The Committee…some days, those words send chills up my spine.  Or is it chinchillas?  I’m never sure.

Anyway, the Committee members are in the midst of a dispute.  Do they promote a person or idea to a large group of people (e.g., a particular candidate or party for U.S. President in 2012) or let the system fulfill its predetermined fuzzy math, neural network outcome, where the person with the biggest network of people with the best possible chance of improving overall conditions for our species within our solar system ecosystem wins?

PME magazine declares “Less Is More” on its cover, discussing single-pipe hydronic system that solves high-rise troubles.

Meanwhile, the 2010 “Gallery” at WSCC received a silver award for annual publications from Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists.

Wallace Turman offers a “Bible story told through the Scripture Emphasis on Psalms 40 and demonstrated through clay on how the Potter, clay and the wheel relate to us.  This is a Great Learning Experience for the Whole Family [and he] can come to your Church or Business.”  For booking call Wallace at (256) 859-6517, (256) 658-1233 or email blackk59 [at] yahoo.com.

Finally, American Currents magazine offers the following observations about the mating habits of Warmouth, Lepomis gulosus:

“Both sexes, when courting, would approach another adult.  Only males were observed defending a territory.  Larger males were most successful at defending territories.  Only courting males would approach another fish with gills flared and attempt to lead a female to the nest site.  Females approaching the nest of a courting male would blanch with darkened eyes and move directly into the nest to engage in rock biting.  Brood care was performed only by males.  The paternal males frequently chased other fish off or away from the nest site.  Paternal investment ended once the larvae left the nest.

“Males and nests were acclimated over a period of one to several days prior to addition of females into the system.  This allowed time for males to establish territories and define hierarchy.

“The single male system with one or more females used a 150-litre (4-gallon) glass aquarium.  The male and nest were placed to one side of the tank and the following day conditioned female(s) were introduced and confined to the other side using a partition.  By day three, females were attempting to go through the partition, so the partition was removed and immediately the male began to court the females.  The partition was removed allowed the sexes to interact only when fishes could be monitored.  To keep the male receptive to ripe females, we eliminated parental obligations by removing the nest once eggs were hatched.  On several occasions, multiple, apparently, ripe females entered the nest and the males would abruptly stop courting.  The females would attempt to vent-rub even though the male’s courting has ceased.  Courtship and spawning would only occur successfully with a single female on the nest.  Several males that failed to construct and defend a nest site were removed.  Males observed to be reluctant to display courtship and spawning behaviours were replaced.

“A problem noted with this setup is that once females were removed, the male would often neglect parental duties and brood survival was greatly reduced.  Successful incubation required either leaving at least one female in the tank or removal of the nest for incubation in another tank [with adequate, artificial ventilation].  Males were often observed to be reluctant to spawn when they were the only male in the system; adding another male often promoted more intense courting, possibly because of competition between the males.

“The two-male system used a 454-l (120-gal) fiberglass raceway.  Males quickly feuded over the single nest and within an hour one male had become dominant and claimed the nest.  Conditioned females (n=7) were confined as a group to the smaller volume in the [tank].  At the beginning of the work day the partition was removed allowing the females to interact with the males over nests.  When the females were released, only the dominant male could defend a nest and successfully court the females.  The second male would attempt to defend a territory but was unable to court the females.

“Conditioning of the females was minimal and only required the females to be fed good amounts of food a couple weeks prior to spawning.  Courting behaviour includes a male swimming toward the females swaying his body while flaring his operculum then returning to his designated nest; this is repeated several times before a female responds by returning to the nest with the male.  Often times more than one female would enter a nest site.  During trials, as many as five females were observed in a single nest.  Males would refuse to spawn when more than two females were in a nest at one time.  So in order to induce spawning, several females had to be removed.  Three females were left in the raceway and within minutes a female returned to the nest.”

Sounds oddly familiar, like some people I know…

My wife wants me to mention the everyday miracle of life that occurs around us all the time (i.e., another example of Presbyterian predestination, she says).

Today, while sorting out clothes for her mother at the assisted living apartment, she had a few leftover clothes hanger, including a broken one which I proceeded to bend and turn into a giant thin moustache I could maybe use as a costume prop next month.  We left the apartment and I threw the bent wire into the backseat.  After seeing the dramatised true-to-life movie-of-the-week called “Moneyball,” we stopped to fill our automobile tank with petrol.  At the gas station, our favourite attendant there, Theresa, mentioned a fellow needed a coat hanger to jimmy the lock on his truck in which he locked his keys.  I carry a coat hanger in my car like almost never —  when I do, BOOM! lightning strikes and someone needs it.

The bigger your network, the better the chance of you experiencing and/or believing in everyday miracles, serendipitous or some such.  Perhaps, like Gandhi, your friends are setting up the infrastructure to make your life look more miraculous.  Same thing.

If=since, says Dr. Tom Lovell, referring to Philippians 2:1 (although 2:14 is much more poignant to me; accentuate the positive, no henpecking and no kicking or drawing lines in the sand), after preaching about 1:27.

Makes sense to me.

Is the universe for you or against you.  I choose to believe/accept it’s for me, even when the local environment feels/seems/looks hostile.  Why else am I here?

Thanks to the seaters and Sarah at Outback; William and Sabrina at Cheeburger, Cheeburger; Alyssa and Olivia at Rave; the many, many smiling faces at HarborChase; the bridge players and support staff at Brookdale Place; Elsie, William Hovik and others at Faith; Mel Strain of Mel’s Workshop; the soap maker who’s a friend of Tina Williams; the creators of the ext4 journaling file system.