Monthly Archives: February 2010

Everybody’s Fine . . . Except

Posted on 28-February-2010 by

Two nights ago I watched the movie Everybody’s Fine, starring Robert De Niro as father and several other fine actors as his offspring.  In the movie Frank Goode, a widower played by De Niro, travels around the country visiting his … Continue reading →

Posted in mormonism, Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hogan’s Heroes

Posted on 24-February-2010 by

Traveling around southern Utah and northern Arizona, particularly in isolated areas, I’ve observed a wide variety of hogans (or hooghans), the primary traditional structure of the Navajo people.  When enjoying the Colorado Plateau, the older hogans seem very much a part of the natural landscape.  … Continue reading →

Posted in "Green" Homes, Navajoland | Leave a comment

God Bless the Child

Posted on 19-February-2010 by

I occasionally witness or hear of primary and junior-sunday-school lesson horror stories.  Where very young Mormon children are subjected, to what I consider to be, very outrageous discussions of inappropriate topics.  Two notables examples: A lengthy and bleak discussion of … Continue reading →

Posted in mormonism, Religion | 2 Comments

No Luxury to Quit

Posted on 17-February-2010 by

In his book Working in the Shadows, Gabriel Thompson describes and analyzes the year he spent working undercover alongside Guatemalans, Mexicans, and others at a variety of extremely low paying jobs.  He quickly determined that the jobs, some of which were very dangerous, failed … Continue reading →

Posted in humanism, Social Justice | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Paeans to the Working Poor

Posted on 15-February-2010 by

French artist Jean Francois Millet painted haunting, and sometimes bleak, scenes of ordinary rural life in the 19th century.  His painting The Sowers became the symbol of European liberalism and socialism.  Millet’s work, while popular in his own century and later with French Impressionists, gradually fell out of favor.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Personalities, Travel | 7 Comments

Good Time Charlie

Posted on 11-February-2010 by

Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, the principal supporter of US involvement with anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan, died on Wednesday of this week (10 Feb 2010).  He was very much the endearing rascal that American voters seem to adore.  His exploits in southcentral Asia were recently … Continue reading →

Posted in Personalities | Tagged | 1 Comment

God as Micromanager

Posted on 11-February-2010 by

The following was written in a review by Mary Pols of the book Devotion by Dani Shapiro: “Devotion does not provide a template for finding your personal Jesus (or whoever).  It’s a history of Shapiro’s quest to explore her own … Continue reading →

Posted in mormonism, Religion, transhumanism | 5 Comments

Sharon McKenna – Receive All as Christ

Posted on 06-February-2010 by

I found the following short bio in the book “Strength is What Remains” by Tracy Kidder.  The book is about a Burundian refugee’s horrific experiences in his homeland and in New York.  While the story of the refugee Deo is very … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, catholicism, Personalities, Religion | 1 Comment

Camus: Catcher of the Sun

Posted on 05-February-2010 by

While I was on my Mormon mission in the Franco-Belgian area in the 1960s, I found somebody’s list of the 100 most important novels of western civilization.  On the list were two novels by the french writer Albert Camus:  The Stranger (or … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, Books, Personalities | 3 Comments

In Memoria – Alan Turing

Posted on 03-February-2010 by

“The legacy of (Alan) Turing the mathematician rises above any possible sensationalism.  His contributions were supremely elegant and foundational.  He gifted us with wild leaps of invention, including much mathematical underpinnings of digital computation.  The highest award in computer science, … Continue reading →

Posted in Personalities, Technology, transhumanism | 3 Comments