Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1375

Not the most promising company name

Rain City Solar.

Gotta love the brave and hopeful Perry Como quotation at the bottom of the page.

The Creed: He Came Down from Heaven

In which we continue unpacking the extremely dense language of the Creed and discover more treasures that are our birthright.

Also...

don't miss John C. Wright's discussion of why Islam is not exactly famous for producing a bumper crop of science fiction writers.

A tradition whose last big contribution was the invention of the zero is a tradition that is in decline. I still think the jury is out on whether Islam is ascendent (as the panicky headlines constantly bray) or is, in fact, extremely brittle and behaving like a sun about to go nova. Radical Islam has never seemed to me to be a sign of strength, but merely of flop sweat panic. Like Nazism, it has worldly strength and can do a lot of damage if it acolytes acquire the tech (and they must acquire it because Islam is pretty worthless in the whole "technical innovation" department: that's why they had to steal planes). But at its core it is hollow.

Or so it seems to me.

Science Fiction, Wonder, and Humbug

In which the ever-fascinating and fun John C. Wright tackles these musical questions:

Does the Left Behind book count as SciFi in your estimation?
Do things that are heavily influenced by religion like Dune, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and others count as being religious in nature?

What are you doing reading me? This guy is way more interesting!

News from Egypt

A reader writes:

Thank you for your concern and prayers for my brother in Cairo. After 10 days of no communication due to Mubarak shutting down the Internet, I received an email from him this morning. He is well, but under some typical circumstances for Cairo right now. He is under curfew 3pm to 8 am. and only goes out for daily Mass in the morning. He can hear sporadic gunfire most of the day, but does feel somewhat safe as vigilante groups are trying to protect the neighborhood from the thousands of escaped prisoners who roam the streets. Food supplies are short, but he still has a weeks worth of food in his apartment.

Though this is overall good news, I'm sure he would appreciate continued prayers.

Father, continue to keep him and his family safe. Bring this revolt to a peaceful and just conclusion and bless the many decent people who are exerting their bodies, souls and spirits to keep the peace and turn back the forces of chaos that desire to unleash hell. Our Lady of Zeitoun, pray for Egypt that Christ would triumph in this situation and that better days would come for those decent folk oppressed by the regime. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!

Here's an interview...

...with the priest "The Rite" is based on.

I spend enough time contending with Old Scratch and I don't need convincing of his existence or malice, so I think I will pass on seeing the film. My entertainment time generally goes to lighter fare. But I hope it does a good job of persuading others of the power of Christ over Satan.

Everything Proves Global Warming and Nothing Can Ever Disprove It, Part Deux

Snowing a lot? Proof of anthopogenic global warming climate change global climate disruption.

Not snowing? Proof of anthopogenic global warming climate change global climate disruption.

Meanwhile, Ye Olde Statistician Mike Flynn remarks:

Keep in mind that the levelling off and decline of temperatures this past decade was not predicted by the Models. But it was predicted by astrophysicists who have been keeping a worried eye on the sun these past few years. Russian scientists last year advised we all buy fur coats. What is it when people who study the sun make more accurate predictions than those who create complex computer models of atmospheric dynamics? We foolish non-climate scientists might suspect that the sun is a Player not yet properly accounted for in the Models.

Some Suggestions on Subverting the Dominant Paradigm

In which we give instructions to the Impossible Mission Force before the tape self-destructs in 10 seconds.

Meet the Guy Chuck Norris...

...is scared of.

Everything Proves Global Warming and Nothing Can Ever Disprove It

A couple of days ago, I linked a little story about the blizzards that everybody in North America (but us Washingtonians) are experiencing and remarked "Global warming. Is there anything it can't do?"

I was, of course, instantly blizzarded with normal remonstrations about how Weather is Not Climate and that just because there were record low temperatures someplace that didn't disprove global warming (all of which I know already).

But here the thing, according to the gandersauce principle it is just as out of court for Al Gore to appeal to the current snowstorm as proof of global warming as it is for me to (quite unseriously) appeal to one snowstorm as proof against it. And yet there he is, doing just that, just as he appealed to Katrina as proof of it, while nobody gets to point to the fact that there are fewer hurricanes as proof that it's rubbish. Indeed, in yet another classic heads we win, tails you lose, the believers in Gaia manage to steal both bases by telling us that hurricanes could be (unless they aren't) fewer and stronger--because everything proves global warming climate change global climate disruption. If hurricanes become more prevalent that will prove it too. And should we have a mild winter next year, that will prove it too. Basic rule of thumb: bad storms prove that skeptics of "global climate disruption" cherry-pick their data and that Al Gore is a prophet of biblical proportions. All things prove global warming and nothing can disprove it.

Believe!