Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Babies’

Babies and Steam Engines

Posted in neat-O gang, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2009| 12 Comments »

We are all living in a village and a terrible horde of Mongols descend on our hamlet.  So many Mongols that there is no way to fight them, we all have to go down into the cellar and hide.  Here we are, 100 hundred of us, huddling in the cellar waiting for the villainous Mongols to move on, if we make one tiny sound they will find us and slaughter us all!

And you brought your baby and the baby is hungry and is about to cry.

Would you smother your baby and kill her to save the village?

What a crazy question right?  I was listening to Radiolab tonight and their topic was “Abstract Thought.”  Have a listen, Killing Babies, Save the World.

If we asked our little village of 100 what they would do, it would split down the middle 50/50.  Half of us would kill the baby and half could never.

That split would likely fall down the line of who has kids and who does not because if the question is, “Would Jeremy kill Madelyn to save all you fuckers?”  then my answer would be no, I would not.  Sorry folks, but you’re all target practice for those murderous Mongols’ arrows.

However, if the question is, “would you kill A baby (no baby in particular, but just A baby) to save the lives of 100 people?” your (and even my) rationale brain would say, yes it must, sadly, be so.

weird stuff to think about.  The podcast goes on to discuss this abstract scenario.

You’re walking along the Sea Wall sporting a mighty fine $1,000 suit (or you ladies might be rocking a signed R Patts T-shirt) and you happen upon a drowning woman in the ocean.  Do you jump into the sea to save her but ruin your new suit?

The answer for almost all of us is, yes I would jump in the sea and ruin my $1,000 suit to save the life of this drowning woman.

Now you feel like a hero and you get home and in your mailbox is a letter asking for a donation of $1,000 to save the life of A girl somewhere else in the world.  Do you cut the cheque and drop it in the mail?  The answer for most of us is… no.

Why?

To quote Pearl Jam, its evolution baby.  The woman we know, we see drowning… we save because basically, she is part of our tribe.  We have an emotional attachment to the situation.  The woman dying of starvation in Ethiopia is an abstract thought.  What lady?  who? where?  never heard of Sierra Leone… and we move on.  Am I bad guy?  Kinda when you think about it, but not really because my simple brain can’t comprehend it.  I have no emotional connection to the starving lady across the world but I have an emotional connection to $1,000 err $300 in my bank account.

This is a super duper problem because right now, the biggest issues facing our planet, pollution/global warming/war/starvation are global abstract problems.  neat.

***

I love listening to the radio.  When I am not working on the radio and I am driving around I enjoy punching around the dial.  I find that I am more likely to find something I enjoy somewhere on the FM dial than I am am poking around my TV.

Today I was listening to the CBC and they had this great documentary about the history of the Steam Engine.

Listen to the Story of Steam. amazing bit of radio both sonically (sounded great) but also a mighty fine story.  Basically it talks about how huge the invention of the steam engine was for all of us today.  If you’re a dork like me, it’ll be worth your time to listen to the show.

Go with yourself.

Read Full Post »

Shopping With Madelyn

Posted in ...this is your father speaking, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2009| 4 Comments »

Read Full Post »

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends

Posted in Dave Babych, music, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2008| 5 Comments »

iTunes ‘Genius’ has some interesting picks today.  I used Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” as the base and somehow P!nk’s new one came up (yes I have P!nk’s new one on my iTunes).  We didn’t fight long, I forgave iTunes because she included a couple hits from my fave band The National and one from the Hold Steady.

***

I read an article today about Canadians fleeing stress and moving to the Tropics.

Canadians Flee the Stress of The Cities for Place Like Costa Rica

The article says that some of us are rejecting this crazy consumer culture for an easier way in the jungle.  Maybe eating monkey?

An extensive survey released late last year by an economist at the University of British Columbia found that people overestimate the amount of happiness they’ll get from material things.

So the answer is to run away to a sunnier place.  It would be a lie if I said I have never thought of it.  Sometimes I get so stressed out and tired.  Some guy wrote a book about meditation called It Begins With Silence.  Maybe one day I’ll actually read that.  I typed “Begins With Silence” into a search engine and I found a t-shirt that says, “Music Begins With Silence,” and I was like whoa…

One thing I used to do a lot more of to decompress and self medicate was listen to music.  Listen for the pleasure of listening.  It helped that A:  I had no baby, and B: I walked an hour a day which was valuable time to listen.  Lately, I have been listening more and it makes a difference.

It has been awhile since I’ve heard a song that I love, like L O V E.  and finally I have that again.  I have a crush on the new KOL track “Use Somebody.”  Like a 12-year-old, I fire this thing up on repeat.  The song is one of those rare gems that actually makes me feel better just from listening.  Sorta like booze, but I don’t puke up any foam.  Driving to Hugos last night, I pushed the limits of the Jeep’s stereo with the song.  Motivational…

Got me really fired up to spin at Hugo’s.  My Tuesday night is coming to an end on October twenty-something… 21st maybe?  Is that a Tuesday?  Yesterday was pretty slow, everyone kept telling me, “don’t worry Jeremy, EVERYWHERE is slow,” which sorta made me feel better.  The night picked up a bit and the people that did come were a good time.  I will miss my Tuesday nights… come the end of October I’ll need to find another job.  There are a couple plans floating around right now, so we’ll see what pans out.  If I end up doing a dance night, I think I want to do something reggae-ish and call my night the “The Tropic of Jeremy.”  That makes me laugh every time. Every time.

The other idea I had was creating a small production business crafting mini-infomercials or content commercials for businesses.  They can use them as commercials that educate or edusell, or even as podcasts on their websites… I dunno.  Still kinda heshing that out in the brain.

***

On my show Friday, Victoria rockers theset will be coming by for an interview and live performance.

theset is truth

They play a show on Friday night at the White Eagle Hall and then its off on a tour.  They’ll be heading to Deadmonton so I emailed Adam at Sonic 102.9 about meeting the boys and having a listen to their new album, Neveroddoreven.  Adam sent me a band from Edmonton to check out called The Wet Secrets.

The Wet Secrets

Adam says, ” We’re playing the snot out of Secret March, and its getting a phenomal reaction.”

ewwwwww, snot.

Next week I am filling in for Dylan on the morning show.  So far I am looking forward to an interview with author Sarah Kramer on the 24th and an interview with author Patrick Lane on the 30th.  Maybe I should try and hook up an interview with the “It Begins With Silence” guy?  I’d be into learning more about that.

For the Is Dave There? game I want to try and track down some famous Daves.  Like Dave Babych… but maybe also David Lettermen and David Suzuki.  Any other famous Daves you can think of to try and call so people can win prizes?

***

Coral and I took Madelyn for shots yesterday.  Amazingly she did NOT cry for the first one and barely cried on the second.

We got her standing up a bit on her wobbly legs (some pics are posted on my Facebook).

She baby babbles.  Baby babbles very loudly.

She just babbles on and on and on…. its like, “Jeezus baby, would you just shut it and play a bloody song already!”

She is whip smart.  Always exploring and learning about her world. I have said it before… she is not going to be a doctor or an astronaut, she is going to be a doctor on a spaceship!  Maybe after she discovers how to travel the speed of light.  and she’ll make Coke Zero taste good… and I’ll be thin with awesome hair and a laser machete.

Go with yourself.

Read Full Post »