Election Results at the moment

I thought it would be sort of simple to follow the election, but they don't even have the same vote in the same state at the same time - ie, republicans have a vote in State A, but the democrats don't have a vote in that state until later. Complicating the matter are caucuses, and 52 states. I think it is spreadsheet time...
Until then:
Republican - 1,237 needed for nomination. 1,435 available
Trump - 458
Cruz - 359
Rubio - 151
Kasich - 54

Democratic - 2,383 required for nomination, 2,968 available
Clinton - 1,233
Sanders - 574
But both have a portion of superdelegates, who can support any candidate, whose vote isn't final until the convention, which is in July.

The plot thickens...

Getting creative with the maths

I'm not sure if there is a message in this one, but the boy didn't just get a toy car from his mom, he got a huge flat bed truck.

Spring!

According to the boy at school, spring starts on 20 or 21st of March, which is mildly exciting. This winter has been sort of tough, with unpredictable weather, and not enough snow. I had a lovely day at home with the youngest, where we ate picnic lunch on the deck, and enjoyed the sunshine on our toes.
It was a really nice moment.

Science Fair

In true scientist style, we are going to get to write why this one didn't work as expected...

Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday has come and gone, I meant to blog about it in a more timely fashion, but there you go.
The primary elections start in a dribble, but Super Tuesday (1st March in 2016, but it varies) is a day that decides some candidates futures. A huge group of states all hold their elections on the same day. I think in fact, more delegates are up for grabs than on any other day. The date changes, and the states participating changes. This year, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado (caucus), Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota (caucus), Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermon and Virginia participated. Additionally, Republican caucuses in Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming were held. The terrirory of American Samoa had a Democratic caucus. I presume these last states will have caucuses or something for the other party some other time.
At the end of the day, Hillary Clinton won 7 states and 486 delegates. Bernie Sanders won 4 states and 321 delegates - enough to make him declare he is staying in the race.
In the Republicans - Donald Trump won 7 states and 256 delegates, Ted Cruz won 3 states and 219 candidates, and Marco Rubio won 1 state and 101 delegates. Although they didn't win any states, John Kasich won 21 delegates and Ben Carson won 3 delegates. I don't know how that works. Maybe you can win counties within states or something. It might have something to do with whether the state has a 'winner takes all' approach to delegate votes, or not?
Which puts the leaders of the race on either side (Clinton, Trump) about half way to the amount of delegates they need to get through to the presidential vote.

Boiled Eggs and Vegimite Toast

I tried to pass on a treasured memory of my childhood today - eating boiled eggs and vegimite toast. I remember sitting in the highchair at "Hebron" eating this, while mum did whatever in the kitchen.
Major failing of our lovely kitchen - no egg cups. I will have to keep my eye out. We made do with glasses and paper towel, but it did make it more awkward for Mr 4. It was a bit of a train wreck - we ended up with egg on the floor, down the front, on the table, etc, and I had to sit on my hands to not take over and do it for him.
things learnt:

• 2 pieces of toast too much for four year old
• 2 eggs nearly too much for four year old
• even when given spoon, four year old will scoop out of egg shell, dump on plate and eat with hands
• slightly soft eggs probably better (not hard boiled). Might discourage hands

Christmas Morning Snow

This was sort of how I imagine snow on Christmas morning should look. No powder, very wet sort of spoggy snow that clung to trees and fences (until the wind started shaking it off in lumps!). The downside - it starts melting about mid morning, and by evening it is gone. The upside? Perfect for rolling big balls of snow to make snowmen! I had never succeeded with this before.