Monthly Archives: September 2005

go see Serenity

I rarely ask you to do anything for me, but this time I’m imploring you: go see “Serenity”:http://www.serenitymovie.com/ this weekend. Not later, not on DVD, but this weekend if you can. My motives are selfish: I want someone at SciFi to notice it and say, “Hey, that would make a good TV show.” Better yet, I want Mark Cuban to say, “Hey, that would make a good HDTV-straight-to-DVD/download show.” But that’s probably pushing it.

Just see the movie. I guarantee you’ll have a good time.

the family of tool users is growing

Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and even some birds have been shown to use (and sometimes even fashion) tools in the wild, for a variety of purposes. The latest find is that “gorillas use tools in the wild”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4296606.stm, which means that there isn’t a great ape that *doesn’t* use tools.

As much as the world hates to think this, it’s becoming more and more obvious that the difference between humans and other animals is one of degree, not of kind. We haven’t developed some innate difference, we just happen to have found a runaway combination of existing qualities like social networks, tool use, and language.

banned books week

It’s Banned Books Week, a time to celebrate our (rapidly shrinking) ability to read stuff that other people tell us not to. So go “do something naughty”:http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/actionguide/actionguide.htm and maybe read a book, too.