Fortun (1998), Mike, and Herbert J Bernstein, Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truths in the Twenty-First Century, Counterpoint 1998 Jacket: ' Messy. Clumsy. Volatile. Exciting. These words are not often associated with the science, which for most people still connote exactitude, elegance, reliability and a rather plodding certainty. But the real story is something quite different. The sciences are less about the ability to know and to control than they are about the unleashing of new forces, new capacities for changing the world. The sciences as practised exist not in some pristone world of "objectivity," but in what Mike Fortnum and Herbert Bernstein call "the Muddled Middle". This book explores the way science makes sense of the world and how the world makes sense of science. It is also about politics and culture—how these forces shape the sciences and are shaped by them in return.' 
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Lonergan (2009), Bernard J F, and Robert M Doran and H Daniel Monsour (eds), The Triune God: Doctrines (Volume 11 of Collected Works), University of Toronto Press 2009 Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a professor of theology, taught at Regis College, Harvard University, and Boston College. An established author known for his Insight and Method in Theology, Lonergan received numerous honorary doctorates, was a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1971 and was named as an original members of the International Theological Commission by Pope Paul VI. 
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McGreevy (2022), John T., Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis , W W Norton 2022 ' A gripping story of how one of the world's most important institutions has evolved over the past two centuries. McGreevy spans the globe, from the Philippines to Indonesia to Canada, providing welcome polyphony to a story that can often feel hermetically European. We hear the voices of those who dedicated their lives to the poor; we hear the voices, too, of those who suffered at the hands of the Church. This is, by far, the best single-volume history of the modern Church currently available.--James Chappel "Commonweal" This is an excellent book that thoroughly lives up to its ambitions. Given the hyper-specialization of so much academic history these days, the accomplishment here is even more notable: a readable, thorough and judicious treatment of a global institution over more than two centuries.--Michael Sean Winters "National Catholic Reporter" ' 
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Tapsell (2014), Kieran, Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse, ATF Press 2014 Back cover: 'For 1500 years the Catholic Church accepted that clergy who sexually abused children deserved to be stripped of their status as priests and then imprisoned. . . . That all changed in 1922 when Pope Pius XI issues his decree Crimen Sollicitationis that created a de facto 'privilege of clergy' by imposing the 'secret of the Holy Office' on all information obtained through the Church's canonical investigations. If the State did not know about these crimes, then there would be no State trials, and the matter could be treated as a purely canonical crime to be dealt with in secret in the Church courts.' 
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Zee (2010), Anthony, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, Princeton University Press 2010 ' Since it was first published, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell has quickly established itself as the most accessible and comprehensive introduction to this profound and deeply fascinating area of theoretical physics. Now in this fully revised and expanded edition, A. Zee covers the latest advances while providing a solid conceptual foundation for students to build on, making this the most up-to-date and modern textbook on quantum field theory available. This expanded edition features several additional chapters, as well as an entirely new section describing recent developments in quantum field theory such as gravitational waves, the helicity spinor formalism, on-shell gluon scattering, recursion relations for amplitudes with complex momenta, and the hidden connection between Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity. Zee also provides added exercises, explanations, and examples, as well as detailed appendices, solutions to selected exercises, and suggestions for further reading.' 
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American Masters: Season 35 Episode 5 (2019), Oliver Sacks: His own Life, ' The life and work of neurologist and storyteller Oliver Sacks, including personal details about his battles with drug addiction and homophobia. back

Amy Maguire, Australia announces ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions against targets in Russia and Iran. What are they and will they work?, ' Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong chose Human Rights Day to announce Magnitsky-style sanctions against 13 Russian and Iranian individuals and two entities, in response to egregious human rights abuses. Wong has described these sanctions as a means of holding human rights abusers to account, in situations where dialogue has proven ineffective. Magnitsky sanctions are named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was killed in prison for exposing corruption. Unlike more traditional sanctions targeting nation states, Magnitsky sanctions freeze the assets of targeted individuals and prevent them from travelling freely.' back

Anders Sandberg, Cyborgs v ‘holdout humans’: what the world might be like if our species survives for a million years, ' Most species are transitory. They go extinct, branch into new species or change over time due to random mutations and environmental shifts. A typical mammalian species can be expected to exist for a million years. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have been around for roughly 300,000 years. So what will happen if we make it to a million years? . . . Through brain emulation, a speculative technology where one scans a brain at a cellular level and then reconstructs an equivalent neural network in a computer to create a “software intelligence”, we could go even further. This is no mere speciation, it is leaving the animal kingdom for the mineral, or rather, software kingdom. ' back

Aquinas, Summa I, 28, 1, Are there real relations in God?, 'Reply to Objection 4. Relations which result from the mental operation alone in the objects understood are logical relations only, inasmuch as reason observes them as existing between two objects perceived by the mind. Those relations, however, which follow the operation of the intellect, and which exist between the word intellectually proceeding and the source whence it proceeds, are not logical relations only, but are real relations; inasmuch as the intellect and the reason are real things, and are really related to that which proceeds from them intelligibly; as a corporeal thing is related to that which proceeds from it corporeally. Thus paternity and filiation are real relations in God.' back

Aquinas, Summa I, 50, 4, Is every angel a different species?, ' . . . such things as agree in species but differ in number, agree in form, but are distinguished materially. If, therefore, the angels be not composed of matter and form, as was said above (Article 2), it follows that it is impossible for two angels to be of one species; just as it would be impossible for there to be several whitenesses apart, or several humanities, since whitenesses are not several, except in so far as they are in several substances.' back

Aquinas, Summa: II, II, 4, 1, Is this a fitting definition of faith: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not?" (Hebrews 11:1), 'I answer that, Though some say that the above words of the Apostle are not a definition of faith, yet if we consider the matter aright, this definition overlooks none of the points in reference to which faith can be defined, albeit the words themselves are not arranged in the form of a definition, just as the philosophers touch on the principles of the syllogism, without employing the syllogistic form.' back

Avatar: The Way of Water - Wikipedia, Avatar: The Way of Water - Wikipedia, the free enecyclopedia, ' In contrast, The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw was critical of the "scathingly bland plot" and noted that despite the shift in setting "there isn’t a single interesting visual image". San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Mick LaSalle called it "a one-hour story rattling around in a 192-minute bag," while acknowledging that "it looks pretty good," incorporating "one of the best uses of 3-D to date, with visuals that seem to have been conceived in three dimensions." The Telegraph critic Robbie Collin said that the film "has no plot, no stakes and atrocious dialogue" and that "for all its world-building sprawl, The Way of Water is a horizon-narrowing experience – the sad sight of a great filmmaker reversing up a creative cul-de-sac.[' back

Conspiracy theory - Wikipedia, Conspiracy theory - Wikipedia, the fee encyclopedia, ' A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. The term has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal to a conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. . . . Historically, conspiracy theories have been closely linked to prejudice, propaganda, witch hunts, wars, and genocides. They are often strongly believed by the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, and were used as justification by Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik, as well as by governments such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Turkey.AIDS denialism by the government of South Africa, motivated by conspiracy theories, caused an estimated 330,000 deaths from AIDS.' back

Creation (2009 film) - Wikipedia, Creation (2009 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Creation is a 2009 British biographical drama film about Charles Darwin's relationship with his wife Emma and his memory of their eldest daughter Annie, as he struggles to write On the Origin of Species. . . . 'Having returned from his expedition in the Galapagos Islands 15 years earlier, Darwin is still trying to finish a manuscript about his findings, which will articulate his theory of evolution. The delay is caused by anxiety about his relationship with his devoutly religious wife, Emma, who fundamentally opposes his ideas, which pose a threat to established Anglican theology. Emma worries that she may go to heaven and he may not, separating them for eternity. ' back

David Olusoga, Meghan and Harry’s documentary has hit the raw nerve of tabloid prejudice, ' The howl of exasperation from tabloid commentators – who spoke almost in unison last week like a dismissive Greek chorus – was that Netflix’s Harry and Meghan documentary series contains no new revelations. . . . Race was only ever one element in the dismal catalogue of mistreatment Meghan has been subjected to, and it is only one element of this series. But what is said by the couple about race and racism in Britain is new and revelatory, in part because black people and their families so rarely choose to speak publicly about their personal experiences of racism. This reticence stems from the knowledge that there is always a price to be paid for doing so. That price is currently being extracted from Meghan and Harry by the British tabloids. . . . Having recovered from their disappointment over the absence of headline-grabbing details, the papers launched their inevitable counterattack, one that even by their standards was extraordinary in its scale and fury. The Daily Mail carried more than 20 pages on the documentary.' back

Denys Turner, Dante in Exile, ' From exile, then, Dante began his Comedy, composed in extraordinarily disciplined vernacular poetic forms. It is a work that in good part invents the poetic language in which it is written, the language of an Italy that will not exist in unified political reality for another 550 years. In his search for a poetic home, he struggles against the rootlessness of intellect that results from his domestic displacement. For intellect too needs a social world in which to be at home. And if his exile is a political and literary reality, it also has a deeper theological meaning. The Comedy is not just a writing composed in exile; exile determines the form of its writing. And as the exiled Dante is a vagrant, so is his theology: the Comedy is the cry from the heart of an uprooted soul in search of an “abiding city.” It is the poetry and theology of that search.' back

Dominicans, Order of Preachers, '... the official international Web site of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans). The branches of the Dominican family are multiple: brothers, contemplative nuns, congregations of contemplative and apostolic sisters, lay persons in fraternities or secular institutes, secular priests in fraternities.' back

Ezra Klein, The Great Delusion Behind Twitter, ' Borrowing a concept from Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel in economic science, Farrer argues that attention is subject to a problem known as the tragedy of the commons. A classic example of a tragedy of the commons is an open pasture that any shepherd can use for his flock. . . . Soon enough, the pasture is bare, and the resource is depleted. Farrer argues that our collective attention is like a public pasture: It is valuable, it is limited, and it is being depleted. Everyone from advertisers to politicians to newspapers to social media giants wants our attention. . . . . Put simply, Twitter’s value is how easy it makes it to talk. Its cost is how hard it makes it to listen.' back

James Parker, T. S. Eliot Saw All This Coming, back

Kayfabe - Wikipedia, Kayfabe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Kayfabe is a shorthand term that involves acknowledging the staged, scripted nature of professional wrestling, as opposed to a competitive sport, despite being presented as authentic. Initially, people "in the business" (either wrestlers or those working behind the scenes) used the term kayfabe as a code among those in the wrestling profession, discussing matters in public without revealing the scripted nature. As a concept, kayfabe involves both the fact that matches are scripted and that wrestlers portray characters for their shows. Unlike actors who portray their characters only when on set or on stage, professional wrestlers often stay "in character" outside the shows, especially when interacting with fans, trying to preserve the illusion of professional wrestling.' back

Ken Drinkwater & Neil Dagnall, Halloween, Avril Lavigne and the conspiracy theory that refuses to die, ' Much like the “Avril is Dead” story, conspiracy theories usually contain the notion that powerful individuals are working covertly to deliberately mislead people. In this instance, the record company and profit motive combined with the conviction that Lavigne was deliberately replaced make up the theory. . . . The wish to impose meaning on the world is also a defining feature of conspiracies. Hence, they arise either when there is no definitive account, or the official or prevailing explanation is considered inadequate. Once generated and circulated, followers will then search for confirmatory evidence and reject alternatives.' back

Matthew 28:18-20, The Great Commission, ' Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age".' back

Matthew Willis, Crabs have evolved five separate times – why do the same forms keep appearing in nature? , ' It’s not only body forms that evolve independently, but also organs and other structures. Humans have complex camera eyes with a lens, iris and retina. Squid, and octopuses, which are molluscs and more closely related to snails and clams, also evolved camera eyes with the same components. Eyes more generally may have evolved independently up to 40 times in different groups of animals. Even box jellyfish, which don’t have a brain, have eyes with lenses at the bases of their four tentacles.' back

Mimi Lau, Is China doubling down on assimilation of its ethnic minorities? , ' The appointment of ethnic minority officials and those charged with minority policies since the Communist Party’s five-yearly national congress in October suggest Beijing is doubling down on efforts to assimilate the diverse groups into one common Chinese identity, experts say. Those appointments saw the representation of ethnic minority officials on the party’s Central Committee hit a 10-year low, which experts said suggested ethnic diversity was not a priority for President Xi Jinping. . . . China has 55 non-Han ethnic minorities whose 125 million members make up nearly 9 per cent of the country’s population – and 7 million of them are party members.' back

Nassim Khadem, Iranian government accused of 'sham trials' and 'torture' as protestors face executions, ' Mr Shekari was accused of blocking a street and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia on September 25, during the early phase of the protests. Weeks later, he was found guilty by a revolutionary court in Iran for "moharebeh", translated in English as "enmity against God" or "waging war against God". The charge, which the Islamic Republic introduced after the 1979 revolution, is often levied against people who are accused of committing acts against the government. . . . On Thursday Iranian soccer player Amir Nasr-Azadani was also accused of "enmity against God" and other offences.' back

Richard A, Watson, Intelligent design without a creator? Why evolution may be smarter than we thought, ' Our work shows that the evolution of regulatory connections between genes, which govern how genes are expressed in our cells, has the same learning capabilities as neural networks. In other words, gene networks evolve like neural networks learn. While connections in neural networks change in the direction that maximises rewards, natural selection changes genetic connections in the direction that increases fitness. The ability to learn is not itself something that needs to be designed – it is an inevitable product of random variation and selection when acting on connections.' back

Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III , Why early Christians wouldn’t have found the Christmas story’s virgin birth so surprising, ' Now the majority of early Christians outside of Judea and throughout the Roman empire did not know the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, but rather a Greek translation known as the Septuagint. When the Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, it uses the Septuagint, which includes the term “parthenos,” commonly understood as “virgin.” This term differs from the Hebrew Old Testament, which uses the word “almah,” properly translated as “young woman.” The slight difference in translation between the Hebrew and the Greek may not mean much, but for early Christians who knew Greek, it provided prophetic proof for Jesus’ birth from the Virgin Mary.' back

Ruth Graham, Maryland Finds That for Hundreds of Clergy Abuse Victims, ‘No Parish Was Safe’, ' The attorney general of Maryland has identified more than 600 young victims of clergy sexual abuse over the course of 80 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a court document filed Thursday. The filing, which broadly outlines the attorney general’s findings, requests that a judge allow the release of the full report: a 456-page document detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in Maryland.. . . . The scale of the abuse outlined is on par with other large abuse cases uncovered in lawsuits and other investigations in dioceses in Boston, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania and Illinois. . . . The sexual abuse scandal has vexed the Catholic Church for 20 years, since The Boston Globe documented the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse in Catholic settings in 2002.' back

Sun - Wikipedia, Sun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Every second, the Sun's core fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium, and in the process converts 4 million tons of matter into energy. . . . When hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which the Sun is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium, its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand, eventually transforming the Sun into a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus, and render Earth uninhabitable – but not for about five billion years.' back