SUCCESS! India is now the fourth nation to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to successfully land near the Moon’s south pole.
Humanity is returning to the Moon.
Vikram, the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander, will, if all goes well, touch down near the Moon’s south pole today: Wednesday, August 23, 2023.
A successful landing will make India one of four spacefaring nations with a presence on the Lunar surface.
The lander will start its powered descent —
This morning
Around noon
This afternoon
The time of day depends on where you are. For me, it’ll be early Wednesday morning.
That’s why I’ve embedded an ISRO YouTube video in this post: so I’ll have something queued up and ready to view. That’s assuming I wake up in time.
ISRO’s telecast starts, I gather, at 17:20 IST (India Standard Time). That’s 11:50 UTC, 6:50 a.m. here in central Minnesota: assuming I’ve done the time conversions right, which is a big assumption.
And in case the YouTube stream doesn’t work, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) says their telecast will be available elsewhere.
Chandrayaan-3 is mostly a technology demonstration/test, but includes several science payloads.
ISRO has upgraded their Vikram lander since the Chandrayaan-2 mission, so there’s a good chance for a successful touch down near the Moon’s south pole. The next step will be deploying and testing ISRO’s Lunar rover, Pragyan.
I think those are their names, but ISRO used the same names for its Chandrayaan-2 mission, back in 2019.
So it’s possible that Vikram and Pragyan are series names, like “Mustang” for a line of Ford sports cars. Or should that be nameplate? And I’ve long since drifted off-topic.
I plan on taking a longer look at the Chandrayaan-3 mission in Saturday’s post.
Including, if I can find more material, something about what ISRO calls the Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm and an NGC (Navigation, Guidance & Control) system.
In non-geek-speak, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has a smart lander.
The Times of India has a pretty good article about what the Vikram lander will be doing during descent and landing.
I put a link to that, and other resources, in this post’s footnote.1
Whatever happens today, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has already had significant success. For one thing, Vikram contacted the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.
“ISRO on Monday said a two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3’s Lunar Module has been established.
“‘Welcome, buddy!’ Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM, the national space agency said in a post on ‘X’.
“ISRO said on Sunday the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission of India, is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on August 23….”
And that’s all I have today. Like I said, I’ll be back with more Saturday.
Meanwhile, here’s how I see humanity’s exploration of our neighborhood:
Canadian wildfires this weekend. (August 19, 2023)
Folks living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, are not having a good time.
The last I checked, the Northwest Territories capital was being evacuated. Understandably, since there’s less than a mile of open water between Yellowknife and one of Canada’s wildfires.
Since Yellowknife has been in the news, and I knew next to nothing about the place, I did a little checking and took a quick virtual trip to the Northwest Territories’ capital.
I’ll be talking about something else for next week’s post, so what I found gets a once-over-lightly treatment. As the AI Assistant I’ve started consulting pointed out:
The post discusses the Canadian wildfires and their impact on Yellowknife, as well as the conspiracy theories surrounding them. The author also mentions climate change and the need for a better understanding of Earth’s climate before implementing drastic measures. The post ends with a description of a unique house in Yellowknife.
Overall, the post provides relevant information and personal insights. However, here are a few actions that could enhance it:
1. Consider adding more details about the Canadian wildfires, such as the causes, extent, and efforts being made to contain them.
2. Back up statements about conspiracy theories with examples or references to provide a more balanced viewpoint.
3. Explore the potential long-term effects of climate change on the region and its residents.
4. Provide a conclusion or summary that ties the various elements of the post together.
These suggestions will help improve the depth and coherence of the content. (Jetpack AI Assistant)
I think the suggestions made sense. Adopting them would “improve the depth and coherence of the content” — but I decided that I’m okay with a somewhat shallow and not quite coherent narrative. You have been warned. 😉
In the News
Glancing at the news, I see that Canada is ablaze, Maui’s a mess, and California is in peril. Oddly enough, though, California’s current looming doom is water, not fire.
All of the above are serious matters. I’m a bit more aware of the Canadian wildfires, since my home is downwind of them.
As I’m writing this, Saturday afternoon, our weather problem is a heat advisory: but we’re expecting Canadian haze again this evening.
A quick check told me that the Canadian fires have the usual attendant wacky rumors. Seems that they’re some sort of plot, caused by space lasers, and that the haze we’ve been experiencing is ammonium nitrate.
But nobody, as far as I can tell, has made the obvious connection between space lasers and space aliens. Sitting on the front stoop today, I saw a little sort-of-round cloud, which I could claim was a camouflaged flying saucer.
Getting Slightly Serious About Silliness
Hurricane Sable returned to the Atlantic coast after a weather modification experiment. (1947)
I figure there’s a little truth — not the space aliens thing, that’s silly — to at least a few conspiracy theories bouncing around social media.
Of course politicos are using human suffering to get re-elected or push their pet projects. That’s what they do. But that doesn’t mean they’ve hired arsonists.
I also think that Canada, Maui and California are real places and that folks live there.
Granted, I’ve yet to run across a conspiracy theory buff who insists that, say, Massachusetts doesn’t exist, and that it’s really a movie set built by a clandestine movie studio in rural Texas. The Massachusetts Analog Deception “obviously” has been maintained to besmirch the Kennedy family’s good name.
And no, I do not believe that. Although with a little work, I could probably work in H. P. Lovecraft, the Great Old Ones and Apollo 13.
Moving along.
It’s my considered opinion that Earth’s climate has changed, is changing, and will continue changing.
We’ve almost certainly affected Earth’s climate by planting crops, raising livestock and — more recently — burning coal.
One reason I’m not demanding that the government outlaw electric toothbrushes, bioengineer non-gassy cows or otherwise “do something” —
Well, it’s because I think we can change Earth’s climate.
Knowing a great deal more than we do about what makes it work before fiddling with the controls seems prudent.
And that’s another topic.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories: August 19, 2023
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada; via Google Maps. (August 18, 2023)
I don’t envy either the essential workers left behind, or the 17,500 or so Yellowknifers who evacuated the city.
Who were evacuated, actually. The powers that be gave an evacuation order. Which makes sense, since there’s not quite a mile of open water between the city and what Google Maps calls the Yellowknife Fire, one of the Southern Fort Smith Region wildfires.
Again, getting as many folks as possible out of the way of wildfires makes sense. I hope that folks in Yellowknife and elsewhere won’t lose more than they already have.
And that brings me to what got me started writing today.
Well, That’s Different: A Glass-Capped House on Niven Drive
Houses on Niven Drive, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. (image from July 2009)
I do my traveling with Google Maps and Google Street View these days.
Friday, when I had most of the week’s ‘Saturday post’ finished, I took a very quick virtual jaunt through Yellowknife.
Not all the way through. Northwest Territories’ capital is (normally) very roughly four and a third times the size of Sauk Centre. My town’s a bit more compact, though; and I’m drifting off-topic.
One of the places I saw was Niven Drive, between Niven Lake and Josephine Walcer Park.1 Enough name dropping.
Yellowknife’s Niven Drive looks like a pleasant neighborhood. A bit shy on large trees and brimming with new-looking houses. Both of which I figure are due to Yellowknife’s climate and history.
Niven Drive houses lack the mass-produced look of 1950s American housing developments, but they’re not all that different from what I see in Sauk Centre’s newer neighborhoods.
With one exception.
Someone on Niven Drive lives in a round house. Not a roundhouse. A house that’s round: very roughly 40 feet in diameter, I’d say.
What first caught my eye was its conical glass cupola. I don’t know if it’s the ceiling/roof of a sunroom, an atrium’s skylight, or something else.
Other houses on Niven Drive look fine, and are probably very nice places to live. When there isn’t a wildfire headed their way, anyway.
But that remarkable home with the glass cap? I like it. It’s got character. I hope that it — and, more importantly, whoever lives there — weathers the current troubles.
Now, the usual lists.
I see connections with this post, your experience may vary:
I’ll be talking, briefly, about my most recent effort to both follow the rules and get a needed prescription. (Spoiler alert: I finally got the stuff, and have maybe three weeks before wading into this mess again.)
But first, an even briefer look at something I’d much rather have been talking about.
First, second and third Yellowstone Caldera ejecta. NPS map. (2013)
Turns out, the the Yellowstone region’s next high-risk event isn’t a volcanic eruption.
It’s an earthquake. The last big one was in 1959. Or 1975, depending on how someone defines “big”.
This was among the topics I’ve had lined up for these “Saturday” posts. I still plan to talk about the Yellowstone Caldera,1 North America’s geologic history and whatever else comes to mind while I’m putting the Yellowstone story together.
But not this week.
About the USGS video at the top of this post: its audio abruptly shifts to monaural a little less than a minute in, but goes back to normal a bit later.
Sooner or later I’ll get back to Yellowstone, earthquakes and all that. Again, I’d have preferred talking about that this week. But doing so would have required concentration and free time that simply wasn’t going to happen.
Next, a quick look at why I haven’t been getting much done.
Prescribed Medications, Controlled Substances, and Me
We’re still downwind of Canada’s wildfires, here in my part of central Minnesota.
But, happily, the smoke has often been going far overhead.
That’s not why I’m not getting much done this week. I’ve been — distracted — by another SNAFU involving prescribed medication.
The medication isn’t the problem.
The problem is, has been, and almost certainly will continue being, rules that may have made sense to someone, somewhere, somehow.
I’d better explain that.
I was in my mid-50s before I began collecting a list of psychiatric diagnoses, including but not limited to these:
ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, inattentive type
ASD: Autism spectrum disorder
Cluster A personality disorder
GAD: Generalized anxiety disorder
PDD: Persistent depressive disorder
PTSD: Post traumatic stress disorder
None of them can be “cured”, but I’ve got options to make some of them less vexing.
One of those options is using a Schedule II controlled substance that makes using my brain a whole lot easier.
Good news: starting when I was 55, fighting the controls to keep my brain working hasn’t been nearly as difficult as it once was.
Not-so-good news: I’m now 71, and have experienced withdrawal several times. Since the controlled substance is a prescribed medication, it’s “discontinuation syndrome”.2
But that’s a tomayto, tomahto situation.
I figure some folks would be just simply horrified at the thought that they were experiencing “withdrawal”.
And “discontinuation syndrome” isn’t associated with socially-undesirable persons. Like me: and my oldest daughter, who has had similar experiences with her meds.
It Could be Worse
Back to good news: I haven’t experienced withdrawal this month.
That’s partly because last week I began taking ¼ the prescribed dose of the controlled substance I mentioned earlier.
Before that, I’d taken my daily dose down to ½ the prescribed amount.
It’s not, putting it mildly, what I’d prefer doing.
But the alternative would have been going from the prescribed daily dose to nothing during the first week of this month. Making what I had on hand stretch as far as I could seemed prudent.
This month I’ve been dealing with two issues related to that medication.
For one thing, there’s a supply problem. The pharmacy I go to often can’t get this particular medication, and this is another one of those times.
For another, the bureaucratic SNAFU demanded each month has been considerably more tangled this time around. I started taking notes last week, and plan on talking about it. Later. Definitely not this week, maybe not next.
But, to wrap this up on good news: although I’m feeling slow, sluggish, defocused and generally — relaxed —
— You know? I’ll leave it at that. I haven’t experienced withdrawal this month. And that is, basically, good news.
Postscript: Success! Until Next Month
And now, even better news. The pharmacy called late Wednesday afternoon.
They had both a valid authorization for my methylphenidate prescription and enough in stock for the permitted 30-day supply.
I picked it up Wednesday evening: and plan on staying inside for the rest of the week.
Smoke from Canada arrives Thursday, and that’s another topic.
I have a great deal more to say about both of this week’s topics. Odds are, I’ll talk about one or the other next week.
Unless I get distracted by something more interesting.
Pope Francis: “The Lord is clear….” (August 2023) via ABC News
On his way back from World Youth Day in Lisbon, Pope Francis said that folks who aren’t perfect can be Catholics.
Since he was a tad more specific in how he expressed the idea, we got headlines like this: “Pope Francis restates Catholic Church is for everyone, including LGBTQ+ people” (ABC News).
This week I’m taking a quick look at the news, and a longer look at why I’m okay with being Catholic.
Whether or not Pope Francis saying that folks who are not A-list material can still be Catholic is “news” depends on which definition is in play.
Among other things, “news” can be “a report of recent events”, “previously unknown information”, “something having a specified influence or effect”, or something else.
As I see it, Monday’s ABC News piece fits the first and third definition. Maybe the second, too, at least for some folks.
“LISBON, Portugal — In one of the most iconic moments coming out of World Youth Day, Pope Francis called on the hundreds of thousands gathered before him to yell back at him that the Catholic Church is for ‘todos, todos, todos’ — everyone, everyone, everyone.
“‘The Lord is clear,’ the pope insisted on Sunday. ‘The sick, the elderly, the young, old, ugly, beautiful, good and bad.’
“Taking questions from reporters aboard his flight back to Rome after a five-day trip to Portugal, the pope was asked how he could reconcile his ‘todos’ message with the fact that LGBTQ+ people are excluded from the sacraments. The pope answered the Church has laws, but is still a place for everyone….”
My hat’s off to ABC News. Although this piece mentioned the perennial pedophile priest story, there wasn’t the recital of past offenses that I’d expected.
That said, there’s plenty in the article for someone who’s looking for offensive tidbits.
“…On his first day in Portugal, the pope also met with 13 victims who were sexually abused as children by members of the Catholic Church.
‘Speaking with abused people is a very difficult experience,’ the pope said as he reflected on the encounter. ‘But it also does me good, not because I like to listen, but because it helps me take on their load.’
“He added the Church needs to ‘grab the bull by its horns’ when it comes to child sex abuse.
“The pontiff also shot down speculation that his eyesight was failing him, after he repeatedly abandoned his lengthy prepared remarks for shorter, off the cuff speeches. The pope told reporters he was just trying to connect with young people, who have a shorter attention span. He joked the homily can at times be akin to ‘torture.’…” (Ines de la Cuetara, Phoebe Natanson; ABC News (August 7, 2023))
Taking a quick glance at those four paragraphs, I found four opportunities for being shocked, outraged and generally snitty. The pope:
Admitted that children had been abused
Claimed that listening to abuse victims helped them
Said the Church should do something effective, regarding abuse
Said that homilies (Catholic sermons) were “torture”!!!!!
The same person might not pick all four as a starting point for virtue signalling, and I’m wandering off-topic. Or maybe not so much. I’ll be talking about something that’s been inspiring ardent and angry rants — on assorted sides — for decades.
Another opportunity for displaying outrage was ABC News using the LGBTQ+ moniker, rather than LGBTI+, LGBTIQA+, or some other acronym that’s on a ‘preferred’ list.1
So: how come I’m not horrified at what Pope Francis said?
Basically, it’s because I’m a Catholic.
I think what the pope says matters. And that beings me to “infallibility”, something I haven’t talked about much since 2017.
Being Catholic —
Some folks, Catholic and otherwise, may believe that “infallibility” means popes can’t make mistakes, or be wrong about anything.
That’s not the way it works.
Which is obvious, given our history.
Over the last two millennia, we’ve had popes and bishops who were Saints, and others who were anything but.
Competition for bottom place is pretty tight: but Benedict IX deserves special mention, at the very least.
Benedict IX was Pope three times between 1032 and 1048. He was kicked out twice and sold the office once.
Make that allegedly sold. We don’t have solid documentation, which doesn’t surprise me. Even in the 11th century, leaving a paper trail for corruption on that scale would have been imprudent at best.
Back to infallibility.
Infallibility applies when a pope, acting as the pope, officially declares a doctrine of faith or morals “by definitive act”. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §1)
The College of Bishops can do the same sort of thing, with similar requirements.
When a pope declares a “doctrine of faith or morals is to be held definitively,” it’s infallible. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §2)
Infallibility also happens when bishops exercise the Magisterium in an ecumenical council, working with the pope. After that, the doctrine applies to everyone in the Church. All those conditions must be obviously met. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §2, 749 §3)
The idea of papal infallibility is old, even by Catholic standards. As a dogma it’s a fairly recent development. The First Vatican Council defined it in “Pastor Aeternus,” issued July 18, 1870. Predictably, some folks didn’t like it.2
Two Millennia of Wildly Improbable Survival
A few more points. Then I’ll get back to why I figure Pope Francis is Catholic.
“Morals” discussed in the Code of Canon Law aren’t limited to the zipper issues you see in tabloids.
It’s pretty much the same as “ethics.”
Rules like the Code of Canon Law are important, and serve to define how the Catholic Church works.
But I don’t think any set of rules could keep humans from mismanaging an organization into oblivion, given time.
We’ve had two millennia, and ample opportunities, to do just that. But despite occasionally corrupt management, the Church has endured major social, political, and economic upheavals — including the Roman Empire’s crumbling and the Renaissance.
Human institutions don’t do that.
After two millennia of wildly improbable survival, I’m inclined to believe the Church’s explanation for our continued existence.
We’ve had help.
“Divine assistance” is what holds up the Church. It’s also what makes papal infallibility work. (Catechism, 888-892)
That’s an extreme claim. But it explains how the Church survived Popes like Benedict IX.
The terms we use to describe this assistance have changed over the millennia. But we’ve known we wouldn’t be on our own ever since our Lord left. Before, actually. (Matthew 28:18–20; John 14:15–18)
Definitions
The Code of Canon law is important, but it’s just a sort of operations manual.
What, or rather who, is important is Jesus. He’s unique: human on his mother’s side. His life, death and resurrection gives each of us hope for eternal life. And that’s another topic.
I became a Catholic when I finally realized who currently holds the authority our Lord gave Peter; and that brings me to the Bible, the Magisterium and Tradition.
That’s Tradition, with a capital “T,” which isn’t trying to live as if it’s 1947, 1066 or whatever.
Our capital “T” Tradition is the Apostolic Tradition. It’s a “living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit,” passed along from the Apostles. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 75-79)
Our heritage of faith also includes the Bible and the Magisterium. All of which interact. (Catechism, 74-95)
The Magisterium is the Church’s teaching authority, which came from Jesus; and is maintained through the Holy Spirit. (Catechism, 85-87, 888-892, 2023-2040)
Reading, studying and understanding the Bible is literally Catholicism 101. (Catechism, 101-133)
I put definitions of Bible, Magisterium and Tradition in the footnotes.3
— Acting Like it Matters
This Reuters/New Delhi Television article put a key point in their lead paragraph.
The Catholic Church is “open to everyone … but within the framework of its rules”.
“Vatican City: Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including homosexuals, and that it has a duty to accompany them on a personal path of spirituality but within the framework of its rules….”
As I see it, this should be obvious.
I don’t have to be a Catholic.
But if I say “I’m Catholic”; acting as if I take what the Church says seriously, or at least trying to, makes sense. To me, at any rate.
I don’t mind the Catholic Church putting up with folks who aren’t perfectly perfect, since I’m still working on one of the seven capital sins:
GLUTTONY: overindulgence in food or drink. Gluttony is one of the seven capital sins (1866). (Glossary, Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Make that working on several in the list:
Pride
Avarice
Envy
Wrath
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth/acedia
I’m getting opportunities to avoid wrath this week, thanks to another SNAFU involving prescribed medication. That’s a topic for another time.
Those seven sins are called “capital” because they lead, or can lead, to other sins/vices. (Catechism, 1866)
Happiness, Lust, Sin and Making Sense
I’ll be sharing some counter-cultural ideas, but not in a conventional way. So I’d better explain a few things first.
Wanting happiness is natural. That’s okay. But being rich, healthy, and famous won’t necessarily make me happy. On the other hand, there’s nothing basically wrong with health, wealth, or any human achievement. (Catechism, 1718, 1723)
Wanting happiness and truth is part of being human. Searching for both will, if I’m doing it right, lead me to God. (Catechism, 27-30)
Being human is not inherently evil. And we’re supposed to be sexual creatures. (Catechism, 2331-2379)
“Lust” is not religious-speak for experiencing human sexuality. Not for a Catholic. It’s a “…disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure….” (Catechism, 2351)
Sexual actions, like anything else we do, involve ethical standards. (Catechism, 2331-2391)
Everyone deserves respect and reasoned compassion, not unjust discrimination. That said, homosexual acts are a bad idea. (Catechism, 2357-2359)
That’s homosexual acts: not experiencing such urges.
“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.” (Catechism, 2358)
I don’t deal with that particular flavor of lust, but ranting against folks who aren’t just like me seems pointless. At best.
Sin is not defined as “stuff I don’t like”.
Sin is something that offends reason, truth, “right conscience” — and God. (Catechism, 1849-1851)
Humans and humanity are not rotten to the core.
Like all of God’s creation, we’re basically “very good”. But the first of us put our personal preferences over God’s will. That was a monumentally bad idea. We’ve been living with consequences of that choice ever since. God did not, however, change our nature. We are wounded, but not corrupted. (Genesis 1:27, 31, 3:1–19; Catechism, 31, 299, 355-361, 374-379, 398, 400-406, 405, 1701-1707, 1949)
Finally, Catholics aren’t Puritans.
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” (“A Mencken Chrestomathy” , Sententiæ: The Citizen and the State. H. L. Menken (1949) via Wikiquote)
Although some of us act as if we were, and that’s yet another topic.
Wheat, Weeds, and What Pope Francis Said
I found a “working English transcription and translation of the press conference” on Vatican News.
One reporter specified that he was asking his question in Spanish. I don’t know what language had been used in other cases.
The point is that the text I had access to is a “working … translation”, so I figure some of the words and phrases aren’t quite what a native English speaker might use.
Anyway, I’ve put a longer excerpt from the Vatican News transcript in the footnotes.4
This one is on the long side, too, but I wanted to get the pope’s “everybody!” sound bite in context.
“…Q: Anita Hirschbeck – KNA “Holy Father, in Lisbon you told us that in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone, everyone. The Church is open to everyone, but at the same time not everyone has the same rights, opportunities, in the sense that, for example, women, homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments. Holy Father how do you explain this inconsistency between an open Church and a Church not equal for all? Thank you.”
“You ask me a question that concerns two different points of view: the Church is open for everyone, then there is legislation that regulates life inside the Church. He who is inside follows the legislation. What you say is a simplification: ‘They cannot participate in the sacraments.’ This does not mean that the Church is closed. Everyone meets God on their own way inside the Church, and the Church is mother and guides everyone on their own path. That’s why I don’t like to say: everyone comes, but you, this one, but the other one… Everyone, everyone in prayer, in inner dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, looks for the way forward.…”
“That’s why I ask the question: Why not homosexuals? Everybody! And the Lord is clear: the sick, the healthy, old and young, ugly and beautiful… the good and the bad!
“There is a kind of gaze that doesn’t understand this insertion of the Church as mother and thinks of it as a kind of ‘corporation’ that you have to do this, or do it in this way and not another way, in order to get in to….” [emphasis mine]
There’s a lot going on here.
I’ll focus on the “everybody!” idea.
It’s not new. Jesus talked about not pulling up wheat along with weeds. (Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43)
And there’s this bit in Wisdom; discussing cosmic scale, God’s mercy and why the Almighty doesn’t promptly smite folks who don’t play well with others.
“Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
“But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.
“For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for you would not fashion what you hate.” (Wisdom 11:22–24)
Not ‘Just Us’
Non Sequitur’s Flo, a rescheduled Rapture, and Eddie’s bar tab may not seem obviously related to recent remarks by Pope Francis.
The connection is that Gnosticism — the word comes from ancient Greek γνωστικός, gnostikos, “having knowledge” — spotlights personal spiritual knowledge.
Sometimes it’s secret knowledge: making believers part of an exclusive clique.
And that reminds me of folks who feel they’ve got an inside track on the latest End Times Bible Prophecy.
Seeing the physical world as basically bad, not at all like nice spiritual stuff, is generally part of the package, too.5 Gnosticism is a can of worms I don’t have time for this week.
Here’s why I brought it up. What got me thinking about it, at any rate.
“…I don’t like reduction. This is not ecclesial; it is gnostic. It is like a Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today. A certain Gnosticism that reduces ecclesial reality, and that doesn’t help. The Church is ‘mother’ receiving everyone, and everyone makes their own way within the Church, without publicity, and this is very important….” [emphasis mine]
I don’t know what the “Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today” is. But I’m not surprised that someone’s given the old ideas a fresh coat of paint.
Since Francis (in translation) said “I don’t like reduction”, I’m guessing that this flavor of Gnosticism is at least partly about being an exclusive group. Which, again, isn’t new.
My guess is that what Pope Francis sees as unhelpful is an ‘it’s all about just us’ attitude. Coupled, likely enough, given Gnosticism’s track record, with a fastidious distaste for icky physical things. Like humans.
Sodom, Gomorrah, and Lot’s Guests — or — Evil is Not Nice
“The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah”, detail. John Martin. (1852)
Although it’s been decades since a Bible epic featured a Sodom and Gomorrah story, I figure most folks in my culture recognize the names. I don’t particularly miss Bible epics, and I’m wandering off-topic again.
The silver screen adaptations are more-or-less-loosely inspired by Genesis 18:16–19:30.
I’ll focus, briefly, on what happened when Lot invited undercover angels to stay overnight.
That night, Sodom’s citizens surrounded Lot’s house. They demanded that Lot turn over his guests, “that we may have sexual relations with them.” (Genesis 19: 5)
Lot refused, offering his daughters as consolation prizes. That’s when Lot’s guests pulled him inside, blinding the mob with something resembling a flashbang.
Then they told Lot that they were a demolition team, and told him to evacuate. Lot and his daughters made it out, Lot’s wife didn’t.
The last I checked, we still don’t know exactly where Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other “cities of the Plain” were. Or even if the places actually existed.6 The post-strike assessment suggests that there isn’t much left to find:
“The next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
“As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw smoke over the land rising like the smoke from a kiln.” (Genesis 19:27–28)
So, how come God obliterated those cities?
My native culture’s answer is that the folks there were into unwholesome sexual practices. Which, given the Genesis account, seems likely.
But I’m pretty sure it’s not that simple.
Responsibility
The Genesis account also shows that Sodom’s citizens were actively violating rules of hospitality.
Isaiah 1:9–17 and Ezekiel 16:49 say social injustice, neglecting the poor, was the issue. Jeremiah 23:14 gives a short list of sins, including “…strengthening the power of the wicked, so that no one turns from evil….”
I’ll get back to the Jeremiah thing.
I could take my culture’s version of the Sodom and Gomorrah incident as a comforting reminder that I’m one of the good guys. Certainly not like the bad guys in those two sinning cities.
But I think Pope Francis made a good point, back in 2014.
Like everyone else, I can stand some improvement.
“‘Lent is a time for us to draw closer to the Lord,’ the Pope said. It is a time for ‘conversion’. In the day’s first Reading [Isaiah 1:10, 16-20], he said, ‘the Lord invites us to conversion; and interestingly he calls two cities harlots’: Sodom and Gomorrah. And he issues them this invitation: ‘Be converted, change your lives, draw near to the Lord’. This, he explained, ‘is the Lenten invitation: they are 40 days to draw near to the Lord, to be closer to him. For we all need to change our lives’.
The Pontiff noted how meaningless it is to excuse ourselves by saying: ‘But Father, I am not such a great sinner….’, for ‘we all have something inside of us and if we look into our soul we will find something that is not good, all of us’. Lent therefore ‘invites us to amend our lives, to put them in order’, he said, adding that this is precisely what allows us to draw near to the Lord, who is always ready to forgive….” (“Christians without masks, ” Pope Francis (March 18, 2014), via L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly edition in English, n. 12 (March 21, 2014))
Okay. I said I’d get back to Jeremiah’s “strengthening the power of the wicked”. Here it is.
When I decide to do something that offends “reason, truth, and right conscience”, I’m hurting human solidarity, wounding our nature and offending God. (Catechism, 1849-1850)
Doing so is a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it.
When someone else behaves badly, that’s their problem. But it may be mine, too.
“Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
by protecting evil-doers.”
(Catechism, 1866)
That’s why I occasionally talk about why bad behavior isn’t a good idea. Even though it’s not my favorite topic. Possibly because I’ve gotten well and thoroughly fed up with sanctimonious screed — old- and new-school — and that’s yet again more topics.
“BIBLE: Sacred Scripture: the books which contain the truth of God’s Revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit (105). The Bible contains both the forty-six books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (120). See Old Testament; New Testament.”
“MAGISTERIUM: The living, teaching office of the Church, whose task it is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The Magisterium ensures the Church’s fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals (85, 890, 2033).”
“TRADITION: The living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), are conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (75–82). The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition (83).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary)
“In his customary press conference aboard the return flight to Rome from Lisbon, Pope Francis spoke to reporters about a range of issues….
“…Here follows a working English transcription and translation of the press conference”
…
Q: Anita Hirschbeck – KNA “Holy Father, in Lisbon you told us that in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone, everyone. The Church is open to everyone, but at the same time not everyone has the same rights, opportunities, in the sense that, for example, women, homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments. Holy Father how do you explain this inconsistency between an open Church and a Church not equal for all? Thank you.”
“You ask me a question that concerns two different points of view: the Church is open for everyone, then there is legislation that regulates life inside the Church. He who is inside follows the legislation. What you say is a simplification: ‘They cannot participate in the sacraments.’ This does not mean that the Church is closed. Everyone meets God on their own way inside the Church, and the Church is mother and guides everyone on their own path. That’s why I don’t like to say: everyone comes, but you, this one, but the other one… Everyone, everyone in prayer, in inner dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, looks for the way forward.
“That’s why I ask the question: Why not homosexuals? Everybody! And the Lord is clear: the sick, the healthy, old and young, ugly and beautiful… the good and the bad!
“There is a kind of gaze that doesn’t understand this insertion of the Church as mother and thinks of it as a kind of ‘corporation’ that you have to do this, or do it in this way and not another way, in order to get in to.
“The ministeriality of the Church is another thing. [It is] the manner of carrying forward the flock. And in ministeriality, one of the important things is patience: accompanying people step by step on their way to maturity. Each one of us has this experience: that Mother Church has accompanied us and accompanies us in our own path of maturation.
“I don’t like reduction. This is not ecclesial; it is gnostic. It is like a Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today. A certain Gnosticism that reduces ecclesial reality, and that doesn’t help. The Church is ‘mother’ receiving everyone, and everyone makes their own way within the Church, without publicity, and this is very important….” [emphasis mine] (“Pope Francis: ‘I prayed for peace in Fatima without publicity’ ” , Vatican News (published August 6, 2023; modified August 7, 2023))
Sodom and Gomorrah (1922 film) (1922 Austrian silent Bible epic Sodom und Gomorrha: Die Legende von Sünde und Strafe; released in English as Sodom and Gomorrah or Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrha)
Tarantula at Ray Roberts Lake State Park, Texas. (November 3, 2013)
I’ve decided to list this post in the “Science News” category, although it doesn’t feature a current news item.
That’s because some of the tarantula-and-frog research has been news, and current spiders-have-pet-frogs videos remind me of human interest stories, back when print-format newspapers were more common.
A tarantula, photo by Adrienne Fitzgerald via NPS.
I’ve never had a pet tarantula, but I’ve known someone who did. That’s not why I was ‘spider-conscious’ this week.
An online chat with number one daughter wandered into an area bordering on odd critters and what I was going to write about.
She mentioned that some tarantulas protect frogs from predators, while the protected frogs keep smaller predators away from the spider’s eggs. We agreed that this sounded like the sort of thing I’d write about, and the conversation swerved off in another direction.
Some time — and several shifts in topic — later, she mentioned that, although she didn’t remember which species of tarantula it was, the tarantula’s egg-keeper was a dotted humming frog. Then our conversation continued in yet another direction.
We both enjoy something in the neighborhood of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
“Enjoy” may not be quite the right word. Looking at some ‘how to deal with those people’ advice, I think maybe not being diagnosed until I was in my mid-50s was a good thing, and that’s another topic.
Tarantula-frog cooperation sounded interesting, so that’s what I’ll be talking about: plus whatever else comes to mind.
Big Spider, Little Frog: Helping Each Other
A tarantula (Pamphobeteus genus) walking over a frog.
Tarantulas are big spiders, microhylids are small frogs. Odds are, you’ve heard of tarantulas, but didn’t know that microhylids are better known as narrow-mouthed frogs. Well, maybe not “better known”, more like “not entirely under the radar”.
“Tiny Frogs and Giant Spiders: Best of Friends”, Darren Naish, Scientific American Blogs (May 16, 2015)
Darren Naish’s “Tiny Frogs and Giant Spiders: Best of Friends” post, and a 1989 research paper with a Brobdingnagian title were among the first — and the few — ‘tarantula and frog’ resources I found this week.
“Abstract “A commensal relationship of Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata Xenesthis immanis was studied over a 3-mo [!] period at the Tambopata Reserved Zone, Peru….”
Resources I could use, that is.
Getting desperate for pictures, I checked out YouTube’s selection of ‘spider and frog’ videos. Some had a ‘tarantulas keep frogs as pets’ theme, others — the point is, none were the sort of valid and verifiable thing I was looking for.
And I found better photos elsewhere.
Naish said that Crocraft & Hambler’s 1989 paper was one of the first in which serious researchers admitted that they’d spent time watching big spiders and little frogs.1
I’d say more about C. & H.’s research, but it’s on a resource that protects erudite missives from prying eyes such as mine. If I was a sure-fire accredited academic, or affiliated with a proper institution — but I’m not.
So I looked at the paper’s first page, noted that C. & H. were following good research protocols, and that was about it.
From what I’ve found — or, rather, haven’t found — I figure Naish is right. Even now, there’s a noteworthy lack of journal-level published research on the topic. Or maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places, and that’s yet another topic.
At any rate, I learned that the dotted humming frog is Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata.
Tarantulas are Theraphosids. Except for the tarantulas in Europe: that sort are also called wolf spiders. Theraphosids are a family of spiders: “family” in the taxonomic sense: a rank between order and genus.
Theraphosids are Theraphosidae, by the way: a tomayto, tomahto distinction.
I’m pretty sure that all Theraphosids are tarantulas. However, I ran into a fair number of dicey and ‘we need more citations for verification’ resources. So maybe some of the 1,041 species in 156 genera of Theraphosids aren’t tarantulas.
Anyway, Xenesthis immanis (Colombian lesser black tarantula) (allegedly) eats birds: hence their “bird spider” reputation. This spider protects dotted humming frogs while the frogs protect the spider’s eggs.
Odds are, these bird spiders do the same with Hamptophryne boliviana. H. b. is the Bolivian bleating frog or Amazon sheep frog when it’s at home.
I gather that the tarantulas use their sense of smell to identify the frog as an assistant, not an entree.
That makes sense, since their senses of smell and touch are better than their vision.
But tarantulas that live in trees apparently have better vision than their ground dwelling counterparts. Which, again, makes sense.
I’m guessing that some tarantulas eat frogs, but haven’t confirmed it. And, according to the Chicago Herpetological Society, some frogs eat tarantulas.
Cocroft and Hambler’s 1989 paper called the tarantula-frog relationship “commensal”, where one species benefits while the other doesn’t.
Given that it’s looking like the frog gets a bodyguard while the spider gets an egg-protector, I’m guessing that we’re looking at mutualism. That’s where two species interact, and both benefit.2
Tarantula Research
I got the impression that most tarantula research is fairly recent: picking up after that 1989 paper. Maybe I missed results of earlier studies. Or maybe they haven’t been digitized yet.
On the other hand, maybe it took 34 years for herpetologists to get over Jack Arnold’s 1955 cinematic feature, “Tarantula!”
“More terrifying … a creeping crawling monster whose towering fury no one can escape!” (1955)
Although Universal Pictures’ “Tarantula!” (1955) came out between “Them!” (1954) and “Beginning of the End” (1957), this creature feature’s featured creature isn’t a giant atomic rampaging arthropod.
Arthropod, yes. Giant, yes. Atomic, no.
Well, not quite.
Seems that a mad scientist benevolent professor, seeking to end world hunger, used something radioactive to create a magic growth elixir artificial super-nutrient.
Then two chaps working with the professor, a colleague and an assistant, decide that trying the super-nutrient on themselves was a dandy idea. Result: two dead bodies, an incinerated lab and a broken tarantula tank.3
Now, I can see growing oversize rabbits, white rats, and hamsters. Those are critters that aren’t all that different from contemporary livestock. But a tarantula? Yes, we can eat them: but I’m guessing that they’re not on most folks’ regular diet.
Where was I? Monster movies. Giant atomic grasshoppers — That’s “Beginning of the End”, a — remarkable film, and I’ll leave it at that.
“…But the worst one it seems, haunting all of my dreams Was the cockroach that ate Cincinnati!…” (“The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati“, Rose and the Arrangement (1973) via LyricsLrc)
“Vox Populi…” One Phrase, Two or more Viewpoints
I haven’t confirmed this, but I’m pretty sure that hormones, growth and otherwise, were scary new scientific stuff in the 1950s; and had been for decades.
And, being relatively new knowledge, were on at least a few “tampering with things man was not supposed to know” lists.
Strange. I don’t recall hearing that line in the plethora of ‘mad scientist’ movies. Despite the things being weekday-afternoon-television staples during my youth.
And that’s yet again another topic.
And if that “are you satisfied…” panel from a Girl Genius short story looks familiar: it’s one of my favorite bits of nonsense, one I use last week.
As for how many folks have blind panic as their default response to new ideas: I like to think that a sizable fraction of vox populi (voice of the people) aren’t quite that skittish. Then I see headlines in my news feed, and that’s still more topics.
That’s one reason I’m more inclined to agree with Alcuin of York and Fulton J. Sheen — and see the Whig take on vox populi4 as pleasantly optimistic. At best.
“Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.” (translation number one) — “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.” (translation number two) — “We should not listen to those who like to affirm that the voice of the people is the voice of God, for the tumult of the masses is truly close to madness.” (Alcuin of York; Works, Epistle 127 to Charlemagne (800) via Wikiquote)
“Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong.” (Fulton J. Sheen‘ Life Is Worth Living (1951-1957), program 19. via Wikiquote)
Which doesn’t make me anti-democracy or convinced that my opinions are always right. And that’s — you guessed it — a whole mess of other topics.
Special Effects and Speculation
That is one big spider. “Tarantula!” (1955)
I can’t justify paying to see “Tarantula!” again, but might watch it if it was ‘free with this streaming service’.
The story line, as I remember it, was in the top 50% for creature features of the day; and the special effects were pretty good, maybe top 20%. I’d qualify that by saying “for 1955”, but my hat’s off to anyone who remembers that things cast shadows.
It’s not obvious in this frame from the film, but the uber-tarantula’s shadow placed the critter on the landscape.
The shot I particularly remember had footage of the (real) tarantula crawling down a hillside superimposed on live-action film. And the movie-monster tarantula’s shadow slid along the hills’ slope.
My guess is that the special-effects folks made a scale model of the real hill.
I also suspect, but can’t prove, that “Tarantula!” encouraged scientists to avoid risking their reputations by paying too much attention to those big, hairy, creepy-crawly spiders. Getting grant money for such research might have been problematic, too.
So: how come I’m devoting this Saturday’s post to frogs and spiders living in harmony?
Harmony, Understanding and Medieval Bestiaries
“When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars… “…Harmony and understanding Sympathy and trust abounding No more falsehoods or derisions Golden living dreams of visions….” (“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”; Medley from “Hair;” James Rado, Gerome Ragni; Galt MacDermot (1967))
I’ve said this before. Often. My teens and the Sixties overlap almost exactly. It was not a boring era. At all.
I was not the craziest of ‘those crazy kids’, but I was convinced that many reforms which got traction then were necessary. And in many cases long overdue.
More than a half-century later, I’m not happy at the way some changes in the status quo turned out. But I still think most were basically good ideas. That’s partly because I saw humanity as “us”, not “my clique and everyone else”.
That view was something I didn’t need to revise when I became a Catholic. I was also delighted to see a definition of “social justice” that made sense. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 360, 1928-1942)
And the Moral of this Spider is —
Medieval bestiaries — that’s a massive warren of rabbit holes I’ll leave for another time — were popular during Europe’s Middle Ages.
Popular among folks who could afford commissioning one, that is. I see them as high-end coffee table books.
That’s why I take pronouncements regarding how bestiaries reflect Christian theology with a grain or two of salt.
That said, I figure that assigning ethical values to critters was as much a part of the culture then as it is now. Comparing someone to a skunk wasn’t possible for Euro-based cultures until we ran into the critters, and I’m wandering off-topic.
Although spiders and frogs were known critters in medieval Europe, the only bestiary-related reference to frogs I found said they were garrulous.
Spiders apparently symbolized betrayal. Or industriousness. I found both assertions, and don’t have time to dig into how common either opinion was.
Taking an Aesop’s Fables approach, and a few minutes of Friday afternoon, I’ll suggest a double-header for entry in Brian of Sauk Centre’s Bestiary.
Brian of Sauk Centre. I like the sound of that. Or I could translate my name, my father’s, and my grandfather’s, and say that my name is Worthy son of Brave-Bear son of Strong-Ruler.5
But my ancestors stopped keeping their names up to date with the current language long ago, which is something else I won’t talk about today.
Now, finally, my not-entirely-arbitrary assigned significance of the Colombian lesser black tarantula and dotted humming frog cooperating.
Even as big spiders and little frogs find strength in harmony, so may we live in peace and unity: valuing our differences.
I don’t expect “spider and frog” rhetoric in next year’s political pandemonium. That’s something I am not looking forward to.
Now I’d better wrap this up with the usual links. Which aren’t as related as they might be:
Something new each Saturday.
Life, the universe and my circumstances permitting. I'm focusing on 'family stories' at the moment. ("A Change of Pace: Family Stories" (11/23/2024))
I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
I live in Minnesota, in America's Central Time Zone. This blog is on UTC/Greenwich time.
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Blog - David Torkington
Spiritual theologian, author and speaker, specializing in prayer, Christian spirituality and mystical theology [the kind that makes sense-BHG]
Vikram, the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander, will, if all goes well, touch down near the Moon’s south pole today: Wednesday, August 23, 2023.
