![\"Wellington](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2024\/02\/Aerial_of_Wellington_CBD-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Two more items have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. \u00a0They are:<\/p>\n
Conference Talks: Clothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration<\/em><\/a>, from the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference<\/p>\n Matthew Roper<\/a> spoke on \u201cClothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration\u201d at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.<\/p>\n The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. The videos are currently available both at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/conferences\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-videos\/<\/a>and on the Interpreter Foundation YouTube channel at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/theinterpreterfoundation<\/a>. A YouTube playlist is also available at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLRMn4gyXMWLsWt34zVNC5FmTqBtFfcnxl<\/a>. The audio recordings are available at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/conferences\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-audio\/<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hugh Nibley Observed<\/em>: Appreciation<\/a>, written by Stephen T. Whitlock<\/a><\/p>\n Stephen Whitlock says about Hugh Nibley Observed<\/em> \u201cI am grateful for all those who have contributed their thoughts, memories, and other reminiscences about Hugh Nibley to this volume. Although he would never ask for it, I hope it provides a suitable memorial honoring his life and work. And I hope it encourages people to read his body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Hugh Nibley Observed<\/em>, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock. For more information, go to https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/hugh-nibley-observed\/<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We entered Wellington Harbour this morning and docked at Wellington itself, where we embarked on a tour of New Zealand\u2019s capital city and its environs. \u00a0This included visiting a number of sites related to Sir Peter Jackson\u2019s films of J. R. R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d trilogy (e.g., the locations for Helm\u2019s Deep, the garden of Isengard, Rivendell, and the \u201chobbit hideout\u201d where the halflings from the Shire narrowly escaped being caught by one of the Nazg\u00fbl<\/em>). \u00a0Sir Peter grew up in greater Wellington.<\/p>\n We also paid a too-brief visit to W\u0113t\u0101 FX<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in the Miramar area of Wellington, where digital visual effects and animation are produced for filmmaking.<\/p>\n We concluded by visiting\u00a0The Museum of New Zealand \/ Te Papa Tongarewa, which is generally known simply as Te Papa<\/a>. \u00a0It is a magnificent museum, beautifully laid out. \u00a0We didn\u2019t have time to do it justice, not even remotely. \u00a0So we concentrated on a marvelous temporary exhibit (so popular that it has remained for \u2014 I heard someone say \u2014 ten years) devoted to the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of World War One that occupied most of 1915 and claimed the lives of approximately 130,000 men. \u00a0I was very moved by what I saw in the exhibit and by what I learned from it. \u00a0At least 87,000 Ottoman Turkish soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers died, including more than 8700 Australians and nearly 2800 New Zealanders, about a sixth of all of the New Zealand soldiers who had landed on the peninsula.<\/p>\n The Gallipoli campaign also ended the political career of Britain\u2019s First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Winston Churchill, who had pushed for it to happen. \u00a0Or, anyway, it seemed<\/em> to have ended Churchill\u2019s career. \u00a0For a while.<\/p>\n On the other hand, an officer named Mustafa Kemal was given the task of organizing and commanding the 19th Division, attached to the Ottoman Fifth Army during the Battle of Gallipoli. \u00a0But he became the overall front-line commander after he had correctly anticipated where the Allies would attack and then maintained his position until they retreated. \u00a0Later, as Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk (\u201cFather of the Turks\u201d), he founded the Turkish Republic and, indeed, modern T\u00fcrkiye altogether.<\/p>\n After taking a fair amount of time in the Gallipoli exhibit, we went up to the floor devoted to Maori culture. \u00a0We had little time left, but the canoes and the carved houses were beautiful.<\/p>\n During our drive in the area near the location that had been used for Rivendell in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d which is situated in a beautiful regional park, we were told about longfin eels.<\/p>\n It seems that they live for a very long time and that they \u00a0have a remarkable life cycle. \u00a0They live in the rivers, lakes, and wetlands of New Zealand for most of their lives. And then, after a period of between twenty-five and eighty years, they travel more than 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) across the South Pacific to the waters around Tonga in order to breed. \u00a0(Don\u2019t you find that astonishing? \u00a0I do. \u00a0Why do they travel to Tonga? \u00a0How do they know the way? \u00a0Saying that it\u2019s \u201cinstinct\u201d doesn\u2019t really answer the question.) \u00a0 After laying their eggs, they die. \u00a0But then the tiny fertilized eggs that they have deposited float on ocean currents for about fifteen months until they reach New Zealand, their ancestral home. Thereupon, the newborn eels journey inland, swimming up rivers, over waterfalls, and even crawling over dams! They grow to adulthood and repeat the cycle.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t find that impressive, I\u2019m not sure what would<\/em> impress you.<\/p>\n A new temple has been announced for Wellington or, more accurately, for the nearby town of Porirua. \u00a0I\u2019m pleased for the people in the area. \u00a0When I was here many years ago, they expressed a deep desire to have a temple nearer to them. \u00a0And they are about to get their wish. \u00a0Great news.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first traditional Hindu temple in the Middle East promotes a message of interfaith tolerance:\u00a0The mandir, or temple, will create a spiritual home for the more than 3.5 million Indian expatriates who make up 30% of the UAE\u2019s population.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I close with a selection of unnerving abominations from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n \u201cLatter-day Saints around the World: February 12, 2024:\u00a0Church provides aid to Japan following devastating earthquake, orphanage center in Burundi receives mattresses and food, and donations gathered for those in need in Australia\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n