thy fearful memetry

'nuff said.

Gamblers Do So Love The Buffet

It appears that there is a real connection 'twixt risk-taking, predation, and vegemaniarianism, at least in the 'it's just a theory' Simian part of the brain.

"Chimpanzees turned out to be big risk-takers, being invariably tempted to go for the grand prize even if this also meant frequent disappointment.

Bonobos, like humans, were strongly risk-adverse, and preferred to go for the fixed, dependable reward.

The chimps' love of risk is in keeping with previous findings. Compared with bonobos, chimpanzees are more patient, waiting longer to get their hands on a delayed treat.

And their risk-taking strategy is also confirmed by the fact that, unlike bonobos, they hunt, kill and eat colobus monkeys. If the hunt comes off, the group gets to feast on protein-rich colobus meat -- if not, they all go hungry.

The distinction is intriguing, because in many respects the two primate species are very similar, having diverged from a common ancestor less than a million years ago, which in evolutionary terms is recent.

They have similar body size and appearance and share much of the same behaviour and social hierarchy.

The difference, though, lies in their diet. Both apes feed heavily on fruit, but bonobos also tuck into herbaceous vegetation on the ground, which is a more reliable source of sustenance.

In addition, bonobos may also have access to larger fruit patches, facing less competition within a given patch than chimpanzees.

So what makes chimps gamble is a clever survival mechanism -- their food resources are less certain, which means they have learnt to cope with going for big or bust, say the authors, led by Sarah Heilbronner of Harvard University and Duke University, North Carolina."

Link to article in full here.

Guess that explains THIS:

Don't Ask! Just Click It!

Father Cholesterol?

Meanwhile, at The Daily Soul

Bully says: What if Clark Kent worked for Barry, not Perry, White?
Check it out.

Same Zone, Different Day

As always we can count on CNN's Kyra Phillips:


To Get The Story Straight:


To paraphraze a prez:
"It depends on what the meaning of the words 'safe' is."

Trend Spotting: Copycat Craigslist Hoax House Ads

Same story, different victims:

Oregon:
"House Ransacked After Craigslist Hoax"


Washington:
"Cruel Craigslist ad trashes home"




Is this becoming the American version of the UK MySpace Party From Hell meme, as experienced in Belfast, Durham and Surrey?



Which has morphed into an alt.career in the antipodes:

Wavin’ Your Banner All Over The Place

Kinda makes you wish there was a whole K-tel compilation album and cheap commercial to go with it....