This entry title could begin a whole series of meditations on items found in library books, but I'll just mention what I found today: A laminated bookmark for an organization called OC International - Decision/Spain, which seems to be a fund-raising group to promote evangelism in Spain. Spain? Yes, Spain.

The bookmark presents 3 bulleted points intended to get my attention:
* 7000 people abandon their Christian faith in Europe every day.
* Islam has grown in Spain, half a million believers in ten years.
* Spain is the country of the western world with the lowest rate of evangelicals per inhabitant.

These three disparate sentences are clearly intended to instill fear (OMG) in a god-fearing person. I always wonder why fear is a preferred method of proselytizing, but anyway. Let's discuss the points:

7000 people abandon their Christian faith in Europe every day.
Of course, my first thought is, "Hooray!" *grin* Seriously, though, this isn't news. Excluding the US, the western world is abandoning religion left and right. However, I suspect this point was included because it's perceived as a threat. Puzzling.

Islam has grown in Spain, half a million believers in ten years.
Oh, I get it now! Following point #1 to point #2, I think they are slyly suggesting that those abandoning Christianity are all converts to Islam! Now that's just silly. Islam has increased in western Europe because of immigration, and not because 7000 Christians are converting daily.

Spain is the country of the western world with the lowest rate of evangelicals per inhabitant.
I'm not sure why this is threatening or even noteworthy. Everyone knows that Spain is historically Roman Catholic. But listen further: This organization's goal is "planting an evangelical church in every un-reached town in Spain by 2012." Wow. Just imagine for a moment that the funds used to build churches each year were used to, say, further education. Instead, it's being flushed down some gilt and bejeweled toilets. Heartbreaking.

FSM save us!

Secularism isn't threatening or injurious -- quite the contrary:
“Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom are among the least religious societies on earth. According to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (2005) they are also the healthiest, as indicated by life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate, and infant mortality. The United States is unique among wealthy democracies in its level of religious adherence; it is also uniquely beleaguered by high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and infant mortality. The same comparison holds true within the United States itself: Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious literalism, are especially plagued by the above indicators of societal dysfunction, while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European norms.”

Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation

Remember the SVH/size 6 business I posted about a few weeks ago?

It turns out that the series is being rereleased, with updates to reflect the tastes of 21st-century teens.

And guess what? Oh, I know, you've already guessed: The twins are now a "perfect size 4."

Several of my colleagues recently attended a health care conference and have published some of the information they learned in our union newsletter. Interestingly, the state of health care in this country is no surprise, but it is quite another thing to actually read and compare real numbers:

Contrary to most Americans' beliefs, we don't have the best health care in the world -- just the most expensive:

* USA spends more on health care than most other western countries.
* USA has fewer doctors and hospital beds than most other western countries.
* USA hospital rate is 40% more expensive than in most other western countries.
* USA out-patient services cost 36% more than in most other western countries.
* USA prescription drugs cost 27% more than in most other western countries.
* USA administration costs are 82% more than in most other western countries.

It's that last that boggles the mind. 82%?

At what point did it become OK to allow the entire health care industry walk all over us? Other countries have proven that it is possible to provide effective -- even better -- health care to their citizens without robbing them blind and padding the pockets of the health care and pharmaceutical industry.

At this rate, students opening fire on their classmates won't even be newsworthy anymore.

...and most of my fellow countrymen still think that firearms should be put into the hands of anyone who fancies one...

I'm not without compassion, and I'm not making light of the event. I am FURIOUS at the arrogance, selfishness, ineptitude and stupidity of my country's leaders in doing NOTHING to prevent this same situation from occurring again and again.

Eventually, we'll all just become numb to such news to protect ourselves emotionally.

Open letter to the men of the world:

Could you please not urinate all over the restroom floor, in particular in workplaces and other public places? I'm sure you've had years to practice your aim. If for whatever reason you are not feeling so confident about your ability to hit the bowl, maybe you ought to have a seat and have a go at it that way instead. You're guaranteed not to miss. Believe me. I've never missed once.

And you know what? If I did, I would probably make a good-faith attempt to dab it up so that the next person using the restroom would not have to stand and/or sit in an awkward position in an attempt to avoid the puddles on the seat and floor.

My thanks to men who are already thus considerate of others. Would you please spread the word to your brethren?

I suppose my general opinion about Mr. Ledger could have been summed up with, well, indifference.

However, allow me to present reason #5338 why I'm against religion: I am utterly disgusted.

Yay, more snow is coming tonight! This is starting to feel like a genuine winter after all. The past few winters have been pitiful. Unless it turns tropical between now and next week, we ought to have a white Christmas.

Jonas took the car in this morning, and they think it will take about a week to fix it up. He'll probably get a rental at least through Wednesday -- after that, we might be able to manage with just one. I would have to drive him to work on Friday, and he'd have to drive me on Saturday, but the money saved may outweigh the inconvenience. We haven't quite decided on that yet.

So they've unearthed Mr. Hussein, although I don't see where it makes much of a difference anymore. It certainly doesn't make me feel any more optimistic about the future or what's going on over there. It's obvious there is a significant opposition to everything the U.S. is doing and is planning to do with respect to the Iraqi people and their government. When the U.S. pulls out -- and you know it won't be long, they've been itching to bail since November turned out to be a complete disaster -- everything is going to fall apart. It is not going to be a nice little do-it-yourself democracy. After decades of being brainwashed and taught to hate, people don't just wake up one day and think, "Yes, why didn't we realize sooner that democracy is the best thing since sliced bread?!" No, eventually the government will again be run by those with their own private agendas to support.

On the other hand, who are we to assume that a democracy is the ideal form of government? I think it is, but is that because I have been told so all my life? From the moment I was born I've been bombarded from every direction with the idea that I should be proud because I live in the greatest country in the world. That the founding fathers were geniuses when they devised the perfect system of government. That all other countries revere us and only wish they could be nearly as wonderful.

Now who's been brainwashed?

"Watch out for the laser, it will cut your hand off!" said the father to his son as they were using the self-checkout machine tonight. And I couldn't tell whether he was serious or not.

This evening the library was hosting a public Citizens Dialogues forum. The discussion topic was Global Health: Why Minnesotans Should Care. Well, clearly Minnesotans don't care, because nobody showed up. There were four people -- three affiliated with the library and one moderator. There was a lot of publicity, and the series of forums, of which this was only one, was sponsored by the Mayo Clinic, Twin Cities Public Television, Minnesota International Center, the Mall of America, the Library Foundation of Hennepin County, and the Minnesota Humanities Council. Something must have gone wrong somewhere, or Minnesotans simply don't give a rip about global health.

Eden Prairie had some serious power surges today. Jonas ended up coming home to work because they lost power completely at his office. At the library no fewer than four monitors got completely fried, in addition to all kinds of other problems. In all it's a lot of fun for me when something problematic or otherwise unusual happens, simply because it gives me something interesting to do. Systems said they'll bring us out new monitors early tomorrow morning.

I saw this on Globetrekker not too long ago. Wow, does that look cool! Now, if I only had a million bucks burning a hole in my pocket I could buy myself a villa. :) Incidentally, Globetrekker is an AWESOME show. I want to go everywhere!

Christ.

Is a little hygiene too much to ask for?

Working with the public on a daily basis, you encounter people who shower and people who don't. Luckily, 99% of the people I see each day subscribe to the theory of personal hygiene. But there's that 1% that doesn't, and that really stinks (haha).

I would be understanding of a situation where someone is perhaps homeless or doesn't otherwise have access to bathing facilities, but from what I can tell these are just your standard, working-class people who live in a house or an apartment. Sure, there may be more to the story than meets the eye, but for the sake of argument I'll make the assumption that if they have a street address (we require a proof of address when issuing library cards), they have somewhere to bathe.

So today I call for repair on our lobby copier, and I swear the guy who showed up hadn't bathed in a month. I had to stand there talking to him about the copier and what was wrong with it, all the while wishing I had a gas mask.

I've heard that you tend not to smell your own body, but I'm not sure I believe it. There have certainly been times I've realized myself that I needed to hop in the shower! So I don't buy it. In addition, if you had roommates or family who stank to high heaven on a regular basis, wouldn't you tell them?

Maybe all the stinky people in the world live alone. Unfortunate, in more ways than one.

I just have to comment on one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.

A few days ago a flurry of tornados hit parts of the southern U.S. The next day I happened to read a story about it on CNN.com. It was the usual tale of death and destruction at the hands of mother nature, until I scrolled down a bit further and saw The Photo.

In the midst of their debris-filled trailer park, on top of the twisted frame of what heretofore had presumably been their home, someone had planted a U.S. flag. The imagery really was brilliant -- it was one of the moments where I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

Clearly the message was, "Nothing makes me feel prouder of my country than when my house blows away."

Or was it, "If I take this obviously contrived picture, someone will put it on CNN.com?"

Today will not go down as a particularly noteworthy day in my life, but in the interests of journaling regularly, I might as well put in a few words about it.

After work I was going to call home to see if Jonas had made any plans for us this evening, but no answer. So I rung him up on his cell and he made a vague remark about being home in about 15 minutes. OK. *shrug* I bundled myself up in my coat, scarf and gloves (it was 5°F this morning) and waddled out the door. Then I grew momentarily confused. My car, running, was waiting for me right outside the door. I peeked inside and there he was. When I'd called on the phone he'd been sitting right outside but didn't tell me! Silly boy. We picked up some Leann Chin for takeout and had a picnic in the livingroom watching Will & Grace.

Later the maintenance guy arrived to fix our microwave (yay!), and we signed up for an additional parking space in the garage so I can park my car indoors this winter. It's an extra $50/mo.. but it will be worth it to avoid scraping my windows and freezing my ass off when it's -20°. Now I will just have to practice parking inbetween those scary cement pillars.

An interesting thing I just read about: This year National Geographic conducted a geography survey of 3,000+ 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden and the United States. You might be surprised in their findings (on the other hand, you probably won't). On the site you can test yourself on a sampling of 20 questions. I answered correctly on all 20, but whether due to my being an interested fan of geography or their chosen questions being easy, I don't know. I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't be raising our children in Sweden after all?