Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Wild Moon<\/p>\n
Bill Schmidt made me aware of this video:\u00a0 Muslim Demographics.\u00a0 He included the link to it within the Snopes website: http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/politics\/religion\/demographics.asp.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n If you’re not familiar with Snopes, it tracks down information on claims made in videos, e-mails, the news and attempts to determine the truth or error in them.\u00a0 In the case of this video, apparently by an evangelical Christian group, Muslims take over the world due to superior birth rates.\u00a0 If you know anything about demographics, you would distrust the claims in the video on face value, but Snopes makes clear why the claims are alarmist rather than accurate.<\/p>\n Not to steal a march on them, but the biggest error is the assumption that high birthrates in the Muslim community, where they exist, will remain the same.\u00a0 Increased income and the education of women depress birth rates, for example.<\/p>\n Books.\u00a0 Gotta love’em.\u00a0 Can’t live without’em, even with the Kindle.\u00a0 I had some money saved and our mutual budget kicked in a third and I bought the entire Grove Dictionary of Art on sale.\u00a0 It came yesterday in five boxes, each of which weighed 36 pounds.\u00a0 Heavy, man.\u00a0 They now have pride of place on the top shelf of a three tier bookshelf to the left of my desk.\u00a0 I feel smarter already, just having them close by.<\/p>\n As I moved books around to accommodate them, I took note of those areas in which I have long term interest:\u00a0 the enlightenment and its affects on contemporary life, especially politics and religion; our relationship with the planet and our particular places in it; poetry, China, Japan, India, mythology, fairy tales, art history, philosophy, transcendentalism and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the history of religion, water, war, American history, especially the Northwest territory, Asian art, magic, gardening, the Renaissance, spirituality, travel, Jungian psychology, the intelligence agencies, science, especially the history of science and ways we celebrate the apparent flow of time.<\/p>\n OK.\u00a0 It’s broad, I admit.\u00a0 But it’s not everything in the world.\u00a0 I do have specific interests.\u00a0 Just a number of them.<\/p>\n Some day I’ll explore those areas in depth, greater depth than I’ve achieved so far, anyhow.<\/p>\n Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Wild Moon Bill Schmidt made me aware of this video:\u00a0 Muslim Demographics.\u00a0 He included the link to it within the Snopes website: http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/politics\/religion\/demographics.asp. If you’re not familiar with Snopes, it tracks down information on claims made in videos, e-mails, the news and attempts to determine the truth or error in them.\u00a0 In the … Continue reading Books<\/span>
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