Child Philosophy

Mummy blogging time again.

My children have been responsible for two wonderfully simple and humbling pieces of philoophy.

When they were two and both were in cots, one of our children woke in the morning and decided that a bit of faecal smearing on the pillow was a good idea. And for all I know, it may be. Never tried it myself. The other child, also awake and standing against the cot railing, said:

You shouldnt poo on your pillow.

If that isnt a title of a philosophy book, I dont know what is.

Then, only recently, another of our children was being very brave while I hacked out a splinter from her foot. I'm sure I was as delicate as a thirsty man digging for water in a rocky desert. After it came out, I showed her its size and she asked:

Why is life so full of splinters?

Now that is a metaphor for existence.

Tom

My favourite music

My cherished songs are not listed in a top ten or twenty or thirty. They are listed according to mood.

When happy or pleased or content, I need no songs
When despondant: Radiohead's I Want None of This
When angry and aggresive: Tomahawk's God Hates a Coward
When aggressively poetic: The Mars Volta's Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore: D. Con Safo
When abandoned by existence: Radiohead's Jigsaw Falling into Place

When foolhardy: Ween's Dont shit where you eat

When empowered: TZU's The Horse You Rode in On
When desperate: Tomahawk's Narcosis
When politically angry: The Drones' Jezebel
When joyfully despondant: Tomahawk's Sun Dance
When unmotivated: The Drones' Why Write a Letter that you'll Never Send
When uncommunicative: Live's White, Discussion
When nihilistic: Pixies' Where is my Mind
When alone: Peeping Tom's We're Not Alone
When self-destructive: The Future of the Left's Small Bones, Small Bodies
When obsessive: Massive Attack's Angel
When worthless: Radiohead's Videotape
When worthless and hopeless: Radiohead's Reckoner

Tom

Lightning

I find lightning storms alluring. The camera flashes in the sky with more power then any mining technology or explosive technician can harness. A forked purple thread snaking from the sky seeking you out to strike you down for no other reason than you were the tallest poppy in the field. There are advantages to being a small poppy.

And I am aware of the danger of lightning. Risk of major fires and electrocution and property damage. But I find it wonderful to feel so powerless. So meek in the face of the random lightshow published by our planet and guided by physics. Clouds so big and dark and thick that you know there's lightning in there but only because of the glow of purple like a luminescent and transient oedema.

I know that owing to the storm there are now people risking their lives to save properties and bushland from inferno. I care about them. And I also am allowed to marvel at this force. My enjoyment of it is not linked to its proliferation. Only in a fairytale where some omnipotent figure answers my prayers can that be true. It is random and all the more enjoyable because of it. It might be tomorrow or next week or next decade that I witness its like again.

I look forward to it.

Tom

Fuck the fireworks

Why are humans still impressed with fireworks?

If we all stopped visiting fireworks displays and watching them on television we would have significantly more money to spend on roads and health and education and community gardens. You know, things that actually have a significant impact on our lives.

Fireworks are a primary school boys' toilet. All the junior males are trying to piss higher and higher up the wall. And what is the outcome? Someone not pissing at the time has to judge who had the highest urine stream.

Next year, whenever fireworks are on, boycott the telecast and dont crowd at the sites.

Wont take long for councils and state governments and federal governments to get the message that it is just a peacock tailfeather display that wont result in successful offspring but rather drained budgets.

Tom

Michael Schumacher

I dont think it is a tragedy that Michael Schumacher is in a coma with a significant brain injury.

I think it was an accident made more likely by his choice of hobby. After more than fifteen years driving the most high-performance automobiles in the world he suffered a significant head injury skiing whilst on holiday.

I admired his ability when he was the best F1 driver on the planet. Used to watch him drive around every Sunday the races were on with dodgily purchased tequila and vodka and two or three mates. His ability shone through in an industry when automotons thrived. He was the most efficient of the most efficient.

For the sake of his family I hope he pulls through with negligible residual effects from the injury.

Tom