Yet another Trump-gripe post

...although this is probably more of a gripe about American voters.

I was cheered by the news that Justice Juan Merchan has fined Donald Trump for violating the gag order that is supposed to prevent the latter from commenting on the judge, prosecutors, witnesses, their families, et al in his ongoing New York criminal trial.  

But on the other hand, every time Trump inches closer to donning the proverbial orange jumpsuit, his poll numbers seem to rise.

Somewhat along those lines, I saw this item earlier today, in an e-newsletter I receive from conservative opinion columnist Byron York: "On Sunday came a poll from CNN that was simply devastating for [President Biden]’s reelection hopes...the poll showed Trump with a 6-point lead over Biden, 49% to 43%, in a head-to-head national matchup...Even more damaging for Biden was that when asked to assess both the Trump and Biden presidencies, 55% of those surveyed called Trump’s presidency a success, while 61% called Biden’s presidency a failure."

I'm not sure which adjective is best-suited to describe my reaction to the yellow-highlighted phrase above: shocked?  Appalled?  Aghast?  

I think this lawfare is blowing up in Democrats' faces.  It seems moderately clear that a majority of voters don't think Trump should be on trial or punished; and the events of January 6th apparently have been flushed down the memory hole.

Books and the Digital World

 E-book and printed book penetration

According to data from Statista’s Market Insights: Media & Advertising, e-book penetration still trails that of printed books in the vast majority of countries around the world. In the United States for example, 20 percent of the population are estimated to have purchased an e-book last year, compared to 30 percent who bought a printed book. China is the only country of those studied that saw the opposite trend, with only 24 percent of people having bought a printed book in the 12 months prior to the survey, while around 27 percent of people bought an e-book in that time frame.

 

You will find more infographics at Statista

Printed Book Sales Rising Again in U.S,

Despite the shift to digital in almost all aspects of media consumption in recent years, a perhaps unlikely renaissance is occurring in the world of books. As figures from Publishers Weekly show, having fallen quite dramatically between 2008 and 2012, good old-fashioned printed book unit sales have been steadily rising in the United States since.

As our infographic shows, this recovery picked up extra pace during the pandemic, too. According to Publishers Weekly, the 2021 increase was led by fiction titles. "The young adult fiction segment had the largest increase, with unit sales jumping 30.7%, while adult fiction sales rose 25.5%. Sales in the juvenile fiction category increased 9.6%".

You will find more infographics at Statista

Where Reading is More Popular

In the United States, 44 percent of women said reading was one of their main pastimes versus 30 percent of men. When looking at the U.S. adult surveyed population with both genders combined, the share of people selecting reading in response to this question increased with age (30 percent of 18-19 year olds, 32 percent 20-29 year olds, 36 percent 30-39 year olds, 38 percent for 40-49 year olds, 41 percent 50-59 year olds, 44 percent 60-64 year olds)

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You will find more infographics at Statista

U.S. Readers Are Getting Less Voracious

83 percent of respondents to the poll claimed to have read at least one book in the past year, a percentage similar to previous polls from 2016 and 2005. This indicates that reading, be it on paper or in digital form, is still very much one of the favorite pastimes of U.S. residents. The drop in mean number can be explained by fewer people reading larger amounts of books per year. Still, the percentage in this bracket is pretty sizable: 27 percent of respondents finished or started more than 11 books in 2021, with 6 percent even tackling more than 51 tomes of knowledge and entertainment. When taking demographic indicators into consideration, the past year's numbers have largely been propped up by college graduates and young adults, of which 35 and 31 percent, respectively, read more than 11 books.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Will AI mean the end of liberal democracy?

I came across an interesting article on the Vox site on times of revolution in general and AI in particular: Populism, AI, and nationalism — progress and backlash - Vox

In it, journalist Sean Illing interviews Fareed Zakaria, the author of a new book, "The Age of Revolution: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present".

From the article:

Do you or did you doodle?

 

Jack's post on art reminded me of this.  I have zero visual artist in me.  But for years, in college, seminars, conferences, the margins of my notes were populated with what's in the picture.  I wasn't necessarily bored, but when I was purely listening, I needed to do something with my hands.  One of my favorites, was making a squiggly self crossing closed loop and then filling in an area and then the non-contiguous areas.  Sometimes I liked to extend the figure into an orthogonal figure.  Ever since the advent of digitization and my full retirement, I don't doodle anymore.  It's not art but what is it and why do we do it?  I am not an artist but I always could draw geometrical figures and draft a mechanical drawing.  

Brother Sun Sister Moon >B<

Below is my photograph of two pages of an art journal. >B< writes the journal as both a work of art and work of therapy. 

> B < is regularly meeting with a therapist for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). I asked her if she wanted to be that specific. She said "Yes!" because many people do not realize that they have PTSD. Without that realization (and therapy) circumstance will continue to "trigger" their trauma.

>B<, not the therapist, decided that she should do a journal. She hopes to do one entry per week.

>B< had the idea of doing an entry on the day of the eclipse. She felt humbled by the experience. "We are so small in comparison to the universe."

The art is not just about the eclipse. It is about the universe, people, and relationships. How tiny we are in comparison. "How humble we should be."

The art is visual stimulation. First the visual stimulation of the event which unfolds over time for the artist. (>B< may re-do this artwork).  Secondly the visual stimulation and feedback for the viewers and from the viewers that also unfolds over time. 

>B< usually dates her artwork by the year in which it was completed.  When asked how long it took her to do it, the answer is "all my life."  

UPDATED: Fulfillment and repentance (homily video)

Update 4/17/2024, 1:24 pm CST: I've asked ChatGPT to prepare a Catholic homily for the same passage (Luke 24:35-48).  Its homily, which I think is pretty good, is pasted below the break.

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I preached this past weekend at the parish's Saturday evening mass.  Usually I paste the text of my homily here.  But for this weekend, even though I scripted my homily as usual, I wasn't very happy with it.  So when I stood up there to preach, rather than talk directly from the script, I preached from the heart, relying on the ideas and preparation that had gone into creating the script.  I think it came out better than what I had scripted.  (Although, at 14 minutes, it's also quite a bit longer than what I had scripted.)  So I am not going to paste the script here, but am providing a video link instead to the actual homily.  The homily begins at about the 19:36 mark.  Any/all feedback welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Blk9rCXNA

...and as mentioned above, ChatGPT's homily on the same Gospel passage is below the break.

Eclipse Report from Ohio

 I am thankful we were in the path of totality and that there were only very light thin clouds, and that I got to see this rare event.

On the other hand, I have had many far more interesting, beautiful and photographic sunsets down by the lake shore.

What I found most interesting about the experience is its three-dimensional quality. One really had the sense of a physical body, the Moon, passing in front of the Sun. 

My iphone photograph:

The most enjoyable part was getting out my old telescope which I haven't used much since I was in high school. I did a practice set up on Sunday afternoon which helped much.

Catholic LGBTQ+ Ministry Highly Critical of Vatican Document’s Approach to Gender Identity [Press Release]

 

Statement of Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director, New Ways Ministry

MOUNT RAINIER, Maryland—The new Vatican document, Dignitas Infinita, fails terribly by offering transgender and nonbinary people not infinite, but limited human dignity. While it lays out a wonderful rationale for why each human being, regardless of condition in life, must be respected, honored, and loved, it does not apply this principle to gender-diverse people.

In its approach to gender, the document relies on the outdated theology of gender essentialism which claims that a person’s physical appearance is the central evidence of a person’s natural gender identity. This physicalist perspective shackles the Vatican to the growing consciousness that a person’s gender includes the psychological, social, and spiritual aspects naturally present in their lives.

Far from being an individual’s choice, gender identity is based on a discovery of who God created each of us to be accounting for factors other than the physical appearance of one’s body.

A morsel of good news

Please bear with me while I do a little dance of joy.  The Nebraska legislature just gave Trump a middle finger.  Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that good. But they did just reject a proposal to help Trump win the Electoral College.  The vote wasn't even close, only eight voted in favor, with 36 opposed. Keep in mind that the legislature is dominated by Republicans, even though technically it is a nonpartisan unicameral; the only one in the nation. However, everyone knows the party affiliations of all the members.

Vox News had a good write-up on it:  Nebraska Electoral College: GOP wants rules changed to help Trump win - Vox

I tried to find a local news source which discussed it, but it was media silence.  Don't know why, usually they are all over something like this that makes national news. Anyway, from the Vox article:

Global Fertility and Africa

Africa has a fertility rate that is similar to the world fertility rate in 1963. Most of the rest of the world has dropped below replacement level.

The State of Global Fertility

On average, women in 1963 were having 5.3 children in their lifetime and by 2021, that had more than halved to 2.3. During the same period, the global population rose by around 150 percent from 3.2 billion to 7.9 billion. The fact that populations kept (and keep) growing despite falling global fertility is tied to longer life expectancy and lower childhood mortality. The UN expects global fertility to reach the minimum replacement level of 2.1 by the middle of the century while global population is expected to start falling towards the end of it.

You will find more infographics at Statista

This has implications for the end of the century. Population wise, Africa will have replaced Europe of the 1950s. The USA, a constant across time, will be the only representative of the Americas.

In 2100, Five of the Ten Biggest Countries in the World Will Be in Africa

While in 2020, five out of the ten most populous countries in the world were located in Asia, the picture will look different in 2100, when five African countries – Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – will be among the world’s ten largest.

You will find more infographics at Statista

SUMMARIES BELOW FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF RELIGION DATA ARCHIVES

NIGERIA has an area of 356,700 square miles and a population of 144 million. While some groups estimate the population to be 50 percent Muslim, 40 percent Christian, and 10 percent traditional indigenous, it is generally assumed that the proportion of citizens who practice Islam or Christianity are roughly equal and include a substantial number who practice traditional indigenous religious beliefs alongside Christianity or Islam. Catholic (12%) Protestant (30%) Independent Christian (14%)

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO has an area of 905,000 square miles and a population of 66.5 million. Approximately 55 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 30 percent is main line Protestant, and less than 5 percent each is Kimbanguiste or Muslim. The remainder generally practices traditional indigenous religious beliefs. Other religious groups include Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Orthodox Christians.

ETHIOPIA has an area of 472,000 square miles, and a population of 77 million. An estimated 40 to 45 percent of the population belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), which is predominant in the northern regions of Tigray and Amhara.

Approximately 45 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim, of which the overwhelming majority is Sufi. Islam is most prevalent in the eastern Somali and Afar regions, as well as in many parts of Oromiya.

Christian evangelical and Pentecostal groups constitute an estimated 10 percent of the population. 

ZANZIBAR has an area of 364,900 square miles and a population of 40 million, of which 38 million live on the mainland and 2 million on the Zanzibar archipelago, which has a semi autonomous political structure separate from the mainland political system. Current statistics on religious demography are unavailable because religious surveys were eliminated from government census reports after 1967. Religious leaders and sociologists estimate that the Christian and Muslim communities are equal in size, each accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the population, with the remainder consisting of practitioners of other faiths and traditional indigenous religions. However, 99 percent of the population on the Zanzibar archipelago is Muslim. Half the Christians are Catholic; the other half are Protestant. 

EGYPT has an area of 370,308 square miles and a population of 79 million, of whom almost 90 percent are Sunni Muslims. Shi'a Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the population. Estimates of the percentage of Christians ranged from 8 to 12 percent, (6 to 10 million), the majority of whom belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church.