This is one of nature’s most astonishing spectacles.  And nature offers a lot of spectacles.   Here are two interesting pieces, with video:   “The Startling Science of a Starling Murmuration”   “The Incredible Science Behind Starling Murmurations”   Watch and be amazed.     Read more

    Gysler is a very familiar name from my missionary days in Switzerland, and Karim Assouad is a pillar of the Church in Lebanon and the Middle East.  Those are only two of the minor reasons that I like this story:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865646941/Restaurants-du-Coeur-LDS-Charities-is-assisting-work-in-Lebanon-to-preserve-dignity.html?pg=1   I suppose that this effort is simply another redundant example of how, in the words of the late Christopher Hitchens, “religion poisons everything.”     Read more

    An interesting link kindly brought to my attention by Nathaniel Hancock:   http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/opinions/progressive-clinton-sanders-debate-graham/index.html   My friend and colleague Ralph Hancock comments on it as follows:   “Interesting.  Weird, actually, and a sign of the underhandedness of the left:  ‘Liberal’ was a term stolen in order to mask the more radical ‘progressive’ (anti-individual freedom) intentions of the left during the New Deal.  And then liberalism discredited itself.  And so now they bring back ‘progressive’ to mask the ‘liberalism.’  I... Read more

    Today’s installment of the biweekly Deseret News column by Bill Hamblin and Dan Peterson is now up.   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865647040/Buddhism-and-violence.html   Although many in the West imagine Buddhism to be pacifistic, its history contradicts this — not because of the nature of Buddhism so much as because of the nature of human beings.     Read more

    I actually discussed an important aspect of today’s reading (2 Nephi 18 = Isaiah 8) yesterday, so I won’t revisit that topic in this post.  But the focus today is related to yesterday’s, and it concerns the international political situation of Isaiah’s time — probably in the period 735-731 BC.     The great empire of Assyrians was expanding, led by imperialist kings, and the rulers of Syria, Israel, and Judah were in a state of deep unease because they... Read more

    I was invited by its new editor to write this little item for the first issue of the Mormon Studies Review that appeared after I was purged from the Maxwell Institute.  It wasn’t available online for the first year or so, and I forgot about it.   I just remembered, though.  And it expresses something of my attitude toward Mormon studies and Mormon apologetics:   http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=2402&index=8     Read more

    “No one knows anything about Christ’s work simply by being born a member of the Church, and often he knows little about it after years of unmotivated exposure in meetings or classes. He must learn. And learning involves self-investment and effort. The Gospel should be studied ‘as carefully as any science.’ The ‘literature of the Church’ must be ‘acquired and read.’ Our learning should be increased in our spare time ‘day by day.’ Then as we put the... Read more

    It being Friday, there’s a new article up in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-yoke-of-christ-a-light-burden-heavy-with-meaning/     Read more

    http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2016-01-25/national-universities-where-students-are-eager-to-enroll     Read more

    A few of you, at least, might have missed this aspect of President Obama’s much-discussed visit to a mosque a couple of days ago:   http://www.sltrib.com/news/3495925-155/president-obama-denounces-anti-muslim-bias-mentions   As usual, by the way, the comments following this Tribune article don’t manage to rise to the level of “utterly worthless.”     Read more