're all proud.
I explored some shelves - taking a look at Star Trek Star Fleet Academy stories, when Picard was a cadet. One of the back covers told me that Picard had failed in his first attempt to enter Star Fleet Academy. The first book in the series wasn't there, I'll check on the catalogue later. I put the Star Wars series books in numerical order.

I have been to 9 libaries:

Wodonga (which even Mum doesn't remember),
Wangaratta - a sunny place for kids to play, lots of kids books and junior fiction, and that great big snake and was just across the road from Lunch on the Run - my favourite lunch spot.
Stawell - also had a warm space for kids to play and housed the Dragon's Den toy library (only open some times). Not so many kids books or junior fiction.
Ballarat - A large collection of junior fiction and children's books. Fish likes the fun play space with its sitting/playing foam blocks. It is the only one that seems to have the books I like.
Sebastopol branch - a small room for the kids collection and a little play area (it is a *small* branch)
Wendouree branch - a small kids comfort area.
University of Ballarat SMB campus - a shelf or two of children's books that Fish & I don't explore because we harrass mum to finish her photocopying so we can leave.
State Library of Victoria - I thought it was boring because GUF showed us the chess collection, and mum dallied in the Cowan gallery. I want to go back to see the Experimedia centre that mum is telling me about.
Mill Park - does have some of my Star Wars books, but I've been waiting ages for the Fifth book in the Star Wars Jedi Apprentice series, which has gone missing at Ballarat and they do not appear to intend to replace. I think not replacing it is unfair to people who want to enjoy the whole series, nor wise for the best use of the collection because who is going to read the rest of the series, if they can't read the fifth?

Then we came home and I stir fried beef for tea. Mum says yum and thanks.
Fish and I are taking turns on the computer. He played Warcraft and I played Rise of Nations.

2006-07-31T23:16:00.000+10:00

Today we got the last three copies of horrible histories.

Fish and I played Rise of Nations together we played for an hour and a half and wiped out 4 nations. I was the US and he was the Russians.

Today I cooked tea: chicken and bean burritos.

Fish and I worked together on a map of warcraft a few hours.

Reader's Digest

2006-07-26T16:27:00.001+10:00

Today I read two articles in August's Reader's Digest.

one called Home Smart Home which is on the "homes of the future" by Max Alexander,

which is based on Grace, the talking house. I like some of the ideas:

projects a list of recipes that would use the items you put on the benchtop.
a touch-screen computer you can stick rfid encoded postcards or invitations that could access the internet.
smart glass that can be transformed into a TV.

the second one is called "Three hours of Fear and Hope" by Kenneth Miller, which is about a plane whose front landing gear had failed. One of the passengers found comfort by his seat mate who said take a "swig of this" and passed him a plastic tonic water bottle and said "its leaded" - the man had smuggled aboard a litre of vodka and tonic.

I am sorry

2006-07-25T20:33:00.000+10:00

- dictated, and edited by mum -

I worked out only a few days ago how to write "I am sorry". >clapping< Yay!

Dad helped.

I wrote "I am sore" and Dad asked me what I was trying to write and he fixed "sorry".

Why was I trying to write "I am sorry"?

I was playing World of Warcraft online in a group and when I went to blow a kiss I accidentally did a chicken impression instead, and I was worried that I might have hurt the other player's feelings.

Mum was very proud of me using my new knowledge of the sounds letters make to compose words - the dictionary spelling will come later. >kisses< >hugs<

d-day

2006-07-25T20:21:00.000+10:00

Today I started looking at the WW2 battle (at wikipedia), Battle of Normandy (or Operation Overlord) which was the landings on the Normandy beaches: Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Utah Beach, Gold Beach, Juno Beach and Sword Beach. I saw a list of games that referred to Operation Overlord and some of the games were ones that I used to play called Medal of Honour (or moh).

Hall of Fame and how to care for a thermos

2006-07-24T23:11:00.000+10:00

Mum wasn't impressed that I passed up the opportunity to experience the Hall of Fame with Helen, Graham & Richard - she thinks I should take up as many opportunities for new experiences and in-person learning as possible. So, here I am, having to find out what I missed. AFL's Hall of Fame web site shows pictures of what I missed but Wikipedia gave more information: with links to articles about all the inductees. While AFL's site gave some basic information about the Legends, it only listed the inductees.

Mum was even more unimpressed that I put milo and milk in the thermos. So my biggest lesson for today is not to put anything but water in the thermos.

Go 'pies!

2006-07-22T22:21:00.000+10:00

Today I went to the football with Chris and Gabe (and Helen, Graham & Richard) to see Collingwood (go 'pies) vs West Coast Eagles at the Telstra Dome. The 'pies won 127 to 90. I was only there for the 1st half because Gabe is 2 and a half yrs old and got restless. Helen, Graham & Richard, who had come up from Portland, invited me to go the hall of fame with them tomorrow but I did not feel like going.

KILLING HITLER

2006-07-21T14:29:00.000+10:00

Today I watched part 2 of Killing Hitler - a documentary on the British Special Operations plan Operation Foxley to kill Hitler.

I found an article at wikipedia and mum taught me note-taking strategies: identifying key and sub-points:

an assassination attempt was never made,
historians believe the most likely date for an attempt would have been July 13 or 14, 1944 when Hitler was visiting the Berghof.

The plan was to assassinate Hitler on his morning routine as he walked unprotected to the tea house in the Berghof compound.
The scheme called for the British to parachute a two-man team into the area surrounding the compound.
The two soldiers were a German-speaking Pole and a sniper.
The men would infiltrate the compound and get in place to shoot Hitler.

Security around Hitler was minimal because he felt nothing could touch him.

As a result, several attempts had been made to kill him,

including one that took place during the planning of this operation, by a German officer named Claus von Stauffenberg.
However, none of these were successful.
Stauffenberg's attempt only injured Hitler.
It did, however, have the effect that public appearances of Hitler were greatly reduced, to one or two per year, thus limiting the opportunities for another attempt.

One of the first plans was to bomb the train Hitler travelled around in.

SOE had ample experience with derailing trains (it was actually what they did most),
but the plan was dropped because Hitler's schedule was too irregular, with stations being informed of his arrival only minutes beforehand.

The following plan was to poison his tea,

to which he was addicted,
but this was considered too complicated because of the necessity for an inside man.

Next a sniper was considered.

A talk with a German POW who had been part of Hitler's personal guard revealed that at the Berghof, Hitler always took a morning walk,

around the same time (after 10)
and for the same duration (about 20 minutes).

In addition, he wanted to be alone during this walk,

leaving him unprotected near some woods,
where he was out of sight of sentry posts.

To top it off, every time Hitler was at the Berghof, a Nazi flag was put up, which was visible from the nearby town.

A sniper was found and briefed and the plan was submitted.
An inside man was even found,

Heidentaler,
the uncle of a captured soldier, Dieser, who
was vehemently anti-Nazi,
lived in Salzburg, 20 km from the Berghof and
regularly visited a shooting range 16 km from the Berghof with likeminded shopkeepers.

There had been some resistance against the plan,

especially from a superior called Thornley,

but he was replaced by a supporter of the plan,

Templar, and

Churchill was also in favour of it.
The sniper and a Polish companion who spoke German were to be dropped by plane and sheltered with Heidentaler,
after which they could make the approach disguised as German mountain troops.

The plan was submitted in November 1944,

but was never put into practice

because there was some controversy over whether it was such a good idea.

Hitler was such a bad strategist that it was believed whoever might follow him up might lead a better war-effort.
Also, Germany was almost defeated and if Hitler were assassinated, he would have become a martyr to some, while also leading to speculation that maybe Germany would have won if Hitler had lived. Since the idea was not only to defeat Germany but Nazism in general, that would have been an unfortunate development.

However, there were strong advocates on both sides and the plan was not put into practice because no actual decision was reached.

By late November Hitler left the Berghof, never to return. He killed himself when the war came to a close on 30 April 1945.

I think they should have gone ahead with Foxley because it would have saved about 10 million lives (based on the historian's calculations in the documentary: Jews and others in concentration camps; Soviet and German soldiers in the Battle of Berlin; bombed cities).

Architectural fragment = Goa'uld cargo ship?

2006-07-20T17:28:00.000+10:00

Mum showed me her link from that sculpture in front of the State Library in Melbourne that reminded her of the Planet of the Apes. When I looked at Lucy Tartan's photo of "Architectural Fragment" I thought I saw a Goa'uld cargo ship.

I love chicken

2006-07-20T16:36:00.000+10:00

BBQ Chicken Pizza, Chicken and Potato Parcels, Lime Chicken Soft Tacos (actually tortillas) and Spicy Rice are recipes I thought might be tasty and new. What is Monterey Jack cheese? In the taco/tortillas we would use mozzarella instead. Instead of using a fire or grill for the parcels we would use an oven. That one could probably be done as a stew or casserole instead of wasting foil.

The rice dish: I've heard of 'sirloin' as a cut of meat but I don't know what 'sirloin tips' are - we'd probably just use strips of any kind of steak. Habanero peppers... pass ... don't like very hot food. Mum tells me a skillet is a heavy based frypan. Just checking: Google says "A long-handled, round pan with sloping sides. Also called a frying pan." It also says "A skillet or frypan (American English) or frying pan (British English) is a pan used for frying foods, usually heavy-bottomed and made of cast iron" - and mum explained the she thinks of a frying pan as any kind of pan for frying including light pans whereas when someone says skillet she thinks cast iron.

While we were there we also learned about sauté pans: "A sauté pan has a more specific meaning: a deep, straight-sided pan that usually comes with a lid. You can sauté foods in either kind of pan, but the sauté pan holds more, so it's handier for dishes that have lots of sauce, vegetables, or other ingredients."

Mum thinks she'll try the chicken pizza because of the smoked gouda - I don't know about that - I think I'd prefer mozzarella.

Carpet Bowls developed by Henselite

2006-07-20T14:38:00.000+10:00

Today, I learned from the Henselite company (via Google) that "The Game of 4 Inch Indoor Biased Bowls was developed in 1956 by the Henselite Company ". Mum and I guess they made it so that bowlers could play during winter - thus expanding their market - guessing that Henselite were a major supplier of bowling gear already to the outdoor market.

Letters, Sounds and Words: a phonic dictionary

2006-07-14T20:14:00.000+10:00

Fish has almost complete recognition of the sounds of the alphabet, 2 & 3 letter consonent blends, and is beginning to recognise the special sounds ch, sh & th.

Thanks to Collins Book of Letters, Sounds and Words: a phonic dictionary by Linda Hayward

Progress at last.

Base 10

2006-07-13T14:25:00.000+10:00

Wendy at Always Learning, British Council's Magic Gopher and Joyce Fetteroll introduced us to some of the fun one can have base 10.

From a visual riddle or a mystery to an exploration of art

2006-07-13T14:09:00.000+10:00

The clue didn't really help me work out what was going on with Sandra Dodd 's Mystery Ar t. However I am not perturbed as the clue page linked me to Sandra's Art Ideas and Links which will contribute fascinating material to the arts elements of our 'curriculum'.

Today, particularly, we enjoyed Julian Beever's pavement drawings , particularly the 3-D ones - & the peeks into what they look like from other angles, giving the boys a little insight into how some of the effects were achieved.

Xrefer Brainteaser: Hot and Cold

2006-07-05T21:14:00.000+10:00

Disappointed that House is not on tonight - Mum scrolled through her backlog of newsfeeds and found a recent brainteaser...

Cricket identified snow from the "dictionary definition: "Precipitation in the form of aggregations of ice crystals falling to the ground in soft white flakes, or lying on the ground as a soft white mass"."

Cricket identified correctly that direct sunlight causes sunburn from UV (ultraviolet) rays.

For measuring temperatures, Cricket guessed first at "Fahrenheit", but immediately agreed with Mum's suggestion of " Celsius" as the word officially replaced "centigrade" in 1948.

We learned that Frostbite is what made the explorer Sir Ran ulph Fien nes abandon his solo trek to the North Pole in 2000.

Cricket was correct this time that Fahrenheit is the name for the scale of temperatures in which 212 degrees represents the boiling point of water.

Fish & Cricket both immediately declared Antarctica to be the coldest continent on Earth.

Cricket correctly remembered (he thinks from M*A*S*H) that "Pyrexia" is another word for Fever.

Mum couldn't call to mind the phrase absolute zero to describe the point at which it would be impossible to get any colder (minus 273.15 degrees C)?

Mum guessed correctly that in 1626, the famous person who died of a cold contracted when stuffing a fowl with snow as an experiment in refrigeration was Francis Bacon not Christopher Marlowe or William Shakespeare?

hexalot

2006-07-05T13:30:00.000+10:00

While waiting for Mum I played Hexalot

ten pin bowling

2006-06-30T21:20:00.000+10:00

Tonight Mum, Fish and I went ten pin b owling and I scored 137. maybe my best score.

Fable

2006-06-14T17:41:00.000+10:00

On Fable today I guarded a trader from a town to a farm. Along the road I fended off wasps and bandits.

Learning from Xrefer brainteaser

2006-06-04T16:07:00.000+10:00

Mum receives the Xrefer brainteaser via feed from Peter Scott's library blog - so from time to time we research those questions she can't answer.

Like today:

Based on the example of the Forth Bridge (or Forth Rail Bridge, or Firth of Forth Bridge) (specifically from the answer it is meant the rail rather than the road bridge), a bridge that consists of two outer spans that project towards one another and support a suspended central span is a cantilever bridge.

Reading along the way that there is apparently a colloquial expression " Painting the Forth Bridge" referring to a never-ending task, we were reminded of Sisyphus, one of the characters we met in the underworld through a library book of Greek myths borrowed on a tangent from curiosity about minotaurs.