And in religious news...

You know, I know lots of wonderful, open-minded Catholics. But the Catholic Church itself seems to be one giant machine for spewing evil. It was only a matter of time before they'd take a break from their homophobia, anti-safe-sex tirades, and sexist tirades, and rear their ugly head towards the environment:

"But in a speech to US Catholic business leaders, [Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, George] Pell said Western democracy was also suffering a crisis of confidence as evidenced by the decline in fertility rates. "Pagan emptiness" and Western fears of the uncontrollable forces of nature had contributed to "hysteric and extreme claims" about global warming.

'In the past, pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.'"

There's definitely an emptiness here, but it's not a Pagan one.

Meanwhile, I was considering reading The Da Vinci Code. My experience with Harry Potter taught me not to snobbishly despise popular literature. Some things really are popular becuase they're genuinely good. Plus, I was familiar with the Holy Blood, Holy Grail conspiracy theory.

So I read excerpts. Mad albino monks? Who is this Dan Brown? Horace Walpole? And the French people talk like rejects from an Inspector Clousseau movie. I think this time, my snobbery has been confirmed :)