Barnhardt Podcast #054: Speechless Gorillas and Naval Officers

In this episode, amid a few cases of buzzing interference, we discuss Koko the "talking" gorilla's final release from a life of chocolatey abuse from Penny Patterson, the media's melancholy about this precious primate, and set the record straight about the extent of an animal's ability to communicate with humans. Not that humans are all great communicators: we cover news that broke this past week that the female Officer of the Deck and the female Tactical Action Officer (two people who should be in constant communication when a ship is at sea) were not speaking to one another. It's not yet know if this was a matter of incompetence or a cat-fight that got out of control but the result was massive damage to a billion-and-a-half dollar ship and funerals for several of the sailors. Our ability as humans to communicate ideas and concepts is a wonderful gift: it would be a shame if our neglect and abuse of this gift resulted in something unfortunate.

Links, reading, and YouTube:

• Divinum Officium: the only website to look at in Church
• The troubling world of Koko the gorilla and the decline of ape language research
• Kokoflix: Donald Trump's Favorite YouTube Channel
• Internet falls for Trump-‘Gorilla Channel’ parody
• Professor Robert Sapolsky Explains Koko and Penny
• Quasi-verbal Massachusetts Senator: "Genghis Kahn"
• Quasi-verbal Massachusetts Senator: "Osama Obama"
• Pentagon Covering Up Fact That Female Officers Nearly Sank Navy Ship
• Tasty Cheese Burgers. Because.

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