Eric PavlatThis graphic novel from the 1990s has some of the most beautiful artwork ever to grace the field. See, all the pages are painted, resulting in images like this: and this: Created by writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross, the graphic novel is set in the future of the DC universe, when the next … Read more
Often, the problem of deciding what to do depends on how an action is described. For example, people are against killing when it is called “murder,” but they may have other thoughts about it when words such as “just war” or “self-defense” are used. So what controls the way we describe our actions? To clearly … Read more
Micro cap NeoStem, Inc (NBS) has been working in the area of adult stem cells, making notable discoveries and picking up acquisitions along the way. Its business model may have them in the red as of today, but there’s something about the company that has attracted the Vatican’s attention. And money. The Vatican has placed … Read more
Gene Yang is a graphic novelist who has won two Eisner awards (one for the widely-available American Born Chinese) and was nominated for the National Book Award, a first for a graphic novelist. He is also a Catholic and a teacher at a Catholic high school. On his website, he writes, “I’ve always struggled with … Read more
Many of us already know about confirmation bias, the psychological phenomenon that makes people fit incoming data into their own worldview. The same news article, in other words, could make the liberal and the conservative each nod their heads, seeing things in the article that confirm their own biases, but skipping over the facts that … Read more
Here’s part four of “The Treasure of Paradise Island,” a ten-part 1952 serial by Capt. Frank Moss and artist Frank Borth. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. More next week!
Here’s #3 of 10 in the 1952 adventure serial “The Treasure of Paradise Island,” written by Capt. Frank Moss and illustrated by Frank Borth. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest. More next week!
So here we are, the day we started referring to “Former president Hosni Mubarak,” and I can’t help feeling, with my 20/20 hindsight, that maybe our own president didn’t play things all so well. Truthfully, I haven’t felt very confident in our foreign policy throughout this entire struggle. I was frankly surprised at the loudly … Read more
Here’s part 2 of Frank Moss & Frank Borth’s ten-part serial from 1952, “The Treasure of Paradise Island.” As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact. It’s interesting… I like the plot, and each individual panel is very nicely drawn (if occasionally a tad stiff), but … Read more
After a few weeks of recommendations (Rose is Rose, Manga Bible Stories, and ArmorQuest: Genesis), it’s time to get back to a serial. Among Treasure Chest’s best serialists was Frank Borth (whose stories with Uncle Harry and the monkey we followed throughout much of 2010). Today, we start a ten-part adventure of his from 1952: … Read more
This graphic novel is one of the best I’ve ever read. Firmly in the Lewis/Tolkien tradition, it posits an odd world full of anachronisms–like armored knights using swords and wearing jet boots. Though no individual panel is especially beautiful, the artist’s overall storytelling skills–how he moves the reader from one moment to another–are as good … Read more
My kids really love the full-color Manga Messiah series. There’s the original book; about the life of Jesus; Manga Metamorphosis (about Acts of the Apostles); Manga Mutiny (about Genesis and Exodus); and Manga Melech (from Joshua to King David). They’re all on Amazon.com for about $10 each. My kids read and re-read these to the … Read more
Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s medical license has been revoked after it was revealed that he had falsified all twelve of the medical histories in his 1998 study. CNN reports: “It’s one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors,” Fiona Godlee, BMJ’s … Read more
I was just told about www.spokeo.com, a new “white pages” service costing (I believe) $2.95 annually. For free, I accessed my own name, approx. age, address, map location, house photo, phone number, and family members’ names (two of them, anyway), as well as how long I’ve lived in my house. If I were to pay the … Read more
Like the comic, I still think of Epiphany as January 6. And yes, to me, the words “Ascension” and “Thursday” go together. (Pretty funny, given that not only was I born after Vatican II, but I didn’t even come into the Church until 1996!) I was just marveling earlier today that I perhaps am a … Read more
According to IBM, these technologies will be available in 2015: Batteries could recharge with air contact, leapfrogging lithium-ion for heavy metals. Other batteries, such as those in laptops, could be recharged via kinetic energy. Holographic video chat would be available on cell phones. Personalized “adaptive traffic systems” would lay out routes that avoid traffic in … Read more
I don’t know if you’ve ever run into Rose Is Rose, but it’s a fairly long-running strip about a married couple (with a delightful, romantic relationship), their young son, and often his guardian angel. Imaging–a funny strip that doesn’t descend into cynicism and sarcasm! Amazon.com has lots of collections of the strip, and our family … Read more
This is the story of the rebirth of St. Jerome Catholic School as St. Jerome Catholic Classical School. St. Jerome’s parish, located in Hyattsvile, Maryland, is an unusual case to begin with: Last year, it had 50 percent more baptisms than funerals, and it has four men currently in formation for the priesthood. But the … Read more
I understand that technology can be a trap into which we fall. That said, this video, “Future applications of graphene,” is really amazing. [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbS-YyvCl4 635×355] Graphene, as some of you know, is a monolayer of carbon molecules: transparent, stronger than steel, and amazingly conductive. Incredibly neat stuff!! Having a single device be a watch, phone, … Read more
The title, Zombie Jesus, is misleading, even if deliberately provocative: Jesus is never portrayed as a zombie in this comic. Is it Biblical? Maybe. Well, loosely. Okay, hanging by a thread, fine. Matthew 27: 51b-54 does describe some of the dead being raised from their tombs and appearing to the people in Jerusalem, causing the … Read more