So you’re having a bad day at work.
People are constantly demanding your attention, adding to your behemoth of a to-do list that you can’t get to because of all the interruptions.
People are replying to your emails in such a way that you’re convinced they can’t possibly have read a single word of the original message.
You made a cup of tea and then remembered that you finished the milk yesterday, so you have to run over the road to the cafeteria, where you get stuck in a queue behind people trying to pay in pennies, and bring your milk back to your desk to find your tea has gone cold.
But then you open Google Reader (dramatic sigh optional), and notice a new post from one of your happy blogs. You know, the one that usually posts stories and photos that make you a little misty if you’re a sentimental sap like me, and (occasionally) something heartbreakingly sad that inspires you to open your wallet, pull out your credit card, and click on their link.
And your day gets a little brighter.
Bonobo Handshake is one of my happy blogs.
I started reading over a year ago, when the blog focused on the research being done at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in Congo. The focus of the blog has shifted since then though, as the sanctuary staff prepare for the first ever release of these endangered apes into the wild. I’ve read about their efforts to secure a suitable site, and to engage the local community. I’ve read about their fears for their beloved bonobos, but their pragmatism that they have to start now and accept that some animals will die, rather than postpone the first attempt at release until the species is even more endangered than it is now.
And I’ve read with great joy that the first stages of the release have gone very well.
Go. Read. It might just brighten your day.
I used to subscribe via RSS feed/Google Reader (yay for PubMed search RSS feeds!)to all new papers on my old field of research (love to see who is still publishing) and on new areas like human ES that I’m interested in.
The problem was that the papers kept getting delivered on Sat morning, which directly coincides with the time I’m least able to comprehend said research papers.
I’ve since stopped reading them (I was so optimistic for months), and added every single knitting blog I could find. When I’m having a bad point in the day, I open up Google Reader and go “ah!” and look at pretty pictures of yarn and knitted things. I think of it as “massage for the right side of my brain”, because otherwise the left would grow and soon I’d be so lop-sided I might fall over.
That was quite the mental image – thanks!
@ Kyrsten – Knitting blogs are happy blogs for me as well. My absolute favorite is Knitspot, which also has gardening and cooking mixed in. Bliss!
Thank you for letting us know about Bonobo Handshake!! I knew it would be a fun read when the first line was “Imagine a relative who thinks sex is like a handshake.” Plus, Bonobos are cute (super insightful here…). btw your sequence of events for a bad day makes me laugh…out of a movie!
Just wanted to say again, thank you for sharing Bonobo Handshake!! I just read a ton of the posts and it put a huge smile on my face since I was feeling pretty down. Vanessa Woods seems so cool; I just found out she works at Duke so I would love to meet her if she returns to North Carolina in the next year…
Oh, cool! Let me know if you get to meet her.
Glad you liked the blog!
Interesting creatures, Bonobos. They have been reported to solve conflicts with boinking, rather than fighting. Very civilized.
Did I miss the point of this post?
“Bonobos are awesome” was one point among
manytwothree, I thinkseveral.