Scholars and Rogues

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

WordsDay: Jefferson no Lion in Winter in ?Twilight at Monticello?
2008-05-29 18:00:00
Alan Pell Crawford?s Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson tries to simultaneously be a Jefferson lovefest and an attempt at balanced history. Jefferson himself was a man of well-documented contradictions?he said ?All men are created equal,? yet he owned slaves; he opposed strong central government, yet he made the unilateral decision to buy the Louisiana Purchase; he suffered under crushing debt yet spent lavishly beyond his means. It?s perhaps no surprise, then, that a book about Jefferson might be filled with contradictions, too. Crawford, like most Jefferson defenders, tries his hand at explaining away inconvenient contradictions. Take slavery, for instance: ?Although he was sincerely opposed to slavery, Jefferson simply could not imagine a realistic way to end it,? Crawford writes. ?Jefferson genuinely believed that all men were equally free moral agents who functioned at their best as individuals?a position convenient for the slaveholder but less so for ...
More About: Winter , Virginia , Lion , John Adams

The Compleat Scrogues? Guide to Women, inaugural edition: my pal Hill
2008-05-29 07:18:00
As the leading producer of estrogen around this here blog, I have at last succumbed to the pressure of popular demand, the necessity for a woman’s voice in this howling wilderness of maleness, and a deep-rooted desire to pontificate at will on any topic even vaguely related to women’s issues. So let’s go, boys. Something you don’t understand about the weaker sex? Cover your nads and fire away. Girl trouble? It’s your fault, and I’ll explain exactly how. Got a question about wimmin in general? Answer coming right up, buddy, and I’ll probably throw in a side of unwarranted personal assumptions and a basket of piping hot judgment, no extra charge. Order up! Let her rip! Wagons ho! Wait a minute: what the hell is the question? I need a question. And did someone just call me a ho? My esteemed colleagues, on a sacred oath of guaranteed anonymity, paused in their collective beer-swilling and sports-watching to help a sister out. From among their co...
More About: Women , Guide , Hill , Edition , Inaugural

The Weekly Carboholic: new site calls out ?clean coal? boosters
2008-05-28 18:49:00
That coal is dirty is hardly a surprise to anyone who’s read about coal. Mining coal destroys mountaintops and towns as surely as it does the lives of the miners themselves. Burning coal emits more radioactivity than nuclear reactors do even when they have unexpected coolant releases. And the sulfur, mercury, and nitrogen oxides that exit the smokestacks of coal plants cause acid rain and heavy metal toxicity downwind of every coal plant that exists. And yet the coal mining industry and utilities are engaged in a public relations campaign to convince the world that coal can be clean. Last week I was pointed to two new sites that call out “clean coal” boosters: Coal is Clean and Coal is Dirty. I’d like to say that the first is an obvious satire site, but when naive people take The Onion seriously (or this post here at S&R), I’m hesitant to use the word “obvious” for any satire. But “Ask Dr. Coal - Check out what Dr. Coal has...
More About: Energy , Site , Calls

ExxonMobil?s ironic ally: Steve Milloy
2008-05-28 04:58:00
Tomorrow is ExxonMobil’s annual meeting. At that meeting, shareholders are going to vote on a number of Rockefeller family-supported shareholder resolutions, one of which will if passed, force Exxon to invest more money in alternative energy. The Rockefeller family’s logic is that their investment in Exxon (which goes back to the founding of Standard Oil by John D. Rockefeller) will lose value over time as Exxon’s competitors gain footholds in the alternative energy markets to the detriment of Exxon. But the very first resolution to be voted on is not one that’s supported by the Rockefeller family. In fact, the very first resolution to be voted on is one that would specifically ban resolutions that qualify as “shareholder activism,” supposedly like the resolutions supported by the Rockefellers. And the first resolution was introduced by the Free Enterprise Action Fund (FEAFund), a mutual fund founded and managed by none other than S&RR...
More About: Steve , Ironic , Ally

TunesDay: what is, what was and what almost was - the S&R interview with Do
2008-05-27 16:06:00
I’ve been a very big Don Dixon fan since the late ’70s, so when his new CD, The Nu-Look, dropped I was bouncing around the living room like Snoopy doing a happy dance. Sadly, a lot of people don’t know Don’s music - although many know his work as the producer of Murmur and Reckoning by REM and multiple records from The Smithereens and Guadalcanal Diary (as well as stuff from Chris Stamey, Beat Rodeo, Kim Carnes, The Connells, Marshall Crenshaw, Hootie & the Blowfish, Tommy Keene, Let’s Active, James McMurtry, The Pinetops, The Reivers, Matthew Sweet and X-Teens). The new disc marks something of a departure. Don has been playing live with Jamie Hoover and Jim Brock for a good 20 years, but they’ve never recorded a full disc together as a band. Now, though, they have a name (Don Dixon & the Jump Rabbits) and an outstanding power trio record that does credit to the careers of all three men. For this edition of TunesDay Dixon agreed to sit dow...
More About: Interview

Nota bene
2008-05-27 01:22:00
Got hot links if you want ‘em. Bet you didn’t know this. . . In a London Guardian article “What really happens when you die?,” Rebecca Atkinson and Sarah Tavner interviews doctors, a pathologist, and mortuary workers on the subject of death. A general practitioner say: “Most people will die in bed, but of the group that don’t, the majority will die sitting on the lavatory. This is because there are some terminal events, such as an enormous heart attack or clot on the lung, where the bodily sensation is as if you want to defecate.” Bet you didn’t want to know that. Interviewed by Melvyn Bragg at London’s Times, Gore Vidal said that Obama is “our best demagogue since Huey Long or Martin Luther King.” That means he likes him. In a New York Times article, “Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama,” Jodi Kantor writes about Florida: “This is the most haunted state on the electoral college map for Democra...
More About: Bene

My tribute to warriors on Memorial Day
2008-05-26 18:16:00
War has to be the strangest human institution.  It brings out the the most brutal territorial animal and tribal human in us.  It also showcases extremes of selflessness, courage, and even compassion.  Today, in the United States , we celebrate our warriors in a manner that, all too often, centers on the “glory” of death in battle.  I’d like to extend this tribute to our living warriors — the ones who came home — and the battles they never left. I think this clip from a longer film demonstrates what war is in the most eloquent manner I’ve ever seen; and it’s done without words.  It’s about 10 minutes long, but worth viewing for many of us.  If you don’t want to watch that long, scrub ahead to around 6:08, and if you’re really pressed for time, go to 7:22, but I warn you; the impact will be greater if you don’t scrub ahead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ljk4AC24R 4
More About: World War I , Veteran , Warriors , Memorial Day

ArtSunday: Godard says everything is cinema - except when it?s politics, pe
2008-05-25 18:55:00
Jean Luc Godard’s 1968 epic WeekEnd closes with the following end title: END OF CINEMA Leonard Lopate of WNYC has a terrific interview with Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of a new book on cinema icon - Everything is Cinema : The Working Life of Jean Luc Godard. You can hear the interview below. As Lopate archly notes and Brody diplomatically tries to refute, for the vast majority of cinema aficionados, Godard’s end title was prophetic. After WeekEnd, Godard chose politics over film making - and while he’s occasionally been provocative and interesting, he’s never been relevant in the way he was during his artistic peak in the 1960’s. When Godard burst upon world cinema in 1959 with his breakthrough film À Bout de Souffle (Breathless), his appearance completed the emergence of the triumvirate of France’s Nouvelle Vague in film making: Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, and Godard. While both Chabrol and Truffaut went ...
More About: Politics , Culture , Arts

Saturday Video Roundup: make your own theme
2008-05-24 16:17:00
Normally we try to pull each week’s SVR together around a theme. This week? Here are some random videos. Watch ‘em and you tell us what the theme is. First, the new video from Weezer for “Pork and Beans.” God Bless YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2P I Next, it’s Furries vs. Klingons! Look folks, a bowling alley full of desperate cries for help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljAXHWE0bD Q Finally, a little-known fairy tale. On caffeine. And Red Bull. Lots and lots of Red Bull. Mainlined. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNLHqhRh0V w There you go. Now, hit that comment box and unify these videos thematically. Thanks: Debby Levinson for the Weezer link; Mike Smith for the whole disturbing bowling night thing.
More About: Video , Roundup , Saturday , Theme

Bush golfing again, says ?long nat?l nightmare? over
2008-05-23 21:11:00
President Bush , who recently revealed he gave up playing golf on Aug. 19, 2003 because it “sends the wrong signal” during a time of war, has ended his near five-year sacrifice. The Wounded-Courier has obtained a rush transcript of the president’s discussion to air tonight on Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume. The following is an excerpt from that interview: BRIT HUME: Mr. President, why did you decide to take up golf again? PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, Brit, I’ve proven my solidarity with our troops and their families. I haven’t hit the links for longer than the longest tours of duty of any of our brave fighting men and women. And, quite frankly, I think this country has sacrificed enough. BRIT HUME: A tremendous sacrifice indeed, Mr. President. I’m sure our citizens will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that our progress in the war on terror is such that their commander-in-chief can once more safely bestride golf courses across America. PRES...
More About: Media , Nightmare , Bush administration , Golfing

Quotabull
2008-05-23 20:31:00
[P]erhaps the most compelling evidence against the existence of a boys? crisis is that men continue to outearn women in the workplace. ? from a report by the American Association of University Women, “whose 1992 report on how girls are shortchanged in the classroom caused a national debate over gender equity,” that debunks the notion of a “boys’ crisis,” saying, “Girls? gains have not come at boys? expense”; May 20. I would say the president really has a choice here to show how much he values military service. ? Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who has led the Senate?s efforts to expand education benefits for veterans, on President Bush’s threat “to veto a bill that would pay tuition and other expenses at a four-year public university for anyone who has served in the military for at least three years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001″; May 22. What’s this administration done? Nothing except to increase energy taxes. ? Sen. Do...
More About: Congress , Iraq , South Africa , Bush administration , Veteran

WordsDay: Groff?s Monsters is a lot more than just ambitious chick-lit
2008-05-22 18:55:00
It might be easy to categorize Lauren Groff?s debut novel The Monsters of Templeton as chick-lit with literary pretensions. After all, the main character, Willie Upton, returns to her hometown in self-imposed exile, disgraced and unsure how to find redemption. Willie?s single mother has issues. Her best friend has issues. Men are generally cads, jerks, comic foils not to be taken seriously, or manipulative bastards?or, at best, they move through the world oblivious to nearly everything around them. There?s lots of soul searching, lots of feminine empowerment, lots of women-know-best-wink-wink, nudge-nudge, don?t-we-sisters? But Groff?s novel is nearly perfect in all ways. The writing, the characters, and the insights into life all feel full and fully realized. The Monsters of Templeton is a rich, wonderfully readable literary achievement. Templeton is a not-so-thinly veiled version of Cooperstown , New York, complete with a baseball museum, a national literary icon, the state histori...
More About: Arts , Chick , Loch Ness

I am better off not knowing
2008-05-22 17:21:00
by Patrick Vecchio (CAUTION: Contains naughty words) The cleavage of men into actors and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. ? Jim Morrison, from ?The Lords and the New Creatures? I?ve been a fan of Warren Zevon since his live album ?Stand in the Fire? came out in 1981. But I?m nowhere as big a fan now as I used to be, and it?s got nothing to do with the music, everything to do with the musician. At its best, ?Stand in the Fire? races well past the redline on the rock ?n? roll tachometer. Zevon?s best-known tunes ? especially ?Excitable Boy? ? take on a fun-filled ferocity that makes the studio versions of those songs seem as safe as milk (to borrow a phrase from Captain Beefheart). I listen to ?Stand in the Fire? when I?m working out. I have 400 or so high-octane songs on an iPod playlist to motivate me during 45 minutes of the treadmill drudgery of stride-stride-stride-stride. Yesterday, though, when those Zev...
More About: Knowing

Hell on earth? How about hell in heaven?
2008-05-22 15:53:00
Suffocated by your family? It could be worse in the afterlife. That we’ll be “greeted by loved ones” at death has become conventional wisdom these days. It’s especially common among those who believe that we not only reincarnate, but we sojourn across the eons in a “soul group.” With each rebirth, the members of the group appear in different configurations. For example, friends turn up as family and vice versa. Or — worst case scenario — your mother in a previous life is your wife in this life. Were we privy to that information, the ew factor would be off the charts. But, when divulged or coaxed forth by the dulcet tones of psychics or past-life therapists, it’s more palatable. Of course, in the afterlife these kinds of concerns are immaterial ?- just like anything material! The late Dr. Ian Stephenson conducted extensive research on what, for science’s sake, he called “cases suggestive of reincarnation.” Mostly...
More About: Earth , Heaven , Hell

?I?ll stand up to those special interests.? Really? How?
2008-05-21 23:05:00
We are all going to die. When we do, an industry with 100,000 employees will annually collect about $11 billion in revenue from our survivors, who presumably love us and wish to put us to rest with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Requiescat in pace, although survivors’ wallets might not. Since 2002, after authorities found the remains of 339 people scattered about the grounds of a Georgia crematorium, the funeral industry has been visited by a wave of regulatory activity in many states. Not surprisingly, the funeral industry, a monopoly in many ways, wishes to influence that regulatory activity. It has also sought to influence drafting and revision of federal regulations, most notably the Federal Trade Commission’s “Funeral Rule.” According to a richly detailed and footnoted report by Scott Jordan of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, from 1999 to 2006 the industry has coughed up $6 million in political contributions spread over politica...
More About: Congress , Constitution , Bush administration , House of Representatives , Special

The smartest shopping cart that ever lived
2008-05-21 19:14:00
MediaPost reports this morning on an interesting new survey from TNS, which says that “sixty percent of shoppers across the globe believe that they will be able to pay for purchases using just their fingerprint by 2015, rated top by 25% of shoppers.” Never mind the chill that should send down the spine of anyone who values their privacy - we’ll deal with that another day. For the moment let’s have a look at what people expect from The Future®. Read the rest at Black Dog.
More About: Shopping , Cart , Lived

The Weekly Carboholic: boreal forest moves north, reducing Arctic albedo
2008-05-21 16:51:00
When we think about forests and global heating, we generally think about how forests sequester carbon via respiration and storage in their trunks and leaves. For that reason, we’re often told that we should support reforestation efforts, support efforts that reduce deforestation, and even plant trees ourselves. And all of those things will help. But in some cases, forests can also behave as a net carbon source instead of a carbon sink. The Carboholic reported on one such possible instance back on January 9. Last week, ScienceNews reported on the release of a study that shows that expanding forests taking over tundra could also further exacerbate global heating. The problem is this: as the boreal forest that blankets North America, Europe, and Asia up to the Arctic Circle spread further north into former tundra, the albedo (the amount of light reflected off the ground back into space) of the land goes down, effectively creating yet more Arctic heating in a positive feedbac...
More About: Weekly , Forest , Moves

Obama Will Work to Reign in Corporate Media, McCain Will Not
2008-05-20 21:10:00
In February I wrote about Obama ’s strong stands on media issues. Obama is now bringing more tough talk, with promises to directly go after excessive media consolidation that is not properly serving consumers. Reuters, via Stoller: Democrat Barack Obama said on Sunday he would pursue a vigorous antitrust policy if he becomes U.S. president and singled out the media industry as one area where government regulators would need to be watchful as consolidation increases. Obama: “There are going to be areas, in the media for example where we’re seeing more and more consolidation, that I think (it) is legitimate to ask…is the consumer being served?” The fact that companies are scrambling to complete mergers before a possible Obama administration gives an indication of just how serious they believe him to be. “People are working quickly to get things done during this administration. They have for some time,” Axinn said. Leiv Blad, an antitrust lawy...
More About: Media , Work , Corporate , Reign

People who live in glass houses shouldn?t stage an Olympic protest
2008-05-20 15:49:00
Though a little late in the game, calls for a boycott of the Beijing Olympic s can still be heard. For instance, President Bush and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev plan to attend the August 8 opening ceremonies. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy may be a no-show unless Chinese authorities negotiate with Tibet an leaders. Since the March 10th uprising in Tibet, Chinese security forces have terrorized Tibetans by not only firing upon, but “disappearing” protesters. They also occupied monasteries and villages. Meanwhile, 194 American rabbis recently signed a letter protesting China’s support for Sudan and its brutal oppression of Darfur. Besides investing billions of dollars to help prop up the brutal Khartoum regime, China has sold it assault rifles and other weapons. “Insecurity,” reports Foreign Policy in Focus’s John Feffer, “which poses the greatest threat to civilians and humanitarians in Darfur, derives directly from the arrogant def...
More About: People

TunesDay: the silo effect and love of the music?
2008-05-20 15:22:00
My son Trevor and I were driving to dinner one night a few weeks ago and he was complaining bitterly about how his band, Doco (pictured at right), is still struggling to get decent shows outside their local area (NC/SC/VA/WV): “We’re not metal, we’re not emo, we’re not punk, we’re not hip hop, we’re not roots rock, we’re not power pop, we’re not jam band, we’re not any single genre. We’ve been trying to make something new, and that’s costing us money. Since club owners can’t ’silo’ us into a genre so they can package us with lower level acts, they only give us the odd bookings when they have open nights. We play lots of the ‘rep making’ clubs on Tuesday nights. It fucking sucks. Why do we have to fit a silo to get work? I love playing music. Is it asking too much to want to make my living at it?” Welcome to the music business 2008. The latest thing in the 21st century music business...
More About: Music , Love , Effect , The Music

McCain vs. McCain: the Straight-Talk Express jumps the tracks
2008-05-19 19:56:00
Four years ago GOP partisans couldn’t say hello without working the term “flip-flop” in somehow. This year? Not so much. Wonder why? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4 c
More About: Cain , Talk , Tracks , Straight , Express

Advertising and the real people in this world
2008-05-19 19:00:00
by greg stene I?ve encountered a number of people who believe in some mysterious power of advertising and think it needs to be regulated. I have railed at these people, that they need to wake up to the world around them and realize that people are not idiots and they can pretty damned well determine for themselves how to deal with advertising and the messages it sends. I have, for years, believed that the rational, somewhat skeptical human being was what made up our people. A little bit of the Missouri, ?show me? attitude so we could decide on the real merits of a thing. Some of that idea of the First Amendment being the way that lets all voices be heard so we can reasonably find the right answer to an issue. Noble humanity. It was what I believed in. It was why I could read a decision by the Supreme Court and nod in agreement when they noted the idea of ?the reasonable person? who was presumed to make up society and pretty much be the standard by which we would judge all peopl...
More About: People , World , Advertising , Real , Civic

South Africa, where no-one dies of old age
2008-05-19 17:49:00
“Who killed her?” asked the five-year-old daughter of an acquaintance upon being told that her granny had died. That she could have died of old age and natural causes never occurred to the little girl. It is a chilling reminder of the type of society that South Africa has become. The last few days, the world’s murder capital has cemented its place as the country where you are most likely to die in a violent attack. 22 foreign African economic migrants have been murdered by rampaging mobs around Johannesburg. The response from government has been their usual anaemic, “We intend to investigate this thoroughly and have set up a tribunal to look in to it.” Double-speak for, “We’re burying it under a mound of bureaucracy.” In the mean time, Zimbabwean friends ? refugees from a vicious tyrant at home ? are hiding in their apartments for fear of being assaulted in exile. It makes a fascinating contrast for me, having just immigrated to th...
More About: South Africa , Dies

Nota bene
2008-05-19 14:31:00
Got hot links if you want ‘em. In her New York Times article, “Ballot Box Office,” Deborah Solomon interviews Jay Roach director of “Recount,” a new film about Florida 2000: “I think men are obsolete to some extent. I was going to do a film called ‘Used Guys’ about a future where women run the world because they finally figured out that men are poisoned with testosterone and shouldn’t be allowed near anything sharp or explosive.” Bet you didn’t know this. Aaron Glantz reports at LouRockwell.com: “Eighteen American war veterans kill themselves every day. One thousand former soldiers receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs attempt suicide every month. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas.” Bet you didn’t want to know. In “Soldier Refuses Iraq Tour, Citing ‘Stomach-Churning Horrors’,” Aaron Glantz, this time on AntiWar.com, writes ...
More About: Bene

ArtSunday: ?The Thirteen American Arguments?
2008-05-18 06:21:00
The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country by Howard Fineman Random House, 320 pp. Americans love to argue. In fact, we would not be Americans if we didn?t. So says journalist Howard Fineman in his new book, The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates that Define and Inspire Our Country. Arguing, Fineman says, is what we do and who we are. ?We are the arguing country, born in and born to debate,? he writes. ?We are an endless argument.? Fineman is Newsweek ?s senior Washington correspondent and columnist, and he?s a news analyst for NBC and MSNBC. By his own description, he has covered every presidential campaign and major candidate since 1983. In The Thirteen American Arguments, Fineman taps into his decades of experience to find perspective on the American experiment. He looks not at petty partisan bickering and political posturing but rather at the larger, fundamental questions Americans have wrestled over since the country?s foundi...
More About: Barack Obama , Abraham Lincoln

Saturday Video Roundup: try try try to understand ? he?s a magic man?
2008-05-17 18:29:00
Like a lot of people, I’m fascinated by magic. Oh, not the real kind - you know, the sleight-of-hand/parlor trick/Houdini stuff. I used to know Whit Haydn and have seen him do tricks so well that even though I was pretty sure I knew how he was doing it, and even though I was able to stand about a foot away and watch, I still couldn’t catch him. I’m not sure I understand exactly what it is in us that responds so powerfully to illusion - maybe it’s that the day-to-day world is so mundane and bereft of hope that we’re automatically drawn to even the most subliminal suggestion that there could be more to life than meets the eye. In any case, there are people out there doing stuff that’s just … he did what?! The two biggest names these days are Criss Angel and, of course, David Blaine , who’s hands-down the craziest bastard alive. So for today’s edition of SVR, let’s kick back and enjoy being hoodwinked for a few minutes, shall w...
More About: Video , Magic , Roundup , Saturday

Bill O?Reilly?s blow-up: the part you didn?t see
2008-05-16 17:38:00
New footage has just come to light showing us the full exchange between Papa Bear and his behind-the-camera producer during his famous F-bomb flinging tirade a few years back. Must-see TV, you bet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSAPls21xA A Every news show needs a producer like that if you ask me. Thanks to CollegeHumor.com for the clip and to JS O’Brien for passing this along.
More About: Bill O , Fox News , Reilly , Part , Bill

Quotabull
2008-05-16 17:32:00
Hhaing The Yu, 29, in rain falling on the ruins of his home, in a township outside Yangon, Myanmar. This is not about politics; it is about saving people’s lives. There is absolutely no more time to lose. ? United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, pressing the military junta in Myanmar to accept international assistance as hundreds of thousands of its citizens reel from the effects of a devastating cyclone earlier this month; May 14. ? Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views ? Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation ? Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State ? Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy ? text under the page 2 headline “People’s Desire” in the May 13 edition of Myanmar’s state newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar. So many of the loans made were irresponsible ? for the borrowers and for th...

WordsDay: A children?s story, complete with moral
2008-05-15 17:28:00
The Old Man and The Hawk for Carrie If he hadn’t been thirsty, the boy might have missed it. He saw it when he raised his canteen. It didn’t seem like much at first, he thought, just a black speck curling through the blue Utah sky. But he kept looking, curious. He squinted at the distant mystery, his thirst temporarily forgotten. “Mr. Seth, is that a bird?” The old man leaned against a stout but gnarled juniper, thumbs hooked in the shoulder straps of his worn canvas pack. He knew how and when to steal a few seconds’ rest as the minutes and the hours and the days and the life flowed by. He curled his arm around the juniper, letting his palm see and know the tree’s rough bark. He didn’t look up. He didn’t need to. “It’s a hawk, son.” “How do you know?” The old man eased one strap from his shoulders, then the other. In a smooth, practiced motion, he twisted his upper body to the side just so, and the pack f...
More About: Children , Story , Arts , Complete , Moral

Vatican Observatory says aliens would be ?God?s creatures?
2008-05-15 05:44:00
Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying that any extraterrestrials, if they exist, would be “extraterrestrial brothers”. Apparently, Ref. Funes was interviewed on the topic of the interaction between the Roman Catholic Church and science in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. In some respects, this interview was probably pointless. Extraterrestrial bacteria, never mind intelligent organisms, have yet to be discovered even within our own solar system, never mind outside it. So who cares, right? The problem is that scientists continue to launch powerful instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope and it’s eventual successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is systematically scanning the sky, looking for unusual patterns in the background that might indicate intelligent life. The Kepler mission will search for...
More About: Aliens , Creatures