Factually correct and historically accurate

Greek Pirates, Peyton's Place, and the NCAA

2012-02-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Avast ye Greeks! Reuters has a bizarre way of looking at the Greek economic problem involving a kiddie pool, a pirate ship, and some rubber duckies. Certainly it oversimplifies everything about it but it's at least entertaining. I wish it had a bit more of a substantive discussion of what's going on because it doesn't address the proposals and interests of the parties as much as I'd like. I know very little about what's going on, but personally I feel like they're just trying to avoid the inevitable: a Greek default. Frankly I've been saying I'd probably rather they just go ahead and default already because I think that ship is going to sink either way, so why not save some cost and just get it over with already? Hopefully they prove me wrong.

Hitch did it best. Hitchcock really was a master at movie making and a very entertaining guy. Here's a list of quotes from Mental Floss. My favorite was "One of television's great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs." Very amusing list, just like his movies.

I miss 18. So Dave's Art Locker did me a favor by taking Peyton Manning's face and mashing it with every single NFL logo. Fabulous.

Saying goodbye is the hardest part. Great look at the pains and struggles of facing retirement as an NFL player. I still remember being in the locker room for our last high school football game and having our coaches mention how that was probably the end for pretty much all of us (especially me because I was terrible) and it was a somber, surreal feeling. I miss it every time I smell the fresh cut grass.

I really, really, really hate the NCAA. As an institution that is and I'll detail some of my thoughts about that in a second. But here's an interesting piece about a journalist declaring war on the NCAA and their retaliation in response. In all honesty I can't blame them for this retaliation, it seems like a wise and fair move based on what is going on. I know Jay Bilas feels like questioning this guy's motives isn't fair, but I do think that is a legitimate thing to bring up (although I doubt that's guiding what he's doing). It's an interesting battle and I'm curious how this all ends up since the NCAA has a lot of money and power, but it's also experienced a lot of ill will. That being said, those ratings still keep climbing so clearly it doesn't mean that much.

As far as my NCAA hatred, I could go on forever about it but here's some of my basic thoughts. The NCAA itself as an institution is a farce and it needs to seize power back. It is a centralized body that comes up with a lot of silly recruiting and other rules, but doesn't ever really bother to enforce them. Who cares about an organization that doesn't really have any real teeth? There needs to be greater scrutiny served by the NCAA upon schools.

Also, conferences as separate institutions need to be abolished. I understand what the functional purposes were as collegiate sports grew, not unlike the beginnings of many of the professional sports leagues. However, they've long outgrown their usefulness and there is too much power in the conferences and not enough of a sharing of the pot of money. I'm fine with keeping conferences for structural matchup purposes, but conference commissioners hold too much power and keep the NCAA sports from developing into what they could be.

As part of fixing conferences, officiating needs to be based in the NCAA. How silly of a farce is it that the NCAA has refs but they really all come through the separate conferences? You can't tell me that an SEC ref has a bias against even other major conference teams, much less mid-major or minor conference teams. How idiotic is it to incentivize refs to have a built in bias based on who their paycheck is really coming from?

Finally, abolish the BCS, but even the conference commissioners seem to realize that's one they can no longer resist.

Tweet of the day. Courtesy of Yahoo!'s Shutdown Corner NFL blog's Doug Farrar, an evaluation of the Jason Whitlock incident from over the weekend. Whitlock is an inflammatory idiot and this is a great witness of that.

Journal choice. I need a new journal for taking notes at Church. I always like to have something fun/goofy. I had a Harry Potter one at one point and most recently I had a Tootsie Pop journal with Mr. Owl. Well that one is filling up so I need to find a new one. I think I've narrowed it down to these two: a sock monkey riding a Vespa or a Mork and Mindy one. Sorry to you kids that aren't familiar with Mork from Ork. Figure the Nanoo Nanoo probably won't be as popular but I got a kick out of it. I'm also open to other suggestions, but I'm trying to keep price reasonably low, so let me know if you know of any other cool one's out there.

Marriage, An Unrelated Matter on the Constitution, and a Purple Squirrel

2012-02-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

On Prop 8. I'm going to try to give a better rundown on it after reading the decision (it's pretty long and I've got a number of things going on right now, so it might be a little while), but here are two great breakdowns about a lot of the issues at hand and the decision given. I felt like they're pretty even handed presentations and talk about it from a legal perspective. Also, here's the LDS Church's official statement.

Ladies and gentlemen to the 8th wonder of the world. No, I'm not talking about Hova, I'm talking about the U.S. Constitution. The NYTimes has an interesting, but misleading, piece on how the U.S. Constitution has fallen behind on influencing new constitutions. I'll explain a number of problems I have with it.

First, I don't feel like direct quotations of the Constitution necessarily translate to influence. I'll grant that I don't know what the evaluation standard is entirely, but from the way its presented it looks like they're looking for specific quoting. Could be interpreting that incorrectly though.

Second, for whatever reason our form of representative democracy has never really taken hold. Don't ask me why, but our bicameral system with a separate executive isn't particularly popular. I do know that one of the hesitations is the fact it is nigh impossible to get legislation through. The Founders intended it that way to try and protect the people from the oppression of the government. It has its pros and cons. Amending the Constitution is even more difficult, as the article points out. And I can't deny, on its face that's not a particularly attractive option. Especially for new governments forming, the people in charge want power! (My Constitutional Law professor always stresses that Con Law is about power.) Parliamentary systems grant more direct power to the legislature and often combining it with the executive (semi-presidential systems being an exception a la France or Russia). That makes passing laws a lot simpler and I can't deny if I was in power and forming a constitution, I'd be tempted to do the same. So that could explain a lot of the differences. I'd also imagine our system of federalism is not particularly common, but I'm not positive on that one.

Third, it's true, our Constitution does not enumerate many rights. Initially the rights granted in the Bill of Rights came as amendments and were not included in the original document. That really does limit a lot of the rights. Later amendments came to extend rights and the Supreme Court of the United States has expanded more of those rights through judicial interpretation. So the idea of enumerating those further rights is a little silly at this point. Of course our government, courts, and people haven't felt it right to extend some of the definitive rights mentioned in the article such as to food and housing.

So regardless of particular issues, I don't find it troubling that our Constitution isn't as influential. It is dated and a lot of it has been expanded through judicial review, so it may not meet the needs of everybody. But as they mentioned it's the longest living constitution around for now and that's just fine by me.

Iran knows how to party. Reuters has an interesting vid about the allies and influence of Iran. Enjoyable, though stuff I already was aware of from my political science background. Really the key thing is the Chinese and Russian support. 2 members of the UN Security Council adds up (though 1 is actually enough). So regardless of what the rest of the world may try, it's not going to have any real teeth as long as those two take care of Li'l Brudder. Mahmoud you're the only one for me.

And boom goes the dynamite. Apparently throwing a match down a Chinese sewer is a bad idea. Never would have guessed...

Just give me a team that can win. Everybody is excited because the Big Ten has finally said they want a playoff (after their recent bowl slump). Can't deny this is a big victory for college football, but the guys over at Vanquish the Foe (SBNation BYU site) seem to think this is promising for BYU. I can't deny that it is a good thing for us. It does increase our odds, presuming we ever play well enough to potentially qualify. But really that's the key issue, we haven't played that well for a while now. And so I'm not optimistic at all that we will field a potential national championship team anytime soon. I congratulate Bronco and the team for another 10 win season. That does mean a lot, not too many teams can do that as often as Bronco has done it. That being said, when you beat only 2 teams with a winning record in the season, that's really not saying much. Just hope the team gets better, we certainly have a lot of high points but the offensive line needs to figure out their run blocking and a running back needs to step up. Yes, I know Alisa showed some signs of brilliance, but we need a bit more than that. I'm willing to say that might have been the O line's fault though.

Just how big is Africa? Here's a sweet illustration. Of course Alaska didn't make it in there, but either way it certainly is impressive just how big Africa really is.

Can I swallow this bottle whole? A Native American tribe in South Dakota has decided to sue members of the beer industry for healthcare, social services, and child rehabilitation. I'm really curious to see how this plays out for a number of reasons. First, the legal status of Native American reservations is peculiar because they enjoy a pseudo-autonomous status. I can only imagine how murky that makes all of this and just somewhat unclear how it's going to play out. Second, their theory of negligence (I presume that's what they're calling it) is that the business continued to sell alcohol to the Native Americans even though they knew it was likely to end up on the reservation where it's outlawed. Should be an interesting case and I'm wondering if it can have some similar results like a lot of the cigarette litigation from a couple of decades ago. Potentially this could present some serious reform, so we'll see where it goes from here.

Old stuffy men in robes need to learn to deal with the modern world. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to allow tv coverage of Supreme Court arguments. This is great news, even though the justices don't like it. Look it's information that the public should have available immediately and I see no reasonable reason to keep the cameras out. They'll learn to deal with it.

I have no idea why this squirrel is purple.

Buffalos, Break ups, Battlestar Galactica (Well pirating it anyway)

2012-02-08T14:12:00.002-08:00

I'm going to punch a cougar. Recently stumbled onto Guy on a Buffalo. And if you haven't seen it, it's hysterical. Very clever and very well done. Somewhat old news now, but I know it hadn't made the rounds with most of my friends. Seriously worth your time:

Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when you're breaking up with friends. It's something that happens to us all, we move on. Interesting insight from NYTimes on the process. Personally I just stick with the Seinfeld approach. Also the Times should know, George invented the "It's not you, it's me".

I love TV SOPA-ing much. The NYTimes about the fight amongst different industries over how to handle piracy issues. It's an interesting discussion and there are a lot of conflicting interests going on. Of course I liked the argument they bring up with their anecdote at the beginning, since I'm a big sports fan. It's a difficult thing to manage what you can or can't get as far as TV offerings, especially because cable and satellite providers won't allow for an a la carte package of stations (most of the time). So what is a fan supposed to do? The internet sure provides some easy answers and typically there are ads that still run, so the advertisers are still happy at least.

I guess Tweeting while you drive is a good idea. The Brazilian government is putting the new Twitter regulations to work demanding Twitter shut down a few accounts that tweet out information about traffic stops. Very difficult issue because the information will just flow to somewhere else. Initially they tried to argue that the accounts didn't offer anything useful for society other than those traffic stops which was a useful argument, but the users just added more valuable driving information. I think this is going to be a fight the Brazilian government loses against its own people other than blocking individual tweets as they come.

Polish Goal Line FTW. Slate asks if the Giants took the 12 men on the field penalty intentionally? Short answer: No. However, that seems like a real potential issue. Per Mike Pereira if you keep intentionally committing penalties as a defense to run the clock it will result in a touchdown for the other team. But there's still a little bit of a problem there since that allowed the Giants to run some serious clock (although the extra man wasn't to their benefit). They might need to look into penalizing defenses a little more during those crunch moments. Anybody got any good suggestions?

Super plays. Great quick (very quick) looks at a couple of key plays from National Football Post: The Manningham Catch and Victor Cruz's TD. I typically enjoy a bit more meat than that, but it was a good look since I don't have DVR to watch over and over what exactly transpires on such key plays.

June Jones is a class act. Always been a big fan of his work. Charlie Weis, not so much and no surprise there. June Jones allows recruits to transfer but Charlie Weis resists. I give a knock on the lauding of Mack Brown for releasing recruits though. At places like Texas, USC, and Bama it's typically to their advantage to let go of somebody who doesn't pan out because they've got 20 other guys dying for a chance that might pan out. Other low class loser, Brian Kelly, throws a recruit under the bus for going to another team. Way to pick on an 18 year old, Coach. You stay classy.

Eat more War Eagle. Graham Watson bringing the laughs about a recruit who spurned Clemson over the lack of a Chick-Fil-A in the area, even though there was one on campus. Seriously one of the better names in college football right there, Cassanova McKinzy. My favorite I saw was Leviticus Payne. Any other good one's out there?

I want a recount! Puppy Bowl struck with controversy as SBNation questions whether or not the right puppy got the MVP. Sadly forgot to watch the Puppy Bowl this year, but it's a wonderful Superbowl tradition and I'm glad that Animal Planet produces it. Although I actually somewhat appreciated Madonna's halftime show, minus a few mishaps.

Heads or tails? Mental Floss with a quick rundown on whether or not flipping a coin is really a 50-50 proposition. Apparently it's more likely to land on the side that's up to begin with. I would have anticipated one side to be heavier than the other or something so that's interesting. Wonder if they specially weight them for the Superbowl coin toss or other sporting events? A glad hat tip to anybody that finds out if that's the case.

Twitter, the Moon, and $2 Reviews

2012-01-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

So I've virtually gone off the map as far as blogging, but decided it might be something worth getting back into. I've got comments I can (and do) make about anything and everything and I know sometimes a couple of people also care. Of course, aside from my commentary, I do know a lot of people are interested in the articles and links I come across through the day. So I think this is going to become a little bit more of a rundown of my articles from now on, my own Drudge moment. Occasionally I might dwell on some bigger topics and I hope to give some interesting insight especially with my religious side and my burgeoning law career (still got a while on the latter and the former is an eternal work in progress). So here's my rundown for the day of a few things I've come across that I think are worth noting and talking about.

First up, Twitter's changing their censorship policy. When I initially read about what was going on I was kind of confused at the big deal about it. A lot of people were pretty concerned about freedom of speech issues (it's meant to regulate speech in areas where speech isn't free). But apparently they used to shut down the comments to all of Twitter, but now they've figured out to regulate it just for certain areas. And they've even given you information on how to get around the IP list for your country so you can pretend to be posting from somewhere else. I highly recommend this post from technosociology to get an even better breakdown of how good this thing is for freedom of speech. I know, semi-counterintuitive but you'll find out why.

Some additional Twitter news: Nevada GOP to release election results via Twitter. Pretty cool idea to keep you informed. Also kind of enjoy the snub to the AP it is. Gotta stay up with the game if you want to play.

In NFL news, I'm worried we won't see more awesome flips from Jerome Simpson. In traditional Bengals fashion, he's found himself in legal trouble for marijuana trafficking. I would have thought if anybody would keep the Bengals tradition still going it would be Adam "Pacman" Jones for sure, but looks like Jerome Simpson is keeping it real.

In related criminal news, always recommend EDSBS's Fulmer Cupdate. Here's some background info on the Fulmer Cup. And if you need more college football satire and silliness, Spencer Hall's recruiting breakdown series is fabulous. Fair warning, the language is a bit harsh sometimes on that site.

I think most people have heard about Newt's ambitious moon plans, well here's my boy Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) giving a run down of it:

(Spoiler Alert: He says it's the pols who are the only setback. Maybe that means Newt could actually get this thing done if he's elected!?!?)

I've often heard that there were services that you could buy positive ratings from, this company decided to just refund their customers for 5 star reviews. That's the hard part about the internet ratings. It's easy to incentivize people to give positive reviews and most people (me included) are too lazy to write a review on things. Plus, I don't trust the general population's opinion (I mean they seem to like Geico ads and Flo). That's why I stopped looking at IMDB for movie ratings. People that usually take the time to write reviews on things (unless they're paid to do it) typically love or hate it and that's why they write the review. There's very few "normal" opinions on things so it's hard to get a true metered result. And that's why I stick to Rotten Tomatoes for my movie reviews and CNET is probably one of the better places for reviews on pretty much anything else.

In some more silliness news, great post by Poynter about how the New York Post verified the infamous "Headless Body in Topless Bar" headline. Kind of funny thing about society sometimes, truly horrific crime that's been committed by I don't think anybody can deny the humor in it. And to leave off, a fabulous article from NPR on what Liam Neeson should punch next. I think my favorite suggestion is Warranty. What do you enjoy?

Also, make sure you watch the BYU-SMU game tonight. Should be a good one. Go Cougs!

I Just Want to Bring Fire to the People

2011-06-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Superman Returns - Do You Know The Story Of Prometheus?

So this was a post I originally devised quite some time ago but never actually wrote. I love this clip from Superman Returns. Lex Luthor is such a masterful villain. Really there is so much to admire of him. He almost seems like a man of the people in his behavior and his schemes. Of course, where he goes wrong is when he tries to get that cut for himself; not to mention his schemes often involve the harming of other individuals. I guess I often see a lot of Lex in myself.

I've found that I'm very big on the rule of law in my life. I want to see that maxim of equality to shine through to the people as a whole. I believe whole heartedly that someday when I'm brought before God and Jesus Christ for judgement that a very similar principle will be applied. So when I see these inequities in my life or the lives of others, it sorely vexes me.

Unfortunately I'm sure that I'm not nearly as selfless as I would like to be in these ambitions. I know there's often a bit too much Lex in me and I want my cut for myself. I feel like I get wronged and want that justice. However, I know it still bothers me even more when I see it happen to others.

I really don't know what the solution to this problem is though. Capitalist economics seem to dictate most of how the world works. Of course the interesting thing about the economic system in which we live is that it still provides an opportunity for a lot of the main principles to be seemingly violated. Capitalism typically works off of a meritocracy in which your good work is rewarded. However, the more I see of the world, the more I see a game of politics really running even the economics of the day. Right man, right place, right time seems to run what happens more than hard work.

I think of my dad a lot with this kind of idea. I really admire my father a lot because I know how hard he has worked for my family to get us to where we are. My father used to commute for a number of hours each day to provide for our family. He was highly loyal to the companies he worked for and was a long time, valuable employee for them. Unfortunately (and I will say this with the disclaimer that this is what I've gleaned of the circumstances and may not be entirely accurate) his loyalty was more of a grounds for him to not necessarily have opportunities to advance and be rewarded for his loyalty and hard work. Now I could never say with any certainty what sort of employee my father is; I've never been his employer. However, I have a hard time believing that the sort of dedication he put forth was rewarded as was right.

Sometimes the world is kind of rough place. It's interesting having the lens of my Political Science BA to look through everything. It makes me understand and appreciate that politicking is a real phenomenon that I have to deal with in my working experience.

Article Wednesday: How Slavery Really Ended in America

2011-05-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I decided that I would make a regular segment where I talk briefly about a good article I read over the past week (maybe sometimes multiple) and share that with everybody. I often share articles on Facebook as I know most of you are aware, but this one will only be found in my blog. I probably won't divulge a ton about the article since I would love to have you read it, but I might talk about it a bit, especially if it brings forth particular thoughts or ideas.

The article I'm sharing this week is entitled "How Slavery Really Ended in America" by Adam Goodheart. I liked this article because it taught me something about the history of the Civil War and the ending of slavery I never really knew. Basically a number of slaves escaped to a fort in the north where they could be held as "contraband" to avoid having returning to their masters. This was a very difficult political subject due to the current laws of the land and many of the current policies even. These circumstances were something that President Lincoln was even aware of and had to deal with.

It really is interesting to see how much of a role this seems to have had in the abolition of slavery. I'm fascinated by the fact that the moral and just concept of abolition came about due to one man's understanding of the law and his desire to exploit the enemies of the Union rather than necessarily try to do what was right.

Overall it's a wonderful look into a bit of history long forgotten by most that quite possibly had a significant influence on the abolition of slavery in America.

Five and Dime Store

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.

- "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul

What's up my nickels? (Hat tip: Daniel Tosh)

So my dating life is often a popular topic around many of my former coworkers. Most of them are female and most of them are married, so they look for the drama and excitement in the lives of others. So of course girls have to know exactly what is going on in your dating life, which means they're usually pretty bored by my dating life.

During this conversation I met a new girl in my old department. She was a rather attractive young lady, intelligent, and witty (and single). So of course she could not hold back on offering her opinion on my dating life. She told me that I needed to start setting my sights lower and stop chasing dimes. I couldn't help but laugh because I know I've never been accused of chasing dimes, but I have occasionally been accused of shooting a little too low (or not chasing at all). I did find it funny as well because she was a lot closer to a dime than a nickel.

Kind of a depressing thought to intentionally aim lower though. Especially because when I think of aiming lower, I think more of aiming lower on standards than looks. Maybe I am too hard on girls in other ways though. I often have a pretty high intellectual and maturity status that I look for in a woman (which is kind of ridiculous because I typically act like a five year old). But I guess I'm just too content to kick it with Professor Henry Higgins.

Surprise, Insecurity, and the Mormon Experience*

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easy to identify.
Look me in the eye
and ask for forgiveness;
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again.
Yes, you are my friend.

We all have something that digs at us.
At least we dig each other.
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday.

- "Dig" by Incubus

So it's been forever since I've written. And I know the whole two of you that might actually read this might be disappointed that it's been so long. I'll try to be back for real this time, we'll see how it all goes.

I guess I'm hitting an interesting point in my life where everything is closing and opening all at once so it's gotten me thinking about a lot of things. I always put off the tough guy, nothing bothers me vibe but I guess it's finally catching up with me.

I want to say first of all, I have wonderful friends. The people that I've really been able to count on in my life and are always there for me, I'm blessed to have you in my life and I know I'm a better person for merely having your association. I get by with a little help from my friends. Of course I look at where I'm at with my life and I kind of think I probably should be relying a bit heavier on my oldest friend. I know for a fact that I've let my testimony in the Gospel of Jesus Christ slip a bit in recent months and that hurts and it's a realization that I need to take some corrective maneuvers. However, I don't want this to feel completely like some religious self-loathing piece so I won't focus on this too heavily. I know that I have a Father in Heaven that loves me dearly and I'm grateful for that. I also know I am a son of Deity and because of that I know I am an amazing person and have a great potential. Every day of my life is fantastic because I get to spend it with me and I'm fantastic.

So if I actually have any readers out there that don't realize where I'm at in life, I've recently started a new job doing IT work for Vivint. It's been a really great experience and I've learned a ton. It was tough at first and it was hard for me because it was the first time in quite some time that I felt really lost when I was trying to do my work. It was a whole new world to learn and experience. Go figure though, it's been a couple of months and I already feel like I've learned how to handle it pretty well. There's always something new to learn every day which is awesome. Also, I officially have been accepted to law school and I will be starting at Creighton in the fall. I'm really excited for this opportunity.

This puts me in an interesting circumstance currently. The Brethren have put a renewed emphasis on marriage recently and I've typically had more of a Wayne Campbell attitude. Three months. That's roughly the amount of time I have between now and when I go out to Creighton. Six and a half years. That's roughly the amount of time I've been home from my mission and back at BYU. Seven years. I'd say that's about the average difference in age between me and most girls I'm around at BYU. I don't care for those statistics much but unfortunately the math does add up.

Now what's really brought this on was a realization while I was on a date this weekend that I felt really inadequate because I didn't feel like I could carry a conversation much. I don't know how many of you know me pretty well, but I have a lot to say about a lot of things. That scares me when I have a hard time finding stuff to stay. And unfortunately it hasn't just been during the date that I've struggled. I've been finding it difficult in life to go out of my bubble and make new friends and associations and to find common ground to talk about. This used to be second nature for me. I don't understand.

[Note: So I know if anybody does actually care enough to go out of their way to read this, they probably want to know about my date. I had a wonderful time. She's a really awesome girl, I plan on there being at least one more and we'll see where it goes from there.]

During my date we decided to make a wish. Since I was half concerned the date wasn't going well and I was feeling rather reticent through most of the date, I wished that I could stop being such. K pestered me quite a bit to know what I wished for but I definitely did not give it up. Of course with that experience of a date and with all of the conversations I've tried to have since the change of the semester in this ward I've struggled to really say much. If anybody has any good pointers on what I can do to get myself out of this funk I'm all ears.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." I'm hoping to find some of the faults in me and dig them out, I think I'm counting on the me from yesterday.

*This title is a play off of a book from a political scientist. I figured I wanted people to at least somewhat appreciate this allusion so I'd let them into my inside joke.

Hat Tippin

2010-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today I read an interesting article from the New York Times about plagiarism. Basically the youth of our society (the new generation of college students) doesn't see anything wrong with plagiarism anymore. Most internet media is perceived to be fair game. The removal of books in our lives has convinced the youth of today that ideas don't really belong to anybody, but rather our a collective property of society.

One thing I often consider is the way I share information on Facebook. All the time I am posting articles or videos that interest me or make me laugh. And of course I notice plenty of my friends repost things I've posted. Can I always say with absolute certainty they got it from me? No, certainly not. But it's rare to see a "hat tip" given out even though there is a chain of information passing. I realize these hat tips are small gestures to somebody who doesn't even own the idea, but there's something in the discovery and giving credit for that discovery.

In the article they quote a Ms. Wilensky for her ideas on what is creativity. She states, “You’re not coming up with new ideas if you’re grabbing and mixing and matching... It may be increasingly accepted, but there are still plenty of creative people — authors and artists and scholars — who are doing original work. It’s kind of an insult that that ideal is gone, and now we’re left only to make collages of the work of previous generations."

I think Ms. Wilensky has a jaded definition of what new ideas are. Everything we draw upon to create is based upon previous experience. Even when we develop the new or original it is because of past lessons learned. Now, I don't think this is necessarily the same as what she describes as "grabbing and mixing and matching." I think mashups are a good example of that. Something mildly creative, but not really taking ideas to a new level. However, as a student of political science, I often wrote papers that I'm sure were not completely new or groundbreaking ideas. However, their was an originality to it because of my route of discovery that lead to it. My experiences helped to unfold these ideas in a different light than many who came before me. And in turn I presented it to the world anew.

This communal property idea of knowledge and ideas destroys a lot of individuality. It decreases the incentive to produce and create more. I think the real problem with this plagiarism and communal knowledge comes from the desire to simply use it for personal gain rather than help return it to something greater for society. The availability of knowledge is a wonderful gift, but if we simply steal it, claim it as our own, and return nothing for it we are simple thieves. However, if we grow from these tidbits of knowledge and find a way to return something greater to society we will see immense progression from society.

The Ever Classy Large Benjamin

2010-06-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

To say that Ben Roethlisberger has been in the news a bit lately is a bit of an understatement. Frankly, I don't even want to get into all of the garbage he's been accused of lately. If you want to know anything about that, read his Wikipedia entry. But if you've heard anything about the guy I think it's quickly become apparent that he is not a classy guy.

Well, Roethlisberger decided to give the media another doozie recently. A couple of the Pittsburgh area TV stations interviewed him and he decided to make some statements to his fans about his recent behavior. When I saw the headline on ESPN, I figured that was a smart PR move and something long overdue. However, when I actually read what they had to say I was even more appalled.

The lede from ESPN:

A contrite Ben Roethlisberger said he got caught up in being a caricature called Big Ben, not the grounded player and person he once was, leading to his off-field problems and affecting his play as the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.

Now referring to Ben as contrite is only appropriate. He took an opportunity to apologize, which in some cases can be laudable; in his case I would say it was necessary. However, when I think of contrition I think of deep sorrow and remorse for actions and I don't think that's what came from Mr. Roethlisberger. The whole idea of getting caught up in the "caricature" of "Big Ben" seems to be him looking for an opportunity to escape his guilt. This man is hardly at all removed from his terrible behaviors and it seems like more of his foolish "caricature" is popping up all the time. To simply write off these mistakes so simply does not seem like the heart of a changed man. To me, it seems like Ben isn't willing to own up to his mistakes.

As you read in the article further, you see more and more it was this awful "Big Ben" person that caused all the problems, but really Ben Roethlisberger is a good guy. I say that's a bunch of baloney. Big Ben and Ben Roethlisberger are one in the same. Own up to your actions and accept the stupid decisions you made and apologize for them. I don't want to see some straw man strung up that is an alter ego of yourself. Who do you think you are? Bruce Wayne?

Another sign that clearly he's still going about things wrong is his admission that he "wanted to apologize to them for so many things." With what he says of it, it's clear that his "desire to apologize" has been something that he chose to wait on. That doesn't sound like contrition to me. Why wait to make these statements until now? Ben, I'm glad you've decided to change but I really hope it's for real.

For how much Roethlisberger gets discussed in the sporting news, I'm surprised this one flew under the radar so much. Maybe others were more convinced of his turning a new leaf. I'm not so optimistic. I think he understands a lot of things need to change if he's going to keep playing football, but I don't feel like he's going to mystically become a good guy. He has a long way to go and I hope a lot of other sports figures learn from his dumb mistake so we see fewer people making these kinds of mistakes.

By the Power of Greyskull

2010-02-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

So I went to my roommates' basketball game this evening and it was a blowout. I came back to go on a run. As I started to get ready, I went out in the front room to chat with my roommates Matty Cakes and Squints. I started putting on my socks and lacing up my sneakers as Nancy Drew opened the front door. He was standing there with his girlfriend and I said "Hi" to them both. Of course she sat there with an absolutely terrified look on her face because I hadn't put on my shirt quite yet.

She acted like she was about ready to run away and really did not want to come into the apartment. I just kept going, I wasn't going to let it phase me. It wasn't the end of the world. Besides I make a pretty good living on the weekend like this guy.

Nancy Drew made the comment it was just like I was going swimming so it wasn't that big of a deal, but she wasn't biting. She came inside with incredible hesitancy and continued to ignore me even after I put a shirt on.

I'm kind of surprised about it, she went hot tubbing the other night with Nancy Drew and so she clearly saw him with his shirt off. Nancy Drew kind of looks like this without a shirt on:

And I, without a shirt on, look a lot like this:

Domino's Finally Decides to Make Pizza

2010-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I really wish I had a lot to say about this, but I'll let Mr. Colbert speak for me instead:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Alpha Dog of the Week - Domino's Pizza

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Economy

I remember seeing the ad for the new pizza and being like "Huh, maybe I should check that out." It didn't even cross my mind that they basically were suggesting that they've been giving people the most worthless garbage possible for who knows how long. Good for the Domino's CEO to admit, "The weakness in our value chain with the customer was really in our core product." Interesting that he made that quote on the same day he bailed to be the new AD for Michigan.

This whole thing is crazy enough to make you say Ay Caramba!

Hawaii Bowl

2009-12-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

I love June Jones. I was always really impressed with his Run and Shoot style offense at Hawaii. The offense wasn't predicated on the players, but rather the style of play. He was able to take just regular QB's and turn them into passing monsters and most teams had a very difficult time stopping them. Unfortunately for him, Hawaii left him kind of high and dry and so he went to SMU. This will be a big, emotional return for him. The Mustangs had a rather remarkable season. Ever since receving NCAA sanctions back in the 80's, they've struggled to say the least. Now with Jones comes new hope.

Of course getting by Nevada is going to be difficult. The Wolfpack boast a fantastic rushing game in their Pistol offense. This season they had three 1,000 yard rushers, but that's all meaningless now. The only rusher they can count on is QB Colin Kaepernick because their other two are out, one due to academic ineligibility and the other due to a toe injury. Of course I would say Kaepernick is the most dangerous one, plus he's the QB so the most vital to have. This should be a fun game to watch because of the explosive offenses. Both teams also struggle with defence so they should really run up the score. I'm predicting a 10 point victory for Nevada. I don't think the lack of their rushers will be enough to slow them down against a mediocre SMU team.

I predict the Wolfpack to win 44-34.

ESPN has this as a rather lopsided contest, but I'm not sure their computer simulations were run without the Nevada RB's.

Day 4: 1-0 Overall: 3-2

2009-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I didn't see the game last night, but I know the Utes were down 14-0 pretty early so I'm reasonably surprised to see they came back. Definitely not happy about that, but there's always a silver lining to everything. The best part was the fact that somebody hired an airplane to fly over the stadium and taunt the Utes with a banner that read "We won. You lost. You are classless." Pretty awesome. I'm probably going to watch the game sometime today and see what I missed, sounds like it was probably a pretty decent game to watch. And as I said leading up to the game, Coach Whit really knows how to get his guys going for the bowl games. Still a pretty tame schedule for the bowl games today, only one. Then we get a day off for Christmas and I get the Christmas gift I want, 3 bowl games the next day. I love being able to watch bowl games all the time.

Poinsettia Bowl

2009-12-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Before the Las Vegas Bowl, I felt like I had this game pegged as well. We had seen pretty strong play from the Pac-10 this season for the most part, so it seemed only logical that they would have a good bowl season. As was mentioned about 50 times during the Las Vegas Bowl, the Pac-10 went undefeated in bowl play last season. They're off to a rough 0-1 start this season and may be in position for an 0-2. Jahvid Best is not playing for Cal and Utah proved a formidable opponent for the Pac-10 Champion Oregon Ducks.

Maybe Best being gone isn't that serious. His replacement, Shane Vereen, has been rather respectable himself. Of course the Cal season was a rather serious disappointment. Also, they were run over by the same Oregon Ducks that barely beat Utah the week before. The Golden Bears ended their season with a disappointing loss to the University of Washington. Cal coach, Jeff Tedford, has always impressed me and I've enjoyed what he's done up there for the Golden Bears. The question is, will it be enough?

Seeing BYU's drubbing of Oregon State last night gave me some serious pause about how good the Pac-10 really is. The Beavers barely lost the Civil War, yet were completely run over by the Cougars. Now maybe there are some pretty reasonable explanations to this. The wind obviously just did not work out at all for the Beavers, versus the Cougars learned to work around it. But that is part of the game and at the end of the day, the Cougars adapted better so they got the W. As I've stated, Utah really gave the Ducks a run for their money. Utah coach, Kyle Whittingham, does a really good job of getting his guys fired up for big games. There always seems to be a better intensity out of the Utes than I see out of the Cougars and I hate Whit for it. (Random side note: that's a pretty lousy picture of Coach Whit on his Wikipedia entry, but of course it's still not quite as embarrassing as this) Also, Whittingham seems to develop great game plans for situations like this and takes exactly the right risks to make everything work out for his team in these kinds of situations. Undeniably Utah has some pretty gifted athletes on offense and they still play a very intense brand of defence even after losing so many starters from last year.

Yet again, before yesterday I was all set. I was determined to pick Cal. But after reconsidering this game a bit more heavily from talking to some friends and seeing just how unimpressive the Pac-10 can be, I have to go with Utah. I think the Utes will win by a touchdown, but I hope their game looks more like the BYU game and they play the part of OSU.

I predict Utah to win 24-17.

ESPN expects this to be a close one as well, but gives a slight edge to Cal.

Day 3: 0-1 Overall: 2-2

2009-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well I think saying I was way off on my BYU pick would be an understatement. Of course through all the "I told you so" comments I've been getting, I still didn't get anybody assuring me of a BYU victory before the game. So I'm willing to eat my humble pie and admit to mistake on that game. I can't imagine I'm liable to get one as wrong as I did on that again, so it is even more embarrassing that it was my own team that I picked against in such a fashion. Also, that was the first game I actually got to watch so that was nice. I'm going to miss out on the Poinsettia Bowl this evening, but I have it recording at home so I'll be able to watch it tomorrow. I'm going to watch the Wyoming game at some point as well because that was recorded. Bowl season is really going to start rolling shortly, I'm excited. Also, we'll see how well my prognostication goes from here. Our first multi-bowl day comes the day after Christmas. I'm excited.

Las Vegas Bowl

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'll say it right now, I think BYU is going to lose. I'm going to catch all sorts of flak for that comment from so many of my fellow Cougars about how I'm not a true fan and such, but I really don't care. This isn't about who I like as a team, this is about being objective and trying my best to make accurate picks of the bowl season. I don't think too many people care too much about what I have to say and if people actually read what I wrote for each of these games, they would probably disagree with a lot of what I have to say. So I guess I need to explain my reasoning.

First and foremost lets give Oregon State their due. The Beavers are a very strong football team that gave Pac-10 Champion, Oregon, a good run for their money. OSU has a very explosive offensive with plenty of talent in the backfield, including excellent QB play from Sean Canfield. There are definitely a lot of offensive weapons. Defence may seem a bit spottier, especially after seeing the score of the Civil War shootout.

Now on the other hand lets look at the Cougars. Obviously they have a very high power offense and an equally powerful defence when they choose to show up and play. Which defence we see tonight will have a dramatic impact on the outcome of the game. I certainly expect big games out of most of their skill players. I think one of the most telling signs is BYU's ineptitude against ranked teams, especially in the Max Hall era. Certainly the win against Oklahoma was a marquee win for any program given where they were coming from and where BYU was, however, the Cougars' performance against other ranked teams has been lackluster at best and downright abysmal against opponents such as the Utes last season. Also, OSU has a higher Sagarin Rating than any team BYU has beaten in the Bronco Mendenhall era.

Both of these teams have something to prove, but when it comes down to getting emotional and fired up for games, BYU seldom seems to find it. I think the emotion and skill crew of OSU sees the Beavers through this shootout. Expect a lot of scoring from both high powered offenses, but the OSU defence will make sure everything goes as they hope. I'm picking the Beavers by 10.

I predict a 37-27 victory for the Beavers. Please prove me wrong Cougs.

ESPN gives BYU the slight edge in this game.

Day 2: 0-1 Overall: 2-1

2009-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I missed a pick pretty early. I can't say I'm too surprised because they were such largely inconsequential teams. My score pick was pretty close, I just had the wrong winner. Hopefully there aren't too many more of the smaller bowl games that get me like that. I'm pretty satisfied with a 2-1 and overall though and I'm excited for the bowl games to get more into the swing of things.

New Orleans Bowl

2009-12-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

We've come to our first bowl with an official sponsor in the name and I'm going to do my best to disregard any company that has paid enough money to have their name listed in the bowl (we're all hosed as far as the Emerald Bowl is concerned though). This is a showing of two schools that most people would rather not acknowledge even exist. Southern Miss is a team that people at least know the name somewhat, but couldn't say much of anything more. I'll bet a lot of people didn't even realize there was a Middle Tennessee State, much less name their mascot.

This is a game that I'm not expecting a whole lot of defence on, so whoever steps up to make an occasional big defence play is likely to get the win. Both power reasonably explosive offenses, but come from rather wimpy conferences. The Blue Raiders have a tendency to turn some heads it seems with every viewing I ever get of them. Of course, they're still part of the Sun Belt conference which makes them pretty lousy. I give Conference USA an edge as far as that standard. Also, this is virtually a home game for the Golden Eagles since the trip over to New Orleans is not terribly far and I think the Golden Eagles' fan base cares a lot more. The Blue Raiders certainly have something to prove, I just don't expect to see it tonight. I give the game to the Golden Eagles by less than 10.

I predict a 42-34 victory for the Golden Eagles.

ESPN thinks this will be a reasonably close one as well.

Day 1: 2-0

2009-12-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

The picks looked like they went pretty well and no overly big surprises. I did pick Wyoming-Fresno State to be a close one and I would say double overtime qualifies for that. Rutgers beat up on UCF even more than I expected, but it was pretty lopsided as I anticipated. Unfortunately I didn't get to catch either of the games, so I really don't know a whole lot about how they played out. I'm hoping to catch at least some of the game this evening, but I've got some plans that I know will cause a conflict at least some of the time. Only one game today though, rather slow day. Should see my pick on the game up shortly.

St. Petersberg Bowl

2009-12-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ready for one of the more boring bowl games? This is definitely it. You get a battle between two sets of Knights, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (they like to pretend they're fancy or something) and the University of Central Florida Knights.

I haven't seen either team play much this season and couldn't even pretend to name a player from either side off the top of my head. That being said, I still expect Rutgers to take it to UCF. Rutgers has a 4 year bowl game win streak going on that I really don't expect to see stopping this year. Coach Greg Schiano knows what he's doing up there and can get it done. It's been surprising to see him fall off as much as they have, but it's hard to argue with the bowl game record.

I predict the Scarlet Knights by 14+, 38-21 Rutgers.

ESPN's Accuscore gave this game a surprisingly close rating.

New Mexico Bowl

2009-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

The first bowl game of the season is the New Mexico Bowl. Neither team is from New Mexico (of course I'm pretty sure there's only 2 in the state) and neither one is particularly good. Wyoming looked terrible for most of their season this year. And frankly, other than giving BSU a slight scare, I'm not sure Fresno State has looked all that good either.

Obviously you have to be on the lookout for Bulldog runningback Ryan Mathews. He poses a respectable threat for any team, especially for a team as lousy as Wyoming. Of course the Wyoming quarterback, Austyn Carta-Samuels, turned some heads in a lackluster MWC this season by winning freshman of the year honors.

I think Fresno State isn't all that strong this season, versus they're playing a Wyoming team that is on a serious rise. For those reasons, I give the game to the Cowboys by 3. Wyoming is going to have their work cut out for them, but I just don't see the overall play of Fresno being that good. This should have a reasonably high score because Fresno doesn't play great defence, but Wyoming is still going to have a hard time stopping Mathews. I predict a 31-28 victory for Wyoming.

For further breakdown, check out how crazy ESPN thinks I am.

Bowl Kickoff

2009-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well today is officially the first day of the bowl games so I'm going to start up my breakdown of the bowl games again. I don't feel quite as up on college football this season even though it doesn't necessarily seem like I saw any less. We'll see how it goes. The goal is to have a breakdown of every single bowl game and my running total on my picks.

What Does She Have to Do With Basketball Tickets?

2009-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I went to The Rockets website off a link from Ball Don't Lie's 10 Man Rotation. And I saw this banner ad:

Call me crazy, but I don't think she's working the phones... There would be a lot of poor, ignorant, redneck fans out there if they could only figure out how to get on the internet.

Comic Books

2009-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

"You know what this has to do with? The man in the cape--I bet you he is mixed up in this! I don't trust men in capes."
"You can't cast aspersions on someone just because they're wearin' a cape. Superman wore a cape. An' I'll be damned if I'm gonna stand here an' let you say something bad about him."
"All right Superman's the exception."
- Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza in The Chinese Woman

So I think I was a pretty typical little boy. I played sports, loved video games and cartoons. Also, my friends got me into comic books. Comic books are pretty amazing. I mean you collect them, they have value, and they're fun to read and look at. The funny thing about it too, you could talk about comics and superheros for hours. I mean come on, everybody has imagined having super powers. And then there's also all the speculating on exactly how super powers work and such.

So the other day I was talking about Matty Cakes because C. had commented on my previous blog post. C. is one of my most faithful readers and I love her for it (and I will give her blog a shameless promotion right now. Seriously, go check it out it's fabulous and will totally brighten your day). Now C. does some very interesting things in her writing. If she ever quotes herself at the beginning of her posts, it's always as C. However, she quite often refers to herself as Smalldog, being both the name of her post and her chosen pen name. This interesting contradiction struck me as being a bit odd. So I wondered why the disparity exactly. Are C. and Smalldog different personae? C. is a darling, intelligent girl. Smalldog often has a fierce bite and describes her circumstances as "Ever been bigger on the inside than you were on the outside? Happened to me…" suggesting some ferocity on the inside of that small frame (yes, C. is small in stature). Is C. Bruce Banner and Smalldog The Hulk?

This is just a simple example of how comic books really can be applied to everything. Even in the beginning, comic books often had their own lessons to teach society. Clearly the classic characters were not typically as jaded and conflicted of characters, but rather they stood for things like "Truth, justice, and the American way!" The X-Men, which is definitely my favorite comic book series, was all about teaching the idea of accepting others that are different than you. The movies took this to another level by having some major anti-homophobic overtones undoubtedly due to the influence of openly gay director Brian Singer. Many of the comic book movies have taken up the charge of teaching moral lessons. I even had a Sunday School class in which the teacher referenced Spiderman 3 because he saw the major theme as being the idea of forgiveness. Really it is amazing what can be found in these comic books.

Because of all of this, it really is possible to apply comic books to pretty much everything in life. There is almost always some sort of connection that can be drawn from comic books and it makes me happy. I thoroughly enjoy looking at the parallels and realizing that one of my best friend's has The Hulk for a wife. Also, Matty Cakes is kind of like Professor Xavier because he's severely confined by his current physical limitations but capable of great things with his mind. Psycho T is kind of like Beast, the physical feats he's able to accomplish are just unreal. And Nancy Drew is like the the one wimpy superhero that everybody is always having to bail out and always whines all the time. There's also that guy in my fantasy sports leagues that is always my Lex Luthor. Thankfully I know I can take a stand against him for the sake of "Truth, justice and the American way!"

The Convent

2009-09-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?

- Hamlet in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act I Scene iii

So I moved into a new apartment recently, it's called Coventry Apartments. But the joke went around pretty quickly amongst the roomies, even before we moved in, of calling it "The Convent" since nobody could seem to keep the name of it straight and Coventry and Convent aren't too far off. I'm starting to realize this place may very well live up to its nickname quite well.

The whole moving process got off to a really rocky start. First, we had a terrible time getting up with the manager to move in on our scheduled day. Thankfully, on the day before our move-in he finally gave me a call back. Of course this was where the bad news began. Now I suppose I should preface this with the fact that I wasn't overly impressed with this place when we visited. I thought it felt a bit small and seemed a bit rundown. Of course me and what's left of the 203 boys were hoping to stay together and it was hard to find a 4 man apartment this late, so I reluctantly signed on with the rest. Well as I spoke with the manager on the phone he informed me that somebody was told by the original manager that they could stay in our apartment until 2 days after our move-in date. This presented an obvious problem so he asked if we could switch apartments. I didn't see any large problems with this so I agreed.

Then came the time for the actual move-in. As I walked into the apartment I was reminded quickly just how tiny the place was. Also, this particular apartment looked absolutely trashed. It had been cleaned mostly, but the walls were just a mess and the carpet was lousy. Also, it became very apparent just how tiny the kitchen area really was (I didn't pay too close attention the first time) and the lack of a full sized fridge and stove. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy. I was given another rude awakening when I found out that they were shared bedrooms because one of my roommates claimed it was single bedrooms. I proclaimed to Psycho T and Nancy Drew "Who do I need to kick in the junk for this?" I was definitely not happy and I wanted somebody to experience my pain and wrath.

Luckily we informed the manager that this apartment was not up to par for us and we would like to move into our originally planned apartment. He was fine with that, just I had to live out of my suitcase for another couple of days before we moved across the way. I can't even tell you how much the difference was like night and day. The walls were painted and the carpet seemed like it had been replaced sometime in the new millennium. Almost everything was in better shape and just looked nicer in general. This was at least livable.

Of course I think the real problem of why I may very well be doomed to an eternally celibate lifestyle by this apartment is the fact that it still is rather dumpy and small. It definitely is not a good way to impress girls to invite them over to your crummy little apartment. Oh well, not like my dating life has had much of anything to it for quite some time anyway.

Remember When 203 Had a Blog?

2009-07-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

So the 203 Blog is dead. It was sad to see it go, but it pretty quickly became a Matty Cakes and me production (which would make for a great production company name, I should copyright that) and even that fizzled out eventually. That being said, I guess it would be good to give a quick rundown of the legendary 203.

So Jefe went and got married. Yep, it's done. It was a fun reception and a fun wedding day. One of my favorite parts of the day was listening to the father of C. recount the whole experience of her dating from his end. He's over in the UK so he would only hear much through phone calls and kept notes on a spreadsheet. Basically Jefe was the only normal one and eventually he became the only one.

Jimmy graduated and is now doing an accounting internship out in the San Jose area for KPMG. He's living with his parents and he sounds like he's having a lot of fun. KPMG took all the interns out to Disneyworld for a week earlier in the summer and he's made himself a nice little purchase of a new 2010 Prius. Pretty sweet. In the fall he's getting his MAC at Utah State so he won't be our roommate anymore. It definitely brings a tear to my eye.

Jordan (I need a decent nickname for him) is off in Chicago doing a PR internship. I haven't heard much from him, but he sounds like he's doing well and it must be an incredible internship.

Psycho T is working as an athletic trainer for sports camps on campus. He really sounds like he's enjoying it, but we don't see him too much because he's always pretty busy.

Matty Cakes is still working and hanging out. He's become my new buddy to run around town with. Of course he gets to leave town for a while this week, so I get the place to myself for the most part.

As for myself, I started a new job recently at APXAlarm in the Licensing Department. Basically I make sure the reps and techs in California and Canada are licensed to sell and install. It's been a fun job and I absolutely love my coworkers. It's been a good experience.

In the fall 203 is downsizing by moving into a 4 man apartment now that were out Jimmy and Jefe. I've never lived in a 4 man place so that should be interesting. It's right next to campus which is interesting since that really doesn't make a difference for me now that I'm graduated. I'm looking to work for a while before I begin law school. Life is good though.

Ode to the Remote Control

2009-07-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

You were never there for me were you mother? You expected Mike and Carol Brady to raise me! I'm the bastard son of Claire Huxtable! I am a Lost Cunningham! I learned the facts of life from watching "The Facts of Life"! Oh God!
- Chip Douglas The Cable Guy

So early in the summer my beloved TV bit the dust (it was an Akai, DO NOT EVER BUY AKAI! one of the worst purchases I've ever made). So for a little while we braved the times without it and that was definitely a pain for me. I absolutely love movies and sports, so not having a TV was unbearable. Thankfully, my roommate, Mr. Potter, brought us a TV so now we're able to watch TV and movies again. Of course the thing I've noticed is I still don't watch quite as much as I used to, especially TV. And I think I know what the reason is for this: The TV Remote. This new TV does not have a remote. I've found it's really annoying to get up even just to turn it on, not to mention changing stations and controlling the volume. I know it's all so pathetic, but when you grow used to this convenience it really is such a sad thing to be missing it. And so what have I done in response? Just not watched much TV. I still watch movies, which I have a remote for the DVD player (although I obviously still have to put the DVD into the player) and a remote for my surround sound (which only works with the DVD player).

But appreciate your remotes people, they are indeed wonderful devices. I think back to the TV's that used to have knobs (which I have used on occasion) and it's just amazing how somebody didn't develop something like the remarkable remote control sooner.

I look forward to the day that I get a new TV and get a remote once again.

Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I went to the midnight showing which was definitely a lot of fun. There were all sorts of people dressed up in various goofy outfits. The theater had even labeled the different theaters as though they were different classes at Hogwarts. I was kind of surprised the employees weren't dressed up. Obviously this movie is going to be huge, I mean the theater was having showings at 3 in the morning because so many people wanted to go see it.

That being said, here's my review: It sucked. Now I can imagine I'm going to have a lot of people screaming at me for that and I'll give my reasoning, but I suppose first I should give my Harry Potter background. I have never cracked a single one of the books. It seems like any time there's movies made from books, that's the first question you get from somebody. So I can imagine I'll get berated for that one already. Now, I have seen all of the movies, most of them multiple times. I'm not sure how many times I've seen The Order of the Phoenix, but I know it's sparse compared to the rest. That being said, my favorite one is the 4th movie, and I liked the 5th a lot too. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a bigger proponent of the movies than myself though. Most people I know that have read the books constantly lament that they just don't live up to expectation. Movies and books are different forms of communication, people need to just get over that. But seriously I love the movies. They're fun, exciting, they have good morals, the characters are very likeable and interesting. Maybe they're not masterpieces as far as a lot of directing and acting, but they're enjoyable. It's almost like I'm a kid again when I watch them as my imagination runs wild. Seriously I love the movies a lot, so I'm not a Harry Potter naysayer or anything like that. I'll admit, I'm probably being a bit harsher on this movie than maybe I should be, but when the bar has been set and the movie just does not live up to it, that's a serious problem. And I'm not necessarily saying this is about expectations that this movie would be great, but that the other movies had been so good that it seemed out of place. So take my firm evaluation with a grain of salt.

Now I'll give my spoiler free review of the movie. First it kind of bugged me that a lot of the lighting seemed a bit odd. It almost reminded me of something like 300, in that it had this hazy computer graphic tint to it for a lot of the movie which just seemed weird. There are portions of the movie in which Harry is looking at memories and this effect is exaggerated, and at those times it's sensible. However, the tint that seemed to exist during most of the movie just seemed weird and unnecessary.

The cinematography is gorgeous. Of course, like it is with a lot of newer movies, I often wonder what is real and what is simply CGI. It's really impressive to see the scenery, both in world landscapes and the details of the different rooms. I can't believe all of the miniscule details they have worked out as far as different elements of all the different rooms and such. The costumes are still great as well.

As far as the acting goes, I think the majority of the characters give pretty similar performances to what they've given thus far. If you thought the acting was good recently, you'll enjoy it now. And for the most part, I'd say the acting was quite good. However, there were a lot of things with humor and such that really seemed forced, especially early in the movie. They just seemed like they were trying too hard for a laugh. Also, Dumbledore seemed like his acting was a bit different this time around and almost out of place. It just seemed odd.

Now, why did I trash this movie so hard? The plot. I'm not going to go into the specifics right now for the sake of anybody that may not be familiar with the Harry Potter storyline, but frankly I felt like I watched a movie that was two and a half hours of not much of anything really relevant until the end when, BAM!, there's a rather dramatic change. It just seemed rather odd and so disappointing. There was very little advancement of the main storyline of Harry versus Voldemort and it just seemed really odd. This movie just didn't have the same sort of fun or excitement of the others and didn't seem as interconnected as the others.

I guess a lot of it was I felt more like I was watching a drama than the Fantasy/Adventure movies that the others have been. This movie just did not follow suit and I'm sad that it turned out so poorly. Hope the next two redeem themselves.

Titles: You Thought This One Had a Point, Didn't You?

2009-04-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I read the White House Blog. It's an interesting read because of the fact it gets information out so promptly about what the Obama Administration is doing. Plus they post the Weekly Address, which I think is great because we should know what the President has to say. So recently I ran into a couple of interesting posts that mostly what I found a little odd were the titles and their relation to what was actually being said. The first was entitled "$100 million there, $100 million here". Now when I saw that I just kind of scratched my head, because with all of the spending that the government has participated in, it seemed like that was just a terrible endorsement of handing out even more cash. Really what it was about is President Obama's budget because he is seeking to slim it down by $100 million or so, which is a great thing and I hope they can accomplish such a task. Being more efficient with money is certainly praiseworthy and I applaud the administration for taking on such a task. However, this really didn't seem like a good title for this blog post. I'm all for clever, fun, witty titles but you have to make sure they convey proper messages and this particular one seemed to fail a bit with that.

The other post I found of interest was entitled "What Makes the United States Special". In this post they discuss President Obama's recent release of the "torture memos" and quote him in a speech he gave to the CIA. I found this title to be interesting; it drew my eye immediately when I saw it on the list of my RSS feed. However, I wasn't expecting it to be about the memos first of all and secondly, I didn't think their way of jumping into their post was necessarily wise. This post begins by acknowledging the release of this information, so my first thought was "So they're saying the U.S. is special because we release this kind of information," which is somewhat of a special thing so I was able to buy it. However, then it proceeds to talk about how the memos spoke of interrogation techniques, which really sent my head for a spin, because it almost seemed like they were saying "The U.S. is special because we torture people." The eventual outcome was speaking of how we're special because we don't resort to the same level as many of our enemies. However, yet again, it didn't seem like a wise use of title to text.

Quick Vids

2009-04-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of videos I came across recently and found entertaining.

A really creepy Lionel Richie music video. Enjoy!

Mythbusters rocket sled. This is freaking awesome!

Tool Time

2009-04-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

So maybe I should just start going by Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. Lately I feel like a tool, straight up. Of course it's really a funny circumstance. So roughly a month or so ago, it started becoming pretty apparent that very few individuals seemed to really care all that much about anybody in my apartment. Yes, I know that's a rather cruel and harsh way of phrasing it, but it's largely true (and yes, I realize if you're reading this, you probably care about me [unless you're some random person who stumbled onto my blog] and believe me, I greatly appreciate it). Frankly it just seemed like people stopped contacting us for a large part. And this was kind of midsemester, so I understand people start getting busy and such. But it's the persistence that's concerned me. It seems like this has been a continuing theme.

Around this same time I started noticing that a certain person I had at one point considered a friend only would call me if this individual needed something (I'll remove gender to blur the identity of this person a bit more, even though if you're reading this blog, it's probably not you I'm talking about). Seriously, it's bad. This person doesn't seem to hesitate and only comes in contact with me when they need something. I've printed documents, given the person a ride, invited them to different events, and other random things. Basically I've done a lot of the things that I figure friends should do. Well, as I said, it became apparent that this individual really doesn't seem to care all that much, which makes me sad. We have had some decent history and decent conversations, but there's just been so few instances I can think of that really fit this person extending a hand of friendship. When I finally came to this realization, it peeved me a bit. And look, I mean no ill will toward this individual, that's why I'm trying to keep identities secret, a lot of this is me: a) venting and b) trying to analyze some sort of potential flaw in my own character.

So this kind of got me to realizing that I'm a bit too much of an enabler for these kinds of people. Now I will say, I can't really think of pretty much any other time that I've run into this kind of situation, at least not to this degree. Maybe I've been used before, but if I was it wasn't quite so blatant and/or repeated. But seeing the way this has played out has definitely helped me see that I do put myself out there too much. I really will do just about anything for just about anybody that asks me. It's kind of a funny quirk of mine, especially since I usually abhor asking others for anything. A perfect example of that is the fact I walked to my job early on a couple of Saturday mornings last summer because I didn't want to trouble anybody by asking for a ride. It wasn't a short walk either, probably 7 miles and I had to get up quite a bit earlier than my 7 AM shift for that reason. But I really do bend over backwards for people when they ask me to. It's kind of interesting. I don't know where I got it either, but for as long as I can remember I've had it. On the plus side, I think I'm pretty good about following King Benjamin's admonition to "not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain." (Mosiah 4:16)

So I guess it's time for some spunk as far as this. I don't know, it's a hard thing to reconcile. I know King Benjamin admonishes us to wisdom in how we help the beggar. But then again if we have the ability to help we should. I guess that's why I continue doing what I do. But frankly "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" I guess I probably picked that up at the Tea Party. So I guess the key is though, I really don't know what to do. I mean it's not like I can demand a person be my friend since that would be the most ideal outcome. And frankly I don't know that this individual realizes this is going on. But if I call the person out or start refusing I just don't know how much I can stand that on my conscience. Such an interesting dilemma. I do know I was having a conversation recently with a friend about a different circumstance and I brought up an old Albert Einstein quote. It says, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

So I guess I have some related background stories to this situation but aren't necessarily directly involved. Basically they're some other ventings that I wanted to get out but with the flow of this post being what it is, I couldn't really express it except in this way:

So I've started joking with my roommates quite a bit "Hey you remember when we used to have friends?" Look I don't mean this as a plea "I'm a friendless loser, please be my friend!" But it is sad when people aren't sincere friends maybe or you seem to fall out of touch for silly reasons. The sad part is, this is a bit of a standing joke around the apartment because it rings so true. We used to get visitors to our apartment, but now, not so much.
The other day I had a friend come over asking me to print something (different friend than the original circumstance). Unfortunately nobody in this person's apartment was able to help this individual out, but without hesitation one of the roommates says "Go ask Scott." To some degree this is a bit flattering, but at the same time it is a bit disconcerting that there's no hesitation to ask me to help them so promptly. Nevertheless, this reminded me of my feeling of not having real friends (no offense to this person who asked for my help on the off chance you read this post and realize it is you I'm talking about, I really think no ill of you, you're a very kind person) outside of my roommates and a few select other individuals. And it reminded me of my feelings of being a tool. This friend did promise to repay me in some way immediately after the exchange which is far more than I can say about the original person.
There is a certain young lady that we had a bit of something more going on at one point. She's a wonderful individual and I think the world of her. I've often considered her one of my best friends. However, ever since things kind of fell apart it's been an interesting experience since she stressed so heavily she wanted to keep me as a friend. I'll be honest, I don't feel like we're even friends anymore. I feel like I'm the tool in this case too. I pretty much am not contacted at all anymore, which I guess isn't quite the typical tool circumstance. But it seems like if I am, it's because something is wanted. Frankly, the things that made us such good friends aren't there anymore and we don't do the things friends do. I guess part of the reason this vexes me so much is because it seems like if there is such a stressing of keeping a friendship alive, there should be some real effort to do such and it just hasn't seemed to be there to me. Of course I understand, she's in a hard circumstance as far as that. But as one of my friends recently said to me, friend is a verb. Just talking to somebody in mostly empty ways in passing isn't really being a friend. Guess we'll see where things go from here shortly. And on the off chance that this young lady does happen to read this (and realizes that it's her I'm speaking of), I'm sorry if this offends you. I don't feel like I've put out any personal attacks and I feel like I've been pretty mature in my discussion about it. Don't hesitate to talk to me if for some reason you feel like this might be overstepping some bounds. (Sorry, I often defer to these kinds of disclaimers because while I don't necessarily feel like my speech is inappropriate, it doesn't mean others don't. I ran into a problem with that once before so I figure it's safer to just put these kinds of things in here because I would like to still be able to really express myself and my circumstances.)

So there it is. I guess now I get to figure out what on earth I'm going to do to not be such a tool. But I know one thing, something has to change because the "insanity" is going to be too much.

Provo Tax Day Tea Party

2009-04-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I went to the big Tea Party today. It was an interesting experience. The rally was decent sized, they announced an estimate of 500 but the guy said he figured it had to be well over a thousand (which I think was probably more to accurate). I could definitely tell people were coming and going regularly. There were plenty of entertaining signs and interesting speeches. My roommates and I just kept giggling regularly at all of the terrible logic that was thrown out. So many things were just about getting the crowd going and motivated. I honestly think most people weren't listening hardly, they just waited for the proper moments to clap or cheer. I wish I could recall some of the good sings or had pictures of my own to show, but alas, I do not. Here's some photos my sister took:

Some of the random signs and such. "Caesar Obamius you're taxing my patience"

"Tired of paying too much in taxes? Become an Obama cabinet member"

"My piggy bank is not your pork barrel"

I must say it was a pretty entertaining experience, not only because of my satirical nature, but it was just interesting to see people rally like that. One of the funny things was the fact that there was a lot of praise for "our troops" (meaning the actual military) which I can't imagine happens too often at your typical protests. But I think the thing that really disappointed me was when they started praising Glenn Beck. I have voiced before that I am definitely not a Beck fan. Frankly I think he's kind of a moron. I know that sounds awful. I recognize he's a member in full fellowship with my Church and he's highly revered by many different individuals. However, he just seems to do things in such a dumb way. He does a great service for a lot of people and such, but I just don't get his logic in how he does pretty much anything. It's sad really and just a downright shame. I just don't get why he masquerades as a journalist but is so biased in everything he says. I realize there are plenty of others out there that are similar and some that I could go off on more (e.g. Keith Olbermann) but a lot of these individuals at least know how to separate the fact from the opinion. Beck doesn't seem to know how to do this (neither does Olbermann, he would be my liberal "news" guy I'd pick on). Anyway, I don't mean for this to turn into a rant about Beck, but it just really disappointed me because they were so highly touting him and his 9/12 thing.

I don't know how I feel about the whole Tea Party thing and such. I'm glad that individuals are voicing these concerns because my concerns are similar at the very least. I really enjoyed Rick Santelli's tirade when it first occurred. However, I didn't like some of the scope of the protest since it seemed to go to avenues that I didn't enjoy as much. For example, I don't like Obama hating. Sure, I didn't want the guy in office either. However, I'm willing to accept that he's the President and try to work with what we've got. He isn't destroying the world and there are certain things we need to take a stand on, but we'll be okay. Being that kind of extreme (and hating in general) is just going to make you look ignorant. I hope some change can come about from these protests. At the very least I hope consideration for the voice of this portion of the population is given. However, I'm a bit more cynical than that and I don't think this is really going to amount to much of anything. The money will keep pouring out of Washington and I'm not sure there will be nearly the accountability there needs to be. Either way, I'm going to keep my hope.

Here's an article from Slate about the national movement.

Movie Review: The Creature From the Black Lagoon

2009-04-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I have an interesting quirk about me: I love classic horror movies. And when I say classic, I mean classic. Vincent Price* is my favorite, by far. I don't know what developed this fascination, but I really do enjoy it. Now I don't do modern horror porn or anything really at all like that, that's for sure. So most really new horror movies I don't see. I'm not a huge slasher kind of guy, although stuff like the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and Friday the 13th are all classic in their own manner (with TV edits of course, since I don't do the whole R-rated thing). But when it comes to real passion, it's more about older horror flicks. Like I said, I love Vincent Price's stuff and things like Hitchcock, Lon Chaney, or the original monster movies: Dracula, The Werewolf, and The Mummy. Well another one of these classic monster movies is The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

So I had never seen this movie before, but I knew of it's classic nature in American Monster movie history. I found a copy at the Provo Library (thank goodness for free rentals). It was really great. Now I don't think you can go into these kinds of movies thinking you're going to be scared much. First of all, the scare tactics weren't so refined for the most part back then. I think the most common scare tactic of any movie is the sudden "jump out of nowhere with a really loud noise" tactic (if anybody cares to give me an official name for that I'd be most impressed and I'll give you a hat tip for it). Undeniably that's a pretty weak tactic itself, but it's effective. However, I don't really recall it being in there, at least not to the drastic degree it is in so many movies. The "freak you out" tactics used in this movie are: lurking, eerie music, and the classic damsel turns and screams (yet again, hat tip to anybody who can get me official names). It's amazingly cheesy and fun at the same time.

I definitely understand why this made its way into the American pop culture and the classic monster movies. The creature is something so poorly understood that likes to run off with pretty ladies for no apparent reason. Thus, for doing what it is meant to do, it does a great job. It fits its role to a T. Now I wouldn't say it's one of the best monster movies I've ever seen, but it's fun in its own way. The Creature was so popular that they made a few sequels (which were also included on my DVD so I will be sure to watch them as well, but I'm pretty sure I won't be reviewing those unless one of them knocks my socks off). But seeing as how this movie isn't necessarily a work of art in most ways, I won't dive into too heavy of an analysis on most things. The script is terribly cheesy (in a most delightful way), the acting could definitely use a little bit of help, the scenery is fantastically fake (mostly anyway), and don't expect much in the way of special effects (sorry, this isn't Transformers). The storyline is rather minimalist, but you get what you want out of it: an epic battle with some hideous, unknown creature. It's only a little over an hour so it keeps it short (now if Transformers had stuck with these dynamics or just worked on developing a real plot that might have actually been a decent movie [yes, I am going to take my shots at Transformers in this movie review]). The cinematography is really pretty good. They have some really cool underwater scenes and it was originally shot for 3-D so that's something to take into account as well. Overall, I think this is definitely a fun movie worth the watch and it is sure to provide a good time. Worse case scenario, I'm sure you could make a great Mystery Science Theater night out of it. Look for the release of a new edition of The Creature From the Black Lagoon in theaters in 2011.

Official Trailer

*Random side note, turns out Vincent Price once played Joseph Smith in a movie called Brigham Young done in 1940. Go figure.

Book Review: Band of Brothers

2009-04-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day." (Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii)

Recently I completed reading Stephen Ambrose's non-fiction book Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Yes, that's the complete title) and it was absolutely wonderful. For those of you uncultured swine out there who may not have realized where the title came from, yes, it's Shakespeare. In the play Henry V, King Henry prepares his troops for battle at Agincourt. The troops were sorely outnumbered and sorely fatigued, but King Henry rallies the troops with his rousing speech (an excerpt is found at the beginning of the post). Really it speaks to the brotherhood that established in war between those men who fight valiantly side by side. In the case of Easy Company, they developed this brotherhood as well. The fierceness of battle and the ability to develop a profound trust and love for those they endured combat with was what helped them to form this brotherhood.

I will admit I was first introduced to Band of Brothers by my little brothers and the HBO series. And in all honesty, if I was to pick one, I would say watch the series instead of reading the book (Of course I will also warn that the series is not for the faint of heart. The language is strong and the violence is not for the faint of heart, so viewer beware). The book was interesting because I think it helped to see more insights into what really occurred. It was such an interesting thing as I read to follow the experiences of these soldiers and their tour through Europe during World War II. These men went through some of the most trying circumstances of the war and lost a number of their friends along the way. But I think this book has value in being read because it teaches: a profound appreciation for those who have served in the military in the past and those who continue to serve today, about leadership, and about unity and brotherhood. I do highly recommend the read.

Overall it is a very well written book. Ambrose is very readable, which extends to all audiences. The storyline is rather flowing and certainly engaging. Because of the fact it follows such a chronological history you can immerse yourself in the context of the story. The characters (and yes, I use that term loosely since clearly these are real people, such as Major Dick Winters pictured left probably the main character of the story) are very likable and you grow attached to them during their journey. As far as weaknesses, I feel like there are so many different characters that it is often hard to keep them straight. I had a similar problem with that while watching the show, even though I think even fewer characters are in the show but it was hard to keep names straight. A lot of the characters in the book are so briefly introduced that you aren't sure who to expect to keep track of or not. I did appreciate the photographs included of many of the main characters to help put a face to the names. I also feel like the flow and continuity of the story really breaks down often times. I think Ambrose seeks to throw so many different aspects into the story to keep it more historical that it somewhat discounts the actual flow of the story and sometimes these inclusions seem a bit out of place.

Of course my critiques notwithstanding, I highly recommend you take the opportunity to read this book. It will give you a very different outlook toward those who have served in World War II. Here's a couple of clips from the actual show (I'll give an overall advisory here that a lot of this is strong content, I'll give a specific advisory with each clip):

The official trailer (Suitable for most audiences)

Drop on D-Day (Moderate language and violence)

Clip of the taking of Carentan (Strong language and heavy violence)

(Photos from: My Free Wallpapers and CMOH Website of Major Richard Winters)

Deadliest Catch

2009-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

So anybody that knows me pretty well, knows I love the Discovery Channel. So I was pretty darn excited when I saw this the other day:

The Catch returns April 14th. Yeah, I'll be watching.

Winning the War Against Evil

2009-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I spoke in Church a little while back and I figured I would post my talk on here. So here it is:

I’m really excited to speak today. As you know, yesterday was Valentine’s Day so the Bishopric gave me the obvious topic to speak about today: War. No, this isn’t a talk about dating, even though I’m sure most of you have likened dating to war at one point or another. And I definitely won’t be speaking about Ex-Boyfriends or Ex-Girlfriends, sorry to disappoint you. But I really was excited about this topic because if you know me pretty well, I am very much a “guy”. I’m into much of the stereotypical guy things: sports, cars, action movies. So war is a topic that fascinates me and I fueled that fire by taking a variety of courses relative to it in Political Science. Of course the war I’m speaking of today is actually the war between good and evil. My remarks today are based upon the talk given in the November 2008 Conference Report entitled “Winning the War Against Evil” by Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy.

My objective in speaking to you today is threefold. First, I seek to help you understand the significance of the war against evil. Second, I wish that you might understand you have powerful allies to assist you in this war. And third, I want to give you an understanding of how to win the war against evil.

The war between good and evil started long before we came to this earth. The book of Revelation gives us some insight into the foundations and history of this war.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels,

“And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev. 12:7-9)

The book of The Doctrine and Covenants also gives us some insight into this war in heaven. During Joseph’s vision of the glories of heaven he was also given vision of the great war in heaven. We read,

“…an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son,

“And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning.

“And we beheld, and lo, he is fallen! is fallen, even a son of the morning!

“...[F]or we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ—

“Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about.” (D&C 76:25-29)

The seriousness of this war is communicated in the punishment given to those who rebelled against God at this time. Satan, one of God’s greatest children, was fallen and in retaliation he sought to make war against the people of God. War is not a word to be taken lightly. In today’s society we see war so much in the media whether it be news or entertainment that we sometimes take it as something far lighter than what it is. However, war is destructive and cold. Satan seeks to assure your destruction, I can think of no simpler yet stronger way to state it. Joseph’s vision continues to explain the consequences of losing your soul to the forces of Satan:

“And we saw a vision of the sufferings of those with whom he made war and overcame, for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us:

“Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—

“They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born;
“For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;” (D&C 76: 30-33)

Might I draw special attention to some of the more poignant punishments that await such individuals. They are sons of perdition, it would have been better for them never to have been born, they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer…in eternity, and these individuals will receive no forgiveness. This is a very serious war and Satan seeks to turn you into soldiers for evil that will receive terrible punishments. In my emphasis I seek to help you understand that this war is like any war that has occurred in the history of the world, it is not something meant to be taken lightly and the consequences are most dire indeed.

The prophet Joseph Smith once stated,

"Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God.

When you did that you left neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."

Clearly the seriousness of this war is grave indeed. We have left that neutral ground, brothers and sisters, and we must, therefore, endeavor to do our all to promote righteousness and fight the war against evil.

In political science, there are a variety of theories that I feel can be applied to this war in heaven to help us understand more fully our part in the war against evil.

One of the most basic theories of political science, as far as war, involves a tradeoff analysis. Basically one must simply understand the costs versus the benefits of fighting the war. In the case of the war against evil, I think the terms are rather simply laid out before us. By fighting against Satan, we can receive the blessings of eternity: exaltation and eternal glory crowned upon our heads and endless joy. By not fighting in this war or becoming one of his minions, we will forfeit these blessings and can potentially fall to such serious consequences as those that befall sons of perdition. Thus, it behooves us to ensure that we are willing to fight this war, that we understand very much what is at stake and practice the ways of righteousness to receive eternal glory.

Another theory is that of the power of Great Men. The leaders of nations have a great influence in the causing, development, and outcomes of wars. In the war in heaven, Satan’s evil influence caused many to fall very early on. So on this earth he seeks to do the same. However, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are very much righteous leaders and they seek to lead us to fight for righteousness. That is why they have given us so many righteous leaders on our earth. Our bishopric are perfect examples of righteous leaders that our Heavenly Father has sent us to provide us with inspiration and guidance in how to win this fight against evil.

The great writer William Shakespeare understood the power of leaders profoundly. In the play Julius Caesar we see the rising of many great men as powerful leaders. Early in the play, Cassius persuades the noble friend of Caesar, Brutus, toward a plot of sedition through the use of his rhetoric. Cassius brings to attention the power of Caesar and the way that power is undoing the republic of Rome. Thus, Caesar is painted as an evil and power hungry leader. Of course Cassius is not necessarily much better. In his persuasion of Brutus he states, “Men at some time are masters of their fates./The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,/But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” (Julius Caesar I.ii.93-95) Cassius points very clearly that men can be the masters of their own choices and destiny, but his hunger for power is apparent in his remorse of being an underling. Fate does not control our actions and neither do the power of our leaders, but undoubtedly they do influence our actions and whether they are a good or evil leader can make all of the difference.

Later in the story, Marc Antony speaks at the funeral of Caesar. He seeks to persuade the people of the injustice committed against Caesar in his murder, but he gives this profound insight into the actions done by men, which rings more profoundly in the case of leaders, such as Caesar whom he speaks of. He states, “The evil that men do lives after them;/The good is oft interred with their bones.” (Julius Caesar III.ii.77-78) The evil influence of leaders can often be left behind but the good is often quickly forgotten. Pay close heed to righteous leaders and follow their counsel. Make sure to surround yourself with the words of righteous leaders and that you heed their call.

One of our righteous leaders today gave great insight into the severity of the war against evil this day. President Boyd K. Packer stated, “I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now.” So we live in some rather scary times, the war is more vicious than ever before, but that does not mean we are helpless in this battle.

Elder Hamula teaches us quite plainly about how to win the war against evil. He states,

“…there is only one way to win the war against Satan, and that is to win it in the same way it was won in the beginning. When victory was finally achieved in the War in Heaven, a loud voice was heard to declare: ‘Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ…For they [referring to Michael and his angels] have overcome him [referring to the devil by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; for they loved not their own lives, but kept the testimony even unto death.’

“Do not miss the significance of this declaration. Satan was overcome in the beginning by (1) faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, (2) Testimony of Him that was steadfastly kept to the very end, and (3) consecration of oneself to the Lord and His work. If this was the means for defeating him in the beginning, you can be sure that this is the one sure way to defeat him now.”

Our faith, testimony, and consecration are the keys to winning this war. This is the same solution that was given in the beginning and it will be the same solution in the end. Thankfully, Elder Hamula also gives us instruction as to how we might develop these gifts. Speaking of faith he states,

“…do as young Joseph Smith did. Find a quiet place and pray to your Father in Heaven. Do so regularly and earnestly. Prayer is a precondition to revelation. The more regular and earnest the prayer, the more frequent the revelation. When received, revelation provides the evidence or assurance of things unseen, which is the foundation of faith.”

I find it powerful that he mentions prayer as the precondition to revelation. We often speak of not receiving a witness until after the trial of our faith, this is a perfect example of that. He also assures us that as we pray more regularly and earnestly we will receive more revelation. That is a marvelous gift to have and this all collectively strengthens our faith.

Elder Hamula also spoke of developing testimony.

“…learn to hear the voice of the Lord. His is a still, small, and whisper-like voice. It is one that is felt more than it is heard. It comes in the form of thoughts, feelings, and impressions. To hear such a voice, you must be still and quiet in your own soul, laying aside your excess laughter and light-mindedness. While it may not seem easy to so discipline your life, hearing the precious, loving voice of the Lord will sustain you in every circumstance and is therefore worth every effort.”

It is interesting that he makes no specific mention of testimony, but this is clearly instruction for building of testimony. To bear witness, which a testimony is, we must have a witness born unto us. The ultimate witness is through the Holy Ghost. We must always find ways to renew that witness, strengthen the witness, and new truths to witness of. It is through the voice of the Spirit that we will achieve this.

Finally he instructs us how to consecrate ourselves to the Lord.

“….obey the word of the Lord as it is given to you. His word will not only love and comfort but invariably instruct and correct. Do as He bids you to do, no matter how hard it may seem to you, and do it now. It is in doing the will of the Lord that knowledge of Him and love for Him accrue to your soul, which leads you to be ever more willing to lay down your own life and follow Him.”

I think this was an interesting realization for me to see that really consecration is about obedience. The Lord asks to us serve Him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength but I think so often we have an attitude of thinking of consecration in the form of the United Order, a group in which all members have all things in common. Really consecration reaches far higher than that. Consecration is a setting apart of your life in its entirety for God. That does not mean all of our focus must be solely upon Church. It does, however, mean that we are always focused upon the ways of God and righteousness. We will do all we can to always do the right thing and enrich our own lives as we enrich others.

The war against evil can be won through our love of the Savior. When we put Him first, all of the other pieces will fall into place and we will be happy. The Savior knows the way to righteousness and conquering Satan, as we trust in Him we will be blessed in receiving these things.

Talk given February 15, 2009 in the BYU 122 Ward.

Myers-Briggs Tells Me That I Like Kicking Nuns

2009-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I took the Myers-Briggs Personality Test (Hat Tip to my dear friend C. wrote a blog post about it [and yes, I do mean Hat Tip, Caitlin since I'm sure you'll end up reading this]) and no, it didn't tell me I'm a violent person. Actually I guess I am at least somewhat of a sensitive guy. I know I was pretty shocked too. I guess I'm something called an ENFJ, whatever that means. I know this isn't the first time I've taken this test, but for the life of me I can't remember how I've done before. Here's my scores:

Extroverted: 89%

iNtuitive: 25%

Feeling: 12%

Judging: 89%

And for the life of me, I can't tell you what on earth that all means. Luckily, they had some articles that do (click on the earlier link for one and here's the other). Here's some highlight quotes with some of my thoughts about it interspersed:

ENFJs are the benevolent 'pedagogues' of humanity. They have tremendous charisma by which many are drawn into their nurturant tutelage and/or grand schemes. Many ENFJs have tremendous power to manipulate others with their phenomenal interpersonal skills and unique salesmanship. But it's usually not meant as manipulation -- ENFJs generally believe in their dreams, and see themselves as helpers and enablers, which they usually are.

ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.

ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness. But they don't resemble the SJs or even the NTJs in organization of the environment nor occasional recalcitrance. ENFJs are organized in the arena of interpersonal affairs. Their offices may or may not be cluttered, but their conclusions (reached through feelings) about people and motives are drawn much more quickly and are more resilient than those of their NFP counterparts.

ENFJs know and appreciate people. Like most NFs, (and Feelers in general), they are apt to neglect themselves and their own needs for the needs of others. They have thinner psychological boundaries than most, and are at risk for being hurt or even abused by less sensitive people. ENFJs often take on more of the burdens of others than they can bear.

So I love the first line. That really is one of the biggest things I could aspire to be. I love to teach and I would love to be seen as a benevolent teacher. And I realize enumerating that sounds like I'm vain and a bit narcissistic, but I guess that's how it goes. I can very much affiliate with the manipulation thing. I know I can be a rather persuasive person, but I hate the feeling of being manipulative so I often defer from my persuasiveness so as to not be manipulative. I definitely am a "global learner". I look to learn from all elements of life and feel like I can learn from any of my circumstances and anybody I come in contact with. I think it's interesting that it mentions potentially having "thinner psychological boundaries than most" because I'm pretty thick skinned. But we never match up to these kinds of things entirely. I do often put aside my own needs for the needs of others. I can't tell you how many times I've put off homework or studying to go help a friend with their homework, papers, and studying.

Even more than the other Idealists, Teachers have a natural talent for leading students or trainees toward learning, or as Idealists like to think of it, they are capable of calling forth each learner's potentials. Teachers (around two percent of the population) are able - effortlessly, it seems, and almost endlessly-to dream up fascinating learning activities for their students to engage in. In some Teachers, this ability to fire the imagination can amount to a kind of genius which other types find hard to emulate. But perhaps their greatest strength lies in their belief in their students. Teachers look for the best in their students, and communicate clearly that each one has untold potential, and this confidence can inspire their students to grow and develop more than they ever thought possible.

In whatever field they choose, Teachers consider people their highest priority, and they instinctively communicate personal concern and a willingness to become involved. Warmly outgoing, and perhaps the most expressive of all the types, Teachers are remarkably good with language, especially when communicating in speech, face to face. And they do not hesitate to speak out and let their feelings be known. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Teachers will voice their passions with dramatic flourish, and can, with practice, become charismatic public speakers. This verbal ability gives Teachers a good deal of influence in groups, and they are often asked to take a leadership role.

Teachers are highly sensitive to others, which is to say their intuition tends to be well developed. Certainly their insight into themselves and others is unparalleled. Without a doubt, they know what is going on inside themselves, and they can read other people with uncanny accuracy. Teachers also identify with others quite easily, and will actually find themselves picking up the characteristics, emotions, and beliefs of those around them. Because they slip almost unconsciously into other people's skin in this way, Teachers feel closely connected with those around them, and thus show a sincere interest in the joys and problems of their employees, colleagues, students, clients, and loved ones.

The second article relates the ENFJ to the role of a teacher. I don't know necessarily about how good I am at learning activities, but I do know I am good at simplifying things so most others can understand. Also, I always do believe in the ability of others to learn. I think anybody that knows me, knows I'm reasonably articulate and I can (and do) speak my mind quickly and easily. I'm opinionated, there's no real surprise there. Finally, I do have a good ability to read others. I think that is one of the gifts of the Spirit I am most thankful that my Heavenly Father has bestowed upon me. I understand people well and so because of that I am easy to talk to and it's easy for me to help others.

Here's some famous ENFJ's:

David, King of Israel

Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
Barack Obama
Abraham Maslow, psychologist and proponent of self-actualization
Ross Perot
Sean Connery
Elizabeth Dole
Francois Mitterand
Dick Van Dyke
Andy Griffith
James Garner
William Aramony, former president of United Way
Gene Hackman (I had to include Gene Hackman if you know anything about my long standing joke with James)
Michael Jordan, NBA basketball player
Oprah Winfrey
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts quarterback

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with this evaluation.

Messrs.

2009-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal and came across an abbreviation I didn't recognize: Messrs. It was in reference to Bernanke and Geithner and I couldn't think what it could be other than maybe an abbreviation for Messieurs, which is the plural of Monsieur. That seemed odd to me since it was the Wall Street Journal, an American paper and they are both Americans. So I Googled it and sure enough, that did the trick. Messrs. is the plural of Mister, go figure. It's kind of odd that I don't recall coming across that anytime before this in my life. Of course Wikipedia sheds a bit more light. They say it is in fact an abbreviation for Messieurs, but it's what we use for the plural of mister. Bizarre...

NFL Kickoff

2009-03-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I'm a little excited?

Scripture Study 03.10.09

2009-03-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

I continued my study of the Sunday School lesson today. I went through the study manual and answered the questions. Here's what I had to say.

• Read D&C 25:5, 14. What are some ways that husbands and wives can help each other in times of difficulty?
- Husbands and wives can help each other by offering consoling and comfort. Also, being humble helps greatly because we can find so much more joy in others. Husbands and wives can offer so much to each other by simply being patient, kind, and loving. In a marriage there needs to be a realization that you are working toward the same goal similar to the realization that you are working toward the same goal as our Heavenly Father. When we understand these things, we are more likely to succeed in our marriages and bless the lives of those around us.

• How can spouses show that they delight in each other?
- Spouses can show they delight in each other by being appreciative and speaking kind words. Always being thankful and complimenting others helps them to understand that they are important to that individual and that they find joy in what they’re doing.

It was interesting to see a bit of this focus on the ideas of marriage and how spouses can help each other.

Participation and Finding Value

2009-03-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

So I was talking to my friend LeeAnn on Sunday. It was interesting to listen to her "get on her soapbox" as she put it. Basically a lot of what she was talking about is how people are so unwilling to appreciate what they have now, but rather look too much toward things like the grass being greener on the other side (and on the off chance you happen to read this LeeAnn and you feel like I misrepresented your ideas please correct me and I'll update this accordingly). It really is amazing though how much we find discontent in such simple things. We're seldom satisfied with what we have and are therefore convinced that something better must be out there. So often we think we find it, but really the charm of something new wears off just as soon. It's really more of a fascination with the novelty of things that are new and different.

Much of the context LeeAnn was speaking of was that of the ward. It's really easy to under appreciate a ward, that's definitely true. I mean we start taking things for granted so often and we're convinced that there's somebody better out there for us to spend our time with and such. Really we don't value the time we have or the people we're around enough. I mean think about the wonderful blessing that each day is. We have a new day every day to make ourselves better, to find joy, to learn, to grow, and to bless the lives of others. It is such a great thing and we definitely do not appreciate it enough. We see too much monotony in our life, when every day of our life is fantastic. I have a semi joking saying that I put on my Facebook profile that says "Every day of my life is fantastic because I get to spend every day with myself and I'm fantastic." And I do believe that whole heartedly, but my reasoning is really the key.

When we really understand and appreciate who we are, that's something that's very special. I know many people out there are not of the same belief system as myself, but I testify that we are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us dearly. As His children, that makes us pretty special. We are the literal offspring of Deity. How amazing and special is that! How wonderful does that make us! I in no way mean that to lift ourselves up in pride, but rather it is something to be so incredibly grateful for. Each and every one of God's children is so special for God would not create something that was not wonderful. We all have our flaws, but we are still children of God and that makes us absolutely spectacular.

The key to appreciating that is to continue finding such value in others. I know one of the main things I do during the passing of the Sacrament on Sundays, is I look around at all of the individuals in the congregation and I think about how special it is that our Savior was willing to sacrifice everything to make sure that they could have the blessing of returning to live with Him. When we find this value in others it's amazing the value we begin to find in ourselves and the power we have to create differences in this life.

I suppose that's why, like LeeAnn, I'm such a big fan of willingly participating as part of the whole. Too often we avoid the group, whether it be just a generalized group or it's some sort of organization like our ward. We have value and we can add a lot to the ward. Also, there are so many things that those individuals in the ward can add to us. I almost feel guilty because of the fact my sense of gratitude has lead me to see how profound of a difference so many individuals have upon me that I am drawn to these individuals because I know of the difference they can continue to make in my life.

So take the opportunity to participate. Go out and learn what you can from others. Take the time to teach another those things you value and that are important to you. I think you'll be impressed about the difference it will begin to make in your life.

Scripture Study 03.09.09

2009-03-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

I read the Ensign article "His Power in My Life" which deals with finding guidance through the scriptures. I think the portion I appreciated the most from this article was the first section in which it spoke about the power of choice. I am a big proponent of this idea of choosing to not let others' decisions affect us adversely and learning to look at our experiences for the blessing they are. We never really appreciate the fact the every single thing we do day in and day out helps to constitute the person that we are. Therefore, how we react to such experiences has a profound effect upon who we are becoming. We really need to take the time to appreciate that all experiences in our life can be for our benefit and learning. Sometimes wicked individuals do terrible things and they affect us in awful and harmful ways, but we can still learn to deal with it and learn from it. Thankfully I think most of us don't come across these types of situations that often. We typically just have others around us that might be a bit thoughtless at the moment and cause us some sort of injury. We can learn to look at it as an innocent mistake (because I honestly believe it typically is) and learn from it. I try quite often to learn from the mistakes of others, the examples that I see from them teaches me how to react in the future. I don't think less of them for their mistakes because I know how great my own are, but I am thankful for them in helping me to better myself by examining their lives, even if they don't realize I am doing such.

So I did the reading for Lesson 10 of the Sunday School manual today. It was simply Doctrine and Covenants Section 25, a section specifically given to the Prophet's wife, Emma. I don't know that I have a whole lot of thoughts on this section. It was a bit comforting to me. I can't deny I was starting to feel a bit down and lonely but as I began to read it brought me great comfort. I don't know that there were any particular words that brought such, but just the blessing of the Spirit. Of course I do still have a few thoughts on this particular section.

I must say this is a rather interesting selection of scripture. I think the Old Testament is really the only other time I can think of such direct revelation for a choice woman or "elect lady", as the Lord puts it. It makes me glad that we have this because it is an interesting insight into the mind and will of the Lord since it is irregular to see in canonical scripture to have specific revelations for a woman. Also, I cannot think of a time where the prophet's wife of any record has received such a revelation.

In the actual text I really appreciate the idea of the song of the righteous being a prayer unto God. Religious hymns do have such profound power (although I guess based off of what this scripture actually reads, it's possible that they not necessarily be hymns). I think we often undervalue the hymns and we treat them as not being a prayer. It makes me sad to see others speaking or being disruptive in any way during a song because most people would not do the same during a prayer. We really should learn to treat music in such a way.

I was also impressed by Verse 15, which reads, "Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come." I can't think of another scripture that phrases things in such a manner. The first sentence seems somewhat typical, but the statement of requiring such an effort to receive the blessings of being in the Father's presence is an interesting statement. May we keep in mind that this same statement applies to us as well.

Scripture Study 03.08.09

2009-03-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was reading in the Joseph Smith manual from Chapter 29 for my study today. I must say I was very much impressed by this particular chapter. Joseph often has some rather powerful statements quoted in this book, but sometimes I feel like the book tries too hard to throw together a bunch of random quotes that don't necessarily have the best flow or logical sense. The older editions of The Teachings of Presidents of the Church series haven't struck me as having this kind of flaw as much as this particular one. However, today's lesson was beautifully sculpted as far as the true gems of quotes that were found therein.

The lesson is entitled "Living with Others in Peace and Harmony". Early a story is recounted by Lucy Mack Smith in which she tells of a mob who came to attack Joseph. Joseph very simply reasons with the men and they were overly taken with him. I found this quote from one of those gentlemen (which is recounted by Mrs. Smith so take that as you will) to be rather humorous, it reads, "This is the last time you will ever catch me coming to kill Joe Smith or the Mormons either." This man certainly had a drastic change of heart, but it's interesting to hear his almost callousness toward the idea of causing harm to Joseph or the Mormons. Joseph's powerful spirit and righteous ways helped to reform these men quite promptly.

Early in the lesson we read about becoming peacemakers and the blessings of peacemakers. Joseph states:

"If the nation, a single State, community, or family ought to be grateful for anything, it is peace.

"Peace, lovely child of heaven!–peace like light from the same great parent, gratifies, animates, and happifies the just and the unjust, and is the very essence of happiness below, and bliss above."

That really spoke so powerfully to me. First, Joseph develops this idea that peace is one of the foremost gifts that we should be thankful for. I suppose when we really think about it, this is no major surprise for peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit. With peace we are able to find joy and happiness and receive answers to our prayers. Peace is what will always see us through and it is one of the chief blessings the Savior has promised us. Second, Joseph mentions the idea of peace being the key to happiness on this earth and bliss in the eternities. I suppose this really is so true in that peace is what will always bring us joy. When we find that peace in our lives always, we shall always be happy and find the love of our Savior throughout our lives.

Joseph also developed strongly the idea of lifting each other up. Far too often we are so critical of each other. I think we really need to learn the idea of just learning to look past the small things. I think one of the happiest realizations in my life is coming to the recognition that everything we do in life is so insignificant compared to what really matters. So what if somebody says something a little harmful to you? It really is no big deal, you will be laughing about it someday. A girl breaks your heart? Probably won't be the last and it makes for a great story. We're all trying hard to do the right thing in this life. I think there are few people that are actively pursuing the destruction of others. Sure a moment of weakness might invade and they just might do something intentionally harmful, but I think typically their character is still rather kind, they still want to attempt to do what is right. You'll make mistakes yourself. Be quick to overlook the mistakes and flaws of others. Joseph states:

"We [hope that our brethren will be careful of one another's feelings, and walk in love, honoring one another more than themselves, as is required by the Lord."

"The man who willeth to do well, we should extol his virtues and speak not of his faults behind his back."

"Now, in this world mankind are naturally selfish, ambitious and striving to excel one above another; yet some are willing to build up others as well as themselves."

Joseph recognized that we do in fact have some severe weakness, but how precious are we for recognizing the strength and blessings others really are in our lives. We all have an influence upon one another, we should learn to look past our differences and buoy each other up. We can make such a profound difference in the lives of others by simply saying a kind word or expressing appreciation. I've often spoken with my mother about how much the little words of "Please" and "Thank You" really can go such a long way. I think my mother every opportunity I have for being such a wonderful person and setting such a good example for me.

The chapter concludes on a semi-random note, but it does tie into the idea of building up others and maintaining peace with those around us. The freedom of belief as stated in the 11th Article of Faith is a crucial gift that all mankind should be able to enjoy. So often here in America we insist upon such rights for people, but we seek to deny others of such things. We belittle and berate them for believing differently. Joseph celebrated the opinions of others. I think it is wise we attempt to do the same. I think we so often assume others are entirely wrong and simply tear others down for their opinions. However, again this is a matter of it not necessarily being as big of a deal as we make it. Opinions enable us to look at the picture from so many different angles. Nobody on the face of this earth comprehends all things, so there are valuable things to be learned from all. Our Heavenly Father can help us to see from different angles and so we must trust that He can give this gift to all. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not have a monopoly on truth. That being said, I do believe a more complete fulness of truth can be found in the teachings of this Church. However, I believe every Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew and any other religion on the face of this earth has some valuable lessons that they can teach me. I hope they do teach me, I hope I get to learn from them. And I celebrate them for the sake of practicing their religion. Joseph stated, "Our religion is between us and our God. Their religion is between them and their God." I believe God will judge us relative to the light and knowledge we receive in this life. Therefore, I believe we will all be accountable for our faith, whatever it may be. Sure, some eternal standards always will come into account, but so much of it is determined by us doing the best with what we have. While I do believe I belong to the true Church of Jesus Christ, I do not have all light and knowledge and cannot possibly hope to accomplish everything that would make me perfect. Thankfully, my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ require of me to do the best with what I have and to seek to grow what I have some more. I seek to do that day in and day out and I feel I will be rewarded for that. I like Joseph, celebrate our differences of opinion and thought and am happy that we all can learn so much in this life and grow closer to our Father in Heaven.

Scripture Study 03.07.09

2009-03-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I started my day off with another Ensign article. Today was a poem. I'll admit, poetry doesn't usually do much for me. It's kind of funny because I love music and typically that is for its lyrics, the lyrics speak powerfully to me. Also, I have a great love for Shakespeare and other well written works. The flowery poetic feel really speaks to me. But for some reason, poetry standing alone is lost on me. Shakespeare's sonnets? Yeah, not my thing. Of course that still doesn't really explain the music thing, since most music really is poetry set to music. I guess I'm just bizarre like that and the music continues to speak to me.

So the poem is entitled "Hand in Hand". It was a rather interesting poem because of the fact it did not focus on anything overly religious (unless I missed it). Rather, this poem was about the love this gentleman had shared for his bride for many years. Every evening they would go round and round a local cul-de-sac talking about each other's days and sorting through problems. It certainly was an endearing poem and it was interesting to see how they would sort through everything. I can't deny this wasn't the best written poem, but I did enjoy the message. It was a nice heartwarming feeling. Certainly that is what I hope for in my own relationship, something that close and open. Those of you who know me pretty well, know that I'm a pretty big fan of honesty, openness, and transparency. I think those are three things in our lives that if we could learn to implement more fully, we would be more happy all around. May the Lord bless us that we can find that sort of communication in all of our relationships.

President's Weekly Address 03.07.09

2009-03-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

President Obama gave his address for the week. It's entitled Toward a Better Day. Here's the vid:

For the complete text click here.

I definitely have to give it to him, he certainly does everything he can to keep things sounding optimistic. Although if there's one thing I'm critical of, it's this focus on the past. He just keeps talking over and over about this huge deficit that he's inherited and how so many terrible mistakes have been made in the past and they'll change that. I hope he's right that they'll change it, but I think most of us have gotten the message about the economic irresponsibility. I mean we feel it on "main street" as he so often likes to reference.

Of course he mentions ARRA and about how it's going to create so many jobs. But assuming it all works the way he plans, it still worries me. He says the jobless rate is up to 4.4 million and ARRA is supposed to create 3.5 million jobs. That doesn't sound too bad, other than he says those jobs are supposed to come over the next two years. Now I'm no math major, but I'm pretty sure that 3.5 million is almost a million less than 4.4 so that means we would still have 1 million less jobs than we did beforehand and those 3.5 million aren't even supposed to come around for 2 years? Yeah, I see a little bit of a problem there. Now the one thing I will say, we can't expect him to be a complete miracle worker, but it seems like there must be something faster than that. I don't know, economics definitely is not my specialty.

Of course I still feel like I'm getting the same Barack Obama campaign politics I got before he was elected. I think there are few people that love hope and change more than myself, but I fail to see the substance of it really coming from President Obama. Sure, Barack is definitely a major change from President Bush in most of his core beliefs, but what about the actual processes? It seems to me like we're still getting more of the same. I just never felt like Obama really had a plan and it seems to be a continuation of that. ARRA and everything else they have been working on they admit isn't necessarily going to solve the problem (and I'm enough of a realist to realize that A. there's no quick fix and B. it probably will take multiple things to fix it) but there seems to be enough uncertainty there that it worries me. They stand confident that they will fix the problem, but do not necessarily seem confident that their policies will fix the problem. The planning just doesn't seem to be there. I said while he was on the campaign trail that I didn't feel like he had real plans articulated, but rather just those rather grandiose ideas of hope and change. Sure it makes you feel good inside, but when it comes down to actually getting it done what is going to happen? Currently it seems like the Obama Administration is simply doing something for the sake of doing something. They don't want to be caught sitting on their hands, which I think is a reasonably admirable quality. Of course it seems like a better idea to really find out what is best and what will work and implement that. Right now it seems like they're simply fueling the fire by throwing money at it and hoping it extinguishes the problem.

I hope it does Mr. Obama. Or else I'm really going to want a change.

Scripture Study 03.06.09

2009-03-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

I read from The Ensign today. The article I read was entitled "Walking by Faith, Not by Sight". The article recounted the faith of a dear sister in Chile who had lost her sight during cataract surgery. However, the faith that she still employs is rather heart warming. Apparently she has not let the lack of sight slow her down as she still does make household chores such as cooking and ironing. I have a difficult enough time doing that with my eyes, I can't imagine how she does it without. But it really was a touching story as she explained her spiritual vision really is enhanced for her lack of sight. She's learned not to let her eyes get in the way, but to see things as they spiritually are.

Faith is such an interesting subject and it requires us to look past what we may temporally understand or see sometimes. Faith requires us to walk into what we may not understand or comprehend and there we will find the light and truth. I hope the kind of faith expressed by this sister can help see me through. I can't deny the frustration I've had in searching for a job and thankfully I still have a comforting feeling that everything will be ok. My Heavenly Father and Savior still love me, I have a family that is willing to do everything they can to take care of me, and I have some really great friends. Some things might be hard along the way, but I can make sure to have the sight to see the rich blessings that do await me if I will but continue on in righteousness.

In History of the Church, B. H. Roberts is continuing more of his presentation of the apostasy. I'm growing a bit tired of it all really. From a scholarly perspective I'm sure it's fascinating, but it's written in a somewhat dry manner and it doesn't seem the most concrete all the time. I was reading specifically about a lot of the heresies that had invaded the Church. There was one quote that I did especially enjoy though concerning the actions of many:

"Several come to church only on solemn festivals, and then not so much for instruction as diversion. Some go out again as soon as they have heard the lecture, without conferring or asking the pastors questions. Others stay not till the lecture is ended, and others hear not so much as a single word, but entertain themselves in a corner of the church." (p. LXXI)

This sounds so much like many that claim to practice their faith today. I definitely do not absolve any Mormon of such guilt either though. There are Sunday Mormons just as much as there are Sunday Christians. But it is interesting how so many of these terrible traditions of attending church only on holidays or really not practicing what is being preached began so long ago. I guess it's no real surprise. Humanity has not changed in the thousands of years they have been on the earth. We presume ourselves to be smarter and wiser than those of old, but I think when it really comes down to it, we're no better. We might have some better technical knowledge and such, but we still make the same stupid mistakes. I am so thankful for the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to help me make sure that my course is right.

Scripture Study 03.05.09

2009-03-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

So today I was reading more from The History of the Church. Not going to lie, this portion has been a bit drier. I have a tough time completely diving in. It's difficult reading too. B. H. Roberts (he's the author of the Introduction which I'm still in) is still recounting the apostate circumstances of the early Roman Church. I must say, I feel like Constantine was a pretty bad dude. Sure he did something that had some decent intentions through his adoption of Christianity, especially after the various persecutions handed down by former Roman emperors. However, in his adoption he basically seized control of the Church and its doctrines, thus corrupting the purity of what was once Christ's Church. Also, he turned around to persecute the pagans and other heretics. A quote from one of the ancients relative to this basically called out Constantine on the utter hypocrisy of persecuting those that were not of his faith. The teachings of Christ extol all sorts of tolerance, patience, persuasion, and love but Constantine would not allow those of differing faiths to practice such. Roberts relates the story of Christ's rejection by the Samaritans and the call of some of the apostles for fire from heaven to scourge the Samaritans. Christ did not agree with this because Christ did not come to bring such punishment but to lift us to heaven.

I guess that really is so much of what we need to keep in mind about Christianity, it's all about lifting us to a higher plateau. Tearing others down is never the goal of our Father in Heaven or Christ, but rather they seek to help us gain something far more than what we have. The hope and happiness they offer us is found in seeking the betterment of all mankind, not in the tearing down or destruction of those who may not be like us. I think a strong witness of this is the influence that these sorts of actions have upon us. When we serve others in this way, we feel the joy and happiness that comes through finding success. Also, when others assist us in this way, we feel a similar blessing and in both cases we draw closer together. Doctrine and Covenants Section 50 testifies of this. We read, "He that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." This joint edification and rejoicing a sign that the Spirit is manifest.

Scripture Study 03.04.09

2009-03-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I've been reading History of the Church by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I own the complete 7 volume collection and I have for about a year and a half and have never really read it. I have scanned some portions of it or referenced it for background on certain sections of The Doctrine and Covenants. It is interesting because it contains many of the revelations of the Prophet and it also contains The Doctrine in Covenants in context of Joseph's history. I figured I would finally read the books because we are studying The Doctrine and Covenants for Sunday School. It's been an interesting read thus far, but I'm still in the introduction. It's got a nearly 100 page introduction that kind of develops a lot of different ideas. Currently it's talking about a lot of the origins of the Great Apostasy.

The portions I read today developed the notion that the original Christian Church fell away with the Apostles. Wickedness and false traditions crept in which corrupted many of the standards. This was only exacerbated by the work of Constantine. One of the facts I found kind of funny was Constantine waited until the last year of his life to be baptized. The idea was that way he could have as much purity in his life and as he prepared for the afterlife. I guess that was a rather common practice back then and I would say it is inherently fallacious because it almost seems like a way of attempting to deceive God. Baptism is a necessary ordinance, but it avails us nothing if it is not done for righteousness' sake. Postponing baptism for this kind of reason does not sound like it is performed in righteousness. The introduction of the book was rather condemning of Constantine as a whole. I guess some of the records of him do certainly give him much glory, laud, and honor, however, he was largely responsible for much of the corruption of the Christian Church and some accounts liken him to Emperor Nero. Overall, there was certainly nothing performed which strengthened the standards of the Church but rather it became corrupted under the work of Constantine. This was only a further manifestation of the Great Apostasy.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (My Scripture Study)

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I think one of the things I probably have done a poor job of with this blog is really articulate a lot of my religious beliefs. I know most people that do in fact read this blog are good friends of mine so they know that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's funny that I haven't written much about my religious beliefs because they are such a heavy part of my dialogue from day to day. Also, I believe heavily in practicing my religion and studying my religion, so day in and day out it is a major focus. So I think I'm going to try to incorporate a lot of what I learn from my religious studies in this blog. I already conduct most of my religious studies along with my computer because I love how easy it is for me to organize all of my thoughts and notes, so that will also make it easy to import my studies to this blog. I try to make sure that every week I read the lessons before Sunday School and Priesthood on Sunday.

So today I was wrapping up my study of the Sunday School lesson. This week it's Lesson 9. The focus is upon The Only True and Living Church. Here are my notes:

• On what date was the Church organized in this dispensation? (See D&C 20:1; 21:3.)
- April 6, 1830.

• Read D&C 20:68–69. What do these verses reveal about the Lord’s expectations of us as Church members?
- The Lord expects us to manifest unto the Church our understanding of the commitment we have made before we can receive the ordinances of the sacrament and the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. There must needs be a manifestation of works and faith that are in accordance with one that has been received into the Church of Christ.

• How might your life be different if the Church had not been restored or if you were not a member of the Church?
- If the Church had not been restored or if I was not a member I am sure I would not enjoy nearly as many rich blessings as I do now. The peace that I feel through the Spirit would be absent. I am certain I would not be such a right seeking individual if I did not enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

• What can you do to more fully enjoy the blessings of membership in the Church?
- To more fully enjoy the blessings of my membership I can become more appreciative. Appreciation is one of the greatest keys to joy in our lives. There are various aspects about my membership that I do not appreciate to the extent that I should. Also, I can find more opportunities to serve. I know I have not been as good about going to the temple lately, that is something I should certainly increase. Temple attendance brings rich blessings and unfortunately I have been missing out on many of them. Also, finding ways to more fully magnify my calling and priesthood helps as well. I know in the case of my calling there are many things that we are coming up short on and I can fix that rather easily. With the priesthood, I think it helps when I recognize what my duties as a priesthood holder are more fully and I recognize just how wide and encompassing they are. I know recently I was enlightened into the idea that when I am Home Teaching I am exercising my priesthood. I hadn’t ever really thought of it like that, but I’m pretty sure anytime I undertake anything for the sake of righteousness, my priesthood is at work simply because I am a priesthood holder and that is part of the blessing of that supernal gift.

The reading assignment for today was interesting. It's always nice to have some reminders of some of the basics of the formation of the Church. I must say though I don't like it when I am given questions that are so plain and factual such as the date the Church was organized. It's a very important fact for Church members to know, but it just seems to basic. The question and scriptures about the expectations of Church members I found fascinating. I didn't remember those specific answers to the standards expected of recent converts. But I am grateful for the opportunity I had to ponder a bit more on appreciation. Gratitude is one of my favorite concepts in life because I feel like it honestly makes us so much happier of individuals. Recognizing gifts brings us joy and helps us to share that joy with others. It's interesting how something so small can make such a profound difference.

203 VIP's: The Man Card

2009-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I recently wrote a post on my blog I author with my roommates about The Man Card. I think it's a mighty fine piece of work so I'd recommend you check it out.

Dating Protocol

2009-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

So I came across this post on a blog for The New York Times about a book that gives tips for dating in New York City. I found this to be a rather interesting post because dating in Mormonville is certainly very different than the real world. It's interesting that this article drew my eye and that I had planned to write a post about this because my good friend Stella wrote a post which was basically her dating statistics. I really have no desire to compile anything of a similar nature, but I will say that I do bat about .500 when it comes to girls I ask out to girls that I actually date (and I don't use the term "date" loosely, these are all girls I dated for over a month's time at least). But I digress...

So the book is basically formed off of a survey of individuals in the city of New York although the blog post also consulted some of the statistics from other cities, most notably LA. So I'm not really going to quote the actual stats or what not, if you want to see that, go to the actual post, I will more talk about the generals.

1. Don't Trust Those Blind Dates

Here they mention that friends and family are the best way to meet a date (family is not the best dating pool, that's called incest but friends are fair game) and blind dates are really not that effective. Is anybody really that surprised by this? I mean the thing is you have to find a way to create a meaningful connection with a person if you hope for it to go anywhere. Blind dates aren't likely to create this because it's such a quick means of being thrown into a situation that is usually a bit more advanced along the lines of friendship even. Of course I do have a good friend who actually married a girl he went out on a blind date with, so it still can work.

Random side note, I've never actually been out on a blind date or ever been set up with somebody. No biggie.

2. Text Messaging as a Non-Romantic Medium?

Thank goodness the people mostly show some sense here. I really don't think text messaging should ever be used as a means of asking somebody out, but I can't deny I hate text messaging. It's somewhat of a necessary evil. That being said, pick up the freaking phone if you're going to ask somebody out at the very least. I think in person is a great way of doing it, but it often can be difficult. Of course in the case of the inverse, that is breaking up with somebody (or even expressing that you're not interested) a text message is still not appropriate. I can't believe anybody would honestly do something so impersonal unless they like feared for their safety or something. On the same note, yeah, email is not kosher.

3. What Do You Do With Their Stuff?

Ok, so I'm not sure this is usually as big of a problem in Mormon culture because you obviously aren't moving in together or staying the night, but sometimes it does arise. Frankly it's not appropriate to do anything with it is return it. I mean lets be honest, it's stealing if it's something they want back and you don't give it back. It's hard to justify doing much else with it. Oh and if you get engaged and it gets broken off, girls give back the ring. Why would you want it anyway? Seriously...

4. Do New Yorkers Like Traditional Gender Roles More?

I think whoever asks should expect to pay. Now I'm the type of guy that I typically offer to pay when asked out, but I wouldn't insist upon it. I do love it when a girl asks me out though, I find it very flattering.

5. Quiet Places to Talk

It's hard to really identify with this category on the survey. The locations aren't really Provo type locations. That being said, I feel like on a first date it's about getting to know the person, so it's probably a good idea to do something where you will have a good opportunity to talk. Of course, there's nothing wrong with going to something where you don't have to talk all of the time because that can often be hard on a first date.

6. Meet My (Fill in the Blank)

I think I'm a bit more onboard with the people who "want a reality check." I mean if it's a good relationship, you really shouldn't have to talk about it. But I guess the problem is there are so many people (undeniably mostly guys) out there giving bad relationships that a lot of the issue arises from that. It does disappoint me how often plenty of smart girls seem to fall for the tricks of dumb guys though. But DTR's are kinda lame and really something more for when you're getting really serious or thinking it's time to call it quits. You should know what sort of commitment you're getting and giving.

7. So-So on the Bridge and Tunnel Crowd

So this one definitely doesn't apply because it's about New York locality, but the principle of location does. Location can be a big thing in dating, especially early on. The longer the distance the tougher it is and the shorter you've been dating the more difficulty distances create. At the end of the day, it's all about how much you're willing to commit.

8. Where Does the "Other" Come From? Maybe New York

Look this is about infidelity and I don't think too many people that would commit such actions would read my blog. I think this is a slimy thing to do period, even if you're just dating. You make commitments to each other and if you want to be with somebody else, call off the commitments first (unless your married, then just accept the fact you're committed and enjoy it). I'm of the attitude that if you're dating somebody, you really shouldn't even be having relationship type discussions with anybody other than the person you're with. Wouldn't you want that kind of respect from the person you're dating? Why don't you give it to them?

9. Personality Matters More Than Money

Certainly should be the case. I think this part of the survey is rather on par for what it should be. Looks are an important thing because as I often tell people, you have to be able to stand to look at the person. If you're not attracted to the person physically, it's just not going to work. However, that doesn't make it the most important factor, just probably the one that piques your interest first. Most of the criteria is really up to you from there. You know what you like and I can't tell you what to be interested in, other than I don't recommend being all about the Benjamins. Financial stability is a good sign that it is somebody dependable, but they don't need to be Donald Trump.

10. How Would You Snoop?

Please, are we 15? Why do you ever need to snoop? Be an intelligent person, you can tell things just by being observant, you don't need to be snooping. Of course I think this is a more difficult thing for Mormons to be able to snoop because of the not living together or being in each others' intimate living spaces as much. I guess I'm pretty anti this though because of a bad experience I had with an ex stealing an email and AIM account. Impersonation is not a kind thing.

Overall I thought this was a pretty interesting insight into the world of dating and didn't think it was too far off base. At the end of the day I think the key to dating is simply remembering the golden rule. Honestly, we have such a hard time putting ourselves in somebody else's shoes to decide how things will be received and whether or not our actions and words are a good idea. It's not that hard people, just follow Jacob's words.

Shimmer

2009-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

So recently I've had some pretty interesting experiences and undeniably a certain song keeps running through my mind. Of course a lot of that has been the fact that I've been playing the song over and over. That song is Shimmer by Fuel (unfortunately they wouldn't let me embed it in this post which made me very sad). I won't go into the details, but frankly it is a song I've felt has applied to a lot of my circumstances recently. But I think I've finally decided to "break at the bend".

My Claim to Fame

2009-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I frequent a lot of blogs, I think a lot of people know this. I especially enjoy Yahoo's sports blogs. Well, one of the best thing that the pro basketball blog, Ball Don't Lie, does is a segment entitled "Create-a-Caption". They find some goofy picture (actually sometimes they're reasonably normal) and post it and have people create captions for it. It's brilliant really. So occasionally I get involved when I actually have something decent to say. Recently I was rewarded for my good efforts. On Tuesday, January 27, this picture was the one to create a caption for:

That's Philly Guard Royal Ivey taking a little break.

So I came up with my own caption for this, it was: "You know what's better than watching the game? Watching me watch the game." And lo and behold, I was awarded with co-runner-up. Yes, it was very much exciting and that's why I figured I would share this with the whole world. I'm really surprised I was recognized because those other guys had far better posts (the Popeye's is based off of this). My favorite will still be the first one I participated in (read the intro and then check out comment #20). But yeah, feeling like hot stuff right now, can't deny it. Maybe I should start driving a Dodge Stratus.

My Dating Life

2009-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

So for a while now I've been wishing I could give you all (all of you my non-existent readership whether that be on my actual blog or you Facebookers) an in depth look at my dating life. It's really one of the most bizarre and hilarious things ever. I've enlightened many with a lot of my history as far as that and such and I usually get a good laugh. My best friend Catherine always tells me just how weird my dating experiences are and funny. I really believe they would make for a good book. It's kind of funny though because I really don't go out on that many dates yet I seem to have such weird and ridiculous things happen in my dating life. And I would proceed to give you a beautiful in depth look at it all, but I'm afraid I might offend some people and such because it has happened once before when I've done something similar, so at this time I will withhold that. But seriously, it's so funny and ridiculous all rolled into one.

On a similar note though, I do have a fantastic story I was reminded of recently. I had a past roommate who was a semi-recent convert to the Church. He was originally from Canada and he seemed like he had probably sampled some interesting substances before his conversion to the Church (ie he was permastoned). So apparently he went on a date to the dollar theater with some girl. I guess he had to use the restroom at some point during the movie. However, when he went to the restroom he heard a really loud crowd off in the distance. It turned out that there was a BYU Football game going on. So like a moth drawn to a bug zapper, he went for the bright lights of LES. Yes, his date was still in the movie theater. So at some point either the movie ended or she began to wonder where he was so she left the theater and gave him a call. She asked him where he was and he informed her that he had gone to the football game and proceeded to ask her if she would like to join him. I can imagine she was thoroughly disgusted and declined his ever so generous offer. Then he asked her if she would like a ride home, which she also (I can imagine ever so gracefully) refused and informed him that he would find a ride home. Yeah, I couldn't believe it when this guy told me this story. It just didn't even cross his mind that this was an improper thing to do or maybe imprudent. He simply decided to do what he would like and didn't give her a moment's consideration. Amazing! So funny.

Actually, I'm a Big Fan of Yo-Yo Ma

2009-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I lied in the title of this post, I'm really not. But I didn't want this to seem like another trite, boring post about the inauguration. My reasoning for that is I didn't really want to write about the inauguration itself much. It was a great occasion and I'm happy I was able to view it. A lot of what interested me were the things surrounding the actual inauguration though. As I was viewing the ceremonies, I think I was most taken with the beauty of the performance of the quartet. They played some absolutely gorgeous music. Of course the lead in was a bit funny. When I watched it the first time, I was chatting with my roommate Jordan on Facebook. It had stuck out to me that a lot of the crowd cheered quite heavily when they heard the name of Yo-Yo Ma. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't think anybody who is a true fan of Yo-Yo Ma would be cheering for him. Classical music just doesn't typically get that kind of cheering. So really I think this was just a case of the mindless mob recognizing a name and cheering because that's special. Of course I did notice the first time they also cheered a bit for the pianist (I didn't recognize her name) and on a second viewing, I noticed they cheered a fair bit for Itzhak Perlman (but still neither compared to Yo-Yo Ma). The cheering of the mindless mob really seemed to sum up a lot of the Obama election for me.

Of course I also noticed the repeated cheering of "O-bahm-mah" over and over. It really got me to thinking about how perfect of a name he really has for the crowd to chant incessantly. Just kind of one of those lil "That's interesting" things I noticed.

As a final note, more on par with the inauguration, the New York Times had a blog post about the actual inauguration itself. In it they mention the rather botched nervousness possessed by President Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts. I guess, although mostly to Chief Justice Roberts' blame, President Obama never recited the actual oath as recorded in the Constitution. I guess there's some "Lame Duck" Amendment or something that supposedly automatically transfers power, but according to the original Constitution, I'm not sure he's actually president. Of course then I'm not sure who is.

UPDATE: Obama redid the oath. Case closed.

UPDATE PART TWO: Biden takes a shot at John Roberts for messing up on the oath.

UPDATE PART THREE: The oath was performed the second time without a Bible. Guess that might make some of the people that didn't like the idea of it happy.

UPDATE PART FOUR: Some media backlash occurred because of rather limited access for the redo of the oath. I don't think is going to be too big of a deal though.

UPDATE ON YO-YO MA: So apparently the quartet didn't actually play the music live, it was prerecorded.

Pay-Rod

2009-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well I already discussed Roland Burris, and so this might seem a bit backwards discussing Governor Rod Blagojevich now, but here it goes anyway. In case you haven't gotten most of the background information about the circumstances, Governor Blagojevich is accused of attempting to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat. It looks like it should be a rather open and shut case. The FBI has been investigating Pay-Rod for quite some time and has many audio recordings concerning his dealings. Frankly, the guy doesn't seem like a particularly good guy in general and kind of a jerk. Immediately after he was charged, many called for him to step down and resign as governor. Of course he emphatically refused to give up the fight and insisted he would continue forward as the governor. One of the big issues as well was the potential of Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, having conversations with the governor about the Senate seat, which of course turned out to be rather innocuous. Impeachment talks began shortly thereafter but certainly took a decent while to come to fruition. Before any real action was taken against Blago, he appointed Roland Burris to Barack Obama's Senate seat. Shortly thereafter he was finally impeached by a landslide 114-1. Currently he is still awaiting trial both in front of the Senate and the federal courts.

So I would typically say this is a rather quick open and shut case, but there are a lot of things that seem a bit fishy here. First of all, the Federal Prosecutor seemed to leave the state legislature in the dark concerning a lot of the proceedings. He didn't seem to give them much in the way of assistance in helping them to get the man out of office. I guess there was some talk about him being concerned he might hurt his own case, which is logical, but it seems like if he's really done something so wrong, that shouldn't be too big of an issue. We'll see. Also, the legislature sure took their time to get up the gumption to finally impeach the guy. I mean they let him beat them to the punch by appointing somebody before they could do anything. According to Burris' representatives, Blago and Burris really have no relationship, so this only makes Pay-Rod look innocent. Brilliant move by him to attempt to save his hide. Finally, this guy seems really confident that he will be exonerated. Most individuals that seem to get caught up in something like this resign. Maybe he's insane, I definitely have read some things stating that he is a different guy to say the least. Then again, maybe he knows something we don't all know. Maybe he has that ace up his sleeve. Maybe his lawyers have done their homework and have found some sort of loophole or maybe he never really committed a crime. You would expect the Federal Prosecutor and the FBI to be on the right track as far as their actions, but you never really know. As I stated earlier, I would expect this guy to go to prison for what he did under normal circumstances, but the oddity it seems to be playing out with is incredible. I guess we'll find out pretty soon what really is going on.

(Picture from Getty Images)

Roland Burris

2009-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I realize this is almost to a point that it's practically blown over, but I still think it is a rather interesting topic for discussion and such. If you're even remotely up on your news you should know a little something about the political scandal in Illinois with Governor Rod Blagojevich. If you don't, I'll have a link to a blog post I plan to do about it sometime soon. The key issue at heart of the scandal is the prized Obama Senate Seat. Illinois law currently dictates that the governor makes that choice and through some rather odd circumstances, that man was Roland Burris. Now I'll admit, I'm not particularly up on Illinois politics and such and I'm not terribly aware of Mr. Burris. I have read some things here and there about his political experience, which seems reasonable enough. Of course a variety of issues have arisen as far as the seating of Mr. Burris.

1. Pay-Rod is dirty. Really that is the core issue here. Federal authorities arrested the governor for attempting to sell the Senate seat. That really is where everything runs from there. You have a guy who is rather sketchy who tried to sell the Senate seat originally, which if he were to make an appointment would be sketchy. So sure enough, when he decided to appoint Burris it was a questionable move to say the least. The Illinois legislature finally impeached Blagojevich, but that wasn't until after his seating of Burris as the new Senator from Illinois. The simple placement by a dirty governor definitely makes people ask questions though.

2. Is Burris clean? Since Burris was the eventual choice of a man who allegedly sought to sell the Senate seat, it seems like Burris might have somehow enticed Blagojevich to give him the seat. More than likely if it was actually sold, the federal authorities would have caught onto that and they both would be on trial right now, so that probably didn't happen. However, it is possible that Burris pulled some sort of unethical/illegal strings to earn the seat. I think this is a rather far fetched theory, but it is a possibility given the history. It does appear from what people have looked into as far as things that Burris is clean though.

3. Democracy. This really is my biggest beef with the whole system of it. Why do we have a vote only to turn around and appoint somebody instead? This is an office that is typically done by election, why does it change when somebody decides to leave their office mid-term? I do understand that logistically it does make sense to have somebody in the seat to enable the state of Illinois to still have that vote in the Senate, but frankly it seems like it's a bigger deal that the state of Illinois is represented by the person the people want to represent them. Maybe they could have an interim appointee that is placed while the election is conducted to make sure that they don't miss out if it's really that big of a deal (Yes, arguably that is the system that already is in place, but I'm talking about something VERY short term). It seems like an election is vital. Maybe I'm being a bit ridiculous, but it just seems like it puts too much power in the hands of the governor and the person who is appointed to that seat. Incumbents win elections rather easily and so it seems like the appointee would quite likely win reelection if they so desired, so it seems like the democratic process is circumvented even more. Of course, prudence is certainly needed in this matter altogether. I do feel like it is important that we have individuals in the Senate working. Of course we have a similar issue (minus the scandal) occurring in New York, but the governor there is dragging his feet. Caroline Kennedy, or some other individual, has still not been seated there. That seems ridiculous because the needs of the state must be looked after, they need to protect their interest in the Congress. The state has a lot of issues, but this is a quick one to fix to make sure the state can have a say on the federal level. Of course here's a lack of democracy yet again, which I still don't like.

4. The Senate. This is somewhat of a non-issue now, but for a bit, Harry Reid insisted that he had the authority to deny Burris the Senate seat. Of course it became rather apparent that assuming he had the proper credentials, he was good to go. Currently it appears that he will be in fact seated. Frankly, it seems like this was a ridiculous notion by Harry Reid because the Senate should not have this kind of ability, especially if there is no criminal investigation into such a person. If they were to have "free" reign over the ability to seat Senators they could freeze out any opposition whatsoever. It would create an absolute mess.

So all of this has certainly created some interesting drama around Washington. I think my conclusions to all of this are not quite that simple. I won't approach the Blagojevich topic here, look for it in another post, that really is part of the equation, but unfortunately because of the nature of Illinois state law and the slothfulness of the Illinois state legislature to block Blagojevich, I think we just have to accept that an appointment was made and we can't change that. It looks like from everything I've seen, Burris seems like a reasonably good choice for the seat. He seems like a decent individual and politician. I'm sure there could have been better choices out there, but I don't think he'll disappoint. I must say I wasn't the most impressed with his handling of asserting his seat, rather than being a bit more cooperative. He has to know that he was given the post by a rather dirty individual, so asserting so heavily that it is basically his possession seems unfair and unwise. Of course I can understand why he pushed so hard, but hopefully he hasn't made any enemies through the process. It would be a sad thing if the state of Illinois had a severe handicap while dealing with the federal government due to this issue.

My key conclusion about the whole thing though is certainly democracy. I just can't fathom why on earth we can't have elections for this kind of thing. Yes, elections aren't the easiest things to stage and they certainly cost a bit of cash. But isn't democracy worth it? Isn't it worth it to make sure that the people have a voice in something like this? I understand there is the argument that our elected officials (i.e. the governor) have been put in place to handle situations such as this, but why do we have elections in the first place for this particular position of Senator if democracy is so callously circumvented? Hopefully we learn from this debacle and come up with a better system, especially one more true to the tenets of democracy.

UPDATE: Politico just ran an article this morning about the difficulty of Burris assuming his Senate seat. The Dems aren't too happy with how everything went down and the GOP sees him as a symbol of what is wrong with America. He makes a perfect target. The Dems claim they will be okay with him if he will fall into party lines, which seems like a childish thing to say, but is probably rather true. He isn't likely to receive support from his party if he seeks reelection and he will probably always be seen as somewhat of an outsider and his legitimacy/the legality of his appointment will always be questioned. That of course coming from the questionable appointment from Governor Blagojevich. Money Quote: an advisor from Burris' staff when questioned on Burris' relationship with the governor stated that Burris "really had no relationship" with the governor and opposed his 2002 gubernatorial bid. If that's really the case, why on earth did Pay-Rod appoint him? I understand the "political wisdom" in severing ties with a man that is so dirty, but claiming that you have no ties to the man who appointed you whatsoever seems like something fishy is going on. We'll see how this plays out.

(Photo from the Chicago Tribune)

New Year, New Ideas

2009-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

OK, so maybe my title is a little misleading. I make it sound like this post will be about New Year's and resolutions and other goofy things like that and honestly, it won't be. Actually what this post is about is first and foremost me neglecting my blog. I haven't written in a decent while, although I did attempt a doomed dabbling in my sports blog. I think the problem there was it was technically too generalized, but at the same time all I was speaking about were bowl games. Also, I was a bit too lazy with it. I'm thinking about changing it over to a BYU sports blog, but we'll see. Also, I need to get cracking on the 203 blog, but I guess we'll see how that goes because I'm not planning on putting anything more into that than anybody else does. So that means if I start posting and nobody else contributes, I will probably just let it die. Pretty pathetic on both accounts, I know.

But there is reason for me to hope. As I think everybody knows by now, I really like the news. I keep up on it heavily and am always posting articles to my wall on Facebook and such. Well, over the break there was mostly a dearth of news (I wrote a status update about it). I mean seriously, the most exciting thing was what flavor of shaved ice was Barack Obama's favorite. That's really started changing for a large part more recently. Now there's Blagojevich, Burris (which is partially the same thing, but there is more to it than that), Israel-Palestine, and various other topics. Something I see different about a lot of these types of topics: They are great for discussion. I love posting quirky news but a lot of that comes at face value. Also, certain topics are so politically loaded (e.g. abortion, the environment, and presidential candidates) that I feel like the sides are drawn and no useful discussion is really going to flow from it. However, I feel like in a lot of these cases (maybe not Israel-Palestine as much) things are a bit more neutral or most people are on the same side (or maybe neither and it's more of a fence-sitter kind of thing), but there are still interesting ideas to be discussed. So with this I'm going to start exploring these topics in posts and hopefully getting some good discussion going. I guess that's probably all presumptuous because that would require a reading base and I really don't have one. I guess there's always potentially hope and no harm in trying. But we'll see how it goes. I'm going to approach topics in a particular order, but that's mostly because of the time in which I see the issue as either falling out of the news or being resolved. So really it's not because I value one more than another or find anything more interesting. I find them all very interesting and this was mostly sparked by a good discussion I had with my good friend Jordan about some of these topics. But we'll see where it all goes from here.

Fans and Mexican Food

2008-12-26T08:00:00.001-08:00

The bowl featured BSU vs. TCU*

So I recently went to the Poinsettia Bowl here in town. It was a lot of fun and a really great game. I wrote all about my thoughts relative to it in my sports blog. I did mention a bit about some of the fans there and Mexican food that I thought I could show here on this blog, so here's the portion in which I talk about that:

I did have a couple of other observations relative to my experience, but that weren't necessarily football oriented entirely. First, if you don't like idiots, don't go to sporting events. I think everybody should have the right to enjoy sports without having to deal with morons. Wouldn't that being wonderful? That being said, it's not going to happen in this life. The crowd is filled with people called fans and that name was given for a reason. Keep in mind, fan is short for fanatic. That's what you often find in the crowd and sometimes those people can be obnoxious. Of course, I think often times the really obnoxious one's aren't the one's who are these type, but more of the social sports fan.

At the game, a group of rather loud and rowdy young men were sitting not far from my group. I'd guess these guys were probably in their late teens, so either still in high school or they had barely started college. I didn't notice them drinking is one of the big tip offs I'd say. Most of the individuals sitting near our seats were BSU fans. These boys, however, were cheering on what they referred to as LT-U (and making moronic signs with their hands to show it). I think nobody was paying them much notice until they happened to get their hands on some purple thundersticks. Well, they really went to town with those thundersticks and undeniably, they were smacking them around in part just to be absolutely obnoxious. Well, it started getting a number of the BSU fans a bit upset. Part of the problem I'm sure was the fact they were rooting on TCU, rather than their precious Broncos. Well, that got a pretty good rise out of the BSU fans which I'm sure the kids loved, but they did decide to behave better. I can't deny I got a pretty good laugh out of it too because frankly I think people are just too uptight about a lot of things. Anytime TCU did well, these boys took their opportunity to get loud and proud, much to the chagrin of the BSU fans but they started using the thundersticks during appropriate times so it was hard for the BSU fans to object. But just to restress the idea: If you don't like idiots, don't go to sporting events! In this case we were all lucky that these boys weren't inebriated because that only intensifies the problem. Honestly, if you're looking for a good, well cultured, calm experience, a sporting event isn't where you're going to find it, except to some degree at BYU. But even at BYU, you have so many fans that have absolutely no idea what is even going on to drive anybody who knows even a little bit insane.

Second, if you're looking for good Mexican food don't go to a place called Roberto's Very Mexican Food. I can't deny, the food in the pictures for their website look reasonable authentic and good, but if a restaurant has to reassure you that their food is "very Mexican" it's probably not all that Mexican. I didn't actually try this place, I just saw it in passing as we were riding in the trolley. If there's one thing that gets me worked up in life it's crummy Mexican food and places that just scream wannabe I avoid like the plague.

You know, I really can't deny it though. I got a big kick out of watching the guys rooting on LT-U. They were just so special ed and it got so many of the BSU fans so worked up. And if you ever want some good Mexican food give me a call and we'll get some.

*Photo taken from the Idaho Statesman's Poinsettia Bowl photo gallery

I'm Branching Out

2008-12-20T00:49:00.001-08:00

Yes, that's right, I'm extending my reach into further realms. Actually, what this is about is the creation of 2 new blogs. It seemed like my sports talk scared a lot of my good friends off that preferred philosophical talk or mindless Youtube videos, so I created one where I can blog about sports. If you like sports and having sports discussions with me, definitely a great place to be. I also created a blog specifically for the legend that is 203. I don't know what direction we're going to take with that. Heck, I don't even really know who all is going to participate. I guess we'll see what happens. But yep, that's how I've spent my first day here in San Diego. I'd love to have new readers on both blogs so check them out!

Walking on the Wrong Side of the Pond

2008-12-07T20:15:00.001-08:00

"Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."

-Henry David Thoreau

So I was walking down the stairs in the JFSB the other day and a really random thought hit me. I was observing the manner in which we as a society walk around. It's pretty much an accepted cultural norm here in the U.S. that you stay to the right. I mean we do that on the roads obviously, but it typically occurs in the same manner with running and walking as well. You walk on the sidewalk, you stay to the right. You go up or down the stairs, you stay to the right. So the thought crossed my mind, is this a norm specific to America? I know in Great Britain they drive on the wrong side of the road, do they also walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk? So anybody that can answer my question (I imagine you can C. and probably will) I'd love to hear. Also, if there are any other mannerisms that you've noticed in general that are funny between cultures that aren't glaringly obvious or you've just been curious about feel free to post.

Not Quite Chemical Heart

2008-12-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

"If life is so fair, why do roses have thorns?"

-Tickle Me Emo

So love it or hate it, the emo movement is very real. I'm sure you've heard some of the music and seen some of the emo kids. I think we can all relate to our emo moments even. Pain is a very real part of life. I know I had a status up on Facebook recently that stated "Scott is wallowing in his sorrows." My friend sent me a message stating she hated my status. I guess she thought it was me being all emo, which I guess you could say I was, I was definitely in mourning over a recent funeral. Of course frankly, I think most of us look at the emo stuff as mostly something to laugh at, which brings me to the real reason for this post: The Emo Band Name Generator. I thought this beauty was pretty wonderful. I played around with it a bit and it does seem like it uses a regular pattern to create names. When I ran my name multiple times it came up with the same answer and only a slight variation when I ran it with my first name instead or my full name.

My emo band's name is Not Quite Chemical Heart.

My emo band's name with my first name instead is Some Kind Of Chemical Heart.

My emo band's name with my full name is Some Kind Of Helicopter Heart.

They aren't the most thrilling ever and I think I like the original the best. I ran my roommates and those were pretty good I'll just quickly list them:

James - Somebody's Shimmering Application

Terry - Everybody's Lack of Application

Jeff - Projected Resplendent Cola

Jordan - Some Kind of Shimmering Significance

Matty Cakes - Metal Head Helicopter Valentine

I definitely like Matt's the best. It doesn't seem like the list is exhaustive as far as the possibilities, but it's definitely a lot of fun. But have fun with it and post your own in the comments section. I'd love to see any other good one's.

P.S. Yes, C. (I'll refer to you as C. since that's what you refer to yourself in your blog as) I did steal the opening quote idea from you. I think I'm going to employ that regularly because I really like the lead in that it gives yours. Of course I'll probably be more likely to quote things such as songs or ridiculous Youtube videos.

Capstone Paper Day 2: Sports and a Big Mouth

2008-10-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

So it's day two of working on the paper and no Facebook in my life. I'm actually holding out pretty strong. I know a lot of you out there are rather shocked and probably are wondering if you'll ever see me again. I will return, someday...

So about my day. It was also day two for my running with Megan. We went six miles today. I'm frankly shocked I'm holding up as well as I am. I love running with her though, we have a good time and it's just been a really good influence on me all around. It gets me up early and doing the important things first such as reading my scriptures and all that.

So I had some different homework assignments I was working on as well as my paper. Things went reasonably well as far as that. I think what made me the most happy was the fact that I finally am getting things to click for my Ethnic Conflict and Civil War course. Really it has been a very difficult subject for me to stay up and comprehend completely. But when I was in class today it all just seemed to click. It was fantastic. It really made me so happy because I have just seemed so lost as far as that.

This evening was a lot of fun. I went to Cougar Tip Off which was awesome! I'm really excited for the start of the season. It was good to be there with a group of friends and get excited for Cougar Basketball to start up again. They had this paper airplane contest and I can't deny I was really pathetic about it. My plane did not want to fly at all! I'm sure I looked like such a fool. Oh well, what are you going to do. Like my blog title says, this is The Short Bus Crew and it's definitely a very "special" look at the world because I'm a very "special" person. After the basketball game I had a flag football game. We played really great tonight and I got a sack. But unfortunately we came up a bit short and so that's the end of our season.

Now for the final part of my post, my big mouth. So anybody that knows me pretty well knows I'm rather blunt. Well, I'm pretty sure I've overstepped my bounds a few times recently as far as that and I'm kind of concerned that I might have offended a few people as far as that. It makes me sad, but what are you going to do? I've apologized profusely to all of them but still am a little concerned, especially because I think I'm letting it become a bit of a problem. It's really pathetic that I'm letting this happen lately. Our Bishop mentioned that we would have lessons on gossip this Sunday so I decided to study up on it a bit and I really appreciated a quote from President N. Eldon Tanner relative to this. He said, "The tongue is the most dangerous, destructive, and deadly weapon available to man." And so me, being the wise individual I am, I decided to do pretty much everything I could to go contrary to that in the past few days. I really don't think I hurt anybody too badly (hopefully). But I'm pretty sure I was out of line. And I'm sorry about that. I really hope I didn't hurt or offend anybody. I apologize to all those again that I might have offended and know that I do love you dearly, even if you never do see this blog post.

So yeah, definitely going to work on that wicked tongue of mine. Anybody that is interested in reading President Tanner's talk about gossip it can be found here.

Capstone Paper Day 1: Signing Off

2008-10-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I should address first things first. I can imagine there's been quite the uproar among many of my Facecrack friends. Yes, my status does read "Scott is signing off..." and I can imagine some probably have wondered what on earth that means. No, it is not the end. But I am taking a break from Facebook. I can imagine this is probably much to the detriment of many a good soul I've entertained for countless hours on Facebook. So I especially apologize to my roommates (my apologies to James and Jordan for that link. I don't know of an apartment picture with the two of you). And I apologize first and foremost to Matty Cakes. Love ya Matt :) :putnam:! Oh and I despise you and all that you stand for.

So the next big question I can imagine a lot of people are asking is why? Well as the title of this post suggests: I have my capstone paper due! It's on Nixon and the environment. On the plus side, it's not due till next Tuesday. Of course the down side is I really have not done nearly as much as I should have, so I'm going to definitely have quite a bit to do over the next few days. I figure I should have most things done with it other than like some of the fine points such as a bibliography by Thursday. But yeah, I definitely know not having Facebook in my life for a bit will help with some of my productivity, especially with something that is so crucial to my graduation.

So that leads to the next question: How long? Well, the quick answer to that is however long it takes. I think I'll probably be back by the weekend, but we'll see for sure. Of course that doesn't mean I'm still not going to have some fun along the way, but Facebook is the fun I'm taking out for a bit. I will be attending Cougar Tip Off tomorrow and then my flag football game afterward. Now I will give everyone fair warning as well. I will also be taking another Facebook hiatus starting Election Day. That one will be one full week. I have my reasons for this and I'm sure the world will be far different for it, but it's really my own little Facebook Fast. It's somewhat of an experiment and such.

So that being said, next question: How do you contact me if you want to talk to me? Well I'd recommend either email, my blog (yes, you could actually post a comment for once you pinko commies!), or come see me in the basement of the library in the Political Science Section. Yes, Harold and I have gotten to be rather good friends over the past little while. Although I've known him well through my years here at BYU. You can try to call or text me, but I don't get service down here usually and I will be down here for long hours typically so it will probably be a while before I see that I have a text or message. All right, I think that covers most of the questions, so I'll give everybody a quick update on my day.

I started my day really early. I went running with my friend Megan. This was the first time I had been running in quite a while and I was shocked I faired as well as I did. We were out there long before the sun was even up. It was fun running and chatting for a bit and that's going to be a daily ritual for us now. I like it because having a running buddy ensures that I'll actually run. She's a really fantastic person and so she made me an awesome pancake breakfast afterward. So great! Thanks Megan!

So I definitely was feeling it a bit afterward, but I was somehow able to stumble up to campus. I didn't have class till 3 today, so I was doing plenty of homework for quite a while. This included working on the dreaded research paper. We'll see how this all comes along. Class was AMAZING today. Professor Daynes is so funny. He is amazingly liberal. Look and I know I'm pretty conservative, but this is legit. He starts yelling and screaming during class, it's pretty funny. He gives all the conservatives a really hard time, it's semi-jokingly but it really is kind of messed up. If it weren't for the fact he's like 80, I'd probably be a bit more concerned. He goes off all the time about how Bush is the worst president ever (and no, I don't need comments agreeing with that statement, I've heard it plenty). So I can't deny I get a little bored in that class. We just talk about these reading assignments that are really pointless because it's for my capstone and most of the time they're not really on topic or anything. Just believe me, very little of it is related to what I'm doing. So I was reading some news on the internet (no Facebook though as I already stressed). And my friend that was sitting next to me (mostly because he was jealous he didn't have a laptop) goes "Oh man a royal flush!" So everybody in the class cracks up and my professor of course stares at me and honestly thought I was playing poker on my computer. We assured him I was not, but he was a bit overly concerned that I was "multitasking". Well, later he accused another student of "multitasking" as well and so I told my professor "Oh yeah, we play poker together all through class!" and my friend next to me says "Yeah, I watch and get all sorts of good poker strategies." Needless to say, everybody laughed pretty hard about it. Man, the jokes that fly around that class are hilarious and so often it is because of the inflammatory comments made by Professor Daynes. We've all learned to be rather sarcastic with him. And lest you think it's a case of Republicans/Conservatives gaining up on the Liberal/Democrat, a lot of the class is actually rather liberal. It's about half. But yeah, good times.

So afterward I've been working hard in the library finishing up this paper. I know, I know you're saying "Wait a second, you're 'working hard' yet you're writing your blog, that doesn't add up." Here's how it goes, writing is like everything in life. The more you practice it the better you'll be at it. Also, you really should kind of warm up, so that's what this post is: a warm up. But yeah, I really feel it all coming along. I really am working hard on this paper, good thing I have a built in camera on my computer so I can show you myself:

And a quick shout out to my buddy Ian. He also had a good (although much more brief) post about writing papers.

Satan Cored Troll or the Wonderful Results of An Anagram Maker

2008-10-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

So one of my buddies, Jack, just had up as his Facebook status about his name as an anagram. I thought that was kinda neat so I put my name in got some fun results. It's amazing how quickly a computer can create pretty much every single possible anagram for your name. Some of my favorite from my list were: Translated Color, Doctoral Antlers, Doctoral Rentals, A Contrasted Roll, A Collards Rotten, A Collators Trend, A Tsar Controlled, Arcade Troll Snot, Ancestral Old Rot, Anal Cold Retorts, Satan Cored Troll, and Satan Rector Doll. Yeah, pretty amazing.

So go ahead and enter your name and see what kind of results you get. And either share some with me or give me a link in your comment.

To share links in the comments section copy and paste this into your comment:

<(remove this space)a href=""><(remove this space)/a>. Make sure to put the link between the quotations and whatever the word you want to list in between the ><. So for example,

<(remove this space)a href="http://www.thisisafakelink.com/">My Example<(remove this space)/a>. Have fun with your own anagrams!

Facecrack or Internet Addictions of College Age Students

2008-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I can't deny I've had a few people ask me lately about me and Facebook. I assume pretty much anybody that is going to waste their time reading my blog knows exactly what Facebook is. It's a social networking tool. Yep, a tool. I can't deny, I do spend a lot of time on there. All right, all right, I'm being modest. I live on there. It's my life now, I know no other life. You know though, it's funny how it really is most college student's lives. And here's the thing I'll say, I'm really just kidding when I say it's my life. The internet in general does suck me in though. In all honesty, that's what I do while I'm "on Facebook." I constantly keep up with news and blogs.

But I've definitely heard my fair share of the "Facecrack" jokes. That's what my friend Claire often refers to it as. It really is such an interesting thing how a device of interconnectivity does become such a common thing for us to almost defer our lives to. But here's the funny thing as well, Facebook has greatly amplified my social life! It's the truth. I interact with people so much more often because of Facebook and that actually gets me out of the house and away from Facebook.

Of course I can't deny the how pathetic that really sounds because I talk about Facebook almost like it's a person. Of course to some people it might as well be. My friend Carson refers to Facebook rather jokingly as her "boyfriend." So is this really unhealthy? I think not, but like all good things in life it must be moderated. One of the things I've really found about the whole Facebook craze lately is the way it honestly does make things better and more enjoyable for others. Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was speaking about the idea of Christian Courage. In his talk he spoke about the idea of some of the negative publicity the Church receives. He stated, "We can take advantage of such opportunities in many ways: a kind letter to the editor, a conversation with a friend, a comment on a blog, or a reassuring word to one who has made a disparaging comment." Now I know his context isn't quite the same, but I believe the principle is still applicable. Really so much of what this is about is having the courage to do the right thing, which includes the idea of the kind thing. The kind thing is to try to keep up on our friends' lives and giving them words of encouragement or finding simple ways to brighten their lives. Lately I've been focusing a lot on the idea of commenting on blogs. I have a number of friends who have their own blogs and some of them update them quite regularly. It's a nice thing to know that people still know you're alive and that they care about you and what you have to say. I think that's something I love about Facebook. So many people are on there and they're on there quite frequently that it presents various opportunities to really brighten people's days. I know it's retarded, but seeing that little red bubble in the lower right hand corner of the screen does make people happy. It's like getting a phone call from a friend or a letter. There's just something special about it because you know somebody cares enough to put forth that kind of effort. Also, those that know me pretty well, know I can get rather silly when it comes to my Facebook habits. I really find that it helps me to release a lot of my inhibitions and just be happier about life. When I'm with my friends I'm more carefree, I'm more myself, and I can have even more fun.

So I guess this really does leave us with a bit of a conundrum. Is this addiction that is "Facecrack" really a nightmare? Or is it a way for us to reach out and make a difference in the lives of others? I guess like so many different things, that's really about us. We've been given a tool, we must choose how to use it. I like to make people and I love it when other people make me happy, so personally I'm glad I can have this interconnectivity with so many others and various times in the day. If that's not quite your cup of tea, that's fine. I'm happy for you. I hope the Facebook addiction doesn't suck you into something that you don't really want in your life. But either way, seek for those simple little ways you can brighten somebody else's day. Whether it be the untechnological means: Go visit or write a letter; the semi-techno means: make a phone call or drop a text message; or the full out internet age: email, write on their wall, comment on their blog, or chat with them through some sort of instant messenger, it all can really brighten a person's day. I think too often we forget to even speak to many of our Savior's sheep, especially when they're reaching out for help. We all need friends and thankfully through technology we can expand that influence and our circle of friends rather easily. We can show so many individuals they are important to us by brief little interactions and we don't have to forget about them. Bringing joy to others will certainly bring us the greatest joys of all.

Top 25 Picks Week 7

2008-10-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so I need to hurriedly make my picks (but frankly I don't put a ton of thought into them anyway. The Wake game is starting in about 10 minutes and I haven't made my picks, so I'll make the picks and I might add some commentary after the fact.

*UPDATE: So can I ecstatically say that I beat the kickoff of the Wake Forest-Clemson game by quite a bit. I guess the coverage time was quite a bit earlier than kickoff. You can never really tell as far as that kind of thing. But I need to breakdown my picks from last week. 14-4 for my picks last week. Not too shabby. Got one top 10 pick wrong and I'm not sure I made any real daring picks so I guess I'm not overly proud of that. I did feel a little off about the South Florida pick and it turns out I was right. Oh well. 4 teams were on byes and 6 Top 25 Teams played each other. So I've done this for 2 previous weeks is all but I'm 24-10. Wouldn't mind getting that percentage up a tad bit but that's not too bad. Things sure are shaking up now and I've updated this after this week's games have already been played, so they've really shaken up. At least BYU should come out of all of this in a rather favorable position. Hoping for the best against TCU.

Without further ado, here's the AP Top 25 for this week:

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (51) 5-0 1,608
2. Alabama (13) 6-0 1,537
3. Missouri (1) 5-0 1,487
4. LSU 4-0 1,444
5. Texas 5-0 1,374
6. Penn State 6-0 1,287
7. Texas Tech 5-0 1,163
8. USC 3-1 1,137
9. Brigham Young 5-0 1,103
10. Georgia 4-1 1,014
11. Florida 4-1 977
12. Ohio State 5-1 931
13. Vanderbilt 5-0 833
14. Utah 6-0 815
15. Boise State 4-0 677
16. Kansas 4-1 623
17. Oklahoma State 5-0 565
18. Virginia Tech 5-1 485
19. South Florida 5-1 392
20. Auburn 4-2 236
21. Wake Forest 3-1 205
22. North Carolina 4-1 196
23. Michigan State 5-1 161
24. Pittsburgh 4-1 121
25. Ball State 6-0 97

My picks:

1. Texas @ Oklahoma: Sooners. This game is actually played at a neutral location, kind of neat. I wish more big games could be like that. But frankly, the Sooners play phenomenal ball. They'll find a way to blow something big this season, rest assured of that, but I don't think this is going to be that one. Texas is a tad bit over ranked and isn't going to be a team of any real consequence after going through the Big-12. They'll win big in the Big-12, maybe even their division, but no way will they win the conference.

2. Alabama: Bye.

3. Missouri @ Oklahoma State: Missouri. Pretty much nobody can compare with Chase Daniel.

4. LSU @ Florida: Gators. Florida is a superb program that underperforms. That being said, LSU is over ranked. Look for a Tiger loss this week.

5. Texas: See #1.

6. Penn State @ Wisconsin: Nittany Lions. I'm convinced Penn can lose, but whether or not that will be in the Big-10, I don't know for sure.

7. Nebraska @ Texas Tech: Tech. They'll keep producing that awesome offensive show.

8. Arizona State @ USC: Trojans. They're back to full form. Look for more SC dominance.

9. New Mexico @ BYU: Cougars. Did you have to ask?

10. Tennessee @ Georgia: Bulldogs. Look for a great Georgia team to walk all over UT.

11. Florida: See #4.

12. Purdue @ Ohio State: Buckeyes. They're pretty good and Purdue really isn't.

13. Vanderbilt @ Mississippi State: Commodores. They'll continue their wins against a crummy team.

14. Utah @ Wyoming: Utes. Hate to pick them as always, might be an interesting game with their new rivalry.

15. Boise State @ Southern Miss: Broncos. This is a solid program, although not quite BCS caliber.

16. Colorado @ Kansas: Kansas. Colorado might be some trouble though.

17. Oklahoma State: See #3.

18 & 19. Virginia Tech & South Florida: Bye. Lucky for them.

20. Arkansas @ Auburn: War Eagles. Auburn is still pretty bad, but not Razorback bad. Plus the new offensive coordinator might make a difference, might...

21. Clemson @ Wake Forest: Wake. I really am a big Reily Skinner fan. Clemson has proven to really not be all that good too.

22. Notre Dame @ NC: NC. I really don't like the Irish. They almost lost to SDSU.

23. Michigan State @ Northwestern: Northwestern. I don't like the Spartans this year and it is an undefeated team they're playing at home (although undeniably unproven).

24. Pitt: Bye.

25. Ball State @ Western Kentucky: Ball State. They're good enough.

Quick Hits For 2 October 2008

2008-10-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hello new month! So there's certainly plenty of big things going on in the world. The economic crisis is still the hot topic and it's a new week of College Football (Go Cougars!). Otherwise, I think most of the world is kind of up to business as usual. Here's my rundown on some of the major topics:

The Vice Presidential Debate - Anybody else think it's pretty ridiculous to have a lady as "moderator" that has written a book on Obama? I realize it's impossible to completely find somebody that's truly objective, but you gotta at least make it seem like the person is. I'd be griping about this irrespective of which side she maybe was on. That's just a poor job by the host of the debate. What's worse, the McCain campaign had no idea. Apparently he's not concerned. Also, there is some question as to the objectivity of Ifill in general. There is some question as to why the campaigns hadn't already figured this out. It's up in the air just how well Palin will do for sure, but she apparently has had a decent history in smaller scale debates. Here is a more in depth analysis of her Alaskan debate. The debate may be the first time we get to hear about a lot of Palin's stances on major policy issues. Up until now she's been rather reticent. For some analysis of what to expect at the VP debate read here... The New York Times explores some of Biden's potential pitfalls. The fact of the matter is, he has a big mouth so Palin's cluelessness may not hinder the McCain Campaign after all... Palin doesn't know where she gets her news. This poor lady just can't do herself any favors in the way she speaks sometimes, including her referring to herself as the leader for "Joe-six pack." You know, I'm sure there are some voters that kind of find this comforting, but frankly I'm not looking for a football buddy in a presidential or vice-presidential nominee. I want somebody that is more of an elite and sophisticated. She's definitely an elite as far as income, so I'm not sure she relates to the blue collar as much as she claims, unless that's more about her level of sophistication and lifestyle of choice. What do you think, Ahmadinejad would enjoy throwing back a few brewskis with Palin? There's a great foreign policy plan... The McCain campaign is trying to protect Palin from the media. Given what's happened thus far and her experience, this isn't really a surprise. Of course they've got to be realistic that she can't hide for forever and hiding her only makes her look like she's not prepared for the job. I wonder how much longer this will go on or that they can afford to do this... McCain has turned to Palin for foreign policy advice in the past. You know given what's happened thus far, even if that's true, I'm not sure I'd own up to that. Not to mention the fact his statement that "she has the world view that [McCain has]"sounds a little too much like cronyism... McCain deflects questions with sarcasm. I'm not sure what to think about this.
The Economic Meltdown - Yep, it's still there. Here's my thing about it, problems take time to fix. Why do we think we're going to fix this one with one "simple" piece of legislation and with such immediacy? Hopefully I'm wrong on that. I'll add to this tomorrow.

Top 25 Picks Week 6

2008-09-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

Polls were released yesterday after a really crazy weekend for the Top 25. I didn't think I'd ever be excited that BYU had a bye with where they were ranked. I went into the weekend completely convinced we would fall in the polls, especially since I knew Penn State would jump us. I'm ecstatic that we're 8 for not having played this past week. But yeah, some crazy upsets from last week. There were 6 byes last week and I missed 6 picks, 3 of those were Top 10 picks. I don't think anybody in their right mind can pick an unranked team to beat a Top 10 team under most circumstances. If you look at my comments on USC and Florida from last week, those upsets didn't really surprise me. That being said, I can't deny I got them wrong and my Wisconsin pick turned out to be ugly. Beautiful 4th Quarter for the Wolverines. I am definitely going to give myself a pat on the back for the Alabama pick, of course I was kind of disappointed when Corso had the same pick as me on College Gameday. Also, there were 6 Top 25 teams that played each other. So out of the number of games I picked, I went 10-6 for picks last week. Not incredibly pretty, but I'll take it. Here's this week's Top 25:

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599
2. Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565
3. LSU 4-0 1,466
4. Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453
5. Texas 4-0 1,362
6. Penn State 5-0 1,252
7. Texas Tech 4-0 1,105
8. Brigham Young 4-0 1,098
9. USC 2-1 1,087
10. South Florida 5-0 1,035
11. Georgia 4-1 1,018
12. Florida 3-1 914
13. Auburn 4-1 860
14. Ohio State 4-1 829
15. Utah 5-0 713
16. Kansas 3-1 650
17. Boise State 3-0 549
18. Wisconsin 3-1 520
19. Vanderbilt 4-0 459
20. Virginia Tech 4-1 290
21. Oklahoma State 4-0 277
22. Fresno State 3-1 232
23. Oregon 4-1 199
24. Connecticut 5-0 126
25. Wake Forest 3-1 107

Here's my breakdown:

1. Oklahoma @ Baylor: Sooners. Yeah, they're way freaking good. Stoops is a lot like the "Sweater Vest" though, he finds a way to lose some big ones.

2. Kentucky @ Alabama: Roll Tide! I love me the Crimson Tide. They're pretty amazing and maybe that's because Sabin is hellbent. Either way, he coaches a good team and Kentucky doesn't stand a chance.

3. LSU: Bye.

4. Missouri @ Nebraska: Missouri. Chase Daniel is my Heisman pick and I think he's getting another victory this week.

5. Texas @ Colorado: Texas. Did you see how bad Colorado was against FSU?

6. Penn State @ Purdue: Penn. This is a ridiculous good team and good things will continue to come.

7. Texas Tech @ Kansas State: Tech. This will be their first real test, so we'll see if they truly are good. I think K-State is a bit undervalued as well. That being said, I don't think they've got what it takes to beat this talented Red Raider offense.

8. BYU @ USU: Do you know what school I go to?!?!? USU escaped ESPN's Bottom 10 this week, but they've been regulars (3 out of 5 weeks and the preseason).

9 & 23. Oregon @ USC: Trojans. Why are the Ducks even ranked? Seriously! Didn't they just grab some random guy from the stands to play QB for them? I feel bad for them because they've definitely had some rough luck, but at the same time I can't believe how much losing a QB has killed them.

10. Pitt @ South Florida: South Florida. I hate this pick because I've seen what Pitt can do. That being said, South Florida is a respectable team playing at home, gotta go with that.

11. Georgia: Bye.

12. Florida @ Arkansas: Gators. The Razorbacks are pretty lousy and Florida is seeking blood.

13 & 19. Auburn @ Vanderbilt: War Eagles/Tigers. The Commodores get their first test. I'd say "real test" but if you've seen how bad that Auburn offense is you'll understand why I don't. That being said, they aren't so hot either, but it should be yet another tight game for Auburn.

14 & 18. Ohio State @ Wisconsin: Buckeyes. This team is going to keep playing strong and Wisconsin definitely doesn't have what it takes.

15. Oregon State @ Utah: Utes. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. The Utes are respectable and I can't deny it and the Beavers haven't been other than whatever team showed up to play last week. That being said, I can't believe the Beavers didn't get a bit more love and actually break in to the Top 25 beating the #1 team in the nation. Anybody else not get that logic?

16. Kansas @ Iowa State: Kansas. Neither of these teams are really that good. Kansas is sorely over ranked, but Iowa State lost to a far too highly touted UNLV team. UNLV is really bad and they couldn't hold their own.

17. Louisiana Tech @ Boise State: Broncos. They're playing a not so great team on the blue monster. Need I say more?

18. See #14.

19. See #13.

20. Virginia Tech: Bye. Man, how'd these guys sneak in their? They're lucky it's a bye week, that'll keep em in longer than they probably would have been.

21. Texas A&M @ Oklahoma State: Oklahoma State. Another team I'm surprised snuck it's way into the Top 25, but the Aggies really aren't any good.

22. Hawaii @ Fresno State: Fresno State. Home game against a team who's only win is Weber State. They shouldn't be too concerned.

23. See #9.

24. UConn @ North Carolina: Huskies. I'm reasonably impressed with the way they play and it seems like the ball really bounces their way. Bet we'll see some more of that this week.

25. Wake Forest: Bye. Rough week for the bye, they'll be out of the Top 25 short of Divine Intervention.

Quick Hits For 25 September 2008

2008-09-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

So I guess since I've started titling this "Quick Hits" as opposed to some of the other titles I've used, I'll start it off with a video of a great hit from the football season. Here is a fantastic hit by the always brutal Ray Lewis:

Now that's absolutely brutal

Speaking of brutal, the economy seems to be on a real meltdown lately. The Bush speech (here in its entirety, I recommend reading it if you didn't catch it) finally got me really concerned about this economic crisis. This is such a big thing that Bush invited Obama and McCain back from their campaigning to help the Senate and the House take action. That's really big news. McCain seemed to have gotten wind of all of this a little beforehand as he suspended his campaigning before the Bush speech. Also, a part of this was him requesting to put a delay on tomorrow night's presidential debate. Obama is striving to deny him that. I can't deny that it seems like this may just be McCain playing politics, but it definitely is a serious issue, so for good for him for at least making it more of a public concern, even if it was only for selfish reasons. Here's Letterman poking fun at McCain for suspending his campaign and canceling his appearance on his show. Anyway, any thoughts on the economic situation and McCain's move? Should they debate?

Palin a continued proponent of the "bridge to nowhere." I think we probably should all be a little troubled by this. I mean this was scandal at its best, especially given Senator Ted Stevens' recent legal problems... Politico writer Mark J. Penn offers some pointers on this weeks debate. This article is interesting and informative, although he comes out with some very strong direction early on and then gets a bit wimpy late in the article. Good read... Obama back on top according to the polls. Looks like it should be a close one, but I don't think I'm surprising anybody by saying that. That seems to be more and more the case lately even, wonder how many more elections it will continue?... Biden accuses McCain of being "dangerously wrong" about his national security policy. This is just a quick blurb because it's only some tidbits released early from a future speech of Biden's. I'm curious to see exactly what Biden has to say, see if there's anything really to it, and if the news media is really going to latch onto it. I think it's a bit too much of an opinion thing to have any real proof or evidence though... Nobel Peace Prize Winner Al Gore encourages civil disobedience to enforce standards upon new coal power plants. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a Nobel Peace Prize Winner should take a higher road than this.

What if Mormons are right? Hat tip: Matt.

Wacky news of the day: Man charged with battery for passing gas on a cop (yes, this is for real). Seems a bit extreme and harsh, but at the same time, people really should learn to think and control their alcohol intake.

Lance Armstrong to make a comeback. I'm all for it... The Matt Millen debacle: It's official, he's finally fired. I love this blog post leading up to it quoting Roy Williams about the circumstances and their playing philosophy. It's hilarious. Oddly enough, Millen had a pretty good career before the Lions. His future? Still up in the air... Feds to prove Bonds' trainer gave him steroids. Can we just convict the guy and get past this, please?... Vince Young is working on coming back. I've never been sold on him, of course I didn't really expect him to have a mental breakdown like he has. Wish him the best... Josh Scobee steals the ball he kicked for a field goal from a poor ball boy. Funny story... Former NFL players donating their brains to scientific studies. Bravo, should be some good research that comes out of that.

How do lawyers say Duke football really sucks? Hear it here. Hat tip: Jordan

Knight Rider comeback. I'll get more on this later.

One of the most amazing catches EVER!

Top 25 Picks Week 5

2008-09-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

So the polls are out again, wish BYU was higher but I always will. I don't know that I can really dispute our ranking and I'm at least thankful that the AP is showing us a little more love. I figure I'll start making picks on the top 25 games of the week every week for the rest of the season, lets see if I'm any good at it. I'm not adventurous enough to even attempt scores though.

Here's the AP listing:
AP Top 25
1. USC (62) 2-0 1,621
2. Oklahoma 3-0 1,484
3. Georgia (2) 4-0 1,475
4. Florida (1) 3-0 1,442
5. LSU 3-0 1,363
6. Missouri 4-0 1,360
7. Texas 3-0 1,174
8. Alabama 4-0 1,132
9. Wisconsin 3-0 1,091
10. Texas Tech 4-0 962
11. Brigham Young 4-0 919
12. Penn State 4-0 891
13. South Florida 4-0 798
14. Ohio State 3-1 790
15. Auburn 3-1 785
16. Wake Forest 3-0 711
17. Utah 4-0 574
18. Kansas 3-1 555
19. Boise State 3-0 363
20. Clemson 3-1 300
21. Vanderbilt 4-0 242
22. Illinois 2-1 224
23. East Carolina 3-1 201
24. TCU 4-0 117
25. Fresno State 2-1 105

So I'll go through each game:

1. USC @ Oregon State: USC. Can you really pick against the Trojans? Although, this may be a bit of a struggle for them and I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to lose some sort of ridiculous game this season. Remember Stanford last year?

2 & 24. TCU @ Oklahoma: Sooners. Nough said.

3 & 8. Alabama @ Georgia: Alabama. I'm going a little bit out on a limb for this one, but frankly Georgia has been getting less and less impressive versus the tide just keeps on rolling. I don't know that either is truly a National Championship contender, even though Georgia probably should be. I feel like Georgia probably should be, like last year's LSU, but they underperform and they probably will throughout the season. Unless things change pretty quick, Georgia shouldn't be in the National Championship.

4. Mississippi @ Florida: Florida. They play a good, solid fundamental game. It isn't necessarily the prettiest and they don't necessarily blow people out, but they get it done. Watch for them as National Champion contenders exactly for this reason.

5. Mississippi State @ LSU: LSU. I can't stand LSU so I hate picking them ever, but they did manage a decent win against Auburn last week. That being said, Auburn looked awful against State, so who knows, maybe they'll throw a wrench in LSU's works?

6. Missouri: Bye.

7. Arkansas @ Texas: Texas. Not necessarily the most impressed with Texas, but they do get it done for a large part like Florida. Arkansas got smashed by Alabama last week and look for more bad news from this bad team.

8. Alabama: See #3.

9. Wisconsin @ Michigan: Wisconsin. Michigan is that bad. Really. Things are going to be even more of a mess for coach Rich Rod shortly. Frankly controversy is going to continue to follow him. Karma coach.

10 & 11. Texas Tech & BYU: Byes.

12 & 22. Illinois at Penn State: Coach Joe Pa returns to the sidelines for another victory. Illinois just can't handle the big game pressure when it's on the line, just the occasional big game upset, watch out again Ohio.

13. South Florida @ North Carolina State: South Florida. Yikes they're bad, how'd they get ranked this high? That being said, don't expect another miracle for North Carolina State. Looks like South Florida survives another week.

14. Minnesota at Ohio State: Ohio State. It's the big comeback for big Beanie.

15. Tennessee @ Auburn: Auburn. Yes, Tennessee is THAT bad. Of course Auburn's horrific offense is still going to struggle putting points on the board.

16. Navy @ Wake Forest: Wake. Those Demon Deacons are a bit underrated, of course if they face a real threat, don't expect them to go too far.

17. Weber State @ Utah: Utah. Can I please pick against them? Please? Can't do it against such a small threat. Go Weber!

18 & 19. Kansas & Boise State: Bye. Watch Kansas fall in the polls, as they should. If they're a top 25 team, it's just barely.

20. Maryland @ Clemson: Maryland. Maryland had a good showing against Cal. I think there's more good things to come.

21. Vanderbilt: Bye. Just like you can say bye to this top 25 team shortly.

22. Illinois: See #12.

23. Houston @ East Carolina: East Carolina. This is a good team that had a poor showing last week. Expect them to pick back up where they left off.

24. TCU: See #2.

25. Fresno State @ UCLA: UCLA. Yeah, UCLA's got their problems, but they need a win so they'll dig deep and find it this week. Buh-bye Fresno.

Quick Hits For 19 September 2008

2008-09-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

All right well the news feed seems a little more calm today thus far than it was yesterday, so I thought I'd just throw out some quick blurbs I thought were interesting.

Obama is a better football watching buddy than McCain. Okay, so maybe it's just me, but who really cares? I want a president, not a guy I'm going to go throw back a couple of cold ones (not that I drink anyway) and chat it up with during the game. Kind of reminds me of my buddy Ian's post about how the world prefers Obama as presidential candidate. Yet again, who really cares? They aren't the one's voting and we're note voting for who would be more fun to pal it around with.

North Korea no longer wishes to be taken off the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Guess we'll see how this tug of war plays out. This game keeps going back and forth. It's very reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's Iraq or the current struggle with Iran. They keep pushing their limits, then draw back. All about testing limits.

Woman sexually harrassed by a man with a cell phone camera fights back with her own cell phone camera. Technology is so often used to exploit others, we sometimes forget that we can fight back with the same means.

If you know my roommates and me pretty well, you know we love emoticons. Here's an article about some of the history of emoticons :)

The power of an idea. A young college student creates a website dedicated to showing off college campuses for potential students. I really like the way this article also explores some of the idea of how the internet is just broadening so many different horizons. I couldn't get the website to work properly for me, but I think that might have been tied to my resistance to creating an account.

Dr. Saturday speaks on Florida's matchup with Tennessee and how terrible of a father Kansas State running back Leon Patton is. And my late addition, new Head Coach Bill Stewart can't watch the team's 3 and 2 attempt in overtime. Can't close out when it's on the line. Story of West Virginia and the Big East.

Dr. Z's NFL mailbag.

New Orleans Saints sign Joey Harrington to be their 3rd string quarterback. Can't NFL teams just give up on this guy already? He's a joke and he's never going to be worth anybody's while.

The NFL's moving to using veteran QB's in place of their highly touted recent draft picks.

News Update 18 September 2008

2008-09-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

So I haven't given one of my news updates in a while and I think there's been some rather good readings lately so here's my spiel:

Drudge Report

Not so familiar with Drudge? Get your Drudge-ology 101. This is a fascinating article that talks about the power of Drudge and really a lot of his purpose. The big guy himself keeps a lil mum about why he does what he does, but there's people that have an idea. (Note: There's an interesting link in the article about John McCain inventing the Blackberry. And yes, he invented Blackberrys, just like Al Gore invented the internet. Check it out here.)

Obama, the celebrity, is raking in the cash from the celebrities.

Stocks are bouncing back.

China may buy parts of Morgan Stanley.

Russia selling defensive missiles to Iran and Venezuela.

New software detects political spin in speeches.

Big Brother and Big Bird: Homeland Security partners with Sesame Street.

Obama plays hardball with McCain and encourages people to argue with others and "get in their face."

Mavs Josh Howard disrespects The Star Spangled Banner.

Politico

Showing the love for Mike Allen's Playbook.

Can Obama Really Pull it Off?

How John McCain Lost Me (Not literally ME, but an informative article if you're debating the issues.)

GOP bouncing back.

Yahoo

Joe Biden refers to paying higher taxes as being patriotic.

Palin's husband ignores subpoena to testify before panel concerning potential abuses of power by the governor.

New York Times

Working out on the job! (You gotta see this, it's amazingly ridiculous!)

Blogs

The former Professor John Payne is at it again. (I absolutely love his blog for so many reasons, so I'm ecstatic that he's picked it up again.) Here is a critical look at the presidential candidates, of course it mostly focuses on a Obama rather than McCain, but John's sister does acknowledge some good points about McCain.

I got this link also from Payne, it's about Tina Fey's performance as Sarah Palin on SNL. I didn't think it was the funniest ever, but I enjoy staying up on what's big.

Nike is so powerful, they can bend time and space.

U Dub players injure OU star in retaliation.

Thank goodness for moms. Tavaris Jackson's mom sure sticks up for him well.

And finally, I wanted to give my own quick rant on college football. Hooray for how great the Cougars are this season. I don't care how bad UCLA might be, 59-0 doesn't happen to PAC-10 teams. Also, thank goodness for Colorado beating West Virginia. The Big East and especially West Virginia are getting exposed for the fakes they are. Of course the Big East is going to look good, they play mostly nobody teams until late in the season usually and they all can't play defence so they run up the score on each other and look like decent teams. Defence is sorely underrated in rankings because it's harder to keep good stats on.

One last note, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if my news picks seem a little biased. I'm not a perfectly objective person, I was a lot more impartial on the race, but as I've made my decisions that bias I'm sure has become more noticeable. I want to give both sides of the issues equal press, so if you have anything you feel like I missed from the news, let me know and I'll throw it in!

Altruism and Economics

2008-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking Econ 110. It's been a reasonably enjoyable class and I had a writing assignment for that class. I've been saying for forever I need to post to my blog and I rather liked the writing I did, so I thought I'd share it with my non-existent readers. Basically I explored the ideas of Altruism (or Christlike charity) and Economics. Here it is:

This is a concept I’ve often thought about myself and had a few discussions on. So Naked Economics suggests that every single decision we make is affected by our desire to maximize our utility. I think this is a very fair statement and the book exhausts that idea rather fully to show how it really is accurate. The book is reasonably tactful in its presentation of this idea by suggesting that not everything we do is necessarily selfish, it’s just about us trying to maximize that utility. So in the case of those that donate time, talents, and efforts to good causes we do so because we have some sort of utility we seek out of it. That can be a variety of things: happiness, seeing the difference it makes for others, or to receive blessings. This is a common teaching in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we receive blessings for the good things we do in life. I think to some degree we’re even taught that we should do things because of the blessings it will bring into our lives. However, there is the idea of being a Christlike individual, which is the ultimate goal we can hope for our character. Christ is described as being “the perfect example of charity.” (True to the Faith p. 28) So what is this element that is charity? The prophet Mormon describes, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (Moroni 7:45) Basically it is a vastly encompassing love for others. I think the core of what I am discussing is the actual idea of altruism though. The American Heritage Dictionary describes altruism as “Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.” Now I would take this definition of altruism a bit further to a state of pure altruism, meaning that there is absolutely no personal motivation in what we do for others. From the teachings I have heard of what Christ embodied, this sounds like an accurate description. So we are left with a bit of a dilemma. So many things that we do, even as righteous, worthy members of the Church are still motivated by our desire to secure blessings for ourselves. But we’re supposed to be like Christ, who had no personal motivations whatsoever in what He did. How do we reconcile this? I think Elder Oaks probably did the best job of this in his talk “Why Do We Serve?” Basically he suggests there are varying reasons to serve and most of them are at least to some degree self serving. There is only one pure, altruistic, charitable Christlike way to serve and have it be completely selfless and that’s not an easy task. Most of us, with most of what we do are not quite to that point. It’s still okay to not have reached that far, but really most of us have some sort of personal motivation for why we do what we do. And economics definitely addresses that and says that everybody does that. Of course I don’t think economics can quite reconcile the idea of Christ and His attributes. I mean it makes perfect sense, Christ is perfection and economics is a manmade device meant to help understand the world. I think it takes an approach rather relative to Realism and so how could it hope to capture and embody the idea of perfection. So I think economics is wrong in suggesting that nobody can do anything without some sort of personal desire to maximize utility, but looking at it from that realistic approach, I think there are few that will actually rise to that higher plateau of true Christlike charity to take action with complete selflessness.

Drudgieness For Wednesday, July 30, 2008

2008-07-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Drudge Report

New McCain attack ad of the Obama campaign released. I found it to be a rather interesting ad. It is interesting to see how much Obama is this celebrity and almost a global celebrity. I think the President of the United States often has been, probably especially since the days of FDR. Frankly the American President is a global hero of sorts, or at least was at one point (I guess that's kind of a changed story for a large part, but there was always Bushie's trip to Albania). So I don't know what sort of take to look to for this. We'll see how it plays out in the near future. I noticed this was a hot topic on Fox News this evening as I was waiting for my flight. Obama's campaign has spoken out against it rather strongly, but frankly as far as attacks go, this doesn't seem the most malicious. Things were a lot nastier between him and Hillary than this so I don't know why they're acting so appalled all of the sudden, especially because I can imagine they have their salvo's in reserve ready to fire right back. Also, given the sad state of America today, this might almost pander more to the American public rather than drive them away. America is so celebrity crazy it only makes sense to have "the biggest celebrity of them all" to be the President.

More to the note of the Celebrity Presidential Candidate, rapper Ludacris has come out with a song devoted to the Obama campaign. Maybe it's just me, but I want a man of high moral character and fiber as President, and so I don't know what a 50-something year old man is doing running around with Luda on his iPod and saying its on heavy rotation. I would hope Obama would want black people to rise above much of the ills sometime associated with the whole rap culture, not eschewing it. I mean just because he listens to it doesn't mean he's a supporter necessarily, but I don't know that it's helping the cause. Apparently the Obama Campaign has spoken out against these lyrics. But for supposedly being against such lyrics, yet again I ask, why even associate yourself with the filth in the first place?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

Obama's biggest foe may be his own hubris.

Drug found to halt the effects of Alzheimer's.

Boo to the IOC, okay's China's censorship of the internet for the Olympics.

Speculations on the candidates' running mates.

McCain extends gracious words for Pelosi and Gore.

California Attorney General is sticking it to Nestle over global warming.

The UN takes on global warming by raising the temperature.

L.A. puts a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in the poorer areas. Good thing we have a nanny state.

Revelation: Obama tells Congress Israel will attack Iran if sanctions do not stop their enriching of uranium. Good thing he went all over the world to learn this one. It's not like Israel has done this before or anything...

Illegal Immigration Solution: Do you want to leave? We'll let you! Okay, maybe it's just me but this seems ridiculous. First of all, why wasn't this already an option basically. And two, do they really expect it to be all that successful? I mean they're here for a reason, I can't imagine most are too anxious to leave.

Obama wants the U.S. to apologize for anything and everything its ever done wrong. All right, so he isn't quite that extreme, but I mean where do we draw the lines as far as apologies and does the country really have that much of an ability to apologize, especially for crimes committed by a nation composed of entirely different people? It's an interesting discussion to say the least. Of course the government did just finally apologize for slavery and Jim Crowe laws. I do think that is an appropriate thing to apologize for, as is probably the treatment of the Native Americans that Obama seeks, but why now?

New York Governor considers selling bridges to alleviate the state budget deficit.

Meet Princess Chunk.

School decides to make students dress like prisoners for violations of dress code. I guess that really makes school feel like a prison.

Ahmadinejad accuses America of creating AIDS.

Politico

Mike Allen's Playbook not written by Mike Allen. Always an enjoyable read and interesting not having Mike Allen writing it.

Yahoo

North Korea experiences the joys of Communism.

Dunkin Donuts goes healthy, sort of.

The House holds Karl Rove in contempt. Congress is still doing great things...

Castro enjoys a resurgence of power and prominence.

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq drops lower than since the beginning of the invasion.

Tiger cubs find a new mom.

New York Times

Another Earnhardt on the way.

CIA shows ties between Pakistani spies and militants.

Windows down or A/C on, which will save you more gas? The debate continues.

Bush administration sought cronies. I thought news was supposed to reveal something new?

Sports News

Donaghy gets 15 months. Really doesn't seem like too bad of a rap to me.

National Champion's new life as a small time loser.

Blogs

Mere Complexities

Some love for my good friend Amanda's blog. Rather brief post today, but I enjoyed the poem that she linked to (and I have a tough time appreciating poetry).

Satire Report

Michael Powers explores the gym. If you look at it for nothing else, at least check out the sweet picture of the hamster weight lifting.

Bonus

A good article about CEO's aversion to Facebook. That's right, Bill Gates fears Facebook. Kudos Jeff.