Happiness

There have been books written recently that note that conservatives are happier than liberals and that religious people are happier than non-religious people. I think the main reason is that belief in something bigger and more important than yourself allows a person to understand the big picture--not to focus so much on the present, whether it is good or bad.

I recently received a letter from Touchstone magazine that included the following quote from a book called "The Monastic Way: Ancient Wisdom for Contemporary Living" by Jean Leclercq. The sentiment in these lines struck me as just about right.

"We must love the age we live in. It should be evident that from the point of view of faith the best age for each of us is the one in which God has placed us, the one he has given us and we must give back to him, the one in which we can give ourselves to him. It's a great thing to be alive! A great grace simply to exist! God has chosen our age for us: this age that we receive from him and that is ours is the only age we have at our disposal. We have no right to prefer another one. . . . If we compare our age with those of the past, so far as we know them, ours is not the worst of them all, or even worse than many of them; it is better than many, and perhaps better than all of them."

Common Sense about the Environment

Nowadays, everyone has to be "green". The debate on global warming is considered settled, we have to all worry about our imprint on the globe, and we need to have no more than two children. To disagree with the environmental narrative is to be thought of as an imbecile or worse.

I would like to see the beginnings of a common sense response to environmental issues: don't waste, pick up after yourself, recycle, and reuse.

Mpls Public Library

I work only a block from the new downtown public library, and I do use it once in awhile. But I have to admit to disliking the design of the building. It is very glassy with a tremendous "wing" on top of it that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

Today, they had to block off an area under the corner of the big wing because water and snow was dripping onto the ground where people walk to the front door. In fact, the handicapped entrance on the near side of the building was closed. So a large, useless design element is causing unforseen problems for the library. No surprise.

Average temperatures vs. Normal temperatures

Today in the Twin Cities, we have a high temperature of somewhere around 0° F—it's obviously very cold. The average high temperature for today's date is 30° F. This caused me to think of something that has bothered me for awhile. So often when I see a television weather report or read a weather forecast in the newspaper, I'll see the average high or low temperature described as the "normal" high or low temperature for that date. I think that using the word "normal" to describe the average temperature is odd, and probably not very accurate.

I did an online search and came across a 10-year old article by Chuck Doswell of the National Severe Storms Labratory in Norman, Oklahoma. Here is some of what he says:

Most folks view the world through egocentric eyes; they act as if their own personal experience is representative of the entire planet's experience for all time. . . . Whenever the weather exceeds someone's range of experience (and folks tend to have short memories, so their perception of their experience is often limited to the last few years), then it is loudly proclaimed as something "abnormal" or unusual, often tinged with dire forebodings about the future.

Of course, when you read and hear about the weather from the media, you often are told what is "normal" for that day—the normal high temperature, the normal low temperature, and perhaps the normal amount of precipitation for the year up to that date. Thus, you are given "information" that represents what is "normal" on any particular date for your town. Have you ever thought about what those numbers mean?

I give thought to this question when we have a warm spell and a co-worker describes it as "creepy". What's creepy about a warmer than average day? For every degree the temperature varies from the "normal" high or low, some people see it as de facto global warming. If there wasn't a political price to pay for this, it would be humorous. The fact that the global warming believers can't enjoy a mild winter day is almost funny. If it's not cold, then it's "creepy".

Today the temperature is not within 30° of the average high for the day. I would guess that this is as normal as a temperature reading of 10° or 20° or 40° would be for any particular February 20. In fact, you might be able to make the case that it is more normal to be 5°–10° warmer or cooler than the average high or low temperature. In Minnesota, if we get weather from the north, it is going to be cold—probably colder than average. If we get our weather system from the west or south, it will probably be mild at this time of year.

So much of this seems like common sense that you almost have to believe that people try to delude themselves about the weather.