The Blag Switch

You’re stuck on the ISS, falling around the Earth in cramped quarters with assorted colleagues and the toilet, the ONLY toilet for at least 211(+/- 2.4) miles, is broken.

(Via Tam)

Well this is cool. An orangutan has been caught on film spear fishing. This sort of tool use is, apparently, entirely unpresendented in orangutans.

That’s pretty awesome. Human beings are far from the only tool-using species on the planet, but this, for some reason, strikes me as a very particular sort of tool use. This is the kind of tool use that is intended to solve a very general and pressing problem: “I’m hungry and want to catch something to eat. How do I do that?” And the solution seems, to me, to be a delightfully “human” one: a handy perch and nice, sharp stick.

I’m looking for a subletter for my current room. It’s a fantastic little room in Piraeus House (1107 E Mission Ave, an 8-person house near the GU campus) with its own sink and balcony. Rent is $390/month and that includes all utilities and furnishings (desk, bed, dressers, book shelf.)

For more info see my Craigslist ad.

A cat playing a theremin: