Out With the Old, In With the New

Thanks to a charitable donation from a friend I was able to replace what has been a constant in my life for the past four years...My loofa. Most people who have used my bathroom or shower in the past year or two have noted that I am long overdue for a new one. Evident in this picture is that my old one had completely taken on a life of its own as it slowly but steadily grew larger. I think I got my money's worth.

Mick Jagger has Moves

I just watched Martin Scorcese’s new film on the Rolling Stones, “Shine a Light.” Mick Jagger must have found a fountain of youth, because he has moves like no other 65 year old I’ve ever seen. The guy is a maniac. Its amazing he doesn’t have a heart attack at his age. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any clips of the movie on youtube.

Although, watching the film reminded me of a little gem that I found tucked away in a storage closet while I was on my mission. It was a talk given in 1988 by Elder Gene R. Cook, a Mormon general authority, on the potential evils of rock music. To a group of LDS college students he recounts:

It ought not to surprise us that the devil has his own music as well. That kind of music is found throughout the world and has a great impact on young people especially. Let me try to bring this principle alive by relating a true story that happened with an individual of whom you have probably heard. How many of you have heard of Mick Jagger? I think almost everyone has as he is one of the most famous rock stars in the world. Well, you might be surprised to know that I had about 2 hours with him on an airplane and it was quite an experience. I'm going to relate part of that to you to try to illustrate this important point about selecting wholesome music.
Mr. Jagger and I were on a flight that originated in Mexico and were headed, I believe, to either Houston or Dallas. As I sat down in the plane, the seat next to me was empty. Later a man came and sat down by me. I noticed immediately that he was reading a rock magazine. I offered a silent prayer as I often do when I try to talk to people about the Church. I prayed that the Lord would inspire me in what to say as I talked to this man.

After the prayer, I said something like, "My name is Gene Cook. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What's your name?"

And he said, "My name is Mick Jagger."

Not realizing who he was I said, "Well, I'm glad to meet you, Mick."

And then he said, "I said my name is Mick Jagger."

I said, "I heard you, Mick."

And then he opened up the magazine and pointed to his picture and said, "This is me." Of course, then I finally realized who he was. I just hadn't ever thought about sitting next to him, but it was so. What I'm going to say is in no way speaking evil of Mick Jagger himself. Please understand that. I'm not speaking evil of the man, but I am of what he represents because it is wrong. It is of the devil himself, in my opinion.

Even before I knew who Mick was, I noticed that his pant leg was pulled up a little on his calf. As I looked at his leg I thought for some reason, "This fellow looks a little sick." I'm not sure why, but that caught my attention before I even knew who he was.

After we visited back and forth a minute or two about what we were doing and all, I finally said something like, "You know, Mick, I have a question for you that I'd like you to answer for me."
He said, "Well, I'll be glad to try."

Then I said to him, "I have opportunity to be with young people in many different places around the world, and some of them have told me that the kind of music you and others like you sing has no effect on them, that it's okay, and that it doesn't affect them adversely in any way. Then other young people have told me very honestly that your kind of music has a real effect on them for evil and that it affects them in a very bad way. You've been in this business a long time, Mick. I'd like to know your opinion. What do you think is the impact of your music on the young people?"

This is a direct quote, brothers and sisters. He said, "Our music is calculated to drive the kids to sex."

Does Mick really intend his music to impel us to promiscuous sex? Or is this conversation the result of being stuck next to an old, religious, stiff in a suit for several hours on the plane (Mick’s perspective of course)? Tough to tell, but I need to go excuse myself to burn my Stones CD collection.

Some Nader Love

After listening to an hour long interview with Ralph Nader on NPR, I have to admit I like the guy. I like him a lot. He’s determined, pesky, driven and tells it straight. Some money quotes from the interview:

“Most citizen groups are shut out because there are no significant hearings and if there are they restrict them to 5 minutes. The government shut down on the people. What’s left for you to decide anymore? Foreign policy, military policy, economic policy, consumer policy, environmental policy. They’ve shut you out and the commercial market ears have turned your children into Pavlonian specimens. Its amazing what we tolerate from these corporate domineers. They are supposed to be our servants, not our masters.”


“Its really so absurd that some of these wavering liberals are willing to go again and again after three years of criticizing the democrats the fourth year no matter how bad the democrats are, they will vote for them as long as the Republicans are worse. Now just think if you are a democratic nominee you know that you have got these people because they have no where to go. And when you have them you can take their vote for granted and you don’t have to give them anything in return by way of change or reform and you can just pay attention to the corporate interests that are pulling at you 24-7. You lose the tug in the opposite direction when you don’t make your vote hard to get.”


“Somebody asked me “what would you like to title your next book?” You know what I would like to title it? Excuse the rough language. “Hello Americans! Cut the Crap, No More Excuses, Take Over.” People always have excuses about why they don’t have any power. You can’t do anything about gas prices, you can’t do anything about these politicians. After a while it becomes a way of life and it becomes a rationalization of our futility and that is the biggest power that the power structure has against us, our belief that we don’t have any power.”

Turned you children into Pavlonian specimans....I love it!

Windows Mojave

Attention all of you Vista haters out there: Get back on the Microsoft bandwagon and behold the operating system of all operating systems, Windows Mojave! Never heard of it? That is most likely because it is the fictional operating system propelling Microsoft’s latest (rather strange I might add) marketing campaign for Windows Vista.

In carrying out the “Mojave Experiment” Microsoft representatives went to San Francisco in search of Windows Vista haters. They were able to recruit 140 Vista skeptics who believed that the OS was slow, frequently crashed, and was a general pain to install, although they had never actually used it themselves. When these test subjects were asked to sit through a presentation demonstrating the new operating system Windows Mojave they were thoroughly impressed with its sleek design, speed and convenience. At that point it is revealed to the surprised subjects that Windows Mojave is really Windows Vista! Suckas! Of course, the surprise reactions are caught on candid camera.

Is it just me or is the underlying message of this campaign “Windows Vista doesn’t suck as much as you think it does”? I think the hip Mac guy would do better than this.