Abnormal Goings-on

[Charger]

Indeed!

I am happy to announce that my new keyboard (which at the moment I do not need as a healthy dose of Contact Spray did the trick) arrived and it indeed is the almost the same models as my old one.

Pictured here:



So I am happy to stash that away until I need it!

[Zzzptm]

Love those sweet angles, yes!

[Vyn]

You people and your angles...

[Charger]

Gotta have 'em angles man!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Never used one of those, although I am familiar with 'em. I think someone with RSI used one at work.

[Charger]

I think I bought my first one in the early 2000s when they first came out...

I used to write a LOT back then so the layout got engraved in my head and once that happens there is no way you can ever write with a "normal" keyboard again. That's the problem I have with laptops...and why I don't use mine except for car diagnostic.

[Vyn]

There is a group called the Vervet Monkey Foundation, and they have a place in South Africa. As the name implies, they take in abandoned, injured, or otherwise "at-risk" vervet monkeys and rehabilitate them. Some are placed back in the wild, some are placed in one of the group's massive outdoor enclosures. They are a top-notch organization that really cares and more importantly, "knows their shit."

Recently, they were given a baby vervet monkey to care for. Explaining how the baby came to be without a mother, the person who found it (who just happened to be a veterinarian) was driving home and witnessed an adult female vervet monkey, with baby clinging to it, get hit by a car. The vet stopped and retrieved the baby (who had been tossed fifty feet away off to a ditch), noted that the person who hit the mother was scooping its obviously dead corpse into their vehicle, so decided to bring the baby to the Vervet Monkey Foundation.

When asked if he (the vet) had any idea why the person who hit the adult would put it's corpse in their vehicle, rather than move it off the road, or more realistically simply keep on driving, he indicated

WARNING: CULTURE CLASH INCOMING

He indicated that they were probably going to take it home and eat it. The people in the area of South Africa where this occurred consider vervet monkeys to be fine dining and won't pass up an opportunity to chow down on one. This seems, on the surface, to be high on the creep-o-meter! But, I've known people who have done the same thing with deer that they've hit and killed with their vehicles.

But, vervet monkeys have hands with opposable thumbs, share 93% of the same DNA with humans, are self-aware, clever, learn new things quickly, have a full range of nuanced feelings that they can emote, and have on occasion cared for baby humans for multiple years until the kids were found by other people.

Deer don't have any of that. So, eating a vervet monkey just doesn't sit well with me!

On the other hand - Macaques? - fuck macaques 

[Zzzptm]

This is why I tend to avoid "bush meat" when traveling. In addition to the "hey, that animal is a little too close for comfort" issue, there's also the, "ummm, I'm not going to get any species-jump disease nonsense if I eat this, am I?" factor to consider.

I used to work on a ranch, though, so I have zero issue with eating cows, if the meat's smoked properly.

[Vyn]

... there's also the, "ummm, I'm not going to get any species-jump disease nonsense if I eat this, am I?" factor to consider.

What, you don't want to be patient zero for an even more devastating variant of Ebola?

[Zzzptm]

... there's also the, "ummm, I'm not going to get any species-jump disease nonsense if I eat this, am I?" factor to consider.

What, you don't want to be patient zero for an even more devastating variant of Ebola?

No. I do not.