Day: August 25, 2020

25th August 2020

Standard

Woke late this morning – but had a bit more energy today. The weather has been pretty poor all day (Storm Francis) – apparently lots of trees down across the area although none near us as far as I know. There was a minor casualty in the garden – the sunflower head broke off in the wind much to D’s disappointment.

F had declared today a “reading day” but not sure she got very far with that. She did do some reading, but also Minecraft, playing with her brother, watching TV – all the things you might expect of a 9 year old to be honest. Later on she had her drum lesson and 11+ tutoring – which was on poetry this week – so sweet and nice to hear her declare “I love poetry” – and she really does. She’s planning a poetry reading, writing and performance day for Thursday.

B worked on his computer as usual, and then went back to the project of building a game on a mechanical computer (with F) later in the day – and got it working. This was the first working version, although he got a slightly more sophisticated version working later in the day. The rules are:

  • You and the computer take turns sending balls down the course with the aim of being the player who sends the final red ball down the course
  • Each player can send 1, 2, or 3 balls down on each turn by hitting the lower left lever the appropriate number of times
  • For the computer to take a go you reverse one of the pieces and hit the left lever to start its turn
  • Once the computer sends a ball down that hits the right lever it’s your go again (for which you reverse the same piece and then hit the left lever for however many balls you are going to select)

Played according to the rules above, the computer always wins – (see this YouTube video on the Dr NIM game for more on the original game and how it works.)

Meanwhile we got B’s bus pass for the upcoming school year and the government has changed it’s policy on pupils wearing masks in schools (from recommending against it to “headteachers discretion”) which is what Bs school had basically decided anyway I think…

Stay safe, stay strong