Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Voss, Learning Designer- Technology Enhancement, Bond University

This article is part of a series explaining how readers can learn the skills to take part in activities that academics love doing as part of their work.

Music technology has always fascinated me. My father’s reel-to-reel tape machine began a lifelong obsession that led to managing recording studios, teaching music technology and making music. It’s something I’ve never lost my passion for, as for me the studio opens up a world of creative possibilities.

The process of developing ideas, layering tracks and refining a mix delivers a certain satisfaction that only this creative process can fulfil. What’s involved in all of this, you might wonder?

Well, broadly, producing music entails writing, recording and mixing music to create a “track”. Initial musical inspiration is explored and could come in the form of a riff, a sound or a feel. Multiple layers of instrumentation are then added to develop the sound of the track, before being “mixed” or interpreted for creative effect.

Sound complicated? Well there are certainly some things you need to get your head around before delving into this world. The good news is that access to online learning has opened up the possibility of developing these skills at home. The other thing to note is that you can access the resources needed to begin for little or no cost.

Still not convinced? Well it doesn’t even really matter if you play an instrument or not. Loop-based music production has made it possible for anyone with a computer and some spare time to start producing music.

Read more:
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I grew up in an era when getting your music recorded to a release standard generally involved hiring an expert to record and mix your product. Setting up a home studio required a significant investment in music technology hardware.

Fast-forward to today, where my 16-year-old son is releasing his own albums via digital distribution services like Spotify and Soundcloud, using his computer and a bit of know-how. While I’ve shown him a few things, he has picked up a lot of his skills through learning the craft online.

So where do you begin?

There are many avenues to explore if you want to learn about producing music online and accessing the tools to make it happen.

Even if you don’t have a budget to start working on music, you could easily make a start by using one of the freely available digital audio workstations. Avid’s Pro Tools First is an introduction to the industry-standard recording software used in studios across the world.

If you have no idea where to start with Pro Tools, that’s not really an issue. Avid has produced free online tutorials to get you going.

Then there are other websites that focus on delivering information to up-skill users in the use of audio software. Pro Tools Expert offers a lot of supporting information and tutorials on a range of topics. It’s designed to support users from all backgrounds.

Pro Tools isn’t the only freely available software for producing music.

Reaper is a digital audio workstation that’s gained in popularity over recent years. It’s reasonably priced at US$60 for non-commercial users. However, you can try before you buy, with a free 60-day evaluation period on offer. The Reaper web page also includes a range of resources to help new users navigate the software.

FL Studio focuses on electronic music making with a view to freeing up creatives to produce music without the “constraints of other audio recording software”.

Many Apple users would be familiar with Garageband, a loop-based music creation studio. Working with loops involves using pre-recorded or programmed sounds to produce music. It has a surprising range of features in a simple package. It’s even available as a mobile phone application.

Read more:
Computing gives an artist new tools to be creative

Where can you find help?

Finding tutorials for platforms like Garageband is also simple. There’s a wide range of Garageband tutors to choose from online.

If you’re willing to invest a bit more in your learning there’s a plethora of music production courses available for a small fee. Udemy is a service where more experienced producers offer self-paced courses. These can be a great place to pick up skills relevant to your musical focus.

While these options focus more on using and getting the most out of your software, there are plenty more that cover recording techniques. Really, the opportunities for learning and developing your music production skills are endless.

When searching for tutorials you’ll find a number of options, but try finding an instructor who communicates effectively. The feedback within forums is also a great source of information that can guide you to the right tutor.

If you have no idea where to start with songwriting, then there are also plenty of experts available online to guide you through the process.

Work out your musical goals

What are the secrets of getting the most from all of these options? I’d start by considering what you want to achieve. Are you focused on electronic music production, or do you see yourself as a rock producer?

The answers to those sorts of questions would influence what digital audio workstation you choose to invest your time in learning.

Read more:
Music that you help make: composition for video gaming draws on tradition and tech

Pro Tools is used in most recording studios. If you want to take your work to a professional studio to polish, then working in Pro Tools would allow you to easily move between studios.

If you want to create beats, then you might want to focus on FL Studio. It has been a starting point for many contemporary electronic artists.

Ableton Live is another popular choice of electronic producers today. If you see yourself working in the electronic sphere, then you should definitely get to know Ableton’s capabilities.

The best thing about all this is most of it will cost you nothing to explore your interests. So, if you see music production as something for you, what are you waiting for?

You can read other articles in this series here.

Brett Voss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. So you want to be a music producer? You can learn the skills online to do it at home – https://theconversation.com/so-you-want-to-be-a-music-producer-you-can-learn-the-skills-online-to-do-it-at-home-171220

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society and NATSEM, University of Canberra

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was the greatest economist of the twentieth century. Less well known is that he had a parallel career as a successful investor: fairly successful early in his career, and spectacularly successful later on when he changed his strategy.

After the first world war, his income depended more on his investments than his academic work.

In addition to his personal investments, he managed the investments of King’s College, Cambridge, of which he was a member.

Under his stewardship the value of the King’s College fund increased twelve-fold over a period in which broader markets failed to even double.

It was said Keynes achieved these high returns while only devoting half an hour every morning to the task, before he got out of bed.

Keynes quoted approvingly to his friends a line from Volpone, a classic poem:

I glory more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession

He most certainly did seem to more highly value the cleverness with which he made money than the money itself. He saw strategy as an alternative to art for someone without the requisite talent.

The younger Keynes

Keynes as a young man was very confident about his own abilities, and less so about those of the general investing public.

In his early investments he tried to benefit from market timing, staying just ahead of the crowd.

Compared to the crowd at this time, the young Keynes invested more in equities (shares) than in bonds (debt).

He also speculated on exchange rates and commodities. And he was far more willing than the crowd at the time to invest outside his country, being fond of Australian government bonds.

Read more:
What is Bitcoin’s fundamental value? That’s a good question

Among his portfolio were modern artworks. Some were by his friends but – judging by the records he kept of their prices – some also served as investments.

He spent ₤13,000 amassing art that was valued at ₤76 million in 2019.

Keynes’s artistic judgements produced an annual real rate of return of 6%, which is similar to what he might have earned from shares. But it provided him with what shares could not – what the artistic and literary Bloomsbury Group, of which he was a part, called “the enjoyment of beautiful objects”.

This younger Keynes might certainly have thought about Bitcoin, believing he could buy into something before it got big, and then sell out in time.

But the formula didn’t always work, even for him.

The older, wiser Keynes

The older Keynes switched to value investing, carefully selecting and holding stocks offering prospects of good long-term returns. This proved more successful.

He now regarded trying to get the timing of cyclical investments right as “impracticable”, saying most who attempt it “sell too late and buy too late”.

He wrote that most who try it concentrate too much on capital appreciation and too little either on “immediate yield or on future prospects and intrinsic worth”.

Read more:
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One of today’s most successful investors, Warren Buffett, has written of his admiration for Keynes’ brilliance and emulated his style.

Shortly before his death, Keynes warned of the dangers for investors of joining bandwagons. As he put it

if everyone is agreed about its merits, the investment is inevitably too dear and therefore unattractive

During this most successful period Keynes avoided bets on products with no fundamental value.

And he was worried about them for broader reasons. As he put it in his 1936 General Theory

when the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done

The latter-day Keynes would not have bought Bitcoin and might have even preached against it.

This was the Keynes whose investments were the most successful.

John Hawkins is a former central banker and Bloomsbury resident.

This story is part of a Conversation series on financial and economic literacy funded by Ecstra Foundation.

– ref. Would Keynes have bought Bitcoin? – https://theconversation.com/would-keynes-have-bought-bitcoin-172065

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney

With summer holidays underway, it’s time to think about the sun and your skin. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, so we need to be doing more to protect ourselves from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation.

Unfortunately, some medicines can increase your risk of sunburn, because they either enhance UV absorption in your skin or cause you to have a light-activated reaction.

It’s important not to skim over the information provided with your medication, to speak to your pharmacist for on-the-spot advice and to take extra precautions if required.

Read more:
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What happens to your skin

There are two main ways that medications can increase your risk of sunburn; a phototoxic reaction and a photoallergic reaction.

A phototoxic reaction is the most common way for a medication to cause an increase in sun sensitivity. This is where the drug molecule is able to absorb UV light, and then releases it back into the skin. Once the oral medication has been absorbed into the blood stream, or after the topical medication is applied to the skin, a phototoxic reaction can occur anytime within minutes or hours of sun exposure. Typically, only the skin that is exposed to the sun will react.

The second, less common mechanism, is via a photoallergic reaction. This can occur with certain medications that are applied directly to the skin, or that are taken by mouth and then circulated to the skin.

After exposure to the sun, a drug can undergo structural changes. Once these structural changes happen, small proteins in our body can bind to the drug, resulting in our immune system recognising it as a foreign substance. Then antibodies are produced to fight it.

The resulting reaction in many cases resembles eczema or a red rash. This type of reaction can take anywhere between one to three days to occur, and will only occur on the parts of the body that are exposed to the sun.

Importantly, both phototoxic and photoallergic reactions are damage to the skin from UV exposure that can increase the risk of later developing skin cancer.

There are also some types of medicines that can cause heat sensitivity and increase your risk of dehydration. This can occur if a medicine has effects that increase urination, prevent sweating, or reduce blood flow to the skin. Examples of these medications include diuretics, some types of antihistamines and stimulant medications for ADHD.

Read more:
Common skin rashes and what to do about them

Which medicines can affect your skin?

There are many medicines that can affect your skin and make you more sensitive to the sun, so it’s important to know which ones to look out for.

The first are the antibiotics. Tetracycline-based drugs are particularly known to cause sensitivity. An example is the drug doxycycline which is used to treat infections, acne, and as a malaria prophylactic (or prevention) for those who are going to a tropical location (lots of sun).

Other antibiotics known to cause sun sensitivity are fluoroquinolones, like ciprofloxacin, and sulfamethoxazole, which treat a broad range of illnesses such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia or gastroenteritis.

The antifungals griseofulvin and voriconazole are known to cause sun sensitivity. You may be taking these medicines for skin or nail fungal infections.

For people who suffer from skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, or eczema, the oral retinoid medications including acitretin and isotretinoin and the topical cream pimecrolimus will leave you sensitive to the sun.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, like diclofenac, can leave you sun sensitive, especially if applied on the skin, so you need to be sure you adequately protect those areas. The same applies for some opioid-based pain patches, like fentanyl. When you remove the patch, the skin underneath will be sensitive to the sun.

Amiodarone is a drug used to treat irregular heart beats and azathioprine is an immuno suppressing drug used for people who have inflammatory immune conditions or organ transplants. Both are known to cause sun sensitivity.

Finally, a large number of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy will sensitise your skin. These include: 5-fluorouracil, 5-aminolevulinic acid, vemurafenib, imatinib, mercaptopurine, and methotrexate.

It is important to note that not all people who use one of these medicines will have a sun sensitivity reaction – but extra precautions should be taken.

Read more:
Why does Australia have so much skin cancer? (Hint: it’s not because of an ozone hole)

Protect your skin

If you are taking a medicine that can make you more sensitive to the sun then always ensure you are sunsmart.

Remember the five S advice from the Cancer Council:

• slip on suitable clothing
• slop on sunscreen that is rated SPF30 or higher to exposed skin, especially on your face and arms
• slap on a hat
• seek shade when you can
• slide on sunglasses.

And if you are concerned a medicine you are taking may be putting you at more risk of sunburn, speak to your pharmacist. They can confirm if your medicine does increase your risk of sunburn and discuss options. This could include having your doctor issue a prescription for a different drug.

Never just stop taking a medicine because you are concerned about the risk of sun damage or any other side effects; always discuss it first with your health care provider.

Read more:
Burnt is out, ‘skinscreen’ is in. How sunscreen got a beauty makeover

Associate Professor Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and a member of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association. Nial is science director of the medicinal cannabis company Canngea Pty Ltd, a board member of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association, and a Standards Australia committee member for sunscreen agents.

Elise Schubert is a registered pharmacist at Royal North Shore Hospital, and a PhD Candidate receiving scholarship from the University of Sydney and Canngea Pty Ltd.

Lisa Kouladjian O’Donnell is a registered consultant pharmacist (independent) and a research fellow in geriatric pharmacotherapy from The University of Sydney.

– ref. Drugs and the sun – your daily medications could put you at greater risk of sunburn – https://theconversation.com/drugs-and-the-sun-your-daily-medications-could-put-you-at-greater-risk-of-sunburn-170559

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Power, Associate Professor in Coastal and Marine Science, University of Newcastle

As lockdowns ease and we head into summer, many Australians have started thinking about their beach holiday. For most people, a beach involves sun, sand, salt, and waves. A beach is a beach – right?

For coastal scientists and engineers, it’s a little different. We wonder how these beaches are made and why they are so different.

Australia has over 35,000 kilometres of coastline to explore, and our beaches can differ radically. In Australia’s south, where tides are smaller and waves bigger, we get high energy beaches with lots of surf and sand. The north’s larger tides and smaller waves mean the beaches look quite different – they’re flatter, with big intertidal zones. Some even have mud instead of sand.

To pique your interest, here are six beaches from around the country with special characteristics, all well worth exploring on your summer road trip or beach holiday.

1. Sandy Cape – end of the line for the sand islands

K’gari (Fraser Island), Queensland.

Waves and storms along the east coast, from the New South Wales/Victoria border to K’Gari in Queensland, usually come from the south and southeast. This drives longshore sediment transport, a process where sand is moved up the coast by waves and wave-driven currents.

As the sand moves along the NSW coast and into Queensland, it beach-hops its way north, encountering natural barriers like headlands as well as human barriers such as breakwaters. Sand will often skirt these barriers in pulses, as tends to happen at Byron Bay.

As the coast turns to the west in southeast Queensland, the sand keeps getting pushed north. That’s how Australia got the largest sand islands in the world: Minjerribah (South and North Stradbroke), Mulgumpin (Moreton), Yarun (Bribie), and finally K’gari.

The northernmost point of K’gari, Sandy Point, marks where the sand heads underwater, moving along the continental shelf before dropping off the edge and sliding down the slope into the deep abyssal plains.

If you make it to this beach, you can see sand being swirled away into deeper water – the very end of the above-water part of the cycle.

2. The Funnel – the biggest tides in Australia

Collier Bay, Western Australia

The Kimberley region of Australia is home to the biggest tides in the country. Unfortunately, there aren’t many tide gauges in this area, with over 1,000km between instruments in places. So, to find the beach with the biggest tides, we either have to collect more data or use a computer model.

When we model the tides for every Australian beach, The Funnel in Collier Bay comes out as the beach with the biggest tides. Its range is a whopping 13.5 metres!

Getting to this beach might be tricky as you’ll need to arrive by boat. But it would be worth the trip, as the beach at high tide is composed of cobbles and likely sand and mud at low tide. Watching the tide roar in would be something to see – just watch out for crocs!

3. Goolwa Beach – the high energy beach

South Australia

When rivers as big as the Murray – whose basin covers one-seventh of mainland Australia – meet the ocean, they normally form huge deltas like the Mississippi or the Nile.

But because of Australia’s age, low rainfall and water extraction for agriculture, the Murray-Darling Basin only delivers a relatively small amount of water and sediment to the coast. So instead of a classic river delta at the end of the Murray, unusually, we have a beach system.

Goolwa Beach is part of this system, its fine sands representing the last barrier to the mighty Murray River on its journey to the ocean. The beach is also exposed to the huge waves rolling in from the Southern Ocean. That makes it one of our highest energy beaches – so much so it’s the archetype of the high energy beach type called “dissipative” in our Australian beach classification system.

4. Amity Beach – the beach with sinkholes

Minjerribah, Queensland

The islands of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke) and Mulgumpin (Moreton) form the barrier separating Moreton Bay near Brisbane from the Coral Sea. Between them lies Rainbow Channel through which the tide flows in and out of Moreton Bay.

These fast tidal currents cause large amounts of sand to form shifting sand shoals on both the ocean and bay sides of the channel.

Amity Beach sits on the edge of this channel and the constantly changing dynamics of this system cause “sinkholes” to occur regularly on this beach. Rainbow Beach near K’Gari is better known due to its habit of swallowing cars, but Amity Beach is unique. Why? Because the sinkholes always occur in the same place.

That makes it the only place in the world where scientists and engineers can reliably observe this amazing phenomenon to work out why sinkholes occur and how they work.

5. Shell Beach – walk on millions of shells

Shark Bay, Western Australia

Most of us tend to think of beaches as being made up by sand, but they don’t have to be. Beaches can be made of mud or cobbles or even just shells.

Shell Beach in Shark Bay is a rarity as it’s almost entirely made up of trillions of shells, with the piles up to 10m deep.

These shells all come from one mollusc, the Fragum cockle. The reason there are so many of these shells is because the waters of Shark Bay are saltier than the ocean.

This hypersaline environment makes it hard for most species to survive. That means the Fragum cockle has very few competitors or predators and can proliferate. Just remember to bring some footwear!

6. Bengello Beach – a time capsule made of sand

New South Wales

Coastal scientists and engineers love data about beaches, and especially long-term records of how much sand is on a beach.

Bengello Beach in southern NSW represents the longest record of beach surveys in Australia with measurements every 2-6 weeks since January 1972.

These measurements have captured beach erosion during storms and its subsequent recovery. Data like this underpins models forecasting how our beaches will respond to climate change.

Bengello is also a living snapshot of beach evolution, capturing the way many of Australia’s beaches have changed since sea level stabilised at about today’s level after the last ice age.

If you walk from the road to the beach, you pass over ridges of ancient sand dunes. These formed as the beach slowly built out towards the sea over the last 6,000 years, as waves and currents piled up more and more sand on the beach.

When road-tripping to Australia’s beaches, remember to check local weather and marine forecasts to make sure it’s safe to swim and leave only your footprints behind. And if you make it to any of these beaches, why not share your knowledge about their significance with your travel buddies?

Hannah Power receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the NSW State Government State Emergency Management Program, the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund, the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Fund, and ship time from Australia’s Marine National Facility. She is a member of the NSW Coastal Council.

– ref. From enormous tides to millions of shells, here are 6 unique beaches for your summer road trip – https://theconversation.com/from-enormous-tides-to-millions-of-shells-here-are-6-unique-beaches-for-your-summer-road-trip-169164

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peta Stapleton, Associate Professor in Psychology, Bond University

This article is part of a series explaining how readers can learn the skills to take part in activities that academics love doing as part of their work.

Almost two decades ago a colleague in the counselling field spoke of a technique that he said would help reduce stress. As a young academic and only a few years into my clinical career as a psychologist, I was keen to learn approaches that would help relieve stress. However, he added these words: “But it’s a bit weird.”

Those words did prevent me from exploring further for another year and I still did not know what this stress-relief technique was! Fast forward and the same colleague was helping me at a community support group for women with eating issues. During the session a young lady had a panic attack. My colleague took her outside to calm.

They returned within a few minutes and the young woman was indeed calm and composed! I was very surprised. After the session my colleague said: “I showed her the stress-relief technique I have been talking about.”

I proceeded to learn all about the approach known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and have researched its use in clinical trials for many years now. It’s commonly called “tapping” because the technique stimulates acupressure points on the face and body with a gentle two-finger tapping process. I have now used tapping myself for more than 15 years.

What is the evidence for tapping?

The evidence for this simple approach to stress reduction has been growing exponentially. Research now shows tapping is beneficial for food cravings, depression, anxiety, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

What is even more interesting is that tapping affects the body’s biochemistry such as immunity and blood pressure. Just one hour of tapping decreases the stress hormone cortisol by 43%.

Better still, follow-up studies show the benefits of tapping last over time, even up to two years later.

It’s suggested tapping affects the stress centre in the brain (the amygdala) and the memory centre (the hippocampus). Both play a role in the decision-making process when someone decides if something is a threat.

Research has now examined primary school children who have used tapping in schools and found it helps with their focus and concentration. I was very interested in anything that would help my children at school and taught them tapping too.

So how can you get started?

Usually tapping is done when you have a feeling you would like to reduce. If you feel stressed, this would be a perfect time to start tapping. There are five steps:

Step 1. Rate your level of stress out of ten, where ten is the highest level and zero would represent complete calm. You can guess this number as it is just a way of you rating your feeling.

Step 2. We encourage people to state their feeling out loud in order to engage with it and pay attention to how you feel. Typically, you would say: “Even though I feel really stressed at the moment because of ______, I accept this is how I feel.”

It is important to be specific about why you feel stressed and think about that as you do the tapping process. As you say this statement out loud, tap on the point at the side of the hand, as shown below. Saying your problem out loud will not reinforce it; you are actually being honest with yourself in this moment and acknowledging how you feel.

Step 3. Tap with two fingers through the eight acupoints shown below and just say the feeling (not the whole sentence). For example, you may say “feel stressed” while you think about what is making you feel stressed in that moment.

Step 4. When you finish tapping on the last acupoint (top of the head), pause and take a breath. Re-rate your level of stress after that single round.

Step 5. If your rating out of ten is still high, continue tapping as many rounds as you want until it feels lower in number, or you notice a shift. If you were to think of other feelings as you are tapping, you can change the words. For example, you might start tapping on feeling stressed about a work task, but after a few rounds you notice you really feel overwhelmed and wishing you had support. You can change the words to reflect this and say “I feel overwhelmed” instead.

The underlying mechanism is that the tapping at these acupoints sends activating or deactivating signals to brain areas that have been aroused by the phrases. Tapping generates these electrical signals via the principle of “mechanosensory transduction”.

As a brief intervention that can be self-applied, tapping is now backed by more than 100 randomised clinical trials (the most accepted form of research). It appears highly effective and rapid compared to conventional treatments.

So, while it may look a little strange, tapping is equivalent or comparable to gold-standard approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It’s worth trying next time you feel stressed!

You can read other articles in this series here.

Peta Stapleton has received funding from The Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology to investigate the topic in this article in research trials. She may be remunerated for keynote speeches due to expertise in the topic area.

– ref. Feeling stressed? It’s ‘a bit weird’, but tapping helps – and it’s easy to learn – https://theconversation.com/feeling-stressed-its-a-bit-weird-but-tapping-helps-and-its-easy-to-learn-171219

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jordi Vidal-Robert, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney

From Imperial Rome to the Crusades, to modern North Korea or the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar, religious persecution has been a tool of state control for millennia.

While its immediate violence and human consequences are obvious, less obvious is whether it leaves scars centuries after it ends.

In a new study we have attempted to examine the present day consequences of one of the longest-running and most meticulously documented persecutions of them all – the trials of the Spanish Inquisition between 1478 to 1834.

The records of 67,521 trials still exist, along with indicators of their locations and places of birth and residence of the people they tried.

We find that today – two hundred years after its abolition – the locations in which the inquisition was strong have markedly lower levels of economic activity, trust and educational attainment than those in which it was weak.

Secret denunciations

Charged with combating heresy, defined as deviation from Catholic doctrine, the Inquisition extended into every strata of Spain’s society and almost every corner of its global empire.

Trials originated with secret denunciations and lasted years. Penalties ranged from mild admonishments to burning at the stake. Sentences were usually handed down in large public ceremonies – ensuring widespread publicity.

The geographical distribution of inquisitorial intensity shows widespread variation over relatively small areas, but no broad geographical patterns.

We set the geographical distribution of inquisitorial intensity against a modern-day measure of gross domestic product per capita constructed using nighttime luminosity captured by satellite photography.

In Spain, estimating GDP at the municipal level from administrative data is fraught with data availability and compliance problems.

Night light is highly correlated with per capita income and widely used as a proxy for economic performance in the development literature.

We find municipalities with no recorded inquisitorial activity as well those with inquisitorial activity in the lowest third have the highest GDP per capita today.

Those with persecution in the middle third have markedly lower incomes.

In those where the inquisition struck with highest intensity (in the top third) the level of economic activity is sharply lower.

The magnitudes are large. In places with no persecution, median GDP per
capita was €19,450 (A$30,100). In places where the inquisition was most active, it is below €18,000 (A$28,670).

Our estimates imply that had Spain not suffered from the inquisition, its annual production today would be 4.1% higher – €811 (A$1,290) for each man, woman and child.

More persecution, less education

To get an idea of why the inquisition continues to cast such a dark economic shadow centuries after it ended, we used data from the barometer surveys conducted by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research.

Since the inquisition was particularly suspicious of the educated, literate middle class, its impact on Spain’s cultural, scientific, and intellectual climate was severe. (As was the impact of the Stasi, or secret police, in East Germany.)

Read more:
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Once we control for other variables, we find that going from a region which had no exposure to the inquisition to one which had mid-range exposure cuts the share of the population receiving higher education today by 5.6%.

More persecution, less trust

The inquisition also changed the way civil society functioned. The prospect of secret denunciations by acquaintances made it harder for residents to cooperate. It diminished trust.

A standard trust question asked in the Spanish surveys is

In general, would you say people on average can be trusted, or would you say that one can never be too careful?

We analysed responses from more than 26,000 Spaniards interviewed between 2006 and 2015 and (after adjusting for time-specific effects) found that greater inquisitorial activity is still associated with somewhat less trust today. Although small, the effect is robust to different methods of calculation.

We also measured the frequency of church attendance, and found a related effect on religiosity. The greater the persecution in a location, the greater the level of church attendance today.

More persecution, less income

An objection that could be raised to our findings is that the inquisition might have been more active in poorer areas.

Standard histories suggest this is unlikely. The inquisition was self-financing. It had to confiscate property and impose fines to pay for its expenses.

Its mission was to persecute heresy, but it had strong incentives to look for it in richer places. Its early focus on persecuting Jews and later Protestants led it to target populations with higher levels of education.

Read more:
History repeating: toxic masculinity and Australia’s convict past

The inquisition’s persecution of perceived heretics is only one example of authoritarian intervention in people’s private lives. Other institutions, such as Stalin’s People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs and Hitler’s Gestapo, instituted similarly intrusive regimes of thought-control.

While the suffering of the accused and convicted was the single most important result of persecution, our findings suggest its effects live on.

Even now, 200 years on from the Spanish Inquisition, the locations affected appear to be poorer, more religious, less educated, and less trusting.

Jordi Vidal-Robert acknowledges support from Humanities and Social Sciences Research
Council of Canada Grant 435-2015-0285. He is affiliated with the School of Economics at The University of Sydney and CAGE, University of Warwick.

Mauricio Drelichman acknowledges support from the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Council of Canada Grant 435-2015-0285.

Hans-Joachim Voth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Extraordinarily, the effects of the Spanish Inquisition linger to this day – https://theconversation.com/extraordinarily-the-effects-of-the-spanish-inquisition-linger-to-this-day-166170

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is unquestionably the senior saint within the Christian tradition. Yet we know remarkably little about her. In the New Testament, there is nothing about her birth, death, appearance or age.

Outside of the accounts of the birth of Jesus that only occur in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, she is specifically mentioned at only three other events in the life of her son.

She is present at a wedding where Jesus turns water into wine; she makes an attempt to see her son while he is teaching; and she is there at his crucifixion. Indeed, Mary is mentioned more often in the Qur’an than in the New Testament.

Here, then, are five things we do know about her.

Read more:
In spite of their differences, Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God

1. She was an accidental virgin

The gospel of Matthew is the only one to tell us Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph had sex. She was said to be “with child from the Holy Spirit”. In proof of this, Matthew quoted a prophecy from the Old Testament that a “virgin will conceive and bear a son and he will be called Emmanuel”.

Matthew was using the Greek version of the Old Testament. In the Greek Old Testament, the original Hebrew word “almah” had been translated as “parthenos”, thence into the Latin Bible as “virgo” and into English as “virgin”.

Whereas “almah” means only “young woman”, the Greek word “parthenos” means physically “a virgin intacta”. In short, Mary was said to be a virgin because of an accident of translation when “young woman” became “virgin”.

2. She was a perpetual virgin

Within early Christian doctrine, Mary remained a virgin during and after the birth of Jesus. This was perhaps only fitting for someone deemed “the mother of God” or “God-bearer”.

Saint Ambrose of Milan (c.339-97 CE) enthusiastically defended the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary:

Blessed Mary is the gate, whereof it is written that the Lord hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut after birth; for as a virgin she both conceived and brought forth.

The Lateran Council of 649 CE, a council held in Rome by the Western Church, later declared it an article of faith that Jesus was conceived “without seed” and that Mary “incorruptibly bore [him], her virginity remaining indestructible even after his birth” . All this in spite of the Gospels’ declaration that Jesus had brothers and sisters (Mark 3.32, Matthew 12.46, Luke 8.19).

3. She was immaculately conceived

Within Western theology, it was generally recognised from the time of Saint Ambrose that Mary never committed a sin. But was her sinlessness in this life because she was born without “original sin”? After all, according to Western theology, every human being was born with original sin, the “genetic” consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The growing cult of devotion to the Virgin Mary in the medieval period led to fine-grained theological divisions on the issue. On the one hand, devotion to Mary led to the argument that God had ensured Mary did not have “original sin”.

But then, if Mary had been conceived without sin, she had already been redeemed before the redemption brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus her son.

The Catholic Church only resolved the issue in 1854. Pope Pius IX declared

that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception… was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.

4. She ascended into heaven

The early centuries of the Christian tradition were silent on the death of Mary. But by the seventh and eighth centuries, the belief in the bodily ascension of Mary into heaven, had taken a firm hold in both the Western and Eastern Churches.

Read more:
Friday essay: what might heaven be like?

The Eastern Orthodox Greek Church held to the dormition of Mary. According to this, Mary had a natural death, and her soul was then received by Christ. Her body arose on the third day after her death. She was then taken up bodily into heaven.

For a long time, the Catholic Church was ambiguous on whether Mary rose from the dead after a brief period of repose in death and then ascended into heaven or was “assumed” bodily into heaven before she died.

Belief in the ascension of Mary into heaven became Catholic doctrine in 1950. Pope Pius XII then declared that Mary

was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.

5. She is a sky goddess

The consequence of the bodily ascension of Mary was the absence of any bodily relics. Although there was breast milk, tears, hair and nail clippings, her relics were mostly “second order” – garments, rings, veils and shoes.

In the absence of her skeletal remains, her devotees made do with visions – at Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima, Medjugorje, and so on. Like the other saints, her pilgrimage sites were places where she could be invoked to ask God to grant the prayers of her devotees.

But she was more than just a saint. In popular devotion she was a sky goddess always dressed in blue. She was the goddess of the moon and the star of the sea (stella maris).

She was related to the star sign Virgo (not surprisingly) – the Queen of Heaven and Queen of the angels.

Philip C. Almond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. 5 things to know about Mary, the mother of Jesus – https://theconversation.com/5-things-to-know-about-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-172483

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Yelland, Professor of Early Childhood Studies, The University of Melbourne

It’s that time of the year again, and besides the new COVID-era concerns about retail supply chains comes the age-old question: what’s the best educational toy to buy for the child (or grandchild) in your life?

There’s a vast range of toys that claim to stimulate learning, or foster creativity, or boost kids’ STEM skills. The US$94.7 billion global toy market offers a bewildering amount of choice, while parenting blogs warn against “one and done” toys, Instagram influencers make us feel like we don’t measure up, and kids, being kids, pester us for whatever their friends have, or they’ve just seen on YouTube.

But here’s a simple truth: you know your child (and your budget) better than anyone. And here’s some reassuring advice: it doesn’t matter whether you choose a prescriptive toy such as a chemistry set or science kit, or an “open-ended” toy such as building blocks or plastic bricks. Any toy can be educational when you play with your children and talk to them about what they are doing and learning.

All you need to consider is what toys your child already has, what age they are, and what you think they would most enjoy playing with next.

Read more:
From robots to board games, it’s easy to do science this Christmas

Favourite toys

Each year, the Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, inducts toys into its hall of fame. This year, sand was recognised, following in the illustrious footsteps of the stick, which was inducted in 2006.

The full list includes Cabbage Patch dolls, Battleship, Risk, The Settlers of Catan, Mahjong and billiards, as well as the piñata, American Girl Dolls, Masters of the Universe and the Fisher-Price Corn Popper. One of my personal favourites, Uno, made it in 2018, and of course Lego is there, having been added in 2015.

Lego is in fact a good place to start! The blocks are good for a wide age range, and you can either buy highly prescriptive kits that involve closely following a plan, or general sets containing random blocks for building something totally new and improvised. Or, if you prefer, you can buy various other types of blocks on the market, such as wooden or magnetic ones.

Regardless of the specific type, playing with blocks encourages children to plan, construct and experiment with their engineering creations. And, crucially, they can learn even more if you help them along the way.

Parent power

While the children are playing with their blocks, parents or carers can play with them and engage them in conversation about the form and structure they are creating. Try using positional and relational language to extend their vocabulary by posing questions such as:

• do you think we can build this tower so it’s as high as the table?

• how many blocks are around the base of this building?

• what shape of blocks do we need to build a fence around this house? Or could we use other materials?

• what are you going to put at the top of the structure?

Talking with your child while they are playing helps them articulate their ideas and build their vocabulary. It introduces them to mathematical concepts such as numbers, space and measurement, and scientific processes such as observing, estimating, planning and problem-solving. It’s a wonderful chance to share ideas and talk with one another.

In a similar way, I am an advocate for games such as Uno and board games that involve meeting a goal, whether it be getting rid of all your cards, or racing around a board. This lets children experience winning and losing, and gives them a chance both to plan and strategise, and contend with chance elements such as the roll of a dice. Snakes and Ladders and Ludo both involve counting and numbers, and the element of chance. They can often inspire children to make up their own games as well.

Then, of course, there are toys and materials designed specifically to foster learning about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). But these aren’t the only ways to boost these skills.

Read more:
Five things parents can do every day to help develop STEM skills from a young age

Being an effective STEM learner is important and relevant to the modern world. STEM learning gives young children a chance to indulge their natural curiosity about the world around them, investigate concepts, use critical and creative thinking in systematic ways, and acquire skills and confidence.

This brings us back to the sticks and sand, and of course the box the toys arrived in, not to mention the packaging of any new appliances you might have bought yourself as a Christmas present!

The fact that kids so often end up playing with cardboard boxes – turning them into a cubby house, racing car or fortress – is testament to the fact anything can be a good toy with the right mindset. What really counts is the opportunity to play and talk with your child. This will equip them with knowledge, skills and confidence that will stand them in good stead at any age.

Nicola Yelland receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Minderoo Foundation.

– ref. Don’t fret about buying the ‘right’ toy – any toy is educational if you support kids in their play – https://theconversation.com/dont-fret-about-buying-the-right-toy-any-toy-is-educational-if-you-support-kids-in-their-play-173174

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blair Williams, Research Fellow, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL), Australian National University

It has been a momentous year in Australia as the #MeToo movement made its way across the globe and into Australian federal politics.

After years of silence and rumours, federal parliament was forced to grapple with its “man problem”.

It feels like we have seen history being made, but will 2021 result in permanent change?

2021: a momentous year

Grace Tame, a survivor of child sexual assault, set the tone for 2021 when she was named Australian of the Year in January for her role in raising public awareness about the impacts of sexual violence. A few weeks later, inspired by Tame, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins said she was raped by a colleague in a ministerial office in March 2019 (the man accused denies any sexual activity took place).

Higgins’ bravery was followed by other accusations. Within the the space of a month, former Attorney-General Christian Porter was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988 (a claim he strenuously denies) and Liberal MP Andrew Laming of harassing women (a claim he also denies). Video also surfaced of staffers masturbating on the desks of women MPs.

The government’s initial response was not encouraging. In fact, Higgins said she was distressed by Morrison’s “continued victim-blaming rhetoric”.

On March 15, more than 100,000 Australians participated in the March4Justice rallies to protest sexual assault and harassment in politics, while calling for an end to gendered violence. As an organiser of the Canberra contingent, I witnessed palpable anger but saw hope in the overwhelming desire for change.

But the public anger and ensuring debate had its faults. As Indigenous Studies Professor Bronwyn Carlson has rightly observed, “there is a noticeable silence in Australia when victims of violence are Indigenous”.

Not just parliament

Elite private schools also came under fire for what is known as the “misogyny pipeline” – whereby privileged boys follow a trajectory from expensive single-sex private schools to elite universities and then powerful professions, where they circulate with each other and reinforce their values.

Read more:
Could the Morrison government’s response to sexual assault claims cost it the next election?

In February, former private school student Chanel Contos spearheaded a petition demanding sexual consent education in Australian schools, inspiring over 5,000 victim-survivors to anonymously share stories of teenage sexual assault.

A common thread in these events is the abuse of power and entitlement in the hands of elite white men.

A fundamental shift?

Given all these shocking revelations and sustained public attention and debate, has there been a fundamental shift in the way we talk about gender, inequality, and sexual violence?

Parliament – especially under the Coalition – has certainly faced a reckoning this year, but it is very hard to argue there has been concrete change as a result (yet).

Prime Minister Scott Morrison claims to take these issues seriously, yet he has made some serious blunders, from begrudgingly empathising with Higgins only after his wife convinced him to “think about [it] as a father first”, to responding to the March4Justice protests by stating protesters should be grateful they weren’t “met with bullets”.

Even during his address at the Women’s Safety Summit, he came under fire for retelling survivors’ private disclosures of sexual assault. This was criticised as looking like an attempt to seem genuine, by using other people’s trauma.

Parliament’s big opportunity

Morrison has created new ministerial positions, such as Women’s Safety Minister and Women’s Economic Security Minister. He has also launched multiple inquiries into parliamentary work culture, including the recently released review by Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins.

The Set the Standard report was handed down at the end of November. It revealed that one in two of those currently working in parliament have experienced bullying, sexual harassment, or sexual assault.

The report contains 28 independent, expert recommendations to improve the culture at parliament and make it safe and healthy for those who work there. This includes targets to increase gender balance among parliamentarians, a new office of parliament staffing and culture and a code of conduct for parliamentarians and their staff.

Read more:
The Jenkins review has 28 recommendations to fix parliament’s toxic culture – will our leaders listen?

But it remains to be seen if they will be implemented. Jenkins’ previous report on sexual harassment, Respect@Work, was ignored for more than a year after its release, before the Morrison government announced it would only agree to half the recommendations.

What’s in store for 2022?

The fundamental shift has occurred outside parliament. People in power are not controlling the agenda or the public attitude when it comes to gender equality and violence against women. Higgins and Tame, along with many women journalists, activists, and advocates, are now shaping public conversation and have inspired people across Australia to push for change.

As in our efforts to combat climate change, we are moving on, whether the government is with us or not.

So, what’s in store for 2022? The organisers of the March4Justice protests have announced first anniversary marches on February 27 to put further pressure on this government in the lead-up to the federal election. If the government fails to implement recommendations from Set the Standard, expect this to be an election flashpoint.

However, identifying and acknowledging the problem is just the first step, and one that is still currently very much in progress as more allegations come to light.

The next stage is to create a more inclusive, diverse, and respectful workplace for everyone at parliament house – this will flow on to the laws that are made and the policy responses provided.

Making this happen is not easy, but it’s not a mystery either. Implementing every single recommendation from the Set the Standards report is the obvious place to start.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.

Blair Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. In 2021 #MeToo finally made it to #Auspol – what happens next? – https://theconversation.com/in-2021-metoo-finally-made-it-to-auspol-what-happens-next-173153

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Kyne, Senior Research Fellow in conservation biology, Charles Darwin University

If you’re heading to the beach this summer, the thought of sharks might cross your mind. I don’t mean wondering whether a shark will take you for dinner (that’s very, very unlikely) but rather, how these remarkable creatures are faring in the marine ecosystem.

I recently led the first complete assessment of all species of sharks, rays and ghost sharks in Australian waters. My team and I found while most species are secure, about 12%, or 39 species, are threatened with extinction.

No country has a higher diversity of sharks than Australia. That means we have a special responsibility to protect them from threats such as fishing and damage to their marine habitat.

To prevent shark extinctions on our watch, Australia must invest far more heavily to close vast knowledge gaps and ensure threatened species are protected and recovered.

Ancient ocean dwellers

Sharks are an ancient lineage of fishes that have roamed the oceans for around 450 million years. They occupy tropical, temperate and polar marine waters, while a small number have adapted to live in freshwater.

Sharks and their relatives, rays and ghost sharks, are known as cartilaginous fishes. Some 328 of the world’s cartilaginous fishes – comprising one-quarter of the world’s total – occur in Australian waters, including the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters. Of these, 138 are found nowhere else on Earth.

Globally, sharks face a dire conservation crisis. About 32% of species are threatened with extinction and less than half are assessed as “Least Concern” (not at risk of extinction).

The main threats around the world are overfishing combined with inadequate management such as a lack of fishing regulations, weak protections for threatened species and poor implementation of international agreements.

Australia’s relatively better position is a result of a long history of ocean policy and fisheries management. Australia also has extensive areas with only limited or no fishing pressure as well as a representative network of marine parks.

But some regions, particularly waters off Australia’s southeast, have experienced high levels of fishing pressure which threaten some species.

Other threats to sharks in Australian waters include shark control measures in some states, habitat degradation, aquaculture and climate change.

Read more:
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What the research found

The research I led examined the national status of Australian sharks.

The news is a lot brighter than the global situation. Of all sharks occurring in Australian waters, 70% were assessed as “Least Concern”.

But we identified 39 Australian shark species threatened with extinction. And worryingly, most lack the protection or conservation plans needed for their populations to recover.

For example, only nine of the species are listed as threatened under Australia’s federal environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

We identified five species where the data is robust enough to pass the threatened species nomination process, and recommend federal authorities consider these species for immediate listing. They consist of:

• greeneye spurdog
• eastern angelshark
• whitefin swellshark
• narrow sawfish
• Australian longnose skate.

However, this still leaves a group of under-studied threatened species at risk of slipping through the cracks, because not enough data exists to support official listing nominations. We identified 12 species facing this predicament.

For example, we assessed three species of small rays from southeast Australia, known as stingarees, as vulnerable to extinction due to commercial fishing. The species’ decline has been recorded since the late 1990s. However, nominations to be listed as threatened under federal law will require more data, particularly contemporary catch levels and trends.

As with many other species we identified, there is currently no mechanism – or dedicated funding – in place to ensure such data is collected.

Read more:
How will sharks respond to climate change? It might depend on where they grew up

How to save Australian sharks

Major investment is needed to recover Australia’s threatened sharks. Using the mean estimated cost of recovering a threatened fish species and accounting for inflation, I calculate the cost at about A$114 million each year.

The figure represents about 0.3% of the national defence budget – a benchmark against which the costs of environmental action are often compared.

More broadly, financial investment in threatened species in Australia has been shown to be inadequate.

Recent federal funding announcements include A$100 million to protect oceans and $57 million linked to the national threatened species strategy. This comes nowhere near the level of investment required.

Australia urgently needs a dedicated, adequately resourced fund with the aim of recovering and delisting threatened species. Such a fund should support the recovery planning process – in contrast to current federal government moves to scrap recovery plans for nearly 200 threatened species.

Our research is a call to action to secure all Australia’s sharks. It provides a benchmark from which changes can be measured, and hopefully will help guide management to prevent extinctions.

Read more:
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Peter Kyne received funding from the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP). He is lead author of The Action Plan for Australian Sharks and Rays 2021 discussed in this article. He currently receives funding from Charles Darwin University and the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

– ref. The real reason to worry about sharks in Australian waters this summer: 1 in 8 are endangered – https://theconversation.com/the-real-reason-to-worry-about-sharks-in-australian-waters-this-summer-1-in-8-are-endangered-161352

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrei Lux, Lecturer in Leadership and Course Coordinator (Management and International Business), Edith Cowan University

Left-brain or right-brain? Creative or critical? Analytic or holistic?

We love to divide the world into simple dichotomies. You’ve probably heard that right-brain dominant people are supposed to be more logical, while left-brain people are more creative. But there’s actually no scientific evidence to support that idea.

What we do know, however, is that some of us are more “analytic” while others are more “holistic” in our dominant cognitive approach.

In my latest research with colleagues Steven Grover and Stephen Teo, I have developed a short survey to measure these individual differences in thinking style.

Knowing your own and others’ cognitive style is essential for mutual understanding and informed decisions. Learning how you and those around you process information can help you to become a more effective communicator, strategist and leader.

Click here to take the Holistic Cognition Quiz and discover your style

Analytic vs holistic style

Analytic thinkers focus on individual objects, assigning them to categories based on their attributes. Holistic thinkers consider the context as a whole, focusing on the relationships between objects.

For example, when asked to describe a dining table, an analytic thinker might say it is made of dark wood and can seat six people. A holistic thinker may instead explain it is a space for getting together and sharing a meal.

While analytic thinkers seek to understand cause and effect by examining the characteristics and motivations of individuals, holistic thinkers examine the wider circumstances and the interactions between people.

Analytic thinkers tend to categorise statements as being true or false. Holistic thinkers often transcend contradictions and find truth in even opposing ideas. Both approaches are valuable, particularly if we acknowledge our cognitive biases and appreciate diverse perspectives as complementing our own.

No, you weren’t born that way

None of us are born as analytic or holistic thinkers. We learn these patterns from our environment. We have access to both analytic and holistic cognitive approaches, but a dominant and socially reinforced preference emerges through our interactions with others.

Think of these thinking styles as sets of cognitive tools to interpret and deal with the challenges of daily life.

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These tools were developed long ago, based on how people in different cultures interacted with one another and what they believed was important.

The precepts of analytic thinking were formulated in ancient Greece around 200-500BCE, with philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle seeking to understand the world through logic, inference and the discovery of rules.

The principles of holistic thinking were established in ancient China around the same time. Prominent Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Mencius and Laozi advanced an understanding of the world based on harmony, balance and the acceptance of inevitable cyclical change.

These social contexts led to the development of two very different cognitive approaches.

So how come Westerners aren’t all analytic thinkers, and Easterners aren’t all holistic thinkers?

Well, as people have moved between places, jobs and social circles over the past 2000 years these mental toolkits have been picked up, shared and embraced along the way. It’s essentially no different to how potatoes were introduced to the Irish and coffee to Italians in the 16th century.

The result is that there now tends to be more cultural diversity within societies than between them – including in thinking styles.

Read more:
What does it mean to think and could a machine ever do it?

Using this quiz

We’ve made the Holistic Cognition Quiz to help you understand your own unique thinking style.

It’s likely to show that you use a mixture of analytic and holistic approaches, with one that’s more dominant. Building self-awareness by better understanding how you think will help you work to your strengths and appreciate the strengths of others.

Andrei Lux works for Edith Cowan University and is a Director of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management. He has received funding from Macquarie University.

– ref. Are you a more holistic or analytic thinker? Take this quiz to find out – https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-more-holistic-or-analytic-thinker-take-this-quiz-to-find-out-170018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology

Much to the delight of children (and maybe some adults), Santa arriving in shopping centres all around Australia signals the beginning of Christmas shopping.

Santa has become a mainstay of shopping centres in December, driven by nostalgia and commerce.

But who is this jolly fat man, in a bright red suit, promising to deliver on the wishes of children, and why can we always expect him to visit Aussie shopping centres in December?

A brief history of Santa

Historian Adam English, linked the character of “Santa Claus” to Saint Nicholas, the fourth century Greek bishop of Myra. The name Santa Claus evolved from “Sinter Klaas”, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas, Dutch for Saint Nicholas.

The earliest known painting of Santa Claus is that by Robert Weir (1837). Weir depicted Santa as elf-like, wearing a red cape and boots, exiting a fireplace.

Cartoonist, Thomas Nast in 1866 constructed the modern version of Santa we know today, a round man-like gnome, with a white beard, dressed in a bright red suit.

The shopping centre Santa

Retailers began to leverage the “invented tradition” of Christmas in the early 1800s. The earliest usage of Santa for commercial purposes, perhaps the first, was on a flyer for a New York jewellery store in the mid-1820s.

Stephen Nissenbaum, in his book The Battle for Christmas, suggested this image of Santa was reproduced in a variety of printed forms and then in 1841, an innovative shopkeeper from Philadelphia created a life-size model of Santa. It wasn’t long until “live” Santa Claus’ began appearing on street corners.

In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee set about raising funds to provide a free Christmas dinner to the poverty-stricken. He took a crab pot from the local wharf, hung it from a tripod at a busy intersection, with the sign: “Fill the Pot for the Poor – Free Dinner on Christmas Day.”

Soon, unemployed men were employed to dress in Santa Claus suits, with red kettles and ringing bells in the streets of New York to solicit donations.

Read more:
How the Salvation Army’s red kettles became a Christmas tradition

At around the same time, some stores began to use “live” Santa Claus’ in their window displays and toy departments and by 1910, the presence of a “live” Santa became a requirement for any department store.

The business of Santa

Modern retail Christmas has evolved from a cluster of practices in social and commercial contexts.

Desperate to attract shoppers, from around the end of November, Santa’s Workshops, Grottos and Winter Wonderlands miraculously started appearing in shopping centres. Their appearance signals the start of Christmas shopping, extended trading and gift giving.

The business of Santa, has become a viable business model, that creates positive experiences in shopping centres and employment for mostly older, retired men. One organisation, Scene to Believe, reports to hiring up to 500 Santas each year. Companies like Santa for Hire , The Real Santa provide Santa Claus impersonators to hundreds of shopping centres throughout Australia, New Zealand and North America. The Santa Claus Conservatory provide training for potential Santa Claus “candidates”.

The nostalgia of Santa

Nostalgia has always been a relevant emotion at Christmas. I recall my father taking me to the John Martins’ Christmas Pageant in Adelaide during the 1970s. I have friends that still drag their adult kids to centres to “re-create” that moment in time. Nostalgia however has become a commodity, that can be bought and sold. Nostalgic marketing emerged from the 1970s and is employed to connect consumers to their past.

Many adults would remember their childhood, visiting the famous Myer Melbourne Christmas Windows, which have been entertaining families for 66 years. Since 1933, Adelaide’s Christmas Pageant, the largest public parade in the southern hemisphere, has drawn over 300,000 people to the CBD.

Hence, the consumer rituals connected with Christmas, like department store Christmas windows, pageants and Santa photos, aim to persuade us to reminisce on the past, experience a sense of nostalgia, and lure us into the tradition of Christmas shopping.

The future for Santa

Facing the prospect of continued COVID-19 social distancing requirements, centre management may need to eventually consider virtual experiences.

Post-COVID Claus may come fully equipped with augmented reality experiences, VR elf outfits and Instagram-friendly photo opportunities, a virtual reality “Magic Mirror” that allows visitors to become one of Santa’s elves and a “Naughty or Nice O’Meter”.

Last Christmas, Centennial, which runs a national portfolio of US shopping malls, replaced their traditional Santa sets with interactive augmented reality encounters, and a new crop of video-chat companies, like Talk to Santa and Welcome Santa, are giving families the chance to connect with Santa from the comfort of their own smart devices.

Just as shoppers have moved online because of COVID-19, Santa is bound to follow, for those shoppers wary about physical contact.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The history of the shopping centre Santa, and how he became a staple of the festive season – https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-shopping-centre-santa-and-how-he-became-a-staple-of-the-festive-season-170544

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adele Wessell, Discipline Chair, Humanities and Social Science, Southern Cross University

Boxed wine is one of Australia’s most extraordinary contributions to the wine industry, also known as cardboardeaux, bag-in-box (BiB) or more commonly, goon (from flagon).

Australian winemaker Thomas Angrove patented the design for a one-gallon polyethylene bladder in a cardboard box in 1965, inspired by the ancient method of storing wine in goat skins. The first model required drinkers to cut a corner of the plastic bag and reseal it with a special category peg (used to transport battery acid).

History of goon

Once a tap was designed in the 1970s goon climbed quickly to make up about 50% of wine sales in Australia. In the days when restaurants sold “house wine”, goon was known for being economical above anything else, and convenient, associated more with families on a budget and people on low incomes.

Wine in the ‘70s was still perceived as for special occasions and casks may have helped change that. Thirty years later, between 2004-2014, there was a 30% drop in cask sales but a 40% increase in bottled wine during the same decade. As domestic sales had been dropping, the cask concept (and its contents) were also being exported.

Goon has come a long way from its origins and reputation. The visual appeal of the box and the bag has evolved, along with the narrative the wine label communicates about history, geography, identity.

As the environmental benefits of wine in a box have become more important to new consumers, the quality of its contents has also improved. Jilly Wine Company’s Chateau Cardboard Red at $71 for 3 litres, is a long way from the one gallon packs of table white, table red, port, sweet sherry and muscat launched in 1965.

There are good reasons why Australians love goon, and there are strong reasons for the love to grow.

Read more:
A taste for terroir: the evolution of the Australian wine label

Why Australia still loves cask wine

Portability

Whether going on a picnic or camping, goon is infinitely easier to transport than glass. It suits a lifestyle.

Lighter packaging also reduces carbon dioxide emissions since most of this during the wine production process is in transportation.

Sustainability

A life cycle analysis of bag-in-box packaging shows it is also more sustainable than glass bottles.

While the plastic – the bag and spigot – can present issues with disposal, the ratio of raw material to the volume of content, manufacturing process, light weight package and transport make it a better choice on environmental grounds, which is why goon is becoming a more popular and global choice.

Pandemic

Market research showed cask wine sales jumped by 21% in the four weeks to April 2020, explained by a combination of people being housebound and concerned about money.

Once purchased, if you are drinking in moderation, you can avoid going out for wine for longer, which during COVID restrictions was safe and convenient.

Longevity

Contrary to popular opinion, goon is not only the choice of people who might want to drink a lot. The vacuum-sealed bag keeps the wine fresh for up to six weeks after it’s opened.

Price

Cheaper wine is taxed less. Wine is taxed on its wholesale value, not its alcohol content, through the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET). This supports a health argument against goon, for serving no interest except the liquor industry when there is much evidence for the damage caused by alcohol. Increased taxes have been found to reduce consumption and alcohol-related harms.

Goon doesn’t necessarily equate to cheap wine or a three day growth. The raw material used to produce it also costs less than glass packaging. Apart from Iceland and Norway, Australia has the highest alcohol tax rates among OECD countries. There is a range of implications for wine pricing.

Snobbery and the wine in a bag

Quality is often associated with price, generating stigma around goon (evident in the label). There is a fair amount of snobbery in the wine industry.

Wine is both associated with wealth and status (an expensive bottle) and with being poor (goon); age corresponds the same way. What does a teenager know about how fruity lexia or moselle should taste besides sweet? But there is a gap in that argument that spins on a combination of factors – quality, environment, nostalgia, cost, lifestyle. “It took a monumental shift in perceptions of wine to make screwcaps popular and mainstream”, according to professor of wine marketing at the University of South Australia Larry Lockshin.

The average wine consumer associates boxed wine with cheap wine, a stereotype worth dismissing. It’s time our secret love was not so secret anymore.

Culinary cringe

Like macadamias, settlers in Australia may be more honest about their love of goon now that it is growing in popularity elsewhere. Boxed wine accounts for about 50% of the wine consumed in Australia, and Norway and Sweden. The French have been boxing Bordeaux since 1997, and 44% of the wine sold in French supermarkets comes in a box.

Youth and nostalgia

Goon hymns, goon-of-fortune and goon bag pillows are still in reach but the quality of wine has matured with us. Brisbane author Edwina Shaw drew on her personal experience in the novel Thrill Seekers (2019)

Our crusade. We wanted to be the coolest, and that meant being able to drink everyone else under the table. So we made a pact to drink a four-litre cask of wine a day, each, until we won. Moselle… We weren’t just any old drinkers – we were the “Goon Babies”.

When I arrived in Brisbane in 1984, the Goon Babies were legends; funny, intelligent, creative thrill-seekers. Shaw’s book also traces self-destruction and loss. I understand the irony of writing in such a cavalier way about the goon we could afford as students. But it would be snobby and ageist to suggest packaging alone maketh the wine or the issues that might drive us to drink, or that alcohol problems are the preserve of the poor and young.

Gen X goon drinkers are now in their 40s and 50s, and many of us won’t be able to stomach Moselle. We have to come to terms with the fact wine in a bag also can’t be aged.

But, as Colin Alevras, sommelier at New York restaurant DBGB’s put it, “The wine bottle is late-18th century technology. It’s time to move on”.

Adele Wessell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Cardboardeaux, bag-in-box, and goon: why Australia’s love affair with boxed wine endures – https://theconversation.com/cardboardeaux-bag-in-box-and-goon-why-australias-love-affair-with-boxed-wine-endures-171484

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Loughran, Principal Researcher and Electromagnetic Energy Program Manager, ARPANSA, and Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Wollongong

You’ve probably seen the UV index in the day’s weather forecast, and you know it tells you when you need to cover up and wear sunscreen.

But where does that number come from? We produce it at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).

It’s our job to help keep Australia safe from all kinds of radiation, and that doesn’t just mean nuclear reactors and mobile phone signals – it also means radiation from the Sun.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, accounting for about 80% of cancers diagnosed in Australia each year. Most skin cancers are caused by exposure to UV radiation from the sun.

What is the UV index?

The UV index tells you how much ultraviolet radiation is around at ground level on a given day, and its potential to harm your skin.

UV radiation is a component of sunlight that can cause tanning and sunburn in the short term. In the longer term, too much exposure to UV can cause cataracts and skin cancer.

In 2002, the World Health Organization devised the UV index in an effort to make people around the world more aware of the risks.

The index boils down several factors into a single number that gives you an idea of how careful you need to be in the sun. A score of 1 or 2 is low, 3–5 is moderate, 6 or 7 is high, 8–10 is very high, and 11 and above is extreme.

What is UV radiation?

The Sun showers Earth with light at a huge spectrum of different wavelengths, and each wavelength can have a slightly different effect on human skin.

An important part of the spectrum is ultraviolet or UV radiation: light with wavelengths too short for our eyes to see, from around 400 nanometres to 10 nanometres.

Read more:
Sun damage and cancer: how UV radiation affects our skin

There are two important kinds of UV radiation: UV-A, with wavelengths from 400–315 nanometres, and UV-B with wavelengths from 315–280 nanometres. (Shorter wavelengths are called UV-C, but are mainly blocked by the atmosphere so we don’t need to worry about it.)

UV-A and UV-B both contribute to skin damage, ageing and skin cancer. But UV-B is the more dangerous: it is the major cause of sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer.

How is the UV index calculated?

The UV index takes into account how much UV radiation of different wavelengths is around and how each of those wavelengths affects our skin.

ARPANSA has a network of sensors around Australia measuring sunlight at different wavelengths to determine the UV index, with the information available online in real time.

This data is combined with other information about location, cloud cover and atmospheric conditions to produce maps and forecasts of the UV index for the whole country.

How are UV levels different around the world?

The UV index you see reported is usually the daily maximum – that’s the highest it will be all day.

How high it gets depends on lots of factors, including your location, the time of year, the amount of cloud cover, and ozone and pollution in the atmosphere.

The index tends to be higher closer to the Equator and at high altitudes, as the sunlight has to pass through less air before it reaches the ground.

People often experience the sun in Australia as particularly harsh, compared with places in North America or Europe. In a British summer, for example, the maximum UV index might be between 6 and 8. In an Australian summer it can range from 10 to 14.

There are a few reasons for this. One is that Australia’s cities are closer to the Equator than many big cities in Europe and North America.

Another is that Earth is very slightly closer to the Sun in the southern hemisphere’s summer than the northern summer, meaning the sunlight is a few percent brighter.

A third reason is the “hole” in the ozone layer. The layer of ozone in the upper atmosphere, which absorbs some UV-B, is thinner towards the South Pole. This was caused by the use of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, and it has been improving since they were banned by an international agreement in 1987.

And finally, the air in Australia generally has less smoke, dust and other small particle pollution than many places in the northern hemisphere. While this makes the air nicer to breathe, pollution does absorb or block some UV radiation.

Is UV changing over time?

We know UV levels have increased in recent decades.

In Australia, a study in 2011 found the average UV index had increased by 2–6% between the 1970s and the period 1990–2009, due to depletion of the ozone layer. A NASA study found similar results for 1979–2008.

It’s harder to say what will happen in the future, as there are several uncertain factors.

We expect the ozone layer to slowly recover from the impact of CFCs, which is likely to reduce UV levels.

Read more:
After 30 years of the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer is gradually healing

However, we also expect less fossil fuel will be burned, which would mean less air pollution and higher UV levels. On the flip side, we may also have more bushfires due to climate change, which would mean more air pollution and lower UV.

Clouds are also likely to behave differently due to climate change, but we’re not sure exactly how.

Researchers in Japan found reductions in clouds and tiny particles in the air are expected to have a bigger impact than the recovery of the ozone layer, which would mean UV levels are likely to go up overall.

Regardless of the long-term trends, we’ll still be measuring the daily levels and letting the public know the important sun protection times. So keep an eye on the forecasts and remember to cover up, wear sunscreen, sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat, and stick to the shade when the index is 3 or above.

The author would like to thank Dr Stuart Henderson, Assistant Director EMR and UVR Exposure Assessment at ARPANSA, for contributing valuable information and expertise.

Sarah Loughran receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). She is the Principal Researcher and EME Program Director at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). She is also affiliated with the University of Wollongong, is currently a member of the Scientific Expert Group at the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

– ref. What is the UV index? An expert explains what it means and how it’s calculated – https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-uv-index-an-expert-explains-what-it-means-and-how-its-calculated-173146

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lee, Associate Professor of History, UNSW

For nearly two years, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has sealed his state off from the rest of the world to pursue a hugely popular zero-COVID strategy.

Now the state is inching closer to reopening its borders to the world in late January or early February, when 90% of the adult population is double-vaccinated.

The pandemic has tested the strength of the federation in many ways, but no state or territory has sealed itself off from the rest of the country as WA has.

McGowan’s strong stance on borders has reminded many of the long streak of separateness that has defined WA throughout history and placed it at odds with its eastern neighbours.

The distance from its sister states (and, before federation, sister colonies) helped make WA a late and somewhat reluctant member of the Commonwealth of Australia. This feeling of separateness remains today, although formal secession, once a dream of WA residents, is still a fantasy.

Reluctance, then acceptance, of federation

By the 1890s, the campaign to unite the Australian colonies was gaining momentum. A depression in the eastern colonies bolstered the argument that all Australians would benefit from a common market.

Western Australians were far from convinced. The discovery of gold had led to a rapid growth of WA’s population and wealth. Western Australians worried their prosperity would be undermined by greater competition with the eastern states.

WA did not hold a referendum on federation in 1898 and 1899 when the other colonies did. But public sentiment soon shifted. The Gold Rush had sparked an influx of colonists from eastern Australia to the goldfields around Kalgoorlie, and pressure from these “tothersiders” saw the WA parliament reluctantly agree to a referendum.

More than half of the “yes” vote in the 1900 referendum came from easterners working in the goldfields.

Read more:
Breaking up is hard to do: why Western Australia would find it difficult to divorce Canberra

Immediate attempts to break away

It took only five years, however, for the WA legislative assembly to tire of federation. In 1906, it passed a resolution in favour of WA’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth that did not lead anywhere.

The real impetus for an actual secession movement came during the Great Depression. Western Australians became increasingly resentful of protectionist tariffs imposed by the Commonwealth government on foreign imports. This protectionism seemed to benefit manufacturers in New South Wales and Victoria at the expense of primary producers like them.

In 1930, a Dominion League took wing in WA. The league was a pressure group whose aim was to make their state autonomous from Canberra. WA would instead be a “dominion” of the British Empire in the same way Australia and Canada were.

The Dominion League persuaded the Nationalist government led by James Mitchell to submit a referendum for secession to WA voters.

The referendum took place on April 8 1933, at the same time as a state election. By a majority of two to one, Western Australians voted in favour of secession.

Voters also elected a Labor state government, and the premier, Philip Collier, was confronted by popular sentiment that was overwhelmingly in favour of separation from Canberra. He could not stop a loyal WA delegation petitioning the British parliament for secession in 1935.

The route the secessionist delegation favoured was an imperial act of parliament. This would amend the Australian Constitution, which had been enshrined in an act of the UK parliament.

The British parliament, however, rejected the state’s petition. It maintained that its own 1931 Statute of Westminster had given Australia dominion autonomy. So the only way WA could achieve independence would be with Canberra’s consent.

The Dominion League was bitterly disappointed, and got a modicum of revenge in 1937 by voting out the most prominent local advocate of federation, Senator George Pearce.

In the longer term, the federal parliament helped turn around the mood for separation in WA. It did this, in part, by promoting financial aid to WA and other smaller states through the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

WA battles with Canberra over resources

From the 1930s onward, WA often clashed with Canberra and the eastern states.

One fight was over a 1938 decision of the Lyons government to stop the Japanese-led development of iron ore deposits at Yampi Sound, off Australia’s northwest. To do so, the Lyons government completely prohibited the sale of any Australian iron ore to foreign countries.

Throughout the 1950s, WA governments campaigned to modify the federal iron ore embargo. Finally, in 1959, the WA government led by Premier David Brand and Charles Court, the minister for industrial development, took unilateral action. It decided to advertise a public tender for the development of deposits at Mount Goldsworthy, a mining area that used Port Hedland as its outlet.

This started a chain of events that eventually persuaded the Menzies government to relax the embargo in 1960. The end of the embargo allowed the development of what would become Australia’s greatest export industry.

Then, in the 1960s and ‘70s, Canberra’s stipulation of minimum prices for WA mineral exports enraged the state government.

Court, WA premier from 1974-82, also campaigned against the Whitlam government’s plan to bypass WA by developing the oil and gas resources of the North West Shelf through a sovereign oil company.

In this context, a “Westralian” secession movement was revived with the financial backing of mining magnate Lang Hancock. It harked back to the rhetoric of the secessionist movement of the 1930s, but failed to translate an anti-Canberra sentiment into a concrete outcome like the 1933 secession plebiscite.

Read more:
WA border challenge: why states, not courts, need to make the hard calls during health emergencies

Echoes of the past

As recently as 2017, a group of WA Liberals revived a proposal to make the state an independent nation.

Since then, WA and the Commonwealth have frequently been at loggerheads, most recently over Clive Palmer’s challenge to WA’s closed borders during COVID (which the Morrison government backed for months until realising McGowan’s stance had overwhelming public support).

Today, distance and hard borders are being hailed as potential saviours of the west from the pandemic and the interminable lockdowns in the eastern states. After closing itself off for nearly two years, WA seems finally ready to reopen, although those long-harbored secessionist dreams will likely never die.

David Lee receives funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for a history of the Department of Trade.

– ref. Republic of Western Australia: how the west has always charted its own course, from secession to COVID – https://theconversation.com/republic-of-western-australia-how-the-west-has-always-charted-its-own-course-from-secession-to-covid-167048

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Renshaw, Lecturer in Play Therapy, Deakin University

Guilt has perhaps always been part of selecting and giving gifts for children at Christmas. However, in 2021, after two years of increased screen time for children thanks to COVID, parents may be experiencing even more uncertainty around what to buy.

But what if the power of play could counter some of these fears?

The importance of play is well recognised. Play holds developmental power to facilitate communication, increase personal strengths, foster emotional well-being and enhance social relationships.

This can be true of digital gifts as well as more traditional presents. Here are some ideas for screen-based toys that are good for both a child’s development and easing parental guilt.

Screen time – is there such a thing as too much?

Firstly, let’s address the key concern many parents have: can too much screen time harm a child’s development? The answer lies in knowing and balancing the risks and benefits of screen time.

A recent University of Colorado Boulder study of nine and ten year-olds found even when kids spend five hours a day on screens, “it doesn’t appear to be harmful”. The study also suggests screen time can improve social relationships.

While parents should make sure their children are using screens in appropriate ways, our early research suggests lengthy time on screen is not likely to yield dire consequences.

Research also indicates the type of screen time is important. This suggests active engagement (such as playing a game or doing an activity) may be beneficial, whereas prolonged periods of passive screen time (such as watching TV or YouTube) could be detrimental.

There are international and Australian recommendations on how much screen time is suitable for children, which vary depending on age.

Guidelines also advise negotiating clear boundaries for screen time, limiting sedentary screen time, and incorporating physical activity and social relationships.

For children, this may mean sharing a family device, having clear boundaries about usage and a parent supervising.

Ultimately, screens are a part of modern life – children need to learn how to navigate them. Modelling healthy screen time as well as selecting developmentally appropriate digital toys or platforms for play are two ways parents can assist children in developing a healthy relationship with screen time.

Digital toys across age groups

Babies and toddlers

Video-chatting is the only recommended form of screen time for babies and toddlers. Digital devices and apps may assist parents when used together with their baby or toddler, to maintain relationships with friends and family.

Read more:
Studies suggest no causal link between young children’s screen time and later symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity

Apps on a parent’s device, such as Baby Karaoke can help parents to remember and sing along to nursery rhymes and children’s songs. Joining together with your child in playful rhythm and rhyme time in the first 1,000 days supports many aspects of brain development.

Pre-schoolers (3-5 years)

Screen time, when supervised by a parent and part of a balanced healthy family lifestyle, can support children’s developing imagination, creativity, and storytelling.

Apps and digital games like Osmo, where players use objects in the real world to interact with the digital world on their device, can develop communication, social and problem-solving skills.

School-age (5-9 years)

Apps and digital games that support learning, social skills and creativity are recommended for school-age children.

App ideas include Stop Motion, where children use physical toys such as Lego minifigures or plasticine models to create short animated movies. Khan Academy for Kids allows children to read books, create and draw, solve puzzles and play games that promote social skills.

Pre-teens (9-12 years)

Pre-teens may be starting to conduct a significant part of their social life online. Supporting their developing sense of digital citizenship is a crucial step and should be considered when choosing digital gifts.

So, digital games that promote learning, hold positive messages, and allow for a sense of achievement are recommended for pre-teens. As a parent of two pre-teens, Kate shares that two current favourite apps in her house are the drawing/art app Procreate and the meditation, ambient sounds and bedtime stories app Calm.

Other ideas include learning a new skill like a musical instrument with apps like Simply Piano or Simply Guitar. Heads Up! allows you to play charades online, while popular video game Minecraft promotes creativity. Finally, work together as a family to remember, preserve and write family stories using Story Corps.

Teenagers (13-18 years)

Screen time can be included in the healthy lifestyle of teenagers. Digital activities that foster interests and hobbies, and enhance social connections are an important consideration for development, health, and well-being.

As a parent of a teenager, Judi shares that the current favourite at her house is the virtual reality headset Oculus Quest 2, which enables social connection through VRChat, Altspace and meditation with TRIPP and Nature Treks .

Other ideas include getting out in nature for a family treasure hunt adventure using Geocaching . Or host a trivia party with family or friends using Sporcle. Games like Spore allow players to design their own species by evolving microscopic organisms into their own creations.

What to bear in mind

If you’re doing your own searches, use terms like “creative apps for preschoolers” and use a review site like Common Sense Media to check your choice. And consider physically active screen time choices.

Examples include the Nintendo Switch that promote physical activity such as dancing (Just Dance) or real-life exercises, including jogging and yoga (Ring Fit Adventure).

There is also virtual reality, which enables enjoyment, exploration and experiencing through multi-modes including movement (Beat Saber), art-making (Tilt Brush), and immersive experiences (Wander).

So, pause for a moment this Christmas when considering a digital gifts for children and ask yourself three things:

1) Is there a physical component?

2) Will this gift be used together within a relationship?

3) What is the play value?

Read more:
A new study sounds like good news about screen time and kids’ health. So does it mean we can all stop worrying?

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Digital toys for kids you don’t have to feel guilty about  – https://theconversation.com/digital-toys-for-kids-you-dont-have-to-feel-guilty-about-172612

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas T. Van Dam, Associate professor, The University of Melbourne

Images of happy families, joyous celebrations and perfectly wrapped presents. Must be Christmas, right? While these cues can be linked to eager anticipation and enthusiasm, they can also remind us of stress, obligations, planning and interpersonal conflicts.

Celebrations with family and friends can be marred by bickering and disagreement. They can also be amplified by the social awkwardness of re-entering the busy public world after nearly two years of COVID restrictions.

As people around the world begin to emerge from their cocoons, many will experience anxiety and some loneliness. Lost loved ones, limited travel opportunities, and family rifts can trigger intense self-reflection and an ever-compounding sense of uncertainty about what happens next.

You may be hoping mindfulness meditation is the silver bullet to get you through the bittersweet festive season. But this may not be the answer to all your troubles.

Hold the hype

Not everyone agrees on a definition of mindfulness. But it’s generally considered the quality of directing attention to one’s experience in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgement. Meditation refers to a broad set of practices that aim to direct attention on a particular object or experience.

Mindfulness meditation brings the qualities of mindfulness to the practice of meditation, usually sitting somewhere quiet, eyes closed, observing the breath.

There has been a lot of hype about mindfulness and meditation. While mindfulness meditation shows considerable promise, it’s not the magic cure-all some make it out to be.

Read more:
We don’t yet fully understand what mindfulness is, but this is what it’s not

Mindfulness meditation cannot fix systemic societal issues like racism, financial inequality, poor working conditions, human rights abuses or lack of access to medical care.

Encouraging individuals to use mindfulness meditation may provide a means to societal change such as greater awareness of inequality or a greater commitment to looking after our planet and one another. But simply inserting meditation into a dysfunctional context likely won’t do much to fix things and could make things worse.

One example of such a mis-step is Amazon’s ZenBooths, which were meant to offer stressed workers a space to practice mindfulness meditation. But they did nothing to address the issues that led to the stress in the first place.

Likewise, mindfulness meditation over the holidays won’t make disagreements between you and your family over social or political views go away.

Meditating may, however, make it easier for you to recognise the common humanity among people you disagree with. Meditation focused on cultivating positive emotional qualities is associated with less judgement and more compassion.

Just don’t wait until Christmas lunch to give it a try.

While mindfulness meditation techniques can be used in the moment, these techniques typically rely on skills learned or acquired during a formal, regular meditation practice.

Looking for Christmas joy?

Amid the bickering and stress, you may also be searching for some extra holiday cheer. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee mindfulness meditation will result in the sudden experience of overwhelming peace, joy or tranquillity.

Surveys of people who practice meditation regularly indicate these experiences are not uncommon. However, other research shows over 25% of regular meditators experience unpleasant events such as increased anxiety or depression, or difficulty thinking clearly or making decisions.

It is also incredibly common for the minds of beginning mediators to wander off and for them to feel frustrated, sometimes leading them to assume meditation doesn’t work. A wandering mind is not a sign of failed meditation but of being human.

The good news is mindfulness meditation training programs are fairly reliable in creating modest decreases in anxiety, depression, and distress, as well as increases in well-being.

So, with a developed mindfulness meditation practice, you may find you are a bit less likely to be distressed by the last minute rush to buy presents or arguments with distant relatives.

Read more:
It’s not all in your mind: how meditation affects the brain to help you stress less

OK, you’ve convinced me

There are lots of helpful resources on how to get started or find the right mindfulness meditation practice for you.

Before you jump in, consider what else you have going on. If you’ve not dealt with past trauma, have serious untreated illness, or are really struggling to get by, make an appointment with a clinician.

If none of those are true for you, consider finding an experienced meditation teacher, reputable centre, or a trusted practice group.

Don’t expect too much of yourself or the practice. Start small and try to keep an open mind. Maybe try a guided practice like the one below.

Start now, before the bickering

Now is the time to get started. Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a a family feud, feeling the exhaustion of your 15th trip to the shopping centre, or the frenzied tidying and preparation in the remaining hours before everyone arrives at your house.

If you try it now, before your stress levels ratchet up to 11, you’ll know if it might help you. And then, on the big day(s), you can use the tricks you have learned.

You might focus on one thing you really like about the family member you’re arguing with. You might try to remind yourself that all the disgruntled customers ahead of you in the shopping centre parking lot are likely overwhelmed by the same things you are. Or you might just take a few deep breaths and try to recognise that no matter what is happening (good or bad), it won’t last forever.

Meditation won’t make your holidays perfect but, if it works for you, it might make them a bit less stressful and perhaps, a little more meaningful.

Read more:
Being grateful this Christmas benefits you even when your family’s driving you bananas

Nicholas T. Van Dam has received funding from the Three Springs Foundation Pty Ltd to establish the Contemplative Studies Centre at the University of Melbourne. He is a fellow of the Mind and Life Institute.

– ref. Stressful Christmas? How meditation can (and can’t) help you through a nightmare lunch – https://theconversation.com/stressful-christmas-how-meditation-can-and-cant-help-you-through-a-nightmare-lunch-170872

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of Melbourne

After the long COVID-induced lockdowns of 2021, I’m more excited than usual for a joyous gathering at Christmas, where four generations of our family will sit around our much-used dining table for dinner.

The table is large, heavy, with parts made of blackwood and once belonged to my great grandparents in the 1880s. It’s been part of many family celebrations and is accompanied by a grand old sideboard, also made of blackwood and decorated for the festive season.

Blackwood’s main claim to fame is its magnificent dark and durable timber. It has been prized since colonial times and is still widely used for high quality, bespoke furniture that often becomes family heirlooms. It has also been used for making boats, musical instruments, inlaid boxes and high value veneers.

But today, I’ll introduce you to the tree – a stunning native wattle with large Christmas-green, leaf-like phyllodes (modified leaf stalks) and masses of showy pale lemon flowers that bloom from late winter to late summer.

Versatile and mighty

Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) can live for over 150 years, and its range extends from South Australia and Tasmania through to northern Queensland. It’s often found in the understorey of giant eucalypts in Australia’s east-coast forests, though the tree is hardy and adapts well to diverse conditions, making it popular in urban gardens.

Depending on soil type and rainfall, it can become an imposing tree 40 metres tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5m. Under tougher conditions, it may grow to only 10m in height, often with a spreading canopy. While it’s not drought resistant, blackwood can be quite tough and tolerates wet soils, even salty coastal winds.

Blackwood is also resistant to fungal pathogens, such as Phytophthora and Fusarium species, which decimate many other native plants such as banksias and many eucalypts. The reasons for its resistance are unclear, but it’s possible that like some other acacias, chemicals released from the roots can reduce pathogen growth.

One reason Blackwood timber is so dark is because it contains high levels (up to 20%) of tannins, the dark staining chemicals you see after you’ve drained your daily dose of tea and coffee.

These tannins were also useful to Indigenous people. Tannins are toxic to fish and wood and bark with high tannin content was, and is, used for fishing. Blackwood extract can also be used as a painkiller.

Read more:
The daily dance of flowers tracking the sun is more fascinating than most of us realise

Withstanding landslides and bushfires

Blackwood’s spreading root system is another reason the tree is so tough. In mountainous habitats, its roots often help consolidate soil on steep slopes, preventing landslides. I’ve seen large blackwood trees carried downhill by a landslide, but the roots held the soil together and the trees continued growing when the soil settled.

But the same, strong root system can cause problems in the urban environment, by cracking paths and blocking old leaky pipes.

Like many native trees, the tree is adapted to bushfires. The tough leathery phyllodes can slow the movement of bushfires, providing a barrier which might help stop fires from spreading in a fire smart garden. The phyllodes remain green and have a low flammability all year round, so while the tree is usually killed by fire, it may still have a place in gardens where fire is a risk.

The seed of blackwood can persist in the soil and leaf litter of a forest for many years and, after a bushfire strikes, may regenerate even if few trees were present beforehand.

Read more:
Cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets battle for nest space as the best old trees disappear

Benefits for gardeners

Blackwood has been widely planted across Australia and in many other parts of the world for its timber and has become a weed in parts of Africa, South America and California, as well as Western Australia.

And it spreads easily. When blackwood seeds are harvested by birds and insects, they don’t digest the seed, giving it free transport and dispersal.

Blackwood can also develop suckers – new growth that sprouts from the roots; aptly named because they exploit a plant’s root system. These tend to develop if roots are damaged or disturbed, and can be difficult to control.

But for those planting it in gardens or parks, there are many benefits. Like all wattles, blackwood is a nitrogen fixer thanks to its root bacteria, which take in nitrogen from the atmosphere and add it to depleted soils.

Its discarded flowers, phyllodes and fruits can help create a thick mulch, which is often weed free. Alongside the benefit of added nitrogen, it can really improve the quality of soils on a local scale in gardens, windbreaks or plantations over time.

Blackwood is highly recommended as an agroforestry tree. It’s still actively logged in Tasmania, and my agroforestry colleague Rowan Reid warns that with the lack of research and incentives for growing blackwood on farms in Australia, we might soon be in the sad position of importing our blackwood timber from more innovative overseas growers.

Read more:
Once again, wattles are out in bloom: here’s what makes our iconic flowers so special

At the end of our family dinner, the table will be cleared and the cutlery and crockery returned to the blackwood-veneered and polished sideboard – our own family heirloom.

I wonder about its future, and who might be using it to share Christmases. Just as I wonder about the future of Australian blackwood, and its role in future climates, fires and agroforestry. It will undoubtedly persist, but will it be significant and appreciated?

Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Get to know blackwood better: a magnificent timber and a tough, towering wattle that can survive landslides – https://theconversation.com/get-to-know-blackwood-better-a-magnificent-timber-and-a-tough-towering-wattle-that-can-survive-landslides-172401

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susie Emery, Lecturer, University of South Australia

This year’s Digital Australia report found, as a country, Australians spent more time playing digital games than watching free-to-air TV during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns.

Whether you’re new to playing or you’re a seasoned gamer, what better way to celebrate Australia’s love for games than by exploring some of the best home-grown games you can play this summer.

Here are five of my most recommended Australian games, from beautiful story-based experiences you can sink into alone, to hilarious multiplayer games perfect for playing with family and friends.

Florence (2018), Mountains Studio

Available on Android, iOS, PC and Nintendo Switch, Mountains’ Florence is a gorgeous game I return to time and time again.

As you play you get to see inside Florence’s life, learning her hopes and dreams and watching her fall in love with a cello player named Krish. The game design brings together puzzles and narrative in a cohesive manner, which adds meaning and engages you in the story.

If you like personal stories, well-developed characters you really care about, lovely art and music, and simple but meaningful puzzles, you’ll love Florence.

Fruit Ninja VR2 (2021), Halfbrick Studios

Back in 2010, Queensland-based Halfbrick Studios released Fruit Ninja and, just like my two year old, had us all cutting up pieces of fruit. The premise of Fruit Ninja was simple: cut up the fruit, don’t cut the bombs.

On December 3, Halfbrick opened early access to Fruit Ninja VR2, a virtual reality version of Fruit Ninja where you can travel around a gorgeous zen-like world, cutting up virtual fruit. As well as your trusty sword you can now use ranged weapons like a bow to shoot fruit far away. The early access mode of this game means it is still in development, so you might experience a few bugs, but the bonus is you get to play it early.

If you like the idea of cutting up fruit in a zen world and not your kitchen (and you have a compatible VR headset), Fruit Ninja VR2 might be a great choice. You’ll need a Steam VR compatible headset to play early access, and Halfbrick will be announcing a release date soon for Oculus users.

Crossy Road (2014), Hipster Whale

In Melbourne-based Hipster Whale’s quirky 8-bit arcade style game Crossy Road (available on Android, iOS and online) your goal is to help cute cube-shaped characters to cross the road, avoiding various obstacles along the way.

The endless arcade style of the game makes it easy to jump in and start playing and lets you play as long as you like. Interesting things to cross, like train tracks and rivers, keep the game engaging and the fast-paced levels ensure you are never bored while crossing the road.

You can unlock many more characters and situations as you play and Crossy Road is perfect if you like arcade-style games like Frogger and cute, stylised aesthetics.

Rooftop Renegade (2022), Melonhead Games

Expected to be released in early 2022 on PC and consoles (just in time to end your summer) Adelaide based studio Melonhead Games’ first game Rooftop Renegade is a fast-paced neon-studded experience. I’ve been lucky enough to get to test Rooftop Renegade early: the game’s aesthetics drew me in immediately and the speed of the gameplay added a level of intensity that made my heart pump.

Playing as Svetlana, the coolest hoverboarder you’ve ever seen (who can also travel through time), you need to speed across various locations to collect time crystals before you’re stopped by the evil Globacorp.

If you’re into speed running across rooftops and avoiding obstacles across gorgeous neon backdrops, Rooftop Renegade is a great pick for you. The game also has the ability to play in a multiplayer split screen mode, making it a solid choice to play with family and friends when it’s released.

Untitled Goose Game (2019), House House

Available on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, Melbourne-based studio House House’s Untitled Goose Game is a multi-award-winning goose simulator experience.

In Untitled Goose Game you play as a super cute but highly annoying goose, whose sole goal is to walk around a quaint English-style village and annoy as many people as possible. You can honk, run, duck, flap your wings and move objects around with your beak purely to annoy.

Another great choice to play with others, Untitled Goose Game has single player and local multiplayer modes. I am yet to show Untitled Goose Game to someone without them laughing within the first few minutes. I recommend the multiplayer because playing this game with someone else is hilarious.

Read more:
Honk if you love Untitled Goose Game: why we should invest more in our indie game creators

In Australia, we are lucky to have a variety of AAA and indie game companies who are releasing interesting and unique titles all the time.

Whatever type of game you like to play, there’s bound to be an Australian title that will take your fancy and let you support our homegrown talent this summer.

Susie Emery is an International Women in Games Ambassador.

– ref. 5 of the best home-grown games to play this summer – https://theconversation.com/5-of-the-best-home-grown-games-to-play-this-summer-173147

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Retail Marketing, University of Tasmania

The festive season reinforces something parents and carers already know – many children today have a lot of toys.

In the United States, children receive more than US$6,500 (A$9,073) worth of toys between the ages of two and 12. Here in Australia, the toy industry is worth more than A$3.7 billion annually. Lockdowns have resulted in online toy sales growing by 21.4% during 2021, with the online toy industry now growing faster than the overall online retail sector.

The number of toys in Australian households is likely to increase when Christmas gift giving starts in earnest.

Apart from environmental concerns, having lots of toys can negatively impact children as well as parents and carers.

Here are some ideas for dealing with existing toys, as well as the upcoming influx of new ones.

The problem with having too many toys

Spaces with lots of toys are overstimulating and impact the ability for babies, toddlers and younger children to learn and play creatively.

Similar to cluttered pantries or office spaces, which make it hard for adults to focus, having too many toys around the house can make it difficult for children to concentrate, learn, and develop important skills around play.

Research shows fewer toys at a time leads to better quality playtime for toddlers, allowing them to focus on one toy at a time, build concentration skills, and play more creatively.

The other issue with having lots of toys “in play” is that we tend to place less value on them. By reducing the number of toys, adults can help children develop appreciation and gratitude.

What to do if you have too many toys

De-cluttering is easier said than done, but organising toys has many benefits for children and adults alike.

Fewer toys that are well organised leads to a calmer, less stressful environment which also reduces overstimulation in children and contributes to better behavioural regulation.

Read more:
No presents, please: how gift cards initiate children into the world of ‘credit’

Reducing the number of toys can also increase opportunities for children to build frustration tolerance and having to focus on one or two toys at a time can improve problem solving skills as well as developing independent play experience and creativity.

Organising toys can also help parents and carers improve general structure and routine in the home, which is great for everyone!

How to organise toys

A good first step is to conduct an inventory of all the toys in your house. Divide toys into “keep and play”, “keep and store” (toys that are sentimental, family heirlooms or part of a collection that can be put in storage) and “give-away or sell”.

Toys that are “keep and play” should be organised in ways that allow children to clearly see and easily access them.

Put two-thirds of these toys away in storage. Every month, rotate the number of toys available ensuring you have an interesting selection of “social” and “solo play” toys available and try to include “good” toys.

Rotating toys can help with space issues and importantly it keeps the novelty alive.

Is there such a thing as ‘good’ toys?

With such a huge variety of toys available, the choice can be overwhelming. But when you are thinking about buying toys, there are some features that make certain toys better than others.

“Good” toys are those that are appropriate for the child’s age and developmental level. If you are not sure if a toy is suitable in this regard, seek advice from staff in specialist toy stores or consult child development websites such as raisingchildren.net.au and earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au.

Toys should stimulate learning and keep a child’s interest at the same time and they should be safe and durable. In addition, toys should be able to stand the test of time (think Lego) and ideally be used in a variety of different ways over the years.

We recognise that with more than 17% of Australian children living in poverty, there are also many families who do not have the problem of having too many toys.

Good toys don’t have to be expensive. While Australians spend millions each year on toys, it’s worth remembering simple, everyday household items – cardboard boxes, saucepans and cooking implements, buckets and tubs, cardboard tubes, plastic containers and stacking cups – make excellent toys for younger children.

Read more:
Blind bags: how toy makers are making a fortune with child gambling

Categorising ‘good’ toys

Parents may find it useful to categorise good toys. This ensures when you are organising toys, children have access to a variety of toys suitable for different types of learning and play development.

Here are five ways to categorise toys:

1. manipulative/functional toys – these include construction and building toys, puzzles, stacking and nesting, brain-teasers, dressing toys, beads, blocks, bath toys, and sand and water toys. Manipulative toys are important for helping develop fine and large motor skills, dexterity and coordination, which are vital for drawing, writing, dressing and more.

2. active toys – including various outdoor toys, climbing equipment, sports equipment and ride-on toys. Active toys are great for general physical activity and motor skills development.

3. learning toys – these include board and card games, books, and specific-skill toys such as letter identification and shape and colour sorters.

4. creative toys – such as arts and craft materials, musical toys and instruments including digital music and drawing apps.

5. make-believe – including dress ups and role play (costumes, clothing, hats, masks and accessories), stuffed toys, puppets, dolls, transportation toys.

What to do with toys you don’t need

It can be hard parting with beloved toys, those that have been part of a special collection or even just trying to clear out toys that have accumulated over the years. Many people find it emotionally challenging to give away toys and prefer to keep and pass them on to children and family members.

There are many charitable organisations that will be pleased to find new homes for good quality toys – The Salvation Army, Save the Children and Vinnies – all welcome toy donations, especially at this time of year. Also search “toy donation” in your area to find local organisations and make sure what you are giving is in good condition (if it’s a puzzle, make sure it has all the pieces!).

Online platforms selling used items or secondhand dealers are other options which will give your treasures a second life.

Finally, as we head into Christmas with Australians tipped to spend more than $11 billion on gifts, it’s worthwhile having the list of “good” toys handy so you can easily answer friends and relatives when they inevitably ask “what can we get the kids for Christmas?”.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why kids should not have lots of toys (and what to do if yours have too many) – https://theconversation.com/why-kids-should-not-have-lots-of-toys-and-what-to-do-if-yours-have-too-many-172611

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University

“Kondo-ing” (de-cluttering) has become all the rage. But languages are hoarders that hang onto every used bit of clothing, threadbare cushion or musty old piece of luggage. You never know, these might be useful one day.

Christmas is a great reminder of how important it is to hang onto some old stuff – decorations stowed in closets, dusty words lingering in our brains. At Christmas, we drag out boxes of tinsel, baubles and fairy lights. We also trot out words, meanings and even grammar that we stopped using in our everyday language long ago.

So, let’s unpack this dusty box of Christmas lexical curiosities. We’ll toll trolls, blaze yules, graze mules, and then finish with a Christmas cracker of a linguistic joke (well, it’s no worse than any other you’ll hear this holiday season!)

This Christmastide, may God keep you t(r)olling

Untangling and dusting off these lexical curiosities – like those Christmas lights we haphazardly stowed the year before – takes some work. We needn’t go further than the lyrics of our favourite carols to see this. For example, the puzzling line (in Deck the Halls) that instructs us to “troll the ancient yuletide carol”.

Trolls sound scary. If they’re not leaving offensive messages on the internet, they’re giants living in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. But the gentle trolling we do at Christmas has a different (French) origin. It entered English in the 14th century meaning “to stroll” – but taking a few twists and turns, as words can do, it eventually arrived at another meaning “to sing merrily in full voice” (think of those rousing trolly-lollies).

The references to “yuletide” and “the blazing yule before us” are equally bewildering. Tide here has nothing to do with flows of water, but preserves the original meaning “season” or “time”. Yule like tide is one the oldest English Christmas words (8th century), but its meaning has shifted dramatically – from the original name for December or January (and presumably the pagan festivities around then), its meaning morphed into “Christmastide” a century later.

The opening line of the carol “God rest you merry, gentlemen” also dusts the cobwebs off some linguistic junk. Basically, it’s a good wish and means something like “happiness to you gentlemen”. It doesn’t help that the verb rest here has nothing to do with “relaxing” but means “keep”; what’s more it appears in a grammatical form that no longer exists. The old subjunctive signalled non-real events, such as wishing. This job is now done by other verbs (like may) – so, a more modern version would be “May God keep you merry, gentleman!”.

But even merry isn’t terribly common these days. Putting aside euphemistic references to alcohol-induced states of cheerfulness, we usually only encounter merry in carol lyrics like this one, and of course in the expression Merry Christmas (and perhaps also Robin Hood’s band of merry men).

Away in the manger…the little Malteser lay down his sweet head

Whenever untangling and dusting off our Christmas curiosities gets too hard, we can turn the task over to kids. They often refashion these yuletide curiosities into something that seems a bit more reasonable. “Tolling the yuletide carol” has a much jollier image than “trolling” it, and “get dressed, you married gentlemen” would seem like good advice. Certainly a “grazing mule before us” makes a lot more sense than that “blazing yule”.

But it probably wasn’t children who “decked the halls with Buddy Holly”. In fact, adults are responsible for a lot of remodelled Christmas expressions, and they’ve been doing it for centuries.

Read more:
The dark side of mondegreens: how a simple mishearing can lead to wrongful conviction

Look at mistletoe. It has absolutely nothing to do with toes, though this seems quite reasonable when you look at the plant, especially hanging as decoration. In fact mistletoe grew out of misteltan, the plant name combined with earlier tan (“twig”).

Despite their appearance, reindeer have nothing to with reins (“harness”). Reindeer was the original Viking word for this animal hreinn combined with deer, which simply meant “creature” (so (h)reindeer was one of those redundant compounds like oaktree).

Words we’ve purloined from other languages are especially prone to these linguistic makeovers. Look what we’ve done to Kris Kringle – it’s come a mighty long way from the German dialect word Christkindel (“Christ child”).

Plum puds sans plums, and boxing days without boxes

We sometimes find a cracked bauble or two in our box of lexical curiosities, but we’re loath to toss them out. We just keep using them or find new uses for them. Plum puddings don’t have plums in them anymore – the dried plums were replaced by raisins, but we’ve kept the name.

As foodie John Ayto describes, traditional Christmas fare had all sorts of “plum” dishes, even plum broth and plum porridge. Occasionally modern plum puddings become plump puddings – time will tell whether this catches on.

So what about Boxing Day with no boxes (unless you’ve been to those post Christmas sales). In the 17th century, Christmas boxes were earthenware containers taken around on the first weekday after Christmas. The purpose was to collect money for the workers and, like piggy banks, they were then broken and the money distributed.

Clearly the events around this seasonal payment have changed dramatically and box now refers to a day not a container – the day has shifted too, and fixed on the December 26.

Read more:
What’s in a name? Well, quite a bit if your name is Karen (or Jack, John, Jeff, Dolly, Biddy, Meg …)

A closing Christmas cracker

Our box of Christmas curiosities is overflowing, but we refuse to Kondo any of it! We so want to dazzle you with stories about hark, a’wassailing, noel – even the unappetising though intriguing historical links between the words pudding and botulism.

Instead, we ask you to pull on the end of our Christmas cracker, and share in a daggy linguistic joke:

What do we call Santa’s little helpers?

Subordinate clauses

We wish you a conjubilant holiday, meaning one “filled with good cheer but most especially the good cheer that comes from being in the company of others”.

Kate Burridge receives funding from the ARC Special Research Initiative SR200200350 Metaphors and Identities in the Australian Vernacular.

Howard Manns receives funding from the ARC Special Research Initiative SR200200350 Metaphors and Identities in the Australian Vernacular.

– ref. Kris Kringles and yuletide jingles: unboxing the wonders of Christmas lingo – https://theconversation.com/kris-kringles-and-yuletide-jingles-unboxing-the-wonders-of-christmas-lingo-171114

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, Lecturer – Injury Prevention, UNSW

Christmas is coming – meaning Australians are about to enter our most dangerous time of year for fatal drownings.

The eight days from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day are the deadliest period for drowning, with 201 lives lost over the past 15 years, according to my new analysis.

Using coronial data from the Royal Life Saving Society – Australia, my analysis shows a further 28 people drowned on Australia Day during the same 15 year period. My findings back up previous research, which found people are twice as likely to drown in Australia on a public holiday than any other day.

But the danger isn’t limited to major holidays. January 10 inexplicably emerged from my analysis as a key date, with 32 people drowning over the past 15 years – more than on any other single day of the year.

The sadly predictable spikes in preventable drownings mean many river rescue divers and surf life savers have come to dread summer.

The personal toll of preventable drownings

The Murray River is Australia’s leading river drowning black spot.

For more than 40 years, Peter Wright OAM, a volunteer rescue diver with the Corowa Rescue Squad, has performed the harrowing task of retrieving bodies – including children – from the river:

I have this feeling of dread as summer approaches. I find myself avoiding going near the river, as seeing people behaving badly or irresponsibly really gets to me […] I know it’s not if, but when we will be called to search the river for the next drowning victim […] The look of abject grief and disbelief on the faces of relatives and the noise of wailing families haunts me to this day.

Data from Surf Life Saving Australia paint a similar story.

The number of people who get into trouble at the beach spikes on public holidays. With an average of 20 rescues per day across the year in 2020/21, the period from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day sees this figure increase almost six-fold, with an average of 116 rescues per day.

According to Chris Jacobson, National Surf Life Saving Australia’s chair of lifesaving and a volunteer surf lifesaver of 20 years:

Surf lifesavers are constantly on the go attending to numerous rescues during this period, in particular on Australia Day. We see people not swimming between the flags, ignoring lifesavers, drinking and overestimating their abilities, which therefore requires our members to go to their aid.

5 factors driving more summer drownings

So why are Australians more likely to drown in summer, particularly on public holidays? And how can you be safer this summer?

Alcohol

Alcohol is a leading risk factor for drowning. It impairs reaction time, impacts the effectiveness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and can result in risk-taking behaviour.

Our breathalysing research at rivers – which are the leading location for drowning in Australia – found the average blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for adult river users was significantly higher on the Australia Day public holiday, with an average BAC of 0.175%. That’s more than three times the legal limit for driving a car.

Several river users also registered BACs in excess of 0.350%, seven times the legal limit.

Participation and exposure

More people in and around the water means more people at risk of drowning.

Our research shows higher numbers of people visit aquatic locations on holiday periods during summer, including the Australia Day public holiday. This is also sadly evidenced in the rescue and fatal drowning data.

Warmer temperatures

This deadly period for drowning often coincides with hot temperatures. Warmer weather drives people to seek out water to cool off, but are also linked to higher blood alcohol concentrations.

Higher air temperature also lead people to spend longer in the water.

School holidays

School attendance has been shown to be protective against drowning, with school-aged children 5-17 years old 2.4 times more likely to drown during school holidays.

The Christmas school holidays also coincide with this high-risk period and a number of public holidays.

Visitors who don’t know local conditions

In a normal, non-COVID summer, many Australians travel on their summer break, including to unfamiliar aquatic locations.

Our research shows visitors have increased drowning risk on public holidays compared to other days: 2.5 times the risk for people travelling within their own state, and 2.3 times the risk for those visiting other states or territories.

How to stay safer by the water this summer

• Check conditions of the river before you get in, observe how fast the current is going
• Ask locals about the safest place to swim in a river
• Swim between the red and yellow flags at the beach
• Avoid alcohol around water
• Always supervise young children in, on, or around the water
• Always wear a life jacket when boating or using watercraft
• Don’t drive, ride or walk through floodwaters, and don’t let children play in floodwaters
• Learn CPR so you have the skills to act in an emergency.

Those simple steps can save lives – and avoid so much needless pain, as volunteer rescue diver Peter Wright says:

A drowning affects so many people. Not just the family but all those involved in the recovery, the police, ambulance and divers. It is often more difficult to cope with the pain-filled reactions of a family when you recover their loved one, than the task of diving in totally black, fast-running, snag-filled water, feeling for that lost individual. I just wish that people took water safety more seriously.

For more water safety information, visit Royal Life Saving Society – Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia.

Amy Peden is an honorary Senior Research Fellow with Royal Life Saving Society – Australia and is the co-founder of the UNSW Beach Safety Research Group. She receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

– ref. The 8 deadly days of Christmas: how to stay safe from drowning in Australia this summer – https://theconversation.com/the-8-deadly-days-of-christmas-how-to-stay-safe-from-drowning-in-australia-this-summer-167440

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Osth, Senior Lecturer, The University of Melbourne

The holidays are coming and chaos is upon us. You may be navigating crowded parking lots in the heat, shuffling from one holiday party to the next, not to mention trying to avoid recently arrived relatives. Amid this chaos, you might experience time a bit differently.

You might forget what day it is. New Year’s Eve might sneak up on you when Christmas felt like it was just yesterday. And before you know it, the holidays are over, the trays of mangoes are gone, and the relatives have packed up and left.

That’s not the only way your sense of time may be a bit distorted over summer.

Read more:
Explainer: what is memory?

While sitting around and reflecting on past holiday seasons, you might find last Christmas feels just like yesterday. In fact, it might feel more recent than something that happened a few months ago.

While it might seem like there’s a temporal vortex every December, these distortions make sense when you understand how the mind perceives time.

How does the mind perceive time?

The mind can’t perceive time directly. We don’t have watches, hourglasses, or calendars in our heads. Fortunately, the mind is quite good at approximating things it can’t measure directly.

Our vision does this regularly. We can’t measure depth with our eyes, but we can approximate how far away objects are using various cues in our environment. Objects further away are smaller in our visual fields, less textured, and move less than objects closer to us. While this isn’t perfect, it serves us well enough for us to navigate our environments.

Our minds do something similar with time. We use cues from both our environment and our memory to indicate how much time has passed.

There are often a number of cues in our environments that signal what day it is. If you work 9 to 5, working or commuting only happens on weekdays; going out for brunch or playing tennis during the daytime only occurs on weekends. Our minds combine each of these cues to give us a sense of what day it is.

Many of these cues are disrupted when we go on holidays. We’re no longer working, which means the events that normally signal to our minds it’s a weekday are gone.

Several of the things we do on holidays, such as going to parties and having big dinners with our relatives, are things we usually only do on weekends, but can occur any day of the week on holidays.

This disrupts our mind’s reference points for what day it is. This is why the holiday period might feel like one long weekend even though you know that’s not the case.

Read more:
Here’s why you’re checking work emails on holidays (and how to stop)

Where do memories fit in?

There are many cases where we lack external cues to give us a sense of how much time has elapsed. Fortunately, we can use our memory to fill in the gaps.

You don’t need a memory scientist to tell you that more recent memories tend to be more vivid and detailed than older memories. So, the vividness of a memory is another cue we use to figure out how long ago an event occurred.

I might see somebody who looks familiar but I can’t recall their name or how I met them. It’s probably safe for me to say I didn’t meet them very recently.

Using memory to gauge time would work consistently if memories always got worse as time progresses.

Read more:
The power of ‘our song’, the musical glue that binds friends and lovers across the ages

However, there are circumstances where memory for an event can improve with time. A great deal of experimental research has found memories for certain events improve when we return to the conditions in which the memories were formed.

This is because we form memories by linking various aspects of an event – the location, the people at the event, the music we were hearing – together in our minds. When we attempt to remember something, we use various aspects of the event to retrieve the others, much like using a Google search.

Read more:
Here’s why memories come flooding back when you visit places from your past

Remembering past Christmases

In the holiday season, we often return to the circumstances where previous holiday memories were formed. We’re often surrounded by the same people, eating the same foods, and hearing the same holiday songs.

This gives our minds additional cues to retrieve memories from past holiday seasons, such as gifts you may have received or arguments that happened over the dinner table.

So, you might find yourself remembering a lot more memories from past holidays in greater detail and vividness than before. Because the mind uses vividness as a basis for time perception, this might have the effect of last Christmas season feeling like it was just last week, instead of a year ago.

If your sense of time goes a bit haywire over the holidays, don’t worry. When you return to the structure of your daily life, your sense of time and memories will go back to normal.

Adam Osth receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. What day is it? How holidays warp our sense of time – https://theconversation.com/what-day-is-it-how-holidays-warp-our-sense-of-time-172502

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Rachel Whittlesea, Senior Research Fellow, Griffith University

As international air travel rebounds after COVID-19 restrictions, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are expected to rise dramatically – and with it, scrutiny of the industry’s environmental credentials.

Aviation emissions have almost doubled since 2000 and in 2018 reached one billion tonnes. Climate Action Tracker rates the industry’s climate performance as critically insufficient.

As the climate change threat rapidly worsens, can aviation make the transition to a low-carbon future – and perhaps even reach net-zero emissions? The significant technological and energy disruption on the horizon for the industry suggests such a future is possible.

But significant challenges remain. Achieving a net-zero aviation sector will require a huge collaborative effort from industry and government – and consumers can also play their part.

Build back better

The aviation sector’s progress in cutting emissions has been disappointing to date. For example, in February last year, research on the world’s largest 58 airlines found even the best-performing ones were not doing anywhere near enough to cut emissions.

Most recently, at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, the industry merely reasserted a commitment to a plan known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.

The scheme relies on carbon offsetting, which essentially pays another actor to reduce emissions on its behalf at lowest cost, and doesn’t lead to absolute emissions reduction in aviation. The scheme also encourages alternative cleaner fuels, but the level of emissions reduction between fuels varies considerably.

Read more:
Major airlines say they’re acting on climate change. Our research reveals how little they’ve achieved

Governments have generally failed to provide strong leadership to help the aviation sector to reduce emissions. This in part is because pollution from international aviation is not counted in the emissions ledger of any country, leaving little incentive for governments to act. Aviation is also a complex policy space to navigate, involving multiple actors around the world. However, COVID-19 has significantly jolted the aviation and travel sector, presenting an opportunity to build back better – and differently.

Griffith University recently held a webinar series on decarbonising aviation, involving industry, academic and government experts. The sessions explored the most promising policy and practical developments for net-zero aviation, as well as the most significant hurdles.

Nations soaring ahead

Some governments are leading the way in driving change in the aviation industry. For example, as a result of government policy to make Sweden climate-neutral by 2045, the Swedish aviation industry developed a roadmap for fossil-free domestic flights by 2030, and for all flights originating from Sweden to be fossil-free by 2045.

Achieving fossil-free flights requires replacing jet fuel with alternatives such as sustainable fuels or electric and hydrogen propulsion.

The European Union plans to end current tax exemptions for jet fuel and introduce measures to accelerate the uptake of sustainable fuels.

The United Kingdom is finalising its strategy for net-zero aviation by 2050 and a public body known as UK Research and Innovation is supporting the development of new aviation technologies, including hybrid-electric regional aircraft.

Australia lacks a strategic framework or emissions reduction targets to help transition the aviation industry. The Emerging Aviation Technology Program seeks to reduce carbon emissions, among other goals. However, it appears to have a strong focus on freight-carrying drones and urban air vehicles, rather than fixed wing aircraft.

Read more:
How a 1940s treaty set airlines on a path to high emissions and low regulation

Building tomorrow’s aircraft

Low-emissions aircraft technology has developed substantially in the last five years. Advancements include electric and hybrid aircraft (powered by hydrogen or a battery) – such as that being developed by Airbus, Rolls Royce and Zero Avia – as well as sustainable aviation fuels.

Each of these technologies can reduce carbon emissions, but only battery and hydrogen electric options significantly reduce non-CO₂ climate impacts such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx), soot particles, oxidised sulphur species, and water vapour.

For electric aircraft to be net-zero emissions, they must be powered by renewable energy sources. As well as being better for the planet, electric and hydrogen aircraft are likely to have lower energy and maintenance costs than conventional aircraft.

This decade, we expect a rapid emergence of electric and hybrid aircraft for short-haul, commuter, air taxi, helicopter and general flights. Increased use of sustainable aviation fuel is also likely.

Although electric planes are flying, commercial operations are not expected until at least 2023 as the aircraft must undergo rigorous testing, safety and certification.

Overcoming turbulence

Despite real efforts by some industry leaders and governments towards making aviation a net-zero industry, significant strategic and practical challenges remain. Conversion to the commercial mainstream is not happening quickly enough.

To help decarbonise aviation in Australia, industry and government should develop a clear strategy for emissions reduction with interim targets for 2030 and 2040. This would keep the industry competitive and on track for net-zero emissions by 2050.

Strategic attention and action is also needed to:

• advance aircraft and fuel innovation and development

• update regulatory and certification processes for new types of aircraft

• enhance production and deployment of new aviation fuels and technologies

• reduce fuel demand through efficiencies in route and air traffic management

• create “greener” airport operations and infrastructure

• build capability with pilots and aerospace engineers.

The emissions created by flights and itineraries can vary substantially. Consumers can do their part by opting for the lowest-impact option, and offsetting the emissions their flight creates via a credible program. Consumers can also choose to fly only with airlines and operators that have committed to net-zero emissions.

Net-zero aviation need not remain a flight of fantasy, but to make it a reality, emissions reduction must be at the heart of aviation’s pandemic bounce-back.

Read more:
Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Blue-sky thinking: net-zero aviation is more than a flight of fantasy – https://theconversation.com/blue-sky-thinking-net-zero-aviation-is-more-than-a-flight-of-fantasy-171940

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carissa Klein, Associate professor, The University of Queensland

Summer in Australia is synonymous with seafood, from fish and chips at the beach to prawns on the barbie. But how do we know if the seafood is sustainable – that is, harvested from healthy stocks with minimal negative environmental impacts?

More than one third of the world’s fisheries are being harvested at unsustainable levels according to the latest figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Research shows public awareness of the problem is growing. But 62% of the seafood Australians eat is imported, which can make it hard to determine the food’s provenance.

While comprehensive sustainable seafood guides like the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish are readily available, we know some people find them daunting and time-consuming to use. To make it simpler, we’ve put together five tips for better seafood-buying, focusing on holiday favourites.

Read more:
What are you really eating? How threatened ‘seafood’ species slip through the law and onto your plate

5 ways to ensure you’re buying sustainable seafood this summer

1. Eat farmed Australian prawns. Much intensive prawn farming overseas has been linked to the destruction of coastal habitats, and some Australian wild-caught prawns have bycatch issues, meaning rare species like dugongs and turtles are accidentally caught by trawling. By contrast, Australian prawn farming is done in tanks on land, often making it a more sustainable industry.

2. Eat wild-caught Australian rock lobster. This year, lobster prices are much lower than usual due to export issues. Australia’s rock lobster fisheries are generally sustainably fished as opposed to imported lobster.

3. Eat farmed Australian oysters and mussels. It’s hard to go wrong here – fresh local oysters and mussels are widely available in stores and restaurants and are usually sustainable. Imported options are not widely available and usually tinned.

4. Eat farmed Australian barramundi. Locally farmed barramundi is the most commonly available sustainable fish species. Some wild-caught Australian barramundi fisheries have issues with bycatch while imported farmed barramundi have recurring issues with disease.

5. When in doubt, pick fresh Australian seafood. Australian fisheries are better managed than most others around the world, making local fish usually the better choice.

Data taken from the Good Fish Guide.

What to watch out for

My team and I recently examined more than 50,000 seafood products from southeast Queensland supermarkets, restaurants and other outlets and found only 5% could be classed as sustainable.

If you’re buying seafood to cook at home, you’re most likely to find sustainable options at speciality seafood outlets, which we found were more likely to stock Australian products. While some sustainable options are available in major supermarkets, they skew much more heavily to imported seafood.

Read more:
Like eating fish? It’s time to start caring where it comes from

We know there are a lot of salmon lovers out there – it was the most commonly found seafood product in our survey. Nearly all salmon sold in Australia is farmed Atlantic salmon produced in Tasmania. Unfortunately, this salmon is currently classified as “Say No” by the Good Fish guide due to significant environmental impacts.

On a positive note, the Tasmanian salmon industry is working to address these well-documented problems and the potential for improvement is high. It’s worth checking sustainable seafood guidelines frequently, as sustainability changes over time.

The Good Fish guide lists more options such as sustainable abalone (wild and farmed), mullet, mudcrabs and whiting.

What about eating out?

Australia has no regulations requiring origin and species labels on cooked seafood. That means that when you buy flake, it could actually be a critically endangered species like the hammerhead or school shark.

This is not a problem we can solve as individual seafood lovers. A 2014 Senate inquiry found the exemption for cooked seafood should be removed, but it did not become law.

To fix this, the government should introduce laws to improve seafood transparency and sustainability, especially in restaurants and cafes. This would make Australia world leaders in this area, given many major countries do not have mandated country-of-origin labelling for cooked seafood.

While we work towards a national solution, it’s important we vote with our wallets to buy sustainable seafood wherever possible. This will encourage the industry we want to see and avoid unnecessarily trashing our oceans.

Tia Vella contributed to this article

Carissa Klein receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Buy Australian oysters and farmed barramundi: 5 tips to make your feast of summer seafood sustainable – https://theconversation.com/buy-australian-oysters-and-farmed-barramundi-5-tips-to-make-your-feast-of-summer-seafood-sustainable-172954