Hatch pleads for his job and proves he will say anything to avoid Bennett’s fate: “Tea Party members I know by and large are good, honest, decent people, but out of anger should not disrupt the few GOP [candidates] who can win,” he said. He said the Republicans need to organize and pull together just ...
Back in the days when I paid attention to General Conference, I always attended the priesthood session with my wife’s father and brother. I enjoyed the tradition of returning to report some fantastic fictional revelation to my wife and her mother. I call this a tradition because I did it every time, but I was ...
In line with my earlier post about the LDS ranch in Florida, I just caught wind of this: The LDS Church owns two hunting preserves in Utah. Turns out the Deseret News has profiled the preserve and the missionaries who staff it. (Yep, you read that right – missionaries staff the LDS owned hunting preserve.) ...
Inspired by a new news article about land development by the LDS Church in Hawaii, I did a little more property searching. Unfortunately, Honolulu County doesn’t allow searching by name, so finding all the property of Hawaii Reserves, Inc. and Property Reserve, Inc. (two of the holding companies of the LDS Church) in Hawaii is ...
My brother-in-law came to visit last weekend. As science geeks, we tried to see a shuttle launch while he was here (the launch was canceled 11 minutes before liftoff because of weather – ugh!). On the way to watch the launch we stopped by Deseret Citrus and Cattle Ranch to see the Mormon Church’s ranching ...
I caught this article while reading my science news this morning: Bankruptcy Rates Reflect Policy, Not People. Basically what the article says is that the different rates of bankruptcy filings by state are not due to spending patterns or characteristics of the people in those states but rather policies regarding bankruptcy filing. In other words, ...
According to the philosopher Mircea Eliade, of whose work I learned at BYU, every community, tribe, or nation requires an origin myth. The account of a community’s or practice’s origin has far reaching consequences because it implies how they relate to the cosmos, which is necessary for human beings to imbue their world with shared ...
I heard this story on Friday on NPR. I support the Utah LDS church’s movement towards openness and honesty. I admit, this effort seems a little like a drop in the ocean. Yet I have to acknowledge the attempt. One of the comments Quentin Cook made was that they were “surprised” by the reaction from ...
The NYTimes recently mentioned the Fermi game of figuring “ballpark” estimates of real-world numbers for questions you, at first glance, think of as un-estimatable – for example, how many piano tuners are there in Chicago? Though I am generally bad at math (and shun it), I like this game, and it occurred to me to ...
As a child, I admired Brother B. He was a member of our ward. Back then Brother B. must have been in his fifties. He was naturally self-confident and projected authority in an understated sort of way. Late in life, Brother B. had switched careers to become a natural healer. My mother who had been ...
In a comment thread on a previous post at Latterday Mainstreet (see here) I got into a debate about LDS finances and how much the LDS religion brings in from tithing and other donations. I had heard/read the claim before that the LDS religion actually has an operating budget deficit in the UK (see: http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_money.html#pub_-1445867013). ...
Well, tomorrow marks another milestone for me at work: My 7 year anniversary of working here. Seven glorious years working alone in an office, doing books and lovin’ it. Or something like that. (Insert wavy flashback lines) FLASHBACK of Two Years Ago, filmed in black & white… Views: 1593 ...