mormon cultural reforms

i was in slc last week attending a friends wedding at the slc temple. while in temple square i ran across an interesting scenario in the mens room of one of the buildings. in addition to the standard set of mirrors in front of you when you wash your hands, there was an additional set of mirrors on the wall facing your back. most of you i assume are familiar w/ this motif which we (mormons) apply to the mirrors in our celestial rooms of the temples. the two mirrors facing each other bounce images back off each other a seemingly infinite amount of times. this brings to mind the ffelings of the inifinite nature of our existence and particularly what we believe is the infinite nature of the work that is performed in the temple. however, this motif just doesn't do it for me in the bathroom. as much as i enjoy pondering the great unponderables, i rarely do so in the bathroom. if i do ponder them in the bathroom, it is on the pot; not while washing my hands. (sorry if that was too candid).

i did have some other interesting mormon cultural ideas too. my brother's friend evan (you are so emo btw) has had a longstanding desire to get a ctr tattoo. what better way to show your desire to obey the prophet then to have choose the right permanently written on your fore arm or back? i also found this very interesting collection of tattoos on the internet under the google search of "mormon tattoos" check it out, he has all the prophets of this dispensation from js to gbh (i can't wait until he gets tommy monson up there).
i told this to tom ferrara the other day, and he was stoked. we also got to thinking about ideas for tom's beard as he prepared to enter the mtc. tom as you may or may not know has a pretty rad beard, which i would put on par w/ yours trulie's awesome beard. a couple of months ago, tom also had some custom beard work done when he turned his chinstrap beard into lighting rays outlining his jaw bone. unfortunately, missionaries generally aren't allowed to have facial hair. our thought was, what if he got an angel moroni beard? think of the tool that would while tracting if he could sculpt moroni complete w/ trumpet out of his facial hair? who would be able to deny that truth has truly been restored? i may be a great cynic and skeptic myself, but if confronted w/ a man of tom's stature and an angel moroni beard at my own door step or even if contacted by him at a park, i would have no choice but to follow his counsel, attend church, read, pray etc. and eventually get baptized.
think about it, i think it about time for some cultural reforms.

Wiffle Ball and the Evolution of Bernanke

We had our first wiffle ball event yesterday. Due to extreme thunder storms we were unable to play in the parking lot. So we set up inside. Because of the limited space inside, there was really only pitching practice. (Batters stood in to take batting practice but were as active as mannequins, only 10% of pitches made it into the strike zone).

Pitching results were generally inconsistent but Andrew showed great control of his McNasty, the lefty curve. He also showed signs of Sadistic tendencies not often shown while opening doors for Trisha, complementing others and listening attentively to the mundane details of their lives Showcasing his general warm smile w/ a wink of guilty pleasure in his eyes as he beaned a batter w/ four straight fastballs.

All in all it was a good warm up for the season. We should get some pics up soon.


I have decided to post a graphic from economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman's blog. It shows the evolution of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. You see the evolution from our simian predecessor to homo neglectus, (former Fed Chairman and lassez-faire advocate Alan Greenspan) to the man himself: Ben Bernanke.

Chances are you wont enjoy this as much as I do, but that's your loss.

Neural sarcasm detection mechanism

I was reading an article in the Times last night which I found rather interesting. Neurologists have apparently located the part of the brain which detects sarcasm. They believe that it is in the right temperofrontal lobe, where they also believe there is a social surroundings detector of some sorts. Give the article a read it's worth your time. Also, play the video they used to test for sarcasm detectors, it is quite a hoot.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/health/research/03sarc.html?ex=1370232000&en=d0213c5dde73ba5f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

"So How About the Weather?"

I have to say the weather here in Minnesoter has been amazing the last couple of weeks. Most of you will probably disagree w/ me given the "cold" wet weather we have had a lot of recently, but it has worked well for me.

I started working for remodeling company last week. I have never done any kind of manual physical labor before, but it has been pretty fun. So far all that I have done is destroy floors and radiators with sledgehammers, chisels, and levers made of 2x4s. I haven't been this destructive to other people's property since I was 16. Not only has the work been fun, but the weather is cool. This particularly nice when I hated to spend 5 hours today tearing up the floor on a third story attic. Yesterday w/ the sun out it was a sauna up there. Luckily, yesterday was the only warm day that I have worked so far.

The other reason this weather has been so nice is the aesthetic value which raining adds to reading. I don't think I'm the only one who likes to cuddle up by the fire on a rainy day w/ a good romance novel, I mean Crime and Punishment. I seem to focus a lot better when it is raining, and you also don't have people interrupting your reading for tedious invitations to BBQ (I'm kidding, honestly.)

Aside from these two benefits of the added rain and cold weather, I just plain like it. There is something about things which are "depressing" which make me happy. I can't explain it in the least bit, but that's how it goes.

Hope you are enjoying the weather as well, wherever you are.