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(From BBC, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.) ("I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect...." ( Professor Richard Lazarus )) A mad scientist's lot is not a happy one. All he wants is to redefine being human: and the next thing you know, he's eating guests at his victory celebration. Doctor Who's The Lazarus Experiment doesn't have much to do with The Devil Bat and The Brain That Wouldn't Die , apart from featuring a mad scientist — and science gone horribly wrong. Some movies, like Fantastic Voyage and Things to Come , present science and technology as useful. But "tampering with thing man was not supposed to know," as Mr. Squibbs put it, keeps the plot going for quite a few; like Altered Species , They Saved Hitler's Brain , and Island of Lost Souls . Reticence, reasonable and otherwise, regarding new ideas isn't new.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Radomir Vrbovsky, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.) (دروازه ایشتار, Ishtar Gate, eighth gate of Babylon's inner city: a reconstruction using original bricks in the Pergamonmuseum , Berlin, Deutschland.) Prophets had their bad days, too — like Habakkuk, from today's first reading ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 4 ): " 1 How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not intervene. "Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. "Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. "For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late." ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 3 ) This was about 26 centuries back, and not a good era in our Lord

I think social justice is a good idea. I'd better explain that. I think acting as if people matter is a good idea: all people, not just the 'right' ones. I'll be talking about "the poor of the land," private property, the universal destination of goods, and a job that's not even close to being done. There's nothing wrong with prosperity, by itself. As 1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5 say, it's love of money that gets us in trouble. Some Saints, like Francis 1 and Claire , both of Assisi, were poor. Others, like Elizabeth of Hungary and Sir Thomas More , were anything but.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists working with ESA's Gaia space observatory published the first part of a three-dimensional sky map this week. It'll be the most comprehensive all-sky survey done so far. Not unexpectedly, this year's 'ET calling' headlines gave way to something slightly more down-to-Earth. We may eventually pick up an artificial signal from the stars: but that burst of radio noise from the direction of HD 164695 was almost certainly due to a clerical error of sorts. It wasn't our first false alarm, and I doubt it will be the last. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Airliners were flown into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon 15 years ago today, killing nearly 3,000 folks whose chief offense had been living in an American city and going to work Tuesday morning. The 19 immediately responsible died with their victims. They were waging Osama bin Laden's religious war against the United States. Osama bin Laden is dead now, and so are a great many others: perpetrators and victims; Christians, Muslims, and folks who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. On top of that, about 1,800,000 folks were stopped last year, while trying to get into Europe. Some may have had ulterior motives; but most were trying to stay alive, fleeing because their former homes had become a war zone. It's the biggest problem of that sort Europe's had since the 1940s. Quite a few folks are upset: partly because most of the refugees hadn't had opportunities to fill out all their paperwork before entering Europe. More at A

Mother Teresa of Kolkata /Calcutta gets canonized today. Here's how she described herself: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." (" Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), ," vatican.va ) She established the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 and died in 1997, but the Missionaries of Charity are still around: giving “ wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor ." Their facilities don't look much like Mayo Clinic here in Minnesota, or Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand; and that's another topic. One of these days I'll probably ramble on about Saints, miracles, and canonization. But today I'll say that a Saint is someone recognized by the Church as someone who practiced heroic virtue and is currently dead, and leave it at that. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828 , and s

I think the universe is billions, not thousands, of years old; Earth isn't flat; Adam and Eve aren't German; poetry isn't science; and thinking is not a sin. If you've been reading my posts, you know why being a Christian doesn't interfere with my interest in science. Feel free to skip the rest of this post. It's mostly about reading the Bible, the universe, and getting a grip. I'll be back next Friday, 1 most likely talking about Proxima Centauri b , a planet orbiting the next star over from ours: in Proxima's habitable zone. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I like being an American, most of the time. I know that my country is far from perfect, but I'd rather be here than anywhere else on Earth. Living in Sauk Centre, a smallish central Minnesota town, probably helps. I really like it here. But it's no Brigadoon , unchanged and unaffected by the outside world.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

'Genetics news' caught my eye this week. DNA from barley that's been sitting in a cave for six millennia is helping scientists learn about agriculture's origins. A fits-in-your-hand Biomolecule Sequencer is at the International Space Station. If it works, folks up there won't have to send samples down for analysis. Finally, the world's first farmers were an unexpectedly diverse lot.... ...Science? In a "religion" blog??... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The BEAM Bigelow Aerospace habitat module, will be launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) today: if all goes well. BEAM is packed in the Dragon spacecraft's pressurized section. This cargo run also carries supplies for the ISS crew, and for several dozen of the roughly 250 experiments planned for Expeditions 47 and 48. ( SpaceX press kit ) After getting attached to the ISS and inflated, BEAM will mostly just sit there for at least two years: empty except when someone in the ISS takes samples and swaps out radiation sensors. I think that's a good idea, since BEAM is testing technology for Bigelow Aerospace rental properties in low Earth orbit. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From USCCB, used w/o permission.) Depending on whether or not folks are going through RCIA, we could be hearing either Exodus 3:1 - 8a , 13 - 15 ; 1 Corinthians 10:1 - 6 , 10 - 12 ; and Luke 13:1 - 9 — or Exodus 17:3 - 7 ; Romans 5:1 - 2 , 5 - 8 ; and John 4:5 - 42 during Mass today.... ...Today's RCIA goes back to 1972, "as part of the liturgical renewal mandated by Vatican II." 1 Before that we'd been using a Rite of Baptism introduced in 1614: which was just baptism. I suppose some folks are upset that we changed something that'd been around since the year Pocahontas married John Rolfe and the Siege of Osaka began. Tokugawa Ieyasu became the next shogun, and yes: there are worse things than American presidential elections. My opinion. By the way — if this post seems a bit more scattershot than usual, you're quite right.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

We've been learning quite a bit about humanity's family history recently: thanks partly to our increasingly-detailed knowledge of DNA and the human genome . I'll be taking a look at what scientists are learning about Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxons, and headless skeletons.... ...I'll also indulge in an uncharacteristically-terse (for me) explanation of what science is doing in a 'religious' blog.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(Our Lady of Angels, Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Saturday afternoon. (January 2, 2015)) Statues of Caspar , Melchior , and Balthazar started out across from the nativity scene in our parish church. They were lurking by the poinsettias during Friday's Mass — the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God — and no, Catholics do not worship Mary. We're not supposed to, anyway. 1 Getting back to the statues, they were in place at the nativity scene when I stopped by with a camera Saturday afternoon. Two look like they're kneeling to the Baby Jesus, the third is bowing slightly. But Friday they were in front of the altar, by the poinsettias you see in that top photo. Two of them seemed to be crouching behind poinsettia leaves; with the third several paces back, leaning out from behind a plant. It looked like they might be getting ready to yell "surprise!"... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Silar, Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Nativity scene at the Christ the King Church in Sanok , Poland, 2010.) Shepherding is a comparatively new occupation, compared to hunting and knapping . The earliest evidence we've found so far puts the first shepherds north of Sargon 's Akkadian Empire , where the Hittite Kingdom was, a dozen or so centuries later. I've mentioned them before. ( August 21, 2015 ; October 16, 2015 ) That was about the time someone carved a bit of siltstone into the Narmer Palette , and folks started building Stonehenge ; and that's another topic. Around the time Emperor Ping died, leaving Wang Mang in charge — he was either a great reformer or conniving scoundrel, depending on who you read, and that's yet another topic — the Roman Emperor ordered an empire-wide census. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Today's first Bible reading doesn't include the last part of Micah 5:4.... ...I'm guessing that's because we see these verses mostly as they relate to our Lord's birth, about seven centuries later. Folks in Micah's day had more immediate concerns: " 3 he shall be peace. If Assyria invades our country and treads upon our land, We shall raise against it seven shepherds, eight men of royal rank; " 4 And they shall tend the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword; And we shall be delivered from Assyria, if it invades our land and treads upon our borders. " ( Micah 5:4 - 5 ) Micah lived around Isaiah 's time, a bit over 27 centuries back. Assyria's leaders were trying to unite the (western) world into a single empire, and succeeding: for the moment.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

" The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize.... " (" New Evangelization ," USCCB 1 ) In a way, the "new" evangelization isn't new. Matthew 28:19 means the same thing now that it did two millennia ago. But it isn't the first, or the 11th, century any more. We're in the 21st, and the world is changing. This isn't a new situation: " ...the world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against him. They would raze his Church to the ground.... No, my sisters, this is no time to treat with God for things of little importance.... " (Camino de perfección, 1, 5; St. Teresa of Avila; quoted by Benedict XVI on July 16, 2012) 1 ) St. Teresa of Avila wrote Camino de perfección

We're years away from safe pig-to-human organ transplants: but scientists using CRISPR gene editing tech are working toward that goal. Other scientists are discovering a chapter of humanity's family history: Eurasian immigrants returning to Africa, when the Shang dynasty and Egyptian Empire collapsed. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I was surprised and flattered when two tourists from Thailand asked me if I was Jewish. That was about four decades back, at Grand Canyon National Park, near the visitor center. I'd brought a big topographic map of that massive gulch, spreading it out at intervals to see what I was looking at, and taking photos. That's not mine, by the way: it's from Tom Bernard Anyz . I think the Thai tourists had noticed that I had a full beard and never took my cap off. Quite a few gentiles in America wore caps indoors and out at the time, and still do: but not many American men grow a 'haven't shaved in years' beard. The plain black jacket I wore probably helped, too. I enjoyed being mistaken for one of our Lord's relatives, but my ancestors are about as gentile as it gets, west of the Urals. They probably hadn't even heard of Abraham or Isaac until missionaries arrived, and that's another topic. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I took an unexpected trip to North Dakota Friday, delivering parts my son had been working on: and enjoying a few hours with family there, including our granddaughter. On the way out, I stopped off at Fergus Falls for gas: and discovered that Debbie's Home Style Kitchen isn't there any more. That's what it looked like, back in 2010. I found a partial explanation on a Fargo, North Dakota, station's website.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists are looking, literally, at a newly-discovered exoplanet, 51 Eridani b. It's less than 100 light-years away, about as far from its star as the gas giants in the Solar System: and very young, only around 20,000,000 years old. Studying 51 Eridani b should help scientists understand how our Solar System formed. HD 219134b is much closer: a little over 21 light-years away, in the constellation Cassiopeia. It's a rocky world, like Earth; but larger, and blistering hot. It's also the closest transiting exoplanet we've found so far. This is a big deal, at least for scientists who study planets.... ...Whether you know why I'm not offended by God's design choices or not, feel free to skip ahead to "An Infant Version of Jupiter" ; check out xkcd.com , and/or mainstream comics at gocomics.com ; or do something completely different.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .