February, 2007

For Brian (not that one but the other one) -- some explicit lyrics.

I was going to bed last night, but when I locked the front door I happened to look outside and the sky was blue and red.

I'm writing a summary of recent anti-(hostile)-takeover provisions for a client, and I thought I'd take a second to share a little terminology. One of the most powerful forms of shark repellent is the poison pill, which may come in the flip-in or flip-over variety, and which could also, until recently (in Delaware, at least), be a dead-hand pill or a no-hand pill. Of course, if a board fighting off a hostile takeover gets really desperate, it might offer a lock up to a white night, or turn instead to the pac man defense. And if the directors get to keep their jobs, the board might just go out and get staggered. Serious bidness, folks.

During one undergraduate philosophy class that I remember particularly well, we discussed someone's (the author was a phenomenologist, but I don't recall which) belief that all that we do is somehow motivated by our fear of death. I remember the class so well because I thought this was baloney and was surprised to find that I was the only one.

My views on this have not changed, even though, as I get older, I occasionally get a bit dizzy when confronted with evidence of the brevity of even very full lives. Death is a limitation with which I am coming to terms. And tonight, for the first time, it occurred to me that sg lives with the same limitation.

I've been thinking a lot lately about pop music for kids. For one thing, my iPod has been at capacity for a while, and when the next model comes out, Sophia will get mine. But what to put on it? Also, we are quickly approaching the time when I need to make sure that certain words are infrequent in, if not absent from, the tunes I play around Sophia. Finally, I've been thinking about what makes a good song for kids, and whether there's any particular reason kids and adults can't like the same stuff.

For example, almost anything by They Might Be Giants would count, but they've produced some specifically-for-kids items (mostly like the regular TMBG plus some educational qualities and minus a fascination with death). And I suspect that almost anything from the Shins' Chutes Too Narrow will be appreciated.

I have no idea about the appropriateness of the lyrics for this song, as I can't understand most of them. Or, at least, I think I can understand most the words that are in English, just not whatever is being communicated. But I do think that "Chu chu chu chu beep beep!" qualifies as kid friendly.

What are some examples of grownup pop that makes good kids' music?

Didn't want to leave the you-know-what picture at the top of the page for too long.

We've been reading the Portable Pediatrician to keep on top of what's going on with the baby, what to expect as normal and what to get freaked out about. One thing we've read, and have found to be true, is that after about 6 weeks of age the baby begins to poop less often - more like once every couple of days as opposed to the previous multiple times per day.