Of Nursery Rhymes
I'm not even going to begin my rant about the underlying meaning of the Nursery Rhymes we grow up with.
Ok so I'll start but won't go too far. I mean what's up with things like
Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
or
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"
What's lessons are we trying to teach with these?! To be womanizing misogynist cowards? To celebrate after playing in our food? What about Jack and Jill (kids that do chores get hurt)? Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater (stuff your estranged spouse into a gourd - wonder if this is still a marriage counseling technique)?
And what's up with Rock-a-bye baby...and babies falling out of trees in their cradles?!
So Eliza and I have decided to reinvent some of the rhymes and songs to either make them make a little more sense, teach a valuable lesson or at least make them a little more modern.
For example,
Peas porridge hot
Peas porridge cold
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old
(Yummy!!!)
A new draft version:
Little Myles Hot
Little Myles Cold
Little Myles in Hong Kong 8 Weeks Old
(and this one even comes with pictures!)
(FYI - Hong Kong Temperature Went from Mid 70s to Mid 50s [after a "Cold Weather" warning] within a couple of days)
Of Exotic Boat Trips and Chinese White Dolphins (are they really white or are they pink? Yes.)
Myles, Eliza, a few coworkers and I took a brief trip this weekend to the Pearl River delta to view a near threatened species, the Chinese White Dolphin. The estimates of the number of this rare animal in the region is about 100 so any boat trip will come with the disclaimer that you are not guaranteed to see any dolphins (the nice thing is if you don't you get a free "re-try" ticket). Why white? Not sure. But are they really white since some people call them pink? In fact, yet. They are born grey, begin losing their grey coloring as they age (as juveniles) and are white as adults. In some cases, when blood is flowing quickly and close to the surface they actually appear pink (just like we turn red when we exercise in the words of the tour guide).
The first stir of excitement was not about seeing a dolphin but rather spotting a bear in our tour group. Yes, Myles wore his bear suit and was the center of attention for a while. Once the boat left the pier, however, the rocking motion, a full tummy, and the sound of the engine had him in temporary hibernation.
With that, the dolphin watching began. It makes things difficult when you're looking for a white fin to pop out of the water only momentarily, especially since the crest of waves typically are the same color and last about the same length of time and are virtually ubiquitous out on the ocean.
So we waited. Not long into the journey, however, our dolphin tour guide exclaimed, "Dolphin at 12:00!" The incline of the boat suddenly tilted forward with the rush of people to the front eagerly whipping out their cameras. And, lo and behold, there was a small white fin methodically piercing the uneven, blue-grey sheath of water far ahead in the distance. The skipper placed the boat into what I call the "Gentle Stalking" speed. Slowly but surely we approached the dolphin and circled around to try and run parallel with it's course. Then inch our way closer and closer so trigger-happy photographers could view the animal through the confined world of their digital camera display.
And when we thought we were lucky to see one and get close enough to take some pretty lame pictures (these aren't Sea World dolphins you know, just swimming along coming up occasionally for air), it happened! A dolphin convention and feast. Not too far ahead of us in the distance was a fishing boat with the nets let down deep into the water. Then we saw them, one, two, three, four, five...the tour guide estimated there were between 12-15 dolphins that converged together to scoop up the fish smart enough to escape the nets but not smart enough to swim in another direction. And so we followed watching them feed for nearly half an hour like some pre-orchestrated synchronized swimming event.
After the fact, the tour guide said we were extremely lucky since a gathering of that magnitude is very rare (and since there are only about 100 in quite a large area in the ocean and tend to believe the argument). The professional camera guy that is part of the crew was having a field day (although I think he may need to get checked out for tendonitis).
So we waited. Not long into the journey, however, our dolphin tour guide exclaimed, "Dolphin at 12:00!" The incline of the boat suddenly tilted forward with the rush of people to the front eagerly whipping out their cameras. And, lo and behold, there was a small white fin methodically piercing the uneven, blue-grey sheath of water far ahead in the distance. The skipper placed the boat into what I call the "Gentle Stalking" speed. Slowly but surely we approached the dolphin and circled around to try and run parallel with it's course. Then inch our way closer and closer so trigger-happy photographers could view the animal through the confined world of their digital camera display.
And when we thought we were lucky to see one and get close enough to take some pretty lame pictures (these aren't Sea World dolphins you know, just swimming along coming up occasionally for air), it happened! A dolphin convention and feast. Not too far ahead of us in the distance was a fishing boat with the nets let down deep into the water. Then we saw them, one, two, three, four, five...the tour guide estimated there were between 12-15 dolphins that converged together to scoop up the fish smart enough to escape the nets but not smart enough to swim in another direction. And so we followed watching them feed for nearly half an hour like some pre-orchestrated synchronized swimming event.
After the fact, the tour guide said we were extremely lucky since a gathering of that magnitude is very rare (and since there are only about 100 in quite a large area in the ocean and tend to believe the argument). The professional camera guy that is part of the crew was having a field day (although I think he may need to get checked out for tendonitis).
More Dolphin Watching Fun:
