7 Quick Takes Friday (set #47)

7 Quick Takes Friday

This week: A stunning, beautiful visualization of life from conception to birth. Fr. Barron on just being a good person. Giving, why? New York’s ten year battle against “Choose Life” license plates (they are “offensive”). Milton Friedman on capitalism, more relevant than ever. Holy Smoke. Andrew Klavan’s take on the media and Occupy Wall Street.

— 1 —

Alexander Tsiaras is Associate Professor of Medicine and Chief of Scientific Visualization at Yale. In the course of his work for NASA on virtual surgery, he produced this stunning visualization of a baby from conception to birth (also the name of his book):

Spotted by Marcel

— 2 —

Faith is at its essence being good, right? This logic sounds correct to many, including many Catholics. Father Barron disagrees:

To place ungrounded ethics above doctrine amounts to accepting God on your own terms. It is a fundamental disconnect. Pray for the conversion of such people while they still have time.

— 3 —

A brief, powerful refresher course on why we give:

Spotted by Marcel

— 4 —

Ny Choose Life

For TEN YEARS New York has successfully denied a “Choose Life” specialty license plate design, finding it to be “offensive.” Finally, a federal court has ordered the state to approve them. New York, the state in favor of unnatural unions and in opposition to life.

— 5 —

In 1979, world renown economist, statistician, author, academic and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Milton Friedman appeared on the Phil Donahue show. YouTube has many superb excerpts. Here is one clip where Friedman explains why capitalism is superior to everything else:

Spotted by Matt Cassens

— 6 —

I wrote recently about the body, including how remains must be cared for. Scattering ashes, turning them into jewelry and the like is not allowed. Add to this list another non-option: Holy Smoke, an Alabama company that will turn your loved one into shotgun shells. I am not making this up.

— 7 —

I confess, I love Andrew Klavan videos. Here is his take on the media and their fondness for the Occupy Wall Street protest:


Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!


Comments

  1. #1: i can send you pictures of what a baby looks like at 27-29 weeks. they’re a bit scary though if you can’t handle tubes and wires.

    #6: i’ve actually heard of “holy smoke”.

    personally, i’m in favor of scattering if it’s in a set location. my ashes will hopefully be scattered or buried in logborough inlet, british columbia. it’s my happy place and where i go when i’m dealing with nasty medical procedures. it’s also a place where i feel like i really experienced the amazing majesty and power of God and it’s where i want to go. i do understand your point on treating the remains of the body respectfully and i feel like what i would be doing is returning to a place where my faith was kindled, even if i didn’t know it at the time.

  2. That TED video was very interesting, especially from the perspective of one set to give birth in less than four weeks. :)

  3. I always enjoy your Quick Takes. Well done again!

  4. #2: I really enjoyed the Fr. Barron interview, thanks! It’s so refreshing to hear an intelligent rebuttal to the widespread notion that “being a good person” matters but not religious/moral beliefs.

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