S.A.R

Chart via :  XKCD – By Randall Munroe – A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

The November issue of National Geographic magazine features a moving photograph of chimpanzees watching as one of their own is wheeled to her burial. Since it was published, the picture and story have gone viral, turning up on websites and TV shows and in newspapers around the world.

Monica Szczupider, the photographer, recalls:

Her presence, and loss, was palpable, and resonated throughout the group. The management at Sanaga-Yong opted to let Dorothy’s chimpanzee family witness her burial, so that perhaps they would understand, in their own capacity, that Dorothy would not return. Some chimps displayed aggression while others barked in frustration.

But perhaps the most stunning reaction was a recurring, almost tangible silence. If one knows chimpanzees, then one knows that [they] are not [usually] silent creatures.”

via NGM Blog Central – The Story Behind Our Photo of Grieving Chimps – National Geographic Magazine – NGM.com.

A gorgeous sideshow of reader-submitted food rules on Chef Michael Pollans Blog at the NYtimes.

my  favorites…

–  If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry.

– No second helpings. No matter how delicious.

Michael Pollan’s 20 Favorite Food Rules

Plot similarities between Star Wars Trilogy and The Matrix Trilogy

A young man finds his destiny (Luke Skywalker/Neo)
He is helped by another who has known a secret about him a long time (Obi Wan /Morpheus)
It involves a journey away from everything he has ever known, and he needs to  choose it. (Tatooine/The Matrix)
There is a struggle for freedom against a total domination by evil (The Empire/Machines)
The band of rebels hide in makeshift hidden bases (Rebel bases/Zion)
The  bad guys are constantly chasing them (Empire/Machines)
Back before the war started, the bad guys grew powerful under the noses of the good guys (Republic/Pre-AI Humans)

A whole new world opens up to the boy, he learns new abilities and skills, skills that involve altering reality as ordinary people experience it (The Force/The One’s control over the Matrix)
Most fighting involves a traditional martial skill, accompanied by guns (LightSabres/Kung Fu)
The father figure steps in to sacrifice himself to save the boy (The ‘death’ of ObiWan/Morpheus’ capture in part 1)
The boy realises his destiny (Luke becomes a Jedi/Neo becomes the One)
and learns that he is connected to the bad guys, far more than he could have imagined (Luke, the son of Darth Vader/Neo as a control, a creation of the Machines)