www.alphadictionary.com

I wonder how this is related to saxitoxin (STX,) a non-protein poison produced by marine microorganisms. It's one of the deadliest poisons around (if you don't include the protein-based poisons,) and it is the agent that produces paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans. The distinction is made with protein poisons because, though deadlier, the protein poisons have a very short shelf life. Non-Protein poisons can be stored for long periods, often indefinitely. Saxitoxin was the stuff in "suicide capsules" that spies carried around, but I don't think it's used for that purpose any longer.

(...and maybe we can discuss the proper way to capitalize hyphenated words, while we're at it.)

Unless I missed something in translation,
the Pleiades and the Big Dipper (Ursa Major)
are not the same thing.

Ack! You're a star, Luke.
See, if Stargzer was still around he'd'a been all over me.

I confused the "seven stars of the Big Dipper asterism" with the "Seven Sisters". To quote Emily Litella, "never mind..."

No need to apologize. I frequently make
astonomical (pun) mistakes. It is what it means to
be human (and dyslexic,but that is not an excuse.)
Where is stargazr? I've seen him a few times since
I've been here, but not much.

I never knew I was an austral dweller, compelled to live in a southerly region. I alwasys thought it was an "occident" of birth."

Your orientation is all askew.

That's nothing new. I hit my head on a rock when I was rupicoline.

Good list of works, Beck, several of them new to me.

Why were you living among rocks??
Careful now, risking banter.

I was in the process of evolving when the rupicoline incident occurred. I came out of the ocean as a result of alluvium and found myself dwelling among rocks and sand.

Many years later, I found a magic ring, which made me invisible, and I wandered the earth unseen until I found my austral home.

The weather and the moonshine convinced me to stay.

Meet any hobbits along the way? Oops I guess it is the
Dwarves who live among the rocks.

Dwarves are rupicoline, elves are arboreous, and hobbits are--I suppose--holistic.

There was a hobbit who lived in a hole. Funny.
Your mind is working, no??? Keeps half-timers away.

There was a hobbit who lived in a hole. Funny.
Your mind is working, no??? Keeps half-timers away.

And that was the sentence that got Tolkien going!

Unless I missed something in translation,
the Pleiades and the Big Dipper (Ursa Major)
are not the same thing.

Ack! You're a star, Luke.
See, if Stargzer was still around he'd'a been all over me.

I confused the "seven stars of the Big Dipper asterism" with the "Seven Sisters". To quote Emily Litella, "never mind..."

I was either snowed in or otherwise occupied back then.

The Seven Sisters are part of the open cluster of stars know as the Pleiades. They are usually depicted as forming the shoulder of the constellation Taurus, the Bull. In binoculars or a small telescope the brighter stars form a small dipper, which some mistake for the Little Dipper in Ursa Minor. You can see them without binoculars or a telescope on the front of Subaru automobiles, Subaru being the Japanese name for the cluster. Another asterism in Taurus is the Hyades, which form the face of the Bull and contains the bright red star Aldebaran.

The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are asterisms, groups of stars that form patterns that are not official constellations. Both of these are each parts of the larger constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, respectively. There are other asterisms that are made up of stars from different constellations, such as the Summer Triangle and the Winter Triangle.

Yes, this discussion was a while ago. Glad you found it.
I am familiar with the Summer Triangle, Altair, Deneb, Vega,
if I am correct. And I am familiar with the Winter
Hexagon: Capella, Aldebaran,Rigel,Sirius,Procyon,Pollux.
But I am not familiar with the Winter Triangle. What
stars make it up???

But I am not familiar with the Winter Triangle. What stars make it up???

It's part of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_triangle link.

Smaller and more regularly shaped is the Winter Triangle (aka the Great Southern Triangle), an approximately equilateral triangle that shares two vertices (Sirius and Procyon) with the larger asterism. The third vertex is Betelgeuse. These three stars are three of the ten brightest objects, as viewed from Earth, outside the Solar system. Betelgeuse is also particularly easy to locate, being a shoulder of Orion, which assists stargazers in finding the triangle. Once the triangle is located, the larger hexagon may then be found.