“I once saw five female bonobos attack a male in Apenheul, in Holland,” he said. “They were gnawing on his toes. I’d already seen bonobos with digits missing, but I’d thought they would have been bitten off like a dog would bite. But they really chew. There was flesh between their teeth. Now, that’s something to counter the idea of”—Stevens used a high, mocking voice—“ ‘Oh, I’m a bonobo, and I love everyone.’ ”

Between the chimps and the bonobos, I’m afraid the socio-biological argument in favor of humanity’s general grooviness has suffered a major blow in my mind.

Now, candidly, wouldn’t you like to know what sayers will be saying, thinkers thinking, writers writing, doers doing and plotters plotting at the end of the next hundred years?

via my new favorite stranger-blog, paleo-future. Aggregate and enjoy.

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

If you’re into language in the way I am, you’ll enjoy this examination of how the above passage from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is translated by over sixty translators into English, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. It’s devilishly postmodern, but blessedly unself-conscious of that fact…

via languagehat

Enslaver of elves. Keeper of lists. He who holds the whip hand over those deer with the funny names and transluminal speed. You know, Santa.

It’s not a popular opinion, but I happen to not much like the tradition of making your child believe in Santa.

Santa, that impossible person who apparently loves you enough to break into your house one night a year to give you your heart’s desire, or perhaps some coal. The one you labor to please with cookies and milk, only to find out in a few years that the joke’s on you. Santa—$DEITY Lite.

So you disagree? Think a little fantasy never hurt anybody? Don’t think it’s a bit odd to plop your child into the lap of some stranger who just maybe enjoys it too much? Don’t try to convince me. Tell her:

Sure, children can be too credulous. But sometimes they also have a sixth sense that something just doesn’t make any fucking sense whatsoever. Note how she nevertheless has the wits to protect the candy cane.

There’s more. Lots more.

Via bb

...a kind of informal Korean mutual assistance cooperative.

In our ggeh, if you give a few dollars you can expect to receive a few hundred. The more you give, the more you can ask for; everyone comes to learn what’s a fair amount. You send a letter. Then you come at night and you make your request.

Microfinancing is an interesting idea, and as this indicates, not a particularly new one. Good points about the importance of trust in these sorts of dealings.

Not all extralegal financial dealings rely solely on trust, or at least trust as it exists between members of a ggeh. An alternate case in point: the mafia.

Organized crime: very much reliant on trust, but with a different foundation. I suppose you have to draw a distinction between trust built on intimidation and that which is created by knowledge and experience. The former requires an additional distinction of the degree to which the person being intimidated accepts the intimidator’s legitimacy. Otherwise it would be hard to distinguish between organized crime and the ‘legit’ threats of bankers who want to repossess your house…