2961 Wind and Babies

Sunday, May 9, 2010

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
--Isaac Newton--
If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.
--Hal Abelson--
In computer science, we stand on each other's feet.
--Brian K. Reed--

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Whatever happened to the expression "I have a cold in my back"? It used to mean muscle cramps, which usually resulted from a draft on one's back. You don't hear it at all anymore.

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Wind! We had 50 mph gusts yesterday. I went to see "Babies" at the arts theater, and almost couldn't get home. There were trees and large and small branches down on the road everywhere. It was complicated by bridge work. The county has used economic incentive money to replace bridges over the hundreds of streams and creeks and ravines on small roads everywhere, which is good for many reasons, except that they seem to have decided to do them all at once!

The Hairless Hunk cleaned up all the winter-downed branches on my property last week, and the yard looked good. He's going to have to do it all over again. Luckily, nothing has fallen on the house or driveway.

When Jay first moved into this house in the early '80s, his parents gave him a young maple tree as a housewarming gift. They planted it to the side of the house, outside a bathroom window.

Unfortunately, it was planted too close to the woods, and now it's huge and leans toward the house, looming threateningly over the roof. It's unbalanced, with more branch growth on the "open" house side. The Hairless Hunk has recommended that we take it out. I can't cut it down, because it meant a lot to Jay.

Maybe, when I move and sell this house, the new owners will have more sense and less sentimentality.

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"Babies", the documentary, was enjoyable. It's perhaps not something you should schedule time for, but if you have some free time and it's showing near you, see it. It is very cute.

I had watched a TV interview with the director last week, and he had said that the movie illustrated that first-world children are over attended, over stimulated, and over scheduled, and it's absolutely not necessary, that children are perfectly happy playing alone with sticks and stones, and a little boredom doesn't hurt them. He said that the Mongolian baby was usually left alone in the yurt for up to eight hours while his mother was working with the herds, and he was perfectly fine.

Well, actually, the film didn't show any of that. You see it, but no point is made. Well, if there is a point, it's that a child must know that they are loved, unconditionally, and that they make their mother smile. Everything else is fluff.

The clearest contrast was the attitude toward dirt. The American and Japanese babies were protected from nature and dirt - the Mongolian and African babies reveled in it, with no harm at all. That's kind of my attitude. Babies should get dirty! The dirtier the better! They should french kiss the dog! I've told Daughter that I intend to sail leaves in the gutters with my grandchild, and dig worms, and make mud pies, and yes, we might even taste them.

(Maybe that's why I have no grandchildren yet.)
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