‘Comets and Heliocentricity: A Rough Guide’

More from the Renaissance Mathematicus’ ‘Rough Guide’ series: In the standard mythologised history of astronomy of the Early Modern Period comets are only mentioned once. We get told, in classical hagiographical manner, how Tycho Brahe observed the great comet of 1577 and thus smashed the crystalline spheres of Aristotelian cosmology freeing the way for the …

What is Spiritual Accompaniment?

(I am continuing to rescue some materials from the defunct Loyola Hall site — this is a sketch of the kind of spiritual accompaniment offered in the contemplative mode) We define Christian spiritual direction as help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him …

Vacations and Chronic Illness

Toni Bernhard tells us what it is like to take a vacation while chronically ill. In fact, the exertion it took to pack for Dillon Beach (food, clothes, medications, bed paraphernalia, such as my collection of pillows), followed by riding in the car and, once there, unpacking everything, left me “cooked,” as we often call …

‘Us Too it Endears’

Felix Randal the farrier, O is he dead then? my duty all ended, Who have watched his mould of man, big-boned and hardy-handsome Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it, and some Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended? Sickness broke him. Impatient, he cursed at first, but mended Being anointed and all; …

‘Planetary Tables and Heliocentricity: A Rough Guide’

This time the Renaissance Mathematicus digs into the data. Since it emerged sometime in the middle of the first millennium BCE the principal function of mathematical astronomy was to provide the most accurate possible predictions of the future positions of the main celestial bodies. This information was contained in the form of tables calculated with …

Silence is More Painful for Men than Women

The title of this article from the Science of Us says it all: Men Would Rather Give Themselves Electric Shocks Than Sit Alone With Their Thoughts. Most people don’t think it’s fun to sit alone with nothing to do but think — it’s part of the reason for obsessive phone-checking during idle moments. A new …