Even in absurdity, sacrament. Even in hardship, holiness. Even in doubt, faith. Even in chaos, realization. Even in paradox, blessedness
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"Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage." ~Anain Nin
This is a moblog* post:
Ecstatic ritual *Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. jaybird found this for you @ 21:56 in Live from the road... | | permalink
Bizarre deep-sea worms dine 
Bizarre deep-sea worms dine on whale bones. They feed only by infiltrating the drowned bones of dead whales -- a nutritional strategy unique in the animal kingdom -- and their sex lives are as bizarre as their diet. jaybird found this for you @ 19:10 in | | permalink
A giant ecosystem that has A giant ecosystem that has functioned for millions of years has begun to break down They are disaster zones: professional ornithologists who have spent their careers monitoring the teeming, screaming bird life of Orkney and Shetland have never seen anything like it. On cliff ledges, on moorlands, on shingle banks, the nesting attempts of hundreds of thousands of seabirds in Scotland's Northern Isles have come to grief in the summer of 2004. It is the year without young. Eggs have not been laid; where eggs have been laid, they have not hatched; where they have hatched, the chicks have died in the nest, and the tiny numbers of chicks that have left the nest have not lasted long. A giant ecosystem that has functioned for millions of years has broken down. The reason is starvation, and the reason for the starvation is thought to be climate change: this is a taste of things to come. jaybird found this for you @ 16:00 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
This doesn't necessarily justify anything, This doesn't necessarily justify anything, but... Ancient brewery uncovered in Peru A team of scientists from Chicago’s Field Museum in July uncovered a brewery in the mountains of southern Peru, where members of the Wari Empire made an alcoholic beerlike drink called chicha more than 1,000 years ago. It wasn’t just a mom-and-pop operation, but something that could deliver the goods when dozens, if not hundreds, of Wari decided it was chicha time. jaybird found this for you @ 13:06 in History, Civilization & Anthropology | | permalink
quiet american presents one-minute vacations quiet american presents one-minute vacations I love doing this, recording the sounds of the environment where I'm travelling. I'm especially excited about this December's Haitian journey and the wonderful music there. jaybird found this for you @ 10:28 in Culture, People & Customs | | permalink
"Would You?" They say there's a thousand angels jaybird found this for you @ 22:20 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
Very powerful video (Windows media) Very powerful video (Windows media) and song: Make Love, Fuck War by Moby/Public Enemy. jaybird found this for you @ 18:48 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Shahriar S. Afshar: Quantum Rebel Shahriar S. Afshar: Quantum Rebel It has been widely accepted that the rival interpretations of quantum mechanics, e.g., the Copenhagen Interpretation, the Many-Worlds Interpretation, and my father John Cramer's Transactional Interpretation, cannot be distinguished or falsified by experiment, because the experimental predictions come from the formalism that all such interpretations describe. However, the Afshar Experiment demonstrates in an interaction-free way that there is a loophole in this logic: if the interpretation is inconsistent with the formalism, then it can be falsified. In particular, the Afshar Experiment falsifies the Copenhagen Interpretation, which requires the absence of interference in a particle-type measurement. It also falsifies the Many-Worlds Interpretation which tells us to expect no interference between "worlds" that are physically distinguishable... jaybird found this for you @ 15:42 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
In His Own Words (Shrub, In His Own Words (Shrub, Quicktime req'd) jaybird found this for you @ 13:05 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Now reopened for comments. Now reopened for comments. jaybird found this for you @ 08:26 in Blogosphere, Tech & Internet | | permalink
Dream #23 Stranded on an icy mountain top with my cats, jaybird found this for you @ 07:59 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
Pakistan delivers on the July Pakistan delivers on the July surprise, but alas, it's not the big cheese. Good going on capturing a dangerous figitive, but nice try to divert attention away from a major step tonight toward overthrowing Prince George. We're having a Kerry fundraiser here tonight, and despite the cats' own political ambitions, they will mingle as big John takes the reins. jaybird found this for you @ 18:35 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Comments are temporarily disabled due Comments are temporarily disabled due to spam, aaargh! Overnight there's 3,300 more comments, bastards! jaybird found this for you @ 15:23 in Blogosphere, Tech & Internet | | permalink
'Frozen Ark' to save animal 'Frozen Ark' to save animal DNA A tissue bank that will store genetic material from thousands of endangered animals has been set up in the UK. The Frozen Ark, as it is called, will preserve animal "life codes" even after their species have become extinct. jaybird found this for you @ 14:50 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Krugman: Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Krugman: Fear of Fraud It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software. When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records. This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent election in Riverside County, Calif., reported by Andrew Gumbel of the British newspaper The Independent. Mr. Gumbel's full-length report, printed in Los Angeles City Beat, makes hair-raising reading not just because it reinforces concerns about touch-screen voting, but also because it shows how easily officials can stonewall after a suspect election. jaybird found this for you @ 07:44 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Squirrels emit 'silent scream' Ground Squirrels emit 'silent scream' Ground squirrels make an alarm call so high pitched that we cannot even hear it, scientists report in Nature. While studying the little rodents, researchers noticed that some of them made faint whispering sounds, as if they had lost their voices. But when these "silent screams" were processed by a bat detector, an abundance of ultrasound was detected. The researchers believe the whispers might be "secret" alarm calls - that the squirrels' predators cannot hear. jaybird found this for you @ 16:52 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
Rent A Peasant: Living History Rent A Peasant: Living History With Livestock ...a variety of options to suit outdoor and indoor events at historic monuments, school visits and adult education. Both the Peasants and the livestock have been used for television work. The Peasants are suitably humble and will gladly consider slightly unusual requests, such as Witches for Hallowe'en. jaybird found this for you @ 14:58 in Interesting People | | permalink
The Metrosexual Superpower: The stylish The Metrosexual Superpower: The stylish European Union struts past the bumbling United States on the catwalk of global diplomacy. jaybird found this for you @ 13:03 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Mystery Creature Lurks In  Mystery Creature Lurks In Baltimore County "Very bizarre. I went and got my father and cousin and they came and looked at it and their reactions were pretty much the same -- what in the world are we looking at?" jaybird found this for you @ 07:49 in Forteana, Phenomena & the Bizarre | | permalink
Ursula Accepts Nomination  Woodfin, NC- Ursula the Cat accepted the Puss Party's nomination for President of the United States today at the nation's first ever Catvention, held inside a comfy cardboard box by the hole in the fence. Unanimously nominated also was her running mate and main competitor for food-dish access, Avatar, the country's first openly gay and feline Vice Presidential nominee. The delegates, which consisted of a beheaded grasshopper, a previously chewed stick of gum, an ambitious flea and a very liberal grass clipping, expressed their desire for candidates worthy of bringing radical change to American politics. United under the banner "cutefying America," the conspicuously non-feline delegates held fast nonetheless to the Puss Party's platform by choosing the duo: In her nomination speech, Ursula implored her revolutionary footsoldiers onward by meowing, scoffed at main competitor Ralph Nader by hissing, and concluded by coughing up a hairball with contained her human's sock bits. Avatar was busy chasing raindrops and promised the attendees he will accept his nomination by presenting them with another beheaded grasshopper. Twinkleface, the team's campaign manager and hallucinatory holographic orb, released this statement in honor of the day's historic event: "The Puss Party has bravely demonstrated that they are the party of unity, diversity, and incomprehensible cuteness by choosing two of the most substantive, charismatic and fluffy creatures on Earth to lead America out of a recession, out of war, and into a cuter, prettier, paradigm. I dare Ralph Nader to lick this Puss with his evil monster Cthulhu, and he'll be forced with John Kerry and George Bush to beg for soymilk in mercy!" She then trailed off, distracted by a solar neutrino that had collided with a nearby tachyonic particle, which created nothing really as a result. Stand by with the Birdonthemoon.com Official Catpaign Blog for the latest in the road to the White House Solid Oak Litter Box. jaybird found this for you @ 19:12 in Silly People, Satire & Strange Behaviors | | permalink
The Earth Sings (stories and The Earth Sings (stories and music, Real req'd) The Earth Sings" is a sixty-minute HearingVoices.com radio special of sounds for and from Mother Earth. With ears wide open we trek through Nepal, New Zealand, and North America. jaybird found this for you @ 18:02 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
Psychologists are dusting off 19th-century Psychologists are dusting off 19th-century explanations of déjà vu. Have we been here before? The Tease of Memory Psychology has generally filed déjà vu away in a drawer marked "Interesting but Insoluble." During the past two decades, however, a few hardy souls have reopened the scientific study of déjà vu. They hope to nail down a persuasive explanation of the phenomenon, as well as shed light on some fundamental elements of memory and cognition. jaybird found this for you @ 14:39 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
UN plan to save Iraq's UN plan to save Iraq's marshlands The United Nations has announced a major project to help restore the lost marshlands of Iraq, which supported the ancient way of life of the Marsh Arabs. jaybird found this for you @ 07:34 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
Academy of European Medieval Martial  Academy of European Medieval Martial Artsjaybird found this for you @ 23:54 in History, Civilization & Anthropology | | permalink
No, not again! Yes, again No, not again! Yes, again (well, sort of, Flash) jaybird found this for you @ 18:52 in Silly People, Satire & Strange Behaviors | | permalink
This is a moblog* post:
*Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. jaybird found this for you @ 13:49 in Live from the road... | | permalink
This is a moblog* post:
Flowerboy attacks! *Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. jaybird found this for you @ 13:46 in Live from the road... | | permalink
I'll be out of blog I'll be out of blog range for most of the day, doing flowers for my friend Jenny's wedding (on a Monday, yeah, I know). I'll try to moblog some pics of some kind. Regular readers deserve to be filled in on some news, and hopefully I'll get to that tonight. jaybird found this for you @ 08:14 in Misc. Babble | | permalink
What are the ideas that What are the ideas that will shape the 21st century? jaybird found this for you @ 07:20 in Conjecture & Speculation | | permalink
Ecce Homo: Ruminations on a Ecce Homo: Ruminations on a Theology of My Queer Body Because of my Queerness, I was profoundly wounded by my family, my religion, my government, my culture, my society. But I have chosen to feel that wounding as a site for rebirth and renewal. Those gaping wounds have become openings, entrances into the mystical Silence that (for me) is "God". And there, in that Silence I have found Voice. In that Silence I have found ways to articulate and speak my body - this body of a Gay, white, bourgeois, able-bodied North American male. In that Silence I have found ways to articulate my difference(s), my queerness(es). And there in that Silence I have found the beauty of other Queer men's bodies. In the past, I referred to these articulations as a "gaialogy". While theology is the study of "theos" (the male god), gaialogy is the study of Gaia, the Greek Earth Goddess. (Some, like Lesbian poet and cultural anthropologist Judy Grahn, have theorized that we Gay people are named after Gaia - a tempting theory but not likely.) For me, gaialogy emphasizes earth, connectedness, bodies, cycles of life and death, fluidity, the lack of opposites, chthonian tensions, and joy. Gaialogy celebrates what is. jaybird found this for you @ 18:24 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Entheogens and the Mystical State Entheogens and the Mystical State [via abbudha's memes] Mysticism is about the potentials of human experience, and the mystical journey is a lifelong path which culminates in a direct encounter with the unknown. Regardless of its verifiable authenticity, the mystical experience remains the zenith of human endeavor into the hidden regions of the mind, and could hold the key to explaining the nature of subjective conscious experience. jaybird found this for you @ 13:55 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
World's tiniest fish identified The World's tiniest fish identified The smallest, lightest animal with a backbone has been described for the first time, by scientists... The minuscule fish, called a stout infantfish, is only about 7mm (just under a quarter of an inch) long. jaybird found this for you @ 07:44 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
"A Free Walking Ritual" There'a a folk singer telling us we're free to go, jaybird found this for you @ 19:17 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
This is a moblog* post:
Helicopter ride! *Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. UPDATE: This three minute ride meant the world to me; two of the foster children we serve and I took to the skies in a surprise, swerving in flight to avoid balloons ascending, with absolute, sheer joy on their faces. It did a world of good for me to do them some good, and I feel like it was a real good spin on the karma wheel. This view is dedicated to them. jaybird found this for you @ 15:06 in Live from the road... | | permalink
This is a moblog* post:
*Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. jaybird found this for you @ 12:38 in Live from the road... | | permalink
Just what is this? 
jaybird found this for you @ 09:33 in Spirituality, Religion & Mythos | | permalink
"Surviving a Crash" As the night falls and the moths scatter to various attractions, |
