We’ve joked in the past that Oz is/was determined to turn BEEZHOUSE.com into a Mac User Forum. So, it was quite fortuitous that I stumbled across this little web survey… “How Addicted To Apple Are You”. Now Oz is addicted to nicotine… still… freakin’ junkie… so it should come as little surprise that his addictive tendencies stretch to computing. I’m not expecting to beat him in this contest… he’s Old School as he’ll be more than happy to tell you, again and again. I’m not sure how my score ranks… take the quiz here… and post your results in the comments!

56%How Addicted to Apple Are You?

As readers of the blog will know, here at BEEZHOUSE.com we have taken quite an active interest in matters of religion, more specifically evolution. (For those keeping score, examples can be found here, here, at Idle Thoughts and even over at WDBGTD). Thus, I took a keen interest in an article that appeared this week in L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper. The article was headlined ‘Aliens Are My Brother’ written by Fr. José Gabriel Funes, Director of the Vatican Observatory. Yes, the Vatican has a newspaper (and a website). Yes, the Vatican has an Observatory, and it’s run by none other than a Jesuit priest! And apparently, the Vatican now believes in little green men from distant solar systems.

Funes, appointed by Benedidct XVI in 2006, said that the search for forms of extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God. “How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ’sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation”. Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said. The Bible “is not a science book,” Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most “reasonable” explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter. He did say however, he continues to believe that “God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance”.

That said, as one blogger wrote, if extraterrestrials did in fact exist, they had better not be homosexual, or practice abortion.

Fr. José Gabriel Funes is Director of the Vatican Observatory, which has sites in Rome and in Arizona. Funes obtained his doctorate in Astronomy with the study of the kinematics of the ionized gas in the inner regions of 25 disk galaxies. Funes specializes in extragalactic astronomy. His field of research includes the kinematics and dynamics of disk galaxies, the star formation in the local universe, the relationship between gravitational interaction and galactic activity. I have no idea what any of that means, but it sounds bloody impressive.

Sources: BBC News, Shakesville, Catholic News Agency

To read the full interview/article in English, click here.

With the Olympic torch in Australia, it seems like a good time to post this one. The question: How to design a logo? I mean, after all… it’s the Olympic Games and the pressure is on. Lots of expectation; the need to better previous efforts and all that. Who could forget Sid, Olly and Dickhead, Fatso or that all time favourite, Springy! With all that pressure, the Beijing organisers have come up with this:

How did they come up with this I head you ask? I think I have some idea… (more…)