A fascinating NYT article describes the ongoing experiments conducted by economist Keith Chen, who has taught monkeys to use marshmallows as money. Many kinds of “economic” behavior soon appeared, including, amazingly, prostitution (and a pragmatic followup) : “During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that …
Author: Steve Bodio
Uzbek Wedding Costume
While we are in a Central Asian mood (when are we not, says my editor) here is a fine Uzbek wedding costume sent to me by my son. He and his bride plan to wear something similar to their wedding reception this fall, which will also feature a groom’s cake in the form of a …
Babelfishing for Taigans
Are you familiar with the translation program Babel Fish ? It may work sometimes, but usually the effect is surreal. Background: a friend in Finland informed me that I was being accused on a site in Kirgyzstan of trying to take taigans out of the country illegally– maybe a confusion with my actual ongoing tazi …
“Refugees with Laptops”
… is the phrase Chas at Nature Blog used when he e-mailed me that he and Mary (and their dogs, cat, etc.) had been evacuated from their house by the Forest Service at the approach of the Mason Fire. It is already VERY close– they could lose their house. Chas is fireblogging, with pics, but …
Forgive my language but..
.. or, Good Things from Britain #5. Andrew Stuttaford of NRO sent me to this hilarious and touching site with these words: “Here’s one American’s gesture in the wake of the horror in London. It’s oddly moving, very nostalgic, rather nice, and a terrific read, but, not for people troubled by the f word”. You’ve …
Good Things from Britain 4
The Alpha Environmentalist couldn’t make the comment link work, which is just as well,as he gets his own guest post. He says: “I couldn’t make your “comments” link work, but: . . . the best beer. Sorry, Germany, but England’s breadth ofchoices makes her the top beer country. Not to mention having (still)the best places …
Honor in Animals
From Shelley on Tazi List comes this fascinating Time article on play and fairness in dogs and other social animals. “…Thanks to Bekoff and other researchers, ethologists are also starting to accept the once radical idea that some animals–primarily the social ones such as dogs, chimps, hyenas, monkeys, dolphins, birds and even rats–possess not just …
Welcome Back!
Peculiar has returned from a long hiatus with a feast of new bloggage.
Footprints 2
A considerably more detailed piece from the Independent. Via Cronaca.
Striking Image
From Chas Clifton’s OTHER blog, Letter from Hardscrabble Creek, comes via two other links this striking image and message of a strong black woman with a gun: “Free People Own Guns” Hardscrabble Creek is another example of how simple categories tend to break down these days– it’s Chas and his opinions on academia, contemporary paganism, …