https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-probe-snaps-stunning-new-images-of-dwarf-planet-ceres/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Watch this:   https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic/videos/10154823525748487/?pnref=story   And see it it doesn’t recall another speech, one from several years ago:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVWD_RU4yQo&bpctr=1479865362   Die Partei ist Hitler! Hitler aber ist Deutschland, wie Deutschland Hitler ist! Hitler!  Sieg Heil!  Sieg Heil!  Sieg Heil!   The Party is Hitler! But Hitler is Germany, as Germany is Hitler! Hitler!  Hail Victory!  Hail Victory!  Hail Victory!   Whatever your views of President-Elect Donald J. Trump, these people ought to be encouraged to go back under... Read more

    It always jolts me a bit to be driving here in Richmond and to realize that I’m on the Jefferson Davis Highway, named after the first and last president of the Confederate States of America (who had previously served as a congressman and a senator from Mississippi and as United States Secretary of War).  He’s buried here, in Hollywood Cemetery.   His views on the American Civil War are a little bit different than our usual perspective today:... Read more

    http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/top-ancient-sites-stargazing/   And don’t overlook southern Utah’s own Parowan Gap:   http://www.parowangap.org   http://www.vgarthnorman.com/2008/07/article-1-about-parawan-gap/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Someone shared this little pie chart with me the other day.   Now, there’s no question that some people have lost their faith because of learning things about the history of Mormonism that they didn’t know how to reconcile with belief.  Sometimes true things.  Sometimes incorrect things.   It’s a cute little chart.  But anyone who takes it seriously must, necessarily, be either uninformed or in need of remedial logic.  Here’s why:   First of all, it’s factually... Read more

    My friend and colleague (and former department chair and college dean) Van Gessel was the translator into English of many of the works of the late Japanese Christian novelist Shūsaku Endō (1923-1996), and he has served as a consultant on the new Martin Scorsese film of Endō’s novel Silence.   Silence is one of the most powerful novels my wife and I have ever read, and the stage version that we saw some years ago at BYU was also gripping.  I’m looking... Read more

    An interesting take on our recent presidential election.  (You did notice, didn’t you, that we just had an election?)   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442286/donald-trump-liberals-anti-christian-bigotry-swung-election?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Trending%20Email%20Reoccurring-%20Monday%20to%20Thursday%202016-11-17&utm_term=NR5PM%20Actives   Posted from Atlanta, Georgia     Read more

    People in the West — in what was once called “the Christian world” or “Christendom” — should be paying closer attention to this situation than we seem to be:   http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/20/middleeast/iraq-christianity-peril/index.html   Posted from Atlanta, Georgia     Read more

    I recall a survey of historians (two or three decades back, I think) that ranked Johann Gutenberg as the most influential man in history because of his invention of printing with movable type.  It made books relatively cheap and the dissemination of ideas much easier.  It gave plausibility to William Tyndall’s famous vow:  “I defie the Pope and all his lawes. If God spare my life, ere many yeares I wyl cause a boy that driveth the plough to know... Read more

    I threatened, the other day, to mention at least a couple of charities that my wife and I have found of interest.  And I’m following through on that threat.  Here’s a second one:   https://ourrescue.org   It’s not a Latter-day Saint operation, but there’s a strong Latter-day Saint connection to it:  Read the bios of the “Team” here.   If Operation Underground Railroad isn’t a worthwhile cause, I can’t imagine what would be.   Of course, I don’t want... Read more