Not having much in the way of a head, Goose Island Christmas Ale has a slightly sweet cola-smelling aroma. It tastes pretty malty, and the hops taste is sharp, but not overwhelming. It’s a thick, heavy beer that fits nicely into an winter evening cozily spent indoors before the fire.
I don’t really need to remind everyone that today is a day that will live in infamy, do I?
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the six non-Sunday Holy Days where a Catholic is obligated to attend Mass. The day has been observed from the middle ages, although it took until 1854 for the pope to define the Immaculate Conception as dogma.
Oddly enough, the two dogmas which most often get confused in the minds of the faithful are the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth. Many Catholics mistakenly believe that the name “Immaculate Conception” refers to Christ’s miraculous conception in the womb of the Virgin. No friends. The name for that event is the Virgin Birth. The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. That particular conception is called Immaculate in that from the time of her conception, she was filled with the grace of God.
Macula non est in te. Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
I’ll be attending the anticipated Mass this evening.
FastCompany.com has an update on the progress of NASA’s Constellation program in general, and the Orion spacecraft in particular. An interesting read.
And, to put things into perspective, here’s an interesting quote from the article:
NASA and Lockheed Martin must find the discipline to produce a straightforward spaceship, with a clear mission and mature technology. And they must do it by 2015, with a total budget of only $8 billion–the equivalent of six weeks’ expenses in Iraq.
It’s been known for a while that two of Saturn’s ring moons, Pan and Atlas, were wider than they were tall. But it was only now that the Cassini spacecraft has imaged them that it was revealed that they look like flying saucers.
Scientists think that the smooth ridges around the moons’ middles is an accumulation of material from Saturn’s rings, and that the accumulation has now ceased. RTWT
