5 things for this week (Part 24)

How would you rate a super villain?

Of course, you can rate him on a multitude of factors, that are entirely dependent on your arbitrary considerations. You can rate him based on the number of super powers he has; on the use and extent to which he is able to use them; on the number of people he has killed, his sense (or lack of it); on his ingenuity; on his cruelty; on his dressing; on the power of his anti-villain; and much more.

But like I said before, this is all arbitrary. And there is nothing more confusing than the state of being able to compare something to anything. It was to solve this basic conundrum that our recent forefathers decided to standardize the basic units of measurements, based on naturally occurring phenomenons. They had had enough of their forefathers telling them to measure length by the width of the king's palm, or the length of some unknown limb.

So, as you can see, we need to standardize our estimation for rating a super villain. And to make this easy, let me suggest to you a simple method. Let us see how the villain reacts to having to kill a baby.

To kill a baby would require the individual to be devoid of any sense of humanity. The most evil of the evil men we know have committed this crime. You want names?? How about Kamsa and Voldemort ??If you are saying that they are mythological/fictional, please bear with me for a few more paragraphs till I make my main point.

Try to remember the times when you watched NatGeo or Animal Planet. There, you had super slow-mo shots of the wild animals in their natural glory in the wilderness of Africa. You saw the lion chasing the buffalo, and you were amazed by the speed and tactics employed by the hunter to ensnare its prey. At this moment, the hunt happening on the screen enraptured you.

But what if the same lion was chasing a calf, instead of a buffalo. On whose side will you be on now?
I hope you answer rightly to that question.

And I don't think I have to explain why this act is such a heinous crime. A baby is the quintessence of innocence and naivety. He doesn't know right from wrong, and would have committed no act of consequence as of then. For me, to kill a baby would be the worst thing a person could do.

How many of you would believe me blindly if I said that this act is rampant in this world? You might have to think about this for a second or two, but remember that the acts of abortion is basically killing a baby, even before he/she has come into this world.

According to statistics available, about 80+ abortions take place per minute worldwide. In India, there is the special case of female foeticide, where pre-natal sex determination (which is banned) is used to abort female foetus. It is believed that over 500,000 girls are being lost annually through sex-selective abortions.

I can't stop someone sitting somewhere from carrying out this act, but I hope, I have given you a brief idea of how cruel this act is. Here's to sincerely hoping that none of us even have to think about abortion in our lives.

RANT OVER.

So, let's get back to the business of "5 things". That's what you are here for, that's why I'm here for. And this week, we'll base it on facts about Babies.

Let's begin, shall we??

Did you know...

1 ...that the number of bones in a baby reduces as he/she grows up??

A baby has 300 separate bones at birth, but by adulthood we have only 206. Many small bones, like in the skull, fuse together. Another example for that is kneecaps, since babies are born without kneecaps.

2 ...that a baby has the potential to be more intelligent than you??

By the time of birth, a baby's brain is made up of more than 10 million nerve cells. It’s downhill from here. So, theoretically, any given baby can grow up to be more intelligent than you, by controlling the number of nerve cells he/she loses.

3. ...that a baby knows its mother??

Well, this hardly qualifies as a fact. But I'm going to back this up with scientific looking facts, for which I have no proof.

• Babies are born with very poor vision but can recognize their mothers almost right away.
• Most babies recognize their mothers' voices when they are born, but take around 14 days to learn to recognize their father's voice.
• A baby’s strongest sense is smell and they can recognize their mothers by scent alone

4. ...that babies would love you to sing to them??

And not just the normal songs too. If you can pull off the high pitches, they'll be all the more grateful to you. Cos babies like hearing high-pitched singing voices.

5. ...that having a baby is a lot of trouble??

Even though it's pretty easy to make a baby, having one is an entirely different proposition. And I'm not talking about the labour pain.

A new baby usually deprives each of its parents around 350-400 hours of sleep in the first year. That is one entire nights sleep per week, per parent. Now, you don't have to wonder why that friend of yours, who is a new father/mother, is looking like a zombie.

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Seems like I got something right again. The law of infinite possibilities clearly states that there is a chance for that to happen always, but I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn't surprised (and genuinely pleased) by the response I got to my last post. Thank you all for your nice comments, reviews and responses. This will, hopefully, allow me to beat the law of unavoidable crapness in my future blogs. In case you missed out on the post I'm talking about, you can read it at "...and another one fades away..."

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Well, that's it for now.
See you all next week.
Have a great weekend!!!