More evidence, not only that smoking is bad for you but why it’s bad for you:   https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cancer-mutation-patterns-differ-smokers-nonsmokers     Read more

    Tad R. Callister, emeritus member of the Seventy and currently general president of the Sunday School, delivered a very good address at BYU on Tuesday.  It’s not quite 33 minutes long.  I commend it to you.  If need be, you can even watch it in smaller increments, as I did:       Read more

    http://nypost.com/2016/11/03/are-mormons-the-happiest-people-in-america/   The answer isn’t quite an unambiguous Yes.   But the article is quite positive.   I would like to know more about the statistics regarding anti-depressant use.  They’re cited quite often, very commonly for polemical purposes, but I have questions.  Perhaps my questions have already been dealt with somewhere, but maybe not.   Are the anti-depressants in use prescription medicines or over-the-counter remedies?   If they’re over-the-counter, would Utah’s consumption of them be higher than the... Read more

    “There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.” Thomas V. (“Tom”) Morris     Read more

    But, for once, there’s positive news here, too:   http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/middleeast/mosul-isis-evacuees-iraq/index.html   By the way, Mosul (الموصل) isn’t pronounced mo-SOOL or mo-ZOOL or MO-zul.  Better would be al-Mōṣul or just MO-sul.     Read more

    Okay.  Now, this could be weirdly significant:   http://www.realclearscience.com/quick_and_clear_science/2016/10/24/researchers_find_hints_of_learning_in_a_ball_of_dough_109789.html   And it may also mean that we need to retire the insulting use of the term dough-head.  Some stupid people may be unworthy of that description.     Read more

    It’s Friday!  So Interpreter has an article for you:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/arise-from-the-dust-insights-from-dust-related-themes-in-the-book-of-mormon-part-1-tracks-from-the-book-of-moses/     Read more

    Wow.   https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/03/top-trump-adviser-roger-stone-hates-mormons/214272   Even Wikipedia’s article about Mr. Stone is revealing.   And, in possibly related news:   “White nationalists plot Election Day show of force”     Read more

    Suggesting that I’m shallow, foolish, unthinking, self-righteous, irrational, not a real conservative, a closet Hillary-supporter, an idiot, indifferent to the fate of my country, a silly fan of Mork and Mindy, an enemy of the Constitution, a backer of socialized medicine, an advocate of a leftist Supreme Court, and so forth, and telling me that you’re “shaking your head” in weary disbelief at my country-destroying failure to support your guy isn’t a particularly effective strategy for persuading me... Read more

    John Gee, currently enjoying a research year at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, offers more complete and accurate information regarding his soon-to-be-released book on the Book of Abraham:   http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2016/11/about-book.html   I’m very happy that there are other things to discuss besides the current presidential election.     Read more