Friday, December 28, 2007
Apostle Urges Students to Use New Media
I thought this was interesting; I basically gave the same sentiments as the italicized portion in a talk I gave to our congregation a couple of weeks ago.
___
http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-urges-students-to-use-new-media
Apostle Urges Students to Use New Media
LAIE, Hawaii 15 December 2007 Two hundred graduating students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii were urged today to use the Internet — including blogs and other forms of “new media” — to contribute to a national conversation about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder M. Russell Ballard, an apostle in the Church, told the mostly Mormon student body that conversations about the Church would take place whether or not Church members decided to participate in them.
“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches,” he said.
“While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time.”
Church leaders have publicly expressed concern that while much of the recent extensive news reporting on the Church has been balanced and accurate, some has been trivial, distorted or without context.
Elder Ballard said there were too many conversations going on about the Church for Church representatives to respond to each individually, and that Church leaders “can’t answer every question, satisfy every inquiry and respond to every inaccuracy that exists.”
He said students should consider sharing their views on blogs, responding to online news reports and using the “new media” in other ways. (italics added)
But he cautioned against arguing with others about their beliefs. “There is no need to become defensive or belligerent,” he said.
___
http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-urges-students-to-use-new-media
Apostle Urges Students to Use New Media
LAIE, Hawaii 15 December 2007 Two hundred graduating students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii were urged today to use the Internet — including blogs and other forms of “new media” — to contribute to a national conversation about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder M. Russell Ballard, an apostle in the Church, told the mostly Mormon student body that conversations about the Church would take place whether or not Church members decided to participate in them.
“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches,” he said.
“While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time.”
Church leaders have publicly expressed concern that while much of the recent extensive news reporting on the Church has been balanced and accurate, some has been trivial, distorted or without context.
Elder Ballard said there were too many conversations going on about the Church for Church representatives to respond to each individually, and that Church leaders “can’t answer every question, satisfy every inquiry and respond to every inaccuracy that exists.”
He said students should consider sharing their views on blogs, responding to online news reports and using the “new media” in other ways. (italics added)
But he cautioned against arguing with others about their beliefs. “There is no need to become defensive or belligerent,” he said.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Politicians & pundits, please stop slandering my Mormon faith
Thought this recent article in the New York Post was well written (although I disagree with him about getting Romney out of the race). It's by Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/12/19/2007-12-19_politicians__pundits_please_stop_slander.html
Politicians & pundits, please stop slandering my Mormon faith
This is a strange season to be a Mormon. During my lifetime, I thought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had effectively mainstreamed itself. Being a Mormon was like being Canadian, or a vegetarian, or a unicyclist - it made you a bit of a conversation piece at dinner, but you didn't come in for any lip-curling scorn.
Now, thanks to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, I can read anti-Mormon screeds almost every day, both from the secular left and the evangelical right. Latter-day Saints are either a gullible joke or a satanic menace (or, if one can handle the cognitive dissonance, both).
Romney has declined to get into specifics defending the faith. This is, I assume, partly a matter of principle (why should he have to?) and partly one of pragmatism (many of his past attempts in that vein have seemed clumsy). But this effectively cedes the field to his attackers, and may give the impression that he's staying silent because there are no good answers - or because he's not sincere about his beliefs.
Take the question Mike Huckabee cannily used to make headlines: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers?" Huckabee was widely criticized and quickly apologized, but even the apology gave the wrong impression: that he'd somehow been impolite, and not that the whole slur was off base.
The truth, Huck, is that Mormons believe that God is the Father of us all, which does, I guess, in some sense, make Jesus and Satan brothers. And by the same logic, we also believe that Moses and Orville Redenbacher and Attila the Hun and Neil Diamond are brothers. Happy now?
Then there was commentator Lawrence O'Donnell's bizarre anti-Mormon explosion on "The McLaughlin Group" this month. Unlike Huckabee, he never apologized. Instead, trying to clarify, he's dug himself an even deeper hole, calling Romney's Mormon forefathers "a long line of extreme rapists of teenage children." Not just teen rapists - now we're extreme teen rapists!
There are a lot of things you can say about the polygamy in early Latter-day Saint history, achapter many modern Mormons don't avidly defend. But O'Donnell's implicit charge - that the whole practice was a scam cooked up by dirty old men - is wrong. Early accounts show the church's founders, including Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, tearfully resisted "plural marriage." They complied not out of eagerness for some hot 19th century swinging, but from a conviction that an authentic Old Testament practice was being divinely restored. Many of these early marriages were primarily "dynastic" - ceremonial, that is, and not romantic or intimate in any way.
An equally problematic part of Mormon history has been hammered by pundits like Christopher Hitchens, who has called mychurch "an officially racist organization."
It's true that, prior to 1978, blacks could not be ordained to the Mormon priesthood. But here, too, a more nuanced view is helpful. Joseph Smith is now known to have ordained African-American men in the 1830s and 1840s. The prohibition evolved in later decades, propped up by a series of racist folk doctrines. Mormons were relieved when those teachings were repudiated. (It adds context but little comfort to note that other major U.S. denominations had racist and segregationist dogma on their books until the 1970s as well.) And today, the church has more than half a million black members, including prominent leaders, both here and abroad.
It troubles me that attacks like these will probably just get worse as the campaign heats up. It's not that I think our religion can't handle the scrutiny. I just don't think the slings and arrows of a bloodthirsty 21st century political campaign are the best way to tease out spiritual truth.
I'm tired of being a punch line and a punching bag. If the only way to get Mormonism out of the arena is to get Romney out of the race, then I'm counting the days. This is one Mormon who would rather have a little civility and tolerance than one of our own in the White House.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/12/19/2007-12-19_politicians__pundits_please_stop_slander.html
Politicians & pundits, please stop slandering my Mormon faith
This is a strange season to be a Mormon. During my lifetime, I thought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had effectively mainstreamed itself. Being a Mormon was like being Canadian, or a vegetarian, or a unicyclist - it made you a bit of a conversation piece at dinner, but you didn't come in for any lip-curling scorn.
Now, thanks to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, I can read anti-Mormon screeds almost every day, both from the secular left and the evangelical right. Latter-day Saints are either a gullible joke or a satanic menace (or, if one can handle the cognitive dissonance, both).
Romney has declined to get into specifics defending the faith. This is, I assume, partly a matter of principle (why should he have to?) and partly one of pragmatism (many of his past attempts in that vein have seemed clumsy). But this effectively cedes the field to his attackers, and may give the impression that he's staying silent because there are no good answers - or because he's not sincere about his beliefs.
Take the question Mike Huckabee cannily used to make headlines: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers?" Huckabee was widely criticized and quickly apologized, but even the apology gave the wrong impression: that he'd somehow been impolite, and not that the whole slur was off base.
The truth, Huck, is that Mormons believe that God is the Father of us all, which does, I guess, in some sense, make Jesus and Satan brothers. And by the same logic, we also believe that Moses and Orville Redenbacher and Attila the Hun and Neil Diamond are brothers. Happy now?
Then there was commentator Lawrence O'Donnell's bizarre anti-Mormon explosion on "The McLaughlin Group" this month. Unlike Huckabee, he never apologized. Instead, trying to clarify, he's dug himself an even deeper hole, calling Romney's Mormon forefathers "a long line of extreme rapists of teenage children." Not just teen rapists - now we're extreme teen rapists!
There are a lot of things you can say about the polygamy in early Latter-day Saint history, achapter many modern Mormons don't avidly defend. But O'Donnell's implicit charge - that the whole practice was a scam cooked up by dirty old men - is wrong. Early accounts show the church's founders, including Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, tearfully resisted "plural marriage." They complied not out of eagerness for some hot 19th century swinging, but from a conviction that an authentic Old Testament practice was being divinely restored. Many of these early marriages were primarily "dynastic" - ceremonial, that is, and not romantic or intimate in any way.
An equally problematic part of Mormon history has been hammered by pundits like Christopher Hitchens, who has called mychurch "an officially racist organization."
It's true that, prior to 1978, blacks could not be ordained to the Mormon priesthood. But here, too, a more nuanced view is helpful. Joseph Smith is now known to have ordained African-American men in the 1830s and 1840s. The prohibition evolved in later decades, propped up by a series of racist folk doctrines. Mormons were relieved when those teachings were repudiated. (It adds context but little comfort to note that other major U.S. denominations had racist and segregationist dogma on their books until the 1970s as well.) And today, the church has more than half a million black members, including prominent leaders, both here and abroad.
It troubles me that attacks like these will probably just get worse as the campaign heats up. It's not that I think our religion can't handle the scrutiny. I just don't think the slings and arrows of a bloodthirsty 21st century political campaign are the best way to tease out spiritual truth.
I'm tired of being a punch line and a punching bag. If the only way to get Mormonism out of the arena is to get Romney out of the race, then I'm counting the days. This is one Mormon who would rather have a little civility and tolerance than one of our own in the White House.
Star Wars
A week or so ago, I realized my kids have never seen the original Star Wars movies. We've only got them on VHS, and haven't watched any VHS tapes for a good long time. So, we brought them with us to my folks' house, where we were spending Christmas, and watched at least the first two films. We'll have to hook up our old VCR and watch Return of the Jedi at our house.
But, in honor of that moment, here are Star Wars Potato Heads:
Darth Tater
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/726d/
Spud Trooper
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/7cd4/
And last, but not least...
Artoo Potatoo
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/84a2/
But, in honor of that moment, here are Star Wars Potato Heads:
Darth Tater
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/726d/
Spud Trooper
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/7cd4/
And last, but not least...
Artoo Potatoo
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/84a2/
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!!
Here is a Christmas story that made me smile:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071225/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cards_from_heaven
Cards from heaven have dead man talking
Tue Dec 25, 11:17 AM ET
ASHLAND, Ore. - Even in death, Chet Fitch is a card. Fitch, known for his sense of humor, died in October at age 88 but gave his friends and family a start recently: Christmas cards, 34 of them, began arriving — written in his hand with a return address of "Heaven."
The greeting read: "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no; but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't (tarry) there.' Wish I could tell you about things here but words cannot explain.
"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think). Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch"
A friend for nearly 25 years, Debbie Hansen Bernard said, "All I could think was, 'You little stinker.'"
"It was amazing," she said. "Just so Chet, always wanting to get the last laugh."
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57. She told the Ashland Daily Tidings this week that he kept updating the mailing list and giving her extra money when postal rates went up. This fall, she said, Fitch looked up to her from the chair.
"You must be getting tired of waiting to mail those cards," he told her. "I think you'll probably be able to mail them this year."
He died a week later.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071225/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cards_from_heaven
Cards from heaven have dead man talking
Tue Dec 25, 11:17 AM ET
ASHLAND, Ore. - Even in death, Chet Fitch is a card. Fitch, known for his sense of humor, died in October at age 88 but gave his friends and family a start recently: Christmas cards, 34 of them, began arriving — written in his hand with a return address of "Heaven."
The greeting read: "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no; but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't (tarry) there.' Wish I could tell you about things here but words cannot explain.
"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think). Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch"
A friend for nearly 25 years, Debbie Hansen Bernard said, "All I could think was, 'You little stinker.'"
"It was amazing," she said. "Just so Chet, always wanting to get the last laugh."
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57. She told the Ashland Daily Tidings this week that he kept updating the mailing list and giving her extra money when postal rates went up. This fall, she said, Fitch looked up to her from the chair.
"You must be getting tired of waiting to mail those cards," he told her. "I think you'll probably be able to mail them this year."
He died a week later.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Title of the Song
This one is for you, Thomas!
Here's another good acappella hit on Youtube: "Title of the Song", by "The Name of the Band".(*)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc1Js9P3urw
My personal favorite moment: "modulation and I hold a high note" :-)
(*) Actually by Da Vinci's Notebook.
Here's another good acappella hit on Youtube: "Title of the Song", by "The Name of the Band".(*)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc1Js9P3urw
My personal favorite moment: "modulation and I hold a high note" :-)
(*) Actually by Da Vinci's Notebook.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Just discovered this on YouTube today:
:-)
It's very similar to the "12.5 days of Christmas", found on the BOCA Humor CD.
:-)
It's very similar to the "12.5 days of Christmas", found on the BOCA Humor CD.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Physics comics
You might have to be a physicist to appreciate these, but one of my students send me the URLs to these comics. I thought they were hilarious!
(looks like you might have to click on the first one to read its text)
http://xkcd.com/356/
http://xkcd.com/123/
(looks like you might have to click on the first one to read its text)
http://xkcd.com/356/
http://xkcd.com/123/
Monday, December 10, 2007
Catching up
Been a while since I posted. Here's some catching up, in no particular order:
* The semester is almost over. Teaching Physics 105 has been pretty fun. Gotta love the demos! I think the students are very happy about my teaching style, but not too happy about the difficulty of the exams. We'll see how the end-of-semester evaluations go. I'm teaching Optics next semester, Physics 471.
* Our La Crosse house is still not sold or rented. That's not happy.
* We've been going to a slew of musical events. These include:
- Our stake "Choirside" last night (Dec 9). (Just Emily & me.) That was a singing where all the choirs in the stake sang one Christmas piece, and in between the congregation sang carols.
- a Messiah sing-along concert last Friday, at the Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork. (All four of us.)
- BYU's "Octubafest", must have been back in October. A concert with ~30 tubas & euphoniums (euphonia??). (All four of us.)
- BYU's "A Cappella Jam" on Nov 29--performances by various student a cappella groups (mostly contemporary music). Some were really good, some not so good; in general it was a lot of fun. We got there really early, and basically got front row seats. All four of us went. As an added bonus, we got to see Roger & Darlene Young, some old friends from California who I think live about an hour away.
- Synthesis concert on Nov 28, BYU's top jazz band. It's directed by Ray Smith, who is in our ward (I'm his hometeacher, actually). Just Pauline and I went.
- A performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie, on Nov 9 (all four of us). A lady in our ward played "Muzzie".
- a Utah Baroque Ensemble concert, on Nov 18. (Just me.) They are about the same quality as the La Crosse Chamber Chorale was, and I'm planning to audition for them in the next week or two.
* Speaking of auditions, a week or two ago I auditioned for the "Deseret Chamber Singers", which is apparently even more top-notch than the UBE. I haven't heard them in person yet. The audition went quite well, I though, but the director didn't know if he would have any openings. The way we left it (I think), is that if any of his current basses drop out after their Christmas concerts, he would give me a call.
* I also auditioned for a want-to-be-professional contemporary a cappella group a while back that is just forming (no name yet). They complimented me on my voice & musicality but in the end decided that they wanted someone who had more experience in contemporary a cappella and/or who had a stronger bass voice. That was fine; I wasn't necessarily ready to go professional yet.
* Utah Jazz games: I've been fortunate to be able to go to a number of Jazz games this year. My dad & brother-in-law bought season tickets, and they've been inviting me along when one of them is out of town. And once when they were both gone, I was able to take Leslie! She had a lot of fun. The Jazz are now something like 7-1 when I am personally in attendance. :-) (lifetime)
* Undergrad researchers: I signed on four undergrad students as research assistants:
Scott Eldredge, Benjamin Heaton, Daniel Jenson, and Michael Johnson. So far they have seemed pretty sharp and hard-working. In a "small world" story, Benjamin turned out to be from my sister Marci's ward in Georgia and used to babysit the kids/teach piano to Jacob/accompany Marci's choir.
* In another "small world" story, the student who is probably going to be my TA for Optics next semester is the brother-in-law of one of my former roommates (Kirk Hawkins).
* We went to a "Keele memorial pie party", on Nov 17, at the home of Ken & Angela Wade, some friends from Berkeley. The Keeles used to host a giant pie party in Berkeley the day after Thanksgiving (still do, just not in Berkeley any more). We were trying to be as cool as they are. Two more quick "small world" stories: (1) Ken left Berkeley to take a job at Waterford, a private school in Sandy. That's where my sister Nancy works. (2) When we first arrived here, Pauline and I were walking around BYU, the upper floor of the Wilkinson Center, to be precise. We passed by a girl who was sitting down in a chair, and she blurted out "Are you the Coltons!?" It was Leslie Keele--we had last seen her when she was ~12. She's now a freshman at BYU.
* I gave a talk in church yesterday about missionary work. It was well received, I think, despite me opening my remarks by complaining about the courtesy, or lack thereof, of many Utah drivers. Pauline spoke last month.
* I took a trip to the National Science Foundation (DC area) back on October 21-23, to review proposals for them.
* I found a local table tennis club, only ~10 minutes away. We play every Wednesday evening. Check out how I'm doing: http://www.utahtt.org/tttc/rank.html I'm back to close to the top of my game.
* The semester is almost over. Teaching Physics 105 has been pretty fun. Gotta love the demos! I think the students are very happy about my teaching style, but not too happy about the difficulty of the exams. We'll see how the end-of-semester evaluations go. I'm teaching Optics next semester, Physics 471.
* Our La Crosse house is still not sold or rented. That's not happy.
* We've been going to a slew of musical events. These include:
- Our stake "Choirside" last night (Dec 9). (Just Emily & me.) That was a singing where all the choirs in the stake sang one Christmas piece, and in between the congregation sang carols.
- a Messiah sing-along concert last Friday, at the Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork. (All four of us.)
- BYU's "Octubafest", must have been back in October. A concert with ~30 tubas & euphoniums (euphonia??). (All four of us.)
- BYU's "A Cappella Jam" on Nov 29--performances by various student a cappella groups (mostly contemporary music). Some were really good, some not so good; in general it was a lot of fun. We got there really early, and basically got front row seats. All four of us went. As an added bonus, we got to see Roger & Darlene Young, some old friends from California who I think live about an hour away.
- Synthesis concert on Nov 28, BYU's top jazz band. It's directed by Ray Smith, who is in our ward (I'm his hometeacher, actually). Just Pauline and I went.
- A performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie, on Nov 9 (all four of us). A lady in our ward played "Muzzie".
- a Utah Baroque Ensemble concert, on Nov 18. (Just me.) They are about the same quality as the La Crosse Chamber Chorale was, and I'm planning to audition for them in the next week or two.
* Speaking of auditions, a week or two ago I auditioned for the "Deseret Chamber Singers", which is apparently even more top-notch than the UBE. I haven't heard them in person yet. The audition went quite well, I though, but the director didn't know if he would have any openings. The way we left it (I think), is that if any of his current basses drop out after their Christmas concerts, he would give me a call.
* I also auditioned for a want-to-be-professional contemporary a cappella group a while back that is just forming (no name yet). They complimented me on my voice & musicality but in the end decided that they wanted someone who had more experience in contemporary a cappella and/or who had a stronger bass voice. That was fine; I wasn't necessarily ready to go professional yet.
* Utah Jazz games: I've been fortunate to be able to go to a number of Jazz games this year. My dad & brother-in-law bought season tickets, and they've been inviting me along when one of them is out of town. And once when they were both gone, I was able to take Leslie! She had a lot of fun. The Jazz are now something like 7-1 when I am personally in attendance. :-) (lifetime)
* Undergrad researchers: I signed on four undergrad students as research assistants:
Scott Eldredge, Benjamin Heaton, Daniel Jenson, and Michael Johnson. So far they have seemed pretty sharp and hard-working. In a "small world" story, Benjamin turned out to be from my sister Marci's ward in Georgia and used to babysit the kids/teach piano to Jacob/accompany Marci's choir.
* In another "small world" story, the student who is probably going to be my TA for Optics next semester is the brother-in-law of one of my former roommates (Kirk Hawkins).
* We went to a "Keele memorial pie party", on Nov 17, at the home of Ken & Angela Wade, some friends from Berkeley. The Keeles used to host a giant pie party in Berkeley the day after Thanksgiving (still do, just not in Berkeley any more). We were trying to be as cool as they are. Two more quick "small world" stories: (1) Ken left Berkeley to take a job at Waterford, a private school in Sandy. That's where my sister Nancy works. (2) When we first arrived here, Pauline and I were walking around BYU, the upper floor of the Wilkinson Center, to be precise. We passed by a girl who was sitting down in a chair, and she blurted out "Are you the Coltons!?" It was Leslie Keele--we had last seen her when she was ~12. She's now a freshman at BYU.
* I gave a talk in church yesterday about missionary work. It was well received, I think, despite me opening my remarks by complaining about the courtesy, or lack thereof, of many Utah drivers. Pauline spoke last month.
* I took a trip to the National Science Foundation (DC area) back on October 21-23, to review proposals for them.
* I found a local table tennis club, only ~10 minutes away. We play every Wednesday evening. Check out how I'm doing: http://www.utahtt.org/tttc/rank.html I'm back to close to the top of my game.
