With Ridley Scott’s and Matt Damon’s The Martian showing in theaters right now, you might find this article (from over a month ago) of interest:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865638034/Mars-in-the-movies-Interesting-facts-about-the-Red-Planets-depictions-on-the-silver-screen.html?pg=all#RQ6154hTMbXOWKIH.01     Read more

    An interesting (though now little-known) story:   http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/11/03/weight-of-the-soul/#.Vjr5S0vgMdt   I have no particular investment in Dr. Duncan MacDougall’s attempted measurements.  If he was right, that would be fascinating.  If he was wrong, it doesn’t affect anything I believe, because I wouldn’t have expected him to be right.   But I have to admit that I’m not exactly bowled over by Ben Thomas’s complacent certainty that the soul has been eliminated by science, either.   Consciousness or subjectivity remains... Read more

    An interesting essay by Rod Dreher:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/november/coming-to-terms-with-post-christian-world.html?paging=off   Does it have anything to say to Latter-day Saints?     Read more

    Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views. William F. Buckley, Jr.     Read more

    I’ve defended Senator Harry Reid on this blog — more than once — against attacks on his faith, calls for his excommunication, and so forth.  I don’t believe that the Church should be divided by political differences; in fact, I regard such divisions as the work of the devil.  (And I’m deeply serious about that.)   However, the fact remains that I disagree very, very strongly with Brother Reid on a number of important political issues, and that... Read more

    An interesting story that many may not know:   http://www.aggielandmormons.org/2015/10/in-very-moment-harrowing-night-elder.html   Posted from Salt Lake City, Utah     Read more

    http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/11/03/ancient-fortress-discovery-may-solve-one-jerusalems-great-archaeological-mysteries.html   Thanks to Kevin Flanigan for making me aware of this item.     Read more

    Matthew 25:1-3 Compare Mark 13:33-37; Luke 12:35-38   Ambrose Bierce cynically defined a Christian as “One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor.”   Such an attitude, to the extent that it really exists, is a grievous, grievous error.   An important lesson to take away from this very famous parable, I think, is that it’s not talking about the Evil People Outside.   These ten were all virgins.  In... Read more

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/why-mormon-women-dont-wan_b_8453032.html   Well, what do you think?   A quibble, by the way:   The article observes that “women are called to leadership positions within the church, though only over other women and children.”   This is, by and large, true.   Of course, it’s also true that many and perhaps most leadership positions to which men are called — e.g., high priests group leader, elders quorum president, priests quorum advisor, Scoutmaster, Young Men president, and so forth... Read more

    Here’s a really fresh and stimulating — and concise and clear — view of how your body fits into the world of subatomic particles and the Big Bang (and of how they fit into your body):   http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-particle-physics-of-you   I’ll bet that you don’t think about yourself this way every day.   Fascinating, though.     Read more