1,669 research outputs found
Captain Thomas K. Mattingly presents Superintendent Gen. Sam S. Walker with Space Shuttle cargo items, May 1983.
No full textCaptain Thomas K. Mattingly presents Superintendent Gen. Sam S. Walker with the VMI banner and shako shield which were part of the cargo on the Space Shuttle Columbia II, May 7, 1983.Folder contains additional photo
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textJeremiah presents the image of a potter at the wheel in today's first reading. In my imagination the potter's workroom is filled with sunlight. His foot pumps the wheel in a steady rhythm. He hums a little as he shapes and reshapes the clay. It's a peaceful, meditative image. And yet, my first thought after that was, "It's not usually fun to be the clay."|Change is usually uncomfortable, even when we know it will lead to growth. It is uncomfortable because we, the clay, don't know exactly what the potter is making of us. We experience being squeezed and pressed, and we react. We can't see what we look like at most stages. Sometimes, we think we've figured it out and found a comfortable shape – and then the potter continues his work!|It can be just as difficult as it is important for us, as the clay, to trust that the potter has something beautiful in mind for us. The psalm says, "Blessed are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD, their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them." As far as potters go, the Creator of Everything is the most trustworthy and capable of shaping us. He doesn't just see the clay on the wheel. He sees the whole picture. If we can put our trust and hope in God, even in the midst of uncomfortable or painful change, we are blessed.|In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples how everything will be brought into the Kingdom, like fish in a net. Not just the good, but the bad; not just the righteous, but the wicked, too. The good is kept, the bad is not. I am inclined to read this not as good and bad or righteous and wicked people, but all the parts of ourselves. One of my favorite allegories for this is C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. It is a series of vignettes in which people face the things, big or small, that keep them from receiving the glorious reality of heaven. Or, they choose not to face them, and leave still wrapped up in themselves. Sometimes, the very thing that once separated them is transformed into something wonderful as they "become real." The transformation is often painful, but the clay becomes something beautiful in the potter's hands
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full text"Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,|the ears of the deaf be cleared;|then will the lame leap like a stag,|then the tongue of the mute will sing."|Blind, deaf, lame, and mute. This is how Isaiah, the psalmist, and Matthew the evangelist help us describe life without God. Nearly lifeless, it would seem! All these words imply being cut off in some way, longing for connection. (I am speaking symbolically here. When one avenue of communication is unavailable, we find different ways to connect when it matters.)|If I couldn't see, I may not know where I am in relation to the world, or to others. I may not be able to read facial expressions or body language as part of communicating with someone. I may not be able to share a sight, a vision, with someone else. ("Do you see what I see?" "Well… no.") Light would not touch me through my senses. Figuratively speaking, I may be closed in on myself and my own perceptions, unable to acknowledge the presence of another.|If I couldn't hear, my world may be silent save my own thoughts. I may not be able to understand the tone or inflection of another's words. I may not be able to acknowledge someone trying to reach me, even if they are shouting as loud as they can. Vibrations through the air would not carry the same meaning to me as they would for those who hear. Figuratively, I may not be able to receive the message someone wants to give me.|If I couldn't move, I may be unable to walk with someone. I may observe their experiences, but not share the same experience with them. I may be dependent on others for basic care. I may not be able to express myself through movement. I may not feel free, but rather captive and confined.|If I couldn't speak, I may be unable to share my thoughts and feelings with others. I may not participate in communal cheers or songs. I may feel as though no one acknowledges or values me, since I cannot speak up for myself. I may not be able to respond when asked a question, or when called.|Dark, silent, and still: a world defined by absence, albeit a world in which many of us could finally listen and rest, given our often hectic lives. Isaiah, the psalmist, and Jesus say that with God, our world is defined by presence. Where there was dryness, abundant life! Where there was blindness, light and vision! Where there was deafness, understanding and relationship! Where there was paralysis and captivity, dancing and leaping in freedom! Where there was not even speech, singing in joyful response! Rejoice! Gaudete!|I am glad for James reminding me in the second reading that such joy is worth waiting for. We are still in the midst of Advent, the season of waiting, of preparing in joyful anticipation. The rose vestments today are a reminder of the first rays of dawn. In the meantime, before the sun is up, we are called to "make our hearts firm" in order to walk with God through the desert, and to work with God on the fields that will bear fruit.|Song: Patience, People by John Foley, S
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textI had the privilege of attending a Pilgrimage of Trust with brothers from the Taizé community in St. Louis last May. The brothers facilitate one of these every year, I believe, by working with a community in need of healing for one reason or another. The weekend focused on "heartfelt trust" of one another, of those we considered "the other," and of God. I had previous experience with Taizé prayer and the ecumenical monastic community in France, but it was not until that weekend that I understood how central the charisms of "heartfelt trust" and reconciliation were to Frere Roger, the founder of the Taizé community.|One of the brothers told a story about Frere Roger as the community began. It was a radical idea, a small ecumenical monastic community. There was a group of Germans who wanted to build a monument in France as a symbol of reconciliation after World War II. Frere Roger had already decided to tell them they couldn't build a big monument at Taizé. He didn't want something ostentatious. But when one of the brothers told him, just before he met with the German group, that they had been all over France and everyone had told them "No," Frere Roger immediately said, "But then we must say yes! We must offer the opportunity for reconciliation when the desire is there." So the German group built a large church at Taizé, holding 1500. When he entered the new church, Frere Roger sank to the floor. "This is a disaster," he said. "It's much too big! We will never fill it." A few years later, 6000 people were at Taizé for Easter. "We must provide space for all of them!" Frere Roger said. They knocked out one wall of the church and put up circus tents to cover everyone. The original church has been expanded several times.|It is the theme of trust that resonates with me from the readings today. God tells Israel "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt." The psalmist sings, "Trust in the Lord and do good." Jesus says to the disciples, "Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak(s) but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Walking into the unknown, whether it be Egypt or the villages of Israel, a new place to live, a new job, a new relationship, can be scary. In today's readings (and every day) we are invited to choose heartfelt trust in God anyway
MCNP-POLIMI Evaluation of Time Dependent Coincidence between Detectors for Fissile Metals Vs. Oxide Determination
No full textAstronaut Thomas K. Mattingly presents Superintendent Sam S. Walker with VMI shako shield flown as cargo on the Space Shuttle Columbia II, 1983
No full textCaptain Thomas K. Mattingly presents Superintendent Gen. Sam S. Walker, Class of 1945 with the VMI shako shield which was part of the cargo on the Space Shuttle Columbia II, May 7, 1983.Folder contains additional photo
Lorentz Breaking Effective Field Theory Models for Matter and Gravity: Theory and Observational Constraints
No full textA number of different approaches to quantum gravity are at least partly phenomenologically characterized by their treatment of Lorentz symmetry, in particular whether the symmetry is exact or modified/broken at the smallest scales. For example, string theory generally preserves Lorentz symmetry while analog gravity and Lifshitz models break it at microscopic scales. In models with broken Lorentz symmetry, there are a vast number of constraints on departures from Lorentz invariance that can be established with low-energy experiments by employing the techniques of effective field theory in both the matter and gravitational sectors. We shall review here the low-energy effective field theory approach to Lorentz breaking in these sectors, and present various constraints provided by available observations
Interview with Jonathan Lethem
No full textThe work of Jonathan Lethem could fill a bookshelf. His novels include Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn and, most recently, Chronic City. Lethem has also penned two collections of nonfiction, three collections of short stories, and the graphic novel Omega the Unknown. In 2005 Lethem was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, and in 2011 he will begin his tenure as the Roy E. Disney Professor of Creative Writing at Pomona College.
Lethem recently spoke at Butler University as part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers series, after which he sat down to speak with Booth\u27s Alex Mattingly
Lorentz violation at high energy: Concepts, phenomena and astrophysical constraints
No full textWe consider here the possibility of quantum gravity induced violation of Lorentz symmetry
(LV). Even if suppressed by the inverse Planck mass such LV can be tested by current experiments
and astrophysical observations. We review the effective field theory approach to describing
LV, the issue of naturalness, and many phenomena characteristic of LV. We discuss some of
the current observational bounds on LV, focusing mostly on those from high energy astrophysics
in the QED sector at order E/MPlanck. In this context, we present a number of new results
which include the explicit computation of rates of the most relevant LV processes, the derivation
of a new photon decay constraint, and modification of previous constraints taking proper account of the helicity dependence of the LV parameters implied by effective field theory
- …
