Oct

22

I can't begin to express my disapproval of letting a son go round putting people in choke holds, and kidding them about their lives. I can't begin to think of a worse thing to do to people, and worse training for a kid. All fathers should put a violent stop to such activities at the first signs of it. I have had people put choke holds on me, and the feeling of helplessness and having death in the hands of a joker is one of the most terrible feelings that one can have. It can lead to all sorts of dire consequences and thank the good one that my friend who mentioned something about this to me is still healthy after their encounters and amusing contretemps in it.

Ralph Vince writes:

I agree that no one (of any age) should go around doing that, and a fortiori, young people must be taught to make sure not to let people come up behind them, to track them in their head, and to have a sense of the whereabouts in the plane surrounding them of all who are about. It's too easy to become preoccupied in thought (or conversation) and lose sense of where the pieces are on the chessboard.

That being said, I think having enemies expedites education. I can only speak for myself, but I live in the middle ages, and wouldn't think of leaving home without a cup and two discrete weapons. A gentle man should look like a gentleman, and above all, never, ever let anyone come up behind them for any reason. Similarly, one should be very careful when coming up behind someone else, to speak to them and them know. 

Kim Zussman writes:

Funny no one looked up the actual risks to "choking out".

However this fits with the ubiquitous meme on dailyspec, "we as parents who have lived longer (but aren't necessarily successful / self actualized / or understand fully what we are doing here) will instruct you".

Or, that you should study certain music, sports, chess, religion, etc, in order to have a better life (fit in, reproduce, instruct, etc).

This was apparent this afternoon observing various bird species. The local crows call to each other in a way they all accept. Most likely the calls are reassuring: "we are crows and we got it right!". Also there is a lot of Mexican sage growing here, which attracts legions of hummingbirds. They twit twit continuously, zipping about, arguing over this or that mate but at the same time saying "we are hummingbirds and WE got it right".

New to our neighborhood is the black-hooded parakeet - a non-native parrot released into the wild but living and reproducing happily here. They fly in a tight noisy cluster - from one neighbor's Mexican palm to another's pine. Somehow these two trees are go-to places for the parrots, as they squawk and argue about tabloidesque mating rights.

What does this have to do with Reese Witherspoon putting her Ojai house on the market ?

This:

"Libbey Ranch provides a serene setting to be with her family, and looms large in her approach to parenting. "It reminds me of growing up in Tennessee, where we spent all day outside," she says. "I wanted my children to have that experience, to get muddy and hang out with the animals."

Indeed, Witherspoon has turned Libbey Ranch into a menagerie. A Friesian horse and a chestnut pony share the paddock. There are donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens, and four whimsically named dogs: Hope, Nashville, Coco Chanel, and Hank Williams. Neff fashioned animal silhouettes that are perched on wooden fences around the property. "

An iconic actress teaching that the fond remembrances of her childhood should be impressed on her own children for their own good. But now married to a man who is not these children's father, and expecting his. Evidently the ranch has to go.

But Ojai is not just about Hollywood. In fact other mothers duked it out there Friday on one of my mountain biking trails:

"A 50-year-old woman was walking her three dogs Friday on a road just north of the Ojai city limits and adjacent to Los Padres National Forest when she apparently surprised a California black bear and a cub. The bear, described as cinnamon brown in color, was estimated to weigh 250 pounds and was with a cub that appeared to weigh about 50 pounds, the department said.


The bears ran across the road ahead of the woman, but then the larger one came back to her and scratched her wrist, leaving a 1- to 2-inch wound that was not life-threatening, officials said. The attacking bear began to leave, and the woman turned her back it. But the animal returned and charged the woman, knocking her down an embankment. In addition to the earlier wound, the woman received at least several 6-inch abrasions that appeared to be from a claw, the department said."


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