Last night, my wife and I watched an anime film version of Swan Lake with a very young third-generation unit. (The name and gender of the third-generation unit have been redacted so as to obscure a potential target, at least partially, from attacks by some of my anonymous detractors.) I’m not a real fan of anime, and the pacing and the dubbed voice-acting in this film were, I thought, unusually poor. But the story is a good one... Read more
The Interpreter Foundation held its annual birthday party last night, for the invited volunteers, authors, and donors who were able to attend. My best estimate is that about 105 people were in attendance. This is our very modest yearly thank-you, to the extent that we can thank those who make Interpreter work. We began with a dinner centered on beef brisket and pulled pork that had been generously donated and expertly smoked by Bruce Webster, one of our long-time... Read more
Here’s another Deseret News report from the 2025 FAIR Conference: “‘This is a woman’s church’: Panel discusses lived experience of Latter-day Saint women: FAIR conference discussion explores how service, ministry and worship lift women” At the conclusion of my blog entry from yesterday, I passed on an invitation from Dr. Paul Smith to the pseudonymous occasional Peterson Obsession Board commenter “Physics Guy.” Dr. Smith indicated his openness to an exchange of emails on the topic of remote viewing and extrasensory... Read more
New in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Review of Edward K. Watson, Verifiable Evidence for the Book of Mormon: Proof of a Deliberate Design Within a Dictated-from-Imagination Book (Springville, UT: Brainy Press, 2022). 252 pp.; $32.95 (hardcover). Abstract: Edward K. Watson provides a new twist in the textual evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Drawing upon his expertise in working with argumentative and persuasive essays (collectively known as “structured essays”) and applying... Read more
The Interpreter Foundation’s Thursday chapter reprint has appeared: Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “All Kindreds Shall Be Blessed: Nephite, Jewish, and Christian Interpretations of the Abrahamic Covenant,” written by Noel B. Reynolds: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, edited by Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin. For more information, go... Read more
I spoke this morning to a gathering of Seminary and Institute teachers in Logan, Utah, adjacent to the campus of Utah State University. My basic subject — it was a somewhat informal presentation — was the Qur’an’s view of the patriarch Abraham, who is the common father of all of the “Abrahamic faiths” (or of what Arabic-speaking Muslims often refer to as al-adyan al-samawiyya, “the heavenly religions,” which are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). But I also prefaced my presentation... Read more
I recently read an interesting book by Paul H. Smith, entitled The Essential Guide to Remote Viewing:The Secret Military Remote Perception Skill Anyone Can Learn (Intentional Press, 2015). It’s a basic tutorial on, well, remote viewing — which is the alleged ability to perceive information about a distant or unseen target without relying on conventional sensory input but using only the mind. Thus, if it really exists, it’s literally a kind of extrasensory perception. The study of remote viewing... Read more
One of the book-discussion groups to which my wife and I belong is the venerable Gadianton Polysophical Marching and Chowder Society — that’s the authentic official name, although it’s rarely used — which has been meeting monthly since its founding by a group of junior faculty and graduate students adjacent to the University of California at Santa Barbara decades ago. We met last night, in fact. The focus of our discussion was Paul Reeve, Christopher B. Rich Jr., and... Read more
I have worried a great deal about the destruction of Gaza and the great loss of life — of men, women, and children, of both the horrifically guilty and the completely innocent — that is occurring there. But I have also been disturbed to watch some people ignore or excuse (or even, in some cases, endorse) the appalling brutality of the surprise 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that precipitated the current disaster. I have no love for... Read more
I recall my father expressing mild regret on one or two occasions for having failed to accept an invitation to attend officer candidate school in the Army. He hadn’t intended a military career, and he didn’t want to commit to officer training because he didn’t plan to be in the service for very long. He spent time in the horse cavalry — such a thing still existed in those days — and he was stationed near the border of... Read more
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