On:

weekend reading – A recent survey of nearby stars shows that 30% of them have versions of earth orbiting around them. Many of these are as much as 10 times larger than our own home planet.

Many of the stars that were thought to have no planets in their orbits have planets so small that they were overlooked before, but these are unlikely to harbor life. In Scientific American, J.R. Minkel quotes astronomer Didier Queloz as saying, “It turns out that a large fraction of the stars that we had believed had no planets actually have planets, but of small mass.”
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In 1995, a film called “Waterworld” postulated a future earth where the oceans have risen so high that everyone lives on boats. With floods in Iowa, China and India engulfing entire cities, it almost seems if that scenario as become a reality. As even entire nations drown, due to rising sea levels, scientists report that MOST of the earth’s extinctions were caused by the ebb and flow of the ocean. One architect thinks this scenario might be a real one for our future and has designed a solution.
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Now that gays can get married in California, it’s worth noting that the brains of gay men and women look like the brains of straight people of the opposite sex. In gay men and straight women, both halves the brain are about the same size. In lesbians and straight men, the right side is larger.

BBC News quotes biologist Qazi Rahman as saying, “As far as I’m concerned there is no argument any more?if you are gay, you are born gay.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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After a group meeting, an acolyte once asked his teacher, “Why do you always say the same thing?”

The guru’s reply: “Because you haven’t heard me yet.”

I’ve been thinking about those lines lately, because I’ve begun to notice so many PORTENTS around me. I’ve been studying a little Buddhism lately (nothing serious, just reading “Best Buddhist Writing of 2007” and a few other books). I read a great article, where a group of Buddhists traveling with a Master stop at a toll booth on the highway. The wind is blowing fiercely and the toll booth lady says, “Where does this wind come from?”
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