In this documentary short, Shaped on all Six Sides by Kat Gardiner, Andy Stewart shares his philosophies about his relationship with and respect for the craft of wooden boat carpentry. This quote on quality and his place in the work stood out:
A lot of the allure of working on wooden boats, actually, is because the sea is the final arbitrator of the quality of your work. It’s very gratifying to see repairs that I’ve done 30 years ago still holding up, and so I feel like I’m part of a long continuum of craftsman keeping vessels around and alive.
It reminded me of the NYTimes article, The Stories That Bind Us, which lays out the benefits of children knowing their family history. Sharing traditions and values through storytelling can help to develop an “intergenerational self,” an understanding of their part in a family narrative that is built with both successes and difficult challenges. A good read…
Like an elusive, caped creature in the ocean, a female blanket octopus glides through the water. We know this video is of a female of the species because she is around two meters (6.6 feet) long. In contrast, the male blanket octopus is less than 3 centimeters wide. Yes, centimeters!
Differences in males and females of a species is called sexual dimorphism, and can include size, coloring or ornamentation, form or structure, and behavior. A few examples of this include peacocks, peacock spiders, birds of paradise, lions, elk, and even humans. The BBC is a good start for further viewing.
This clip is from Oceans, a French documentary film by Jacques Perrin (released in the US by Disneynature). You can watch another clip from the movie here.
via Scientific American’s Octopus Chronicles.
Part one of the award-winning nature film Microcosmos: Le peuple de l’herbe, directed by French biologists Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou.
One hour and fifteen minutes on an unknown planet: Earth, rediscovered on a scale of centimetres. The inhabitants are incredible creatures: insects and other animals living in the grass and in the water. The landscape: impenetrable forest, tufts of grass, drops of dew as big as balloons… A land where the animals walk on water, stroll with their head down and fall without fear from over a hundred times their height, slowed down only by the resistance of the air. In this world the hourglass of time moves faster: one hour equals one day, one day equals one season, one season equals one lifetime. This is a voyage from the inside, leading the spectator to the heart of the action, as though he/she was the size of an insect. In making the spectator forget their human condition - within the framework of film - he/she can better delve into this marvellous reality, normally inaccessible.
The kid should also see part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6. And/or find it on Amazon.
