Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
My mother used to tell her unretentive sons that geese "get up in a new world every morning." While I can't speak to geese, that's certainly a problem with our press: Pope Francis has created a commission to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons in the Catholic church, following up on …
Continue reading "Women Deacons in the Catholic Church? Not the First Time They've Thought About It"
@timothypomalley is lachrymose for his party's call to repeal the Hyde Amendment: I had hoped for this. Until this week. Like many pro-life Democrats, I had been dispirited by the inclusion in the 2016 Democratic Party Platform of the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which has previously disallowed federal funds to pay for abortion except …
Continue reading "Pro-Life Democrats: If You Knew the Priorities…"
Right in the heart of Istanbul: But now Turkey is going in the opposite direction. President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party has called for a new Islamic constitution. In May, some of his followers demanded that the Hagia Sophia be made into a mosque again. The coup attempt this month against Erdogan has not only …
My piece last year on Donald Trump and Mar-a-Lago has been a hit on this site. There's a great deal of interest in the subject, either by his supporters (who think he's a SJW hero for the club) or his detractors (who are trying to find out some dirt about the place.) Neither of these …
Continue reading "The Never-Ending Interest in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club"
The Ruthven Bridge, as it has been officially called since 1976, is a familiar landmark to visitors and residents of north central Arkansas. It has an interesting history, not only for its design and construction, but also in how it was authorised and its subsequent history. Arkansas did not establish a State Highway Department until …
I've alluded to my years in the Catholic Students Association in pieces like this. Now you can get a little more flavour of what that was like in the following video. Thanks so much to Jeanne Geidel-Neal for the music for this video. As noted elsewhere, the "straight outta Irondale" folks won't like this, but …
We're pretty much in a war zone these days between police, black people and just about everyone else being the shooter or the shot. I find it hard to really say anything meaningful about it. One of the "spin-offs" of my PhD pursuits is riding the "city" bus. Actually we have a regional authority called …
With our Independence Day celebration out of the way, it's time for those of us in the Church of God to head to Nashville (if not physically, virtually) for the Church of God General Assembly. It should be an interesting one; three of the five members of the executive committee will be going off of …
Continue reading "My Response to "Think Younger" and the Church of God General Assembly"
No, this is not CAIR's newest idea of subversion. Look to the right at a page from the 1913 edition of the Arabian Nights by Frances Jenkins Olcott, an American librarian. There at the top is the traditional Islāmic invocation "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful," which I have seen (with variations) …
Continue reading "An American Children's Book in the Name of Allah"
Well, not quite... It’s unlikely residents will see sober homes popping up in their Palm Beach neighborhoods any time soon. Earlier this month, the Town Council declared “zoning in progress,” a measure that essentially halts permits for alcohol and drug-free living environments in town while officials consider how best to regulate them. Council members also …
Positive Infinity 