blah blah blah, about nothing in marticular – may contain traces of aaaarrrggghh
In the Brisbane CBD today is a public holiday for the RNA Show:
I stopped going to the show when our kids asked whether we had to go again this year – it is huge, full of people, end of winter and full of flu.
I also had a go at capturing it in 3d, using Fyuse, to give you a sense of the movement. Continue reading
It is rare, in Brisbane, to get to see Origami displayed at all, let alone an exhibition by an accomplished folder such as Jonathan Baxter:
His display at the Richard Randall Art Studio, Mt Coo-tha Botanical gardens was a rare treat.
His folding displays showcased numerous forms of origami including delicate unit work like intricate spheres and torus from “Phiz” units, garlands of interlocking cubes and many variations. Continue reading
Last weekend I mowed the lawn – that is not so much a revelation as a statement of fact – I enjoy mowing, always have. I do not, however, enjoy the “presents” that dog owners allow their pets to leave on my lawn:
I recognise that part of the pleasure of owning a dog is that you have to take it for walks to empty it. It does however infuriate me when owners do not clean up after their newly emptied pet. Continue reading
Dear Donald, Kim, Vladimir and others,
I am writing to your parents regarding the bully tactics and macho posturing you seem to be engaging in while playing in the sandpit. This unacceptable behaviour has to STOP before someone gets hurt.
It seems to me that the sand pit is large enough for you and all the other children, but you seem to want to claim bits of it for yourself. The petty bickering and labelling bits of play equipment “mine” is tiring, but the threats to lob projectiles at each other has wider safety implications I can no longer overlook.
We have tried timeout, handshaking seems not sincere and meetings seem a waste of time as you seen intent on name-calling so, in a last ditch effort, I am appealing to your common sense. Failing that I will roll up a newspaper and give you all a good thwap.
Should the spit hit the fan, and some dumb f*ck lobs the first projectile, I would guess that you will all join in the shit fight. For the couple of minutes you congratulate yourselves on this retaliation (I mean he started it, right?) you will finally have a chance to consider what you have done. You will be making it impossible for anyone to play there again. Ever.
Enough is enough.
Sincerely, PDub
I am avoiding the news at the moment, with world leaders posturing at each other, a bunch of lunatics in charge of launch codes on all sides, it seems to me that we are sliding towards making the world a perfect place for this little guy:
This is Robert Lang’s Cockroach, a faithful paper recreation of my most hated insect. Continue reading
I am not sure what it is about the music, but “The Last Post” always gets to me:
After visiting Gallipoli 2 years ago (nearly to the day), and the Canberra war memorial last year, this is never more true. The tune is haunting, desperately sad and intimately bound up with a remembrance of Australian and New Zealand troops (originally) but more recently with all armed force personnel from all wars, police actions and conflicts.
I am always, oddly, extraordinarily anxious when it is played live. I feel for the trumpeter as the tune has no where to go – when the note is wrong it is so terribly uncomfortable. I am particularly in awe of the students that play it in front of the whole school. James did it proud yesterday at a school assembly. I get goosebumps thinking about it, but I always have. Continue reading
When I first saw NeelishK’s fold of this model I was in total awe of the boxpleating skill it showcased:
He is part of a shared group on Fakebook and to my amazement shared, via photodiagram, guidelines and folding sequence suggestions. Continue reading
This time of year I add marks to student work:
I want to pretend it is a life-giving activity for me, the teacher. Continue reading
Last night (25th March) was Earth Hour. Between 8:30 and 9:30pm we turned off our lights:
I decided to try and fold something by torchlight … great plan Einstein. Continue reading
As a teacher and pastoral care “tutor”, I am always looking for ways to get kids working together. At the beginning of the year the tutor group room is a mixed-year level (6-12) mixture of strangers and established friends so “GTK” exercises (Getting To Know you) are great icebreakers if you can get them actually talking and working together:
A few years back I struck on an idea to get kids collaboratively folding an origami mega-structure. The model is fairly simple – I taught the newbies (in this case the year 6 and 7 students) a simple modular unit. They then had to go teach another kid in the group, who in turn taught another. The central metaphor is “the WHOLE is greater than the sum of the parts”, “many hands make light work”, “we are as strong as the weakest link” … and so on.
The Chinese Zodiac is rich with myth and legend, most cultures are full to the brim with such fancy. Chinese New year is based around the Lunar cycles, as such seem oddly placed to us westerners:
Moon cakes, yum cha, char sui hanging in a chinese butcher’s window, the red of firecrackers, the noise and smoke of a dragon dance – all wonderful to be part of. Most cities have a “China town”, in Brisbane it is a section of Fortitude Valley – these areas come alive at this time of year … mmmm, need some dim sum and a nice pot of jasmine tea. Continue reading
Look away, look away … we are going to need a bigger boat:
Interestingly, people’s opinions of sharks in Australia, particularly by those who do not live here, varies from reality markedly. One would believe, if one believed what you see in the media, that sharks are a problem, everyone gets attacked – this is far from the truth.
Although this is a stereotypical tale of woe, I was interested in the folding sequence as each of the tree parts use different bases, wildly different techniques initially and yet there is consistency when you get to the final shaping. Continue reading
In the United States of America on this day they are inaugurating their 45th president – one Donald Trump:
I _want_ to congratulate him and his party on a campaign well fought, policies well considered and popular vote being a landslide but sadly none of these seems true from where I sit.
Looking for a model to express how I feel about the incoming, from my ivory tower over here on the opposite side of a planet suddenly not big enough to place me a safe distance from him, I came across “flipping the bird” by Paulius Mielinis. Whilst only a crease pattern (CP), I could sort of see the parts of the model in among the creases. It took a little wrangling to work out how to collapse and hide unwanted paper, make the digits clean enough to be recognisable. Continue reading
Emergent behaviour is fascinating, apparently where these Japanese Macaque monkeys live gets snowy in winter, they have learned that sitting in thermal pools near bathhouses (Onsen) is one way of staving off the cold:
This is Fumiaki Kawahata’s Japanese Macaque – a model I had intended to fold ages ago because it was in a Tanteidan I had shelved. Continue reading
Returning to work, we balance between the stinking hot outside temperature and the painfully cold airconditioning (yes, I know this sounds like a first world problem, and it is), but I decided to fold a critter that has evolved to put up with intolerable temperatures:
This is Jo Nakashima’s Penguin, a lovely little model with a blocky, cartoony feel to it. Continue reading
This is Hoang Tien Quyet’s Shining star, a multifaceted recursive fold that is somehow appropriate for today, the anniversary of the passing of David Bowie:
2016 was a difficult year for me, and there remains 2 things that I am still struggling to come to terms with: my father’s passing at Easter and Bowie’s Passing in January.
