Moonlight floods the whole night sky, from horizon to horizon;How much it can fill your room depends on your windows. Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273)     Read more

    “Religion,” the late Christopher Hitchens loved to assert, “poisons everything.”   It was a silly statement.   And now along comes still more (redundant) evidence that Mr. Hitchens was spectacularly wrong:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/fear-of-god-helped-societies-expand-study-finds/7155696   Posted from Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii     Read more

    Interpreter didn’t miss a day yesterday.  That will almost certainly happen, eventually, but it hasn’t happened yet and it’s not likely to happen for at least a while to come.   It’s just that I spent much of yesterday on airplanes, and much of the rest of it in cars, and . . . well, I fell behind.   (Some of my critics will be disappointed, by the way, to know that, while I teach a full load... Read more

      The passing of Justice Antonin Scalia is very bad news for America and horrible news, I think, for conservatism and the cause of limited government — which, in the age of Clinton Inc., Comrade Bernie, and Trumpism, scarcely need more bad news.   It’s extremely unlikely that President Obama will hold off, or be blocked, from nominating yet another left-leaning justice during the nearly twelve months that remain in his unfortunate presidency.  And this newly-minted Obama nominee will replace one... Read more

    I was already aware of W. Paul Reeve’s very interesting book Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, but I’m grateful to Kevin Taylor for alerting me to this specific article:   http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/02/12/3748945/when-mormons-werent-white/   Posted from Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii     Read more

    An interesting piece on slang, underground dialects, argots, jargon — whatever term you prefer; how about, say, “Diet Dr. Pepper”? — brought to my attention by Nathaniel Hancock:   http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160211-the-secret-anti-languages-youre-not-supposed-to-know   Be warned:  There is some slight raunchiness here, as you might expect.  But it’s very, very slight.   Posted from Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii     Read more

    Here’s one perspective:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/do-mormons-believe-in-hell_b_9140202.html   How would you answer the question?   Posted from Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii     Read more

    In today’s reading, 2 Nephi 25, the prophet Nephi returns to speaking in his own voice — and it’s a voice very distinct from Isaiah’s.   Four brief observations:   1.   In verses 1-7, Nephi explicitly contrasts his own approach with that of Isaiah, indicating that there was an Old World Jewish method of understanding prophecy — a typological approach, perhaps, or a particular style of poetic analysis? — that he had intentionally decided not to pass on... Read more

    “When you seek truth, you seek God whether you know it or not.” Edith Stein Posted from Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii     Read more

    This is a nice bit of overdue but well deserved recognition:   https://news.byu.edu/news/byu’s-first-physics-grad-earns-posthumous-grammy-award   Posted from Salt Lake City, Utah     Read more