The return of Freakonomics

Last year the library purchased the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything for the collection. It’s an interesting look at societal problems from an unusual economic point of view. The author, Steven Levitt, tried to determine why most drug dealers still live with their mothers. He sought to explain why the Ku Klux Klan is like a group of real estate agents and what schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common. In one chapter he looked at the decrease in crime and theorized that legalized abortion was responsible for this decrease.

The book disappeared from the library within weeks. Is this any way to deal with controversial opinions?

It should be noted that the author meant to be provocative. It should also be noted that there are arguments to be made against Levitt’s conclusion. During the same time period reviewed by the author, most states increased both the numbers of people sentenced as well as the length of the sentences. Levitt discounted the role of increased incarcerations in the decline in crime, focusing instead on abortion.

Does the author have a valid point? Did the legalization of abortion cause the drop in crime? You can decide for yourself. We’ve ordered a new copy of Freakonomics for the library. We would also like to remind anyone tempted to take this new copy that there are 52 other copies available in OhioLINK.

No greater love

Much has been said about the shootings at the Amish school last week. Some shake their heads in disbelief that children would offer their lives in place of their friends. Others, understanding the source of this courage, pray that they would also have this faith (and pray that the Lord will never ask them to face such a test).  Julie at Happy Catholic has a must-read commentary on the faith of these girls and the state of the culture:

I paged through the rest of the newspaper…Reports abounded of trials for all sorts of horrible crimes, many committed against the most vulnerable in our society. It went on and on.

All this was against a backdrop of those two girls offering up their lives for their friends. Never had it been so glaringly obvious that it is important for Christians to remain the leaven, the yeast, that Christ called for. We are called to be the witnesses through our actions and our words that there is a way of freedom that many have forgotten; that some truths are absolute.

Please do yourself a favor and read the entire post.

Extended Hours at the Library

Starting today, Monday October 9 and continuing to exam week, the library will stay open longer.  The hours are: 

Monday through Thursday – 8:30 am to 11:45 pm
Friday – 8:30 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday – 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday – 1:00 pm to 11:45 pm

Welcome alumni!

Be sure to stop by the library to check out photos of the campus in past years, including the original master plan for the campus that was proposed back in the 1960s.  Not to be missed.

The Troub rocks!

Kudos to the Troub staff on the new look! The color photos are great and the writing is, as always, professional and fun. Good stuff.

Cool stuff being made

Ever wonder how saxophones are made? Or school buses? Or those Fourth of July sparklers? The National Association of Manufacturers website hosts the largest collection of videos about how things are made. It’s cool, mindless fun and you need a break from studying now, right?

Thanks to Instapundit for pointing out this site.

Random answer day

In honor of Google’s birthday yesterday, we’re celebrating Google-style by giving random answers to your questions. Ask, and just like Google, we’ll give you one good answer and 12,000 totally irrelevant ones.

Just kidding, of course. You an always count on the library staff to try to find the exact information you need.

If you need to use the Internet to find an answer, the Librarian in Black suggests using ask.com.

Pope Benedict – an update

Pope Benedict met with Islamic envoys yesterday to stress the common cause that both faiths share, including “the dignity of the human person and of the rights arising from that dignity.” After the 30-minute meeting Kouamé Benjamin Konan, the ambassador from the Ivory Coast, stated that this should end complaints that the Pope is hostile to Islam.

In a related item, Dennis Prager’s column in Townhall.com observes that Pope Benedict is attacked for confronting evil by the same voices who attack Pope Pius XII for not speaking out against evil. An interesting read.

Jesus and the children

From Julie at Happy Catholic comes this reflection about Jesus’ radical view of the value of children. According to David Scott, where the ancient Romans and Greeks thought of children as inferior beings, “Jesus taught that it would be better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be plunged into the depths of the sea than to suffer God’s judgement for scandalizing one of his little ones.”

The entire post is wonderful as is David Scott’s book , The Catholic Passion: Rediscovering the Power and the Beauty of the Faith (BX1751.3 S29 2005)

Vatican to open secret archives

The Vatican will open part of its secret archives, including documents from the 1920s to 1939 that deal with the rise of Nazism and the threat to the Jews. It is hoped that these documents will clear up the controversy about Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. Some historians claim that the Church was silent and did not assist in rescue efforts. Others cite the number of Jews that were hidden in convents, monasteries and even in the Vatican itself and remind critics that the Vatican had no army to defend the Church if the Pope spoke out against the aggressors.

For more information, please see:

The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis, David Dalin  BX1378 D35 2005

The Assisi Underground: The Priests Who Rescued the Jews – D810 J4  R3

The Scarlet and the Black (VHS) – PN1997 S22 2003