Jump to content

Menu

bookbard

Members
  • Posts

    2,453
  • Joined

Everything posted by bookbard

  1. I read Emily Wildes' Map of the Otherland, which is by Heather Fawcett and is a sequel to a book I read last year. I should've re-read the first one as I was a bit confused at first. I didn't like it as much as the first but it was ok - fantasy/romance. Skimmed through Atomic Habits by James Clear, it's basically operant conditioning and nothing new, but if you didn't know about applied behaviour analysis it might be useful.
  2. I have a lot of friends at the moment. This has been 100% environmental, in that I see a lot of people regularly, we tend to talk, and just the sheer time I have each week in talking to people has led me to be friends with a percentage of them. I have a few who I've taken on their kids overnight when there's been an emergency (sudden hospital visits). I probably don't have any that I would tell everything to - it isn't like books or movies, they're not my soulmates or anything. But I enjoy spending time with them, and I know in an emergency they would be there. I would say time to talk is the big thing. So if you're volunteering and you tend to see people every week in a situation where you talk. Or work, in a job where you're a team. Or like an exercise thing. In my situation, I have a community service job where I see people regularly. I tend to ask how people are going, what they're reading (if I can tell they're readers), stuff like that. Or talk about kids, that is a big thing. I have a really good friend, we get along well, but I haven't been able to see her for about 5 years. We just caught up, it was great! But we know we won't be able to see each other again for ages. You can't maintain a real friendship like that, where you're just basically exchanging Christmas cards. You need to be there week after week and hear about first day of school and first week of school and then what happened with that mean kid in week 2 and so on. I do put effort into catching up with one particular close friend, we try to at least walk once a week and vent at each other about kids/work etc. Another friend who lives far away, I put effort into chatting to her via social media. But I am choosy about who I will give my energy to.
  3. We just watched the latest Veritaseum episode where the guy (who is Australian-Canadian!) asked the students to rank star, planet, moon, galaxy, in order of size. These were university or college students and none of us could really believe that they thought stars were small because they look really tiny in the sky, but maybe it's true?!
  4. Nope. There are people quoted as saying that (eg a driving instructor), but the ABC admits there are no official records kept of spiders causing car accidents. I believe it's an urban myth based on this: 2nd most common cause of accidents is distracted driving, huntsmans would fit into that category, therefore . . . but of course, there are a lot of other distractions. Spiders in the car: Check this one spot before driving to prevent a crash - ABC Everyday The reality is, I've been in a car for 50 years and had a huntsman in there once. Car Accidents Survey and Statistics 2023 - Budget Direct
  5. I think it's an exaggeration to say Huntsman spiders are a leading cause of car crashes. Occasional, yes, if you google there are a few stories. But the leading cause of car crashes is speed. Other factors - drugs/alcohol/fatigue are huge too, but the number one cause is speed. I did get bitten by a spider while I was driving a car once - it was in my sock. I felt the bite and thought it was an ant. Saw the bite mark afterwards and thought, well, I'm not dead yet so it can't be serious. Really the only spider that is going to kill you is the funnel web, and you'd notice them, they're big. Even with redback spiders now, they just observe you. Actually, someone locally got bitten by a funnel web and they just observed him in the hospital and sent him home. The last person to die from a bite in Australia was in 1979.
  6. I wanted to mention that I saw a new study about sarcoiodosis yesterday. Scientists identify a new approach to treating sarcoidosis (news-medical.net)
  7. So that's why I said that there's no way my husband would've been able to buy nowadays. He had no deposit, nothing, when he got the loan to buy his parents house, and he was self-employed and not earning very much. There's literally no way that would happen now. He was very lucky they offered the place to him (very cheaply) when they divorced, and very lucky it was at a time banks were throwing loans at everyone. Of course the whole banks throwing loans at people thing has not been a good thing for everyone.
  8. It seems a bizarre thing to happen, but if she's unlikely to leave her job, I'd encourage her to embrace it in order to broaden her skills. If she's going to be teaching permanently, she's going to come across non-readers throughout her career. People have given some great suggestions above about doing 15mins of phonics per lesson and following it up with easy reading science material. I would also suggest, if she is likely to be interested, to read The Writing Revolution. I wouldn't follow it 100% but it was developed for older kids with reading and writing problems and gives some good ideas about ways to improve writing across the curriculum, including in science. NB when I had my first teaching job, I was instructed NOT to teach my students to read, even though most of them could not read. I taught these kids to read 'secretly' and these were older kids with significant intellectual disabilities (around 70 IQ). It is possible to balance out what the superiors want from you and what the kids need from you - it just takes planning and research. Easier nowadays with the internet.
  9. Never. My husband was able to buy his house off his parents when they split up when he was in his late 20s, during a time when they were handing out loans to anyone. There's no way he would've got a loan for it nowadays - he was self-employed and earning basically nothing. That small loan is now a very large loan due to interest rates, but the house is now worth a lot more. It's in his name and he pays the mortgage for it.
  10. For some reason I assumed you'd read this series! I really like Laurie R King. There's been maybe a couple of misses but most of them are great. Not just this series but the one set in San Francisco. Her book about her theology doctorate thesis is also fascinating too, and I'm not religious. I read an interesting book that I have mixed feelings about. It's by an Australian author, Anna Funder, about George Orwell's wife, Eileen - it is called Wifedom. I was lent it by a friend and sat down and read it from cover to cover in a few hours - it is very readable. Basically as usual George Orwell sucked, was awful to his wife, and she was erased from his life by his biographers. And it's kind of true . . . but. If you look at a few reviews there are evidently some big errors in the book (in that the publishers are going to reprint it with some changes). And one of the main points (that George Orwell erased his wife from his book about the Spanish Civil war, because he sucks) could be read a different way - that they were both terrified of being assassinated (which the author admits) and he deliberately downplayed her part to protect her. I was also astonished at just how many women were happy to sleep with George Orwell despite the fact that was a)married and b) pretty awful. But I guess that happens? Anyway, I do think it's true that he was awful (the infidelities aren't debated). I do think it's true that Eileen had a hard life. But whether he was uniquely awful and she had a uniquely hard life, I don't know. And in fact one of the main points of the author is that often wives do everything (esp wives of 'great men') and get no credit even nowadays. It does suck, and the mysterious thing is that George Orwell comes across as absolutely clueless and obtuse - and yet what a writer! How does that work?!
  11. Ugh, so annoyed. My sister's boyfriend refused to wear a mask on the plane - he's now given her covid which, not only has made her very sick, but she'll have to put off a very important specialist appointment. She tried to isolate, but he became extremely ill and so she had to care for him. It's just so frustrating.
  12. So I walked into the surgery, asked if I could see someone, waited 2 mins, got my blood pressure checked and some advice (I had been worried about my blood pressure - it was fine and I realised I was misinformed about what was normal). I then walked out, not having to pay anything at all. I feel like we are so lucky where we are. I know even in Australia it can be hard to get an appt for that day, let alone with no notice at all.
  13. I haven't read Demon Copperhead, but I do encourage you to read David Copperfield, it's wonderful. If you watch the Netflix movie first, that would probably help - I thought it was amazing. They definitely changed some things, but the overall arc is there and the kindness that touched me is in both books. I think it's my favourite Dickens.
  14. One of my favourite comfort reads! I really enjoy this book I ended up finishing A Thousand Ships and it got better, I enjoyed it by the end. I was worried it would be just a plain retelling of this and that but there were some obscure stories I didn't know, and there were some interesting ideas. I think this is it for my Troy retellings though, I've ended up reading a few. One I haven't mentioned is David Malouf's Ransom, which is a retelling of Priam meeting Achilles; Malouf's writing is exquisite.
  15. I, and most of the females in our family have synesthesia - mostly colour/letter version, but some other common versions too like colours for music, visualising time and so on. It is very different from actually seeing things though, and I feel like it's closer to imagination than actual senses. However, I guess a lot of people mistake imagination for divine visions, so perhaps there's a link there.
  16. That's an interesting idea! Fits in with the idea that cultural upheaval made a difference to the way we thought about consciousness, our minds and our thoughts. And I think we all know that we come up with the best ideas when we're out in nature having a walk rather than in busy built up landscapes.
  17. Sounds similar. I know there are some courses where you need say an audition or portfolio, maybe there are some you need an interview for. It is very state based in Australia, though - you only apply for universities within your state using the centralised system. You can apply outside your state but there's a different way, I don't know how it's done. And of course, there's other ways if you didn't complete your exam, or you're mature aged. But no personal statement pr essay as far as I know. A lot of homeschoolers get in by doing Open University courses first and then using those results as a way to get into mainstream university courses.
  18. So I was thinking about this story this week when I read the book "Enchantment" by Katherine May, which references an idea that in ancient time our right brain 'spoke' to our left brain in almost auditory hallucinations, so we heard it from 'the gods', rather than absorbing our inner dialogue as coming from ourselves. I wonder if this happens in a crisis more commonly than we think? Command hallucinations are common in people with schizophrenia, but perhaps they actually occur in everyone at some point?
  19. In Australia it is different - we had to pick 5 courses from any universities in a ranked list. Then once you do your end of year 12 exam, the mark for that is compared with the mark needed for each course (the mark is a percentile rank). You then get accepted to the course based on your mark, but you had about a week to change your mind if you wanted. I have no idea if it's changed much nowadays although I've heard there are some universities making offers before the exams are even held, based on what I'm not sure. I do remember putting in the end of year "yearbook' type thing that I wanted to work for World Vision, lol! Well, I didn't and I'm no longer Christian, however I did work in Aid & Development in a number of different countries so same thing I guess.
  20. I've been able to read a fair bit lately which has been nice. I read Saevus Corvus Deals with the Dead by K Parker/Tom Holt. His stuff is always a risk, but I very much enjoyed this dark fantasy, an anti-war story really. I read Rebecca Ross' sequel, Ruthless Vows, which tied everything up all right but wasn't super amazing as a stand-alone. I read 2 non-fiction by Katherine May, Enchantment and Wintering. I like nature writing so that was good, but her bits and pieces style kind of put me off a bit; it is good to have a female nature writer though. I read Starter Villain by John Scalzi which is a fast-paced clever and silly action story - I liked it. I read Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous which started off well but just rolled on sadder and more traumatic until I was desperate for the end. I've started A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes and already feel like it will be a bit of a slog. Oh well! I have a pile more to read so that's good.
  21. I posted in December I think about my friend who had Covid for the 4th time. Her whole family now has Covid for the 5th time. So many people locally have had Covid over the Christmas/NY period. They aren't really encouraging boosters for anyone under 65 any more, so very few people have had them.
  22. Actually in most states Preschool is free (in Victoria, this began in 2023; in NSW, it depends where you live). The only problem is that the hours for preschool tend to be the same as school, so it doesn't suit people who need childcare (long daycare). Daycare is subsidised but it is so complicated I have no idea how it works.
  23. The only place where dingos seem to be dangerous is on K'gari island where tourist interaction has stopped them being scared of humans. I haven't heard of any other issues (except Azaria Chamberlain of course, but that was a unique situation quite a long time ago now). There are definitely dingos where we live, but I've never heard of them attacking bushwalkers, or even approaching them.
  24. And bears. Bears are way scarier than snakes or spiders. Plus you have mountain lions. We can walk through the bush knowing there's no predator that will leap out of the bushes at you, let alone try to eat you. I think the scariest animal in Australia is the crocodile. But you can avoid them by not hanging around waterways in the northern areas of Australia. It's too hot up that way anyway lol. Stay south and you'll be right, esp in winter, because the snakes are too lethargic to bother you.
  25. My parents are in their late 70s and still work all day on the farm. They don't do all the actual activities they used to, though - they have outsourced some of the more physically taxing activities. But they are still out doing weeding, picking, spraying and sorting and packing for market. I cannot imagine that will ever stop - they'll die on the place one day or at least get so unwell that they head straight for the old people's home. The job I'm doing now I inherited from an 85 yr old, who spends her time now with various grandchildren and quilting. She's still pretty fit. I could easily stay in it till I drop, too - at least part-time.
×
×
  • Create New...