Happy Mothers' Day

Paul Nicklen is a photographer for National Geographic. He traveled to Antarctica to photograph leopard seals, some of the most aggressive predators. When diving he slid into the water with one of the largest leopard seals he'd ever seen. The leopard seal took Nicklen's head and camera into its mouth. Find out why he said what happened next was "every photographer's dream." (Video is is NOT gruesome at all)

Video: Behind the Photo: Paul Nicklen, Deadly Beauty

RS

Hollywood versus reality

Aw geeze! I just saw the trailer for "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. I'm honestly astonished that it appears to be even more anti-Catholic than "The DaVinci Code" was. You hear the words "the truth" thrown around in the trailer alot, which is so ironic given the flimsy plots of all of Dan Brown's books.

It looks like it will present itself as some sort of heroic movie pushing the question of science versus religion driving the two things into a strict either/or situation rather than seeing their compatibility.

The plot of the story is just completely absurd. The whole irony is that people will get pulled into the whole "religion versus science" debate and have doubts about religion, yet will fail to miss all the poor science and non sequitur moments in the actual plot of the book.

This will be the new controversial film of the year because you can tell the studio is going to hype this with all the advertising they can. Of course the other irony is that the movie will try to tell people not to have blind faith regarding religion, but obviously if they are going to see the movie, they will have proven that they have blind faith about the advertising. Sadly, this film will be a blockbuster, mainly because of the advertising, not because of the content. Don't believe me, just look at what happened with "The DaVinci Code." The media and controversy surrounding it made it a blockbuster, but the critics and most moviegoers said the movie was lame. I'm sure this time the studios have hired actual writers to clean the script up. And people say that those who follow religion are just dumb sheep. Ugh.

I would say that this is the perfect time for the Church to emphasize more the compatibility of scienc and religion, as it always has.

For instance, do you know where the theory of the Big Bang came from? A Catholic priest named Georges Lemaitre.

Hopefully Amy Welborn is writing a new book as we speak. LOL.

RS

Volition

A movie to watch:

Volition

Description: "Volition (n)- The act of making a choice. Sometimes the choice of inaction has consequences stronger than we could ever imagine. Throughout history, men have been faced with difficult choices in a world that makes it easy for them to conform. This film explores the hope that lies behind every decision made in the face of adversity; the hope that is buried in the heart of those that look beyond themselves and see something bigger worth fighting for." run time: 14 min 55 sec.

Thanks to Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex for the recommendation.

RS

Amazing pictures from Life Magazine

Second Vatican Council in Saint Peter's
The Life Magazine photo archive is online now and hosted by Google. There are some amazing high quality photos from the last century, even ones from Rome and papal ceremonies. For instance, do a search for "Vatican" and you'll see some amazing pictures. The picture above is just one example (and that's the "small" picture).

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Note: Not all their photo descriptions are accurate. This picture is actually in Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, not Saint Peter's. And I've seen several that were at also labeled as being in Saint Peter's when they were actually in the Colosseum!

RS

Election Results

Hmmm. I just wonder. Did the Democrats really win, or did the Republicans just really lose? I almost consider that there was a "liking" vacuum. I really wonder what the results would have been had those people who only voted against the Republicans because they hate Bush (even though he wasn't even running) hadn't voted. I often got the feeling that even some of the most vocal Obama supporters just needed someone to like and since Obama wasn't Bush, he was the guy.

I think the Republican party, and all conservatives, need to wake up and start being clearer about their views and more intelligent in their arguments. Well, I kind of take that back, not Republicans in general, but the Republicans who are actually running for office. They need to be more direct in addressing and forcing issues and more intelligent and direct in their explanation of the issues.

It's also disturbing to see that so many people voted in a racist or sexist way too. Not only people voting for Obama only because he's Black, but also people voting for McCain only because he chose a woman as a running mate. That's frustrating to me that people would not vote on issues but only on accidental appearances. Sad.

In my opinion this could be an odd blessing in disguise. I think this country has had some dangerous curiosity about socialism. I think even if McCain had been elected, it would have only delayed an inevitable Obama or Obama-like election. Maybe this will be the time where America will hopefully see that socialism is not good for the country, not good for the States, and not good for the individuals. I pray that the American people will see the bad fruit they have wrought, and realize that we need to stop this country from heading into a socialistic society based on our hedonistic desires. We weren't made to be slaves to our passions, and our society is already on that slippery slope. But, I'm not going to gloom and doom, I still think this country has the ability to open it's eyes and see just where our society is headed. I pray we can also have the fortitude as individuals to stop being selfish and to turn the country around.

Pleasure is the new opiate of the masses, and the Democrats promise and use that quite a bit. Sadly though, it does not lead to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but already to leading to death (abortion and euthanasia), slavery (to the passions in sex, homosexual activity, dependance on welfare and social programs, entertainment), and purusit of pleasures (at any cost, even life and liberty).

Well, life goes on, and so we must prepare to fight against anything that will hurt our country no matter which political "side" it comes from. I'd start with the Republican party getting it's act together over these next four years.

RS

Current most overused word in the media

"Slam"

I am so sick of seeing this word. You know it is overused and usually used in situations which really don't need that dramatic of a word.

"LOS ANGELES - A light rail train slammed into a bus near downtown during Friday morning's commute, injuring at least 13 people, fire officials said."

"Ike Slams Into Eastern Cuba; Thousands Begin Evacuating"

OK, maybe it's appropriate in those instances. But I see it everywhere, so I've become jaded to the word ... aside from it being annoying.

"Catholic Bishops Slam Pelosi On Abortion"

It's just getting ridiculous. I swear, any outside observer looking at US media coverage would think that the US Presidential election is actually decided by a tag-team wrestling match.

(story made with ACTUAL headlines)

This is the big tag team match! Obama and Biden are going up against McCain and Palin for the Heavyweight Presidential Championship of the United States of America!

OK, the two teams are in the ring. The referee has Obama and McCain step forward before the bell. OH! Before the bell rings, McCain is already in Obama's face, yelling. "IN 'POLICY SPEECH,' MCCAIN SLAMS OBAMA"

And the bell rings. But Obama quickly get's up and begins fighting back. It looks like Obama already has the upper hand. He moves in on McCain and ... WOW! "OBAMA SLAMS MCCAIN ON IRAQ FACTS" then he goes again! "Obama Slams McCain Over The Economy"!

Uh-oh, Palin doesn't like this ... she jumps into the ring. But Obama is ready and ... oh, Obama has them both and "Obama slams McCain camp ..." Palin crawls out of the ring back to the corner.

Obama makes a tag with Biden and now Biden is in the ring. He grabs McCain and "Biden Slams McCain on Economy"! Biden is playing to the fans.

But watch out, McCain is crawling to the corner. And Biden is not paying attention. Yes, McCain makes the tag! But Biden sees it in the nick of time and "Joe Biden Slams Sarah Palin on Down Syndrome Son, Stem Cell Research." Biden again plays to the crowd. Wait, what's this? Palin is up faster than he thought! She grabs Biden and "Sarah Palin Slams Biden on Energy; Drill, Drill, Drill!" Oh, she's pummeling him!

Obama tries to enter the ring! But, what!? It looks like, we have another player! Out of the crowd ... and he grabs a chair ... and is that, yes, it is! "Lindsay's dad slams Barack Obama" BOOM! And Obama is reeling.

After drilling Biden, Palin goes for the tag and McCain is back in the ring. And "McCain slams Biden in new Ad" Biden is motionless. McCain turns and taunts Obama! What's he saying? Oh, he points at Obama, laughs, picks up Biden and "McCain slams Biden VP pick" right to Obama's face!

Oh, we have other people running into the ring. I don't think the Dems liked that. Now, Hillary is running onto the floor. She jumps in the ring, and "Clinton Slams McCain On Farm Bill" but he gets right up and "McCain Slams Clinton for Support of Woodstock Concert Museum".

Then Palin jumps in too, and "Palin Slams Hillary For Her No Show"

Now the Republicans are getting some help. George Bush comes running in but Hillary sees him and "HILLARY SLAMS BUSH ON BIN LADEN

In fact Hillary is going nuts! She's attacking her own team and "Hillary Slams Obama Over Deceptive Ohio Mailers" Obama is furious, and "Obama slams Hillary on her gaffe about lobbyists"

Oh, it's complete chaos in here! We'll be back after this commercial break ...


Admit it, people would be much more interested in the elections if this were the way it was decided. LOL

Regarding this post, I can see it now: "Media outlets slam the Roman Sacristan for slamming the use of the word 'slam'"

RS

Media Overload

For Carolina Cannonball



(this video is clean, but click on some of his other videos at your own risk)

RS

Is the web affecting our brains?

I know I've felt it. In my own realization, it seems like I have been less proficient at retaining the information itself, and more focused on just knowing how to get to the information I need. Instead of remembering all the data around "fact A," I usually end up just knowing that all the information on "fact A" is over at website "fact A.com."

It opens up the question about the internet and how we use it. Because it is such a new thing, I think many (not only myself) are having to learn a certain discipline in using this new tool. The internet is certainly a great and powerful tool for information and ideas, but it is a two edged sword. For all the information and ideas it has, it also has a lot of misinformation and bad ideas. It's easy to get distracted while researching something to watch a quick video clip, read a quick sports result, or just start surfing on some unrelated tangent.

It's interesting that I found this article after making my post yesterday about buying some good old fashioned books. So, part of the veracity of an article I just found will be if you can even get through the article or not. However, it is a good article to give some thought about the internet and it's effect on our thought processes as we move deeper into the digital age.

The article is called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" over at The Atlantic

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link. (Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

[snip]

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. “I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,” he wrote. “What happened?” He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

[snip]

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains. “The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Like I said, it's certainly worth reading the whole article. It touches on several things I have personally experienced.

I know that even though I do feel I read much, much more now (mostly on the web though), it's often more trivial things, or just blurbs rather than focusing on the whole of the article. And I also will gravitate towards things that are more entertaining than necessarily intellectual. It sort of worried me that I recognized just about every internet celebrity in the latest Weezer video for "Pork and Beans" (yes, those are the real internet personae in the video).



See, I had to slip in that little bit o' entertainment, either to keep your (or more likely my own) attention.

See if you agree with me or not.

Oh well, off to read some more Don Quixote.

RS

Virtual basilica

I once bought the DVD version of UT2004 to learn how to make virtual environments to design churches and monasteries. However, lack of intuitiveness in the editor, my not willing to sit down and learn it, and intrest in the game itself caused me to quickly abandon that.

How cool is this? These guys took a video game engine and made a virtual copy of the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.



I did notice that they are missing all the choir stalls that go along the entire back wall of the apse. Still, the project is pretty impressive. I noticed that since they labelled it "1.0" it looks like they plan on refining it in the future. I'd love to get my paws on this.

For comparison, here's the only picture I could squeeze off.


You can purchase their program which gives you the ability to move wherever you want. I couldn't get the demo to work since I don't have the right operating system.

More info here:

Institute of Digital Theology

RS

A Real Da Vinci Code?

Interesting theory. I can't imagine Leonardo hid all this in a painting, but if he was that much of a genius, then you never know. (At least it is more plausible than Dan Brown's idiotic worn out cookie cutter plot * ) Discovery has an article about a theory by musician Giovanni Maria Pala who has just written a book about his findings.

A real da Vinci code is indeed hidden within Leonardo's "The Last Supper," according to a book to be published in Italy next week.

But rather than conspiracy theories, the new code points to a hidden musical score, a sacred text and a three-dimensional chalice.

...

The Apostles, represented in groups of three, gave him a hint that the piece should be played in 3/4-time, like much 15th-century music. But it was their hands, always in relation to the breads on the table, that provided the real score — to be read from right to left, in line with Leonardo’s writing.

"I marked the pieces of bread on the table and the Apostle’s hands as music notes. Then I drew a pentagram over the scene between the tablecloth and Jesus’ face. I couldn’t believe my ears when I played the music. It sounded really solemn, almost like a requiem," Pala said.

But there was much more. Pala noticed that the notes, in their position, produced strange symbols — similar to ancient cuneiform script — when united to each other by lines.

Examined by Father Luigi Orlando, a biblical scholar at the Antonianum Pontifical University in Rome, the cuneiform writing turned out to be a sentence written in ancient Hebrew: "bo nezer usbi," which means "with Him consecration and glory."

BTW when they mention drawing a "pentagram" between the tablecloth and Jesus' face they mean the 5 line staff for music.

You can read the whole article here:

Leonardo's 'Last Supper' Hides True Da Vinci Code

and see a quick video here, which may explain it better:

History: Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' Secrets Revealed
(be patient, the video was a bit slow to load and play)

*All his books are the same, the names of the conspiracy and characters are just different. Take a mysterious murder, an "expert" in their field (usually cryptology), hook them up with a (sexy) sidekick of the opposite sex (this will be the "good guys" team), have a conspiracy going on by some unknown or secretive organization (this will be the "bad guys"), said conspiracy will "change the world" in some way, have said good guys trek all over some locale, be it a city, a continent, or the globe, all the meanwhile tracking down a trail of mysterious, coded clues.

RS

Fr. Z. on Pope Saint Gregory on Pastors

Picture above the altar of Pope Saint Gregory the Great in the Basilica of Saint Peter, Rome, Italy
I've never really gotten into podcasts, probably because I have rarely enjoyed talk radio. However, I have started listening to Fr. Z's "PODCAzTs" and have found them to be very informative. This particular "PODCAzT" was extremely good. He starts with Pope Saint Gregory the Great talking about what qualities a pastor should have, especially focusing on bishops. However, Fr. Z points out that this can also apply to any man in a role of pastor, be they bishops, priests, or even the father of a family.

Gregory the Great on when pastors should SPEAK UP; priests and getting your way; voicemail feedback.

I always highly recommend Fr. Z's blog, but this is one post that stands out IMHO.

RS

Basic Communication Skills People!

Carolina Cannonball over at The Crescat... posted a great clip from the Miss Teen USA pageant. Wow, did Miss Teen South Carolina actually say anything?



She reminded me of something Senator Ted Stevens had said a while back when talking about the internet. Now I was IT for a few years, and so we had to know about how network communications and the internet worked. I guess things have changed since I was in IT because what Senator Stevens says at the end of the clip is vastly different from what I learned (remember he is head of the senate commerce committee):



So of course, if you can't talk about the internet properly, it will get its revenge on you. :P



RS

The Countries of the World

Monday Levity.

Here's a frustrating little game: Can you name the 192 countries in the United Nations. The difficulty is that sometimes you'll think of coutries, but they are not in the UN. You have 10 minutes (spelling counts).

192 UN Member States in 10 minutes

If you need help you might find some hints from Wakko Warner in this amazing song:



Think that is impressive, the guy who does Wakko's voice, Rob Paulsen (who also did Pinky in Pinky and the Brain, and Raphael on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, can still do the song in one take. Hmmm, this would be a great homeschooler project [hint, hint].



RS

The End of the World As We Know It?

I really enjoy nuclear physics and at one time wanted to get into particle physics. In fact, before I became a theology major, I was on the path to nuclear physics. I even helped my professor do some nuclear experiments to study the structure of the Ce-142 and Nd-144. Admittedly, I didn't understand much about the "IBM model," but it sure sounds cool to say you helped with research in the Interacting Boson Model and the shell model of the N=84 isotones.

The actual experiment was kind of cool. Getting to play with one of those van de graaff generators. You know the one where you put you hand on the ball and it makes your hair stand on end:


Well, imagine having a van de graaff generater that was two stories tall! We used it to shoot protons into a block of something I can't remember. But the protons would collide with the substance and shoot neutrons of a specific energy at the sample (either Ce-142 or Nd-144). The neutron would hit the nucleus of the atom and transfer some of it's energy to the nucleus of the sample, making it go to a higher energy level. It would then decay, releasing a photon. We would measure this photon's energy and be able to use that data to see various energy levels. My job was to help babysit the experiement, then crunch numbers and do computer analysis to find the energy levels as accurately as possible. It was pretty cool how you could predict some things just by the data. Anyway, science has always interested me.

So why the title to this post?

I came across a documentary on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

I love the "frightful" opening squence of the video. Will it destroy the world?

I guess there has been concern. In looking at the LHC web page, if you look at the public web pages of CERN and it's description of the LHC, tucked at the end of the pages is a page that deals with the "safety concerns."

Are LHC collisions safe?

Microscopic black holes will not eat you...
Massive black holes are created in the Universe by the collapse of massive stars, which contain enormous amounts of gravitational energy that pulls in surrounding matter. The gravitational pull of a black hole is related to the amount of matter or energy it contains – the less there is, the weaker the pull. Some physicists suggest that microscopic black holes could be produced in the collisions at the LHC. However, these would only be created with the energies of the colliding particles (equivalent to the energies of mosquitoes), so no microscopic black holes produced inside the LHC could generate a strong enough gravitational force to pull in surrounding matter.

If the LHC can produce microscopic black holes, cosmic rays of much higher energies would already have produced many more. Since the Earth is still here, there is no reason to believe that collisions inside the LHC are harmful.

They even point out other articles that deal with this from other experiments:

Review of Speculative "Disaster Scenarios" at RHIC (pdf file)

The video is a pretty good video about the purpose of the LHC at CERN and the physics behind it. It also gives a very good overview of the relationship between cosmology and particle physics; two seemingly opposite areas of physics: study of the whole universe and study of the basic building blocks that make it up.



There's also some interesting video of just one of the detectors on the LHC the Atlas detector (sort of a crash course in particle physics ... pun intended ... "crash" course ... super collider ... nevermind)

I can't embed these particular videos, but you can see the videos on youtube:

The ATLAS Experiment - Mapping the Secrets of the Universe 1

The ATLAS Experiment - Mapping the Secrets of the Universe 2

It looks like the November 2007 date has been pushed back, so I think the LHC won't go online until 2008. Still, interesting stuff.

RS

Michael Moore and Lord of the Rings

Speaking of Michael Moore, how would he treat the Lord of the Rings?

Fellowship 9/11

(Thanks to ronny for originally pointing this out to me.)

RS

Signs of the Times

Kansas City Catholic has a new brilliant "dialogue" in a clever series. Go and check them out:

Signs: Street Talking

and an older one here:

Signs: Lenten Fare

RS

Weird Headline or Bad Plot?

Here's some Monday Levity for you.

I only managed 60% correct. Take the quiz at the following link:

Ripped from the Headlines or Plot from Scooby Doo?

RS

Vatican Radio Show about Latin

As a side note, Father Gary Coulter has a page that has a summary of Father Reginald Foster, OCD's programs on Vatican Radio about the Latin Language called "The Latin Lover" (Better to give you the link than to have you google the name of the show. LOL.)

Archive of "The Latin Lover" with Fr. Reginald Foster

Now, some of the things Father Reginal Foster says you have to take with a grain of salt. He is a stereotypical genius. He can speak Latin, but he has some quirks, one of which is to say things to shock people. He is a good man, and he is very dedicated to the preservation of Latin, but he'll rarely hold back an opinion.

Anyway, the radio shows are very interesting, if not for the Latin anecdotes, then for a bit of insight into Vatican politics and workings.

RS

Vatican Website Updates

Most of you are probably familiar with the main Vatican website of the Holy See over at http://www.vatican.va.

(Remember, all official Vatican sites' domain names will end with ".va" as that is the official domain of the Vatican. Anything claiming to be the Vatican ending in .com, .net, .org, etc. is probably going to be bad news.)

And the Vatican just announced some more pages:

Vatican City State (English page)

Vatican Radio (English Site)

The "L'Osservatore Romano"
(The Vatican's Official newspaper)

And finally, the one that really caught my eye, the Vatican Museums

Official Vatican Museums Site

The Vatican Museum page looks very cool and has a lot of info on it. It's obviously not like actually being there, but it is a pretty thorough tour.

(I do admit that I was having trouble seeing the more detailed pictures, but I may be missing a plugin or it could just be that my dinosaur computer is just too old to handle some of the newer applications, eg I can't run quicktime 7.0 or higher.)

Have fun.

RS

Shifting gears

I've blogged about the highly fascinating informational video "Shift Happens" before (it's certainly worth watching again):

Information the new weapon of mass destruction?

Well, Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod have produced a second video to get you thinking about the internet and the power of the information highway:

Shift Happens 2.0



RS