chimps just mushrooms short of civilization

Still no baby yet... the waiting, hopefully, is the hardest part... was due the 22nd... we await his arrival imminently...

I just read on the BBC that chimps have been observed using spears (they sharpen them with their teeth) to hunt other primates. I knew they could use sticks to fish out termites and rocks to bash nuts. They've also been observed standing in apparent awe at the sight of a wonder of nature, say a rainbow over a waterfall, perhaps the makings of a spirituality of sorts... just wait till they find magic mushrooms (see Terrence McKenna), then they'll really be showing us evolution in action... story here.

Here's a link to a new Charlie Taylor video - Too Drunk To Drink

I did a little video for Rock when Charlie was on stage at last year's Spring Scream.

Look for a shot of IVO below the stage that they put in the video...

I don't know why but this last blip tv post has saddled me with a much too large thumbnail of Ivo... trying to work out the kinks in the relationship between blip and beta blogger...for now you can just click the pick to watch the video...

IVO DRUMMING! "NO PICTURE!"

Click to Play

Ivo loves drumming and drums on all manner of things.

I'm thrilled he's learned to say "No picture!"

Living in Taiwan he tends to attract a lot of unwanted attention, which drives ol' dad nuts...

Norwegians to Build 'Doomsday' Seed Vault

This just caught my eye. The Svalbard International Seed Vault is being planned to house all the known seed variations of world in the deep Arctic...

Sounds like the prologue of a science fiction epic... "In the year 2007, before the great calamity, the Norwegians had the foresight to deposit a vast and complete seed catalogue in the far reaches of the Arctic...with the nuclear winter dissipating and sunshine breaking through for the first time in centuries, a small band of survivors makes their way to the legendary vault, unsure of the validity of the claim, but pressing on, they alone mankind's last hope..."

or something like that...

Death of a Gold -Digger

Last week I was teaching a lesson on people watching and in the dialogue there was an older man walking with a young girl. The friends assumed she was a 'gold-digger'. I told my students the story of Anna Nicole Smith and her marriage to the billionaire oil man in the 90's to better explain the idea of 'gold-digging'.

And now she's dead at 39. Too strange.

update

This is my first day of vacation. Finally. That was a long ol' semester. These last two weeks have been pretty hectic getting ready for the new baby. Sandy is heavily pregnant. We feel that the delivery could come at any time now. My mom flew in from NB last week to help out with everything. She's been a tremendous help already. Ivo's getting to know his Grammie a little more every day and seems to be aware that there's a baby in mama's belly and he's going to come out soon...