Ever wondered why we have to sleep?  Here’s one interesting suggested reason:   https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/science/sleep-memory-brain-forgetting.html?_r=0     Read more

    If you imagine that such things happened only anciently, you’re sadly mistaken.   Yet modern persecution of Christians for their faith receives almost no news coverage.  Its victims are forgotten.   This is wrong.   “Who will protect Nigeria’s northern Christians?”   “Christian persecution seen in more locations across the globe, new report shows”   “Trump’s toughest problem (and our biggest threat): The incredible rise in Christian persecution”   We should not avert our eyes from this.     Read more

    “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain.  And most fools do.” – Benjamin Franklin     Read more

    A good comment from Steve Smoot, whose life I’ve ruined:   http://www.plonialmonimormon.com/2017/02/on-hugh-nibley-and-his-footnotes.html     Read more

    “Recently I have gone back to church regularly with a new focus to understand as best I can what it is that makes Christianity so vital and powerful in the lives of billions of people today, even though almost 2000 years have passed since the death and resurrection of Christ. Although I suspect I will never fully understand, I now think the answer is very simple: it’s true. God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago,... Read more

    The Deseret News has published the latest in my ongoing series of vicious, mean-spirited, and dishonest attack articles:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672362/Is-religious-faith-a-mental-illness.html     Read more

    An interesting personal account from a woman who, while a young girl, fled Iran with her family as a refugee after the rise of the Islamic Republic there:   http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/i_was_a_refugee_from_a_terrorist_country_america_trusted_me_anyway.html   Some of you might be interested in the rest of the story, which can be found here.     Read more

    “There is a species of person called a ‘Modern Churchman’ who draws the full salary of a beneficed clergyman and need not commit himself to any religious belief.” Evelyn Waugh       Read more

    There are, as yet, no good vacation opportunities on Sedna, and no ski resorts have been developed.  Still, it’s an interesting place:   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2017/02/01/the_mystery_of_sedna_the_solar_systems_icy_oddball_world.html     Read more

    http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Leaders-in-Canada-Release-Statement-After-Shootings-at-Quebec-Mosque/s/84398?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email   And, in this context, there’s something else worth mentioning:   “Suspect in Quebec Mosque Attack Quickly Depicted as a Moroccan Muslim. He’s a White Nationalist.”   Just for the record.   At least one respondent to my blog was suggesting, a few days back, that the Quebec shooting was another case of Islamist violence.  But it wasn’t.     Read more