Watermark

Haiku and the Double Helix| What I Am Thinking About

From New Perspectives Quarterly:

The role of the scientific imagination in shaping the world to come is today uncertain as the great leaps forward . . . have revived old doubts and raised new fears about the human condition under the regime of reason. . . science is under attack both from religious extremists on the right who argue stem-cell research violates the sanctity of life as well as from "post-intelligent intellectuals" of the academic left who view science not as the discovery of objective reality through observation, but as a "social construction."

Religion

From Whiskey River:

"In the oldest religion, everything was alive, not supernaturally but naturally alive ... For the whole life-effort of man was to get his life into contact with the elemental life of the cosmos, mountain-life, cloud-life, thunder-life, air-life, earth-life, sun-life. To come into immediate felt contact, and so to derive energy, power, and a dark sort of joy. This effort into sheer naked contact, without an intermediary or mediator, is the root meaning of religion."

- D. H. Lawrence

Carnival of the Cats #36 - A Kittie Feast

Joining us at the table today:

Amanda sends Friday cat blogging

Lisa sends Keeping Siofra Warm

Zozo sends EnNui KaTz

Jack sends You Could Learn A Lot From Boo

Lesley sends Friday Cat Blogging (a Jane & Emma debut!)

Sarah sends Minerva went for a spin…; more bebe blogging; ok, so maybe she’s just creepy [ed. note: I've never seen a cross-eyed cat before!]; and minerva is the cutest

Shelley sends Always Off

bwells sends sabrina of the glowing eyes and my son's latest lego creation [I'm not sure which is spookier]

Rob sends Obligatory Friday Cat Blog

SA sends a mystery entry.  I don't know what language this is, and the link takes me to a page with pictures of dogs; but this person has tried very hard (four emails) to get on the list, so here it is.

J.R. sends Tiger Having a Thanksgiving Day Moment [we seem to have lots of comics this week]

Laurence sends Catsgiving Feast, and also sends us to a proposed Catblogger's Code of Practice [Note that Laurence is doing a poll on Which cat should be the Carnival of the Cats model for December?]

Jazz sends Friday Cat Blogging, Holiday Style

Catherine sends Friday Cat Blogging

Michael sends Harley, basking in the sun

Peter sends Bookworm

Eric sends Kitty in a Box

There's more:

Kimberly sends Feline Friday 8: No place to nap

Darcy sends Cats Like Turkey Too [heehee]

Sissy sends: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Supercat!; Want your supper?; Up with the chickens; Let's talk turkey; and Benchmark

nycbabylon sends York vs. New York on Thanksgiving: The Great Friday Catblog Debate

Steve sends Miss Matata Relaxes, Post-Thanksgiving [pink-robed, yet] and Wake Up and Feed Me, Dammit

Russ sends Promises [a thoughtful, moving post]

Lord God Almighty (AKA Lynn) sends Winter Cats

Matt sends Hungry Cats

Tinker sends Blog of a Cat [heh]

jan sends That little thief

Heather sends time out for tomas

Caitlin sends  Giving thanks for food, shelter, and a sunny spot [this is quite a remarkable photograph]

Finally, here at Watermark we have Cat Mustaches and Thanksgiving

ADDITION [email eaten by gremlins]:   Ellen sends I Want More Turkey! and Gobble Gobble Gobble!

& ONE MORE:  Elayne sends Friday Cat Blogging

PLUS, this one didn't actually enter, but I figure it counts: from Miriam, I had just resolved to cut down . . .

AND, Mog is feeling tired and absent-minded, so I have made my own selections:  Get That Mousie; Mostly Useless; and Gift Wrapping With the Help of Your Cat

OK, I'll stop soon, I promise, but How Could I Skip This?  From Kim, Four Days, Two Pictures

Thanks to all of you who joined us this week, and to Laurence for the honor of hosting.  If I've missed anyone, or if you have trackback enabled and didn't get one, let me know. 

Don't forget the Carnival of the Dogs and Friday Ark.  Next week's Carnival of the Cats will be at People's Republic of Seabrook. 

Now go feed those cats; I'm sure they are hungry again.  See you next week!

 

Is a working father good for the child?

It's a question society is too scared to ask:
[adapted from an article by J. Murray-Smith]

In an age in which everything can be bared, from marital intimacies in The Bride Stripped Bare to spiritual epiphanies (Madonna and the Kabbalah), to political and sexual proclivities, the only thing that is off the acceptable agenda for the chattering classes is men and work.

The newspapers, it is true, are full of dissertations on the need for good child care and the continuing battles for equality in the workplace, for the freedom to make good choices. But where in the public forum is the question that refuses to budge from the conscience of most middle-class working fathers: Is my working life good for my child?

Cat Mustaches

Oh, the varied uses of cats.  For those with chilly upper lips, there is the Cat Mustache (via Blogywood):

click to go to site with larger photos

Now, I adore my cats -- Boo, the sweet retriever, and Spike, the affectionate bully -- but, being Manx, they are not useful for this particular purpose, as you can see:

click for big

I know you love cats, too, so remember that this Sunday's Carnival of the Cats will be here at Watermark; send in those entries!  The current Carnival is here, and this week's Friday Ark is up.

I had a lovely, and tiring, Thanksgiving Day, so that is all for today -- I hope that all of you are enjoying this holiday weekend. 

Thanksgiving [Snapshot]

 
 

These creatures, who companion me.
These friends, who sustain me.
These poets, who inspire me.
This house, which shelters me.
This garden, which feeds me.
This stone, which teaches me.
This changing moon, which comforts me.
This earth, which absolves me.
This ground, which will receive me.

These readers, you, who encourage me.

Link Madness

This week's Carnival of the Cats is at Leslie's Omnibus; the next will be hosted here at Watermark. Send in your entries by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.  I know that this may be a slow week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but you have lots of time between now and Sunday to Polaroid those kitties.

A few things to entertain you in the meantime:

Via lonita's links log, we have Disclaimer stickers for science textbooks, and How To Get That Elusive P-Shift! (very, very weird)

The American Garden Museum, via the always wonderful fishbucket
and somewhat related: Stop Oppressive Gardening!

Let Them Sing It For You, via Google Blogoscoped

The Family Values Generator, via Blogywood

And finally, via Mandarin Design, Spider Art:  it generates a collage-like image based on the links from a specified URL.  Here is Watermark:

Click for larger image

Go play, and good Tuesday!

ADDED 10:00 PM:  except it's Wednesday.  Sheesh.

The Pagan Agenda

This post is an experiment -- and a risky one.  As some of you know, I take sleeping pills (among others) as part of my medical treatment.  Usually these knock me out for the entire night, but occasionally my mind races and I get up in the night and do odd things, some of which I remember.  Last night, I got up and recorded a long ramble about the thinking I've been doing on religion and values, subsequent to the election. 

As you will see/ hear, I've been thinking about these issues a great deal, questioning my own values and beliefs.  This has brought me to the conclusion that, I'll be damned (at least many people will think so) -- I'm a pagan. 

So here is the recording.  I've transcribed it below, eliminating the umm's but otherwise staying fairly close to the original.

Red

in the copper urn
in the beaded purse
in the maple, the cherry
      turning
in the african belt
in the bentwood box
in the goldfish
      swimming the chilling pond
in the persian rug
in the porcelain bowl
in the photo of judd
      dancing with scarecrows
in the hopi drum
in the monster's mouth
in me, in me, in me

Flickr photos tagged RED

Snail & Sky

Snail
Originally uploaded by BombDog.