Best Of
Re: Which book are you reading?
I had been contemplating beginning just such a thread as this for some while, but my basement's been flooding, the house been trying to return to the soil, and time has been sadly lacking.
I submit Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind by Peter Godfrey Smith.
. . . focuses on the evolutionary developments that shaped our brains, and no matter how much you think you know about these developments, his book will deepen your understanding . . . ―Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, The American Scholar>
Also, Sediments of Time by Meave Leakey, and Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.
ps - @lobster might like the first book - it's got crustaceans in it.
Fosdick
Re: Funny Stuff
Mulla Nasrudin listened very attentively while a stranger told a long story in the coffee-house. But the man spoke so indistinctly and muffed his punchline so badly that the story was not funny at all, and except for the Mulla no one laughed. But the Mulla laughed heartily.
"Why did you laugh, Nasrudin?" I asked him afterwards when the stranger had left.
"I always do," replied Nasrudin. "If you don't laugh, there is always the danger of their telling it over again."
Jeroen
Re: Buddhists & Easter
QCH2002
Re: My favourite 'cult'
My favourite 'cult'
"newbuddhist" ...It does seem to have a strong cult following 
Shoshin1
Re: Funny Stuff
Doctor: So, Ahab, what happened?
Ahab: Well, I'm jus' an ol' country feller on my horse and cart, with ma dawg, jus' amblin' into town, peaceful-like, when on this narrow country road, a big car dun come round the corner, like a hundrid miles an hour, an' WHAM! Mayhem!
Doc: And then the cops came?
A: Uh-huh.
Doc: Well Ahab, you have a broken leg, a broken arm, three fractured ribs, a real nasty head wound, and multiple lacerations..
A: Oh... is THAT why I hurt so bad?
Doc: Yes Ahab, so I'm kinda confused why you told the cop you were feeling just fine?
A: Well the cop went to check on ma horse, which was makin' an awful racket, an' he dun see the horse had 2 broke legs an' looked a godawful mess, so he shot him. Then he went over to ma dawg, which wuz howlin' something awful, saw his broken legs, fractured jaw, an' looked a godawful mess so he shot him, then he cum up to me an' asked "An' how YOO feelin' Ahab?"
federica
Re: Funny Stuff
Tee hee! @federica.
One of the traditions in Zen monasteries was the walking over a just cleaned floor by dirty footed, more experienced monks.
Part of the training was to not react. After all, many trained samurai retired at Zen monasteries. Reactions could be fatal... 
lobster