Curations from the Human Jungle
[Charming story about someone following a passion, and doing it right. Sometimes I feel bad that gorillas eat leaves and bananas, because I wouldn't mind sharing a meal with this fellow. SB SM] https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/25/fine-dining-regular-michelin-restaurants Michael Grepo at The Happy Crane. | Source: Andria Lo for The Standard Michael Grepo, a 67-year-old retired federal worker, has eaten at... Continue Reading →
[I always thought this guy was going to break through some day. He was handsome, talented, and genuine. Maybe that's not a formula for success these days. Rest in Peace, John Hammond, Jr.-- a true Silverback. SB SM] My college classmate, David Larkin, wrote this story about his personal experience with John Hammond--renamed Bad Bill... Continue Reading →
The Outside Story Porcupettes No More By Catherine Wessel Last week, during a walk in the woods, I turned towards soft sounds in the understory and saw a small porcupine waddling through fallen oak and maple leaves. Porcupines have terrible eyesight and can’t see more than several feet in front of them, so I was... Continue Reading →
[Remember last Tuesday's post which promised some respite from the AI slop surrounding us? Here's an AI response. (The featured image is AI generated ... of course) SB SM] https://silverbackdigest.com/?p=34532 As we move through 2026, the global landscape is defined by a shift from digital experimentation to a world where intelligence is "ambient"—woven into the... Continue Reading →
[I'm not big on Royal Family watching, but I've always bought the myth about Victoria's great love of Albert. According to author Goodwin, however, things may have not been as they were seen. Or maybe a contemporary phrase such as "coercive control" did not exist at that time. SB SM] https://daisygoodwin.substack.com/p/did-prince-albert-gaslight-queen Was Queen Victoria the... Continue Reading →
[Flamenco reaches deep into not the soul, but the gut. Somehow, while embracing the most cultured expressions of civilization in its costuming and presentation, it reaches back to a primitive part of our nature that pre-dates language and agriculture. This particular performance eschews stage lighting and elaborate costuming to the more gritty backdrop of the... Continue Reading →
Before we get to today's post, let's share the video that Silverbelle Mary Bernadette sent after reading yesterday's piece on mechanical bulls. She notes: "I lasted a full minute. I would have been able to hang on longer if they didn’t put that slippery Mexican blanket on his back - very sneaky. Next time I... Continue Reading →
[This is a completely useless skillset in The Jungle, but we post for all the Tejanos out there. SB SM] https://texashighways.com/culture/grab-the-mechanical-bull-by-the-horns How to Texas This might be the closest you'll ever get to the rodeo arena—you'd better hold on tight By Cat Cardenas February 11, 2026 The first thing you should know about riding a mechanical... Continue Reading →
[This article is too long for the attention-span of the average ape, but as we know, Silverbacks are not your average apes. When I was a book publisher at Chelsea Green we specialized in "book for sustainable living." Internally we had a category of titles that we called "things-that-we-forgot," referring to subjects like organic gardening... Continue Reading →
Timeline: 1966: I graduate from high school, where we are admonished to "accept with the left and shake with the right" when receiving our diploma or an award. 1986: Invited back to my high school as a featured presenter on Career Day I invoke the phrase as a tongue-in-cheek example of something I will always... Continue Reading →