Recent Comments
- Neighborhood Walk (2)
Gen X Revert: "My brother lives in Pittsburgh (Mt. Lebanon) and whenever I visit I realize how out of shape I am. Just walking the neighborhood with the large hills…"
- Gay Marriage in California (14)
Peter: "gbm3: Weekends are usually when I have the time to participate in blogs. But my office is moving this weekend and I may not have time to respond to…"
Jerry: "Well, you picked a good book to be incensed by, not a strawman. Perhaps you could write up a critique of some key part of the book in the future for…"
Peter: "Introduction to Christianity.…"
- Engaged Encounter Part I: House of God? (8)
whizkidforte: ""Sing of the Lord's Goodness" actually kinda reminds me of "Take Five" by the late, great jazz saxophonist Dave Brubeck. . . Not that that's a good…"
Ales Rarus
A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog
random thought of the moment:
Set aside justice, then, and what are kingdoms but great bands of brigands? For what are brigands’ bands but little kingdoms? For in brigandage the hands of the underlings are directed by the commander, the confederacy of them is sworn together, and the pillage is shared by law among them. And if those ragamuffins grow up to be able enough to keep forts, build habitations, possess cities, and conquer adjoining nations, then their government is no longer called brigandage, but graced with the eminent name of a kingdom, given and gotten not because they have left their practices but because they use them without danger of law. Elegant and excellent was that pirate’s answer to the great Macedonian Alexander, who had taken him; the king asking him how he durst molest the seas so, he replied with a free spirit: “How darest thou molest the whole earth? But because I do it only with a little ship, I am called brigand: thou doing it with a great navy art called emperor.”
— , City of God, Book IV
biology
Concerns about Huckabee
I at first found Mike Huckabee to be an interesting character, as a possible bright point in the dismal lineup of presidential candidates. Unfortunately, his character did not bear up well when I looked at him further, and I'm sorry to see that some bloggers like Rod Dreher still think he's a viable politician or […]
Skin Cells induced to become embryonic-like cells
We now know more of the reason why Ian Wilmut left the human cloning research behind. Researchers from two labs (Yamanaka in San Fran. and Japan, Thomson in Madison) have induced mature somatic cells to become embryonic-like stem cells, matching all the experimental criteria for embryonic stem cells. This new class of stem cells is […]
Ian Wilmut Scuttles Cloning Research
You read it right the first time, folks. Ian Wilmut, the cloner of Dolly the sheep, is giving up on human cloning in favor of stem cell regression, wherein one takes an adult cell and reprograms it into becoming an embryonic-like stem cell. (A briefer overview can be seen here.)
Sloppy Science Reporting and Cloning Research Update
The media has a long, long way to go in reporting science: "South Korea to resume human egg cloning", trumpets the United Press International article.Umm, guys, the idea is to clone humans using eggs, but not to clone the eggs (or ova) themselves. In the defense of UPI, though, while the title is wrong, the […]
NCBC Bioethics Challenge
The National Catholic Bioethics Center, which is notable for its training programs in healthcare ethics and its fine quarterly publication, has an anonymous donor who has issued a matching grant (the 2007 Challenge Fund) as the Center works to pay off the mortgage on its new office in Philadelphia. Your donations count double if you […]
