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Gratuitous beach-bunny photos…
September 2, 2012 — xanthippaYeay!
I am back from my holidays!
Recharged by being in an internet-free bubble (with a few short exceptions, on which I will elaborate son enough) for a bit – which really is the only way to force me to ‘relax’….
But, before I get back to ‘serious’ blogging (if what I do can be called that), here are some gratuitous ‘beach-bunny’ photos:
CanGames 2012
May 17, 2012 — xanthippaIf you happen to be in Canada’s capital region this coming Victoria-day weekend, and you enjoy games of strategy and wit, check out CanGames.
Friendly mahem since 1977!
Vi Hart: Origami Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem
June 26, 2011 — xanthippaA little off topic, but really, really fun!
CanGames weekend is here!!!
May 21, 2010 — xanthippaYes!
THE event of the year is upon us: CanGames 2010 is ON!
I originally came across it in a somewhat unusual way…
When we first began to look for ways to help my older son (as Aspie as the rest of us) develop the tools to integrate into the greater society, we found Warhammer – the Fantasy version.
The game itself has been described as being ‘like chess, but with 100x more complex rules and no helpful grid on the play area’. Oh – and you have to select and build/paint your own playing pieces…
We got into it as our son was interested in strategy games, and the whole building/painting of his entire ‘army’ was excellent physical therapy for his co-ordination. He did it because he wanted the result…. I helped and got hooked on the ‘making/painting’ bit. Years later, I still make a 1-3 pieces a year (by request only) for some collectors…
Building that first army was really fun: I even bought a set of (much cheaper) plastic soldiers and ‘his own paints’ for my younger son: while my older one and I worked to build his ‘army’, I would put a garbage bag over the tray of the high chair, sit my younger one in it beside me (he was the right age for it and loved his high chair), and he would ‘paint’ his very own army, too! (Yes, I still have most of it…having been cautioned by several of the people at CanGames that once he grows up, he’ll treasure ‘his first army’!)
THE single biggest Warhammer tournament in our area was (and is) at CanGames.
That is how I first learned about it – and that is why I first went there.
My son – even though a kid (so I had to be along to supervise) – entered the all-day-long Warhammer Tournament. My goal was simple: to use this game to helpmy seriously Aspie son…. to use this rules-based environment to learn social skills necessary for him to integrate into society. Like, say, not having a ‘meltdown’ if he does not win (no shame for a ‘starter’ kid to loose to ‘expert adults’ – so, knowing this ahead of time, learning that ‘loosing to the best-of-the-best’ is ‘the expectation’ and no reason for tears).
And, I must admit, the whole event outdid our expectations!
Not only did various people ‘take him under their wing’, and not only was this the main place where he learned ‘good sportsmanship’ from the example of many excellent people who were not only ‘not threatened’ by having points scored against them by a ‘kid’, but by positively delighting in his successes, congratulating him on ‘excellent moves’ as they occurred, they successfully taught him ‘sportsmanship’: how to be both ‘a good looser’ and ‘a gracious winner’!
It worked. Now, my older son is much in demand to ‘run gaming events’ – bot for kids and for adults. He is regarded as having excellent sportsmanship, he appreciates – and praises – excellent moves, no matter who makes them, even against him, he is often called upon to referee disputes (he reads the rules once and know them for ever – and applies them fairly and in an unbiased way)…. Yes, I would like to take the credit for myself, but, I know a parent can only be an example so far… It was the example of many excellent ‘expert’ gamers whom he admired at CanGames which deserves the credit!
I must admit that my son has not been entering the Warhammer Fantasy tournaments at CanGames in the last few years. Still, this is not a criticism of the tournament itself! It is most excellent!
Rather, he has succumbed to curiosity… There are SO MANY other games offered that he cannot bring himself to spend a whole day in a single tournament, when he could be learning so many new games! After all, CanGames only runs Friday night, Saturday and Sunday…
Saturday morning, CanGames has a special program for kids. Having watched his older brother eagerly await CanGames much as Sheldon Cooper awaits the annual Comic-Con, he was eager to join in the Saturday morning games (especially the Nintendo64 Mario-brothers-themed ones).
One year, one of his opponents was an Autistic girl – much more Autistic than my son was Aspie, if you get my drift. The Autie’s therapist/supervisor explained to me that playing these types of games was ‘the only effective way’ her charge would socialize: and meeting her and playing against her in the game helped my young Aspie son realize that there were others, with much more to overcome than he had… and showing that deep down, we are all a lot more similar than our ‘external-expression’ might suggest!
Now that he is older, my younger one plans to participate as fully at CanGames as his older brother does!
And, yes – I will be along!
To supervise and help, of course. But also to have fun on my own! Seeing the same people, once a year, is really neat in a weird sort-of way. You can watch young people grow and develop, see familiar faces, talk to people who can out-strategize you any time they wish… Oh, yes – and you can match your mind against some really, really awesome strategists (yeah – the political strategists ought to sit-up and take note – they could certainly use the training!)
Like I said: fun!
A few comments….
May 6, 2010 — xanthippaMonday, 3rd of May, was the 30th ‘Freedom of the Press Day:’ with the release of the 2009 ‘freedom of the press’ ratings by FreedomHouse. Reporters Without Borders has a slightly different – though no less grim – set of results. And ‘they’ ask why people are going to the blogosphere to get their news.
Still, it is, in my never-humble-opinion, difficult to measure just how ‘free’ the ‘press’ in the West really is… Some shackles are self-imposed, and cannot be reflected by a measurement on ‘external’ limitation!
The ‘xkcd blag’ has an absolutely awesome post on the colourful things Aspies do for fun!
Talking about colour: ‘Passion for Freedom’ 2010 art competition, by OneLawForAll, has opened. It will run in September 2010 and the focus is to expose the discriminatory nature of Sharia – submissions are now being accepted.
OneLawForAll also announced a rally on June 20th 2010 in Trafalgar Square (that would make it London, England – methinks). This will commemorate the brutal murder of Neda Agha-Soltan during Iran’ ‘women’s revolution’.
Sorry to post a list of interesting ‘stuff’ without that much commentary. And, I still have a lot of unfinished (though most are close) posts on the Free Dominion appeal hearing – both background and my take. It is taking me longer than I thought to understand some of the legal precedents….so, my time is spent reading.
I promise I’ll be back to ‘normal’ soon – well, whatever it is that passes for ‘normal’ with me!
TechnoViking: a study in positive alpha-male body language
March 21, 2010 — xanthippaThis classic (10-year-old) video has become a meme of its own.
For Aspies, as well as everyone else, this is an excellent study in alpha-male body language and its use to skillfully dispel a potentially violent conflict. A worthy subject of observation!
(That is an objective statement and the fact that the TechnoViking is uber-hot is most likely a simple side effect of this subject’s effective projection of super-concentrated male energy (constructively, not destructively channeled) and has not been influential in the selection of this specific video for observation and study!)
I call special attention to the classic, metllic Mjolnir-shaped amulet around the TechnoViking’s neck (which identifies him as a worshiper of Thor – NOT Odin) and the theological significance of both his socks and the colouring of his shorts: all of which have led to the subject’s identification with the Viking theological heritage.
Thor – whose hammer (and symbol) Mjolnir is – used to be considered the ‘father’ of all the Viking gods, the head of the Norse Pantheon. Mjolnir itself played an extremely important role in spring and fertility rites! (Happy spring equinox!)
It was only following the influence of the Mediterranean theologies – and the rise of an affluent upper class among the Vikings – that Odin began to rise to the prominence we are accustomed to see him in. It was Thor who had been firmly in charge during the ‘classical’ era of Norse religion!
The rise in Odin’s (and that of the ‘upper class’) influence and status only began well into the ‘common era’ and could only succeed through diminishing the image of Thor: thus, in later times, Thor is increasingly marginalized and, since he could not easily be maligned, ridiculed …. Just as the ‘upper classes’ considered themselves to be much more ‘clever’ (though not ‘wise’ – in my never-humble-opinion), Odin began to thirst for more ‘knowledge’ (not ‘wisdom’) and Thor became depicted as increasingly dull and dull-witted…
What an interesting commentary on the nature of humanity: even centuries ago, the ‘upper-middle-class progressives’ saw the unpretentious ‘conservatives’ as ‘dull and dumb’! How little some things change… But, I digress…
By the time of Christian conquest of the Norse, Odin had risen to such prominence that he had not only de-throned Thor as the head of the pantheon, Odin had been elevated to the status of Thor’s father – reversing their original roles!
In order to join Odin’s cult, a young man had to go through a ritual of mystical ‘death and re-birth’, which was – according to the descriptions from that era, very similar to the Biblical account of the mystical initiation of Jesus’s brother-in-law… and, later, Jesus himself: a ritual ‘hanging’ (either using a rope or crucificction) to almost the point of death and ritual wounding with a sharp spear in very specific spots – identical to the places Jesus was to have been wounded by Roman soldiers while crucified – followed by 3 days of seclusion and healing….and the the joyful welcoming of the ‘re-born’ person!
But – that is NOT the focus of this video!
Nor is it the reason I embedded it.
Rather, I would like to go further back in the Norse mythology, to the time when Thor – with his ‘oak-power’ – was the alpha male god. This is exactly the mythology of ‘the oak’ which, for centuries, motivated European women to wish to give birth to male children ‘beneath’ or ‘in the shadow of’ an oak tree!
It is also why there are so many ‘oak-groves’ in Europe which are considered ‘sacred’ and why two days of our week are named in honour of Thor’s ‘mainland incarnations’, Tiwan and Woodin!
With the coming of the spring equinox, it is difficult to look around to see ‘all of nature waking up’ without being reminded of all the ancient spring fertility rituals (from Luprenalia to Easter) without remembering (even in some long-hidden recesses of our sub-conscious) the significance of the birch, the oak, and – with the help of TechnoViking – Mjolnir!
So, I repeat: this video is not just ‘eye-candy’ – it is a serious study in successful projection of ‘Mjolnir/oak/Thor-channeled’ alpha male energy and body language!
Now that you have all this in your mind – go watch the video again!
Observe and enjoy learn!
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 