
Here at the eCool compound, we’ve elevated the status of Ingrid Rowland to a level that’s near divine. This may be a heretical move on our part, but, she’s the sun around which our earth spins. Thus, today, we’re groovin’ on the fabulously entertaining and enlightening review given to her new book about Giordano Bruno on Salon.com. Click on over and read all about it.

For the past couple of days, Rome has been awash with news of a planned beauty contest for nuns.
“Miss Sister Italy,” an online beauty contest for those in the habit, is being organized by a priest, Antonio Rungi, of the southern Italian diocese of Modragone, who told the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera:
Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God. This contest will be a way to show there isn’t just the beauty we see on television but also a more discrete charm.
Any nun between 18 and 40 years of age who wishes to be part of the contest should send their photographs to Father Antonio, who will publish it on his blog. Nuns can choose to wear their full habits and veils or let their hair down.
He claims that the idea for a beauty contest originated with the nuns themselves and that he expects about 1000 participants.
You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn’t the case any more, thanks to the arrival in our country of young and vital nuns [notably from Africa and Latin America].
Fr. Antonio hopes the event will become an annual one and that next year the contest can move beyond the internet and take place in real time, preferably in conjunction with the extraordinarily popular Miss Italia contest.
Photo by Jamie John Davies.