austin_dern | You know he's nothing but a man and he can never fail

My mathematics blog had a gift possibility open up this week. You don't need to get it for me. But if you're interested in what you missed, here, enjoy.

Reading the Comics, February 15, 2017: SMBC Cuts In Line Edition --- or do they?
One Way To Get Your Own Theorem and it's a gift service I don't endorse, just acknowledge the existence of.
Reading the Comics, February 15, 2017: SMBC Does Not Cut In Line Edition and sorry to leave you in suspense like that.
Reading the Comics, February 23, 2017: The Week At Once Edition so there'll have to be something ... different? ... on Thursday.

Ah, now for a break from pinball reporting with ... pinball event pictures. These are from July and the Baby Food Festival/Meijer State Games, in Fremont, a tiny town we'd come to know one small part of well in the close of the year.

Trophy table at the Summer 2016 Baby Food Festival/Meijer State Games pinball tournament. bunny_hugger and I would take two of the medals home. Note the baby food festival trophies there. The Coke wasn't anybody's particular award.

Competitors putting in games for the Baby Food Festival tournament. The screen on the right lists the standings. The people above the red line are qualified for finals. Qualification is based on total points, with more points given for beating more people's scores on a single machine. One good game might not be as valuable as fair scores on everything.

Low-angle view of every pinball tournament, or at least what qualifying for the tournaments always looks like.

bunny_hugger grabbing the awards presentation to the kids division winners. The kid on the right would go on to state finals.

bunny_hugger examining her own medal, for second place in the women's division.

Finals. ADM tries to put up enough billions on The Walking Dead to squeeze out victory. Watching him with the notepad is AJH, who'd be the top seed in the state thanks in part to his knowing how to get ALL THE RANKING POINTS EVER for arranging pinball events like this.

Trivia: In May 1932 an experimental television broadcast for station W6XAO, Los Angeles, originated from a tri-motored airplane in flight. Source: Please Stand By: A Prehistory Of Television, Michael Ritchie.

Currently Reading: Vichy: Two Years Of Deception, Léon Marchal, Translated by Jean Davidson, Don Schwind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm afraid that was third place in the women's, hence the bronze medal. I took second the year before.

And it turns out I took third place in Classics too, which helps us not be quite sure which medal is which.

Nice shot of Embryon, one of the many 80's era machines that passed through my parents' store.

Yeah. I got to liking the game at the Brighton Arcade pinball league, gone now. It turns up in the Classics tournaments on the west side of the state and this was a surprise appearance in the main tournament.

..

.. even pinball is gendered? O.o

I bet the justifications for that are entertaining.

Not really. Women compete in everything, but to a minor degree there have also been occasional women's tournaments (as well as a couple of large women's leagues, but not in this state). This is because women are very underrepresented in the hobby (because it has been presented traditionally as very masculine) and it is an attempt to encourage more women to participate. I am entirely in favor of having women's tournaments and leagues and it's something I'd like to see more of.

Said better than I did. Thank you.

No, pinball is sexist. It's always been a bit male-biased, what with it coming out of gambling and machinery and growing up in pool halls and bars and the like. But, good grief, one of Stern Pinball's games a year and a half ago was the breast-themed Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons. (OK, Stern only manufactured the games, under license, but they chose to manufacture games that looked like that (http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=6252&picno=66042).)

Pinball is very guy-heavy, and that's a problem. There's women who would likely enjoy playing, and enjoy the community, who aren't participating. Either they don't know they're welcome to join, or they don't feel welcome to join, and that's something it takes conscious effort to change. Women's rankings, and tournaments, and leagues where that can be supported are things that pinball players can do to help people feel welcome.

(Pinball is also very white-heavy, and I'm happy to support similar efforts to help more people feel welcome and wanted.)

You know he's nothing but a man and he can never fail

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