We pulled in the nets and put ’em on ice. Come and get the freshest catches of the day!
The Assumption of Our Lady and Elisabeth of the Trinity – (beginningtopray.blogspot.com)
Anthony Lilles takes a look at soon to be canonized Elizabeth of the Trinity, who believed that the Blessed Mother can help each of our lives become a song of praise to the Lord:
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary challenges this industrialized vision of humanity. It is, in itself, a total surprise for before the resurrection of Christ, the witness of humanity caught up in heaven was the rarest of human experiences. No other woman was ever raised up from this world below before. The fact that a poor, humble and uneducated woman was raised above this world is a sign that humanity is made for heaven, above this world, above the visible, above the produceable, above the consumable, above the measurable, and above even the probable. This “above” is not a spacial reality but a reality of power, essence and beauty. Not the slave of material and visible existence, but above it, the uniqueness of each human person, the unrepeatable splendor of this particular enfleshed soul, precisely as an embodied spirit, is a wonderful wholeness known and desired by God. Here, if we let it, the Assumption of the Mother of God and our Mother in Grace can confirm in the most tender and human way that God is the beginning and end of each human heart, that we are only pilgrims in this world below, that our true homeland awaits us in the dawning of a new heavens and new earth — the likes of which no one has ever fathomed or even remotely conceived.
Truth in Stereotypes – (aeon.co)
Lee Jussim shares a comprehensive study about the accuracy and inaccuracy of some stereotypes as well as dismissal of stereotype relevance by scientists:
These practices created what I call ‘The Myth of Stereotype Inaccuracy’. Famous psychologists declaring stereotypes inaccurate without a citation or evidence meant that anyone could do likewise, creating an illusion that pervasive stereotype inaccuracy was ‘settled science’. Subsequent researchers could declare stereotypes inaccurate and could create the appearance of scientific support by citing articles that also made the claim. Only if one looked for the empirical research underlying such claims did one discover that there was nothing there; just a black hole. ‘But wait!’ you say. ‘Researchers are often defining stereotypes as inaccurate, not declaring them to be empirically inaccurate, and they can define their terms how they choose.’ To which I reply: ‘Are you sure that is the argument you are going to use to defend the viability of “stereotypes are inaccurate”?’ Let’s look at that argument more closely. If all beliefs about groups are stereotypes, and all stereotypes are defined as inaccurate, then all beliefs about groups are inaccurate. It is, however, logically impossible for all beliefs about groups to be inaccurate. This would make it ‘inaccurate’ to believe either that two groups differ or that they do not differ, and both cannot possibly be inaccurate. The idea that ‘all beliefs about groups are stereotypes and all are inaccurate’ can be summarily dismissed as logically incoherent.
Meet the worst ants in the world – (arstechnica.com)
Annalee Newitz shared her home’s fascinating infestation of a South American ant that has made it’s way all over the world, chasing away other species and becoming the dominant ant whereever it can:
These invaders have also developed social behavior that’s distinctly different from their native relatives back in South America. They’ve become adept at living in cities, creating nest networks that weave in and out of human houses and drinking from the water pipes that service their reluctant human neighbors. They’ve also become more peaceful, or at least less warlike. In their native ranges, Argentine ant colonies battle each other at the edges of their territories. In the rest of the world, this behavior is rare. Argentine ants abroad from different colonies treat each other like cousins, fighting very rarely. With city amenities available everywhere and no enemies at the gates, Argentine ants are currently thriving. The Argentine ant’s progress across the globe echoes humanity’s own. Staring at my uninvited house guests had inadvertently drawn me into one of the most fascinating stories of species invasion in recent history.
And today we celebrate...