I am still pretty sick, but I managed to venture out today and experienced the Snowpocalypse Aftermath first hand. Mostly, it meant climbing some street corner snow banks, and trudging through slush.
To prepare for this dangerous adventure, I armed myself with three items of prime safety: my ridiculous big snow boots, my super soft hoody (no, really, have you felt how soft it is?) and a novelty-t.
This novelty t is from the Short-Haired Lady Coffee Place near Nick. Nick goes there almost every day to work, but I like to go there because they have coffee. And because I fit in good with my increasingly short hairstyle. And now that I own this shirt, I like to go there even more because they support monkey happiness.
Close up:
Not all monkeys going into space were happy. But this one sure is. He must like coffee, too. Or short-haired ladies.
Little did I know that their first move would be into journalism. The political gets personal. Or something like that. (You know, because I am such a serious journalist?)
(Jimmy also points out that the behavior where you look into the viewfinder after each shot is called "chimping.")
Today, on the birthday of the mighty mythic monkey king, Hanuman, I want to talk to you, dear reader, about monkeys. Namely, I want to tell you two things.
2. And, as such, they should be recognized as their amazing, diverse selves and not confused with apes. Monkeys and apes are totally different. It's almost like confusing hippos and hedge pigs.
You think I am overly sensitive to the confusion? Googleimagesearch "monkey" and notice that orangs, chimps, and gorillas are not monkeys. Nor is Kevin: he has not tail, for starters.
I leave you with this wonderful story. Hanuman's buddy Lakshaman is gravely injured as the result of an unfortunate mishap. Hanuman flies to the Himalayas to get an herb that will heal the wounds. My understanding, from MC Yogi, is that he can't decide which herb to bring back so he takes the whole mountain. In this version, I'm not sure why he brings the whole mountain since he seems to have found the herb. Maybe it's about bringing enough? Anyway: super cool mountain-moving trick.
I love monkeys so much, I will even forgive Hanuman introducing non-native species to the area.
Right now, my sense of balance is pretty messed up. I have an inner ear infection, the primary symptom of which is vertigo. But not in the mysterious, San Franciscan Kim Novak style.
More like the Jimmy Stewart on the film poster kind of vertigo.
(If you really want to know what I am experiencing, you should view this great image in its full glory here.)
The inner ear infection also makes my hearing a little wonky in my right ear--everything sounds like it's under water.
I don't wear them very often, mainly because they are a little squeezy on the top of the foot, but also because they are brown, and additionally because they are more like a collectible than a shoe.
In conclusion, 3 out of my five senses are monkeys.
This work of Paul Frank fine art is so perfect and fitting for my friendship with CRD-- not only because he loves hippos (alot) like I love primates, or because we both blog about and know how to ride bikes. It also sums up our friendship, if smiling and riding a bike can be read as an allegory for sitting on the couch watching programs. It's also symbolic of how two seemingly different things can have so much in common: I am a monkey, CRD is big and red, but we both pedal along. The one unrealistic thing about this portrait of our friendship is that I, the monkey, am not wearing a helmet. Everyone knows I always wear a helmet, and even sometimes wear specialty headwear around the office.
You know what other two things have a special bond where each is made better by their friendship? Pickles and fleece blankets.
He's not hiding from the vacuum. I was resting, trying to horizontal off my horrible headache, and he nuzzled and suckled his way into the middle of the blankets. You can't tell from this photo, but he is purring so loudly that you can feel his purrs vibrating in the bed frame.
OMG. I love that buddy.
In yesterday's comments, Kevin was fascinated by this week's Tiggy of the Wink.
Tiggy, in the featured photo, looks uncannily like George, a diabetic De Brazza's monkey at PortLympne Wild Animal Park in Kent. I first saw George on everyone's favorite daily photo site that has all the cuteness fit to blog, Cute Overload. The Cute Folks found him over at the Telegraph where we also learn that...
"George has to be injected daily by his keeper and has a special diet which includes aubergine, apples, pears and not-too-ripe bananas, which are all low in sugar."
This is a stellar week over at CO with some super fine specimens, including this gorgeous baby orang.
I now know TWO young lassies named Hazel. It's easy to tell them apart, though.
This is Young Miss Hazel. She likes monkeys and singing Eee eye eee eye yo. We are buddies.
This is Baby Hazel. She likes being held in a swaddle by Harmony, with Owen and the Pee and Poop dolls Nick gave her looking on. I have not yet met her.
What a beautiful name for two beautiful, but very different, little girls.
Yesterday was the first session of my new zoo class on primates. Mark, a former keeper in the ape house who now teaches primate social behavior at the University of Maryland, is teaching the class. Our first session focused on taxonomy and was full of fascinating details.
We learned about many of the differences between humans and other primates. For example, we have a uniquely angled femur which positions our legs under our body and makes walking upright more graceful. Or, we are the only primate with longer legs than arms. And we have the largest relative brain size, where brain weight is looked at in comparison to body size. But one thing we miss out on as humans is having an ischial callosity. Since other primates, primarily Old World monkeys, spend so much time sitting on their rumps eating leaves and fruits, they have developed soft built-in pillows in their butts. We invented cushioned chairs and couches, but primates seem to have an advantage in always having their cushion with them.
Additionally, the ischial callosities serve in many species as a sexual characteristic. When a lady primate nears ovulation, her ischial callosities become red and swollen to tell the boys around her that she is ready for some lovin'. Not only do they have a built-in butt pillow, but they also have a hot little red dress ready to go. No tempting fate for these ladies and hoping they catch the attention of a randy gentleman. They're advertising in a major way.
Kevin collects postcards, a hobby known as deltiology. At a recent show, he learned first-hand about the importance of card classification. There are two general categories of cards: views and topical cards. Kevin discovered that cards featuring the Lower East Side might be categorized either as a view (Manhattan, or even as specific as Hester Street) or a topic (Judaica: Stores), and cards with apes might be found under "animals," or "gorillas," or even "monkeys" depending on the size of that vendor's collection.
If I collected postcards, I might collect the topic known as "multibaby."
This work of Paul Frank fine art is so perfect and fitting for my friendship with CRD-- not only because he loves hippos (alot) like I love primates, or because we both blog about and know how to ride bikes. It also sums up our friendship, if smiling and riding a bike can be read as an allegory for sitting on the couch watching programs. It's also symbolic of how two seemingly different things can have so much in common: I am a monkey, CRD is big and red, but we both pedal along. The one unrealistic thing about this portrait of our friendship is that I, the monkey, am not wearing a helmet. Everyone knows I always wear a helmet, and even sometimes wear specialty headwear around the office.
He's not hiding from the vacuum. I was resting, trying to horizontal off my horrible headache, and he nuzzled and suckled his way into the middle of the blankets. You can't tell from this photo, but he is purring so loudly that you can feel his purrs vibrating in the bed frame.
And back over at the Telegraph, there was also this little gorilla guy.
I am about to fall into a cuteness coma.
Additionally, the ischial callosities serve in many species as a sexual characteristic. When a lady primate nears ovulation, her ischial callosities become red and swollen to tell the boys around her that she is ready for some lovin'. Not only do they have a built-in butt pillow, but they also have a hot little red dress ready to go. No tempting fate for these ladies and hoping they catch the attention of a randy gentleman. They're advertising in a major way.
