Week 33
Star Signs for Stars: What Your Doodles Say About You...dles.
This week follows up a little from last one. Someone commented that they like to draw spirals when they first pick up a pen and I thought there must be a few different things that people tend to draw and it probably says something about them. So I did some research via Instagram poll with some very interesting results:
This is from a few hundred responses so think statistically relevant.
From that, I’ve developed a provisional doodle-based cognitive phenotype model.
If you feel misrepresented, I apologise, but this is empirical research, not a personal judgement. Don’t shoot the messenger.
There were some other outliers too:
These were fewer than 2 people so I’ll keep it brief.
Milkshake- Attention seeker
Arrow- Repressing something
Hearts: Grow up.
Nice to do a bit of science. If you have anything further to add I’ll see you in the comments.
This Week I Learned…
Some frogs can’t land.
On Sunday, Rachel and I were coming home with the baby on a tram when a car cut across the tracks and the tram driver slammed on the brakes, sending Rachel flying through the air. She was standing behind the pram and, to avoid crushing our son with her fall, managed to sort of twist her body and jump over him, but it sent her head shooting straight toward a ticket reader machine bolted to a pole. I was also lurching sideways but managed to fling my hand out to get it between her head and the machine. She still hit her head and landed painfully on her back.
We were very shaken up by it. Luckily the baby was fine and lots of very nice people rushed to help, but it was still quite a shock.
Almost immediately after, we got off the tram and were crossing the street when a person on a bicycle shouted at me, “I subscribe to your Substack!” The double shock of the tram incident followed by that maybe had me acting strangely, so if that was you, I apologise if I gave you a weird look or said something odd. And thank you! Though you only said you subscribe, so I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean you read it all the way through every week. But I hope you see this.
Later that evening, I was watching random videos on YouTube at a friend’s house and one came on spotlighting the Pumpkin Toadlet, a tiny frog that is so small its middle ear is too miniscule to keep it balanced properly, so while it can jump, it cannot land. it just planks in mid-air and falls on it’s side.
I remembered watching a documentary, too, a long time ago, about a woman who was flung from her home when it was ripped apart by a twister. She was knocked unconscious and landed miles away, almost completely unharmed. They said she had survived because her body hadn’t tensed up in trying to protect itself but instead went limp and just absorbed the impact.
Falling, if done right, is just good enough to survive.
A quick note to say that the Jacky Winter Residencies are currently open for applications. Both Rachel and I have done one and it’s a fantastic and beautiful space to get some creative work done or even just to sit and contemplate the world.
Applications close very soon, and in my experience it helps if you have a really clearly defined project to work on! But please, go for it! Let me know if you have any q’s.
https://jackywinterplaces.com/gardens/residency-program/