Potpourri

Memorial of St. Martin I

I will be out the next few days acting as chaperone for Troglotyke #1's class at "environmental" camp at YMCA Camp St. Croix. I will return late Friday. In the mean time, here is a medley of links for your enjoyment. Pax.

Counter attacks are underway in Hawaii and Australia. When and where will the forces of Amphibia strike next?

I have compared the epicycles of Ptolemaic orbits to the application of complexity theory to Darwinism as part of the reason why incremental alternatives, like intelligent design, ought to be investigated and discussed rationally, without the polemical hand-wringing of orthodox secularists getting in the way of the polemical hand-wringing of strident creationists. Sodakmonk goes one further by using an historical example of competing schools of psychology.

The Troglodyte took the ecumenical step yesterday of joining the Baptist-dominated Christian Top 1000 web directory. Where two, or more, are gathered in His name... One site I've already found worth checking out is that of Hugh Hewitt's cohort, Mark D. Roberts. I'm sure there will be more, so watch the sidebar in coming weeks.

Perhaps the silver lining of the eruption of a Sumatran volcano is that the increased ash and sulphur in the atmosphere should help with that pesky global warming.

There has not been any speculation, nor will there be, posted on The Troglodyte as to whom the next pope will be. George Weigel said in a January speech that he is too uninformed to make a good guess, so I will not bother, despite the fleeting entertainment value. There will be a post, I hope, before the conclave begins, outlining some of the qualities I think the pope(s) of the next few years will need, as well as those that those of the next 50 years will need (yes, 50 years). Once placed into the ether, with prayer and fasting, I will leave it to the Holy Spirit to guide this conclave. But if you want to play along at home, I recommend, among others, Papabile, The Pope Blog (now in its "conclave edition"), and Cardinal Rating.com.

FEE asks legitimately in its April 12 daily brief, "Are we helping the people of Sudan—or lining the pockets of their government officials?" about recent pledges of now more than $4 billion (WaPo FRR, I think).

Last, but certainly not least... Please keep those prayers going and going and going...