Women of the world unite!  You have nothing to lose but your chains!   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/422466/women-makeup-sexist-makeup-tax   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    One writer for Newsweek appears to think so:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/422399/so-now-powmia-flag-under-fire-symbol-racist-hate-david-french   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    My wife and I love Turkey, and Cappadocia, which is in central Turkey (and which is pronounced Kappa-DOH-kee-a, with a hard “k” sound), is one of the most unusual and interesting places we’ve ever been.   But that’s not the reason I’m posting this:   http://www.mormonwomenstand.com/standing-for-christ-lessons-learned-from-the-underground-christians/   We’re certainly not to the point that the Cappadocian Christians were, but religious belief and religious liberty are under attack, and we should be aware of that and prepared to respond.... Read more

    Luke 18:9-14 Compare Matthew 23:12; 18:4; Luke 14:11   There is a fine but very important line between the peace that the Gospel can bring, on the one hand, and, on the other, smug, complacent self-satisfaction.   Few spiritual offenses are worse than self-righteous and judgmental pride.   We should be continually on guard against it.  It’s very easy to fall into.   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    An interesting article from the Economist about the possibility, previously mentioned here, that the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, still famous for her remarkable beauty, wife of the famous reforming pharaoh Akhenaten and stepmother of the even more famous Tutankhamen, may have been found:   http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21660503-tantalising-clue-location-long-sought-pharaonic-tomb-what-lies-beneath   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

      I try to make sure that my wife sees Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew every few years, at a minimum.  One can never get too much of it.   Back on 3 July, we also saw Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, an updated adaptation of Shrew, in San Diego’s Globe Theater.   The Taming of the Shrew isn’t only inspirational, and excellent training for uppity women.   It’s also uproariously funny.   Some, though, aren’t amused.   But... Read more

    I can’t say that I’m really thrilled by the overuse of like and by the habit of ending every declarative sentence with an up-tone, as if it were a question?   But then, I’m really, really old, and I’m very unfashionably male, so my opinion is probably unworthy of mention.   In any event, I found this quite interesting:   http://qz.com/474671/move-over-shakespeare-teen-girls-are-the-real-language-disruptors/   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    No, Interpreter didn’t miss a week of publication.  And we haven’t in well over three years.  Which means “never.”   I’m just late posting an announcement:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/learning-nephis-language-creating-a-context-for-1-nephi-12/   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth; Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,” And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere. Eliza R. Snow   One of the principal themes of the thirteenth-century Anatolian Sufi mystical poet Jalal al-Din Rumi is attaining union with God.  He seems, however, to be talking about re-union.   It’s... Read more

    Our afternoon play was the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.   For some reason, notwithstanding even it several very famous songs, it’s never really been a favorite of mine.  I like it, but not that much.   It’s historically significant, though, for its direct, quite intentional, and maybe even somewhat heroic confrontation with racial prejudice.  Back in the late 1940s, these were the most controversial lyrics in the play:   You’ve got to be taught To... Read more