A Quantum Diaries Survivor

I read today on Repubblica , one of the leading italian newspapers, that muslims have surpassed catholics. One in five human beings believes in Allah.

Interesting to know, the reaction of the Vatican is rather bitter. They say the data has to be verified, no more and no less than a politician losing his or her seat by a small margin. But the data is provided by the World Christian Database, a US institute specialized in religious statistics. According to their estimates, muslims beat catholics 1.322 to 1.115 billions.

And it is getting worse for the catholics. Muslims have more children, so there is little hope than a spurt of evangelization of another crusade or two will change matters in the near future. Too bad the Church has made it harder for non-fertile couples to resort to in vitro practices in Italy, by their political pressure and sneaky meddling… They would have gained a bit there. However, the catholic church won some 70 million followers with the 2000 Jubilee. Time for another one ?

It is funny to see how the Vatican disagrees and exhibits a good dose of dialectic contorsions. Felix Machado, acting as a spokesman, explains that “statistics is not always accurate” for muslims, while the data of catholics is unquestionable: “we have certain data, with no error margin: every parish, even the farthest, records its baptized. We have the name of every one of our followers.[...] How can one say who is a buddhist and who is not ? Who is a muslim and who is not ?“

Well, dear Felix, I have news for you. I have been baptized, but as far as I am concerned you cannot count on me. I hereby claim to reject catholic religion, in case it was not clear. As for the other 1,114,999,999, they will have to be asked again if they feel catholic or not. Start soon, it might take a while.

I feel compelled to paste here a link to a short series of funny clips, based on the theme “stories that would have turned out different if the characters had had cell phones”. I think it is a brilliant idea, and I am kicking myself for being unable to give my own contribution. But maybe I will come up with something later… The nights here in the CDF Control room are longggg!

Update: ok, here is my contribution.

Scene: Marathon plains, 490BC. Corpses of Persian soldiers everywhere. A few ships in the background. Bodies afloat in the water. Greek soldiers looking for survivors. The general of the Athenian army Miltiades creeps in Pheidippides’ tent, where the latter is resting after his mission to Sparta to ask for help.

MILTIADES: “My faithful Pheidippides, Darius is defeated! Hurry, run to Athens as fast as you can, and announce that we finally kicked their butt here in Marathon!”

PHEIDIPPIDES: “General, I am just back from Sparta. It was a 150 miles run, I have a sore ankle and bleeding feet. I know Telepantheon charges a lot for roaming, but for this time only just give them a call, ok ?”