Interesting Things

Throughout the course of starting our new company I’ve learned quite a bit about “tech” culture over the last few years.  As I continue to listen and to associate with folks from tech centers of our own nation and around the world I do not cease to be amazed at the way in which people communicate.

Rudeness is the singular hallmark and keystone of the majority of communication. It seems that no one can, with respect, kindness and soberness, share their feelings or thoughts anymore. Much of thought seems void of depth and meaning and often when it is meaningful, it is salted with vulgarity or rudeness that obliterate it’s real depth and appeal to the audience.

As leaders and members of the human family, we used to speak with more thought and paced ourselves versus throwing out vulgar rants and crudeness. Can we please try to get back to these roots and raise the bar a bit for society as a whole? I believe that if we can do this that we will all be able to work better together, appreciate deeper thinking and have a more productive society.

There’s a quote that I will paraphrase that has always lingered in my heart and that is that course language is the attempts of a feeble mind to express itself forcibly. How true this is and what a poor shortcut it has become in our society. We need to bring civility and charity back to our world or we have no hope of really progressing together. If we cannot progress together in unity, then, as a nation, we will certainly fully fail.

I really appreciated Peter Kim’s interesting blog entry from today titled “How to set an ego trap.” Peter, you hit on some important examples and your previous game mechanics post is quite insightful.

Of course these lead into seeming suppositions and hard truths on humanity. These certainly ring true for what I’ve observed and encapsulate very important points that indicate “natural” human behavior (and on a religious note: as opposed to unnatural or not ego stroking as it were). Very useful Peter, thanks!

It appears that we need to be more cautious and prudent in our consumption of antioxidant supplements. It would seem that perhaps consuming these antioxidants as a long-term health plan or consuming healthy foods rich in antioxidants throughout the course of your life is the best plan of action.

Here is the article in which this information was recently revealed.

It also certainly strengthens the Lord’s recommended law of health as set forth in the Word of Wisdom. I am ever increasingly more grateful for the revealed truth that our Father in Heaven offers to us as we seek to receive it. He gives us knowledge based upon readiness, willingness to work for it and sometimes simply when we ask the right questions (which is often a manifestation of readiness).

Key takeaways from the article:

It is plausible that cancer cells are at increased risk of damage from oxidative stress compared to your normal, healthy cells. In other words, taking antioxidants might ironically be protecting your cancer cells, allowing them to survive more than anything else.

It is likely that because cancer develops from long term damage to your cells, as in the case of skin and lung cancer, that trying to limit damage for a relatively short period of time by taking antioxidants like vitamin E or vitamin A probably has little or no effect. It is analogous to a car that is already rusted when you apply a protective sealant to it. The damage has already been done. Just as the sealant is protecting the already rusted car, the antioxidant is protecting the already cancerous cells.

Here are some recommendations that have stood the test of time and clinical study in preventing cancer:
• Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables every day (in contrast to supplements).
• Limit your intake of simple sugary carbohydrates such as white bread, chips, etc.
• Exercise every day and keep your weight down.
• Protect yourself from the sun with broad spectrum sunscreens and protective clothing.
• If you decide to take a daily supplement, the only vitamin that I recommend taking everyday is vitamin D. There is good evidence that vitamin D supplements can be protective against certain cancers. Taking 1,000 mg of vitamin D3 a day is the best way (much better than sun exposure) for elevating your vitamin D levels. More on this in a later post.

I really enjoyed some of the commentary found on this blog.

Indeed, questioning the Christianity of Latter-day Saints is like questioning the wetness of water.

I’ve always lived in an environment of doubt and relative rudeness towards my religion in southern Ohio.

(Side note: People are often very closed minded. It doesn’t matter whether folks are “conservative” or “liberal,” I like another like-minded friend, they are all too often closed minded individuals. People who often proclaim openness are the most closed individuals of all, interestingly enough. It goes both ways. This is a long post for another day…

(Side note cont’d: We, as Latter-day Saints, are some of the most conservative free thinkers on this planet. Most, who *really* understand religion and the true teachings of Jesus the Messiah or Christ (both meaning “Anointed One” in their respective languages) do see that we must be truly open to continual revelation from High. Indeed, the Savior was the epitome of liberal conservatism during his mortal life. The prophet Joseph Smith was also very much a living example of this during his life and experiences with Jesus and other resurrected and translated beings from the Old and New Testament.)

People of some other mainstream religions generally accuse that we are not Christians. The truth could not be farther from this. I very much like the statement by the First Presidency of the Church in 1907 in regards to whether “Mormons,” or Latter-day Saints, are Christians:

“Our religion is founded on the revelations of God. The gospel we proclaim is the Gospel of Christ, restored to earth in this the dispensation of the fullness of times. The high claim of the Church is declared in its title—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Established by divine direction, its name was prescribed by him whose Church it is—Jesus the Christ.”

“The religion of this people is pure Christianity. Its creed is expressive of the duties of practical life. Its theology is based on the doctrines of the Redeemer.”

“If it be true Christianity to accept Jesus Christ in person and his mission as divine; to revere him as the Son of God, the crucified and risen Lord, through whom alone mankind can attain salvation; to accept his teachings as a guide, to adopt as a standard and observe as a law the ethical code he promulgated; to comply with the requirements prescribed by him as essential to membership in his Church, namely, faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, if this be Christianity, then are we Christians, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian church.” (”Address to the World,” March 26, 1907, cited in Messages of First Presidency 4:142-155)

If people accuse the Church of being a “geriocracy,” or being run by old men, then what do people say about the leaders of our country?

You know, it’s funny how people level silly remarks at things they don’t understand or simply would like to twist or corrupt.

How we love and miss our dear prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. Funeral services were so very beautiful today and we are so thankful for his lifelong example of love and service. He is a man who may be followed by all people of any religious orientation as a true disciple and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and as a peaceable example of kind and serviceable living. May his life be studied and may we all be edified by his example and teachings.

When he passed this previous Sunday, one week ago, it was indeed a tragedy to have lost such an important part of our lives. My wife shed torrents of tears as this dear prophet moved beyond the veil of this mortality as he is the prophet of her baptism. He was the prophet and president of the Church when she and my daughter were baptized back in 1997.

It is a sad occasion, however there is great reason to rejoice for him as well. Now he is with his beloved wife Marjorie Hinckley and with all of the other family members as well as the great and noble spirits who have gone on before. I am certain that he is engaged in the great missionary efforts that are being pursued under the direction of our Savior Jesus Christ in the spirit world at this moment.

May we, who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, remember him and recall a basic admonition from him:

“The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Glenn Beck’s tribute to dear deceased prophet:

Some tributes that folks have put together:

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Please click here for a non-YouTube.com presentation which is a photo and spoken word tribute to the prophet.

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Too often educational institutions, people and parents generally (particularly in our nation) seem to really avoid teaching the process of thinking and learning in a critical and truly informative way.

I really like Richard Miller’s thoughts on his blog which can be found in “TEACHING THE UNTEACHABLE SKILLS.”

I’m so thankful for Joseph Smith, Jr., who, in the early and mid 1800’s asked some very difficult questions with an open mind and an open heart. He set some powerful precendents for my thoughts and the processes which govern my thought and questioning process today. It is incredibly critical to be able to approach questions, problems and world issues with an open mind which is ready to receive greater knowledge than that which currently exists in our world.

I am of the mind that not a fraction of the knowledge that has yet to be obtained has indeed been obtained. Sure, we are many orders of magnitude better off than we were 200+ years ago, however there is so much to learn.

I have too many times in previous years discussed spiritual matters and man’s ability to receive divine knowledge. Too many folks are under the impression that God, our loving heavenly father, does not wish to give us, His children, all things. When I say this, often they agree that He indeed does wish to give us all things in time, including eternal life, but when it comes to this mortality people are so often satisified with the answer that “we cannot know that while in mortality.” Whenever I hear this I shutter within myself. Sometimes I’ll respond, but most of the time it is inappropriate.

Here is my belief:

I believe that Heavenly Father is no respecter of persons and that he equally loves His children. When we have deep yearning desires for knowledge which are based in need or ability to use He most certainly will answer us. Perhaps not on our timetable, but He will answer us when we are ready. Sometimes that is through our own experiences through the bumbling linear format of time in which we bump through this earthly sphere.

I also, however, believe that He will imbue knowledge into us that is also simply a deep desire that we may have to receive. In other words, I feel that He can also give us knowledge and understanding of all things and even open up the visions of eternity to us as we are prepared and willing to receive it. And we are prepared to remain silent as appropriate.

So many inventions and joys of our “modern” world are manifestly and directly given from beyond the veil which separates us from that which is beyond our mortal glove or body which is designed to allow us to pass through mortal experience. There is so much more yet to receive.

Rather than considering religion some entirely different entity from science, I prefer to consider religion (when understood and followed properly) is a more pure form of science. As we experiment within the bounds that the Lord sets we obtain more through various means of understanding and levels of comprehension. I also like to consider Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to be ultimate scientists. They themselves exhort us to be like them and even unified with them. Not different. Not some guinea pigs in their experiments, but equals in their work and glory.

What a blessing it is to have this deep understanding and conviction. It makes my heart swell with greater love and peace when I consider these things and I hope to help others to ask more questions and seek more knowledge; particularly those in my immediate stewardship, which is to say, my family.

Just an FYI, this is one influencing factor to really pursue posts regarding the Church in my opinion. I already felt very strongly this way long before I read this, but I thought that this would be somewhat validating for folks who may question sharing personal thoughts, feelings and testimonies to the world by way of the Internet. Satan surely uses the Net for a lot of things, why cannot we utilize it for uplifting and educating as well?

A quote from Elder Ballard that I particularly like and that I’ve advocated for quite a while and which I’ve tried to share with strong conviction is:

“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches.”

We indeed are foreigners living in America it feels all too often. And we often do face a glass ceiling. Please find below the text of an article that very much caught my eye and indeed often makes me very sad that there is so much misunderstanding and misinformation among my friends and associates everywhere:

Better duck — if you’re a Mormon

By Doug Robinson – “Deseret Morning News”
Published: January 8, 2008

I missed the memo that said it’s A-OK to make disparaging and often erroneous statements about Mormons.

Apparently, they are fair game.

Sure, these are hypersensitive times, when name-calling or perceived bias against any group will get you the Don Imus treatment, but you get a free shot with Mormons. You can say what you want about them with impunity.

If you denigrate a racial group, you’re racist.

If you denigrate women, you’re sexist.

If you denigrate Mormons, you’re hip.

No one would openly suggest that you shouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because a woman can’t lead the country, especially an ornery one.

Nobody would dare say that you shouldn’t vote for Barack Hussein Obama because he’s black, or of Muslim descent, or because he has a name that sounds like a terrorist. One Clinton worker even apologized for alluding to Obama’s use of drugs as a youth, so apparently it’s wrong to disparage former drug users, too.
But nobody is shy about saying you shouldn’t vote for Romney simply because he’s a Mormon. It doesn’t even register on the PC-O-Meter.

Just like that, 6 million Americans have been virtually disqualified from running for president. They’ve been rendered second-class citizens. They’re foreigners living in America. They face a glass ceiling.
How un-American is that?

It would be one thing if most of those who oppose Romney did so because they disagreed with his politics or character. But Romney is one of the few candidates who has no character issues, a “squeaky clean” man who has a distinguished record of accomplishments, success and service, with no divorces, no affairs, no scandal. The only thing opponents can say about him is that he belongs to a church they don’t understand.

A Harvard law professor called Romney the most qualified of all the candidates and “the perfect candidate for this moment in time.” But there is his Mormonism, he noted.

Even the self-styled PC chief of police, Al Sharpton, once jumped in on the action, saying, “As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways.”

Mormons don’t believe in God?

For his penance, all Sharpton had to do was endure a family home evening in Utah.

It’s open season on Mormons. A few days ago, Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard stated on ESPN and in the newspaper that part of the reason fired coach Cam Cameron failed was because he got stuck with a Mormon quarterback — not a rookie quarterback (which he is) but a Mormon quarterback.

“And you’ll have a hard time finding a leader anywhere in sports who was as unlucky this year as Cameron,” Le Batard said, noting that because of injuries, Cameron was forced to play “a United Nations huddle of a Mormon quarterback, Mexican receiver, Samoan fullback and some guy named Lekekekkkkerkker.”

Now Mormons are foreigners?

Ignorance makes no difference. You can say Mormons have four wives or that they aren’t Christian, and no one cares.

Imagine the uproar if Le Batard had written that the Dolphins suffered because they had to play a black quarterback for part of the season? Or a Catholic?

The Salt Lake Tribune has had a field day for more than a week since learning that Mike Leavitt and some of his like-minded cohorts met early in the morning to discuss Mormon theology and governance while he was Utah’s governor. What if it had been a Bible study?

Nobody seems to mind when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his religion “defines me.” Or when Obama says his church guides “my own values and my own beliefs.”

People worry that Romney will take his orders from his church leaders. They don’t worry that Obama will take orders from his church, whose “10-point vision” includes two references to its “non-negotiable commitment to Africa,” with no mention of America. Oh, and the church statement begins by noting on the Trinity United Church of Christ Web site, “We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black.”

It’s a different set of rules for some out there. You can print newspaper cartoons disparaging Mormons. You can harass their families as they walk to their biannual conference with all sorts of foul language. When someone commits a crime, you can note the criminal’s religion, but only if he’s Mormon. You can make them a one-liner on Leno. Good luck reconciling all this with the paranoid political correctness that’s so in vogue.

Meanwhile, the most politically correct presidential election field ever assembled — a woman, a black, a Mormon, a Baptist, etc. — has gone politically incorrect, but only when it comes to you know who.

Doug Robinson’s column runs on Tuesdays. Please e-mail drob@desnews.com.

I’ve really thought, personally, what Huckabee is doing lately is extremely poor choice and it appears that Bill Donahue of the Catholic League concurs:

“Because there’s a pattern here,” he added. “Every other word out of [Huckabee's] mouth is that ‘I’m Christian.’ He’s calling into question Romney’s Mormonism…let people talk about there faith, but don’t sell it on your sleeve.”

We as Latter-day Saints are as much Christians as anyone else in this world and it makes me sick to hear folks saying otherwise. The name of the Church is not “Mormon,” but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! It is unfortunate that mister Huckabee lacks true understanding and resorts to attacks as such that denigrate his own values.