Time for a few morning links:
- NASA announced yesterday that they have discovered “alien life” in California: a bacteria that is partially composed of (and feeds off of) arsenic, in place of phosphorous — something previously thought impossible — raising the possibility of a “shadow biosphere” here on earth. That sound you just heard is my head exploding.
- “A Yuletide Gift of Kindness“: In 1933, an anonymous benefactor in Canton, Ohio, mailed 150 $5 checks to needy people in town who wrote to him of their predicament. The man’s identity remained a secret for 75 years — until his grandson discovered his grandfather’s stash of letters in 2008 and decided to hunt down the families of the beneficiaries. Get your tissues out for this one.
- Joseph Susanka, who has a great review of Wes Anderson’s films up on the home page this morning, has recently started a series of film and TV columns at Patheos as well. Be sure to check out his offerings every Friday at “Through a Lens, Darkly.”
- Philip Johnson, a seminarian from the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina — my family’s home diocese — is receiving chemotherapy for a brain tumor, and his bishop has called on the diocese to participate in a novena for his healing. It’s half over now, but I’m sure prayers would still be appreciated.
- Via Mental Floss: “Benjamin Franklin once made a list of all the synonyms he could find for ‘drunk.’ He came up with more than 220.” (Scroll down to “The Drinker’s Dictionary.”) I like “fuzl’d” and “nimptopsical” myself.
- Some incredible images from the 2010 National Geographic photography competition. This is one of my favorites:
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