Merry Christmas with the Tooth Fairy

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We sure did in our family. The kids had a great time and that is what really counts. The fun and funny (now that we are through it) event was just a day or two after Christmas.

We were sitting in our Bedroom watching movies with the kids when the little guy says, "I have a loose tooth" What? I had forgotten how close he is to losing them. Well, maybe blocked is a better term. For whatever reason it has been a tradion in our family to 'pull' baby teeth when they are close to falling out. I do have one sister who swears it is totally unnecessary and not worth the headache of convincing the kids to let you do it and after Monday night I may surrender.

The big guy was a headache when it came time to pull his teeth. Now, he has always tended to be a bit more dramatic than our little guy has been, so I think I was hoping that the little guy would be less dramatic when it came to teeth too. When J. was losing teeth a couple of years ago E. even brought us a string and asked us to pull some of his too. So, with his tooth almost falling out Mom and Dad asked him, "Can we get the string and pull it?" Apparently J's example spoke louder than I had previously thought. Suddenly E was channeling his big brother's drama. You would have thought I was asking pull his arms out of their sockets. Watching him cry, and fuss and after losing my patience (by the way, isn't it funny that losing our patience and losing our temper are not opposites but exactly the same) with him his brother and his mother, and myself. We finally got the tooth lassoed with dental floss. Then with one quick tug it was out. 40 minutes of cajoling, coercing, and pleading, tears, frustration and I admit a couple of explitives, for something that was over in less than a second and only bled for 3 seconds. Oh, I hope the next one won't be such a headache. We'll find out soon enough. E's other front tooth is loose.

Hopefully, though I will weather it better, I get pretty impatient when the kids are unreasonable in their fears and emotions. I know I shouldn't because I realize that I am emotional too, but I don't handle these events nearly as well as I would like too.

Monday Musings: Christ the Savior is Born

This Christmas Season has been an interesting one for me. I took a new job 6 months ago and it has been catalytic. It has changed me and how I think and who I am. Every experience we go through can be like that, but this one certainly has been transforming. It reminds me of something I have believed for a time. This world is a fallen world. The Fall of Adam brought about changes to this whole world. We live in a telestial state. A state bound by limits of time and plagued by the vagaries of temptation, sickness, suffering and death. A friend recently found my family and I and the wife in the family has been in the hospital for around a month. She was diagnosed with an Auto-immune disease. Now, some people would experience something like this and curse God for afflicting them with this when she is such a young mother with children. Others would revile Satan for having afflicted them with such suffering. Myself, I lay the blame nowhere. It is simply the nature of the world we live in. Now, Satan will do all in his power to turn this experience into a stumbling block. God will exert his influence to try and make this a stepping stone. It is the faith or doubt of the individual which will determine the change. It is truly our choices that create who we are.

Gratefully, Our faith in Christ can become an anchor for our souls. We can choose to trust in him to turn to him and to allow his Atonement overcome the effects of the Fall. Now, the Atonement works personally, individually in our own lives. Eventually he will return to reign here on Earth and the effects of the Atonement will take effect on the whole Earth creating a paradise here. A world where the suffering and afflictions will be gone. Some probably think this is very saccharine view of the world, but it is my faith and my belief.

Am I fully at ease with this. No, I am a skeptic, in the best truest sense of the world. I am a scientist, technologist, humanist and optimist. I honestly believe we as people must do all we can to solve our own problems with the skill, knowledge and wisdom we have. I believe as you look over the history of mankind that you see a story of people that prevail. Time and time again we have solved our problems and improved the standard of living for most people. I think there is more of compassion and understanding in our world today than their was even 50 years ago. I look at the crises we face and I have hope.  I have great hope and that hope is centered in Christ.


Links:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=6be803bb4c19d110VgnVCM100000176f620aRCRD&locale=0

Wow! Social Networking Works!

Around 11:30 this morning I checked my phone. I have it set up to send me updates when something goes on with my Facebook account. Somebody sent me a message? Curious. I don't know the person and my phone only displays a minimum of info. He says he's the husband of... Curioser. I wonder why someone is messaging me ad prefacing it with the fact they are somebodies husband. So, out pops the iPod touch and the Facebook app. Within moments I have reconnected with a friends I haven't seen in years. Turns out he is the husband of Jane (name has been changed to protect the innocent). His wife and my wife were very close friends about 7 years back. We moved. They Moved. Numbers changed. We lost contact.

Well he was in town and his wife is in the hospital and wants very much to reconnect with my wife.

How did he find me? Google search and joined Facebook. He also found my work email which is pretty easy.

Anyway I'm very grateful to reconnect with these friends and glad that people could find me. I know it is scary to be so available, but for me the risks are worth it.

Monday Musings: Pride and Selfishness

Normally, I make these posts on Monday a little more formal, but today, I couldn't resists ranting about something I overheard on the bus.

I commute to work on an express bus and there are two individuals in motorized scooter style chairs that regularly ride. There seats are across from each other and today I was sitting just in front of them. They began talking about the various features they like about the motorized chairs and then the older of the two gentleman mentioned that the scooter he is on is his wife's not his. He is traveling up to the Veteran's Hospital for treatments and has to have a scooter to get around but is now using his wife's because his was stolen.

Can you believe that??? Who could steal a wheelchair? What kind of person does that?

Which brings me to my musings. C.S. Lewis wrote an essay on pride being the universal sin. President Ezra Taft Benson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints then reiterated many of his words. Both of their comments boil down to this. People sin because they are prideful. In their pride they believe they know better than God. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. Most of my major failings come down to me thinking I know better than God and his Prophets. I like to express this a little differently though, Selfishness is the simplest form of pride. When I want my way despite what the consequences are for others I am sinning. Pride and Selfishness become the bitter bite that drives people to seek their own desires above the concern for others. Nearly all the commandments in one way or another drive us to consider others before self. Selflessness is the sign of a man of God.

Monday Musings: Fasting

In  Malachi, God speaks through his prophet about the importance of tithes and offerings

From scriptures.lds.org

  8 ¶ ^aWill a man ^brob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ^ctithes and offerings.

  9 Ye are ^acursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

  10 Bring ye all the ^atithes into the storehouse, that there may be ^bmeat in mine house, and ^cprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not ^dopen you the ^ewindows of heaven, and pour you out a ^fblessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Even though it states tithes in verse 10 verse 8 refers also to offerings.  Last week I blogged about how I feel about tithing.  This week it is fast offerings.

A few years back, I heard an anecdotal story.  Sorry, I have no source on it, and whether it really happened or not isn't really relevant to the point I am going to make.  A gentleman from India was speaking to a leader of the LDS church and telling him how much he wished that people would go without food for just one day so they could empathize with the poor and hungry of his country.  The church leader then tells him, "Our members do this every month and then donate the money saved to help the poor and the hungry" The man from India then broke into tears to think someone would actually do this.

As I mentioned, I don't remember the details, but for me the message was what mattered.  I gain empathy through forgoing food for 24 hours, or two meals, and then donate the money saved to others.  The LDS Church encourages it's members to fast on the 1st Sunday of each month and the Sunday Meetings that day are an opportunity for members to share their experiences and beliefs.  The church accepts the donations and then redistributes them first to those with local needs and then further abroad as surpluses allow. The LDS church handles the details of it for me, but what a fantastic way for me to learn what others suffer.  The spiritual blessings of the empathy alone are important, but additionally, I find that when I fast sincerely and add to my fasting prayer, I am much more able to recognize God's will and influence in my life.  Like tithing, fasting becomes an outward manifestation of my devotion to God.

So I got a comment

I got a comment on my Monday Musing for this week. I am the first one to admit that these Monday Musings are by no means doctrinal dissertations. Just my thoughts on a few things that matter to me. I will always do my best to represent accurately anything I say, but when it comes right down to it. These are my reflections on my beliefs.

But the comment the gentleman made was enough to get me out to his site and see what he had to say. I commented on one of his blog posts where it seems to me he was trying to point out the evil of tithing. I give my response below

Umm...what about a church that doesn't have a paid ministry? The tithes in the LDS church are used almost entirely for building new churches or other buildings of worship, printing materials provided free to those interested, and to pay the salary of a very limited full time employees of the church. Another portion is used to maintain the church functions and some is invested to provide ongoing support to the church. You commented on my blog that I was an extortionist and say that Christ did away with the Old Covenant by dying on the cross, but Peter, Paul and the rest of the Apostles tithed the believers. Tithing is for me a way to show my commitment to God and his kingdom and a not only good place to start, but a good end.

What a wierd way to divert my web

Twice today when I tried to load up www.google.com I got this:
Um...I'm not in Canada nor really near Canada but ok!!

The new PhotoBooth has video....my son figured it out

So, a few weeks ago I was looking for a bag for my MAC and I had to run into another store. I had my parents with me so I left the MAC and the kids in the car. Below you can see the result.

Monday Musings: Tithing is an outward manifestation of our willingness to place God first

I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the California Fresno Mission. This consisted of basically the whole San Juaquin Valley.

While I was there, I had two experiences that taught me a lot about why tithing matters. The first was with a family who was asking: "Why do we need to pay tithing before I go to the temple?"

My answer was what I learned from. I don't know what inspired me to say this (well, I actually do) but I remember responding that if we aren't able to keep the commitments we make outside the temple then we won't be able to keep the commitments we make inside the temple.

Another experience taught me the truth of that. Later in my mission I was working with another couple. He was an Ensign in the Navy and I am sure their little family of four was on a really tight budget. When we got to the law of Tithing, it was all over. They wouldn't have anything more to do with us. They had been committed to baptism, but when they learned that they were expected to give 10% of their income to the Church they simply couldn't see it. I hope that at some future point the feelings they had about the Church may have changed their minds but at that time they could not see how they could possible make it while giving away 10% of what little they had.

Tithing is by definition 10% of what we have earn. This Tithing of us as a people provides the money for running the Church. In the LDS church there is a lay ministry so none of the church leaders are paid for their service. Some full-time church employees are paid from Tithing funds, but all of them must maintain their membership in good standing, meaning specifically, they must maintain a good moral life.

Tithing then isn't really about me paying for my religion but about me dedicating funds to support a system I believe in. The benefits I get from the church are completely intangible, but marvelously effective in my life.

Some of you may have read this post earlier, I realized I had made an error and made the above strikethrough and correction.

Losing my tweeple

I didn't realize how easy it is to form significant contacts on the internet.  A few months ago I started a twitter account and a few weeks in a fellow twitterer started following me.  I have gotten really used to his posts and valued the funny things he said.  A couple of days ago, I snapped off a couple quick responses that I realized after the fact were probably too sarcastic and that sarcasm doesn't translate well. As soon as I realized this I tweeted off an apology.  Nothing....... days without a tweet from my fellow twitterer.  Finally I went directly to the profile page...clicked on the follow button.  NO!!!! I have been blocked.  Maybe it's really not personal, but it reminds me that the interactions online can be as valuable as the face to face ones but are even more fragile, one misguided comment can lose a friend.

The Big Game

I am not normally a huge footbal fan but this year my dream has finally come true.  For years I have joked that I was going to get a PHd (actually more likely I will get an Ed.D) from the U to go along with my B.S. from the Y which would mean that during the big rivalry game her in Utah I would always be a winner, Well, this year I got my wish, with my new job I now work for the U and so....my team won!

I have to admit though, I fill just a little isolated here at the U

Monday Musings: Is Religion Technologous or is Technology religious?

I wrote a few weeks ago about my talk during church about media. Well, I bumped into a talk on TED about how religion is technology. Most people would disagree with that because of a narrow definition of technology. Most people perceive technology as electronic gadgets, but my favorite definition of technology is:

"A product or process that is used to: solve problems, meet opportunities, fulfill curiosity or extend human abilities"

Using this definition religion is without a doubt a technology it is a process that extends human abilities. I am able to do more with religion than without it.

This gentleman's discussion was interesting particularly given the context. It was given in 2003. After the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. but before the launch of the Irag phase of the war on Terror.

TED Talks

To Eat or Not to Eat (A response to Oh, Honestly

My fellow blogger was asking about kids eating habits, and wonders just how picky they are.

You can see her post here. But I have to say, her kid sounds pretty normal. My little boy goes home everyday after kindergarten to spend the afternoon with Grandma. Every day he wants to eat "grilled cheese sandwiches" He hasn't had anything else for lunch for weeks. Last night though, he got hungry for dinner, on the menu:

• Rice and Black beans (Dominican Style cooked together)
• Pollo guisado (Chicken stewed with tomato sauce)
• A slice of leftover pizza.

Pretty good meal for a 5 year old.

By way of other humorous comments from kids, during dinner little boy had to tell me: Dad, today I saw a yellow slug bug, but I was alone, so I hit myself.

I guess, I really should not have taught them that game.

image from : http://www.flickr.com/photos/lowcola/

Monday Musings: Cafeteria Religion?

I have heard this phrase bandied about in one way or another for years.  I have heard people say too that the Gospel is not a Smorgasbord.  Zealous people generally speak of following all of God's words.  This becomes very complex and requires a level of faith I am not sure I yet have.  I recently listened to a TED talk regarding this and this individuals opinion was ultimately the opposite, that we should take a cafeteria approach to religion and that we must pick and choose what parts of the Bible we follow.

TED Talks

I am troubled a lot by this myself being faithful and honestly believing that I should be willing to follow all that God asks me to do and being a skeptic and regularly analyzing the world around me as critically as I know how.

I'm a PC???

Ok, PC stand for Personal Computer, whether that is a Mac, Dell, HP, Acer, Commodore 64 or a TI-80.  PC stands for Personal Computer, it may not be politically correct, but that is what it the initials mean.  I use a Mac now, but I was a proud Microserf for years.  In fact I prided myself on adopting the Microsoft Technology.  I had a conflicted relationship with them because of their market dominance, but I actually like their products and they work, despite complaints about them their products actually are pretty darn good and they respond pretty well to the consumers.

The Mac vs. PC commercials made me laugh and I really wanted to get a Mac even though I hadn't used one since the late 80's in high school.  I do find it supremely ironic though that the commercials avoid a direct attack on Windows, by referring to the stodgy out of touch computer as a PC, but wait.... the Mac is a PC.  Remember! PC stands for Personal Computer no matter whether it runs Mac OS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux or some other operating system.

Even though I liked Apple's ideas and products I found that when I went out to buy my first real mp3 player, it made more sense not to buy an iPod because I found one with better features for a lower price that was compatible with more formats.  So for a time I was an unbaptized convert to the Church of Mac, but now having joined the congregation, I find I am a heretic, and a blasphemer because I want my Windows back.

Now, (three years after Apple launched the Mac vs. PC campaign) Microsoft is fighting back with "I'm a PC"  So apparently this is supposed to inspire me to admit I like Microsoft.  Cause everyone wants to dress up like characters from TRON.  Uh Oh, I just revealed myself cause no one but a PC would know that this guy is dressed as a TRON character.  Oh well.

Do you want fries to go with that shake? Part II

Ok, a bit back I posted about my silly experience at Carl's Jr. I was convinced then it was just one employee following their instructions to the letter, but just for fun I wanted to let you know what happened when I went back.

I ordered:

• Bacon Guacomole Six Dollar Burger (Buy One get one free)
• Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich (Buy one get one free)
• Big Hamburger
• Double Western Bacon CheeseBurger ($1.00 off)

This time the Manager was taking my order and again I was asked?:

Is that to stay or to go?

Ummm... just for fun here's the breakdown if I had chosen to stay and eat that food all by myself
Yup over 5000 calories and 2000 grams of food( That's 2 kilos or 4.5 pounds)

I miss this blog...

Man, I miss this blog.  I have filled up a basket full of ideas to blog about and I have some great photo's but no time.  My last blog post was the day before I found out I had to have my online class up and launched a full week before I thought I did.  So I have spent the last few weeks getting that up. 

I find it sort of ironic that I am teaching and Internet Safety Class online, but it's been fun.  I have already gotten some very good ideas and responses.  One person commented that Internet Safety is kind of like swimming safety.  I can fence in the pool, guard it, watch it and teach kids the dangers of the pool, but probably the best way to keep them safe is to teach them to swim.  I would also argue that it's a lot easier to teach them to swim if I am in the pool with them.

It's amazing to me how powerful it is to have my own personal voice through this blog.  Even though I know no one is actually reading it.

Well, I have stayed away from the political stuff partly becuase I am not very Partisan, and partly because I find myself so conflicted.  I have a lot of friends and neighbors who are very Republican and they are saying things like:

• "What's going to happen now?"
• "Maybe he'll surprise us all and be great"
• "After 8 years of a living a nightmare, I have woken up to find my dreams have finally come true"

Well, my opinion, for what it is worth.  I honestly believe the last 8 years have been largely difficult, but not nightmarish.  It has been hard, but I don't feel like the world has been approaching doom.  I also don't think we are approaching doom now either.  Barak Obama will probably do a fine job as President and will have to deal with the cards dealt him, just like all past President's before him.
My faith lies in the people of America.  We are a people who, by and large, are honestly concerned with having good in our lives and the lives of our neighbors.  There is more tolerance, respect and a better standard of living for the average person throughout the world today than there was a hundred years ago for those same people.  Yes there is still a lot of inequity.  The poor are still poor, but if you look at the quality of life or all people I believe it is better.  There are lots of doomsayers, but if we can see one thing through history it is that life prevails.  Humans, adapt and we succeed.  Do I have worries and concerns and feelings of doubt?  Yes!!! but overwhelming all of that I have a fundamental confidence in the basic goodness of people as a whole

Monday Musings: Media the great Evil???

Well, if you have noticed my recent 'tweets' you know that I spoke in church on Sunday.  I spoke in the LDS Spanish Congregation that my family and I attend.  For the very first time in my whole life I wrote out the entire talk word for word including scriptures because it was all español.  It was very challenging, but good.  I also found myself following along with my finger and reading and not just 'speaking'.

What I spoke about was the influence of media.  I wasn't able to quite express all I wanted to so here we go for Monday Musings.

I look at the media we consume much like food.  We even use the same metaphors (consume).  There is a vast amount of junk food on the internet.  Media full of intellectual empty calories.  The stuff that is out there is entertaining, fun and inviting, but leaves you feeling bloated and ultimately unsatisfied.  There is also a fair array of toxic and poisonous stuff out there, or maybe it's just rancid, spoiled and rotten.  Anyway, people can choose to consume media that if it were food would kill us.  Having said this I actually believe that people have a right to say what they want, just please respect my right not to partake.

Most importantly, though, there is literally a feast laid out of intellectual delights.  There are just so many good things available for us.   I don't mean just the great things the LDS church or other churches produce, but the simply amazing free resources that are available.  Documentaries, classes, books, literature, science, history.  There is a mountain of good media available.  Online, through Cable and Satellite and free over the airwaves.

The Doctrine and Covenants in Section 88:78-80 teach us to learn all we can:
From http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/88

78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must ^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

If we are truly to fill our missions and magnify our calling....to truly fulfill our purpose on earth we should be filling our minds with a knowledge of our world.  To do this we must seek learning out of the best books
From http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/88

 118 And as all have not ^afaith, seek ye diligently and ^bteach one another words of ^cwisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best ^dbooks words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

Our faith and our study help us to gain the wisdom we need to fulfill our purpose.  When we study the scriptures, and modern prophets as the first foundation of our understanding of the world then all the other things we learn are understood through the lens of the gospel.  This allows us to know both what is good for us and what we should avoid as well as how to use what we experience for our good.  The concern then becomes less what media I am consuming and more how I am choosing to integrate it into my life.  Two people may read the same thing, watch the same movie, or hear the same discourse and one may choose to take offense and leave behind the fellowship of Christ, and another may choose to draw closer.

As we continue this process the time we will by our own nature and choices leave aside the poisonous and toxic, we will for the most part avoid the junk food of the media world and will consume those things that enrich our lives and fill our souls and we will be come filled with light.  We can see also that the time of merely, passively consuming media is changing rapidly into a world where each of us creates our own media to contribute to the feast.  The choices about what kind of media we consume will also affect the types of media we create.


I know that this post has gotten rather long and also rather verbose,  that happens, but I guess since no one reads this anyway it doesn't matter.

Hey, I joined the Church!!

Why, yes I do thanks!

Do you want fries to go with that shake?

Yesterday, my wife wanted a break from cooking and so did my mom (my folks live with us) So, my mom and I bundle into the car with the younger son and head out the door. Mom has coupons from Carl's Jr. and I am a sucker for a Bacon Guacomole Cheeseburger.

Mom and I sift through the coupons and I head inside to get our food. I never do the drive through with coupons. I lay out my order

1. Chicken Bacon Club with (free fries and drink)
2. Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger ($1.00 off)
3. Six Dollar Cheeseburger (free fries and drink)
4. 2 Bacon Guacomole Burgers (buy one get one free)

The cashier at the counter looks at my and in all seriousness without the slightest sense of sarcasm or humor with a straight face asks:

Do you want that to stay or to go?

Monday Musings: Zion

Well, it's been a while since I was able to make a Monday posting. I really like this blogging stuff, but still not always regular about it, but since no one is reading it anyway it doesn't make a lot of difference.

My musings today come from reading Moses in the Pearl of Great Price during Sacrament meeting. I probably should have been paying attention to people sharing their testimonies of Christ, but I was sitting there with my son who was begging to use my iPod and I told him he could only read scriptures on it and shared with him the story of Enoch the Prophet.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moses/6
31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he ^abowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: ^bWhy is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people ^chate me; for I am ^dslow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?

  32 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy ^amouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.

  33 Say unto this people: ^aChoose ye ^bthis day, to serve the Lord God who made you.

  34 Behold my ^aSpirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the ^bmountains shall flee before you, and the ^crivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore ^dwalk with me.

  35 And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with ^aclay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.

  36 And he beheld the ^aspirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the ^bnatural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A ^cseer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. 

 

My wife and I were reading this and noticed the power of Enoch's personality.  He was humble and maybe more than humble he was reluctant because of his own self doubts, but God gave him courage and told him that he would justify his words.  Another point that was valuable to my wife and I was in verse 35 "and he did so."  Enoch obeyed.  He became a seer to his people and in the next chapter it confirms the power he recieved.  

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moses/7

13 And so great was the ^afaith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he ^bspake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the ^cmountains fled, even according to his command; and the ^drivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so ^epowerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. 

 

So great was Enoch's faith and trust in God that he preached as he was called and he and his whole city 'walked with God' and were taken up to heaven.

Pretty weighty stuff for me.  If one good man could do that, what might I do as a father, friend and citizen in my community and world?   

I was looking at this partly with and for my son because he has been reading some books about the Dragonlance world.  He talks excitedly about how cool it would be to have magic or use a mystical staff.  Star Wars and 'The Force' also fascinate him.....who isn't fascinated at least a little by to possibility of amazing powers.  What I keep talking to my son about is the power of one good life and the faith we have. 

Even more Fall Fun

We had even more fall fun up American Fork Canyon. We went up on Saturday and just hung out for a few hours. I was responsible for making the fire, which took me about an hour and half a box of matches, and even though I impressed my wife with a highly scientific explanation involving the 3 basic needs of a fire, I still have to admit I have kind of lost my fire making skills. I still blame this weekends incident on the design of the fire ring.

The kids loved roasting the chocolate swirl marshmallows, and the hot dogs.

Fall Harvest

This summer I didn't get to do as much with the garden as I would have liked. The new job reverses my old seasonal schedule. Now, I am really busy in the summer, and have time in the spring and the fall.

I did still get some time to be out in the yard with the kids though. What fun!

Ok....So I can't help myself I love "As seen on TV" albums

I remember once back in the late 80's or 90's I saw an album offered on TV.  It was an amateur Irish Singer that wanted to make a gift for his family.  I loved the music, but didn't buy the album.  Now I want it ... at least to hear it and see if I still want to buy it.  But alas, can't find it on iTunes, can't find it at Walmart.com, can't finde it on Amazon.com, can't find it anywhere.....wait..... what about YouTube.  Everything's on YouTube right!   Yup... everything's on YouTube

Interesting stuff about how the online environment is evolving

I found this fascinating quote today:

World of Warcraft and other Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) sure do look exciting (see screen grab of Battle Ready Cat Thingy with Large Sword and Big Fangs at right). And WoW is exciting. I should know, as I've wasted a fair amount of my life parked in front of a computer, fighting off the Horde, etc.Discovery News: Etherized, Aug 2008

You should read the whole article.

The Creation of the World

Monday Musings:
I have always found it conflicting trying to be a believing and practicing Latter-Day Saint and a Scientist.  Now, technically, I am not a scientist  since  don't do any original research, but I do have a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and I have taken graduate level science courses and taught science for 5 years.  Even now that I am a trainer, I still love reading and understanding science.  I find that there are a lot of similarities between good science, good scientists and good religion and good believers.  More on that in another blog, but the reason I bring it up is the major conflict between most religions and science is the Creation.  The fundamentalist Christian, stated doctrine on the creation is in part that God created the world "ex nihilo" from nothing, and that it took place in seven 24 hour days.   That is at odds with the stated doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, especially the first part.  But what I really wanted to muse about was the interesting features of the sequence of the creation and the differences in 3 of the versions we have in the LDS Church.  It has gotten me working on something I did once before when I was in college, but I am working on a comparison day by day of the Scriptural descriptions of the creation. When I get it done I'll post it.  What I do know, despite the variations in the accounts, there is a distinct and definite plan.  I am not a proponent of divine design as it is usually described, and I definitely don't believe it belongs in a science classroom.  But I do like the term.  It took me a long time to come to grips with my own conflict about my scientific beliefs and my religious beliefs and for a long time I felt they were in direct conflict, now I feel more like my views on science and and my views on religion are involved in a begrudgin alliance.  They are both ways of getting at an ultimate truth that I am both limited in my ability to understand and to consolidate.    I also think it is very significant that every belief system that I know of has it's own mythology of the creation of the world.  It seems fundamental to human nature to create purpose for the world we live in and as creators ourselves we see in the world a creation with purpose.

Monday Musings: The Rebellion becomes the Tyranny

Vanessa and I were reading up on her Spanish class yesterday.  She is learning about the Inquisition which I have to admit brings up memories of "The History of the World: Part I" with Mel Brooks which is a terrible rated 'R' and no one should ever watch it even if it is hilarious.

Anyway since these Monday Musings are some of my thoughts about God, Religion and goodness I don't really want to focus on the movie with the vulgar humor.

What Vanessa and I were talking about was the fact that anytime there is a rebellion against tyranny that rebellion eventually becomes the tyranny.  The pattern that you see is that a small group of people try to throw of the yoke of burdensome rules, regulations, customs, and traditions and what eventually happens is that rebellion gets more and more followers and in order to manage the organization rules, traditions, regulations, and customs develop and in order to maintain the traditions and beliefs of the rebellion they must become the tyrants who purge out the heretics.  Interesting huh?

Why Are School-Age Boys Struggling? | Newsweek Education | Newsweek.com

Why Are School-Age Boys Struggling? Newsweek Education Newsweek.com

I certainly don't want to or intend to offend, but I have an opinion on this and nobody reads my blog anyway. The struggle that is described in this article was very evident to me as a school teacher. I have thought about it for the last several years, and at the risk of being politically incorrect at best and labeled a macho pig at worst. I think that a big part of this problem is exacerbated by the unequal proportions of men to women educators especially in the early grades. People all the time argue that men and women are equal, and they are and both should be treated equitably, but to ignore that fact that men and women are fundamentally, biologically, and psychologically different is foolish.

There is a disproportionate number of women educators especially in the early grades. Even the best and most educated and experienced female teacher simply can't remember what it was like to be a 'boy'. Largely our current educational practice, I am not talking the theory or the stated philosophy, but the actual practice encourages compliance. For thousands of years, boys that strong, assertive, leaders were those that were encouraged. They became the Washingtons, the Martin Luther Kings Jr.s', the Lindbergh's, but now what is rewarded is compliance, submissiveness, obedience. "Sit down, and do you worksheet" We say on the surface we encourage innovation and leadership, but not when kids push back on the teachers decisions.

I know that in large part, at least in the state of Utah, part of the reason we have such a disproportionate number of male to female teachers has to do with salary. Your average Husband and Father simply can't provide effectively for his family as an educator. Salaries set by the State legislature are still based on the unspoken philosophy that teachers are: mostly housewives who want extra income for the family. Well, as long as that is true the kinds of men (and women, quite frankly) who are the most devoted spouses and best leaders are going to leave education creating a void for the boys who need a good example of how to be a good man without being disruptive to society.

Monday Musings

I have been planning on making my thoughts on God, Christ, and my relationship to them part of this blog.  My relationship with God is kind of like my relationship with books.  It is so ingrained into who I am and how I think, that often I don't think about it.  I think I need to reflect on it more.  So... whenever I am able to on Mondays I am going to muse a little about my thoughts.  I am active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and honestly have a deep faith in the teachings of The Church (as it is always said here in Utah )  

The reason I say I am active LDS is that if anyone is reading this (which I know they are not) and they happen to not be LDS, what I am about to talk about needs the LDS Church as background.  Tonight before going to bed I was reading in the Book of Mormon about the Atonement of Christ.  I was reading in Alma Chapter 42.  Alma is teaching his son Corihor about the necessity of an atonement.  We need an atonement made because there was a Fall of Man.  The fall of man was brought about by Adam and Eve when they partook of the fruit and in verse 10 it tells us that "Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature...." Now, there is some great stuff that comes after that, but what stood out to me is this idea that the Fall makes us all carnal by nature.  Carnal has at its root the Latin word for flesh.  We became as an entire race and species fleshly.  I think both subject to the vagaries of having a fleshy body and the temptations and trials of that, but also importantly focused and dependent on the flesh.  We become convinced somehow that our bodies are more than they really are.  I have also been reading Radical Evolution.  I just finished the section regarding the "Heaven Scenario" in which various experts and optimists in the fields of technology paint a rosy picture whereby we are able to transcend our current limitations and becomes as the Gods.  It is interesting to me that it is not being able to live forever that makes people like Gods, but rather knowing the difference between good and evil and choosing the good.  Are we carnal by nature...seems so....that is why we need an atonement.

The irony is biting!

Two posts for today again.  This is a short and simple one.  If anyone were reading my blog (which I know they are not so let's just stop pretending) They would have noticed my post about my run in with Law Enforcement.  Well today, I finally had time to go in and arrange for traffic school, but the traffic was complex in Salt Lake and I had to stop for gas on the way back to Utah County.  Needless to say I found myself on the free in a "very big hurry" and I started laughing to myself..."Here I am 'hurrying' very fast to get to the Court House on time to schedule my traffic shool class I have to take because the last time I was in a hurry the Law Enforcement Office decided I wasn't cute enough to just get a warning.  The irony is biting.

Play Massive Jack Goofball

 Ok, so my son thought it would be cool thing to go and play Ben 10 Bounty Hunter, but it doesn't work on the Mac yet.  So he distracted himself by building game after game as Massive Jack Goofball.  You can see his games on Cartoon Network or link directly below:

http://gamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/?id=6214291
http://gamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/?id=6214722
http://gamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/?id=6214539
http://gamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/?id=6171589

OK! wow two posts in a day.  But I simply had to write about this.  While we were at Barnes and Noble yesterday I noticed again something I had seen and thought about before.  Niche marketing.  If you take a look at the photos you can see just how far niche marketing has gone. A couple of fun titles were: Gothic Beauty, and Vogue Knitting which I thought really should have been put closer together since those two niches are so similar. 

The other thing I found highly ironic was the several magazines about marijuana.  How exactly is that legal?  Can you really sell an entire magazine that does nothing but advertise an illegal activity?  I mean it even shows photos of people illegally using marijuana.  Anyway I have to get back to my reading.  My copy of Professional Shoe lacing quarterly just arrived and there is a new article about alternative lacing materials that I just have to read.

What is with drivers?

Ok, so I am sure there are at least a million rants online about the bad driving on the road, but I can officially be objective since I have (mostly) taken myself out of the drivers seat.  I now commute on Mass Transit 90% of the time but last night my wonderful wife picked me up at the "End of the Line" Trax station and we spent some time at Barnes and Noble with the kids just checking out books and drinkin hot chocolate and eating Pumpkin cheesecake.  What a great evening right?

Well a little after 8 pm we decided to head for home and we got stuck behind a massive traffic jam.  it was one of those wonderful kind you don't know about until just pas the exit you "could" have taken.  Traffic was jammed from just past the Main Street American Fork Exit to somewhere near Fillmore. Well probably not Fillmore, but it sure felt like it.  It is 3 miles between The AF exit and the 1st PG exit which took us about 1.5 hours.    Now comes the rant part.  Some tanker truck ran off the road and went from southbound traffic into the norhbound freeway lanes dumping the contents of the vehicle. I don't know exactly what happened and I sincerely hope no one was hurt, but come on how selfish!!! Selfish? you might ask.  Yes!! Selfish!  Some self-centered person decides that their time and life is so important that they can't tear themselves away from on self serving pursuit to leave for an appointment on time and so the feel compelled to drive like a maniac because what ever self serving appointment they have must be reached on time.  What this whole attitude does is basically subverts the needs and safety of everyone else on the road to the one guy (or gal I don't discriminate)  who can't have the patience to drive safely along with traffic.  This persons ovewhelming self interest tells them that it is perfectly fine for them to risk the safety of hundreds of other people on the freeway not to mention delay thousands of people when they do finally cause an accident.  Now some accidents are just that, but come on we have all had the person blast past us giving the one-fingered salute as if to say "You are such a jerk to intentionally prevent me from using the whole freeway as my own personal playground"  I really do believe that many of the hyper-aggresive drivers must believe that everyone on the road is intentionally trying to block them and delay them.  Talk about delusions of grandeur.  Yup buddy, I've got nothing better to do with my petty little life than interrup you.  Can't we all grow up.

Speakikng of that though.  Clearly some people do feel it is somehow their responsibility to keep the jerks in line.  The accident was bad enough last night, but adding to the frustration was the fact theat allof us knew that we were only a couple of miles (just two minutes) from freedom.  As we got closer and closer to the next exit people were creeping onto the shoulder trying to see what was going on.  Eventually somedrivers pulled out on the shoulder and sped along to the exit.   Until,  someone decided that it simply wasn't right for others to get ahead.  No... nobody better problem solve and get out of the mess.  Somebody in a Subaru a couple fo cars ahead of us pulls onto the should and crouches.  He doesn't pulll along the should and off the freeway.  Just crouches.  Apparently he had received some kind of mandate from the aliens that it was his job to prevent anyone from driving on the shoulder.  Now, I am not advocating for the folks sneaking past the traffic.  There had already been two or three emergency vehicles travel down the shoulder and I was concerned that these folks using the shoulder might block the next emergency vehicles, but the person in the Subabru was not just potentioally blocking traffic, but intentionally blocking it.

Well, this is probably more than anyone would want to read ever in a blog, but since this is mostly for me deal with it.

By the way I found the details.  And apparently this wasn't so much a matter of selfish, reckless driving as not knowing how tall your truck is.

check the link http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/279489/17/

Sacrifices for the Dragons

Honolulu Zoo: Komodo Dragons

What amazing stuff! Ursula K. Le Guinn wrote fictional books about the world of Earthsea where dragons and people have a common ancestor. It turns out that the people of the Island of Komodo actually believe the same thing. You have to listen to the whole report, but I am amazed at how ingeniously the culture developed a mechanism for protecting themselves from the Komodo Dragons. These are Giant 10 foot lizards that can easily kill a human, but for decades and perhaps hundreds of years this cultural belief that the dragons and humans have a common ancestor caused the villagers to share prey and goats with the dragons thus preventing the dragons from getting hungry enough to attack the humans. 10 years ago the Nature Conservancy says the islanders shouldn't be "domesticating" the dragons and now there are regular attacks. Pretty funny how our solutions mess things up again.

Check out the link here: http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/20448

Some body really measured this??

Ok, I have had to type in the little misshapen words and letters on many websites, but I never even stopped to think about how much time it was taking. This guy not only figured out how much time it was taking but a way to make use of the time. All in all really a good idea.

Check it out at here:

• Play
  
• Link to NPR.ORG Story
  

Alarmism is Real!!

I don't want to be an alarmist, but I am alarmed by an increasing trend to alarmism in our society. People are panicking for any and no reason whatsoever. Yes, I do know that bacon will kill me. I also know that when people drink to much alcohol they sometimes misjudge the attractiveness of others. However, I don't think we can panic about everything. I think the reason we do panic is simple. Information overload. I think there is another interesting phenomenon related to Alarmism and that is Mental Paralysis

Alarmism
Many people today seem determined to stir up an emotional response about anything they can. Case in point internet safety:


Now, if you watch this video, you and I can both agree that this would alarm the #@!! out of us if it was our daughter. It alarms me and it isn't my daughter, but research is showing more and more that the kids that are involved in meeting face to face with people from the internet are often fully aware of what they are doing. I guess the video is pretty accurate because the young lady in question seems to be trying to get attention and succeeding but just not showing judgement about what she is posting. I taught Junior High for 9 years and honestly, 95% of my students were never a problem or concern at all. The 5% made life really difficult, but most of the students were either simply good or actually really exceptional. We see the same attempts to stir up emotional responses to everything from Green House Gases, to Identity Theft, to salmonella on our tomatoes. The trouble is if we see every risk that is being shouted from the rooftops as not only legitimat but critical we become victims of the other disease caused by information overload

Mental paralysis
We all have so many warnings shouted at us that eventually we become like the townspeople in the old fable about the Boy who cried Wolf. Most people consider this a fable about learning not to lie, but it can also be applied the other way. It is important for us not to ignore warnings. The trouble we have is that we have all had so many and so many conflicting warnings that it is impossible to know what to do.

Case in point: The Atkins Diet (with all respect to Dr. Atkins and those for whome this has worked) We were all warned for years about the dangers of red meat, cholesterol and fatty foods, but the Atkins diet warns of the risks of high carb foods. If we read and accepted all the warnings about food none of us would ever eat again.

Another case in point: Photovoltaic Solar Panels. These are touted as a great potential solution to energy problems, but as soon as somebody claimed their benefits someone else was out clamoring the warning that the resources needed to mine the minerals to build them would outstrip the benefits. What are we to do?

Well I don't really know because mental paralysis has already set in and I've been warned that excessive blogging can lead to athlete's foot and carpal tunnel syndrome

TTFN

I could really use some of that.

With all due respect to Scott Adams and www.dilbert.com. I didn't want to post this I would have preferred to embed or link, but I couldn't find out how (even after extensive minutes of searching) Anyway, I could really use some of this stuff.

What a week

I have had a hugely busy week. I spent Monday teaching PhotoShop Elements which I have never used. Jared owes me pizza.

Tuesday and Wednesday I taught up in Logan which was great. What a wonderful bunch of people. You can look for what we did on TeacherTube. I posted a new internet safety video and my Weathering video.

Thursday and Friday I attended the Classroom 2.0 conference in Salt Lake City. It was an exceptional conference and I facilitated one session. I probably talked too much during the other sessions so I offer my apologies for my over enthusiasm to the other participants.

Any way all in all a good week.

Watch out!!

It is so frustrating to see how our lives are limited by government intervention. First of all, I believe in government and support government. I even believe in taxes and laws and punishments, what I don't believe in is when the system grinds up the little guy without any thought to his/her life.

Case in point: Cops are our 1st Judges.

We often don't think about the extreme amount of power a cop is given. I am going to use a couple of recent examples from my own life. About a month ago, I crept out a little way into a busy intersection and when the light turned yellow, and then red I was already blocking traffic and had to move on through. A police officer following behind me stopped me and took down all my information and then gave me an unofficial warning and no citation. Now, what I mean by power, is that he could have decided there was probable cause, searched my vehicle and even incarcerated me if he had even the slightest provocation. He was my first judge, by deciding to let me go he made a judgement and I was found innocent. Not by a jury of my peers, but by a single individual with a relatively limited amount of training. (Now, I have several friends in Law Enforcement and I am not shorting any officer of the law, but they aren't required to have even a Bachelor's degree in most states just Police Academy Training initially)

Why did this guy let me go? Who knows, He liked my looks, I was polite, I didn't have any recent infractions, or he was just to busy, something came up, he didn't feel like it. He obviously judged that I had broken a law or he wouldn't have even stopped me, or maybe he was just gambling that I would have expired registration or insurance or something else.

Another case in point,

Just two weeks ago in a different city, I was pulled over but this time instead of a warning I got a ticket, why the difference, was this guy behind quota, was he mad at his kids, or did he just not like my looks, and then on top of this instead of giving me a ticket for going 47 in a 35 mile Zone he has the autonomy and authority to alter that to 40 in a 35 and still wrote that the radar clocked me at 47 on the citation. The technology is trusted and assumed to be correct, what am I going to say to argue with the radar? But still why does this one individual have so much authority. It's a lot of authority, particularly when you look at the system closer. When the ticket is first issued I have the choice of paying the ticket ($82.00) or paying a fine and enrolling in traffic school for a fee ($22.00 + $60.00= $82.00) This amount is just enough to really cause some economic pain (and I actually think if someone is going to be punished it should hurt) but small enough to not be worth fighting. If I do fight it, I am going to have to take of a full day of work and go down to the court and then if I lose I still have to pay the ticket. Am I going to gamble that the cop won't show to testify and it will get thrown out, especially when I know for sure I am losing a day's pay, probably not. Plus, If I chose to fight the ticket I forfeit the right to have the citation erased off my record by attending traffic school. The system is structured so that an individual police officer has the authority and autonomy to be judge, jury, executioner and in this case fee collector since the police department gets the $60.00 traffic school fee.

It looks like a corrupt system to me. The cop decides whom to ticket and whom not to ticket and then his program is benefited by the fees collected and the fees are structured so that to fight it is just risky enough not to be worth it. It gets even worse when confiscated money's and goods are kept by the police departments. See a recent series on NPR for further info.

Dirty Money



Flawed? Yeah, I think so!!! So Watch out!

Back from Kanab

I just spent this last weekend flying down to Phoenix and then drove home through Kanab and did some training. There are some beautiful spots on the drive up 89. Go ahead take your Rout 66 but give me HWY 89 any day.

LDS Church encouraging Members to interact positively online

What an interesting perspective. Elder Ballard is commenting in the same age old way (that while old and somewhat trite, it is nonetheless true) Fire is not dangerous, it is the way you use it. Fire can bring warmth and cook food or can destroy a home and kill thousands. The internet is the much the same. There are some really positive ways to interact and I am only sorry, that I have waited until now to really start to try and develop my own voice. I have said before that there are lots of back roads, dead ends and potholes on the information superhighway, but for the most part we can find some truly valuable things here. In our modern day you are a click away from edification or degradation.

Tuesday Thoughts

I have been setting up a few accounts on the web lately.  I have a relative that works for myspace and even though I haven't been very fond of it from a philosophical sense I decided to open an account.  My wife also has friends on facebook so I opened a facebook account too.  What has always struck me about these social networking sites is that they seem so much like a shopping market (or more accurately, an online catalog)  of friends.  It seemed to me that shopping for friends based on a classified ad they placed on myspace was deeply shallow.  I think it actually goes beyond that.  We have an innate, and instinctual desire for community.  So much of what we want in our lives is a sense of belonging.  When we are young, we hope and desire for a friend.  Most of us remember the days of "who's your best friend" and the social drama of our youngest years and the desire for friends.  I even remember as young as 2nd grade wanting to have a 'girlfriend.'  These were not just silly childish behaviors, but our yearning for connection to community.  I was just looking at my wife's facebook page and underneath her Status (married, thank you!)  it says looking for: friendship.  Mine says the same thing.  I guess in a way it could be  interpreted as sad, but really I guess it's not.  We are all looking for friendship.  We desire community.  We want connections to people.  In former times we had this community, because we lived, worked, learned, married, raised families and died largely in place.  Now, there has always been movement of people.  The 1860's through 1890's saw many families and communities moving westward.  Most of these families had only recently left Europe, but in the 400 years before the 1700's you had seen families living within 100 miles of where they were born.  Although there have always been the pioneers, the explorers and the settlers of new lands, our basic human desire is for connection to community.   This community is moving online and can be fantastic.  

I logged on and suddenly dozens of my fellow students from Snake River High where I grew up were there for me to reconnect too.  I could immediately see the appeal of being able to reconnect with a community that a person had lost contact with.  

Aren't most of us looking for friendship?

Check out what I'm looking for on:

 http://www.myspace.com/mitchelljorgensen

My Face Book

Traveling in Phoenix

Hey, I am travelling and in Phoenix. Why, oh, why, oh why, did I come to Phoenix in July? What would possess me to do such a thing. Oh, yeah.......my wife asked me to. That must be real love. But it is actually really nice here (hot, yeah, like the surface of a rocket pad after launch) But we have got to spend time with her family and visit some new places.

A new and great way to make extra money and get your exercise

If you haven't heard there is a great way to earn extra money and get your exercise. It is stealing manhole covers. The manhole covers weigh around 250 pounds a piece and to steal them you have to pry them out of the street with a crowbar while outrunning traffic and then throw them in your car or truck. All this for a whopping $15.oo (yes, fifteen bucks). Almost enough to pay for a half a date (if you consider dinner and a Wendy's combo meal a date). Maybe it's just me, but lifting 250 pound manhole covers and carting them to a scrap dealer for a $15.00 sounds a whole lot like work.

Anyway learn more here:

Spate Of Manhole Cover Thefts Poses Problem

Click on the pic to read the cartoon at Dilbert.com.

What a terrific cartoon. I have never worked in a cubicle until just recently, but even though I was a teacher with my own classroom (and even my own office) I really feel the Dilbert vibe.

Go Leeeches

Disclaimer: All content in the above posting is intended as fun and in now way reflects the actual feelings I have about my current job nor does it indicate any intention I have at all of being a leech now or in the future

Back From Bear Lake

I spent the week at Bear Lake on the border of Utah and Idaho. My family and I went together to the Ideal Beach Resort. It was beautiful. I got to spend some wonderful time with my family and kids. The kids had a ball at the beach and for a summer vacation it was pretty weird that on our 2nd day there we got up and the neighbors at the time share were building a snowman. Other than cold weather it was quite fun. We watched all 5 of the Harry Potter Movies and read and other stuff. Check my UEN Blog for a report of my presentation at the CTE Summer Conference for Technology and Engineering Education.

TTIX

I am attending the TTIX conference today. TTIX stand for Teaching Technology Idea eXchange. It is being held at Utah Valley State College, Soon to be Utah Valley University. I have been attending with colleagues from UEN and learned a little about Blackboard and other Learning Management Systems. I am now attending a class showing how to create a collaborative classroom using googletools. Info about the conference is available at www.ttix.org

New Job

I got a new job, I am now training educators throughout my state on how to integrate technology into their curriculum. It should be interesting.

The waste in our world!

Wow, more rants from Jorgie.



I can't believe the waste we have in our world! I guess, I am not so concerned with just the waste, but more the waste we have when people need what is wasted. For example food that is thrown out when people go hungry. I am most concerned about the local effects of this. I am not so bothered when food is thrown out in Iowa and people are starving in Timor, but it really bugs me that people are going hungry in Iowa and food is being thrown out in Iowa.

The Future

What will the future bring? It is inherently impossible to tell. Michael Crichton in his book Congo stated that apes consider the future as behind them! Hebrew philosophy has included the concept that we walk backward into the future. We can only infer what we are walking into as new scenes come into our peripheral view. Anyone who has ridden in an old station wagon with the backward facing rear seat should sense the accuracy of my own personal "Gumpism" "Life is like riding in the back of a station wagon it's easier to see where you been than where you're going."

With that said the peripheral views and what we can see of the past out in front of us allows us to predict if not the weather on a particular day at least the climate (I know, there are many that are arguing about that as well). The climate of the future is beautifully predicted in a book of essays published in 2002 The Next Fifty Years *Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century Check it out for a truly interesting picture of the world behind us!

LDS General Conference

Today is LDS General Conference which is a Solemn Assembly