The local whale-watching people are very concerned. Apparently there are still reports on the internet that the August 2023 fire that destroyed most of Lahaina has put an end to whale watching here, in one of the best places in the entire world for observing whales. But it’s not true. And they’ve asked us to get the word out. False reports are hurting them, economically. So here I am, trying to get the word out. We spent a substantial... Read more
Lacking the benefits of today’s powerful microscopes, Charles Darwin evidently thought of biological cells as simple — bounded but otherwise internally undifferentiated — blobs of organic matter. Even when I was first learning about them, typical illustrations of the cell suggested (to my mind, at least) something resembling, say, an egg with a yolk. Plain white matter, with something different inside. Quite simple, really. Today, we know plant and animal cells to be almost incredibly complex, in both form... Read more
I published the article below in the Deseret News for 18 February 2016. I think it appropriate to share the column again today. It should be noted that, since it appeared, the construction of a temple has been announced for Maui. George Q. Cannon would be delighted. In fact, I’m confident that he is delighted: In September 1850, Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called 10... Read more
I first came to Hawaii when I was five years old. Because of his construction business, my father belonged to an organization that was known in those days as the Southern California Paving and Grading Association. I think that he once served as its president, and I think that it was the group that once sponsored a seminar on construction-site safety in Honolulu. The headliner on that junket was Dr. George M. Uhl, the chief health officer for Los... Read more
Along with her sister, my wife and I drove the famous “Road to Hana” along the northeastern coast of Maui on Friday, taking time to walk out to waterfalls and sample local cuisine and gaze at spectacular vistas. The road is very winding and slow, the landscape and its flora are wild, and I was many rugged and mountainous miles away from my computer. So I’m very late in calling attention to the new review article that appeared in... Read more
Here’s my latest column for Meridian Magazine. I used it to report on a book that I recently read and that I really liked. Perhaps somebody out there will enjoy the column, or profit from it, or at least find it uproariously funny: “Did Jesus Really Claim to Be Divine?” Newly posted on the never-changing and pretty-much-moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation: Joseph Smith and Our Preparation for the Lord’s Final Judgment: Essays by George L. Mitton: “Joseph Smith... Read more
Two propositions: Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine did not start the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is neither an admirable man nor a good one, and he is not our friend. Both propositions are eminently defensible, though neither of them should really require any defense. With my late and much lamented colleague and friend William J. Hamblin, I published the column below in the Deseret News on 22 February 2014 — which is now almost exactly eleven... Read more
From the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 9: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”: D&C 18 During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were recently digitized by Steve Whitlock. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The original recordings usually don’t stop or start at the beginning of the class and there... Read more
I continue my incessant whining about the hit Netflix miniseries American Primeval by calling attention to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune that you may be able to access. It was published on Sunday, and it’s titled “Commentary: To learn the real lessons of history in ‘American Primeval,’ we need the real story: Reducing peoples from the past to simple caricatures won’t help us answer the hard questions.” The article was written by Janiece L. Johnson, who is also... Read more
It’s a cold and dreary day today in central Utah, but, for some reason, I’ve been thinking about what many religious believers take to be God’s self-disclosure in the beauties of nature. So, of course, two favorite poems from Gerald Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) come to mind. The first is “God’s Grandeur”: The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil... Read more
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