VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday told U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life “at all stages of its development,” the Vatican said.
via Pope to Pelosi: Politicians must protect life - USATODAY.com.
I have one question. What did Mme. Speaker think she could possibly get out of this meeting besides ’schooled’? Did she think it was possible to influence the Church? Did she not know that her views oppose those of the Church? Or perhaps the deeply cynical view is the most realistic: She just wanted to look important.
Just in time for the annual SI swimsuit issue:
Brain scans revealed that when men are shown pictures of scantily clad women, the region of the brain associated with tool use lights up.
via National Geographic: Bikinis Make Men See Women as Objects, Scans Confirm.
The story goes on to relate that the “I wonder what that person is thinking?” areas of the men’s brains don’t light up at all during this same test. Any woman who has ever said “My eyes are up here.” already knows this.
I’m a little hesitant that a brain scan is being used as a proxy for a human sentiment and even intentions.
I’m also a little troubled that a picture of a bikini clad woman is being used to show that men see women in bikinis as objects when the picture (of a woman in a bikini) really is an object. There was a control group of pictures more fully clothed women as well, these got different results.
Mostly, I’m bothered that this empirical evidence in support of the ages-old wisdom of modesty in public dress is being construed as a dig against men. Men look at scantily clad women differently, they just do.
Perhaps this evidence will encourage some modesty on the part of women, if not, you’ll have to ask yourself why that might be.
Mathew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’28 But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
Add this one to your Strength to Carry On file: Man thwarts burglars by stealing the getaway van.
Against the 911 dispatcher’s advice, Rosario announced he was going to take it. What jury in the world was going to convict him, he thought?
He drove up a steep hill away from the house, figuring whoever was ransacking his home wouldn’t be able to keep up on foot. He stopped a few blocks away in front of a friend’s house and waited for police.
via Local News | Bellevue man outwits 2 criminals, escapes in their getaway van | Seattle Times Newspaper.
Phil the woodchuck, (groundhog, whatever), wasn’t peeping out of the front door to his hole to look for his shadow this morning.
I doubt any explanation of wildlife behavior that doesn’t at least touch on one of the prime motivators: Food (getting and not becoming) and Sex (getting some and getting more).
Groundhogs who emerge from hibernation in the dead of February are checking out their mating prospects, according to a Penn State study.
Groundhogs, a.k.a. woodchucks, stop hibernating in early March. But the male rodents emerge from their burrows periodically during their four-month hibernation to visit potential partners
via Groundhog Day: It’s about sex, not the weather: Scientific American Blog.
Just checked in the Book of Revelation. Michael Phelps’ admitting to taking a bong hit is not one of the signs of the Apocalypse.
My getting news of it from Shaq, on Twitter might be a little end-timesey.
