Silly

The reason I won't watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes which appears to be set in the present/near future: Brainiac apes and monkeys do not pose a threat to humanity.

1. We own the guns.  Really smart gorillas die the same as dumb ones when shot in the face.
2. We make the reloads.  A really smart monkey with a gun only gets anywhere from six to thirty rounds from a commandeered weapon.
3. We got numbers.  Is this movie set in NYC?  Depending on where you want to draw the line, there are 8-18 million people in the area of NYC.  How many primates are there in all the zoos and research labs in America?  A few thousand?  The best they could hope for would be to sustain an indefinite gorilla war (pun int.).
4. This is an assumption, but is there any motivation for the primates to take over?  I can see an attempt to escape to the wild to be left alone.  But do apes really want to rule humans?  What would those reasons be?  Motivation is a big hurdle.

In the book, the apes were made intelligent and used as servants throughout society.  There was a gradual integration of the apes into the fabric of society and their numbers grew to fit demand.  This is much more plausible in a every-home-has-a-super-monkey society.  But even the book had to make a huge stretch by claiming everyone got so lazy, the people let the monkeys take over.  We have tons of lazies out there, but there are plenty of people who want to earn the cash for material wealth, travel, and political influence.  Plus, the lazies are not about to give up A/C, king sized beds, TV, and microwaves.  They are not going to wander back into the woods (like in the book).

To sum up, big brain baboons are not going to take over.  Now, super intelligent ants -- well, that is a whole other kettle of fish.

Drawback to fame

Capone's is a bar in Ft. Lauderdale decorated with memorabilia and photographs confirming that the intent was to name it after the famous Chicago mobster.  That plastic cup, concrete floor, well-drink serving, over-loud DJ mix, retard fest is so far away from the kind of speak-easy, classic-styled place befitting the mobster's a name.  It occurred to me that we are missing out on an opportunity to generate some very inexpensive, renewable, environmentally safe power.  It would be as simple as rigging a turbine to the end of the coffin of Al Capone.  It might also require one session with a psychic medium to tip of Old Al about this place.  In other words, Al Capone would be spinning in his grave if he knew what kind of crap shack bears his name and many copies of his likeness.  College towns need a bar or two like this, but bars like this should not be populated by anyone who is old enough to do post-graduate work.  Unfortunately, that described the majority of the people there.  This just confirms that I work with some lame-ass doofuses.  That will be the first and last time I agree to meeting them for a happy hour.

The drive home gave me a chance to listen to Rock Spectacle for the first time in a long while.  That is still a great album.

From our hike to the top of Sleeping Giant:

Lani and Dan on a peak overlooking the island.

We tried to take a hike into the Blue Hole a couple days ago.  Ultimately, we lost the trail in the jungle about a mile in.  Selected images:

Yesterday we went shore diving. I saw a sea turtle eating an octopus.  I also saw a monk seal on the beach.

I finally remembered to bring an underwater setup for the last day we had of snorkeling on the Big Island.  It wasn't the clearest water or sunniest day, and I was using the older underwater setup.  Because of those veriables, the pictures all turn out heavily blue compared to the way it looks live.  But I thought you might want to see some fish in the wild.  See how many you can name without a guide.  I will post Kauai pictures on another day.

No particular fish in the picture below, just a big anchor from the old days.  It is about the size of a grown man.