I FIGURED OUT why I’m not a fan of Richard Avedon’s photos: He manages to make people look well-combed even when they’re covered with BEES. Better pix: Weegee Lee Miller Read more

LARGE BIRD. Read more

SOMEONE ASKED ME what I think of the new rosary mysteries. Haven’t read the Pope’s letter yet, so no comment on that, but… what’s not to like, really? I’ve prayed the rosary a couple different ways; I love the way that each time you meditate on a mystery, a new aspect of God’s work in the world is revealed. You see how the Visitation, or the Assumption, etc., relates to the particular situation you’re in or the situation you’re praying... Read more

PS: Probably the best way of summarizing the vast post (drink!) below –the best way of capturing the fact that I’m not advocating ethical stasis–is just to repeat what I said on Monday: “Until I am convinced that I have to, I won’t sanction infanticide.” So far, not convinced. Still working on understanding the issues involved, and, like I said, will post in greater depth when I return from sunny New Haven. Read more

BITE-SIZE BLOGWATCH: Amptoons: Afghanistan: Still no place for a lady. Unqualified Offerings: Important shooting updates and thoughts, esp. this. Read more

THE BIRTHDAY CAKE OF EXISTENCE: Tangentially related to the cloning stuff posted below. (To which Will Wilkinson has responded. My reply to him will have to wait: I’m going out of town tomorrow, and won’t be back until maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, and I almost certainly won’t have time for heavy lifting on the blog before then. But I will reply when I return.) Back when I would spend Monday nights hanging out at OSGAY (the Objectivist Study Group at... Read more

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Stayed up late last night to finish Lauren Winner’s Girl Meets God. I’ll be reviewing it, so I won’t post my whole take on the book here, but suffice it to say that I got a lot out of the book. It’s a very easy read that nonetheless packs in lots of spiritual insight. (Winner was raised Reform Jewish, then became Orthodox Jewish, and is now an evangelical Anglican.) She also anticipates many of the criticisms and reservations... Read more

“Although his name is untranslatable to any known Earth language, it would sound something like… Zontar!” –NASA scientist in re alien, “Zontar, the Thing from Venus” Read more

And what blogwatch will the poor girl wear To all tomorrow’s parties? The Agitator found two excellent posts on the dockworkers’ strike–from Julian (see, I don’t just beat up on him) and Brink Lindsey. Cacciaguida: Good post on the role of the laity and a “three-word summary of Opus Dei.” Crazy Tracy: Psychiatric nurse’s take on life. Good stuff. Via Noli Irritare Leones. Noli Irritare Leones: Quakers, technology, and reformations; and a good question about Iran. Unqualified Offerings: How’s Afghanistan... Read more

EMBRYOS AND STUFF: I’m a shank. Although I’d skimmed Julian’s last post in our argument over abortion (which turned into an argument over infanticide; some slopes really are slippery), I hadn’t read it carefully until I was reminded of it by his notes from his speech at the America’s Future Foundation cloning debate. So I’d like to briefly revisit points he made in both those posts. I don’t know that either of us will be able to make the best... Read more