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Daddy, is it better to be squashed by a brontosaurus, or eaten by a T Rex?
sprout Started conversation Nov 1, 2012
If you lived millions of years ago. I opted for the bronto, as I thought it would be quicker. A agreed, and he informed me that they weighed 30 tonnes? Surely not?
I also have the feeling that a T Tex would be a messy eater - wouldn't want to be half eaten and tossed aside.
This is the first Najoblomo entry - tomorrow, more philosophic...
sprout
Daddy, is it better to be squashed by a brontosaurus, or eaten by a T Rex?
Sol Posted Nov 1, 2012
Yes, a wise choice. Although I suppose that being eaten by a T-Rex is a less futile end, so there is that.
When will there be an end to a progress?
sprout Posted Nov 3, 2012
This one startled me. I started with explaining that I hoped there would never be an end to progress, that people would always come up with better ideas, technologies etc. Turned out he meant progress = pollution, more cars etc. Perhaps I've been bringing my work home . So then we discussed the idea of progress being less polluting cars, and so on.
sprout
When will there be an end to a progress?
Beatrice Posted Nov 3, 2012
That's a brilliant question - "Why is growth good?" Yes a growing economy is expected - demanded even - but at what cost? Schumacher's Small is Beautiful explored that notion. I was reading it when I was pregnant with my firstborn, and in the book he quoted "The Challenge of Man's Future" by Professor Harrison Brown. Since my surname was Brown at that time, I called my son Harrison, now Harry for short.
When will there be an end to a progress?
Lanzababy - Guide Editor Posted Nov 3, 2012
*added to Friends so I can catch these journals* Good luck sprout and so glad to see you taking part
ps l love the questions that children pose, and also their total ability to use logic at times to outwit you. And when that doesn't get what they want they can then use illogical but beautifully constructed other 'reasons'.
Why didn't Darth Vader tell Luke he was his day until after he cut his hand off?
sprout Posted Nov 4, 2012
I would be cheating if I didn't give you a Star Wars one - it comes up a lot, as we've been playing Lego Star Wars on the computer (me and both boys...) It's a very funny game, I have to say, and it's nice to see these classics cross the generations.
Anyway, my answer to the question was that it's not practical to break that kind of news while you're fighting someone with a light saber, so they needed a natural pause as it were, and Luke losing his light saber hand seemed to provide that...
Ps, Beatrice - on the progress question, that angle (can we really have infinite growth on a finite word?) is one I ask myself a lot, although no-one is allowed to mention it at work anymore - the idea that we wouldn't all be striving for the maximum of GDP is totally taboo.
sprout
Will people remember me after I'm gone?
sprout Posted Nov 6, 2012
Dad, not day, in the last Star Wars one of course.
I'm not quite sure where the latest one (in the subject) came from. My Father in law is very sick at the moment, so death has been a bit on their minds - (from the four year old - "I don't want to die, even when I'm very old")...
The answer from me to the question in the subject was that he had his whole life ahead of him, and it depends what he did with it! Some people were still remembered thousands of years afterwards, others not so much. Actually, I should have found that Ozymandius poem, come to think of it.
The broader question on how to talk about death is a bit trickier - and not just with kids either!
sprout
Would you prefer to have a plane that is aerodynamic or supersonic?
sprout Posted Nov 8, 2012
Someone's learnt some new words! My take on this was that if it was supersonic then it was almost certainly aerodynamic - it's hard to make a plane sized brick go that fast...
sprout
Would you prefer to have a plane that is aerodynamic or supersonic?
Beatrice Posted Nov 8, 2012
Easy. The more aerodynamic it is, the more efficient it is, so the less fuel it uses, so saving the world's resources ( see previous questions)
Would you prefer to have a plane that is aerodynamic or supersonic?
Sol Posted Nov 9, 2012
These are really excellent questions. I bet you have a lot of fun answering them.
Interesting, him equating progress with negativity. Sensible boy, that, really.
How do people steal money using a computer?
sprout Posted Nov 10, 2012
I have to admit he didn't get an answer to this one. It came just as we were going to get the bus, in between the checking-of-pockets and the-last-mouthful-of-coffee. And by the time we were waiting for his school bus, we'd moved on to something else.
Might have been for the best really - I'm still not quite sure myself...
Bea, Sol thanks for your comments - he would have liked the fuel efficiency answer!
sprout
If you were a soldier, would you rather have a pistol or a rifle?
sprout Posted Nov 12, 2012
Flippant answer: a pistol, because it's lighter, and because that would make me an officer which is safer and better paid. Furrowed brow from progeny: "But what if you were attacked from a long way away?"
It's a fair point... Hide in a bunker?
sprout
If you were a soldier, would you rather have a pistol or a rifle?
Sol Posted Nov 13, 2012
I think I'd go for the rifle - wouldn't that make you a sniper? Reasonably safe, lots of lying down.
Why do people write on buildings?
sprout Posted Nov 16, 2012
Re the sniper, the lying down sounds good, but I'd be useless. Friends of mine used to take me hunting rabbits and pigeons with an air rifle, and I never got one. Not even a flesh wound.
For today's question he got the standard adult answer from his mum - form of vandalism, basically. I kept prudently quiet, but I suspect there's more to it than that.
I think there's an element of territorial marking, and for the good ones, an element of artistic expression. Unfortunately, all the graffiti near us is rubbish, so I didn't try to make that point...
sprout
Why do people write on buildings?
Beatrice Posted Nov 16, 2012
"tagging" - putting your name to graffiti - always reminds me of dogs spraying and marking their territory.
Some of it is art - can you get youtubage of any of the time-delay photograph sequences that look like people moving across the building? Some of it is self-expression. But most of it is just "because we can"
Are there any animals (apart from the dodo) that have become extinct because of humans?
sprout Posted Nov 19, 2012
Err. There must be some - Tasmanian Tiger? Can't think of any actually. Should google it with him...
sprout
ps - on the graffiti, I should really show him a Banksy - despite all the hype, I think they're pretty good.
Are there any animals (apart from the dodo) that have become extinct because of humans?
Beatrice Posted Nov 20, 2012
http://www.50birds.com/extan/gextanimals1.htm
Some interesting specimens, certainly!
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Daddy, is it better to be squashed by a brontosaurus, or eaten by a T Rex?
- 1: sprout (Nov 1, 2012)
- 2: Vip (Nov 1, 2012)
- 3: Sol (Nov 1, 2012)
- 4: sprout (Nov 3, 2012)
- 5: Beatrice (Nov 3, 2012)
- 6: Lanzababy - Guide Editor (Nov 3, 2012)
- 7: sprout (Nov 4, 2012)
- 8: sprout (Nov 6, 2012)
- 9: sprout (Nov 8, 2012)
- 10: Beatrice (Nov 8, 2012)
- 11: Sol (Nov 9, 2012)
- 12: sprout (Nov 10, 2012)
- 13: sprout (Nov 12, 2012)
- 14: Sol (Nov 13, 2012)
- 15: sprout (Nov 16, 2012)
- 16: Beatrice (Nov 16, 2012)
- 17: sprout (Nov 19, 2012)
- 18: Beatrice (Nov 20, 2012)
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