Dec 31, 2009

If you really read the fairy-tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other – the idea that peace and happiness can only exist on some condition. This idea, which is the core of ethics, is the core of the nursery-tales. The whole happiness of fairyland hangs upon a thread, upon one thread...

Dec 30, 2009

Our secret vulnerability revealed!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dec 28, 2009

Scientists and technologists have the same uneasy status in our society as the Jedi in the Galactic Republic. They are scorned by the cultural left and the cultural right, and young people avoid science and math classes in hordes. The tedious particulars of keeping ourselves alive, comfortable and free are being taken offline to countries where people are happy to sweat the details, as long as we have some foreign exchange left to send their way...

Dec 24, 2009

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Dec 22, 2009

Disclaimer: Picture may be worth less than 1,000 words.
 
 
 
 
 

Dec 20, 2009

In some ways, [Justinian I] is the most interesting of them all, but also the most contradictory. Here is a Roman emperor who never set foot in Italy; a great conqueror – the greatest since Julius Caesar – who never led troops in the field; the most powerful man in the world, and one of its most paranoid; the richest and one of the most abstemious - he appears to have lived largely on greens and lemon juice.

Dec 17, 2009

His fists flexed closed as he said, "I don’t want a God you can hold in two hands. I don’t want a God covered in afterbirth... I want pomp, and God-type things. I want thunder and rain and lightning, well-placed too."
 

Dec 17, 2009

"I am a Christian from an Orthodox country — the country of Romania. Having been in prison for fourteen years for my faith, it is now my missionary work to help persecuted Christians in Communist countries."

Dec 16, 2009

What shall we offer Thee, O Christ, Who for our sakes hast appeared on the earth as a man? Every creature which Thou hast made offers Thee thanks. The angels offer Thee a song; the heavens, their star; the wise men, their gifts; the shepherds, their wonder; the earth, its cave; the wilderness; the manger; and we offer Thee a virgin mother. O Pre-eternal God, have mercy on us!

Dec 16, 2009

Father Daniel Syosyev, the recently murdered Moscow missionary priest, said something very interesting in an interview shortly before his death. He was explaining why Christians should go to Church on Sunday, and his explanation reveals something of what the Church is.