Tag Archives: getting a grip

Pax Romana, Caligula: Fiend, Monster, or Baddie?

Caligula is currently famous, or infamous, for being a stark-raving-mad monster with no redeeming qualities. Although scholars have been acknowledging that we don’t actually know much about him. I’m not about to try rehabilitating Caligula’s image. But I’ve got suspicions … Continue reading

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JWST: Names, Claims and Attitudes

NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) December 25, 2021. By July of 2022, the JWST had settled into position at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point: about 1,500,000 kilometers, 930,000 miles from Earth. Then, after deploying its heat shields … Continue reading

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Climate, Neighbors, Bogeymen and Responsibility

Last weekend I started re-reading “Laudato si’, on care for our common home,” AKA the “environmental encyclical” and the “Green Encyclical,” by Pope Francis. Calling the 2015 encyclical “green” and “environmental” isn’t mere marketing. But there’s more to “Laudato si’” … Continue reading

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My Church in Sauk Centre, Minnesota: Vandalized

First, the good news. As far as I know, nobody got hurt during last weekend’s incident. That much I could tell from what wasn’t in a metro area station’s news item. “Charges: ‘Very intoxicated’ man admits to vandalism at Sauk … Continue reading

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Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus,” Freedom, Censorship and Speculation

Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Sir Francis Bacon and Queen Elizabeth I all lived in England during the late 1500s. An odd lot of history and literature buffs have said that Marlowe, Bacon or someone else wrote Shakespeare’s plays. I suspect … Continue reading

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