Are Baboons Evil? : Part Deux

On the random occasions that I remember to look at my site stats, I find that there are still people being sent here because they have searched for an answer to the age-old question,
'Are baboons evil?'
OK, well, maybe not age-old, relatively recent in fact, but I thought I'd go for more of an answer than just,
'I saw this on Grahame Norton.'

Well, here's the thing, I wrote a philosophical argument, debating what the definition of 'evil' might be, then the definition of 'good', then discussing whether baboons had intention or not, greatly enjoying getting back to my philosophical roots.

But I had forgotten two things.

Firstly, that several people who are not me read this, although at least two of them might be grateful for something that would put them to sleep, and secondly, even if baboons were capable of being evil, and the concept of evil were definable, in order to definitively answer the question 'are baboons evil?' ALL baboons would have to be either evil or not.
Thus, 'are humans evil?' elicits the answer,
'Well, they bloody well can be, and most of us are evil in some small way at some time, but most of us, most of the time, are not really.'

SO that's my answer.

At Schloss Schneewittchen, changes are afoot. My contract will end on the 30th June, and then I will be unemployed for at least the summer. The organisation for whom I work has run out of money, and this in spite of our bookings having increased significantly since last year. But...they have been operating at a loss for some time now and they have to stop and take stock.

Discussions have been ongoing throughout May. I know several people who have been through similar experiences and they generally speak with empathy when addressing the situation.
Kevin, of course, has been amazingly, brilliantly supportive, but there's always, ALWAYS one cretin isn't there? One krazy person who doesn't get it, who just says the most inappropriate thing possible.

The to and fro was wrapped up on Friday evening, over 'appies' in White Spot. This isn't some kind of precursor to a wasting disease, but actually a rather nice restaurant chain.
My assistant Joanna and I had lunch at a White Spot restaurant quite recently, on our way to an afternoon meeting. As we paid our bills, I thanked the server for not calling us 'you guys' at all during the meal.
'Oh, it's part of our training,' she said, 'so many people complained about it,' which is wonderful, because several people I know make it seem like it's something I, personally have invented.
And we were appropriately addressed, as one might now expect, in the White Spot yesterday evening.

Kevin and I went to dinner at another restaurant, and at the end of the meal, I likewise, was able to thank our server for not addressing us as 'you guys.'
'Well,' he said, 'it's not appropriate to address people like that, and besides, we have had a lot of complaints about it,' which was a nice message.

Today, I have pottered with my pots and read Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare', which is a mightily enjoyable read. I have learnt that the average consumption of beer in London during Wagger-Dagger's time was a gallon a day (a PROPER gallon, not a U.S. one!) except for the better off, who consumed wine instead.

I'm not a twitterer, in any sense of the word really, but my friend sent me an article on some activity they currently have in the community, to reduce a famous book to 140 characters or fewer,

"Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot is condensed to: "Vladimir and Estragon stand next to tree and wait for Godot. Their status is not updated." "

Love it.