Michelangelo Buonarroti

He is one of the greatest artists of all time, a man whose name has become synonymous with the word "masterpiece": Michelangelo Buonarroti.

As an artist he was unmatched, the creator of works of sublime beauty that express the full breadth of the human condition. Yet in a world where art flourished only with patronage, Michelangelo was caught between the conflicting powers and whims of the Medici family in Florence, and the Papacy in Rome. Unlike many artists of his time, his genius was recognized.

The idea of commissioning an enormous fresco, the largest ever painted in that century, depicting the Last Judgment, was probably suggested to Clement VII by the traumatic events that were undermining the unity of Christians at the time. After the pope's death, on September 25, 1534, and only two days after Michelangelo's arrival in Rome, his successor, Paul III Farnese confirmed the commission to Michelangelo, and in April 1535 scaffolding was put up in front of the altar wall.

All that had happened in the church in the years that preceded the Judgment, including the Reformation and the Sack of Rome, had a direct influence on the work's conception: painted on the altar wall, the Last Judgment was to represent humanity face to face with salvation.

The Scandal
Even before its official unveiling, the Judgment became the target of violent criticisms of a moral character. Vasari relates that Biagio da Cesena, the Vatican's master of Ceremonies, said that "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns."

Michelangelo was not slow to take his revenge: the poor Biagio was portrayed in hell, in the figure of Minos, "shown with a great serpent curled around his legs, among a heap of devils."

Others accused the painter of heresy. These included Pietro Aretino, who, in a famous letter, even called for the fresco's destruction, the Dominican preacher Ambrogio Politi called Caterino, and Giovanni Andrea Gilio, who drew up a long statement of charges against Michelangelo in his Dialoghi.

But the nudity of the figures worried neither Paul III nor his successor Julius III. It was not until January 1564, and therefore about a month before Michelangelo's death, that the assembly of the Council of Trent took the decision to "amend" the fresco.

The Last Judgment, which Michelangelo finished in 1541 was the largest fresco of the Renaissance, it depicts Judgment Day. Christ, with a clap of thunder, puts into motion the inevitable separation, with the saved ascending on the left side of the painting and the damned descending on the right into a Dantesque hell. As was his custom, Michelangelo portrayed all the figures nude, but prudish draperies were added by another artist (who was dubbed the "breeches-maker") a decade later, as the cultural climate became more conservative. Michelangelo painted his own image in the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew. Although he was also given another painting commission, the decoration of the Pauline Chapel in the 1540s, his main energies were directed toward architecture during this phase of his life.

Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna
In 1538, three years before finishing the Last Judgment, Michelangelo had met Vittoria Colonna, a poetess and highly cultivated woman who was one of the most influential figures in the Viterbo Circle. The members of the Circle called for certain reforms to be made in the church, in the conviction that it was Divine Grace that should play the major role in Christian life, rather than the works of man.

Between Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna (he aged sixty-one, she forty-six) a deep friendship developed, one might almost say an absolutely pure love, inspired by poetry and faith, out of which were to emerge some of Michelangelo's finest lyric poems, overflowing with admiration and devotion. The most intense period of their relationship, described in the Dialogues of Francisco de Hollanda, lasted from 1544 until Colonna's death in 1547: years filled with long conversations on how faith should be understood and lived, with passionate exchanges of letters, and with frequent visits to the church of San Silvestro al Quirinale to listen to commentaries on the sacred texts. Art, too, cemented their communion: Michelangelo gave her three drawings (a Crucifixion sent to her in 1536, a Deposition of Christ, and a Mary Magdalen) and together they planned the construction of a monastery on the slopes of the Quirinal.

Poems for Vittoria Colonna
The sonnets and madrigals that Michelangelo wrote for Vittoria Colonna between 1538 and 1547 are characterized by a tranquil Platonism, that is by the attainment of bliss through admiration of a superior woman.

Along with lyric poems of a spiritual and mystical character, Michelangelo composed other poems that were more passionate and more in keeping with the style of the time, inspired by a "cruel and beautiful" woman, seen in these verses as the object of an unattainable desire.

Michelangelo's Solitude
Michelangelo's "unsociableness" has been seen as the typical attitude of what was known in the Renaissance as the vir melanchonicus, or the absorbed and solitary contemplator, wholly wrapped up in his art, for whom involvement in creative activity was transformed into suffering: "I am here in great distress and with great physical strain, and have no friends of any kind, nor do I want them; and I do not have enough time to eat as much as I need; my joy and my sorrow/my repose are these discomforts."

Michelangelo was perhaps one of the artists who paid the greatest price in terms of suffering for the divine gift of his art: "I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible" (January 29th, 1542).

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Out of Sight

First, a disclaimer: Invisibility cloaks like Harry Potter's are nowhere near becoming reality. Nor has anyone unearthed proof that the infamous Philadelphia experiment—in which U.S. Navy scientists in 1943 supposedly made a destroyer and its crew vanish—really took place. Stygian crystals, said to confer invisibility in Star Wars films and books, remain figments of writers' imaginations. And not one invisibility shield yet exists, not even a mouse-size one, as best anyone can tell.

The reality is this: Scientists have recently been doing some deep thinking about how light and matter interact. As a result, even some practical-minded physicists and engineers have embraced the notion that humankind's long-held desire to make a person or an object invisible may no longer be just the stuff of fantasy.

"In principle, it's possible to make cloaking devices," contends theoretical physicist Ulf Leonhardt of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, speaking for a growing number of researchers. In recent studies, several teams have proposed rigid shells or walls—invisibility shields—that would interact with electromagnetic radiation in new ways. As a result, observers could, in essence, look right through those shields and the objects they enclose.

While none of the strategies has yet been tested experimentally, experimental physicist David Schurig of Duke University in Durham, N.C., predicts that he and his colleagues will demonstrate such a device that can render, say, a toaster-size object invisible to radar in less than 6 months.

"What differs from science fiction," says experimental physicist David R. Smith, who heads the Duke team, is that those authors "imagine a field in space that does this. We do it by creating a material that directs the light around the thing being cloaked."

The new strategies also differ from the military's current stealth technologies for planes, boats, and armored vehicles. Whereas those objects have equipment and surface coatings that absorb or deflect radar signals, the envisioned invisibility devices would cancel electromagnetic waves from the object or route radar or light signals around it.

Although some of the new schemes might apply only to objects already too small to be seen with the naked eye, others may be suitable for ordinary, human-scale items. However, no theorist has yet proposed a shield that drapes and folds like a cloak—à la Harry Potter.

Out of Sight

Is Our Copy of the Bible a Reliable Copy of the Original?

Old Testament

How do we know the Bible has been kept in tact for over 2,000 years of copying? Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, our earliest Hebrew copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text, dating around 800 A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls date to the time of Jesus and were copied by the Qumran community, a Jewish sect living around the Dead Sea. We also have the Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating in the second century B.C. When we compare these texts which have an 800-1000 years gap between them we are amazed that 95% of the texts are identical with only minor variations and a few discrepancies.

New Testament

In considering the New Testament we have tens of thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament in part or in whole, dating from the second century A.D. to the late fifteenth century, when the printing press was invented. These manuscripts have been found in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, making collusion unlikely. The oldest manuscript, the John Rylands manuscript, has been dated to 125 A.D. and was found in Egypt, some distance from where the New Testament was originally composed in Asia Minor). Many early Christian papyri, discovered in 1935, have been dated to 150 A.D., and include the four gospels. The Papyrus Bodmer II, discovered in 1956, has been dated to 200 A.D., and contains 14 chapters and portions of the last seven chapters of the gospel of John. The Chester Beatty biblical papyri, discovered in 1931, has been dated to 200-250 A.D. and contains the Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and Revelation. The number of manuscripts is extensive compared to other ancient historical writings, such as Caesar's "Gallic Wars" (10 Greek manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), the "Annals" of Tacitus (2 manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), Livy (20 manuscripts, the earliest 350 years after the original), and Plato (7 manuscripts).

	Manuscript Evidence for Ancient Writings Author Written Earliest Copy Time Span # Mss. Caesar 100-44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,000 yrs 10 Plato 427-347 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,200 yrs 7 Thucydides 460-400 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,300 yrs 8 Tacitus 100 A.D. 1100 A.D. 1,000 yrs 20 Suetonius 75-160 A.D. 950 A.D. 800 yrs 8 Homer (Iliad) 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs 643 New Testament 40-100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25-50 yrs 24,000

Thousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31 (1)). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2 (2),Mark 13:1-2 (3), Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32(4)), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D."

With all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies - just the opposite is true. New Testament manuscripts agree in 99.5% of the text (compared to only 95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i.e., none would alter basic Christian doctrine). Most Bibles include the options as footnotes when there are discrepancies. How could there be such accuracy over a period of 1,400 years of copying? Two reasons: The scribes that did the copying had meticulous methods for checking their copies for errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure we would have an accurate copy of God's word so we would not be deceived. The Mormons, theological liberals as well as other cults and false religions such as Islam that claim the Bible has been tampered with are completely proven false by the extensive, historical manuscript evidence.

Is Our Copy of the Bible a Reliable Copy of the Original?

Blood Test Predicts Detects Lung Cancer Years Before CT Scan

A new blood test is able to correctly predict non-small-cell lung cancer in patients years before any CT scan can detect it, say researchers from the University of Kentucky, USA. The test identifies human immune response to tumors.

Non-small-cell lung cancer patients have a 40% chance of living for five years or more after diagnosis. 50% of patients die within the first year. It is the most common lung cancer.

If further studies confirm its reliability, this will become the first blood test to predict cancer since the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test.

You can read about this research in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

Lung cancer kills more people around the world than any other cancer. 10 million new lung cancer diagnoses are made each year. Over three quarters of all lung-cancer patients are/were long-term regular smokers.

At the moment the most common way of diagnosing lung-cancer is with a CT Scan (computed tomography). However, CT scans are not completely accurate and patients often have to have a piece of the lump in their lung extracted for further tests - they have to have a biopsy. Biopsies for lung cancer can be painful. It is common for the biopsy test to find there was no cancer at all.

The biggest problem with lung cancer survival is that many patients are diagnosed when the cancer is well advanced.

This new blood test has an accuracy rate of at least 90% among people who have lung cancer and an extremely low false positive rate, say the researchers. In other words, unlike CT scans, this blood test does not commonly indicate lung cancer when it is not there.

In this study the researchers used blood samples from lung cancer patients years before they had been diagnosed. The tests was surprisingly accurate in predicting lung cancer.

According to Dr. Zhong, lead researcher, and team, lung cancer can be present three to five years before reaching the conventional size limits of radiographic detection.

As with most cancers, the earlier it can be detected, the easier it is to cure the patient.

Blood Test Predicts Detects Lung Cancer Years Before CT Scan

Bottom Trawling Destroys Deep Sea Life

A long-awaited report by the United Nations shows the need for an international moratorium on bottom-trawling and other destructive fishing practices that damage deep sea life, Conservation International (CI) said.

The U.N. Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS) reviewed measures to protect the vulnerable deep oceans of the high seas – the 64 percent of ocean that lies beyond the national jurisdictions of any individual nation. Its review, ordered by the U.N. General Assembly in 2004, was based on reports from member states on steps taken to stop destructive high seas fishing practices.

A draft version of the review posted July 14 on the DOALOS Web site said extremely vulnerable deep sea habitats require protection, but that fishing for newly discovered resources in the high seas often proceeds unregulated to the point of serious harm.

"Many fisheries are not managed until they are overexploited and clearly depleted and, because of the high vulnerability of deep-sea species to exploitation and their low potential for recovery, this is of particular concern for these stocks," the review said.

The draft review called bottom trawling a particular concern, due to its tendency to over-fish both targeted and non-targeted species, and the damage it causes to vulnerable ecosystems that provide critical habitat for marine life. It cited an "urgent need" in some cases for interim steps such as a moratorium on bottom trawling until formal conservation and management systems can be set up.

Nations have until Aug. 7 to respond to the review, which will be considered by the General Assembly before the end of the year.

Marine scientists and developing countries have called for a moratorium against high seas bottom trawling, which targets deep sea fish species such as orange roughy by dragging heavy gear across the seafloor, causing widespread and potentially irreversible damage to deep sea life.

Bottom Trawling Destroys Deep Sea Life

Chinese death toll from Typhoon Bilis rises to 115

BEIJING - Torrential rainstorms and flooding unleashed by Typhoon Bilis has killed at least 115 people across southeast China, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

It said 43 people died in Fujian province, 39 in Hunan and 33 in Guangdong as swirling waters swept away homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Local rescue teams, backed by the army, moved in to scoop families to safety.

A mudslide triggered by the rains in the city of Zhangzhou killed 10 people and local officials held out little hope for a further 10 engulfed by a second landslide, state television said.

Emergency workers delivered tents, quilts and instant noodles to the victims of the storm.

Eleven seamen were plucked to safety before a Russian vessel sank in stormy seas off the Chinese coast on Saturday, Xinhua said.

Bilis ravaged the Philippines and Taiwan before hitting China, where it was downgraded to a tropical storm but still wrought havoc.

Flooding cut the main Beijing-Guangzhou railway line, stranding 5000 passengers at the station in Changsha, Hunan's capital. Some 10,000 workers were repairing the inundated track.

In the city of Lechang, the streets were under 3 metres of water and more than 1600 inmates were evacuated from the local prison, Xinhua said. In Leiyang, water levels had risen more than 10 metres since Friday to record heights.

Local weathermen said heavy rains or rainstorms would continue in Guangdong for the next couple of days.

Disaster officials put the number of dead at 28 in the Philippines, where more bodies were found on Saturday in swollen rivers and creeks and dug out from dozens of minor landslides.

The storm also caused one death in southern Taiwan.

Chinese death toll from Typhoon Bilis rises to 115