Raindrops on Spider Webs

I really like the patterning that I saw this morning with a bunch of raindrops on spider webs. I am showing one picture in this entry, but here are a few more.

Revenge of the Carnivorous Flying Squirrel

The carnivorous flying squirrel is real (and not just a private D & D joke between one of my friends and me). I think I rolled more critical hits in the infamous CFSA incident, which was from my first time as a dungeon master, then I have any time since.

I have seen the CFS, which appeared in Monster Manual II in the first edition of AD & D, in discussions of the lamest D & D creatures. Here is a Pathfinder version of this critter.

Coral is Beautiful!

Take a look at these absolutely gorgeous pictures of coral! Wow!

(Tip of the cap to I Fucking Love Science.)

Quote of the Day: Tenure and Sea Squirts

I love this quote from philosopher Daniel Dennett (from 1991): "The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it fi nds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it! (It's rather like getting tenure.)"

(Tip of the cap to this paper by Pablo Echenique-Robba. And thanks to Easter Eggs in Scientific Papers to pointing me to this paper. (I might have actually seen it before, but I didn't pay any attention to it until I saw it on that blog.)