(no subject)

Cafe au Lait points out a fascinating new study of some savanna baboons. After its most belligerent males were felled by tuberculosis, the troop underwent "a cultural swing toward pacifism, a relaxing of the usually parlous baboon hierarchy, and a willingness to use affection and mutual grooming rather than threats, swipes and bites to foster a patriotic spirit." The original survivors are gone, but the cultural change has persisted:

"We don't yet understand the mechanism of transmittal," said Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford, "but the jerky new guys are obviously learning, `We don't do things like that around here.' "

Here's the Times article, the journal article (with Creative Commons license!), and a related editorial from the journal.

time warp

For some reason, all through last night's Gilmore Girls I was distracted by the incongruity: Why were they showing a new "spring break" episode in late autumn? Somehow it wasn't until I ran across another spring break reference today that I realized it isn't, oh, November. What's going on?