Replying to LO27500 --
Dear Organlearners,
John Dicus <jdicus@ourfuture.com> writes:
>Here's a humorous systems story about unintended consequences.
Greetings dear John,
Thank you for a wonderful story.
Here in Southern Africa we have many kinds of indigenous trees bearing
edible fruit. Unfortunately, we also have many kinds of insects loving
these fruit too. Fortunately, the fruit of one tree species called the
Marula (Sclerocarya caffra) is so thick skinned that few insects can
penetrate them.
Each fruit is about the size of a large apricot. Inside is a large seed
kernel. The fleshy part is thus relatively thin, but thick enough to have
fun. In February the female Marual tree will begin to shed her fruits. An
old madam can bear up to 20 000 fruit. Humans use the fruit to make a
refreshing beer.
Sometimes three to four layers of fruit will lay under a tree. That is
when they begin to ferment. That is when the baboons also have their fun.
They cleverly smell the potent among the fresher fruit. The potent goes to
the mouth. Slowly, but surely, they become intoxicated. They begin to
behave just like intoxicated humans. Some will swear, others will fight
and some will even cry like baby baboons. Some get so drunk that they have
to sleep under the tree, dead to the world.
That is when also the leopards have their fun. Leopards like baboon flesh
most. But leopards are extremely cautious since baboons can easily kill a
leopard with their own vicious fangs.
Those baboons who are fortunate enough to wake up the next morning have
clearly a splitting headache and the bad temper that goes with it.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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