Zenit has an interview with Cardinal DiNardo. One of my favorite comments from him was:
As I tell my seminarians, it is not enough to have the right sentiments about God; you actually have to know something. You have to know what the Church teaches and what theologians such as St. Augustine or St. Thomas said about particular doctrines.
RTWT
The details of NASA’s plans for a Mars mission emerge. It’s full of typically grandiose plans of dreams that are not limited by budgets - much like previous space plans. I’m sure Congress will have other ideas. But anyway, it’s an interesting, if ambitious plan, and I encourage you to follow the link to read it.
My favorite car company - you know, the one from Stuttgart - will be presenting a new version of the Boxter roadster at the Bologna Motor Show in Italy December 5 - 16. They will only be making 1960 of these pretty machines, so you’d better get your order in ASAP. All this style will set you back a mere $78,000. Story here.
I tried all of these on a Windows XP machine. How very strange.
Hat tip: Don Surber
While it seems odd that we should be paying Congress to do nothing, consider this: it’s better than the alternative.
Popular Mechanics has an article about high-speed trains, with attention given to Maglev. I think the technology is really cool. I hope it’s the future, but I’m so jaded, cynical, and pessimistic that I don’t think we’ll be seeing it in widespread use in my lifetime.
Millstream Oktoberfest Lager pours a beautiful red-amber color. Its aroma is striking, as is the flavor. It’s a powerfully sharp flavor. This beer will take the unsuspecting by surprise. It’s pretty good, but doesn’t make my “I can’t wait to get more” list.
Update (a few minutes later): And it’s got one hell of a kick.
If this is even possible, and not just blowing hot air, then it is sufficient reason not to like quantum mechanics. It’s a fairly basic principle in quantum physics that observation affects the quantum state. But according to this article, that principle applies also to the super-macroscopic scale. You see, the paper argues that our observation of the mere existence of dark energy has reset the decay rate of the false vacuum state of the entire universe back to zero. And this is not a Good Thing™.
Update (11/27/07): Heh. A newspaper came up with a great headline for this story: Honey, I doomed the universe.
…the Australian, Reinhard Wurz. Click on the link, the photograph is great.
Amy Welborn has a round up of the consistory here. There’s a good piece about Cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly there.
I was watching the concelebrated Mass yesterday, in which I watched the newly minted Cardinals, including Cardinal Patriarch Brady of Ireland (Ireland’s first Cardinal young enough to participate in a conclave) and Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, receive their rings.
I also found out on CNA that Cardinal DiNardo’s titular church in Rome is St. Eusebius.
Update: Check out these cute pictures from the consistory here, here, here, and here.
A relic of St. John Chrysostom is being credited with two miraculous cures. I think he’s happy to be home.
Click on thumbnail for larger image.
The correct answer is Less Than 1%.
NASA’s budget makes up approximately 0.6% of the entire federal budget.
Paleontologists in Alberta have discovered a new ceratopsian genus. This dinosaur, which was given the name Eotriceratops xerinsularis, is the earliest and largest known member of the Triceratops group.
According to researchers, Eotriceratops likely reached eight or nine meters from nose to tail. It had a massive skull that featured a solid frill (this alone was three meters in length), and three horns - two above each eye, and another, shorter one, perched on its nose.
