Thursday, July 27, 2006

Links for Thought

* "The Curt Jester" points to a MadTV clip on Jesus and the Terminator.

* Two interesting things by way of farkleberries, which is to internet linkery as Chicago is to food, namely, a great place for finding it:

Star Wars in ASCIImation

The Case Against Sufjan Stevens, which is rather too vague to be taken entirely seriously as a bit of musical criticism, but does make the legitimate point that Stevens might be better off learning from local music traditions rather than simply concept-hunting.

* This article discusses the three types of stem cell sources that the Catholic Church supports using (adult organs, miscarried or even aborted fetuses, and pregnancy matter). The only source it opposes gathering stem cells from is human embryos, when doing so involves their destruction. The position is fairly common among opponents of embryonic stem cell research. While this position would never and perhaps will never satisfy advocates of embryonic stem cell research, it's worth reminding ourselves at times that this is not an argument about the legitimacy of stem cell research but about the use of a particular type of stem cell (embryonic) gathered from a particular source (viable embryos) to the extent that the means of gathering it is destructive of that source. (H/T: The Western Confucian)

* An interesting discussion of Calvin's attitude to the Medieval potentia absoluta / potentia ordinata distinction at "Societas Christiana".