I have been pondering an article I read recently that was published a little over a year ago that had the provocative title of “Chimpanzees and monkeys have entered the Stone Age.” The implication was that this is a recent accomplishment. Reading the article, though, showed that chimpanzees in Cote d’Ivoire have been using stone tools for thousands of years. This isn’t something new. Macaques in Thailand can be proven to have used them for 50 years, which I will concede qualifies as a new accomplishment if that is as far back as it goes, which I highly doubt. Capuchins in Brazil can be documented back 700 years, which is pushing it in my mind as far as the recent evolutionary progress that I was expecting. Continue reading “Primate Stone Age”
Tag: technology
Hot running water {Thankful Thursday}
As you may remember from my post on washing dishes, we lost our water heater a few days ago. We expected to receive a considerable amount of money the next day, so we went about researching hot water heaters. We naively thought that we would go to the store, purchase a water heater, bring it home in our Suburban, hook it up and plug it in. Ha! Continue reading “Hot running water {Thankful Thursday}”
Washing dishes without running water
When I was a small child (age 6, I believe), my family moved to a mountainside. Our section of road had no name, and the town stopped maintaining it 2/3 of a mile from our house. There was no electricity, no running water, no plowing. A couple of years later we moved to an equally primitive home in a more settled area, and lived there until I was 12. This was in the 1980s, and yes, it was very unusual for industrial New England. My kids seem to think I grew up a century before I did simply based on my childhood stories. Continue reading “Washing dishes without running water”
Digital versus real life friendships
Recently, I read an article about the opposite feelings of liberation and imprisonment that we feel from our online lives. I have talked about the benefits of technology before, but the idea of imprisonment also strikes very close to home. I often lament about all the time I spend online, when I could be doing more productive things. The kids accuse me of having double standards when I am online and won’t let them watch TV. Usually, those arguments come up when I am actually using the computer as a tool rather than as entertainment, such as balancing the checkbook, searching for a recipe to make dinner, or writing posts for this blog. These are liberating aspects of the internet. Continue reading “Digital versus real life friendships”
Diversity in friendships {Thankful Thursday}
In last week’s Thankful Thursday post, I praised the internet and technology for enabling us to maintain relationships over great distances, both through travel planning and by providing easy communication. This week I want to praise the internet for bringing us other points of view so we can keep our own up to date. Continue reading “Diversity in friendships {Thankful Thursday}”
Travelling with Technology {Thankful Thursday}
I love Thankful Thursdays. I enjoy the opportunity to get really deeply thankful and appreciative for something in my life. Today I am grateful for technology. In some ways I sympathize with the Luddites. I do believe we have become a bit disconnected from our real lives by becoming too absorbed in our virtual lives. But in other ways, I am hugely grateful for the vast array of wonderful technology just waiting to enhance our real lives. Continue reading “Travelling with Technology {Thankful Thursday}”