The boys' bedtime story tonight was another biography about the Wright Brothers. After reading a bit about early flight experimentation with hot air balloons, I decided that the boys had to see the opening scene from Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, which I am now certain must have been inspired by an incident in France when a pair of inventors got their balloon to fly for around a mile, only to have it torn apart by frightened peasants after it settled to earth. Both of the boys found it interesting, even though the film is in black and white, and subtitled - two nearly unpardonable sins in the eyes of the young. Kids these days...

We should never let our fear of the unknown inspire brutish behavior. It's just uncouth. Loutish, even. Oh, wait, the president does it. Must be okay then. Imagine all of those french peasants with the face of George W. Bush - semi simian, and not quite comprehending what it is that they're in the process of destroying. It's a frightening image to be sure.