Category Archives: Science

Even Bedbugs Look Cute in France

This image comes from the online store for the Tourist Office in Le Puy, France, one of the historic starting points for the Camino de Santiago.  Unfortunately, bedbugs have joined the pilgrimage in recent years. Ugh!

This is an advertisement for a powder guaranteed to eliminate your bloodthirsty little companions.   Notice the signature scallop shell in the background of the drawing.  Adorable, non?

Of course, the bedbugs were probably along for the ride in the Middle Ages, but vermin were just part of the landscape then.  Fleas, lice, bedbugs….

“Arnuld” and Cloning at the Movies

Well, we all know there are no coincidences, right?  Last week I got "The 6th Day" from Netflix because I was looking for an action movie and had queued it up several weeks ago.  This film features the current governor of California and the entire plot centers around the immorality of human cloning. 

Once you get past the irony of Arnold’s current position as governor of a state that has vowed to throw endless amounts of money into uncontrolled research on cloning, it’s not a bad film.  A little something to think about and lots of action, of course.

Hope’s Children

I’ve been depressed all day by the news about "advances" in cloning from South Korea. 
My thanks to blogger Gerald over at "The Cafeteria is Closed"
St. Augustine, who had such a deep influence on the mind of our new Holy Father, once wrote that, "Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their name are anger and courage: anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are." Are we angry enough about what’s wrong with the world — the killing of millions of unborn children through abortion; the neglect of the poor and the elderly; the mistreatment of immigrants in our midst; the abuse of science in embryonic stem cell research? Do we really have the courage of our convictions to change those things?
The opposite of hope is cynicism, and cynicism also has two daughters. Their names are indifference and cowardice. In renewing ourselves in our faith, what Catholics need to change most urgently is the habit and rhetoric of cowardice we find in our own personal lives, in our national political life, and sometimes even within the Church herself.
Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap.
We should pray and let us think how to act.