Michael Flynn's Blog, page 89

Kool Stuff

Birth of an Ocean



A new ocean is opening up in Ethiopia.  This is sea-floor spreading prior to becoming, like, you know, and actual sea floor.  The idea is that this will hook up with the Gulf of Aden and the great Rift Valley and eventually the water will pour in. 

Beachfront property is for sale now. 

Dilbert

On the Relativity of the Good

Those Terrible Middle Ages!

Experimentum solum certificat in talibus

A Faithful Reader sends email to ask:You said that Aristotle disproved of experimentation because the thing being studied would not be behaving "naturally" (which you mind expounding upon this, by the way)?

If that's so, how can one say that Christianity overcame this limitation because experimentation was labor and Christianity insisted on the dignity of labor? And would experimentation really be considered "labor" to the Greeks? It seems to me like...

Headlines of the Day

We Shudder to Think How The Scientist Found This Out
"Scientists Find Fiddler Crabs Will Exchange Favours for Sex"--headline, News.com.au, Nov. 5

Don't You Wish You'd Studied Philosophy Instead of Getting Your Real Estate License?
"Land Is Worth Less Than Thought"--headline, Hawaii Tribune-Herald (Hilo), Nov. 3

Step 1: Eat Undercooked Pork
"How to Be a Good Host"--headline, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 1

h/t Wall Street Journal Best of the Web

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The March of Democracy, or its November

Evil Doers and Miscreants Sigh in Relief

No doubt in fear of my Righteous Justice and my Gimlet Eye, as well as of my special friend who knows the evil that lurks in the hearts of men, I was not empaneled on a jury.  It was criminal court.  This means that the accused are supposed criminals, not that the court is itself criminal.  The first pool plucked 36 intrepid citizens from the jurors' lounge, none of them myself -- though one was my granddaughter's math teacher.  The second pool was not ...

The Triumph of Justice

Evil-Doers and Miscreants Beware!

Yr. obt. svt. reports for jury duty tomorrow. 

Headlines of the Day

h/t WSJ, Best of the Web

Science Marches On
"Papaya Receives Sex Change Operation"--headline, Laboratory/Equipment.com, Nov 3

If Bass Had Run Amuck on Turkey Hill, That Would Be News
"Turkeys Running Amuck in Bass River"--headline, Cape Cod Today (Hyannis, Mass.), Nov. 2

Who Did They Expect Would Be Developed?
"Youth Orchestra Develops Young Musicians"--headline, Reno Gazette-Journal, Nov. 2

How Clever To Have Figured This Out!
"Without Hope You're Hopeless"--headline, NewMediaJournal.us...

A Miscellany of Saints

Feast of All Saints

Okay, I missed it.  But better late than never. 

Everyone thinks this is the Irish Feis Samhain, which began at sunset on 31 Oct and that the Church co-opted the date.  However, Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved the  feast "in honor of all the saints in heaven" from 13 May to 1 Nov to correspond to the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome.  There was no connection.  Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV declared All Saints to be a universal feast, that is,...

They can hit you with any stick

You Can Never Do Just One Thing

A couple of days ago, the local newspaper carried the following story. 
www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2009/10/bethlehem_man_allegedly_put_gu.html

Jonathan Stock, 28, of the 3300 block of East Boulevard was arguing with Tammy Smith because he wanted her to get an abortion, records say. Stock initially pushed Smith against a wall and choked her, lifting her off her feet, court records say. Stock then threw Smith to the ground, grabbed her hair and...

Whom the gods notice

Quote of the Day

“We’re going to speak truth to power.”
-- Valerie Jarrett,  “Senior Advisor” to the president of the United States

To whom exactly does she propose to speak truth?  Her boss?