Baboon Squatters

Baboons move into S. African beach homes

Unruly gangs are raiding the expensive homes that line the spectacular coast of South Africa's Cape Peninsula, clearing out pantries, emptying fridges, and defecating over the designer furnishings.

It's baboon versus human in a string of wealthy ocean-front communities 30 minutes from the trendy center of Cape Town, a top tourist destination.

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George is one of the biggest baboons in a troop of about 20, an adult male weighing some 110 pounds. He yawns languidly, displaying wickedly curved canine teeth.

"If you think how easily a baboon could rip a person apart, the fact that they don't is quite remarkable," Trethowan said.

Um... Gee. How lucky we are not to be torn assunder by the beasts we allow to live in our luxury neighborhoods.

Yeah, I get that.

Monkey Talk

Shouting monkeys show surprising eloquence

Putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans) live in family groups, usually led by a dominant male who keeps a wary eye out for their two main enemies — leopards and eagles. A circling eagle will cause a male to warn his troop by making a series of calls called 'hacks', whereas a lurking leopard will prompt him to shout out a string of 'pyow' sounds.

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But now zoologists have realized that at least one combination of these sounds has its own distinct meaning: up to three pyows followed by up to four hacks seems to mean 'let's move on'. This call sequence is given both in response to the presence of predators or simply as a sign to head for new terrain.

And I wonder which sequence of hacks and pyows means, "Here come the humans, the time to overtake is NOW!!!"

(Props to new coworker, John.)

Winos R Us

So, cork'd is pretty cool. Nice to see Dan & Dan doing cool stuff together. I'm not a real wine aficionado - my wine tastes aren't very refined. I like it that way, though. I tend to enjoy $10-15 bottles as much as something that costs $70+. I figure that's a good thing.

Anyway, I'm on there as JakoBlah (or you can search for "Sutton"), even though I don't expect to use it very much.

I do wish something like this existed for beer. I'd have some fun with that. Unfortunately, as far as i know, there aren't any good online beer merchants you could partner with for some commerce kickback (cork'd is hooked up with wine.com). Booze would be fun, too, though, and I know there are plenty of decent online liquor retailers...

Black Bonnie

As of this Thursday, I will be the very proud owner of one gorgeous 2006 Triumph Bonneville Black. This is, with the exception of some crazy chopper I'll never have, my dream bike. I mean, if it's good enough for Steve McQueen, right?

I can't wait to ride it (first around the neighborhood, then to the coffee shop, then to work, and so on...). I also look forward to tricking it out with some of these sweetass accessories from Triumph's new sixty8 line.

Mad props to Erik for convincing Matthew at Foothills BMW/Triumph (with whom I could talk for days!) to shave a few dollars off the deal (I suck at negotiating...) and for being general moral support. And for getting me started on riding bikes in the first place!

Call Me Waldo

Work is... um... aggravating/draining these days, and much to my surprise, I've had a bit of a social life in the after work hours lately. So... Yeah... Light on the posting. Nothing much going on worth reporting anyway. I have continued to post junk to del.icio.us in the mean time, though. You can spy those under the "Link Dump" tab.

I get to go to my first NHL playoff game tonight, though. Sadly, it may be to witness my Avs get swept by the Mighty Ducks.

For the record, my Viva El Papi KinTee got good reviews at last night's poker game.

Inked Sucks

Inked's Clark North Speaks Out

I'm very bummed with what they did with the first season, as were we all, and we would not work again with the same producers on site. That's why the second season was done with an entirely different group. I don't know what they'll do this time but I hope this filming will be more positive to the art form. If not, I think I'll give up and leave.

Nice to see at least some the artists on the show realize how bad the thing is. Not surprisingly, Clark was the only person I actually liked from the few episodes I watched.