Toadfish Monastery

Abbie Smith (aka ERV) posted about this on her blog.  It looks VERY interesting, though I have barely started it.

http://www.edge.org/documents/life/Life.pdf

This is a book of interviews with several leading scientists about modern biology.

Here is a two part article about a new private security firm (similar to Blackwater) being formed.  It points out some disturbing things about this particular company AND about the trend in privatizing our military.

http://www.michiganmessenger.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=727

http://www.michiganmessenger.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=729

In honor of our Toadfishiness and the squidlings, I have decided to pass along PZ Myers' Friday Cephalopods.  PZ is a biologist that runs the Pharyngula blog, and he has a soft spot in his heart for all things squidly.

Last Friday's cephalopod...

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy of Bush berating the Congress for spending too much?

Take a look at this graph comparing spending on alternative energy research vs. the Iraq war.

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html?

This is a cool site.  It gives you random insults from Shakespeare.


"You are as a candle, the better burnt out."

Taken from: Henry IV, part 2

Siblings, today... 2 Nov ... is sibling Chatty's (AKA Auntie Dee Dee) birthday!  Hurray!

Happy Birthday DD!

I found a couple of interesting articles in todays online NY Times.

(Warning...you will have to register to read these, but registration IS free.)

An Evolutionary Theory of Right and Wrong

This concerns a hypothesis about the evolutionary origin of morality.  Some interesting thoughts, but far from being a theory, yet.


Fossil Found of a Big Bird That Kermit Wouldn't Like

This about a new fossil bird found in South American.  It is the largest bird found to date, weighing in at about 400 lbs.  The skull alone is 28 inches long, with a huge eagle-like beak.  A very serious predator.

I really enjoy Photoshopping (Actually, I use Paintshop) silly pictures.  I decided to start a place where we can share such silliness.

To start, with a Halloween theme...

I loved the Haiku Game.  Let's start a new one.

To remind...

A Haiku has 3 lines.  The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables.

I will start by giving the first two lines of a haiku.

The idea of the game is for the next person to finish the haiku with the third line, then to start a new haiku with the first two lines.

So, to start...

--------------------------------------------

Crisis in our midst
Monastery is haven

I have gotten to know several of my siblings screen names being used in the monastery, but not every one's.  So I thought I would start a thread where all could announce themselves, and also learn who everyone else is.  So I'll start...

Hi, I am Aphos, AKA Aphos the Mathematical, AKA Poincare's Stepchild.