Pope-pourri No. 3

by Ryan

I spent four days on an article that I decided to scrap, so I thought some "pope-pourri" might be useful to freshen things up. (Ba-dum-chhhh...)

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I recently bought my friend Isaac a drink the other evening and, as always, had an interesting conversation. Isaac is a new homeowner, and he bought a fixer-upper with plenty of character. Besides the more obvious task of cleaning the place, some repair and maintenance has been performed to get the house in good shape for moving day. The house has two chimneys, and neither has been used for years (the house itself was abandoned for two years previous to their purchase). When a chimney sweep came out to check the place, he discussed the possibility of a certain species of birds that might live in Isaac's chimney. They love to latch onto stone, and old fireplaces are a perfect alternative. Thankfully, no nests or eggs were found — thus, no birds.

What Isaac was told next is enough to make anyone (with a functioning conscience) cringe: If the birds had eggs in the chimney, and one of the eggs were moved, the fine would be fifteen ... thousand ... dollars.

"And yet, abortion is legal," Isaac's singular comment sucked the air out of my lungs.

Welcome to earth in 2012: where human life is regarded as so much trash, but the life of a bird is sacred. Isaac's (currently) inactive blog is full of great, heady reads. I recommend it highly.

Do these eggs have more value than human life?

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Since my summer reading days are dwindling down, I have been trying to fit in some extra reading lately:

• Heaven, The Heart's Deepest Longing By Peter Kreeft. I am only in the introduction thusfar, but I hope to report back on this one soon.
• Meno by Plato. For those not familiar with the work, it is a typically formatted Platonic dialogue, the subject being "What is virtue?" The reader, Chiquito Crasto (what a name!), provides a fascinating introduction that includes changing philosophical views on virtue, the soul (thought by Socrates to be immortal) and Greek thought in general.
• The Bad Catholic's Guide to Wine, Whiskey and Song by John Zmirak (recipes by Denise Matychowiak). This encyclopedic guide looks at world history, food and drink from a Catholic perspective, and contains many humorous moments from it's primary author John Zmirak: 

We're told that in Ethiopian homes, a hostess traditionally balls up the food for each of her guests and pops it in his mouth. ... How many of us have wished, while serving dinner to various crank friends we've collected like lint balls over the years, that we could interrupt someone's monologue about the Middle East, Vatican II or "the aliens frozen in the cellars of the Vatican" by stuffing their thundering pie holes with a bread roll. ... The next time you find yourself faced with hosting cantankerous cousins, or conspiracy theorists from your charismatic choir, you should announce: "Tonight, we're eating Ethiopian style!'" (pg. 297)

Truly one of the funniest, but more informative, books I have had the pleasure to read. Thanks to Bobby and Gwenny recommending the book! Zmirak is also an occasional columnist for Crisis Magazine.

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Count our household among the many that have been adversely affected by Firefox no longer wishing to play nice with OS 10.4 and below. Many of the links I used for reference are now lost to me, and I am slowly piecing back this collection on Safari. One of the blogs that I was overjoyed to remember is by Edward Feser. If you are wishing to tell Edward Feser that Aristotelian-Thomistic is somehow dead and no longer valid, well, you are probably looking to get schooled. Skeptics read his website at their peril. His most recent topic? Teleology, or the idea that final causes exist in nature. He has also written several books, including Aquinas, which purports to be a primer on Aquinas, and The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism. 

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Cruncher preparing some corn for grilling.

Oude Geuze Boon: nice and dry, but a little too acidic.

Dinner on July 4th, including grilled corn, homemade potato wedges 
and chicken brats.

Found at a toy store in Columbus, Indiana. 
Everyone looks so happy to be in the Coliseum! Yay!