Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Let’s finish the job.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Evening Marmosets (Open Thread)

Monday Evening Marmosets (Open Thread)

by | 73 Comments

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I dropped this in the morning thread just before a new post went up, but it’s front page-worthy. Just look at those adorable creatures!

I like how they have individual eating styles. The one on the left tries to eat the entire pea at once, whereas the others daintily munch theirs like a human eating an apple. I want to go to wherever that place is and feed the marmosets too!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    They don’t even look real to me. They look like something found in Newt Scamander’s suitcase.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    My favorite thing I’ve read today:

    Pfizer has full FDA approval! Guess what that means for Texas?Greg Abbott’s exec order only bans vaccine mandates for those approved under emergency use. Time to move some goal posts! pic.twitter.com/EirsQWXeIi— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) August 23, 2021

    This could provide a convenient excuse for Abbot to back down. I sincerely doubt he’ll take it.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    @Suzanne:

    Do they genuinely believe that they will convince anyone?!

    Their main goal is to justify the decisions they’ve already made.  Their secondary goal is to fire up the base.  Convincing anyone who didn’t already believe is way down the list.

  11. 11.

    raven

    @Van Buren: My bride made a gargantuan effort at growing butter beans out at a friend’s farm this summer. The first harvest she got maybe a gallon zip lock full. Tonite she’ll eat the second batch that came to about a cup. It’s a good thing she loves them because it was a lot of work!

  12. 12.

    Geo Wilcox

    If you don’t chew up the peas you do not digest them and you end up with peas in your poop. My daughter proudly announced this when she was a little kid. I about peed my pants laughing. “MOM THERE’S PEAS IN MY POOP!!!!”

  14. 14.

    Another Scott

    Looks like the independent “citizens” on the VA Redistricting Commission are standing up. BlueVirginia.US:

    See below for highlights (courtesy of Sierra Club associate attorney Ankit Jain and VAPLAN), as well as video from this morning’s VA Redistricting Commission meeting, which was HIGHLY revealing and somewhat dramatic, actually, with citizen members actually WINNING something for a change over the gerrymanders – mostly Republicans but also Sen. George Barker (D). To date, of course, this commission’s been a fiasco, almost exactly what many of us warned would happen (see The Predictable – and Predicted – VA Redistricting Commission Debacle in Graphics, Bob Holsworth: “Given the composition of the [Redistricting] Commission, the most likely agreement is one where incumbent protection is a primary driver”, Chris Ambrose: VA Redistricting Commission “travesty that was pushed on the voters by a disinformation campaign by OneVirginia2021”, [UPDATED with HIGHLY Revealing “Hot Mic” Moment] “Anyone who doubted that the redistricting amendment was a total partisan sham should have those doubts erased now.”, etc.). This morning, though, the citizen members – mostly Democrats but also, surprisingly, Republican member Mackenzie Babichenko – asserted themselves forcefully, pushed for drawing maps from scratch (and not starting from preexisting, gerrymandered-for-incumbent-protection maps), and actually WON. What a concept, eh? Anyway, check it out…very interesting!

    […]

    Much more at the link.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    They are truly adorable. So freaking cute.

    ETA: Should clarify, in case it’s not crystal clear: I’m referring to the marmosets, not the cyber ninjas.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    Monday marmosets are cute, but remind me that it’s been a while since we’ve seen Mr. Frog.

  20. 20.

    Johannes

    “Trust no one, little marmoset. For nobody around you is worthy of trust…”—Herod Agrippa (per R. Graves).

  25. 25.

    JoyceH

    @Roger Moore: 

    What’s lovely about that is that you know they wrote the ban that way in order to keep vaccine mandates that already exist. It banned the COVID vaccine without saying they were banning the COVID vaccine. But yay to the FDA.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: I’m sure they got the COVID that was on those ballots from the Chinese paper that was delivered here….last year. Or something. I will enjoy the excuse!

  29. 29.

    JoyceH

    @rikyrah: The “QAnon Shaman” was discharged from the Navy for refusing a vaccine, so it does appear to be a good crackpot filter.

  30. 30.

    RSA

    It’s hilarious the way one of them reaches out to pick up a pea and, the moment he has a good grip, jams it straight into his mouth. No pause to look at it more closely.

  31. 31.

    CaseyL

    Marmosets and tamarins are just the cutest creatures imaginable.   I wonder what they’re like – if they’re rather sweet, as  primates go, or horrors.

    Many, many years ago, I volunteered at a private animal sanctuary.  I lasted maybe a month, and discovered via experience that I really don’t like monkeys.  Or at least not the macaques who lived at the sanctuary.  I was babysitting a baby macaque, letting it roam semi-freely around a large yard bordered by some kind of berry bush – I think blackberries, because the bushes were thorny.  The little one perched on my hands to get at the berries, which was fine.  Then it looked like it was about to overbalance and fall into the bushes (with the thorns) so I pulled it back.

    The baby was infuriated at being denied access to the berries.  Launched itself at my head, scratched my face pretty badly, and bit my ear, drawing blood.   The proprietors were sympathetic, but their suggestions about how to deal with the macaques involved “behaving like an Alpha,” which I was not comfortable doing.

    I want to note that the proprietors were good people, and their animals were happy and healthy.  They may well have been correct that I didn’t know how to come across to the macaques as someone to respect – but I was, honestly, just not comfortable doing what it would have taken to achieve that.

    So that was that.

  33. 33.

    AnthroBabe

    AHEM as a biological anthropologist, I APPROVE OF THIS TWEET

    OMG SQUEEEEE

    CaseyL: Macaques are notoriously the assholes of the primate world. They are a toxic mix of super smart and assholery.  I am sorry you were injured!

    Oh, as an Arizonan to the Cyber Ninjas: Thppt!

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne: I feel quite confident that they’ll come up with some excuse that we haven’t thought of that will be mind-blowingly stupid. Just based on past performance, that is.

  35. 35.

    dmsilev

    @AnthroBabe:

    Macaques are notoriously the assholes of the primate world. They are a toxic mix of super smart and assholery.

    Wouldn’t humans win that contest? Oh, wait, “super smart”. Never mind.

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @JoyceH:

    They wrote the ban the way they did because “I don’t want to take an experimental (sic) vaccine” was already on the list of wingnut anti-vax excuses.  They didn’t appreciate it had a strictly limited lifespan.  My prediction is that their first response will be to say the ban is still in effect as long as some of the vaccines are available on an EUA basis, since otherwise people might be pushed into taking them.  I don’t think they’ll have a leg to stand on, but it’s a plausible first go.

  42. 42.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: Can we turn this into a drinking game? Or a Bingo card?

    ”Every time they blame Trump’s loss on “illegal Mexicans bringing in Covid”, we take a shot.”

  44. 44.

    CaseyL

    @AnthroBabe: 

    Macaques are notoriously the assholes of the primate world.

    I’m glad to hear that, because it makes me feel less like an idiot. And maybe the next non-human primates I have a chance to interact with won’t be assholes!

  46. 46.

    Ken

    @AnthroBabe: Macaques are notoriously the assholes of the primate world.

    Is this one of those discussions where humans are left out of consideration, because otherwise there’s nothing to discuss?

  47. 47.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne:

    ”Every time they blame Trump’s loss on “illegal Mexicans bringing in Covid”, we take a shot.”

    I value having a functional liver, so I’ll pass on that one.

  50. 50.

    Kattails

    @Suzanne: Drinking game with that set-up? I hope to be needing this liver for a bit more time than that & it’s already been an extremely challenging year for that particular organ.  Knock yourself out though.   ;-)

    Pygmy marmosets are OMG so cute, love the way they eat the middle out and leave the husk. And those teeny-tiny hands.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of asshole monkeys, a friend once told me the funniest story I’ve ever heard about his encounter with a neighbor’s spider monkey. The monkey wasn’t the asshole in this scenario — it was just scared, probably, and it was in an outdoor cage at night, which must have sucked for it. The kid was the asshole because he got the idea to scare the monkey by jumping on the cage. It did not go well.

    He scared the monkey alright, which grabbed the strings on the kid’s hoodie and repeatedly slammed his face against the cage, then used the strings to nearly strangle him. In the ensuing struggle, the cage popped open and the monkey climbed on the kid’s head and bit his ears while ripping out little monkey fistfuls of hair.

    The kid ended up crawling into the cage and slamming the door to escape. The monkey screamed at the kid through the bars until its owner came out to restore peace. The guy is a really good storyteller — you could see it unfold when he told it. But poor monkey! The kid learned a lesson — monkeys, even small ones, are strong! He grew up to be a funny guy who loves animals but steers clear of monkeys.

  55. 55.

    Fake Irishman

    @JoyceH:

    I can confirm your very perceptive observation from reading a lot of sample legislation that’s been introduced banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates in a variety of areas. The next goalpost move is to not allow mandates for any vaccine that hasn’t had an FDA approval for at least 3 years, (because we need to see more safety data dontcha  know)

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: I think we’ve identified the gene that makes us the pathetic weaklings of the primate clade. But it also makes us the endurance champs, so we may not want to reverse it.

  57. 57.

    Fake Irishman

    @Roger Moore:

    Yep. Another way is to have a waiting period the FDA approval has to be in effect before you can mandate use (three years seems to be what the wing nuts are settling on in the legislation they introduce)

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @Betty Cracker:

    Damn, that’s quite the boy v. monkey battle royale.

    Knew a gal in college who casually mentioned the folks kept a gibbon at home. I knew not to question whether that was true but I was sure curious about the details of living with a pet gibbon. Maybe they had a gibbon wrangler too, she came from money.

  61. 61.

    Dan B

    @AnthroBabe: My partner was afraid of snakes and infatuated with monkeys.  Mid way through our first visit to Costa Rica he was disavowed of this prejudicial viewpoint when the large monkey threatened he and a friend, venomous large sharp teeth bared, on a hike.  The two snakes just lay still and our visit to the Serpentarium, complete with private tour by dark haired and handsome proprietor, where it became apparent that we were surrounded by poisonous snakes that really wanted to be left alone.  His view changed.  The little monkeys that came in a band of ten every morning to our cabin were a different story.

    My partner has the same desire to be nice to animals and make them happy.  Horses love biting him.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    There was a woman in Connecticut some years ago who had a pet chimp which, for some reason, ripped her face off. Literallly. No, not a leopard.

    She ended up having multiple very complex surgeries and IIRC is permanently blind.

  67. 67.

    TerryC

    @trollhattan: I had an anthro prof at Umich who maintained a squirrel and an African grey parrot at loose in his house. Very bitter man. Lots of, um, debris on the floors.

  71. 71.

    Salty Sam

    @Betty Cracker: Speaking of asshole monkeys,…

    I knew a guy in college who had a spider monkey, a neurotic little beast who, whenever a person unknown to him came into the room,  would jump onto his little perch in the corner of the room and begin to masturbate furiously.

    Dude said it was a real buzzkill whenever he brought a date home…

  72. 72.

    Nutmeg again

    @Salty Sam:  Yep–my ex’s family had a Gibbon for a while (in SE Asia). Evidently a nasty bastard, even though the cage was the size of a small house. Still, yeah. Not something I would be comfortable with.

    Anyone else notice that it appears a couple of the little Marmosets have (maybe) poop on their heads? I wonder if that’s what happens when they are having fun, but they’ve eaten too many green peas.

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