Silly Papist

The question “Why is the Sky Blue?” is probably the most asked science question by kids in the world. The first steps to answering this question occurred when Sir Isaac Newton split ordinary white light down into its constituent colors ---

The final piece of the puzzle as to why the sky was blue was put in place by John Tyndall in 1859. He discovered that if you have a clear liquid and mix in some very small molecules the blue portions of the white light are scattered more than any other. You can test this at home with some water in a bottle and adding either milk or a small amount of soap. The image below replicates this experiment – there are two bottles filled with water, the one on the right has just ordinary tap water in it, the bottle on the left has tap water and a small amount of soapy water mixed in. As you can see they both have the same white beam passing through them, yet the one with the soapy molecules in it clearly has a more blue color to it. This is The Tyndall Effect in operation.

It is the Tyndall Effect that explains why the sky is blue. the Tyndall Effect can also be called Rayleigh Scattering, as it was examined more extensively by Lord Rayleigh in the years following Tyndall’s discovery.

So now that we know how molecules can change the color of light, we then need to transfer the experiment above with Earths atmosphere and why our sky is blue -

As sunlight passes through our atmosphere it interacts with the molecules of Oxygen and Nitrogen in the atmosphere. These two elements scatter the blue light in all directions in a similar way to which the light was scattered by the soapy water in the image above.

Fact #1: Every abortion kills an innocent human being. Every new life begins at conception. This is an irrefutable fact of biology. It is true for animals and true for humans. When considered alongside the law of biogenesis – that every species reproduces after its own kind – we can draw only one conclusion in regard to abortion: every single abortion ends the life of an innocent human being.

Fact #2: Every human being is a person. Personhood is properly defined by membership in the human species, not by stage of development within that species. A living being's designation to a species is determined not by the stage of development but by the sum total of its biological characteristics.

Fact #3: Beginning at conception, every pregnancy involves two or more bodies. No matter how you spin it, women don't have four arms and four legs when they're pregnant. Those extra appendages belong to the tiny human being(s) living inside of them. At no point in pregnancy is the developing embryo or fetus simply a part of the mother's body.

Fact #4: It is just, reasonable, and necessary for society to outlaw certain choices. Any civilized society restricts the individual's freedom to choose whenever that choice would harm an innocent person. Therefore, it is impossible to justify abortion by simply arguing that women should be "free to choose."

Fact #5: The right to not be killed supersedes the right to not be pregnant. The comparison between a baby's rights and a mother's rights is unequal. What is at stake in abortion is the mother's lifestyle, as opposed to the baby's life. Therefore, it is reasonable for society to expect an adult to live temporarily with an inconvenience if the only alternative is killing a child.

Fact #6: Poverty, rape, disability, or “unwantedness” do not morally justify abortion. There are all sorts of circumstances that people point to as justification for their support of abortion. Since none of these circumstances are sufficient to justify the killing of human beings after birth, they're not sufficient to justify the killing of human beings before birth.

Fact #7: The differences between embryos and adults are differences of degree not of kind. Like toddler and adolescent, the terms “embryo” and “fetus” do not refer to nonhumans but to humans at particular stages of development. Human beings inside the womb are smaller, less developed, and more dependent than human beings outside the womb. These are differences of degree, not differences of kind. We can all point to other people who are bigger, stronger, smarter, or less dependent than we are, but that doesn't make our life any less valuable or any less deserving of protection.

Fact #8: Less than 1% of all abortions are performed to save the life of the mother. It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life. Of course, when two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. However, abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue. Since every abortion kills an innocent human being, it is morally abhorrent to use the rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother as justification for the millions of on demand "convenience" abortions.

Fact #9: To be only "personally pro-life" is to not be pro-life at all. If abortion doesn't kill children, why would someone be opposed to it? If it does kill children, why would someone defend another's right to do it? Being personally against abortion but favoring another's right to abortion is self-contradictory and morally baffling.

Fact #10: If there is uncertainty about when human life begins, the benefit of the doubt should go to preserving life. It is a scientific fact that life begins at conception. However, if one personally has even a shred of uncertainty about when life begins, then they are still morally obligated to err on the side of life and NOT have an abortion. Why? Because to make a mistake about the exact time when life begins is to kill an innocent human being.

Fact #11: Abortion is more dangerous than childbirth. Not only does every abortion kill an innocent human being in the womb; but abortion is also more dangerous to the mother than if she were to give birth to the child. The evidence overwhelmingly proves that the morbidity and mortality rates of legal abortion are several times higher than that for carrying a pregnancy to term.

Fact #12: Prior to abortion's legalization, 90% of abortions were done by doctors, not by "coat hangers in back alleys." Some justify abortion on the claim that if it is outlawed, women will abort anyway and may die in the process. There are 3 problems with this hypothesis. First, it doesn't address the ethics of abortion. Second, laws against abortion would deter most women from having one. Third, there is no evidence that illegal abortions are more dangerous than legal abortions. Of course, even if the "coat hanger" argument was true (it's not), then it's still morally ridiculous to legalize procedures that kill innocent babies just to make the killing procedures less dangerous to the mother.

Fact #13: The 8 week+ unborn baby feels real physical pain during an abortion. Yes, every abortion kills an innocent human being. Even more alarming is the fact that beginning at the 8th week of development, an unborn baby that is aborted feels pain during the abortion. The baby feels both psychological and real physical, organic pain. Let that sink in. Of course, whether or not abortion is a painful experience to the unborn child being aborted, the child is left no less dead as a result. In talking about the question of fetal pain, we must remember that it ultimately has no bearing on the morality of abortion.

Fact #14: Abortion should be condemned for the same reasons that slavery and genocide are. Networks of killing centers across the globe are eliminating "unwanted, unborn" children at a staggering rate. Were the context not abortion, the world would be outraged. Call it what you want, when an innocent group of human beings is targeted and exterminated by the millions, that is an injustice on par with any of history's most egregious atrocities. At the end of the day, if the unborn are people (and they are), then abortion is not only comparable to past crimes against humanity but is also, by sheer volume, the greatest holocaust of all.

Fact #15: Abortion is not a “women's only” issue. Abortion affects both men and women. Beyond that, abortion is a human issue, not a gender issue. If abortion kills innocent human life (it does), then 

everyone, male and female, should stand against it. One doesn't need to be a young girl to take a position against the sex trafficking of young girls, and one doesn't need to be a woman to take a position against abortion.

Fact #16: Every legal surgical abortion stops a beating heart and terminates measurable brain waves. What do we call it when a person no longer has a heartbeat or brain waves? Death. It's a scientific fact that life begins at conception, but even more obvious; what should we call it when there is a heartbeat and there are brain waves? Life. It is an indisputable fact that each and every legal surgical abortion in America today stops a beating heart and stops already measurable brain waves.

Fact #17: The right to not be killed supersedes the right to privacy. Some defend abortion by claiming that they have a right to privacy. Whether they have an abortion or not is between them and their doctor. Everyone else should stay out of their business. Of course, if abortion kills an innocent human being (it does), then killing done in private is no more acceptable than killing done in public; and the encouragement or assistance of a doctor does not change the nature, consequences, or morality of abortion.

Fact #18: Abortion dis-proportionally targets minority babies. Whatever the intent of the abortion industry may be, by functional standards, abortion is a racist institution. In the United States, black children are aborted at 5 times the rate of white children and Hispanic children don't fare much better. Abortion is the leading cause of death among black Americans. We can debate the racial intent of Planned Parenthood past and present, but we cannot debate the results. Abortion is by no means an equal opportunity killer.

Fact #19: Abortion has become a form of gender-cide, shrinking the global female population at an alarming rate. On top of the fact that every abortion kills an innocent human being, abortion has also become the driving force in eliminating females around the globe. Estimates put the global gender gap somewhere between 100 and 200 million people. Abortion has become the most effective means of sexism ever devised, ridding the world of multitudes of unwanted females.

Fact #20: Laws concerning abortion have significantly influenced whether women choose to have abortions. Some will concede that every abortion kills an innocent human being. They will also concede that society has a right to outlaw choices that harm innocent human beings. But even after conceding those points, some still do not favor more stringent abortion laws because they think that they don't really work - there would still be too many abortions. Historical data, common morality, and basic legal theory prove this line of thinking to be false.

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Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois released a letter concerning the proposed Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. This letter has been sent to priests, deacons and pastoral facilitators in the 131 parishes of the diocese. In his cover message, Bishop Paprocki said: "In light of the urgency and importance of the matter, I ask that my attached letter be read from the pulpit at all Masses this weekend (January 5-6), either incorporated appropriately with the homily or at the announcement time after Communion. Copies may also be reproduced for distribution with the parish bulletin. Your cooperation and prayers will be appreciated."

The Myth: All Popes when elected must sit on the Sedes Stercoraria, a chair with a hole in the centre of the seat, without underwear on, in order to have their genitals touched, to prove that they are a man. This arose after Pope Joan ruled to make sure that the same mistake would not occur again.

In the item above we discussed the Pope Joan myth, the is the first step of disproving the myth of the Sedes Stercoraria. If Joan never existed, the need to prove the elected Pope male also does not exist.

The thrones with holes in it at St John Lateran’s do indeed exist, and were used in the elevation of Pope Pascal II in 1099 (Boureau 1988). In fact, one is still in the Vatican Museums another at the Musée du Louvre. They do indeed have a hole in the seat. However, the reason for the hole is disputed, but as both the seats and their holes predated the Pope Joan story, and indeed Catholicism by centuries, they clearly have nothing to do with a need to check the sex of a pope. It has been speculated that they originally were Roman bidets or imperial birthing stools, which because of their age and imperial links were used in ceremonies by popes intent on highlighting their own imperial claims.

The humanist Jacopo d’Angelo de Scarparia who visited Rome in 1406 for the enthronement of Gregory XII in which the pope sat briefly on two “pierced chairs” at the Lateran, said: “the vulgar tell the insane fable that he is touched to verify that he is indeed a man”

In closing

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I believe I should not underestimate my children. I have high ambitions for their quick, step-by-step growth into maturity. I believe many, if not most, tend to become what we think about, and kids tend to become what their parents expect of them. Even when my children sometimes lets me down and I have to correct them, and try to make them understand that I am not mad, but see this as just a blip along the way. I have no doubt, none whatever, that they'll someday grow into excellent men and women. I’ll be proud of, and confident in them. Always will be.

The Myth: In the middle ages, there was a “Pope Joan,” a woman who hid her gender and rose through the ranks of the Church, became a cardinal and was elected pope. No one knew she was a woman until, during a papal procession through the streets of Rome, she went into labor and gave birth to a child. She and the baby were killed on the spot by the mob, enraged at her imposture. 

But the facts of history show otherwise. The primary proofs that this is all just a fable are these: First, the earliest point that we can trace the legend to is the mid-13th century, but the legend didn't really gain wide currency until the late 14th century. No evidence of any kind exists from the ninth century (when Pope Joan was alleged to have reigned), nor do we see any in the 10th through 12th centuries. None of the annals or acts of the popes that were written between the ninth and 13th centuries (and none after that, either) mention her.

It’s important to remember that even if there had been a female impostor pope, this would just mean that an invalid election had taken place, nothing more. Other invalidly elected claimants to the papal office have come and gone over the centuries, and the fact that a woman made that list would simply mean that a woman made that list. She would not have been pope – no one invalidly elected would be. 

This is probably also a good time to point out that in order to be validly elected as Pope, you must be over the age of reason (generally considered to be 7 years old), you must be male, and you must be baptized.

Don't neglect your wife. She needs what we all need; understanding, affection, gratitude, support, and appreciation. Why wife certainly doesn't get these from our kids because they are small. So if she doesn't get them from me either, then she doesn't get them at all. Dad needs to listen to his wife's opinion, help her out, tell her she's great, hug and kiss her from time to time--all this can go a long way.  And get off your friggin duff and do what needs to be done around the house.