Go to the Library

This weekend I helped a family member move a bookcase so they could get new rugs. It wasn't too much work. The books came down in order laterally and I lined them against the wall, then after moving the bookcase, they went back in the order they came down again. This explanation seems excessive, but it's amazing how people can be funny about little details. Things like the order their books sit on the shelf. In this case, the books belonged to a now deceased relative and were kept in the order of their favorite books from left to right. Although I don't believe that the order of books has any meaning, it is a good way to keep them around the house. Which brings me to this weeks subject: The library.

I used to have lots and lots of books. There wasn't any organizing, what I was reading was on the floor by the sofa or bed, what I had finished were tossed into the pile, and what I didn't like was leveling a table, holding open a broken window or in the bathroom to save money on TP. It's nice having books in the house, its a good way to broadcast a love of knowledge. Visitors can quickly get a sense of who you are by what books you have. Interesting people tend to have interesting books. I still have a few favorites around to thumb through, but mostly they are for show. All of my serious reading comes from the library.

My local branch is very close, so I make more use of the library than most people. The library is not behind the times either, they have good web integration where books, movies and CD's can be requested online. There is no reason to spend hard earned cabbage on DVD rentals or books. You can even use the Internet for free.

It is not enough to simply use the library, you must participate. Every branch has a "friends of the library" group or civic equivalent and I recommend you join. For instance, my library was not current with its wireless Internet service and the old ladies that traditionally respond to such things didn't know the difference between 802.11B and 802.11G - indeed, it would be unreasonable to expect them to. I joined the library club and got smoking fast connections and now more people go to the library. A good library is a sign of a good community.

As for me, when I die and relatives are trying to find my ghost in the books, they will have to go to the library.

Shopoholic

My friends mother was a compulsive shopper. This was in high school, before the clinical social disorders we know today. A sufferer of ADHD was known simply as spaz, and shoplifting or cutting yourself got you a beating, not a prescription. I used to like hanging around the house over there because the "impulsive - compulsive buying disorder" would manifest itself mostly in grocery shopping. Everyday, sometimes several times a day, her mother would come home with carloads of groceries. Not cheap shit either, no double coupons or half off bakery items, it was full price fancy cereals and snacks. Big shiny boxes with smiling kids and moms or hip cartoon critters with hats on sideways bursting with food attitude. I would help carry all this stuff inside - bags and bags of it - then I could have all the die cut processed chicken treats and Hot Pop'em's™ I could eat. Many times I was given stuff to take with me to help make room for tomorrows haul. Being very ignorant, I thought this was the most wonderful thing in the whole world.

It wasn't until much later that I realized the scope of the shame of this problem. These weren't rich people. Vain, yes. They had a lot of nice things and a big house, but they got it all with credit, they didn't actually own any of it. I was there for the delight of carrying in the groceries and tearing open the bags, but I didn't get to see the father come home from work to see all his hard earned money converted into groceries that would go bad and crap from the mall. He would get bullshit and make her take it all back to the store. You can imagine what that must be like, to take a whole carload of groceries back to the service desk and ask a high school drop out to redeem your money. She was too ashamed to go back to that supermarket and had to go a few towns over.

The spoof ad for spoof drug Dolorax at the top of the page appeared in Adbusters circa 2001. It claimed to be the clinical cure for consumption and was styled cleverly after the barrage of psychotropic drugs that were flooding the market. Though probably not intended to be prescience, this very moment research is being done on a synthetic drug that will do what Dolorax advertised. A study was completed and its findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry (I get it for the recipes) which found that one person in twenty are compulsive shoppers. It was even suggested that the condition be added to the DSM, since it is the cause of so many social, psychological and financial problems for sufferers. After all, gambling and drinking are regarded as social problems and they have similar effects to compulsive shopping, but it isn't really taken seriously because people assume it only affects rich women. Overconsumption hurts all classes, often being the cause of financial ruin or credit catastrophes. Men, as it turns out, also have a compulsive shopping problem, but because it is emasculating little attention is paid to it. Anti-depressants were helpful in treating compulsive shoppers, suggesting that maybe the problem is a symptom of something else, like deep depression, and should be treated that way.

Third World Farmer

This is a cool game