I’m simultaneously delighted and dismayed to report that Jeff Bradshaw, the Interpreter Foundation’s to-this-point indispensable vice president, has been called with his wife to serve the Lord, commencing this summer, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Mission.   Jeff intends to continue his involvement with Interpreter, but, very plainly, it will be at a reduced level of intensity for the next while.   Those of us who have been content to depend upon his remarkable (and... Read more

    By handing Donald Trump a huge victory and otherwise muddling the Republican presidential waters, New Hampshire has put The Donald back into a dominant position for the party’s nomination.   Governor John Kasich has practically lived in New Hampshire for the past weeks and months.  He took a distant second in New Hampshire and he would probably be a decent president, but it’s doubtful that he has the organization, the funding, or the personal appeal to do especially... Read more

    Hundreds of hidden galaxies now finally found.  And each of them unimaginably vast:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-10/the-great-attractor-milky-way-zone-of-avoidance-survey/7152216   (Thanks to David Wills for alerting me to this item.)   O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the... Read more

    A short but interesting item from one of Mormonism’s most prominent faithful intellectuals:   http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2016/02/terryl-givens-on-what-it-means-to-sustain/     Read more

    Today’s reading, 2 Nephi 22 (= Isaiah 12), is very short and, I think, quite straightforward.   Have a look at verse two.  Now look at Psalm 27:1.   Taken together, do they remind you of anything?     Read more

    “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair . . . the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”  Dorothy L. Sayers       Read more

    I take this really seriously:   http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/politics/james-clapper-isis-syrian-refugees/index.html   I want our politicians and presidential aspirants to take it seriously, too.   As I’ve said previously, one of my reservations about Ted Cruz (with whom I otherwise generally agree) concerns his views on domestic intelligence-gathering.  It was a major reservation of mine with regard to Rand Paul, as well.   That said, I understand the concerns of Sens. Cruz and Paul, and am sympathetic to them.  These are difficult... Read more

    A very interesting article about the ongoing debate concerning animal emotions:   http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/2/8/10925098/animals-have-empathy     Read more

    Another piece from Taylor Halverson in the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865647065/Finding-the-first-use-of-the-name-Christ-in-the-Book-of-Mormon.html     Read more

    If thou dost wish to laugh exceeding much, Google “Puritan Valentine’s cards” and look thou through the images that do there appear.   For copyright reasons, I can’t put any of the specific cards up here, but you can find them easily enough.     Read more