I went to a seminar on Dante. I could just post — If you get a chance to listen to Dr. William Cook on Dante you probably should. - Or I could share a bit of what he said. Dr. Cook started by explaining that for Dante Comedy and Tragedy had very specific meanings. In [...]
Dr. John Aloysius O’Keefe, Catholic scientist
Once upon a time … that’s how I’ve begun to think about Dr. John Aloysius O’Keefe III, and his career as an astrophysicist. I have stories about him in my head that are quite clearly mixed up. He went to Harvard as an undergraduate and tangled with the head of the Astronomy Department there, as [...]
Mission creep, aka random book commentary
I’ve been out of town for a week, which means among other things that I did a lot of reading on the plane, and in the airport waiting, and at other moments.Without actually planning this, I ended up reading three books set in the late 1800’s. The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt [...]
A little Dante for refreshment
I’m hoping to go to a seminar on Dante next Saturday so I floated around on the web looking for something entertaining, in Dante land. I landed in Canto 8 in Purgatorio in a different translation from those I’m most familiar with. Dante is still in the ante-Purgatory, discussing his journey and why he still [...]
Last Sunday’s reading…
I read a article with a different take on Sunday’s reading, where Jesus cures a leper. In this story the leper says to Jesus, “You can cure me if you will.” Jesus says, “I do will.” He cures the leper and, sternly, says not to tell anyone but to go show himself to the priest. [...]