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brasideios · 9 months

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I’ve been thinking about how, when I was a kid in primary school, back in the late 80s and early 90s in a tiny town in rural Western Australia, we used to play a game called Country.

I have no idea where this game came from - it was just something we always knew how to play. If I had to guess, I suppose it must’ve passed down to us via someone’s older siblings. I know they don’t play it at my primary school anymore, and I would imagine that means it’s a dead local tradition.

That’s a weird thought. So. For posterity.

The game called Country

It was basically an advanced form of chasey (tag). We played it out on the school oval, which was made from compacted yellow sand - rock solid beneath a loose layer of sand on top. Treacherous for the unwary. (So many skinned knees.)

It began by drawing a large circle, using a cone scraped across the surface. I can still hear that sound *so* vividly in my mind. The circle was something like six, seven metres across. It was never precise, but as a kid, it seemed big, and it was then divided into equal segments - one for each player, usually 8 or 9 of us. That segment was your country, hence the name.

We used to name them, but I vaguely recall we might’ve just used brand names? Maybe? I don’t know. But we’d mark them with a logo that we drew with our foot.

The basic premise was that each person took a turn to stand at the centre point, while everyone else scattered; then you chased after them, trying to tag them before they could get back to the safety of their country.

This was made more difficult for the chaser because you were only allowed to tread on your own country to exit the circle. Misstep onto someone else’s land and you lost your turn.

If you succeeded at catching someone, you won the right to lay claim to as much of their land as could be traced using a method that’s difficult to describe, but I’ll try.

You put one foot on the border where you wanted to make your claim - you weren’t allowed to move this first foot from that spot - then shuffled the other foot across the ground, delineating an arc which could be as large as your abilty to extend your legs into a split allowed, basically.

You weren’t allowed to touch the ground with your hands while doing this, you had to balance, and if you did fall, you lost the right to claim the land, so you never wanted to get greedy by over-extending. Being tall was a genuine advantage, as much as being a fast runner.

The whole process of claiming land was taken as seriously as any action in an elite sport - everyone watched with hawk eyes that the rules were honoured. That first foot could not shift along the border. Your hand could not touch the ground. When you tagged someone - was their foot in the line of their country or not?

There were arguments.

You always claimed land that would help you get out of the centre faster in multiple directions, so as far from your own country as you could; and you always started with land on the outer ring of the circle, reducing the other person’s access to their own land, making them easier to catch.

Usually the game lasted over recess and lunch for a couple of days, the lines needing to be redrawn from time to time, especially if it’d been windy.

The winner was the person with the most land when everyone got bored with it, usually once it got down to just a few people who still held land.

That’s it - that’s the game.

It’s really fascinating to think how something so complete could just appear amongst us then disappear again. It makes me think about the Roman board game that we don’t know the rules for; and how many other games like this - ones that leave no material trace - must have come and gone along with it.

#behold the field in which I cultivate my vibes #it’s divided into segments and this bit’s mine #childhood games #lost traditions #living history

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salt-baby · 6 months

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yes, doctors suck, but also "the medical ethics and patient interaction training doctors receive reinforces ableism" and "the hyper competitive medical school application process roots out the poor, the disabled, and those who would diversify the field" and "anti-establishment sentiment gets applications rejected and promotions requests denied, weeding out the doctors on our side" and "the gruesome nature of the job and the complete lack of mental health support for medical practitioners breeds apathy towards patients" and "insurance companies often define treatment solely on a cost-analysis basis" and "doctors take on such overwhelming student loan debt they have no choice but to pursue high paying jobs at the expense of their morals" are all also true

none of this absolves doctors of the truly horrendous things they say and do to patients, but it's important to acknowledge that rather than every doctor being coincidentally a bad person, there is something specific about this field and career path that gives rise to such high prevalence of ableist attitudes

and I WILL elaborate happily

#theres so much that contributes to this #and its such a traditional field that any change takes ten years to take effect even when its not as controversial as disability rights #ive no lost love for doctors as a whole #but the deeper causes here need to be examined to understand how this problem manifested and what can be done to fix it #disability #chronic illness #ableism #premed #medicine #salt baby talks

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atanerrum · 1 month

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this than got 113k likes on instagram last year and i'm still in shock to this day. all i did is draw one boobie

#just one boobie and people lost it #my art #art #artists on tumblr #illustration #hades #traditional art #sketchbook #sketch #thanatos #thanatos hades #hades fanart

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professionalidiot32 · 2 months

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aw look she’s learning metronome :D

SHIT

#cogita CANNOT catch a break whenever volo is in a 10 mile radius #my togepi used special rend once and i still lost the battle #pokemon #traditional art #art #pokemon volo #pla volo #volo #pokemon legends arceus #legends arceus #cogita #togepi #i don’t care WHAT you say togepi is volos daughter and he loves her. argue with the wall #i love getting obsessed with a random little guy every month or so

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bluegiragi · 6 months

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monster!au sketchdump #2

1-2: monster swap!! purely indulgent, since if they were actually these monsters from the start, they'd all have turned out different.

3: price in his prime! he was a real tank, but he grew out of his destructive phase.

4: preening time with gaz <3

early access + nsfw on patreon

#nothing will stop soap from wearing crop tops and low waisted jeans #also i PROMISE i am planning to do a backstory comic at some point showing how price lost his wing #for now just enjoy the fact that for many years he was an absolute menace in the skies #also dragons dont preen like harpies do - they clean themselves in different ways #price learnt how to preen gaz on a mission they had together where gaz was injured and unable to do it himself comfortably #its a tradition now #monster 141 #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #cod mw2 #ghostsoap #captain john price #kyle gaz garrick #giragi art

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indrosphere · 1 year

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Akitu Feast | A Celebration of New Beginnings in Ancient Mesopotamia

The Akitu feast was one of the most important religious festivals in ancient Mesopotamia. It marked the beginning of the new year. It also reaffirmed the bond between the king, the gods, and the people, who shared a common destiny and fate.

Today I want to talk about one of the most fascinating festivals of the ancient Mesopotamians: The Akitu Feast. The Akitu feast was a spring festival and New Year’s celebration held on the first day of first month of the year that is in March/April. The new year celebration is one of the oldest and most universal festivals in human history. Different cultures and religions have marked the…