Month: November 2008

A.D. 1879

What happened in 1879?

Well, the California Constitution was ratified.

The Anglo-Zulu War began.

Madison Square Garden opened.

Doc Holliday killed his first man.

The apparition at Knock, Ireland occured.

The Pirates of Penzance was first performed.

Thomas Edison demonstrated incandescent light to the public for the first time.

AND A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF.

Oh, and something else happened . . .

HR_8799_planetary_system_photo

The light captured in the above photograph was released.

You're looking at a picture of the year 1879–a picture that was only just taken.

How's that?

It's because the light captured in the picture left the star system cataloged as HR 8799, some 129 light years from earth.

Why do I say "star system" instead of just "star"? Because, while the star is the center blob in the picture, the three small dots are actually planets.

This is the first extra-solar planetary system to be observed and photographed directly.

The planets are about 2 to 2.5 times the size of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and they orbit the star in periods between 100 and 460 years.

We have this view of them because we're apparently oriented so that we're looking down at the plane of the HR 8799 solar system.

There could be terrestrial planets closer in to the star, but not much chance for life there. The star is too young and too variable, but it's so cool have visible light pictures of another star system.

MORE INFO HERE.

Oh, and THIS SYSTEM ISN'T THE ONLY ONE TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED.

Fight FOCA

Obama will be our next president, and he's on record stating that signing the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would be his first act in office.

Why is FOCA bad? The U.S. bishops provide some answers, as does my own National Catholic Register. In fact, this week the bishops called for a massive national campaign to fight FOCA.

Here's a good start: the Fight FOCA petition sponsored by AUL Action, the legislative arm of Americans United for Life, which has so far collected over 110,000 signatures.

AUL has good people on board. They run an informative blog, and they do good work. Their petition collects real names and addresses, so it carries more weight than an average online petition.

SIGN THE PETITION. And pass it on.

Man Busted for Stealing Eucharist

Speaking of American Papist…

In addition to the fact that he would still like your vote to support him in a blogging scholarship competition (worth $10,000 bucks)…  he reports that;

…(a) Florida man was arrested Saturday morning after he allegedly tried to
steal "a handful of communion wafers" from a priest at a Catholic church.

The man was stopped by a couple of parishioners, aged 66 and 82. Yeah! Go old Catholic dudes!

This is exactly what I plan to do if confronted with the same
situation in my parish; to use the minimum amount of force necessary to
prevent it happening, and let the lawyers worry about sorting it out
later.

American Papist needs your vote

How many times in the last several weeks and months have posts here at JA.o been obliged to the tireless and insightful work of Thomas Peters, the American Papist? Most recently it was this morning. Anyway, I’ve lost track.

At any rate, canonist Ed Peters’ son does good and valuable work. His contribution to the blogosphere is remarkable, and I think he deserves to win the 2008 Blogging Scholarship. AmP is one of 20 finalists, and apparently there is $10,000 in scholarship money at stake.

Tom, who is studying at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, wants your vote. Last year, apparently, he came in fourth, at a time when he says he had a fraction of the readership he does now. I’m sure he could use the money to help pay off student loans.

Currently, according to the website, Tom is running second to some guy who does a sports blog. I’m sure it’s a very good sports blog, but come on. Let’s put American Papist over the top. Go vote — and leave a comment. Here’s what I wrote:

As a writing professional and journalist, I find Thomas Peters’
formidable contribution to online commentary on politics and culture as
well as religion all the more impressive in view of his age. He writes
with remarkable maturity and insight, and his hard work and shrewd
judgment have earned his blog destination/reference status among older
and seasoned bloggers and writing professionals. His new AmP NEWS video
blogging initiative only raises the bar. A more deserving student
blogger is hard for me to imagine.

VOTE FOR THOMAS PETERS NOW. And if you have a blog or another way to pass it on… pass it on.

Congratulations — and challenge — from Cardinal George

Gratifyingly balanced comments from Cardinal George addressing the U.S. Catholic bishops. John Allen has the story (hat tip, as usual, to AmP):

Cardinal Francis George, speaking this morning as president of the
U.S. bishops’ conference, said all Americans should “rejoice” that a
country which once tolerated slavery has elected an African-American as
president – and, in the same breath, he issued a blunt challenge to the
new administration on abortion.

“If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, that African Americans
were other people’s property and somehow less than persons, were still
settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be President of the
United States,” George said.

"Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good," he said.

“The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society
when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice,” George
said, drawing sustained applause from the bishops.

This bit is intriguing:

George also appeared to encourage individual bishops to be bold,
almost apart from whatever consensus positions may come out of the
bishops’ conference.

“As we all know, the church was born without episcopal conferences,
as she was born without parishes and without dioceses, although all
these structures have been helpful pastorally throughout the
centuries,” George said. 

“The church was born only with shepherds, with apostolic pastors, whose
relationship to their people keeps them one with Christ, from whom
comes authority to govern the church,” he said.

Get the story.

Unborn Between Barack and a Hard Place

You've likely heard already, but soon-to-be Senior Class President Obama will be wasting no time in advancing his number one priority… soda machines in the cafeteria!… I mean… keeping the world safe from the Unborn Menace! Sheila Liaugminas (a font of chewy, red-meat news bites) outlines the story at her InForum blog.

Beware
the Unborn Menace! They are coming! Coming to take our precious
disposable income and big-screen televisions, coming to rob our young
of higher education and cool clothes. In these tough economic times,
the Unborn Menace threatens to undermine the vacuous, materialistic
lifestyle Americans have fought so hard to establish over the last 50
years.

This is why we must fight them on their own ground… in the womb!… so we won't have to fight them here.

Our
Fearless Leader Elect is readying his most reliable fountain pen, and
is limbering-up his bony wrist, preparing to clear away by executive
fiat all the narrow-minded restrictions that have so unfairly hampered
progress against this most insidious of enemies. Indeed, what good will
it do if, having sealed our borders against illegal immigration, we
should be overrun with a wave of progeny! They are a drain on the
economy, they contribute to overcrowded classrooms and account for a
huge portion of health care costs. Their diapers clog the landfills.

(In fact, by exporting abortion and encouraging its use among our – er – more pigment-rich
neighbors, we can significantly reduce unwanted immigration, as well!
They can't sneak across the border if we nab them early, one at a time,
in a sterile clinical setting.)

Aren't they human beings, you may
ask? But now, I submit, is not the time for such moral fastidiousness.
As other great leaders have recently and so wisely noted, sometimes, in
order to get things done, we have to work the dark side.
If you could save New York City by allowing just one abortion, wouldn't
you do it? What if twenty ninjas were threatening to punish your
daughter with a baby? We can't afford to be squeamish.

The unborn don't play by our rules. They don't care
if you die of cancer, and would probably withhold their valuable stem
cells if we asked them for permission, all nice and proper-like. What
do these high-minded "pro-lifers" want us to do, send the unborn an
engraved invitation to invade our homes and communities? Throw them a
tea party?

Fret not. Our new Decider-In-Chief is ready to decide for all of us, so we don't have to.*

*Face
it, most of us have problems making big decisions. It's tough… unless
you are a frightened, pregnant thirteen year old… then it's best to
have as little input and advice as possible, especially from your
parents. You'll be comforted to know that in a couple of months – no
matter where you are in this great country of ours – should your
boyfriend (or your uncle, or a school teacher) leave you pregnant, your
parents need never know. Because we're looking out for you.

(Visit Tim Jones' blog Old World Swine)

P.S. – The poignancy of this post appearing right above SDG's blessed and happy news (below) has not escaped my attention. Hearty congratulations again, Steven.