In April, “Yale University announced it had successfully resurrected the brains of more than 100 slaughtered pigs and found that the cells were still healthy. The reanimated brains were kept alive for up to 36 hours and scientists said the process, which should also work in primates, offered a new way to study intact organs in the lab” (Telegraph, May 6, 2018).

French President Emmanuel Macron is the man some are now calling “Europe’s leading figure” (Deutsche Welle, March 16, 2018). From his growing seat of power, he has created a new “10-nation coalition of the willing” to spearhead the European defense initiative (Politico, May 2, 2018).

In the late 1800s, a young Scotsman became a successful and widely read author. Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for his colorful adventure novel Treasure Island, but he also wrote an allegorical tale about good and evil in 1886 in his best-selling book entitled The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

“That boggles my mind!” Many of us have made that exclamation when we were astonished or amazed upon seeing or hearing something incredible. The word “boggle” means to be astounded or overwhelmed. Is your mind boggled?

Before anyone builds a structure, the first concern should be about setting a firm foundation. In our town, over a century ago, the community fathers mined coal using the room and pillar method, some 300 feet below the surface. Miners left pillars of coal to support the ceilings, and the rooms extended underground for miles. Later, methods developed to extract the pillars, and wood structures were placed to hold the roof. But the supports didn’t last.