Chimps

I received my copy of National Geographic in the mail a few days ago. It usually takes me a few days to read all of the articles but I had a bit of free time and breezed right through this issue. One Article really got me worked up. It wasn't the topic of the article or the research itself, it was the attitudes of other scientists interviewed within the story that really upset me.
An anthropologist named Jill Pruetz from Iowa State University has been doing a study on Fongoli Chimps in the savannas of Senegal. She has watched them over the course of at least four years and found that these Chimps are creating tools with which to basically hunt smaller mammals. Of course any study done on primates is an attempt to discover the roots of human evolution. So here is the part that angers me. Pruetz specifically noted that it was female Fongoli chimps that were using branches of trees and sharpening the ends with their teeth to hunt down smaller primates etc. inside of hollow trees. Now other scientists are discrediting Jill Pruetz's work. Richard Wrangham, a biological anthropologist is known for his "demonic male" theory, or the idea that man is naturally violent, is one of those downplaying Pruetz's findings.
Another male scientist, arguing against her work is Craig Stanford. He likes to use a theory called Ecological Intelligence, stating ""The first push toward a larger brain," writes Stanford, "may have been the result of a patchily distributed, high-quality diet and the cognitive mapping capabilities that accompanied it." High-quality to him means, meat. This is where I am angry. People have believed for a very long time now, that meat consumption leads to brain growth, meaning higher intelligence. However, if you trace time back to the 1700's and before, meat not only was rare to be eaten every day, but women were also kept from eating meat. Meat was for man. Once many indigenous cultures moved from their gathering phases, it is said that women still gathered while men hunted. Women during the Renaissance were thought to have a poor tolerance for meat, and given mostly vegetables and grains. So if meat was mostly given to men, then we assume that it was only man's brain that grew larger, and only man grew more intelligent. Leaving woman as a lame, small brained, vegetarian. This theory that meat is the food of intelligent thought is sexist. So I suppose that it is perfect that a MALE scientist trying to disprove a WOMAN scientist's work would decide to use such a theory as argument.
One more man, excuse me, scientist, who has insulted the years of research done by Pruetz is William Mcgrew. During last year's Mind of the Chimpanzee Conference, McGrew made reference to research done of Fongoli Chimps but did not give any credit to Pruetz, instead, crediting her former student, Paco Bertolani.
It is not perplexing that the science world is pretty sexist in their views. After all, science was created with a goal of getting closer to god. That guy in the air that made MAN in his image and woman a second class citizen.

That's it for today. You can find the article I was referring to on national geographic's website.

Bust ass Battery

Yesterday was a pretty great day up until train time.

I volunteered at wild bird rehab, like usual. There I spoke with 3 ladies at least 60 years old each, who are spunky, thoughtful, and incredibly informed. They was to bring down towers for cell phones and HD t.v. and they love gardening and hate oil. I love it. I love them.

I came home and wanted to bake bread, then realized that i needed flour to do that. Baking bread is a great skill to have. The price of grain just keeps going up. Plus, when I read the label on the package of bread, and can't pronounce half the ingredients then I know it's probably not something that I really want to put into my body. So, i walked to the store and bought two 5 lb bags of flour (which were unbleached and on sale) and then decided that it would be a fantastic idea to get an 18 lb bag of cat food as well. I looked like someones trunk carrying all that home on my back.

I baked some flax bread which did not turn out as tasty as I'd hoped. Maybe next time. I also tried making yogurt Tuesday night but it didn't set up quite right.

Then I walked in the park with Jake all the way from my house to kingshighway. it was good to hang out with him.

I had to rush home to pick Scott up from the train station. Chicago of course can't get their shit together so the train coming in was an hour late. And after nearly a half hour of sitting in my car listlessly listening to devo, the battery to my car died. I threw a fit. Even though I hate that car, or any car for that matter. We had to call 5 people to find someone with jumper cables and spare time. Then that battery still wouldn't start. So we got a ride home.

None of this has anything to do with my goals for writing but eh, what canSaved you do?

I also want to try making some kombucha.
yum huh?

Blah Blah Blah

I don't really get the point of blogging. I guess it's so that people can have a personal soapbox to drag their legs up on to and start shouting out to the world of Internet users.
My boyfriend started a blog a few months ago, but he's funny. So if you gain nothing of value from the things he writes, at least you'll get a good chuckle. So I guess I'm starting this partly as an outlet for some frustrations of mine, (although I refuse to be too detailed because what business is it of yours?) so that i don't bring those frustrations home and take them out on the people in my life. I choose to use this as a constructive place.

Ecofemitarianism. I will rant more about this later, but in the meantime I will set a goal of using this blog to share recipes, ethics, knowledge, and links to aid vegan, feminist, and environmentally thoughtful lifestyles.