  So this weekend was pretty fun and interesting. Jen and I went to the zoo on Saturday. I had a lot of fun hanging out in the primates area and watching the chimpanzees and the organgutangs.
The chimps were pretty mellow and didnt end up doing much, but the orangutangs put on a very fascinating behavioral viewing experience. It was eerie to see one of them play with a plastic bottle, filling it with water and dumping it out, then grinding it in the mud. Then a baby orangutang came along and picked up the bottle, carried it over to a rock and started drawing with the bottle by rubbing the mud off on the rock.
Even if the baby orangutang didnt realize what it was doing, it was still eerie to see something generally regarded as an animal distinct from humans behaving in such a human-like manner. At one point somebody poured some bottled water down onto one of the males. He then squirted water out of his mouth up at the crowd. A few min later, I decided to try an experiment and see what would happen if I dumped some water down at them.
The male orangutang opened his mouth and when I stopped pouring, raised his hand up in the air towards me, in what I assume was a gesture for more. Another younger orangutang came over and did the same thing, raising its hand in the air for water. I kept pouring little bits down until a member of the zoo staff told me not to do that anymore because they might get sick from water which had come in contact with humans.
I found that somewhat of an ironic hypothesis, considering numerous orangutangs had urinated in the stream they liked to play in and drink from. And its not like I carry some kind of evil cross-species virus which could infect them. But I guess they have to take precautions, so... after that we moved about our merry way. Jen and I have been playing some Monopoly lately. I appreciate the rules of the game much more now as an adult than when I played the game as a child. Ive been revisiting some of the classic board games from my childhood such as Stratego and Monopoly and finding I appreciate them a lot more as an adult than I did as a child  how ironic, not what one would expect! We saw The Core on Saturday at the $1 theater near Jens house. Going in I knew it was going to be bad.
I was right. It was like Armageddon on steroids. Entirely ridiculous, and completely unrealistic in any fashion. So ridiculous at points that my suspension of disbelief was ruined. Some of the situations in the movie are so totally unbelievable I find it hard to imagine anyone being captivated to any great degree. I also find it amusing that actors who cared about their reputation would dare to star in the movie.
I guess theyre hard up for work. Im almost done with Virus of the Mind. Going a little slower than I should be I guess... need to quicken the pace on books. I have one more meme book to read for the time being and then Ill probably be moving on to evolutionary psychology with some Steven Pinker books. Nothing like a little self-education to keep ones mind sharp. :-) 
