The Ethics Of Belief (Reblog)

Spurred by news of Louisiana's recent fundamentalist-drive blow against reason, I dug up a copy of Clifford's essay on belief. The first section was as lucid as I remember it. I recommend it, and its exhortation that permitting unsound beliefs damages all humanity. It is online here.

"He who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth, will proceed by loving his own sect or Church better than Christianity, and end loving himself better than all." -- Aids to Reflection, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Porkicorn (Reblog)

My Reality Show

There seems to be a "reality" show about everything. The next Iron Chef, dancing -- dogs? Why don't we just fast forward to...

Virtual Reality
Coming this Fall... 10 production teams vie to have their new reality series picked for development by a panel of illustrious Fair and Balanced™ Fox network suits. Beginning with the pitch and moving through challenge after grueling challenge, these TV hopefuls are whittled down until we're left with a winner every bit as compelling as American Idol or Living Lohan!

Barbarian Invasion (Pets)

Hagar's ominous shadow looms over our peaceful domicile. The turtle is the fierce water that will wash away all that has gone before!
Ah, the vicissitudes of fortune, which spare neither man nor his works...
Against Hagar's might two dogs divided cannot stand.

Bubbling Dog (Pets)

I suppose here 'Dolon is nerving himself to go after the Kong at the bottom of the deep, scary pool by blowing happy bubbles. He does the same thing in water bowls at the dog park, he's a regular mobile aerator.

Unidentified Fungus

This weekend NDM discovered a mystery fungus in her native Illinois plant garden. A cursory Google failed to educate us...perhaps EJB has an idea what the heck this is?

(The answer ended up being stinkhorn,)

Daisy And Líle (Pets)

This past weekend we took Líle down the street to EQ's house to play with Daisy. Daisy shares Lab blood with Líle, but is about three generations removed from her in behavior and obedience. This was Líle's second supervised visit sans-'Dolon, and the first time she really came out of her shell and played as if she were a real dog with someone other than her brother.
Daisy and Líle both share a love of water, and in addition to fishing toys out of the pool and just lounging around in it Daisy used it as a splashdown point while running laps. Líle wasn't quite as adventurous.
She did run her little rottie butt off , though, chasing Daisy around the yard giving excited little yips.
One day, perhaps, Líle can be as well-behaved as Daisy. If EQ starts training her.

Molpe 2008 Kill #1 (Pets)

This year is off to a late start -- and with both dogs fully active on yard patrol I expect this to be Molpe's weakest year yet. Nevertheless, here is her first of '08. (Líle deposited another bird on my feet last week, but its provenance was unclear, and it might have simply been a natural death that ended up in our yard.)

For some reason Molpe took this one upstairs before she started caterwauling about it. I hope this isn't the start of a trend in hiding evidence.

It's A Hard Rock Life (Pets)

When 'Dolon has been bad, we make him sleep on a stone pillow.

Couch War (Pets)

Every day another battle is fought in the war for dominance of our couch.
The innocent are the ones who invariably suffer the most.
Every night, as the conflict settles into another cold war phase, I dream of a lasting peace.

Summer Starts For Líle (Pets)

We used to have a wading pool, which was primarily used for Hagar during nice weather. Once I dug in Hagar's pond NDM decided to give it away since the dogs weren't very excited by it. But Líle being part Labrador, she had her dad pick up another pool, and it has paid off big-time in sopping wet puppies running around inside our house.
Luckily, she only has enough energy to paint our floors with 8 to 10 gallons of water per day. Here she is recharging by her frog.