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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

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!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

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

Monday, September 22, 2008

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.


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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, September 15, 2008

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?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

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, September 8, 2008

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.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

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

Friday, September 5, 2008

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/