Year: 2004

Here’s A Thought . . .

babywalkingI was just thinking: You know how you are sometimes falling asleep–or are asleep–when your limbs suddenly jerk autonomically (by themselves)? At least, I experience that sometimes, and I assume that you do, too (if you’re attentive).

That limb jerk might have a purpose. Here’s what occurred to me:

When babies are in the womb, they often “kick,” though sometimes the kicks might actually be “punches.” In any event, they move their limbs in a jerky manner that causes their mothers some discomfort (while simultaneously providing delight to the mother, who can feel the child within her, and to others who place their hands on her stomach).

The reason that babies jerk their limbs in this way seems to be that they need to do it: It plays a useful role in their development. By moving their limbs around, the babies are ensuring that their joints work. Our joints–particularly at our shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees–are ball joints that could lock up if the bones grew in the wrong ways. Motion keeps the bones from growing in this way, and if the babies didn’t move in the womb then their bones might grow in ways that would cause their joints to lock up. But by moving them, they make sure that their joints remain fluid and flexible, so that when they emerge from the womb, they can move their arms and legs properly.

So here was my thought: Maybe the limb jerk that we experience when asleep or falling asleep is a survial of the prenatal limb jerk we all have. Maybe it’s a remnant of the reflex that causes our bones to grow right.

If any readers are doctors or others who have info on this, lemme know.

Cat vs. Bunny: Bunny Wins!

tinycatgiantrabbitThis cat looks bigger than this bunny, right? Well, appearances can be deceiving. In fact, if you saw the bunny next to the cat in real life, it would be apparent that the bunny is much, MUCH larger than the cat.

In fact, the bunny is nine times larger than the cat!

The bunny is a two-year old Continental Giant rabbit from Holland that already weighs 27 pounds and may grow larger yet. It is believed to be the world’s largest bunny.

The cat, by contrast, is believed to be the world’s smallest cat. It is already full-grown and weighs only 3 pounds. The vets who own it say that they think it has a genetic defect. (Some might prefer to say it is “differently gened.”)

So, despite the fact that cats normally prey on bunnies, in this case the cat had better not let his predator instincts get the best of him. In the resulting dust-up, it would be Bambi Meets Godzilla.

Standing Round The Altar & Validity

A reader writes:

This question has been asked to me and I did not know the answer, so I am going to ask you. During the Mass if the Priest invites people to come around the altar during the consecration would this make the consecration invalid, I know that only Clergy is allowed in the sanctuary during the consecration.

The presence or absence of anyone from the sanctuary has no bearing on the validity or invalidity of the consecration. What is required for validity is the required intent, form, and matter. The required intent is the intention to do what the Church does (i.e., to celebrate the Eucharist). The required form is that the priest express “This is my Body” and “This is . . . my Blood.” The required matter for hosts is matter that in the reasonable estimation of men would be regarded as wheat bread and, in the case of the cup, matter that in the reasonable estimation would be regarded as grape wine (with the caveats that unleavened wheat bread counts as bread and mustum counts as wine). Additional items are required for liceity, but not for validity.

That’s a pretty minimal list of requirements for validity, which is how God intended it. He didn’t want it to be easy to invalidate a sacrament.

Who is in the sanctuary has nothing to do with the subject.

Standing Round The Altar & Validity

A reader writes:

This question has been asked to me and I did not know the answer, so I am going to ask you. During the Mass if the Priest invites people to come around the altar during the consecration would this make the consecration invalid, I know that only Clergy is allowed in the sanctuary during the consecration.

The presence or absence of anyone from the sanctuary has no bearing on the validity or invalidity of the consecration. What is required for validity is the required intent, form, and matter. The required intent is the intention to do what the Church does (i.e., to celebrate the Eucharist). The required form is that the priest express “This is my Body” and “This is . . . my Blood.” The required matter for hosts is matter that in the reasonable estimation of men would be regarded as wheat bread and, in the case of the cup, matter that in the reasonable estimation would be regarded as grape wine (with the caveats that unleavened wheat bread counts as bread and mustum counts as wine). Additional items are required for liceity, but not for validity.

That’s a pretty minimal list of requirements for validity, which is how God intended it. He didn’t want it to be easy to invalidate a sacrament.

Who is in the sanctuary has nothing to do with the subject.

9/11 Commission Questions Cold War

From The Drudge Report:

The 9/11 commission report offers a broad critique of a central tenet of the BushEisenhower administration’s foreign policy–that the attackstensions with the Communist Bloc have required a ‘Cold War on Terrorism‘… The report argues that the notion of fighting an enemy called “terrorism”of a war being “cold” is too diffuse and vague to be effective. Strikingly, the report also makes no reference to the invasion of IraqVietnam War as being part of the Cold War on Terrorism, a frequent assertion of President BushJohnson and his top aides… Developing…

SPAIN: What Al-Qa'eda Hath Wrought

You remember when al-Qa’eda attacked Spanish rail lines just before and their recent national election and caused the incumbent party to lose power for its support of the U.S.-led War on Terror.

Now the consequences of that loss of nerve by the Spanish public are coming home to roost.

The way things work in countries with a parliamentary system of governance (like Spain) is that whichever part is in charge of the government basically runs the show and is able to enact sweeping changes in the law, to which opposition parties can put up far less resistance than the opposition party typically can in the U.S. Congress.

Now that the socialists are in power in Spain, they are conducting a thoroughgoing political campaign to restructure major Spanish social institutions. The changes are so sweeping that Spain’s leading churchman, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco, has accused the new government of taking Spain back to Moorish times, when Muslims ruled the country.

It’s a sad story.

Read it.

SPAIN: What Al-Qa’eda Hath Wrought

You remember when al-Qa’eda attacked Spanish rail lines just before and their recent national election and caused the incumbent party to lose power for its support of the U.S.-led War on Terror.

Now the consequences of that loss of nerve by the Spanish public are coming home to roost.

The way things work in countries with a parliamentary system of governance (like Spain) is that whichever part is in charge of the government basically runs the show and is able to enact sweeping changes in the law, to which opposition parties can put up far less resistance than the opposition party typically can in the U.S. Congress.

Now that the socialists are in power in Spain, they are conducting a thoroughgoing political campaign to restructure major Spanish social institutions. The changes are so sweeping that Spain’s leading churchman, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco, has accused the new government of taking Spain back to Moorish times, when Muslims ruled the country.

It’s a sad story.

Read it.

Some Good News On The Media Front

Couple of positive items regarding the media:

1) The panel in the House of Representatives has approved the Family Movie Act, clearing an early obstacle that puts it on the road to become law.

The Family Movie Act, if enacted, would clarify copyright law to protect the right of companies to manufacture devices that will skip offensive content in DVDs, etc. Thus parents could purachase the ClearPlay DVD player for their household so that when kids watch movies, offensive content is blocked (e.g., by dropping the volume level to zero when cuss words are uttered or jumping forward in scenes with nudity).

The Family Movie Act would protect companies that manufacture such devices (at the moment, that’s basically ClearPlay) from lawsuits alleging copyright infringement by Hollywood bigwigs.

No word yet whether the bigwigs will try to sue manufacturers of remote controls that have “Mute” and “Fast Forward” buttons on them.

To become law the Family Movie Act must be approved by the full House and the Senate.

2) MTV has some competition. A new venture known as The U Network (TUN) is scheduled to begin airing on 150 college campuses (compared to 700 campuses for MTV’s college outreach channel).

TUN executive promise to offer college students cleaner, more intelligent, more politically balanced programming compared to the filthy, “dumbed-down,” left-leaning content offered by MTV.

Get the story.