Daily Archives: July 20, 2011
The Chimp That Was Raised As A Human
A few years back in 1973, a project was put together to try and study Chimpanzees and see if they could act like humans and use American Sign Language to communicate. Nim, the chimp that was taken from his mother early on and raised in a human household died in 2000 after being shuffled around due to his aggressive behavior that became more apparent over the years.
Nim Chimpsky started this process with Stephanie LaFarge in upper Manhattan. LaFarge had other children that were raised along side Nim and she truly grew attached to him. Unfortunately, after some years he was biting the other children and acting out, much like a wild animal. Jenny Lee was one of LaFarge’s children, who was 13 at the time that Nim was brought to them. She recalls good memories, but she also recalls the biting and aggressiveness.
NPR – “While Jenny and her siblings went to school, Nim learned sign language with researchers at Columbia University. The goal was to open up a window into Nim’s thoughts and to see if he could develop real language skills. When he came home each night, Nim would play with the Lee children and mimic their behavior. But as he aged, he became more aggressive — and no one knew what to do.”
Eventually he was moved to private grounds at the University of Oklahoma, where he met Bob Ingersoll. Mr. Ingersoll quickly became attached to Nim and the two became quick friends. In fact, “While taking long walks around the grounds of the primate facility, Ingersoll occasionally smoked pot with Nim, who had been introduced to marijuana in New York City and even appeared in the magazine High Times in 1975.” Ingersoll had said that Nim “actually signed ‘stone smoke time now’ to us first”.
After spending nearly nine years with Nim, Ingersoll had to see him be moved to a research facility, which he eventually helped rescue him from. Here, Nim was living in a cage, which this human-like chimp was never accustomed to (not that any animal should be). After the rescue, he was moved to another facility, but this time the ranch was for abused animals.
The FULL STORY can be found here.
The Al-Qaid ‘Triple Agent’ Who Infiltrated The CIA
This image provided by IntelCenter on Feb. 28, 2010, shows Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi in a posthumous video message posted on extremist websites. The al-Qaida double agent killed seven CIA operatives when he set off the 30-pound bomb strapped to his body at a fortified base in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border in December 2009.
This is a great article on NPR’s website about the Al-Qaida member who was also a CIA informant. This man was able to become a mole in the CIA and gain information for Al-Qaida. He also set off a suicide bomb in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA operatives.
For more information, please read the FULL ARTICLE
Kindle Textbook Rental Now Available For Students
Amazon is now offering Textbook rental with Kindle. This will enable students to rent textbooks for the amount of time they need, and not over spend. I know when I was in college, I spent hundreds of dollars on books that I used very rarely. This new advantage is great, especially in our current economy and seeing as students are finding it difficult to find money to purchase the necessary tools to succeed in classes.
“Kindle Textbook Rental is a flexible and affordable way to read textbooks. You can rent for the minimum length, typically 30 days, and save up to 80% off the print list price. If you find you need your textbook longer, you can extend your rental by as little as 1 day as many times as you want and just pay for the added days.”
For more information, visit here
Somalis Facing Worst Famine in the World in 20 Years!
Somalian refugees are checked in at a refugee settlement camp close to the Kenyan border with Somalia. (Oli Scarff, Getty Images / July 20, 2011)
Los Angeles Times: “NAIROBI, Kenya— Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared dead in the world’s worst famine in a generation, the U.N. said Wednesday, a crisis so severe that the United States is loosening rules meant to prevent emergency funds from falling into the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants.
Exhausted, rail-thin women are stumbling into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet, having left weaker family members behind along the way.”
The United States has feared that the money they give to help aid the Somalis will fall into the hands of terrorists and have put a stay on the funds. “U.S. humanitarian contributions in Somalia fell from $237 million in 2008 to $29 million last year.” Due to the current situation, they have lifted that stay and plan on sending more aid to the famine filled country.
It has been a difficult position to help Somalia due to the amount of warfare and terrorism that pollutes the country. “Somalia is the most dangerous country in the world to work in, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program, which has lost 14 relief workers in the past few years. Kidnappings, killings and attacks on aid convoys occur frequently. Two years ago WFP pulled out of Islamist-controlled southern Somalia after the rebels demanded cash payments and other concessions.”
Sadly people are dying daily, children are malnourished, living conditions are truly unbelievable and the constant threat of danger is constantly on the minds of Somalis.
The Los Angeles Times article goes into great detail about the conditions over in Somalia and what everyone is planning to do to help the situation. It is truly devastating and hard to think that so many people are suffering and very few people are willing to help due to the fear of being injured, themselves.
Texas Man Got $300,000 Home for $16!
Kenneth Robinson is the lucky man who bought a $300,000 home for just $16.
According to VVV “The home was foreclosed on the owner and the mortgage company went out of business. According to Texas law, the home is abandoned, and by filing $16 worth of paper works, Robinson was able to gain control of the home. If he stays there for three years, It’s his.”
Apparently the neighbors are a bit jealous of the great deal that Robinson got. I personally feel this is amazing and want to check out foreclosed homes in Texas. I’ve been trying to save money for awhile to put a down payment on a home, and $16 sounds a lot more appealing considering how bad I am at saving money. Way to go Kenneth! I hope his neighbors aren’t vengeful and try to get him out before his 3 years are up.
Lesbians Kicked Out of SF Museum For Holding Hands
A Jewish Museum was having a Gertrude Stein exhibit and two lesbians had decided that they wanted to go and check this out. As they were walking in, holding hands, a security guard had told them that they could not go in while holding hands.
The couple was obviously upset and refused to comply with his request to stop the hand holding. They asked to speak with an authority, and by now a crowd was forming. Seeing as the crowd was getting bigger and on the side of two women who were in love and didn’t feel they should have to hide that in a museum, they have won this battle. The Jewish Museum has “asked that the private company that runs their security reprimand the guard”.
It seems odd to me that a guard working in San Francisco would think that a museum wouldn’t allow a lesbian couple to hold hands while enjoying the exhibit. Maybe the museum was actually more involved in the discrimination than we k. I mean, they asked that the guard be “reprimanded”?! Sad that in one of the places where homosexuals feel comfortable they still face such hatred and judgment.
While it seems that the gay community is still making many advancements, the homophobia is still a common threat here in the United States. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to walk around, holding hands, without the fear that someone will not allow us into a venue. This attitude has even made me a coward. Instead of facing the looks or words that may be cruel and unjust, I simply unlatch hands and walk as a straight female. I know this is wrong and I should be able to act as I choose, but society has made me fearful and that’s not fair.
New Moon Found Orbiting Pluto
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a new moon orbiting the dwarf planet, Pluto. This new moon is much smaller than the others that were discovered in previous years.
“The new moon is the smallest moon yet discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km).”
Ryan Seacrest and Bravo Introduce New Show About Young Rich Persians in LA
The Hollywood Reporter has said, “Much as MTV did with 20 and 30-something Italian-Americans on the Jersey Shore, Bravo will offer its viewers a peak into the world of young and moneyed Persian-Americans living in Los Angeles.”
Right now it has a tentative title ‘Shahs of Sunset’ and will focus on young Persians here in the Los Angeles area as they live their lives. It will be a combination of ‘Real Housewives’ (with their lavish spending) as well as ‘Jersey Shore’ (party, party, party).
Andy Cohen, Bravo’s executive vice president of original programming and development, has said, “The group of friends featured in our show is colorful, affluent and fun, Ryan and his team understand what our viewers want to see and when they brought us this group we responded immediately.”
For more information, click here