. . . thank God that your life has so little hardship that a change in a social networking interface can hold your attention.

Also, to commemorate our chronic lack of posting, here's a picture of a monkey.

This one's in my neck of the woods!

What did a Vermont trail camera capture?



More info here.

HT: Cryptomundo

About two weeks ago I told my wife that I'm at the point where I'd give the famous (or infamous) Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film about a 90 percent chance of being legitimate. In other words, I think it's highly likely that Sasquatch exists, and that the creature in that film is indeed a Sasquatch.

When Roger Patterson filmed the creature (whether it is a human in a monkey suit, or an actual bipedal monkey, virtually everyone agrees that it is a creature), he believed he had iron clad proof of Bigfoot's existence; he didn't -- at least not from a scientific standpoint. And now more than 40 years later, the proof of Bigfoot's existence continues to be elusive.

Enter The Erickson Project. Like any "proof" of Sasquatch's existence, the Erickson Project is either a hoax (and a seemingly elaborate one at that), or it's real. Whatever it is, its claims are extraordinary:

- Detailed, up-close video of Bigfoot, including detailed facial footage
- Saliva, blood, and hair samples from multiple specimens

In my opinion, the latter "evidence" is the most profound, and supposedly the Erickson people are waiting on laboratory DNA confirmations before releasing a documentary chronicling their findings.

If this is a hoax, so be it. If it's legitimate, and they really do have the extraordinary evidence that they claim to have, then The Erickson Project will go down in history as one of the most amazing, groundbreaking natural discoveries of all time.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but even I have to admit that I'm a believer, and therefore it's easy for me to believe. At any rate, as this trailer shows, The Erickson Project has gotten some credible scientists (like anthropologist Jeff Meldrum) to at least sit down and talk to its camera:



Irrefutable proof of Bigfoot's existence is an extraordinary claim, so it necessitates extraordinary evidence. We'll see ...

. . . here's a picture of a monkey.

#1:



Bigfoot. I love this guy. I can't get enough of him. In fact, my wife gave me a Bigfoot T-shirt for Christmas featuring the famous frame 352 from the legendary Patterson-Gimlin film of a supposed sasquatch (same shot as above). I give him about a 60 percent chance of being real.

#2:

Thunderbird. This birdbrain is a distant second. I do enjoy reading some T-Bird accounts online from time to time, but I'd give him about a 20 percent chance of being real. Hey, that's a chance at least!

#3:

Lake Monsters like the Loch Ness Monster or Champ from Jared's neck of the woods. I think there's a solid 50 percent chance that a lake monster exists somewhere.

#4:

Orang pendek. He's a smallish, bipedal Sumatran ape of some sort. There have been some credible sightings of an orang pendek, but the reason this little monkey is so far down on my list is because he's not indigenous to America. In other words, I have no chance of ever seeing him. :-( I give him a 40 percent chance of being real.

#5:

Blo. He's also supposedly bipedal, and despite some credible sightings in the past, I don't think he's real. I give him a zero percent chance of existing. It is fun to read about him, though.

With regard to the famous Patterson-Gimlin film, most detractors dismiss it as a man in a monkey suit. In my opinion, modern eyes are colored by Hollywood special effects. From what I've read -- and I've read a decent amount on this subject -- if the P-G film was a hoax, it's one of the best hoaxes in modern history. Take 10 minutes to review this film that was aired on the National Geographic channel, because it might make you question your presuppositions.

What the hey . . .



Goodnight everyone . . .

I was just about to put a picture of a monkey up when I saw Phil's timely post. Well done, Phil - thanks for breaking the silence.

To the one or two of you who still watch 24 (which is the only show I watch other than Lost) - I gave up on it earlier in the season but was pulled back in.

Last night's show was . . . AWESOME. Chloe running CTU, Bauer locked and loaded for vengence. 24 is back for its swan-song last few episodes.

Preparing to Live-blog Lost now, unless I keel over first (I'm tired).

Oh, and . . . what the hey.

A picture of a monkey.



It's freaking hot wherever he is. Probably Houston.

I've always wanted to visit Japan. Now I know I must get there someday.

There's a tavern north of Tokyo that employs monkey waiters.

My friend Aaron's most recent demotivational poster might be the cure for what ails you.

Some pics off of Stroke's camera from the Thinklings December 2007 Ent-Moot . . .

Here's Stroke, straight off the set of a House of Pain video:


"Say hello to my leetle friend":


Bill basks in the joy of simply sitting next to Jared:


Pretending to ponder the endless potential permutations of moves in Bird and Blo's game of chess, Rod really just wanted to pick the board up and smash it on someone's head Hulk-style, so they could go back outside and smoke some more cigars:


Although he looked like he was pondering the endless potential permutations of moves in his and Bird's game of chess, Blo is really just asleep with his eyes open:


A real meeting of the minds:


We did a whole lot more than sit around the chess board, but these are the only pics we got. Enjoy if you can!

Call me when the pigeon flies around with the monkey on its back.

Story here.

Because it's just been too long . . .

I liked this a lot. Made me wonder which of the two was most uncomfortable with the other, or if their common lusts are perhaps many times stronger than what divides them.

There is a discussion of the typewriting monkey issue at Cafe Hayek, citing a wikipedia article on the subject:

In 2003, lecturers and students from the University of Plymouth MediaLab Arts course used a £2,000 grant from the Arts Council to study the literary output of real monkeys. Read the rest of this entry . . .

I give you the Buffy-headed Marmoset (Callithrix flaviceps).

This little guy lives in a small area of south-east Brazil between the rivers Doce and Paraíba.

He's cute, and just as baffled as you are as to why no one's posting on Thinklings.

Er, a picture of a monkee, I guess.



'Cause Blest said someone needed to post something.