An interesting little bit of astronautic history with which I was completely unfamiliar:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421880/Leon-silver-astronauts-teacher   And Josh Gelernter is right:  Something extraterrestrial should definitely be named after Lee Silver.   I’m going to write to my congressman, Jason Chafetz, right now.   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia Read more

    Luke 16:10-12   “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.  If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”   I would argue that this passage gets... Read more

    One fairly prominent writer (for, among other outlets, the very respectable Atlantic Monthly) says “Yes!”   Unfortunately for his noble vision, though, it will require more jackbooted thugs and more force to bring it to fulfillment than are currently at his disposal.   And, contrary to the fond hopes of some vocal atheists, faithful religious believers aren’t actually going away.  In fact, they still survive in large numbers.   The battle lines are simply becoming clearer:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421860/america-religion-atheism-demographics-polarization... Read more

    “None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”  (Paulo Coelho, Brida)   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    Mountains have been formed by one [or other] of the causes of the formation of stone, most probably from agglutinative clay which slowly dried and petrified during ages of which we have no record. It seems likely that this habitable world was in former days uninhabitable and, indeed, submerged beneath the ocean. Then, becoming exposed little by little, it petrified in the course of ages.   (Ibn Sina or Avicenna, Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidium [ca. AD 1021-23], translated by E.... Read more

    Allan Sandage (1926-2010) was one of the most influential astronomers of the twentieth century.  A graduate of the California Institute of Technology and the leading protégé of Edwin Hubble, he discovered the first quasar and was the first to determine reasonably accurate values for the “Hubble constant” and for the age of the Universe.   Later in his life, he became a fairly outspoken Christian.   This is what Sandage said.  This is what Allan Sandage said:  ... Read more

    If you’ve never heard or read Camille Paglia, you might consider giving her a try.  She’s not for all tastes nor necessarily for all seasons, but she can be a very bracing and quite unpredictable voice:   http://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/camille_paglia_takes_on_jon_stewart_trump_sanders_liberals_think_of_themselves_as_very_open_minded_but_that’s_simply_not_true/   Thanks to Renee Contreras De Loach for bringing this to my attention.   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

Ralph Hancock brings this piece by Cassandra Hedelius to my attention: http://ldsmag.com/why-the-bsa-decision-is-truly-cause-for-concern/ Hold on tight.  The water’s going to get rough. Posted from Victoria, British Columbia Read more

    I’m tardy in putting this up, but, it’s Friday again, so Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture has posted a new article today:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-doctrine-of-resurrection-in-the-book-of-mormon/   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia   Read more

    I’ve neglected my “Mormon Scholars Testify” project for quite a while.  I’m the one who recruits and edits all entries, and I just haven’t had time lately.   But a new entry did go up the other day:   http://mormonscholarstestify.org/3295/edward-l-kimball   You may recognize Edward L. Kimball as, among many other things, the author of excellent biographies of his father.   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more