It was on this day in 1553 that Michael Servetus was arrested in Geneva, by order of John Calvin. Servetus was a Spaniard who made his living first as a lawyer and later as a physician. He also thought deeply about the theological questions of his day. In his youth he traveled to Rome where he was appalled at the state of the papacy. This fired his decision to examine the scriptures with a lawyerly eye. From that examination he... Read more

Eleanor Margaret Peachey was born on this day in 1919, in Davenport, Greater Manchester, England, turning 96. She is better known by her married name Margaret Burbidge. She studied astronomy at University College, London, earning her bachelors in 1939 and her doctorate in 1943. She and her husband George, also a theoretical astrophysicist, worked as a team. The lists of her awards is very long. Among her accomplishments are many firsts for women in science. She, George, William Alfred Fowler,... Read more

Thanks to James Ussher, late archbishop of Armagh and Anglican Primate of all Ireland, even the bums in the street know that the world was created sometime in the neighborhood of six p.m. on the 22nd of October four thousand and four years before the birth of Jesus. What may shock some is that there are in fact other dates also marking the creation of the earth. In fact according to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, better known in some... Read more

I noted how yesterday marked the anniversary of Betty Boop’s first appearance in a cartoon. With that tidbit of information, and my curiosity turned to the cartoon flapper I then found myself rummaging around and looking at some old Betty Boop cartoons on Youtube. It turns out Cab Calloway provided the music for three Betty Boop cartoons. A small hoot… The first here actually opens with a live scene of Cab Calloway and his Cotton Club Orchestra. Here again we... Read more

On this day in 1930 Betty Boop made her debut featured in the cartoon short Dizzy Dishes. An amazingly uninteresting little cartoon from today’s perspective, except perhaps for those with the most ironic inclinations… But, with it Betty is launched. She had quite a run, and I find it interesting how she still appears here and there… Read more

I’ve only just learned through a Facebook posting by David Loy that Ken Jones has died. Looking into it I see he died on the 2nd of August, from the ravages of prostate cancer. It is appropriate in some ways that is how I learned it. As I think David has taken on much of the mantle that Ken wove out of a life time of hard investigation of his own heart and the heart of the world. I had... Read more

It was on this day in 1947 that the raft Kon Tiki made it to the reefs of Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands, following a one hundred and one day voyage covering some four thousand, plus miles. While the project’s leader Thor Heyerdahl’s theory that Polynesia could have been populated from the Americas has generally been discredited, the very audacity of his adventure coupled with very good filming, and a best selling book left my generation with a contemporary vision... Read more

Many, possibly a majority of Zen practitioners in North America practice within the Soto branch of Japanese-derived Zen. A consequence of this is some confusion around the relationship between ordination and dharma transmission. Through some accidents of history dharma transmission in Japanese-derived Soto has collapsed into ordination. If one digs into the structure of the denkai and denbo aspects to Soto dharma transmission one can see how denkai is the “completion” of ordination, while denbo is the actual ancient Zen... Read more

It was on this day in 1884 that the cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty was laid on what was then Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor. It has become the great symbol of what we might be. I know I’ve never stopped feeling the thrill of that lovely dream every time I’ve visited New York and looked out at the statue in the harbor, and as I look out at it, I recall how on occasion we’ve actually lived... Read more

Stanley Lombardo. Just sayin’ Could do worse… Read more