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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Tue May 20, 2025 01:09 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Return of the ?Boiler Tax? Mon May 19, 2025 19:16 | Will Jones
Households are facing the threat of a?new ?40 'boiler tax'?as Labour consults on plans to raise heat pump targets despite waning demand. "It?s like fining the local butcher because people aren?t eating enough greens."
The post The Return of the ‘Boiler Tax’ appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Top Doctors Say it is ?Inconceivable? that Biden?s Cancer Diagnosis Wasn?t Caught Sooner Mon May 19, 2025 17:06 | Will Jones
Medical experts have declared it "inconceivable" that former President Joe Biden's "aggressive" form of prostate cancer was not caught earlier by doctors, raising questions about a cover-up.
The post Top Doctors Say it is “Inconceivable” that Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis Wasn’t Caught Sooner appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer Binds Future Governments to EU Fishing ?Surrender? Deal to ?Reform-Proof? It Mon May 19, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer has effectively bound future governments to his?12-year fishing rights 'surrender' deal with Brussels in order to 'Reform proof' it after Farage's party topped the recent polls.
The post Starmer Binds Future Governments to EU Fishing ‘Surrender’ Deal to ‘Reform-Proof’ It appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Sheer, Bug-Eyed Insanity of Labour?s ?Banter Ban? Mon May 19, 2025 13:00 | Toby Young
Amidst all the problems facing the hospitality sector, Labour wants to add to them by forcing them to impose a ?banter ban?. We need to stop this madness before even more pubs are forced to close.
The post The Sheer, Bug-Eyed Insanity of Labour?s ?Banter Ban? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Female Chimps Spear Bush Babies!

category international | sci-tech | other press author Thursday February 22, 2007 20:37author by R. Isible Report this post to the editors

New evidence of tool use originating from female chimpanzees

Current Biology reports on a population of monkeys which have been observed to use spears in their hunting of bush babies. It seems the tool use is primarily by female chimpanzees. AP have a report that captures most of the info at the link at the bottom of the page. There's also a National Geographic summary and linked video available here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-chimps-spears.html

Action at a distance predation is speculated to be important for hominid evolution [1] because the problem of predicting where/how to throw an object to intercept another moving object requires large computational power in the brain (early attempts to work this out for fire-control systems in anti-aircraft batteries in WW2 led to the development of the statistical approach to communications engineering e.g. time-series and proved to be difficult).

Previous observations with chimpanzees mostly involved throwing stones to distract/scare adults from their young [2]

1. Isaac, B. (1983). African Archaeological Review 5(1), 3-17 "Throwing and human evolution"
2. Plooij, F. X. (1978). Carnivore 1, 103-106 "Tool use during Chimpanzee's bush-pig hunt"

Related Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/sc_nm/chimps_hunting_dc
author by R. Isiblepublication date Thu Feb 22, 2007 20:46author address author phone Report this post to the editors

It's what's wrapped up in a whole load of annoying javascript on the national geographic site.

Related Link: http://fjord.nationalgeographic.com/news/070222-chimp-video.asf
author by redjadepublication date Fri Feb 23, 2007 00:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This is big news - no, really!

'primitive' tools lead to war, war leads to more tools and more tools lead to war.

the chimps were smart not to start an arm's race and be satisfied with sucking ants off sticks. Other primates made a complex bad choice a long time ago and now the world suffers.

we could make peace now - and aside from not driving chimps and our other cousins into extinction, we could just offer them seats on the UN Permanent Security Council. But, they wont get there until they have nukes - they will have to wait in line after the Iranians.

There is a larger issue here however - there's an athiest meme that comes from the scientific community that what separates 'us' from 'them' is that 'we' developed tools.

true, but this is shallow thinking, me thinks.

Tools are not just sticks and stones that can break another chimp's bones - but it's the babel lunacy that hurts us.

Tools are not tools without the imagination that sees them as tools.

Humans are complex symbol makers - and out of that, we conquered the world and kept the chimps in their place - remember the Hobbits of Indonesia and how we humans wiped them out? We humans don't like competition

Symbols. Making them means making more symbols to explain those symbols - and so it goes.

A rock is just a rock - until someone calls it a hammer or calls it a weapon or calls a pet.

Time to revive this thread from the past?:
Socialists: Give apes human rights
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75708


. .. ... .. .

'Bush Babies' is not only a racist epithet (a.k.a Galago)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galago

Bush Babies: Are they With US or Are They Against Us?
Bush Babies: Are they With US or Are They Against Us?

author by Catladypublication date Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:51author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Yep, I saw it on the telly!!!

Crows were given a glass bottle with a piece of food inside, and a straight piece of wire. They figured out (quite quickly if I remember correctly) that to get the food out, they had to manipulate the wire by bending one end before sticking it into the bottle to retrieve the food. Fascinating stuff... Can't give a reference to the programme as I honestly don't remember, but I think it was on Animal Planet, maybe about six months ago.

Time perhaps to open this thread too, on Bonobos - a more peaceful cousin of ours: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77573

author by pat cpublication date Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:57author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Dunno about the bonobos, they won't fight back. But, hey, try and capture these Chimps for bushmeat and you'll get a spear in the belly! Maybe they will form a guerilla army.

 
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