I think I may have mentioned Bonobos before, but I’m going to tell you about them again. So get over it.

Bonobos are a sub-species of chimpanzee. They are really cool, and complete flip our ideas of humanity on their head. I will now attempt to spell out (as briefly as possible) why.

We typically don’t think of animals as committing “evil.” Sure the hunt and act impulsively, and even fight for mates. But primates, it has been discovered, do things that we might consider “evil.”

Male gorillas commit infanticide. If a dominant male is overtaken, the new leader of the family will kill his young offspring.

Chimpanzees have a very complex social structures, which occasionally leads to the formation of raiding parties. A small group of chimps will enter the territory of another clan, wait to find a member to be separated from the group, and then kill that member. This is as close to the human concept of murder that we see in the animal world.

The most surprising practice is that of orangutans. The big-cheeked male orangutans we all know and love are the dominant males in given area. All the other males in the area have, what is called, delayed maturation. Non-dominant males remain in an adolescent state until they find a territory to run themselves or overthrow a previously dominant male. In order to pass on their genes, non-dominant males resort to raping females.

Bonobos on the other hand are mostly non-violent. Groups of bonobos are run by females. They also seem to be very sexually active. Everyone has sex with everyone including same-sex encounters. These facts can lead us to some interesting conclusions.

So yeah, bonobos rock. The reason I brought all of this up is that I got to see some bonobos in person at the zoo, and I got to shoot some photos of them.

By the way, the majority of the information in this I got from the book, Demonic Males by Dale Peterson and Richard Wrangham.

Ok, so first, I have some ’splanin’ to do. If you’re one of the three people who check this blog regularly, then you may have realized that the frame-a-day has died a slow and painful death.

I have plenty of photos to post, but part of the reason for the project was to exercise my writing muscles. And I think that worked. But I’ve picked up a new part-time job bring my grand total of work hours per week up to 65. I didn’t want to just post the rest of the photos without comment, so I’m pronouncing it dead. Call me lazy, call me unable to follow through, but there just isn’t time.

I’m sure I’ll post some of the photo that remain from the project in good time. And I have a new (shorter project) in the planning stages as we speak. I apologize for anyone who was expect 64 more images, but it’s not going to happen, yet.

This brings me to my next point. About two months ago, I was named the new editor of Phototuts+ (photo.tutsplus.com). I’m still working full-time at CityBeat, but for about 3-4 hours each night, I work on this website as well. Phototuts+ is a photography tutorial website. I began writing for Phototuts+ in 2009, I believe. I was producing about two tutorials a month for the site on a wide variety of topics. There was an opening, I applied and there you have. Check out the site if you get the chance, we have a lot of talented and passionate writers.

For my next trick, I’m going to add a couple photos to this post. One of favorite things to shoot is food. We recently put out our annual Dining Guide, so I got to have some fun with food.

Here’s the cover showcasing an image which I made that Terry’s Turf Club. There burgers are freakin’ serious.

This next image was made at Riverside BBQ and Drive-Thru.

This final shot was made at Green Dog Cafe.

When I was younger, in my early teens, I fancied myself a poet. I wrote extremely bad verses that I thought were deep and mature. With this foray into writing, I also discovered fountain pens, and a few were given to me by my grandparents.

This particular pen was my grandfather’s on my father side. It’s a ‘1250′ Sheaffer Lifetime Cartridge from 1963. It’s called a ‘1250′ because it cost $12.50 at the time, which was sort of a middle range price. It’s easily my prettiest pen with a gold inlaid nib.

I recently pulled out my small collection and decided to learn a bit more about it and start using the pens again. I found out that most nice, older pens don’t lose value unless they’re damaged, which is nice to know. I also found out that my collection is made up primarily of Parker pens, not Sheaffers. My every day pen not is my step-grandfather’s pen. It’s a Parker ‘51′ made in 1946. I had it professionally restored and I think it’s worth about $120 bucks. I love it.

Old fountain pens are cool for a couple reasons. First, they’re not a modern consumer good, so they’re actually built to last. Even the brand-new ones currently in production are meant to be heirlooms. That means they’re good for the environment… sort of. You’re not throwing anything away, but if you’re using a pen then you’re probably using paper, which in this day and age can be avoid. BUT paper is recyclable and not all the material disposable pens are made out of is. It’s complicated.

Two, they are really easy to write with. A good fountain pen literally requires NO pressure from the user. Writing with one is almost like dragging a pen across a paper rather than pushing one into paper. Therefore, they are much easier on the wrist and fingers during long writing sessions. That makes them pretty great for students when they’re in a notes-heavy lecture course.

See all the crap you can learn on the internet.

There are few things in the world that surprise me. Democratic revolutions happening all over the Arab world, saw it coming. Devastating, record-breaking Japanese earthquake, tweeted about it two months ago.

But my friend giving me this beautiful thoroughbred as a Christmas present? A total shocker.

My friend, let’s call him “M” for this post, bought this raging bundle of horsepower while living in Northside. But after deciding to move to a place without a proper stable for the beast, he decided to give it to me. And I couldn’t be more thankful. Easily one of the coolest gifts ever.

I’ll let the photo speak for itself. Behold, my white stallion.

I’m going to have to apologize for this one, folks. I have absolutely no recollection of taking this photo, and as you can tell, the subject matter is far from obvious.

This is obviously a texture photo. A lot of photographers like to obsess over texture. I am not one of those photographers, but I was apparently drawn to this for some reason.

One thing I can tell you is that it is definitely right side up. Because of the way this camera works and the way I scan, there’s no way it’s upside down. I hope that you can take that little fact, cuddle up with it, and let it comfort you for the rest of the day. And before you ask, no, I haven’t started taking drugs.

I also think it’s time for a little update. If this blog were a child or a pet, I would be in jail for negligence. Same goes for the partially completed first chapter of a book I’m working on, and many household duties. I have been BUSY. Lots of stuff going on. And for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be rocking 60 hour workweeks. I see a beard and a dilapidated shack in the woods in my future, but I’m having fun.

Get busy livin’ or get busy dying… as they say.

This shot is a reflection in a window. It may not be too obvious. Today, I’d like to give you some fun facts about Christmas lights.

The tradition of illuminating trees first became popular in German. Yay Cincinnati! These first trees were lit with candles, which seems pretty unsafe to me, but you know how those crazy Germans are.

In Britain, Christmas lights are often referred to as “fairy lights,” which doesn’t appear in the vocabulary of British actors in American films because I’m sure it just seems too foppish and light-handed. Americans already think a British accent is effeminate, why make things worse.

Meanwhile in parts of Chicago they were (and sometimes still are) called “Italian Lights.” My source for this information doesn’t state a reason: could be national pride or racism. I’m an optimist, so I choose national pride.

General Electric produced the first commercially available strings of Christmas lights. Almost every common form of lighting has been marketed in mini-Christmas light form. The most common are still incandescent, but LED lights are becoming more popular. But in the 40s, fluorescent light were available for a short time. And someone even tried to market neon Christmas light, which just seems too awesome for words.

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about Christmas lights. I look forward to occupying another small corner of your brain that you’ll never get back tomorrow!