My new hobby is watching flash flood videos on youtube.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Iconic Internet Videos
The highlight of my weekend was making my way through urlesque.com's "100 Most Iconic Internet Videos." My fave 5:
5. Star Wars Kid
4. "I like turtles" boy
3. Sneezing Panda
2. News Reporter Falls Smashing Grapes
1. Charlie Bit My Finger
5. Star Wars Kid
4. "I like turtles" boy
3. Sneezing Panda
2. News Reporter Falls Smashing Grapes
1. Charlie Bit My Finger
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
2008: The year of the Mormon PR disaster
The Mormon church has seen better years than 2008. Looking back on the year, it turned out to be a particularly tough PR year for the church. In a recent Salt Lake Tribune article entitled “A Year of Scrutiny for the LDS Church” Peggy Fletcher Stack takes a look back at the year 2008 for the LDS church. Summed up in a sentence: Scrutiny doesn’t always feel very good. Between Mitt Romney’s Presidential bid, Proposition 8 backlash, and the hoopla surrounding the raid of the Texas compound of the polygamous FLDS sect, the church experienced an unprecedented amount of time in the lime light of the national media. There were some interesting points brought up within the article, especially the commentary by Philip Barlow, the head of the Mormon Studies program at Utah State University.
Regarding Allegiance to the Republican Party
Although a large percentage of Mormons are Republican stalwarts, Mitt didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome from the party’s large evangelical constituent. One pastor even went so far as to say “A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan.”
Philip Barlow wondered, “Will Latter-day Saints now begin to question their allegiance to the Republican Party, or even move into the Democratic Party in the future, especially if Barack Obama is successful in his first term?”
Regarding Homosexuality
After stating that the churches high profile involvement with Prop 8 has potentially set it up as a symbol of the restriction of human rights Barlow says, “Not many years from now, 2008 may be seen as a turning point for the LDS Church in addressing the reality of homosexuality. The church's theology was formed at a time when homosexuality could only be construed in biblical terms as ‘abomination.’ Because of experience and science, today church leaders see the issue in a more complex light. They distinguish between feelings and actions, and they acknowledge that we do not know the originating causes of same-sex attraction. LDS founder Joseph Smith once said that 'by proving contraries, truth is made manifest.' As is the past, this may be a painful but auspicious moment in LDS history."
While I think Barlows speculation about a future in which the Mormon church is largely democratic and gay friendly is far fetched, I wouldn’t complain with that outcome. In my mind, the more likely outcome is that instead of jumping ship from the Republican party, Mormons will continue to buddy up with evangelicals in politics and on social issues when their man power and capital is needed in hopes that they will someday be admitted to their exclusive Christian club and political party.
Regarding Allegiance to the Republican Party
Although a large percentage of Mormons are Republican stalwarts, Mitt didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome from the party’s large evangelical constituent. One pastor even went so far as to say “A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan.”
Philip Barlow wondered, “Will Latter-day Saints now begin to question their allegiance to the Republican Party, or even move into the Democratic Party in the future, especially if Barack Obama is successful in his first term?”
Regarding Homosexuality
After stating that the churches high profile involvement with Prop 8 has potentially set it up as a symbol of the restriction of human rights Barlow says, “Not many years from now, 2008 may be seen as a turning point for the LDS Church in addressing the reality of homosexuality. The church's theology was formed at a time when homosexuality could only be construed in biblical terms as ‘abomination.’ Because of experience and science, today church leaders see the issue in a more complex light. They distinguish between feelings and actions, and they acknowledge that we do not know the originating causes of same-sex attraction. LDS founder Joseph Smith once said that 'by proving contraries, truth is made manifest.' As is the past, this may be a painful but auspicious moment in LDS history."
While I think Barlows speculation about a future in which the Mormon church is largely democratic and gay friendly is far fetched, I wouldn’t complain with that outcome. In my mind, the more likely outcome is that instead of jumping ship from the Republican party, Mormons will continue to buddy up with evangelicals in politics and on social issues when their man power and capital is needed in hopes that they will someday be admitted to their exclusive Christian club and political party.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Partisanship is tiring.
Facebook statuses are an intersting thing. With no knowledge of current events, I think I could browse a few days worth of statuses and have moderate awareness of whats going on in the world. Among my friends there has been plenty of Obama love to go around.
____ is convinced that the only people who can support obama know absolutely nothing about the man behind the mask.
____ is watching the presidential debate. Obama sucks.
____ is astounded. The MODERATOR for the debate on Thurs. is writing a book about obama? Ya, she's gonna be fair....(sarcasssmmm).
____ enjoyed watching McCain destroy Obama in the debate.
____ is hating obama.
____ suggests everyone checkout Barackbook.com. This guy is an anti-american. I've been saying it for months.
I decided to respond to my friend on the last one.
me: He's anti-American? Geez, I may have to rethink my vote.
friend: No one suspected the gadianton robbers either Nate. There's lots of examples in the scriptures. Alma 46:10, Alma 10:15, Alma 11:21. All I'm saying is Barack is smooth with his words, but he's someone that hasn't actually accomplished anything and yet has risen to power very quickly. And when you look at his very overlooked past, he has associations with corrupt people, and people who've committed acts of terror in D.C. trying to blow up the Capitol building. Some of these guys have been his mentors. I still love you Nate.
Atleast I am still loved. I am reminded of a recent article in The Onion titled "60 Million People You'd Never Talk to Voting for the Other Guy." The article references a supposed ground breaking study on the elections. The money paragraphs:
"The 110-page document reveals that these strangers share a fundamental vision of our nation's future, a vision that shockingly runs completely counter to your own and is furthermore embodied by the candidate whom you could not in a million years fathom being the leader of the free world. Even more frightening, the report says, is that their votes count just as much as yours."
"While you are 100 percent certain that your preferred candidate's stance on issues such as foreign policy and the economy would appeal to any human being with half a brain, there is, in this very same country, an equally large voting bloc which believes that you and your candidate of choice are absolutely insane," the report's co-author Dr. Mark Grier said during a press conference. "Every single thing you love about your candidate's personality, vice presidential pick, and family, 60 million other registered voters absolutely deplore."
"What you consider to be this country's ruin," Grier added, "these other people actually consider to be this country's savior."
I have found myself being more partisan than I ever have been this political season. Being partisan can be exhausting. Between the presidential elections and a particular proposition I am worn out and can't wait until November 4th.
____ is convinced that the only people who can support obama know absolutely nothing about the man behind the mask.
____ is watching the presidential debate. Obama sucks.
____ is astounded. The MODERATOR for the debate on Thurs. is writing a book about obama? Ya, she's gonna be fair....(sarcasssmmm).
____ enjoyed watching McCain destroy Obama in the debate.
____ is hating obama.
____ suggests everyone checkout Barackbook.com. This guy is an anti-american. I've been saying it for months.
I decided to respond to my friend on the last one.
me: He's anti-American? Geez, I may have to rethink my vote.
friend: No one suspected the gadianton robbers either Nate. There's lots of examples in the scriptures. Alma 46:10, Alma 10:15, Alma 11:21. All I'm saying is Barack is smooth with his words, but he's someone that hasn't actually accomplished anything and yet has risen to power very quickly. And when you look at his very overlooked past, he has associations with corrupt people, and people who've committed acts of terror in D.C. trying to blow up the Capitol building. Some of these guys have been his mentors. I still love you Nate.
Atleast I am still loved. I am reminded of a recent article in The Onion titled "60 Million People You'd Never Talk to Voting for the Other Guy." The article references a supposed ground breaking study on the elections. The money paragraphs:
"The 110-page document reveals that these strangers share a fundamental vision of our nation's future, a vision that shockingly runs completely counter to your own and is furthermore embodied by the candidate whom you could not in a million years fathom being the leader of the free world. Even more frightening, the report says, is that their votes count just as much as yours."
"While you are 100 percent certain that your preferred candidate's stance on issues such as foreign policy and the economy would appeal to any human being with half a brain, there is, in this very same country, an equally large voting bloc which believes that you and your candidate of choice are absolutely insane," the report's co-author Dr. Mark Grier said during a press conference. "Every single thing you love about your candidate's personality, vice presidential pick, and family, 60 million other registered voters absolutely deplore."
"What you consider to be this country's ruin," Grier added, "these other people actually consider to be this country's savior."
I have found myself being more partisan than I ever have been this political season. Being partisan can be exhausting. Between the presidential elections and a particular proposition I am worn out and can't wait until November 4th.
Monday, September 29, 2008
What if?
Jazz Shaw, assistant editor at The Moderate Voice poses some thought provoking "what if" questions about what an economic recession could mean to Americans.
What if the stock market fell from 11,000 to 5,000?
What if loose credit evaporated overnight?
What if people who took outrageous mortgages and debt were sent back to a reset point?
What if people had to rent a place to live and save up until they had a reasonable down payment and mortgage payments they could afford?
What if some people lost their highest paying jobs and had to take lower paying, local jobs (or even two) to make ends meet?
What if credit became tight to the point where average households couldn’t have nine credit cards each, couldn’t spend 133% of their annual income every year and actually had to save up money to buy things?
What if they had to save their money for retirement in fixed rate savings accounts and lower interest bonds or treasury bills?
What if CEOs couldn’t make hundreds of millions per year because the market collapsed on them?
What if companies who ship American jobs overseas and offshore their manufacturing operations no longer had a market to sell their goods at “home” because nobody could afford to buy them?
What if this exhausted, heavily-whipped engine of commerce collapsed on its knees on the track?
What if those companies had to begin hiring people back home to make their products so there would be a market for them again?
What if speculation became impractical because people would only pay what things were actually worth?
What if people couldn’t afford the next biggest flat screen TV and the next thinnest Jesus Phone every season and had to make do with what they had for a few years?
What if manufactured items had to focus on quality instead of disposability because consumers could not afford new versions every year?
What if we had to repair some of our own clothes and household items so they would last longer?
What if some of us had to either grow some of our own food or provide services for people who provided food for us?
What if we all had to sweat out some hard work and hard times and eliminate all of our empty debt and actually live within our means?
What if our government was actually forced to do the same?
What if?
What if the stock market fell from 11,000 to 5,000?
What if loose credit evaporated overnight?
What if people who took outrageous mortgages and debt were sent back to a reset point?
What if people had to rent a place to live and save up until they had a reasonable down payment and mortgage payments they could afford?
What if some people lost their highest paying jobs and had to take lower paying, local jobs (or even two) to make ends meet?
What if credit became tight to the point where average households couldn’t have nine credit cards each, couldn’t spend 133% of their annual income every year and actually had to save up money to buy things?
What if they had to save their money for retirement in fixed rate savings accounts and lower interest bonds or treasury bills?
What if CEOs couldn’t make hundreds of millions per year because the market collapsed on them?
What if companies who ship American jobs overseas and offshore their manufacturing operations no longer had a market to sell their goods at “home” because nobody could afford to buy them?
What if this exhausted, heavily-whipped engine of commerce collapsed on its knees on the track?
What if those companies had to begin hiring people back home to make their products so there would be a market for them again?
What if speculation became impractical because people would only pay what things were actually worth?
What if people couldn’t afford the next biggest flat screen TV and the next thinnest Jesus Phone every season and had to make do with what they had for a few years?
What if manufactured items had to focus on quality instead of disposability because consumers could not afford new versions every year?
What if we had to repair some of our own clothes and household items so they would last longer?
What if some of us had to either grow some of our own food or provide services for people who provided food for us?
What if we all had to sweat out some hard work and hard times and eliminate all of our empty debt and actually live within our means?
What if our government was actually forced to do the same?
What if?
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Lufa update
I took a lot of heat for holding on to my last lufa for four years. I finally succumbed to the peer pressure of my friends, ultimately tipped over the edge by the donation of a new lufa, and tossed my old one, although it undoubtedly still had a good year or two of life remaining. I appreciated the compactness of my new lufa, and it made showering more efficient. Unfortunately, only six weeks into my new lufa experience, as I went to soap it up one morning this week it began to unravel before my eyes. What remains is a 15 foot strand of blue net-like material. It just goes to show all you haters of my previous lufa, that appearances aren't everything. I am once again accepting donations. 
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