Tales from the Island

Anziano Jolley

2010-02-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

Since I will be leaving on a LDS mission in 1 month from TODAY, I have set up a separate blog for y'all to receive updates about my adventures. The url is http://anzianojolley.blogspot.com

Please subscribe.

The blog will be kept by my little sister.

Bought and Paid for

2010-02-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

I was reading the Deseret News today. I came across this article about the senate race in Utah. Senator Bennett has spent an ungodly sum of money on his campaign so far... $2 MILLION. Combined, ALL of his challengers, republican, democrat, third party, ALL of them have spent $85000. That's compared to his $2000000.

Where does such an ungodly sum come from? The banks he bailed out, the drug companies that he supports, and the rest of the ridiculous special interests that have him bought and paid for.
"Bennett reported raising $398,000 in the last quarter of 2009 — and only 1 percent of it came from donors with addresses in Utah." Here's the source for that.

That's a ridiculous sum of money. 1% came from Utah. ONE PERCENT. There is no legitimate reason for anyone outside of Utah to be contributing!

Let him feel your rage. He doesn't represent me, he doesn't represent you, unless your name is Zions Bancorporation, EnergySolutions Inc, or Pfizer Inc. Don't vote for a man who has no interest in his own constituency's concerns.

Research the other candidates. Attend the Republican Caucuses. After all, everyone in Utah knows that republicans are the only ones who can win statewide. If you don't attend the Republican Caucuses, and make sure he has to face a primary, he won't.

Reading List

2010-01-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

So, I was reading Selja's blog, and she said in this post that she thought it'd be cool to have a soundtrack to your life. I dunno. I think that'd get really annoying sometimes. If everyone you knew was a little radio station, broadcasting their music to the world, you'd get some mixture of Taylor Swift, Yellowcard, Fictionist, Muse, MCR, and just all sorts of general cacophany. I've heard the idea before, and I still think it'd be annoying.

On a different note, I think I'd like to tell the world about some interesting websites that I've been following/reading. First of all, MakeUseOf. It's a pretty legit website with all sorts of nerdy articles about how to get cool free apps for your computer. It also talks about other weird computerey things. One of the other sites I'll mention, I found through one of their articles.

I found MIT's OpenCourseWare through MakeUseOf. It's a bunch of MIT courses, with videos and lecture notes and homework for almost all of the courses they offer there. I'm currently listening to/watching a lecture from their Intro to Computer Science class. I figure that computer programming is interesting enough to learn, and a useful skill.

Next, I use Google Reader to read all my friend's blogs, and to read MakeUseOf and the news. It's well laid out, and I in general like it.

I'm reading a book called The Next 100 Years by George Friedman. It suggests a very interesting future for the world. I'm also reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a parody of Pride and Prejudice, rewritten by Alexander Grahme-Smith. It's pretty hilarious.

I recently read Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, a intriguing book inspired by 1984. I highly suggest it. You can find it online for free here.

I am also, preparing for my mission to Milan, Italy, by reading Preach My Gospel and the Standard Works. I'm currently in the middle of Isaiah. It's terribly interesting.

Out of curiosity, what books have YOU read recently? Comment with your suggestions!

Finals

2009-12-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

Well kids, I have two finals left. I've been studying very little for these finals. And so I have not been doing incredibly well on them.

Would you like to know why?

It's because of the what the magic 8 ball said.

I asked it a question.

It said "A definite yes."

So... I took its advice.

It has been interesting.

call me.

Privacy

2009-11-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

As an FYI... Facebook has changed their privacy settings page. If you find the "such and such is now friends with such and such" annoying, please look into removing such posts from your own privacy settings. You can't turn off the other people's, but you can remove yours from their walls.

If you feel like doing something, go to your facebook, click settings in the upper right corner, and then click privacy settings, and play around with it a bit.

With Us, or Against Us?

2009-10-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

George W. Bush famously stated that "you're either with us, or with the terrorists." Interesting statement. I was reminded of this by reading my New Testament, and coming across Luke 9:50, wherein Jesus states "Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us" Mr. Bush states that any not with us are against us, while Jesus states that any not against us are for us. These are two very different approaches to the same group of people. The one's who are undecided. Bush puts them against us, while Christ puts them with us. Whose team are you on?

Guantanamo Bay

2009-09-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

Due to a recent Facebook Chat conversation, I thought I would record some thoughts, in a return to a more political nature of this blog.

Guantanamo Bay. President Obama is attempting to close it. The men imprisoned there are accused of heinous crimes. They have been held there and subjected to enhanced interrogation.

What makes a "terrorist" different from you and me? They are people. Being people, they have rights to life, liberty, and property. Two of these have been denied them for who knows how long. They are not given a trial, and they have not been treated as the Geneva Conventions allow. Why? Because we have said that they are "terrorists", and therefore are scum.

However heinous their crimes, all men should be given a fair trial. This is why John Adams defended the British Regulars who were accused of manslaughter in the "Boston Massacre." The opinion of the public does not change the fact that they are people, and deserve that right. If they are found guilty, then let them be punished accordingly. If they are found not guilty, then let them go free. Not giving them a trial is unjust.

Let us imagine for a second that the tables are turned. Instead of the United States occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, the opposite is true. They are occupying us. Would we resist, even if they were here trying to give us "Democracy"? I certainly would. For resistance, I would be labeled a terrorist by the United States of Iraq. I would then be imprisoned without trial under questionable circumstances. I could be subjected to "enhanced interrogation". Would I find it to be pleasant? I doubt it. Would I define it as torture? Probably.

Even though the above is not the case, it certainly questions the Christianness of our actions. The Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, is exactly the opposite of what we are doing in these countries. No matter how noble the cause, the end does not justify the means. We must not be led to believe that our safety and security, and the future "democracy" of Afghanistan are worth the loss of a military that has been historically the kindest conqueror ever.

Time

2009-09-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Since I started my policy of doing my homework in advance, I feel like I have all the time in the world. It's an incredible feeling. I'm taking 15 credit hours, and I feel like I have time to spare. I'm ahead in all of my classes, I'm working to get even farther ahead, and I've cleaned all of my dishes in the sink because I can. It's an incredible feeling. I thought I'd list some ideas as to where all this time came from, because I've never had it before.

First and most importantly, I don't eat meals in the cannon center anymore. That place ate up nearly an hour and a half a meal, at least. I now spend about 15 minutes a meal. That's an incredible amount of time right there.

Second, I don't have a girlfriend. Girlfriends are fun, and great, but they take up a LOT of time. I had a girlfriend for all of my previous semesters.

Third, I don't have guys down the hall constantly playing videogames and sucking me into their world. That's probably nearly as much time as the cannon center. Woot for not playing videogames except like an hour a week. That's a win.

Fourth, I think I'm taking a slightly easier 15 credits than normal. 5 of those credits are religion classes and orchestra. 6 are microbiology and chemistry, and 4 are hebrew.

Fifth, unlike during the summer, I'm not working a full-time job. In fact, I'm only taking classes. That's it. I have time to do things with my life because of it. It's incredible.

Anyways, I've got to get back to my homework that's not due till next friday. Peace be with you!

Cleanliness

2009-09-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've never thought of myself as a particularly clean person. In fact, I'm kinda messy. However, since I've gotten back to the Y, I find myself being the clean roommate. My housemates are all excessively messy. The sink is constantly full of dirty dishes. None of them are ever mine, though. I wiped down the countertops in our house, because I just couldn't handle how filthy it was. It was GROSS! I dunno. I find myself being more clean than usual, in the presence of such filth.

I hate "just friends"

2009-09-03T10:37:00.001-07:00

In the past year, I have been in close relationships with two of my friends. I've also felt the pain of ending those relationships. Both times, we ended the relationship by being "just friends". The first time it was my prerogative, the second, it was hers. Both times, though, we were lying. There is no going directly from boyfriend/girlfriend to "just friends" in my experience. When you break up, you go to acquaintance status. You aren't really even friends anymore without some serious work. No matter how much I would like to be friends with them still, it hasn't worked for me. I went through a period of avoiding them, or them avoiding me or both, then slowly became friends again. I still feel robbed of one of my best friends because we broke up under not the best circumstances.

My first girlfriend, Clarissa, put it best. When you break up, it's like you jump off a cliff. You don't walk back the way you came, you jump straight off a cliff. Suddenly, you're at the bottom, hardly even friends, if that. You have to work to get to that "just friends" you talked about.

A Creed

2009-08-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

I found this on the website freedomforceinternational.org. I found it to be just about in line with what I believe. Please read and comment.

THE CREED OF FREEDOM
INTRINSIC NATURE OF RIGHTS
I believe that only individuals have rights, not the collective group; that these rights
are intrinsic to each individual, not granted by the state; for if the state has the power to
grant them, it also has the power to deny them, and that is incompatible with personal
liberty.
I believe that a just state derives its power solely from its citizens. Therefore, the
state must never presume to do anything beyond what individual citizens also have the right
to do. Otherwise, the state is a power unto itself and becomes the master instead of the
servant of society.
SUPREMACY OF THE INDIVIDUAL
I believe that one of the greatest threats to freedom is to allow any group, no matter
its numeric superiority, to deny the rights of the minority; and that one of the primary
functions of a just state is to protect each individual from the greed and passion of the
majority.
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
I believe that desirable social and economic objectives are better achieved by
voluntary action than by coercion of law. I believe that social tranquility and brotherhood
are better achieved by tolerance, persuasion, and the power of good example than by
coercion of law. I believe that those in need are better served by charity, which is the giving
of one's own money, than by welfare, which is the giving of other people's money through
coercion of law.
EQUALITY UNDER LAW
I believe that all citizens should be equal under law, regardless of their national
origin, race, religion, gender, education, economic status, life style, or political opinion.
Likewise, no class should be given preferential treatment, regardless of the merit or
popularity of its cause. To favor one class over another is not equality under law.
PROPER ROLE OF THE STATE
I believe that the proper role of the state is negative, not positive; defensive, not
aggressive. It is to protect, not to provide; for if the state is granted the power to provide for
some, it must also be able to take from others, and once that power is granted, there are
those who will seek it for their advantage. It always leads to legalized plunder and loss of
freedom. If the state is powerful enough to give us everything we want, it is also powerful
enough to take from us everything we have. Therefore, the proper function of the state is to
protect the lives, liberty, and property of its citizens; nothing more. That state is best which
governs least.

Rupert Murdoch

2009-07-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

I don't like Rupert Murdoch. The man has FAR too much power. He owns News Corp. also known as Murdoch's News Corp. This company has amongst its subsidiaries ALL of the Fox Broadcasting Company, MySpace, and about a fifth of the newspapers and magazines in the United States.

I read an article today that made me just grimace at the News Corp. Basically, the article states that Fox recently decided to reduce its carbon footprint. Therefore, to help with this, they sneakily stuck global warming messages into their most popular shows, like the Simpson's, Family Guy, 24, etc.

I don't approve. IF Global Warming is a real phenomenon, this is the wrong way to deal with it.

The way that Congress has recently pushed through a multiplicity of bills is also the wrong way to do things. The Cap and Trade bill, (more like Cap and Tax) was 1200 pages long. It was passed through the House of Representatives in something like 1 week. Have you ever read 1200 pages in a week? Have you ever read 1200 pages of legislation in a week? The answer is no. No person can read and comprehend and revise that much legislation in that short of a time. Is Global Warming that urgent? We've been talking about it for nearly 20 years. Would another month hurt that much? I don't think so.

I'm angry at News Corp. I'm angry at Congress. Grumble.

Global Warming (A Hot Topic)

2009-06-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

I read in the Deserted News yesterday that the Western Governor's Association says that the science on Global Warming is done. It's for sure. It's conclusive. I have several questions for these folks.

Question #1: Since when is science EVER conclusive? I've been taught in my science classes all of my life to always doubt the current model. Relativity? It has to be wrong. It's just our best guess so far. Same goes for Quantum Mechanics, Coulomb's Law, AND Anthropogenic Climate Change. Science is not conclusive. Ever. Especially sciences that have been in heavy research for 30 years. If Coulomb's Law has to be wrong, and it hasn't changed in a VERY long time, then Climate Change must follow the same logic. Except that it's a lot newer, and hasn't been quite as conclusively proven.

Question #2: Even if the science is conclusive, are the politics and policy? What evidence do we have that the current proposals to halt climate change will work? For the policy often referred to as "Cap and Trade," we have evidence to the contrary. The Kyoto Protocol was a treaty which took force in February of 2005. It promotes "Cap and Trade" measures between countries. It basically punishes those who increase their CO2 and GHG emissions past 1990 levels by making them pay countries which have decreased their emissions levels. As of 2004, all of 4 major industrial countries have reduced their emissions below 1990 levels. These are the following: The Russian Federation, the UK, Denmark, and Germany. While Germany, Denmark, and the UK are to be commended for their success, the Russian Federation deserves no such glory. Anyone remember what happened in Russia in 1990? Their government, which owned everything, collapsed. Their emissions ratings in that year were exceptionally high due to the fact that their government was still functioning. Since their economy collapsed, it made it rather easy for them to have emissions under 1990 levels. Also, other than these FOUR countries, the vast majority of the 183 signers of the Kyoto Protocol have had increases in their emissions levels. It doesn't seem to have had much effect on emissions levels in any other country, and has simply moved wealth around.

Question #3: Given the failure to achieve the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, why is the United States Government so deadset on doing the same thing here? There must be a better way. One that will actually work, perhaps? If something must be done, I propose to simply pump tax dollars into research grants for developing things that will work.

Hmm... I was going to slip some jokes in here.... I kinda forgot what they were.... or where they went. Oh well. I hope you laughed in some part of this post...

What do you think? I don't see the current proposals as being effectual at preventing Climate Change, assuming the science is conclusive. Do you agree, disagree, or have an entirely different viewpoint? Spell it out! (Thanks for reading, and thank you in advance for your intelligent discourse).

P.S. I am my primary source, with supporting info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_protocol Look at the graph about 3/4 of the way through the article.

Liberalism and Conservatism

2009-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately. (Shocker, right?) Why is it that I call myself a Classical Liberal, and believe in constitutionally limited government, and yet several of my friends call themselves Liberal, and believe in extremely strong government? In the time of Jefferson, I think they would be called conservative. In the days of the founding of the United States, Liberalism meant believing in small government, and natural rights. Conservatism used to mean in favor of conserving the rights of the monarchy and the aristocracy. Monarchy, as a system, believes very little in its people. It believes that a privileged class ought to control most EVERYTHING. Liberalism has come to believe in much the same things, especially in its latest manifestation under President Obama. The GM and Chrysler takeovers are proof of this.

Conservatism has come to mean conserving the rights, freedoms, liberties, and traditions of small government the United States has come to be known for.

This change in meaning of the two words is an advantage to the Liberal movement, and a disadvantage to the conservative movement. This is because Liberal has a connotation of moving forward, while conservative has a connotation of holding back.

Would anyone like to explain how these words switched meanings?

On a lighter note

2009-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

I remembered a story of little Ben today. In 1995, when Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust became the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, little Ben was watching it on the TV. Little Ben LOVED trains. He noticed that Gordon, Thomas and James are all characters on his favorite TV show, Thomas the Tank Engine. "It makes perfect sense mommy! Gordon, Thomas and James!" Little Ben was rather excited to find out that his church leaders were his favorite TV show's main characters.

Several years later, when James left this world, a slightly bigger Ben was delighted to find out that his replacement was another character on the show, Henry. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, Gordon passed on as well, as was replaced with someone who isn't quite a Thomas the Tank Engine character. There aren't any Dieters in the Tank Engine lineup. Thomas is in charge now, though, which is as it should be.

I therefore have a proposition to make. I propose that we petition Takara Tomy, the makers of Thomas merchandise, to create a new tank engine. Dieter the Diesel Tank Engine. Any takers? I'd buy one.

Optimism

2009-06-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

I am often told that I am too optimistic in regards to how people act. Whenever I am criticized in such a way, I am asked "Have you met people, Ben?" The answer is obviously yes. I have met people. The question is usually met with a qualifier of "as in non-utah people." The answer to that is also yes. But what bothers me is that those who ask the question don't strike me as having any more experience with people, and often strike me as having less experience with people. So, I ask any person who has asked me this, "Have YOU met people?" I assume the answer is yes, but your condescending tone begs another question. What is it that makes your experience with people more vast or more valid than mine? My view of people is just as valid as yours so far as I see it. Please justify yourselves.

Thank you for reading and putting up with my style.

Intelligence

2009-06-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

In discussions of public education with many of my friends, I have been confronted with a very elitist viewpoint of education. It can be summarized in the following quote.

"The way the system is now is excellent. On one end you have the people that no matter what you do, for whatever reason, they fail. They don't care, they don't have the ability, whatever, they just drop out and fail to the lowest class. Then in the middle you have people who "become organized" as the mission statement said, and then you have people like us who go "HEEEEECK NO!" see the problems in the system, but ultimately still get through, thinking, and are ahead."

As much as I might like to think that I'm better and more intelligent than most people, I just cannot honestly believe that it's true. I'm fairly certain that I'm about average in most every respect. I've only had more opportunity to fulfill my dreams than others. It is not my intelligence or my ability that has brought me to where I am, but my environment and my choices. I have been extremely blessed to live in a loving home where intelligent discussion and wit were prized. I have been blessed to have a family that can afford to put me through college. I personally do not have merits that make me so much better than anyone else, except perhaps my circumstances.

I sometimes come off as highfallutin and cocky, but that is a fault of my personality that is entirely unjustified. When I put my beliefs out in the public forum for picking and pulling and squeezing and poking, I am not trying to say: "This is what is right, listen," but instead simply saying: "Here's something I've been thinking about... I think you should give it a thought or two as well."

Angels or Demons?

2009-06-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

I've come to realize in discussions with some of my close friends that I believe that people are more like angels than like demons. There is evil in the world, but I believe that most people are essentially good. I believe that most people, given the chance to pursue their dreams, free from institutional bondage, will do good things. Hence, I put my faith in people, rather than institutions.

I also believe that most of those who do evil acts don't wake up in the morning thinking, "how can I make the world a more miserable place? How can I destroy the lives of as many people as possible?" People who think like that are demonic. I think that they are few and far between. Most people who do evil acts think that they are pursuing noble and good ends. They just approach those noble and good ends with too much force and overbearance, and instead of making the world a better place, destroy things.

I believe that creating powerful institutions, like governments, is necessary, but dangerous. Governments not held in check by the superior power of the people will become corrupt and do things not in the best interests of those they attempt to protect.

I realize that there are those who do not have as much faith in people as myself, as much as I hate to admit it. To those, I would argue the following. People on the whole are good. Some are evil. If you create a powerful institution like a powerful government, you will give much power to individuals. Those that are evil are naturally drawn to these positions of power. If you create such a government, sooner or later, you will end up with evil men in positions of great power.

There are those that believe that mankind, left without an all-powerful government to keep the people in line will do all sorts of horrible things. I cannot believe that.

Much of my belief is founded in certain scriptural texts. From Mosiah 29:26-27,

"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land."

Given that this statement is true, I cannot believe that people are essentially devilish. That's too darn depressing. If it's true, then the judgments of God are about to fall upon this people in America. I'd rather not have that happen. So, I maintain my faith that people are generally good.

Musicalness...

2009-05-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

So... I've been listening to the radio a lot recently, due to the deliverizing I do. Therefore, I would like to say this.

Firstly, I don't care if I can't read your poker face. I don't play poker. What good would it do me to read it? Secondly, the only way I could ever wake up in Vegas is if I was drugged, kidnapped and dragged there. Why in the world should I care what I get for waking up there? Thirdly, there's not a soul mate for everyone. Stop complaining. Fourthly, you must have one obsessive creeper, Kelsey. Run. Run fast. Anyone who's willing to "swim the ocean for you..." is a little too creeper for me. Fifthly, that annoying singer who I've never heard of before... why should I care if you made it through the night? Lastly, I want to be the last one there. Shut up.

My presets are my sister's choices. They're all either country, or the following two stations... mix 107.9 and "my" 99.5. I'm fairly certain that mix... literally means that they have a mix of songs that they play... over and over and over again. In the same order. And the person whose 99.5 it is, please choose better music.

You know... maybe I should've put this on Jeff's communist music site......

Clark Planetarium, 17 Again, and Wicked.

2009-04-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

In the past two days, I have been to all of the above. I went to the Planetarium... 5 minutes before it closed... FAIL. So... I wandered over to Barnes and Noble, and read Dr. Seuss there. Fun times!! I then saw 17 Again. It was VERY similar to Big, but... backwards. Interesting film. I half suggest that you see it. It was quite a bit better than I expected given the whole... Zac Efron thing. I kinda liked it actually.

Today, I had the wonderful experience of trying to change the printer at work. MAN ALIVE. That simple change causes all sorts of havoc at work. We basically stopped working for an hour. All because the STUPID NETWORK was run by people not at our store. I hate being the person in charge of computers at home and at work. Because... as much as I may half-understand what to do, at least 99% of how I fix computers and related stuff is guesswork.

Course, the bad memory of that stupid printer was quickly removed by going to Chuckarama (which was not as bad as I remember it...) and then to see Wicked. It was an excellent production, though a slightly larger cast would have been nice. At parts, they were supposed to look like a mob, and looked like a couple of hooligans. There weren't quite enough to make it look convincing all the time. But... I loved the singing. It was excellently done.

Nappy TIME!!! good night y'all!

New Name, New Picture.

2009-04-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to change the name of my blog to something some of you may be familiar with. Anteurasicamericaustralia. AKA THE ISLAND. See the picture at the top. It's spelled THE ISLAND, but pronounched Anteurasicamericaustralia.

Stop what you're doing.

2009-04-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Watch this video. Now. Jon Schmidt is a winner.

I saw this on my sister's blog.

I'm Done

2009-04-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

All of you Salt Lake City people. Attention. I'm done with finals. I'm coming back to SLC tomorrow morning with my momma. Give me a call... I haven't hung out with any of y'all forever. I want to. I'm stoked to come back to SLC. That is all.

A public service announcement

2009-04-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed, via facebook, that I am "in a relationship." Some of you may be rather angry with me. Some of you may be hurt. Some of you may be happy. Some of you may be excited. In any case, I know for a fact that I've made at least one person who reads this rather upset with me. This post is for all of you that feel that way. I'm sorry that I haven't informed you more of what is going on in my life, and I'm sorry if I've hurt you. But, If I lived my life always making sure that I never hurt anyone, I don't think I'd ever do anything. In some cases, just by living, I would hurt some people. But, I know that hurtful things happen to everyone. I also know that you should realize that they don't reflect on you. I ask forgiveness of anyone I've hurt by any miscommunication, by any lack of communication, or by simply living my life. I try my best to forgive people as quickly as I can for anything they do to me, and I ask that favor in return.

Extremely stressful day...

2009-04-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

so... due to my own foolishness, my illness, and some general bad luck... with a little good luck thrown in, I've just passed through one of the most stressful 24 hour periods of my life. I'm still a little stressed, but it's not nearly as bad. Let me set the scene for you. 11:50 A.M. Monday. I woke up at 7 A.M. wrote an essay in the 3 hours before class. I've just gotten out of my last music 101 class ever. I realize... I haven't started writing that physics report that Kevin asked me to write! so... I walk up to my room, start typing, intending to get a quick lunch at around 12:40 before class starts. I stop writing, realizing that it's now 12:51 P.M. and I bolt off to class. I'm kinda worried that I've missed another quiz question in physics, and so I pull out my iClicker before walking into the building, to test its range. Apparently its not that far. So I keep walking. I walk up the back stairs of the ESC on my way to my class, and try again. The remote accepts the BA frequency that I set it to, so I answer A, then walk into class. Kevin gives me a thumbs up, and I read the quiz question. I apparently answered it correctly. I walk to the nearest seat, sit down and listen to people present their Physics projects. Thankfully, the professor informs us that the projects aren't due till midnight. But I realize... I've got ANOTHER humanities essay due at the same time!
So I walk down the stairs, take a couple of pictures with the physics class... apparently some people REALLY liked the class and wanted a picture... and go over to the SWKT to print off the homeworks for Monday and Tuesday with Kevin. I realize that I told my friend Kyle that I'd go to the library LRC to watch fantasia with him for our concert reports, and go down to the UPL to do my Physics homework. It takes us till 5 to do both of the assignments... which we don't quite do properly, but I'm really hungry now, and kevin's got to get to class, so I just finish the problem, and turn it in. I later find out that I did at least one of the problems wrong... so much for winning that hologram... bummer... I go home, get some food from the vending machines to stave off my hunger till dinner, then go to my room, where I find that Fantasia is on Google Video. sweet. I don't need to go to the LRC. I start thinking about what I should write my Humanities paper on...
It's now 6 P.M. I go to dinner, eat a bunch of food, and realize, for the 5th time, that lent is over. I go get some ice cream, and enjoy it to an obscene degree. It's now 7. I realize that my FHE, that I'm the dad for, has started. It's croquet. I'm not about to miss that, but I don't want to stop eating the delicious ice cream, so I chat and eat ice cream till 7:30, when I go to FHE, and start watching a game of croquet. I later take the place of one of the people who is sick and tired of losing, and promptly almost win. I was the last person to die, but in killing me, the Poison person bounced through a hoop.
It's now 9 P.M. I go to my room, realizing that I still haven't decided what to write about, so I ask facebook. When I say the names of the books I'd write about, I get Machiavelli, unamimously... but when I ask about the THEMES of the books I'd write about, I get Rabelais's Gargantua, as a utopia, even more unanimously. So I pull out a killer essay comparing and contrasting the abbey of desire to BYU. It turns out pretty well... but it's now 11:15. So I turn it in quick, and call Kevin about the Physics project. He starts writing, and I start making a data table and some picture captions. He emails what he's written over, and I add my data table and captions, then desperately search for a .doc to .pdf converter. I find one, at 11:55 PM. It's due at midnight... when my browser CRASHES!!!! ack! so I pull it up as quick as I can, rewrite the email, attach the files, and turn it in at 12:03 AM. It's LATE, GASP! I explain in the email about my browser crashing. I think he'll understand. I then get on the facebook, see what my friends are up to, get interrogated about things by a friend or two of mine, then go to bed at 1 AM.
I wake up at 8 AM to my alarm, with my terrible cough being worse than before... so I stay in bed. I fall back asleep, and wake up at 10:50 AM. I realize OH SHOOT! I JUST SLEPT THROUGH MY DANCE FINAL!!!!! so I rush to get dressed, and literally run out the door, down the hall, down the stairs, out the other door, through the cannon center, up the hill, when I see my buddy zach pushing his bike... I slam on my brakes and ask if I can borrow it. "sure, the code's ****." "Thanks man!" I bike up the hill, across campus to the Wilk, park the bike, run through the back way of the wilk, run into the class, breathing heavily, and ask if I can take the test. My teacher asks me if I've run the whole way, and I say yes. She says that I can take the test, so I ask a girl to dance with me, and dance, still breathing extremely heavily and uncomfortably, due to my nasty cold. I dance the Swing, I pass. I call my buddy to thank him for letting me use his bike, and I walk to buy breakfast... then I go out the door, and back on the bike, a lot slower this time, back to my dorm, and get in my bed to rest. I cough up a lung or two, get dressed in less formal dress, and sit down to write this post.
I still need to write my service project report, and my concert reports. oy! I hate the last week of classes.

Divine Comedy, by my sister's Boyfriend, and me.

2009-04-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

This Weekend, I had to write an essay about Dante's Divine Comedy. It took me till about 10 minutes ago, because I was at my cousin's house. While I was there, though, I asked my sister's boyfriend, Joe, to write it for me. He took it to mean that I was supposed to write an essay about the comedy troupe here at BYU, also called Divine Comedy. Here is his introduction that he wrote in about 2 minutes.
Despite higher life expectancy, better educational opportunities, and a better overall quality of life in the United States, depression is increasing each decade over the past 80 years. It would seem that people were less stressed, considering themselves to be generally happy people; however, more than a quarter of Americans today consider themselves to be moderately depressed. Professor John Ashcroft from the University of Texas has been studying the effects of laughing on mental and physical health. In numerous studies, he has found that laughing improves not only a persons psychological health, but they are less likely to become sick, less likely to be injured, and have a higher life expectancy. A recent statistic said that nearly 30 percent of all entering Freshmen consider themselves to by at least mildly depressed. Here at BYU, Divine Comedy provides much needed opportunity to laugh and increase in health.

And here is the essay that I wrote:

Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man’s descent into the inferno, and ascent of purgatory. In his descent, he meets all sorts of sinners, who have committed a multiplicity of different sins. Because of these sins, they are punished with a sin that take the sin to an ironic extreme. Interestingly, the sins that are punished are tiered, somewhat like in Latter-day Saint theology.

In Mormon theology, there are some sins that are considered worse than others. There is the sin of denying the Holy Ghost, which is unpardonable, the sin of murder, which is unforgivable, and sexual sin, which is “hard to forgive.” Dante’s sins come in three groups, those against self, or incontinence, those of violence against others, and those against God, or Fraud. The LDS theology corresponds to Dante’s, to a large degree. Sinning against the Holy Ghost is sinning against God, Murder is violence against others, and Dante’s circles of incontinence include those who commit adultery.

The Circle of Violence itself, the seventh circle, is subdivided into these same types of divisions, violence against self, others, and God. This Circle contains those who commit murder, those who commit suicide, and those who blaspheme the name of God. Murder has already been mentioned as an LDS sin. Suicide is a tough subject for LDS. We don’t want to judge, but we know that the taking of one’s own life is bad, though there may be extenuating circumstances. Blaspheming has lost a lot of its seriousness in the eyes of most people, LDS included, because it happens so often in the movies, though it is still considered a serious sin.

LDS Theology includes the vicarious ordinances for those who never had the opportunity to receive baptism and other ordinances. The first circle of Dante’s Inferno is Limbo, where the virtuous, but unbaptized go. Without the ordinances that LDS faithful do for those who never received them, they remain in a state similar to Dante’s Limbo. Dante’s residents of Limbo are in a sort of paradise, but constantly grieve the fact that they can never see God. LDS theology is more forgiving on that concept. Those that are unbaptized can be baptized, if someone will be baptized in their place. Still, however, LDS talk about Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison, similarly to Dante’s Limbo.

The Second Circle of the Inferno, which is where lust is punished, punishes its inhabitants by having them fly about in a whirlwind, always together, but hating each other. LDS theology teaches little of how punishment actually works, only that those who do not repent will have to suffer the pains that Christ suffered. LDS teaching focuses more on the Purgatorio-like aspects of punishment, than on the Inferno punishments. A major difference in Dantean and LDS theology comes at this point, however. Dante tends to think that bodies are evil, where as LDS theology states that bodies are an essential part of our temporal and eternal salvation.

LDS sacred texts often state, very specifically, that God has a body of flesh and bones, like man’s. Dante’s God, when he reaches him at the end of Paradiso, has no body. “I saw the Great Light shine into three circles in three clear colors bound in one same space; the first seemed to reflect the next like rainbow on rainbow, and the third was like a flame equally breathed forth by the other two.” This is Dante’s description of God and his glory. Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS church, said this about his “first vision” of the Godhead. “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Both accounts state that the glory of God defies all description, but Joseph Smith’s account specifically states that they have bodies. Also, by stating that “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” his account distinguishes between the members of the Godhead, rather than a large amount of light, that is mostly indistinguishable.

The sections of the bottom circle of Dante’s Inferno are named for different types of Fraudulent sinners. The first section is called Caina, after Cain, who slew his brother Abel. LDS teaching also states that what Cain did was terrible, but primarily because it was fraudulent, but because he formed a combination with the devil, to be able to murder and get gain.

The final section of the Inferno is called Judecca, named for Judas Iscariot, who sold out Jesus Christ for 20 pieces of silver. Here, there are four traitors. Satan himself, Judas Iscariot, who is being eaten by one of Satan’s faces, Brutus and Cassius, being eaten by the other two faces. LDS tradition would mostly agree with the punishment doled out for Judas. He is considered a Son of Perdition, like unto Satan himself. Satan, however, committed his crime before he could obtain a body, so his punishment is to have no body, and to suffer thereby, without any of God’s Glory to sustain him.

An important aspect of this last circle of the Inferno is that it is frozen. For Dante, it is the exact opposite of everything that God is. For him, God is Immaterial, so Satan is the most Material there can be, so gravity is at its strongest there. God is Light, so Satan is Darkness. God is Warmth, so Satan is cold, and causes the lake of this circle to be perpetually frozen by his attempts to escape. LDS theology teaches a very similar idea, with a switcheroo on the Material/Immaterial. God has a Body, Satan has none. God is still light, and Satan is still dark.

LDS theology teaches many things that are in line with Dante’s beliefs. It is important for LDS to understand Dante’s beliefs, because they are influential, and in common with most Christian faiths.

What do you think? Pretty good? I sure hope so, since its like 5% of my grade. I've got to write another essay similar by midnight tonight... about The Prince, by Machiavelli. oy.

Learning from History

2009-04-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

Today we see the "Economic Crisis" and the effects it has had on government policy in the past year. However, I would like to look at the history of our country leading up to the Great Depression, to shed some light on our situation. In reading this article, by the Foundation for Economic Education, I noticed some keen similarities to today's economic situation, and today's government policy. Just read the section about the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and perhaps replace the acronym RFC with TARP, and see if you see any similarities. From the same article, read this
"Roosevelt did indeed make a difference, though probably not the sort of difference for which the country had hoped. He started off on the wrong foot when, in his inaugural address, he blamed the Depression on “unscrupulous money changers.”"

Does this remind you at all of any of the rhetoric coming from the administration of Barack Obama? Look at this link from Bloomberg. An important quote to keep in mind...

“There’s almost no question that the economy is going to decline for some time to come,” said Summers, who served as Bill Clinton's last Treasury secretary. “Our errors are not going to be of standing back.”

Remember that the Depression of the 30's started under a REPUBLICAN administration, and continued through two terms of a DEMOCRAT president.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009, otherwise referred to as the "Stimulus Package," has a large number of parallels to the New Deal.

Look up the London Economic Conference of 1933, and compare and contrast to the G20 conference in London RIGHT NOW.

Notice this as well. Recognize that $1 dollar at the time is approximately equal to $13.92 in today's dollars.
"In the first year of the New Deal, Roosevelt proposed spending $10 billion while revenues were only $3 billion. Between 1933 and 1936, government expenditures rose by more than 83 percent. Federal debt skyrocketed by 73 percent."

Also, recognize that the federal debt today is already above $9 trillion. You can't expect the debt to increase by quite an extraordinary figure. Also, we're in the fourth month of the New New deal. Spending for this New Deal has already reached about the revenue for this year.

Look at this quotation from the same article...
"Perhaps the most radical aspect of the New Deal was the National Industrial Recovery Act, passed in June 1933, which created a massive new bureaucracy called the National Recovery Administration. Under the NRA, most manufacturing industries were suddenly forced into government-mandated cartels."

Now, watch in the coming months as many manufacturing companies are either forced into government ownership, or ask for it, as in the case of GMC.

More parallels can easily be drawn, but the most important of all are between Mr. Obama himself to Mr. Roosevelt. The article states this about Mr. Roosevelt,
"Washington was rife with both fear and optimism as Roosevelt was sworn in on March 4, 1933 — fear that the economy might not recover and optimism that the new and assertive president just might make a difference. Humorist Will Rogers captured the popular feeling toward FDR as he assembled the new administration: “The whole country is with him, just so he does something. If he burned down the Capitol, we would all cheer and say, well, we at least got a fire started anyhow.”"

Does that sentiment remind you at all of how America feels right now? About our economy? About our President?

I fear, my friends, that we are in the midst of a very similar chain of events as we saw start in 1929 and ending in the early 50's, this time starting in 2007, and ending who knows when. There will be higher unemployment, expanded socialism, and war. If you haven't read the article I've been referencing, please do. Please hope and pray with me that I'm wrong. That we're not headed into another Great Depression, followed by World War III, followed by another cold war. As has been said, those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I don't think we've really learned. And it sure looks like we're repeating it to me.

Quorum of the twelve... APOSTATES!!!

2009-04-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Today, as I was going through my morning routine of showering, brushing teeth, reading the newspaper, and eating breakfast, I noticed something HILARIOUS in the Daily Universe. On this link, go to the picture in the middle with this caption. "Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other general authorities raise their hands in a sustaining vote Saturday morning during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Annual General Conference held in the conference center in Salt Lake City."

This is the edited version of the paper. The original text replaced the word Apostles with Apostates. It was HILARIOUS! I also like the picture off to the left, of Elder Holland. Thumbs up, while frowning for all he's worth.

This got me thinking though... how funny would it be if the church did have a Quorum of the twelve Apostates. Like... a group of twelve apostates that they ask what to do every once in a while, and then know exactly what not to do.

Well done, Daily Universe, well done.

These two links are to the story of the damage control that the DU did. here and here. It's really funny.

Troublesome Orcs!

2009-04-04T01:01:00.000-07:00

Over the past week or so, I have been pestered by many who seem to have figured out that I like a certain girl. For the sake of my privacy not being invaded further, we won't say her name. I thought I had been more sneaky about this. I blame fate for making it obvious to at least 5 people. (Edit 2/2/10: It was Whitney)

HOLI!!!! and some other stuff.

2009-03-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

So... Yesterday, I went to the Festival of Colors at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, in Spanish Fork. It was CRAZY! But... it was also kinda odd. It's a Hindi Temple, right? There were several thousand people there, but... it's Utah County, Utah. Hence, the HUGE majority of the people were absolutely not hindi. Like... myself. But, the craziness was way awesome. I went with a bunch of my friends from down here, and later found out that a bunch of Salt Lakians came down. I didn't see many of them, but I did see Mr. A. Kramer. It was rather hard to recognize him, under the mass of Corn Starch. That's what they throw around. Colored corn starch. Kramer got me with a mass of yellow stuff, directly in my eye. It was kinda painful for a bit. I had a ton of fun though. I put up pictures on my facebook, if y'all want to see. Here's a sample, though. This guy was just too cool. He looks like some kind of leprechaun/alien.
The weirdest part of the festival was the part where the leader dude tried to get everyone to chant "Hare, Hare, Krishna" or something like that. It was probably the most hippie/heathenish thing I've ever attended.

In an entirely unrelated story, I've somehow become considered EXTREMELY trustworthy. A girl I know came and talked to me today about a trouble she had with a boy. She specifically said to other people that it was too personal to tell them. I don't understand how anyone can trust me that much, but... I guess that's how it goes. It was an interesting conversation. I can't tell you anything though, given the nature of the conversation. (Edit 2/2/10: Since this was so long ago, I think it's appropriate to say that this girl was Heather D.)

I've also become closer to my roommate in the past 2 weeks than in the entire semester before. I understand him a lot better now. He's a good guy.

I think that's about it... *thinking* yep, that's it.

Hair

2009-03-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, It's done. The Honor Code office got me. They called my house like a week and a bit ago. When my parents came down for my birthday, they took me to Great Clips. Now, some people may have trouble recognizing me. It's been SUPER short for 2 days now.

18.

2009-03-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

Today's March 18, 2009. I awoke this morning at 8:10. I'm 18. Today's my last day of being that number. To be honest, what's so special about 18? Who really wants to be 18? I sure don't. I'm excited to be another number. 19. I'm excited to be 19. On March 19, 2009. That sounds like a lot more fun. I'm going to be 19.

For Shame

2009-03-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a month now since I broke up with Clarissa. That's kinda... weird to think about. The time since then seems to have flown. I haven't been on a date since. For shame, Benjamin! For shame!

I am severely disappointed with myself in this regard, and will attempt to do better. 'course, in other regards, I'm very proud of myself. For example, I'm ahead on my homework for my classes. and I haven't played nearly as many video games. In fact, I don't think I've played a video game in like 2 weeks. (It may have something to do with the fact that Brian now has a gf). yeah...

Anywho, in regards to other matters, I've been praying for my friend I mentioned a while back. He seems to be doing slightly better... I hope. I don't really know though. He's a little quiet.

Benjamin Needs

2009-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

I saw one of these on facebook. I found it too hilarious not to do, and post on here.

The idea of this thing is that you type in "(your name) needs" into google, and type down the first 15 sentences that make sense. e.g. "Benjamin needs"

1. BENJAMIN NEEDS FRIENDS.
2. Benjamin needs a ride.
3. Benjamin needs a better finishing move!
4. Benjamin needs to go to sleep.
5. Benjamin needs surgery.
6. Benjamin needs a better way to work.
7. Benjamin needs to decide how to multipy 46 x 792 in his head.
8. Benjamin needs to brush up on his reading skills.
9. Benjamin needs to be played by a mold-breaker.
10. Benjamin needs to grab 309540 votes.
11. Benjamin needs your numbers again, because he lost his phone.
12. Benjamin needs plenty of light.
13. Benjamin needs an Windows 95 operating system or later version.
14. Benjamin needs only four catches to dominate.
15. Benjamin needs an outstanding and diverse faculty to challenge our most talented students, understand and support students who learn differently, and help all students achieve.

Pornography

2009-02-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

I've recently had a friend, who will remain unnamed, confide in me that he has a problem with pornography. I don't know what to do to help him. He worries me, and I sincerely want to help him. Advice?

Lent

2009-02-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Mardi Gras. Which means that today is the first of the forty days leading up to Easter that we call Lent. It's a time when people give up things. I'm giving up desserts. And candy. For the next forty days. I began to regret this decision at lunch today, when I saw boston creme pie. I love boston creme pie. Why is it that TODAY was the day they decided to have Boston creme pie in the cannon center. And then dinner. Death by Chocolate cake. Do the Cannon staff realize its lent and TRY to stop me and the other 5+ people I know of doing the same thing? Visiting hours... Girl Scout cookies. Thin Mints. WHY!?!?!?!? This is going to be tough.

In other news, I have a cosmic twin. Zachary has the exact same birthday as me. He got his mission call today. He's going to Pnomh Penh, Cambodia. Also, Ryan, from my hall got his call to Texas Houston Spanish speaking. That's like... EXACTLY where my brother went on his mission.

In other other news, my professors are trying to kill me. They're failing though. I had to read the song of roland for Humanities, Life in the Iron Mills for Government, Physics had 2 labs this week, and apparently THE HARDEST assignments in that class are friday and monday's assignments. Music 101 is requiring a large amount of concentration on Beethoven's 5th. Book of Mormon required another insight paper that I just did.

Music 101 is one of my coolest classes, but it sometimes makes me and my buddy Kyle kill the professor. He always stops the songs we listen to at the most epic part. This makes me quite antsy, 5 more seconds Prof Brown. 5 more seconds, and we're at the end of the phrase. GRR...

An insight paper for Book of Mormon

2009-02-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

Ether 2:13

“Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ….”

America is a choice land. It is a land of freedom for the righteous. However, for the wicked, it is a land of destruction. The Book of Mormon tells us that the previous inhabitants of the land, the Jaredites, and the Nephites were free so long as they were righteous. When they became wicked, they were destroyed, by other wicked people. In both cases, much of the destruction was wrought by secret combinations.

If both of the previous inhabitants of the land were destroyed by the acts and wickedness of secret combinations, what does that say about the United States of America? It suggests that the United States either has or will have secret combinations made to destroy its freedoms, and to do as all secret combinations, to murder and get gain.

We have been told by Latter day prophets that there are secret combinations infesting all the nations of the world. What does this tell us about America? In the book of Helaman, the secret combinations in many areas got “sole management of the government.” We can see in our history records of this already happening. The “city bosses” of the early 20^th century had precisely what is described in Helaman, the sole management of the government. Through various corrupt acts, these men obtained the government of New York City, and Chicago, among other places. If we use the Book of Mormon as a model of what happens in America, this suggests that our government is more corrupt today, because the secret combinations never lost strength except when they were converted. I see no evidence of this widespread conversion, and therefore must assume such.

These secret combinations desire to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations and countries. If freedom is granted by God, and it is given to all those who serve him, then any attempt to remove the ability of the people of this land to serve him will eventually lead to their binding and enslavement. The United States has, in the past century, moved away from the worship of God, to the worship of Mankind. This shift has, to a degree, enslaved the people. Prayer is forbidden in state schools, and God is removed from the public forum. We are no longer allowed to worship as we will, “according to the dictates of our conscience,” but now must worship in a way that won’t offend anyone.

Google Analytics

2009-02-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well... I've noticed many of the bloggers that I read talk about google analytics, and I just feel so smug about it. I found out about it from my sister, and then added it to my blog, and weird stuff happened that kinda creeped me out... and now I've seen multiple people add it to their blogs because it's that awesome. I just feel pretty darn smug about it. For those of you who HAVEN'T got it on your blog, I suggest it. It's Google Analytics. Check it out.

The little things

2009-02-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

Today, as I was leaving doing physics with Kevin that I HADN'T gotten a text from Clarissa. I didn't realize that that was such a big deal. I didn't realize the little perks of dating someone till I didn't have it anymore. 'course, I didn't realize the perks of being single till I wasn't, and now I'm noticing them again. Being single definitely has some nice elements of it. You're free to go out with whomever you'd like, and have no limitations on it. That freedom is a much larger one than I anticipated when I started dating her. But the loss of it comes with so many other little things... You don't worry about who you're going to ask out.... You get little text messages that are so nice... You have someone to talk to... about anything. I dunno. I kinda freaked out a little when I realized that I hadn't gotten a text. It reminded me of what I had changed in my life by breaking up with her. It's interesting.

All's well that ends well

2009-02-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

So... I'm officially single again. Clarissa and I talked tonight, and decided that it would be best if we weren't dating. I broached the topic, and it turned out much better than I had expected it to. When I said that I thought it would be best for me to not have a girlfriend at the moment, she said thank you. NOT the response I was expecting, but the best one that I can imagine. That's my little update for today. I could go into more detail, but I'll just leave it with that.

New Roomie

2009-01-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

So... When last semester ended, my old roomie, Andrew, moved out. At the beginning of this semester, Jordan moved in. First day he was here, I had him convinced I was a jew. That was awesome. AND... as of today like an hour ago, he has a girlfriend, and he's now out walking with her and "stargazing." yeah. right. Like I'm going to believe that excuse. He moves fast, that one. This morning, nothing was happening. At dinner tonight, I saw him and his girlfriend with the interdigitation. Which, as it turns out can be really funny. They worked one of the cereal dispensers with the interdigitated hands. It was freaking hilarious. If you don't believe me, ask Kevin. He was also there.

I'm sure something else exciting happened today. If I think of it in the next 30 seconds, it's going up here. ................. oh well. I'll post something else later.

Frozen Hair and 50th post

2009-01-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

So... as it turns out, this is my fiftieth post. After nearly a year of this blog's existence, I am now passing that milestone. ANYWAYS...

This morning, I rolled out of bed at 8:43, realizing that church starts at 9. SO... I went and took a shower and got dressed and such and ran outside to church, and when I walked in, I went to scratch my head, and my hair was FROZEN. Seriously, how cool is that? I was SO amused. Of course, as soon as the meeting actually started, it had melted, but it was awesome while it lasted.

On a different note, I got 3 hours of sleep last night. Remember how I said I rolled out of bed at 8:43? yeah... I went to bed at like 5 and didn't fall asleep till about a half an hour later. HOWEVER, oddly enough, when I woke up, I woke up fast. It was really weird. I'm so glad that I have no school tomorrow for MLK Jr day, even though I vastly disagree with its name. Why does MLK Jr get his own holiday when ALL of our presidents get ONE between the whole lot of them? And why Martin Luther King Jr? He's really not the most admirable of men. Sure, he gave a good speech or two, but... He was a religious leader who was known to have not the best moral standards... WHY THE CRAP DO WE GIVE HIM A HOLIDAY? I'm down with the holiday itself, just the name really bothers me.

Now... onto an entirely different subject. I went to the Draper Temple Open House yesterday. That place is awesome. I mean... seriously. The beauty of the whole thing, and especially the feeling of peace in the celestial room and sealing rooms? AMAZING. And the place isn't even dedicated yet! I can't even imagine how cool those rooms must be when they're actually dedicated and in use! btw, I went with my ward down here. One of the girls, who is natively chinese was looking at a map they had in the nearby wardhouse, which shows where all of the temples in the world are, and when she saw China, completely empty of temples aside from Taiwan and Hong Kong, just started bawling. I got a little teared up myself. When I see others cry, I usually get teary eyed, but I usually stop myself from actually crying. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad trait, but it's how I've become. It's definitely different than how I was in elementary school. Those of you who went to bonneville and were my friends prolly know what I'm talking about.

Anywho, I've got to finish the Book of Mormon by Monday at midnight. I'm currently to Ether chapter 2. I've also got other reading to do. Peace out.

Second Semester

2009-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

So, I've now started my second semester at the Y, and it's more difficult. I have more classes, so it's kinda on purpose, but it's more than I expected. My humanities class is crazy. I read like an epic poem every two days... or that's what it's been so far. In fact, I SHOULD be reading for that class right now. We've read the Odyssey, the Iliad, excerpts from the bible, and now we're reading Oedipus Rex, and it's only the second week. OY!

Not only do I have that class to read a ridiculous amount for, I also have American Government, which is crazy, but the book we're reading is very interesting. It's called Our Country's Founders, and it's by the guy who wrote The Children's Book of Virtues, of which I have some fond memories as a child. The book is kinda in a condescending tone, because it's sorta written to amoral high school students, but, it's a collection of primary documents from the revolutionary war era, including letters between John and Abigail Adams, and letters between Lafayette and Washington. It's really good, but it's a TON of reading.

And then there's Book of Mormon class. Our assignment in there was to read the Book of Mormon by next tuesday, starting last tuesday. It's also a LOT of reading, but it's interesting. I found a cool website to help me track that. It's so amusing to watch the little green bar move from 0% to 75%, which is where I am now.

My Social Dance class is fun, because I have a bunch of friend's taking a different section of the same class, so we randomly get together and practice. We're currently learning the Foxtrot. It's interesting.

PHYSICS is really hard, but really fun. For some reason, I decided to switch to the Physics majors section of the class I'm taking, and it's crazy. I'm surrounded by all these super geniuses, and they're scary smart. They always laugh at me when I say something stupid... which makes me feel bad about myself... Just kidding. I can usually handle it. Kevin's in there, so that makes it fun.

Finally, Music 101. By the title of the course, you'd think it's super easy, RIGHT? Well, you'd be wrong. It's pretty darn difficult. We have like a million tests, and we have to write up 8 concert reports. It's not the hardest class in the world, but a LOT harder than expected.

So, My sister is now going to the Y, and I feed her lunch. It makes life fun. She's taking some CRAZY hard sounding classes. And, having her around means that I'll prolly be coming back to SLC this weekend. prolly.

Also, funny story. Recently, a picture on my facebook page got resurrected from the grave. It's like 2 years old, and Brady commented on it... which opened up a whole slew of comments. HOWEVER, the funny thing was that Brady asked me to "hook [him] up" with one of two of the girls in said picture. Mind you, this was a pic from EFY 2 years ago. I haven't seen ANYONE from that group for like... 2 years. Then, one of the guys in that group shows up in my Book of Mormon class, and one of those two girls, Melodie, is now in my Social Dance class. RIGHT after I tell brady that I haven't seen them, I see one of them. Weird.

Anyways, I should go read stuff. Like Oedipus. Peace out.

The Merchants of Cool

2008-12-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

Today in Sociology, we watched a film by PBS about marketing to teens. It was called "The Merchants of Cool." Man alive, I am so much more cynical now... I'm scarred for life. One of the sections talked about 7th heaven, the WB show that was marketed as "family-friendly." The executives of WB wwere sitting there, and they said something to the effect of "For about a year there, we were 'family friendly.' What was our ad campaign?" "'We're the station that families can watch together.'" (laughter). They LAUGHED about how they were family friendly. My delusion that they actually cared was SHATTERED. These guys are straight up evil. They'll do anything for money. ANYTHING.

Also, we moved in our lecture from talking about "solid modernity" which is like a 1984 style society... CREEPY, to talking about a more BNW style society, called "liquid modernity." I'm excessively freaked out now. In the 1984 discussion, this concept of a jail called a Panopticon was discussed. The idea is that if prisoners THINK they're being watched, they won't even try to escape. We then discussed the fact that many of the camera bubbles you see are actually just that... BUBBLES. There's no camera inside. The important thing isn't watching you, it's making you think that you're being watched.

In our discussion of liquid modernity, the teacher showed the video mentioned above, The Mercahnts of Cool. In the video, the reporter asks whether our culture of getting what we "want" from corporations is really a good thing. He defines two groups invented by the media, a male that has never grown up, and is forever 13, and a female "midriff," a girl who flaunts her sexuality because it's "cool." These two figures are always on MTV, according to the correspondent.

I then went to lunch in the Cougareat, and... I was terribly frightened, because I noticed that that food court IS an advertisement. I could sit down and see over 30 distinct brand symbols without turning my head. THEN, I looked at myself. I'm wearing my East swimming sweater, which makes me a walking advertisement for Disney. AHHH!!! They're everywhere!!!!! NO!!!

Anywho, that's my sociology-induced freakout for today. In other news, I'm not going to get an A in my calc class. That so yearned-for 4.0? DOWN THE TUBES. I'm going to go burn some advertisements now. It won't change anything about our society... but it may make me feel better.

"This is my boyfriend, Ben."

2008-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

So.... apparently Hinckley Hall lobby is a place where couples go to hook up. Man alive was last night awkward. I go in there, and it was empty, so I'm studying with Clarissa, and then... about an hour later my "wife" (Home evening assitant group leader) comes in with her boy, and they just start going at it. We're sitting there doing our homework, and we just thought... awkward. My "wife" has been blaming the dysfunctionality of our family on me.... but... man. We decided to pull out my camera and we got a video.... wow. There were like a dozen people in the room. PDA? I think so. I may post the video that we took. It was RIDICULOUS. 20 minutes later... another TWO couples came in and started having fun too. man alive. There were other people in the room that did NOT appreciate the ridiculous habits of these people. I just... wow. WOW.

We decided that it was time to leave, so we went outside, wandered around for a bit, and then sat down on the warm vent outside, and watched the stars. We prolly saw a good 8 shooting stars, two of which were at the same time, HUGE, and lasted forever. IT WAS AMAZING.

In other news, I spent 3 hours today in the Cannon center. Eating food, listening to a girl tell me all about her awkward date stories, one of which happened in the lobby last night... whatever. I now have dirt on her. And... she totally just spilled her guts... with me only pestering her a little bit. (Edit 2/2/10: For the information of anyone reading this significantly after the fact, this girl was Whitney).

Going back a few days, I went to the Synthesis concert on Wednesday night with the FA people on my floor, and met their professor. Man was that weird. We went up to his house afterwards, and had some good times. hehe.

You want to know what's weird? Having a girlfriend. Or... actually, being introduced as "my boyfriend." Man alive, at that concert, we sit down, and Clarissa turns around, says hello to her professor, and says, "This is my boyfriend, Ben." I was so confused. I'm just sitting there thinking... is she talking about me? weird... I'd never thought about that... huh... whatever... sounds good to me.

anywho... the concert was fun... and Hinckley lobby is awkward.

Happiness

2008-11-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

"All things considered, I'm doing just fine." I've decided that... my life is excellent. I really have no grounds to complain about anything. I'm at college, surrounded by friends, learning new stuff. I'm well fed, I have a nice dorm room, I can go home and visit my family any time I want. I've been very blessed. I love my life. sure, there are things that I'd like to go better, and sure, I'm not perfect, but... my life is pretty darn good. I feel like since I've been so blessed, I need to help other people to be happier. I'm excited to go on a mission. I haven't even started my papers yet, but... the mission is creeping up, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. I kinda want to be better than I am now, though. I feel like I should live up to how blessed I am. I kinda feel like I don't deserve it. I dunno.

On an entirely different note... I have a hilarious story. I was prank calling some people last night, and decided it'd be funny to leave an insulting message on this guy's phone in a foreign language. Anywho, a couple of hours later, I got a text message from him that said, "Um, whoever this is, please don't call me when you're druuk. Thanks, night" This guy was a friend my friend who was prank calling with me. Good times.

I've gotten a lot of people saying to me recently, "So Ben, I hear you have a girlfriend." I'm just going to tell y'all now, this is true. Her name is Clarissa. Two posts back, I kinda explained that situation. I don't feel like telling any details here, but if you call me or text me, I'll probably tell you.

I love Russell.

2008-11-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

Wow. Yesterday, I had an awkward call. I pick up the phone, and I hear Russell on the other end. He goes straight to the point. "Ben, Have you kissed her yet?" I started laughing. I was thinking "Wow. Seriously? Did Russell just call me to ask that?" I then realized that I was talking to RUSSELL. He did this kind of thing to Alec and Tyler and Nick etc. ALL the time. Of course he would ask me something like that. "Oh, Ok. Have a good night with your lady friend then, Ben." Honestly, Russell is one of the boldest characters I know. That's why I love him.

Battle for Rights

2008-11-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

The following is a paper written for my Sociology 111 class in response to the film Battle of Algiers. It is an excellent film, and I suggest it highly. Be warned, however, it is in french, so subtitles will be necessary.

Benjamin

11/11/08 Battle of Algiers

The film Battle of Algiers dramatizes the actions of a group of freedom fighters/terrorists in Algiers, and the acts of the French government to stop them. The actions of the freedom fighters, and their stated goals are very telling. They state that they wish to establish a new government with Islamic ideals, but maintaining rights for all regardless of religion.

The acts of the French government to prevent these goals from being realized demand that we consider means and ends. We cannot allow a good end to justify horrible means, and vice versa. The goal of equality and freedom for all is a good one, when it is considered a two way street, as the FLN did in this movie. The acts they committed were terrible, but as one of the leaders said, “You can have our women’s hand baskets when we can have your bombers.” The potential for terrible acts by the government in power is orders of magnitude greater than the potential of the freedom fighters.

Equality and tolerance are two way streets. When we consider the acts of today’s freedom fighters and terrorists and civil liberties groups, we must consider what their ends are. Is it equality for them, but not for others? Or is it equality for all? If it is the second, the policy of the United States government to “not negotiate with terrorists” is futile and stupid. If it is the first, however, this policy makes perfect sense. This past week in California, groups of LGBT rights activists clearly demonstrated their ends as they vandalized the LDS temple in LA with bitter hate-filled remarks. Equality is a fine goal, but it should not and cannot be achieved by limiting the rights of other minorities. If the LGBT community wants equal rights, they should grant the same to other minorities, such as the LDS church. The actions of these protestors have clearly limited the 1^st amendment rights of many LDS faithful in the area to worship as they choose. We must consider the acts of terrorist organizations such as Al-qaeda in the same manner. They want rights. Do they want them at the expense of other groups? Listening to their leaders, the answer is a resounding yes. They want to rule the world, with disregard for all international law, sovereignty and other peoples. They clearly fall into the second group, and therefore must be prevented from achieving their goals. However, we must be sure that we do not act as the French government did in the Battle of Algiers, and let preventing acts of terrorism destroy our ethics.

Tell me what you think. I'm turning it in in a couple of hours.

um... I haven't updated in over a week now.

2008-11-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

well... Would y'all like to hear something ridiculously awesome? I found out recently that my blog has been visited by people in Germany. And people in the UK. that's pretty cool. Thank you Google Analytics. I'm updating because apparently I should. That's what Sara's friend thinks.

Anyways, on to more interesting things. This past week has been... uh... not the most productive. Specifically, this weekend was troublesome. I was supposed to watch a movie for my Sociology class (which I didn't), do my Calculus journal (which I did most of), and read like 400+ pages of my books for Book of Mormon and Sociology (of which I read about... 20). Most of the last week has been fun, however. I'm doing really well in my physics class, despite my teacher's still troublesome accent, mostly thanks to Kevin and Jeff. Doing homework for that class is always fun. After thursday's hour of physics after class, I went over to Suzanne's to watch The Office, which was, as usual, excellent. This was followed by watching Get Smart at some other guy's apartment... That movie is amazing. "AAAAH!! AAAHH!! oh, I'm glad you heard me!" hilarious. I hadn't seen it before.

let's see... Uh... Sociology is an amazing class. I'm just going to say that the teacher's ridiculous/eccentric style is amazing. He comes to class wearing the most bizarre outfits (he came to class one day wearing an ill-fitting Boy Scouts of America uniform), and just is generally hilarious. He'll be talking about Nieztche, or Hitler or what have you, and it will be funny. "We make depression FUN!" Actually, that class is not really a sociology class, it's more of a philosophy class. I mean, we started out talking about Plato and Aristotle. The class is also pretty darn easy for me, as all we have to do is watch 4 movies, read 6 books, write one page papers on each, and take a midterm and final. That's it. If I thought Sociology would always be like this, I would consider doing it as a major... despite the career choices related to it.

I CAN'T DANCE TO SAVE MY LIFE. I think I'm going to fail my Ballroom Dance class. How ridiculous would that be? I'm considering posting the two videos of me dancing our routines just to show how terrible I am. It'd certainly be worth a good couple of laughs, but my self-esteem would be forever crushed if anyone other than me and my teacher saw them. Because... I'm terrible at dancing. I try and I FAIL!

To finish this up... I went to one of the Preference dances on friday night. For those of you not at the Y, Preference is a collection of girl's choice dances. Anyone from Utah, think of any girl's choice high school dance you went to. I went to the informal one, Don't Break the Ice. (all of the dances were based on games. Battleship, Don't Break the Ice, Chess, and Twister). We started off the date by going to The Brick Oven... which was extremely tasty. We had root beer (which was pretty good), garlic cheese bread (also tasty), All-meat pizza, and Artichoke chicken pizza (with only half of it having chicken because one of the girls is vegetarian). I totally forgot to mention who I went with. My date was Clarissa, and we doubled with Zach and Ariana. Ok... now that that's out of the way.... After dinner, we went to JoAnne's Craft store to buy fabric for matching scarves, because apparently dates are supposed to have matching outfits (This turned out to be only slightly true). We walked in 30 minutes before closing, and ran up and down the fleece aisles deciding which ones to get. We then walked to the back, got the fabric cut to proper sizes (after asking if we could have any scraps... we couldn't :( ) and borrowed scissors to fringe them.

Anyways, we then drove to the dance at the Seven Peaks Ice Arena, checked in, got our tickets for ice skates and wristbands for getting into the rink, and we skated for about 40 minutes before our feet/ankles hurt too much, which led to a 20 minute dancing break. We went skating some more, which was fun, then turned our skates in and dancing for another hour. Now, understand, I can ice skate pretty well, thanks to going to bonneville and having those parties where we'd go ice skating and do "snowball" and stuff. However, my date had NO idea what she was doing. Thankfully, she's a quick learner and was skating at about 5x as fast at the end of the night (which was still about half as fast as I would normally skate). I stayed with her, because I wanted her to have a good time. I don't think skating around at one revolution an hour is all that fun, so I helped her out. For those of you who understand what it means, there was a good deal of "snowballing" involved. (LOL. memories of Taylor being a "player" in 6th grade just came swarming back).

After skating for a while, the dancing was hilarious, because the same songs that were played at every east dance were played. EXACTLY THE SAME SONGS! Low, Soulja Boy, Sandstorm, etc. It was ridiculous. but... Low was hilarious. Clarissa was wearing boots with fur. uh... yeah. that's the dance part.

After the dance was the fun part. We drove back to the dorms to pick up blankets (the drive was hilarious... somehow X96 got onto the radio, and the "Radio from Hell" advertisement came on, while at the same time the display said something to the effect of "Sex on." The whole car freaked out, and the station was quickly changed). We then drove up the canyon for like 10 minutes where we found a random park, and we were stargazing there for about 2 hours. It was awesome. There were over a dozen shooting stars, and some REALLY big ones. It was pretty darn amazing. We got back to the dorms at 2, and like 20 guys on my floor were still awake and running through the halls. weird.

That was my friday night. Saturday consisted of me doing homework and playing video games with some of the guys down the hall (biggest waste of time EVER). Sunday was church, food, more homework, and helping Clarissa get her paper edited. Apparently her teacher doesn't like BE verbs just like Lake. So... I read through her paper, checked for good transitions, showed her how to find all of the be verbs in a document, and helped her edit out a goodly number. On the 8 page paper, there were 85. I think there are now something like 50. Thank you Mrs. Lake for teaching me how to eliminate Passive Voice.

Uh... this post was a little jumbled I know, but If you read through to this point, Congratulations. Feel free to comment.

Today. It was Amazing.

2008-11-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

Alright people... I've had an amazing day today. The amazingness of today was primarily in the past 20 minutes, but that's not the point. I woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast (I love Fruit Loops) and went to dance, where I was actually able to understand the dance we learned. It's called Quickstep. It's been tough for me, but I think I've got it down now. Then I went over to Calculus, and learned about improper integrals whilst falling asleep.

After Calculus, though, is where my day just be'd amazing. I walked out of the Talmage Building, and started walking towards the library, when I saw one of the most amazing sights ever, and... just stopped dead in my tracks. I stood there, in the chill morning air of early November, just staring at the Y-mount. As I stood there, literally hundreds of people walked by, missing the inescapably beautiful sight of the mountain covered with fog. Honestly, I was depressed when I saw so many people so intent on getting where they were going to take time to look at the mountains. However, two people did stop, talk to me for a bit, take a picture (I didn't have a camera on me, so I can't put up a picture here) and carry on. The conversation went something like this. "WOW!!! I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" "Yeah, me neither." "I'm going to just stare at this for a bit." ... "Well, I've got to go to class, bye." The guy had a strong Spanish accent, which was fun to hear. I love Spanish accents.

Next, I got a text message from my mom (I have unlimited, now that my sister Camille is home) saying that my sister's surgery went well. That, on top of the wonderful feeling I had from looking at that beautiful mountain, just made me... giddy.

Oh, and I had other reasons for being happy. Last night being one of them. I was on a walk... and... I don't want to jinx it. I'll probably say more later.

update

2008-10-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a while. Sorry. College gets busy sometimes. A lot of things have happened in the past month. Here's the short rundown.

I'm doing fairly well in all of my classes, except that I have a massive assignment due in Book of Mormon in a week, and I failed my first Calc test.

I've been home twice since I got down here, and it was just bizarre. When you've been away from home for over a month, it's still home, but YOU don't belong there as much anymore. I went home for two baby blessings. My cousin Hayden's and my first cousin once removed's as well. I did not realize that Shipp's farewell was the same day as Hayden's blessing, or I totally would have gone. bummer. I haven't seen pretty much any of the people from "the group" since I came down, except the ones who live down here. It's kinda weird.

Well, let's see, what else has happened... um... hmm... I chill with the boys on my floor down here all the time, and they do some crazy stuff. For example, James tied together 300 rubber bands, and shot stuff across the field. Plus also, he whipped himself. it was weird. We went through a StarCraft phase, an Age of Empires II phase, and now all the boys play Worms World Party all the time. It's kinda funny.

Now then, I'm tired of writing, but I still haven't talked about my girl situation. I'll leave that to another post. Suffice it to say that I'm doing well.

some thoughts

2008-09-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've had an interesting day today. I saw Johnny P for the first time in like 3 weeks. I took a test in the testing center. (Man, I was so sleepy! They like send out sleepy gas in there!) That was not so fun, but... not difficult either. I talked with Jeff, and he seemed uber-nicer to me today. That was cool. On that note, I've always sort of seen Jeff as a nice guy inside, but usually kind of distant, or absorbed in other things. He seemed much less distant today. It was good.

My sister Megan's blog reminded me to ask all of you to pray for my sister Camille. She's in the MTC, but should have left for Finland on Monday. She did something to her IT band, and is in alot of pain. She's still at the MTC for another two weeks, in anticipation of her healing. If she does not heal in that time, she will be sent home to heal. If she does heal, then it's on to Finland. Please pray for her to heal in time.

Homework and a Physics rant rampage.

2008-09-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today as I sat in the library to do my calculus homework, I sat next to a guy who was doing his chemistry homework. I was shocked at how easy his homework looked. It then occurred to me that he might find MY homework extremely easy. He might be a math major who understands how parametrics and polars work without even thinking too hard about it. I didn't ask, but... it was an interesting thought. I couldn't concentrate on graphing my parametric curves, because I was amazed by this thought. I was also kinda jealous that he had such easy homework. but... he looked like he was struggling through those Formal Charges and VSEPR. I thought, "man, if I was doing that homework, I'd be done in 20 minutes, tops. prolly more like 10." I dunno. Chemistry in general just makes sense to me. Which reminds me...

PHYSICS=stupid. yeah. you heard me, physics is stupid. or... at least my class. I became convinced of this yesterday when I went to do the lab, and the instructions said something that was blatantly false. We were doing a lab where we had to determine the value of g, or the gravitational acceleration constant on earth. The instructions claimed that if your determined value of g wasn't within 1% error of the "accepted" value, you were doing something wrong. THIS IS NOT TRUE. As I remember from chemistry and statisics, up to 5% error can be explained by random variation. So... I basically just said, screw that, and just posted a value of 4% error on one part. I am not going to do an experiment 40 times with faulty equipment to try to get the same results as someone using state-of-the-art equipment who is getting paid to do this kind of thing. Honestly, no matter how many times I drop that $^%# steel ball, the rate at which it drops is not going to be correct, because those $#%# timers don't work properly.

That's only one-half of my hatred of physics. The other half is that in my class, we're spending an eternity on concepts that are NOT that difficult. I mean, honestly, you should not be in physics 121 if you don't understand what a derivative is. that's in calc one. a prerequisite to this class. And yet, the teacher explains the concept of a derivative as if no one in our class has ever heard of it before. The only trouble is that she sorta assumes that you know, so... if you do understand the concept, then you're moving at too slow a pace, and if you don't, you're completely lost. It's the worst of both worlds. It's kinda like Spanish I in 9th grade with senor selles. he'd talk to us in spanish, and if we didn't understand, he'd say it slower. NO ONE understood. If you could understand at all, you'd hate your life because you'd be stuck with a bunch of idiots.

Physics is easily my least entertaining and most boring class. I hate to say this, but it's true. The homework problems focus on ridiculous ideas, such as "In the equation a=3+4t^2, what are the units attached to 2? to 3? to 4?" There is NO reason to even think about this. 2 is unitless, 3 is in m/s^2, and 4 is in m/s^4. but... WHY SHOULD I CARE?!?!? m/s^4 is meaningless. There's no practical application of anything like that. I could just assume that if the teacher is giving me the question, the units are going to work unless I do something stupid. If it's a problem where I'm finding acceleration, the units are going to cancel to m/s^2. That's just logic. It's not going to cancel to m/kg*s^25. WHY THE DEVIL DO THEY CARE? m/s^4 does not exist anywhere outside of this problem. it's not a real unit. groan.

To prove that physics is easily the most boring class, take this as an example. Of the 6 people sitting within close proximity to me, who were using computers to take notes, no less than 3 were either switching between computer games and notetaking, or giving up on notetaking altogether. The concepts here are easy enough to grasp without going through and beating them to death 15 times. (which is what we did). Therefore, people play video games because there isn't anything better to do.

Not only are these problems there, but... the teacher is french. When she talks, th=z. this=zis. something=somezing. It's a little annoying. and... as much as I try to laugh at it, it's just not funny. It's just straight out annoying.

all in all, I don't feel like we've talked about actual science in this "science" class. We've sorta discussed what a vector is, what units are, and what acceleration velocity and position are, but... I learned those in calc 1. I don't really enjoy taking calc 1 again. The whole concept of classical mechanics so far seems to be rehashing everything we learned in calc 1, badly, and then coming up with impossible situations to describe them. For example, "a car goes through a stop sign at 60 mi/h. It then continues at a constant velocity. A motorcycle patrol officer starts off after the car, accelerating at 11 ft/s. How long will it take the patrol officer to overtake the car, and how fast will he be going at that point?" ugh. This is an entirely improbable situation for 3 reasons. one, why the devil is a car going 60 mph anywhere near a stop sign? Stop signs are generally only used in residential areas. two, why the heck is the officer chasing after that car because it went through a stop sign? who ever heard of an officer giving a ticket for going through a stop sign? why not for speeding? and... last but not least, why the heck is that car going at a constant velocity? If a police officer starts chasing you, you either speed up to try to get away, OR you abide by the law and slow down and pull over. You don't keep going the same $%@# speed. It just doesn't make sense. the solution to this problem makes even less sense. The officer is going 120 mph by the time he catches the car. mind you, these people are STILL somewhere near a stop sign. that's dangerous by any means. even on the freeway, 120 mph is ridiculously fast. imagine that in a residential area?

Physics professors should try to think about using common sense. don't use a ridiculous situation to try to teach your students what acceleration and velocity are. It's just stupid.

Relief

2008-09-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

I feel much better about life now. I talked things over with Sara, and so... it's all good. The guy across the hall said he'd give me $20 if I can get a girlfriend by the end of the week. THAT should prove interesting. I have 2 or 3 prospects that we'll have to look into, and see if I can't pull it off. One in particular looks promising. I've been hanging out with her during and after sociology for a couple of hours for the past two classes. We'll see if that continues or expands. I dunno. We'll see. If I can't do it, what have I lost? nothing but pride. and... when has that EVER mattered to me? or more specifically, when has that mattered with these guys? (update, 9/11, I'm not going to do it. It feels gross.)

I feel much better about being around these here parts now. HOWEVER, I'm trying to find a ride back to SLC for this weekend. I have some people that I need to talk to. I don't have a car, so if any of you fellow provoians are heading up north, can I come with?

Interesting.

2008-09-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

I found a group on facebook today that has all sorts of good quotes on it. and... this scripture. Ether 8:23-26. Read it and tell me what you think it means.
The group name is Latter-day Saint Freedom Group. In case you were wondering.

Devastation

2008-09-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not supposed to be here. at BYU. This place is not where I should be. I decided this today, after being devastated by something I saw... I've been crying pretty much all day.

Here at BYU, the people aren't real. they're too white, and mormon, and too... fake. I get this general feeling that everyone I see is as Jesus would say, a "Whited Sepulchre." It scares me, and makes me not enjoy my life.

I'm supposed to be at home, taking care of my little sisters, helping them with math, teaching them lessons. I'm supposed to be in a society that is flawed, but in a way that I can change. not in one where it's flawed, and I cannot change that.

The Honor Code here is a double edged sword. sure, it stops people from drinking, smoking, or all sorts of other vices, but... it also limits agency. I mean, the whole plan is based upon agency, right? People are supposed to be tested, and have the choice to live as God wants them to, or not. The trouble with this place is that everyone is cookie-cutter, goody-goody, and just... they're all freaking clones. there's NO diversity at all. even if someone isn't white, they act like it. conflict is covered up, and ugh. I cannot stand it. In SLC, I can fix the problems, by being a good person, and helping others. Here, I cannot change the problem, because it is the opposite extreme. There is little bad, so good is devalued. This place is just not where I need to be.

I could fully take advantage of the girl-boy ratio here, by being a jerk, and playing several girls, but... that's not what I want. I don't want to be here. I need evil to balance out the good. I don't want to be complacent. I just... ugh. I don't remember why I ever wanted to come here. was it because I wanted to, or because that's just what my siblings have done, so... I should too? Can I go back to when I was deciding where to go to college, and choose the U instead?

I guess we'll have to get into the really interesting/weird/crazy stuff today.

2008-09-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Now then, The Disclaimer applies again.
This post may contain some things that are hard to believe, but... bear with me.

In the books, None Dare Call it Conspiracy, and The Naked Capitalist, the authors claim that extremely rich supercapitalists, such as David Rockefeller helped out the Russian and Chinese communist parties. This raises the question of WHY would such rich men, the extreme end of the bourgeousie who the Communists call their sworn enemies help them?

The answer is quite simple. These men want power. they want to rule the world, and because they know what communism is, a method of conquering the world, they will donate money, time and effort to help this cause, and to take it over.

Now, why does this matter to the current political landscape? Well, if these rich men were helping the USSR, what happened when it fell? Here's my answer. They decided that the strategy of using the USSR to take over the world was not working, so they decided to go with a different strategy. This strategy involves removing the threat of the soviet union, to make the people complacent, and then concentrating power in the highest levels of the governments of every country. The next step is to collect the power of many countries into regional governments, such as the EU, or the supposed "NAU."

To concentrate the power of government as high up as possible, a scheme called Pressure from above/pressure from below is used. Basically, problems are created and advertised among the masses, and the ONLY solution allowed to surface comes from the government, by creating new powers for the high up offices. A prime example of this is Global Warming. Regardless of whether it exists or not, the only solutions being presented are carbon-caps. The stated goal of such legislation is to disallow the creation of more CO2. The side-effect of this is that it creates a way of controlling the global economy through government.

Now, a more deeply sketchy point that I'm pretty sure is taking things too far, is that Terrorist networks are controlled to some degree by this same group of men. Under the influence of fear, men will willingly give more power to their government than they would otherwise do. Case-in-point, Star wars.

The final victory for these men, according to some, will be achieved when the UN is truly a world government. This is to be achieved, they say, through a war involving China. Basically, if the US of A gets massively nuked, the people will vote to give absolute power to the UN to prevent all further wars. When this happens, the Communist controlled china, and the extremely corrupt Russia, will follow suit, as will the rest of the world. The US of A is really the only obstacle standing in the way of these men.

Now, some might ask, would a global government under the UN really be that bad? my answer? very much so. The UN has no semblance of being a democratic union. In fact, the UN charter is set up much the same way as the old soviet constitution. It states these wonderful things in the first article, such as Universal suffrage, world peace, etc., then it nullifies them by giving ridiculously broad powers to the security council.

I hope this explains in an understandable way, why I think that Global Warming is a hoax, why I think we should pull out of the UN, why I absolutely hate socialist legislation, and why I believe what I do on a wide variety of issues.

On a different note

2008-09-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a break from telling where my thoughts on today's political environment come from to talk about something else.

As much as I may disagree with the somewhat fake-feeling of goodwill here at the Y, it's actually kind of nice to have. People will take you at your word here. When I was in Salt Lake, I got a speeding ticket for going a normal speed on a road where the speed limit is ridiculous. Down here, I could get into the same situation, and NOT get a ticket. This happened today.

The officer, in both situations, smiled at me, with a loving sort of reprimand. but... the officer in salt lake gave me a ticket. the one down here just asked me about how my classes were going.

one of the differences was that I was riding my bike here, not my car. There's a hill by my dorm that you pretty much have to take to get to class, and there's no bike riding on that hill. If you do, it's a $50 fine. apparently this applies to the tunnel at the end of the hill as well. When I came out of this tunnel, sort of riding my bike, the officer got out of his car, called me over and told me what the rule actually is. I told him that I was only riding it through the tunnel, and he took me at my word. Then I talked to him about my major, my classes, and I found out that you can ride bikes UP the hill, just not DOWN it. weird rule. but... NO TICKET! yay!

Part 2

2008-09-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

The same disclaimer applies.
As I said in the last post, How did Communism gain control of Russia? This is a very important fact to those who do not believe the propaganda that Communism could be a good idea. Communism gained control of Russia as a result of TWO revolutions. This isn't often emphasized in history classes. The first revolution overthrew the Tsar, and set up a democracy. unfortunately for those freedom-loving men who overthrew the Tsar, some very evil, power-hungry men soon overthrew the government that they set up. It took less than a year. This is the second revolution, the bolshevik revolution or Red October. In this revolution, a very small group of evil men took over ONE CITY, the capital, Petrograd. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution ). These men quickly snatched up power, and dominated the "Communist Party."
In the definition of communism given by an idealist, that is a contradiction in terms. "Communism" is "supposed to be" a government where the government owns everything, and all is parceled out equally to the citizens. Unfortunately, under this system, the citizenship is actually the people who took over the government. Everyone else, in reality, is their slave.

Communism is a lie. Anyone who believes what Karl Marx wrote in his book about a dictatorship of the Proletariat is being lied to. Study the history of Marx's life. See if he's the kind of man that you'd like to be running the world.

That's enough for one post. we'll get into the connection between the US government and Communism in the next post.

Controversial Statements.

2008-09-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

This ought to be an interesting post. We'll see how it turns out. After talking to Anthony about some things, I decided to write this.

DISCLAIMER: I do believe a large portion of this to a large degree, but... some of it is a little out there, and I dunno. We'll see how many people are shocked or whatever because of this. As I said, I do believe a portion of what follows, but what follows is not necessarily 100% in line with what I believe. also, I may get many details wrong, so feel free to comment about any errors. or about your reaction to this.

This post is about a concept called the Cause and Effect theory of history. For any of you unfamiliar with it, it is in contrast to the more traditional Chaotic theory.

In most traditional history classes and textbooks, you are taught that major events in history are generally unrelated. for example, how much do you know about the rise of communism in russia? how much do you know about Marxism? the founding of the federal reserve?

Did you know that Communism in Russia actually came to power through the acts of very few men? That the Federal Reserve Act was written by a half dozen men, and gave them large and unprecendented powers?

hmm... I'll continue this later. in the meantime, most of this series of posts comes from a book called None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen. also, The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen. They are both very interesting books, and I suggest them. take them with a grain of salt, but also give them a chance.

odd. a large group of folks honest to goodness agree with me. too often.

2008-08-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

Today, I found out that I agree with Jeff politically much less often than I thought. It was interesting. He supports a highly interventionist foreign policy, whereas I am the exact opposite. I think that the US military should take care of americans, and leave everyone else alone. contrariwise, Jeff thinks that the US military should combat "evil" wherever in the world it exists, screw borders. "They're all Human, right?" I dunno. It was interesting. He now strikes me as someone who takes McCain at his word, and not at his voting record. We'll see in a few months how it all turns out.

I talked to a Physics Major today who lives in my dorms, who appears to agree with me almost 100%. noninterventionist, pro-life, pro-traditional Marriage, limited government, low taxes, low regulation. Interesting, because he prolly won't vote for any of the candidates.

I talked to my R.A., John, who is apparently a registered Democrat. We'll have to find out later WHY he is registered that way, because he is Pro-life.

If you haven't noticed, I've been asking alot of people how they're voting, and which issues matter to them. We'll see how many Jeff's I meet, how many Me's, how many Kevins, etc. I somehow doubt I'll meet many registered Democrats. They're always fun to talk to.

In other news, I randomly asked a girl if she'd go on a date with me tomorrow night, and she said sure. so... that'll be fun.

I fell into a bush yesterday, after losing my balance while sliding down a railing. I got up, and 2 minutes later I had this crazy rash on my knee and foot. It doesn't itch or hurt or anything, but it looks cool. I wonder what it is.

Finally, I may change my major to Physiology and Developmental Biology, because it fits better with the classes I need to take than Chem. but... whatever.

BYU=EFY

2008-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've been at the Y for two days now, and the similarities to EFY are too much to be ignored. I'll talk to people, and they'll totally give me the EFY attitude. It's actually kind of annoying. like, today. I went to this NSO meeting about the Honor code, and it was basically like the little thing they do about not breaking the Big Five. The standards are the same, and if I ever ask a girl for her number, she'll give it without hesitation. It seems fake. Some of the people, I can tell they are sincere, but... it seems like no one has walls up, like they're super open and stuff, but it seems like they're putting on a show, and their walls towards other people are like a nuclear bunker. It's odd.

I've run into a couple of people I know, which has been nice. I know when I talk to them that it's not this fake persona. like, Tyler and Alyssa, and Suzanne. I also ran into a veritable blast from the past, Bekah Davis, who I sort of knew from Bonneville. We hung out for like 4 hours, and apparently, we knew the same people, though I do not remember her that well. We remember the same people, for the same reasons, and somehow, I did not know her. It's odd. but... whatever.

We'll see if I can't get through these false openness people to really meet someone. I dunno. I hope that we get over this fake phase soon enough.

Food for Thought.

2008-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

"You are but one man sent to encounter a myriad of faceless, nameless strangers. Yet someone is waiting for you... just for you, to hear the whispering of the Spirit through your mortal lips; to learn to love what you know to be true; to further his chance in becoming deity... How great shall be your joy in being that messenger."

I found a block of wood by my bed with this quotation on it. I'm not sure the source, but on the back was an inscription from my Aunt Marla Kay to my dad. I won't put that up, but I just thought that this was interesting. I thought I'd write it down for future reference.

In other news, I worked my last day at the Pharmacy today. It was a very strange day. We were under our usual staff, but we were still overstaffed. actually, it was really really weird. because we had like an intern, a compounder, two pharmacists, our super-Tech, and our clerk and me working, and we were fine. I could've gone home, and we would've been fine. On a normal day we would've had that staff, plus one or two more techs, and everyone would've gone crazy, but today, it was uberslow.
I also finally feel like I know what I'm doing with the store computers. That rounds off my training. I can do ANYTHING and everything in that pharmacy except the pharmacist stuff, and even that I know how to do... as much as is possible without going to pharmacy school.

My room is all packed up. It's weird. I don't live here anymore. ugh. I dunno. It's scary. I was attacked by a veritable flood of memories while I packed it all up. Everything that happened in the last 10 years just came back. It was weird. I'd look at a piece of paper, read it, and I would remember everything about what happened, down to the tiniest detail. case in point was this note my mom wrote, that apologized for not bringing me my viola to school one day. I remembered that it came with a crunchie bar, a random image of walking down the music hall at east, and talking to Mr Green. and remembered playing the viola in a concert. It was vivid. I could see every detail. This happened every time I'd look at a paper. mind you, I've accumulated over 2000 sheets of paper over the past four years alone, and each one had a memory attached.

another memory was when I pulled out my Arrow of Light award. They literally gave me an arrow. I could remember standing in our scout room after the court of honor, holding the arrow, "standing guard." I don't remember why I thought I should do this, but I did. everyone else was like eating food or something, and I was just standing guard. It occured to me that it was weird that my mom didn't come looking for me, but I don't remember why she didn't.

I pulled out a poster I made in 4th grade, describing my dream bed/house. It brought back memories of ELP at bonneville, and leaving Mrs. Martinez's class in 6th grade to go into the hall and cry.

I dunno, I just remembered EVERYTHING. It was very weird. and very sad, and very happy, and very... I dunno. I'm crying right now, remembering again.

AND... I got a new SIM card, so my phone is working again. it's been too long since I really had my phone. I don't like texting anymore. I can't bring myself to text anyone.

Yep, I forgot about 3rd parties.

2008-08-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my brother, and found out that my opinion about not being able to vote for either Obama or McCain isn't actually that weird. Only 30% of republicans support John McCain, and only 40% of Democrats support Barack Obama. These are the people that are really happy about these candidates. The other 70 and 60 respectively are not happy campers.

I've heard people say that not voting for the Big Party candidate closest to your views is about the same as voting for the other guy, but... I've come to the point where voting for John McCain is about the same as voting for Barack Obama, so I'm going third party. It's either Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin for me now, kids. and it doesn't matter if they win, because they probably won't anyways. My vote is not going to determine that fact, and I've figured out why it is that I don't care. I'm a nonconsequentialist. Many people today are consequentialists. They make decisions based on how it will affect the outcome. I make decisions based on whether they are right or wrong. If I know that something is right, I will throw my support behind it. It doesn't matter what will happen after that. My conscience tells me that I cannot vote for McCain or Obama, no matter their running mate. Therefore, I am voting for Mr. Bob Barr or Mr. Chuck Baldwin. I haven't decided yet. They both look leaps and bounds better than the alternative. Vote for someone you can support wholeheartedly. Do not vote for them because they are your party, or because if you don't, you'll get a worse alternative.

college

2008-08-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

ugh. I just talked to my sister. She seems to think that I should take an easier class schedule. "In college, you can do two of three things. Socialize, Study or Sleep." "Don't take so many science credits." "college is different." ugh. I just disagree so much. I can do all three, I can take 14.5 credits without jumping off a bridge, and college is not different. She told me the exact same things right before I started High School, and she convinced me to take geometry instead of Pre-calc. I was bored out of my mind, and ended up having to take algebra 2 AGAIN. groan. Listening to her last time led me nowhere, so I just cannot take her advice again. I'm not my sister.

Wow. I thought I was wasting MY life.

2008-08-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

On the way home from church today, I was talking to Charlie. Russell's brother. He told me that last night he stayed up till 2 am playing pokemon. He told me that he had put in 45 hours of play time, and caught all 150 pokemon. wow. and I thought that I was wasting my time by only going to work all the time. nope, It is possible for your time to be more of a waste.

In other news, I decided that the only logical decision in the choosing who to vote for for president is to choose neither Obama nor McCain. They are both bad choices. The logic that says choose the best of the two is bad. They are the same candidate in every issue that actually matters. They are both after Power and nothing else. I cannot think of an issue that matters, where their opinions are significantly different. So, I'll vote for my senators, my representatives, and state and local offices, but... I cannot vote for either of these men without my conscience killing me.

The Errand of Angels

2008-08-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last 2 hours watching a movie, called "The Errand of Angels." I went, not expecting much, and it just kept on disappointing. I'd say 1/2 star, but it's so pitiful that I don't have the heart. As I watched, I kept hoping, "YES! now something will happen!"... and it wouldn't. It just left SO MUCH to be desired. I'm about to rip the movie apart, and I dunno, it was just so bad that I don't want to. I don't recommend this movie. at all. It doesn't have a plot, the characters are completely flat, the dialog consists of the baptismal interview questions and cliches, and it just generally leaves you hanging. The movie tries to cram the 18 months of a girl's mission into a feature film. I just couldn't like it. thank you for listening, and please do not see this movie. buy a ticket, and don't go. out of pity.

Do you go to church? Why?

2008-08-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Do you go to church? Why? These questions came up in my mind today as my family had scripture study together. I asked my sisters if they understood what they were reading, and as I normally do, broke into explaining it for them. Scripturetalk is not very easy to understand. but... As I was explaining what one phrase said, I thought to myself, why? Why am I taking so much time to make sure they understand what they're hearing?

I decided that I explain such things because I know that at some point in their lives, they will ask themselves, "Why do I go to church?" I want them to answer this properly. I want them to know why they go to church. To do that, they have to understand what the scriptures say, and why I go to church. Plus also, explaining what it says is mostly me thinking out loud and answering those questions for myself.

In recent news, I got a speeding ticket today. I feel taken advantage of.

Cookies

2008-08-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

You know what one of the best feelings ever is? It's when you go to work, and find out that you aren't actually scheduled. I did this today. I got to work, and found out that I didn't need to be there. I think this is one of the best ideas ever. Just saying.

Now I have time to make some cookies. Which happens to be what I'm going to be doing for the next 1/2 hour.

Random feeling of Uselessness.

2008-08-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to work, came home, slept, woke up, went to work again, and found that most everything that needed doing in my house seemed to have been done. Dinner was ready, at THREE O'Clock! My sisters are crazy. The kitchen was clean, and I went to my room to go clean or something, and my clothes were all in little boxes. It was actually really funny.

I dunno. Having my wicked awesome sisters is cool and all, but they leave me feeling like I should do something more than my usual routine. It's uber annoying. I sat in my room, thinking about cleaning, just sort of thought about stuff for a while. I felt I should do something to help someone, so I went to help my mom or dad or someone, and they all seemed to have all matters well in hand. Therefore, I have spent today looking for something to do that has a point. I've given my buddies a call or two, which weren't responded to, and just sort of moped.

We'll see what happens. I'm going to call Sara later, and see if we can't work out a date sometime this week. If anyone can work out doubling with me, it'd be greatly appreciated. Give me a call, or just comment on here.

I'm also open to suggestions as to what I should do with my life over the next 10 days. I move in on the 27th, but before then my life is pretty up in the air. I want to chill with people, so give me a call if you can.

Computers... Ye Olde Computeres

2008-08-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

I HATE OLD COMPUTERS. Especially ones that are covered with dust and don't know the difference between being connected to the internet and just being terrible at life. Our computer at the store for compounding has a ethernet cable that DOES NOT work. It'll say Your internet connection is disconnected, followed by, "trying to connect" about 30 times every two minutes. groan. I need to get it a new ethernet cord. Or I could just complain alot about how it doesn't work. which is what I'm doing now. I hate that computer.

Midnight

2008-08-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

Today, while playing ninesquare, my parents called and asked when I'd be home. I said midnight, and the game came to an end just before midnight. I walked in and looked at the clock, and it was still midnight. It was pretty awesome. I thought I ought to write about it. good night.

LAME

2008-08-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today I feel quite lame. I was going to get up at 7:30. I got up at 3. PM. My swollen face has bruised up a bit. I hate sleeping in. I need to get out of my house. If you can, please give me a call. I'm done with lameness.

Life

2008-08-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I woke up around 10, messed around for a bit, showered, went to work at two, and trained my replacement. I was at work from 2 till 8. I did 5 deliveries, and got a bunch of tips. This always makes me happy, so now I think I need to take a certain girl on another date. because I have more money.

Plus also, I think I'll give my cousin a call tomorrow, and see if he wants to see The Dark Knight with me. I still haven't seen it, and neither has he.

After work, I went over to Nick Brown's, and Russell, him and me played some hearts, then helped his parents set up their new computer. It was fun, but things seemed to move very slowly. Now I'm at home, and I'm going to work around 8 tomorrow, so I ought to go sleep.

On a different topic, I don't know anything about how relationships work, so tips/advice are welcome.

And on another topic, I'm moving in 13 days. To Happy Valley. We'll see how that goes.

I don't have much else to say, so good night.
With sincerity,
Benjamin

swollen cheeks

2008-08-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

So Today, I rolled out of bed with nastily swollen cheeks. It was terrible. So I grabbed my 3 bottles of drugs and took my dose of lortab, amoxicillin, and some other drug. I'm a little loopy right now, so... basically, I just want my pain to go away. the end

I'm scared.

2008-08-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Well, kids, I'm losing a part of my anatomy later today. Yep, I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed. I'm scared out of my mind. I'm not nearly as scared as when I call girls, but this comes pretty close. I've never been under anesthesia more powerful than Tylenol before, so that is part of my scaredness. I'm also supposed to go to work tomorrow, which will be... fun.

On a different note, I wonder, Who do you support for President of the United States, if anyone, and why? If you read this, please comment. If the answer is no one, please say why. I've been trying to decide who to vote for in two months.

Did you hear about the man who was hit by a car while pulling his handcart? I heard about it on the radio, and thought it was someone's idea of a terrible joke. I saw it on the evening news, and was still half-laughing. Then I saw it in today's paper. I just thought, man, it's not really a joke.

I'm going to go do the rest of today now. goodbye.

This is a Democratic Republic. It's not a Democracy.

2008-08-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

I was reading Anthony's blog today, and noticed that ALL of the people who comment on his blog seem to think that the USA is a democracy. This idea is patently wrong, and very frightening to those who have studied history. The USA is a democratic republic. Our founders knew that democracies ALWAYS lead to a tyranny sooner or later. They specifically made our government a democratic republic with very separated power, because of this.

Our founders knew that in a democracy, the citizens eventually realize that they can vote themselves infinite benefits out of the public treasury. This bankrupts the treasury, which leads to outside forces invading the country, which leads to the people losing their rights to a tyrant.

The recent rise in the number of citizens of the United States of America thinking that their government is a democracy is frightening. It has begun the process of bankrupting the treasury. The public debt is currently at roundabouts 9 trillion dollars. almost all of this debt has come as a result of socialist programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These programs have become such an integral part of the United States economy that removing them outright is no longer a truly viable option.

Now that this process has begun, freedom-loving citizens must find a way to remove these programs, and reverse the process. If the United States is to remain a free land, it's citizens must act now.

Remember, The USA is not a democracy. Democracies always lead to tyranny. The USA is a democratic republic. If people will remember this, and will act in accordance to protect their rights, we have a long and bright future ahead of us. Otherwise, the future is not so bright. I call on anyone who reads this to do what they can to vote informed, to urge their senators and representatives not to expand socialist policy, and not to give up their rights.

a brief comment on what is to come. and continuation.

2008-08-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

Oh man. Tonight was freakin' awesome! I went on a date! It was ever so fun. The more detailed version of this story is to come.
sorry about the shortness, but I'm tired.
Benjamin

On that note, here's what happened. I called up Sara on wednesday, to ask her on a date for thursday. I was pretty terrified before I called her. like, paralyzing fear. but as y'all should know by now, I have three fears in this world. Cars, Girls and Water. don't ask. I got over it though, and I asked her out.

I picked her up at about 7. the drive up was really pretty. Emigration canyon is a pretty place. but... I picked her up, then we started driving down the canyon, and she told me about her day. you know, conversation. it's amazing how much more you can say when you're talking to someone face to face, rather than using other methods of communication. I love talking to people in person. but... back on topic, we drove down to the gateway and saw Swing Vote. It was a MUCH better movie than I was expecting. um, then during the movie I saw her hand sitting there, and I was like, all right. so I grabbed it. and then we watched the movie. holding hands the whole time.
the movie ended, and we wandered around the gateway for about a half an hour, just talking. (have I said how much I like just talking?) I had told her dad I'd have her home by 11, and it was already 10:30, so I took her home. we talked the whole way back to her house too. I walked her to the door and gave her a hug goodnight, jumped in my car and drove home in a REALLY good mood. THE END. (for now).

Computer Doctor

2008-08-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how computer illiterate my grandparents and other people old than me are. In the past two days, I explained how to cut and paste a picture and text no less than 7 times. both of my grandmothers wrote down on a little piece of paper in very similar hastily written cursive every word that dropped off my lips. I try the simplest computer repair trick, restarting it, and my grandma is like, "now what did you just do?"

This gave me an idea. I figure that if old people are so computer illiterate, I should start a company that makes house calls to teach old people how to use computers. I haven't come up with the details of how this company would work, but it would be called "computer doctors." this is because my grandmother calls me a computer doctor, because I can fix her computer by looking at it funny. I dunno. I was talking to the people at my work today, and it's not their grandparents who are having trouble with their computers, it's their parents. This could be a pretty profitable enterprise. If anyone has ideas as to how to make this a working business, tell me. please.

In other news, I have a date on thursday night. I'm currently trying to decide what to do on said date, and wondering whether I should double with someone or just go single. suggestions are welcome. I'll post as to how this date goes.

My goal.

2008-07-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

As of tomorrow, I will be waking up at 6:30 AM every morning. I will be going to bed at 10:30 every night. We'll see how it goes. I intend to do this for 2 weeks, and then decide what to do after that.

On a different note, I put an easter egg of sorts into my blog. kudos to those who find it.
I'm keeping this entry short. that's all.

The way things stand right now.

2008-07-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I'm in florida. On vacation. Since the last time I've written, a few things have happened. A little of everything, actually. We'll start with today and go backwards.
Today, I went to Sea World. I saw the Shamoosen, rode the kraken, and lost my cell phone. oh yeah, and played tag with total strangers. I decided very early this morning that tag is a wonderful icebreaker. I walked up to a girl, said hello, what's your name, and by the way, you're it, we're playing tag. Man alive. I was playing tag with like 50 total strangers while standing in line for "Journey to Atlantis." It was hilarious.
Before that, I rode the "Kraken," which is an amazing roller coaster. unfortunately, however, as I was riding, my phone fell out of my pocket, probably shattered into a million pieces that are never to be seen again. A word of warning to any who ride the Kraken, put your stuff in a locker. all your stuff. So uh, since I lost my phone, I'm going to need y'all's numbers again. If you want me to have your number, send me a message on facebook, or something. I'd appreciate it.
Continuing my story, yesterday, I went to Disney's Animal Kingdom, which was pretty fun. It was basically the zoo on steroids. Disney World is basically different elements of Disneyland and other things on steroids. Two days ago, I went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's basically a replica of Universal Studios, but more disneyish. Three days ago, I went to EPCOT, which is super-tomorrowland, with a "world showcase." It's got 11 countries in ministyle that are pretty fun. I recommend it.
4 days back, sunday, I was on a plane coming out here most of the day. Saturday, I was partying with nick and Tmac and co. and just being giddy about what happened on friday.

Now, friday was the last day of trek. The story doesn't make much sense without a lot of introduction, starting on tuesday, the first day of trek. So I'll now start there.

On Tuesday, I awoke at 5 AM so that I could be to our stake center by 6 AM. We had a devotional, loaded up the buses, and headed out to the sagebrush state, Wyoming. As we started to drive, I was sitting with John Rasmussen. He was one of my 3 "brothers" in my trek family. the other two were Brigham Doxey and Zach Swenson. I was sitting next to John, when I noticed that one of my "sisters" was sitting alone. So I thought to myself, "sitting next to john is fun and all, but he's not a girl." So I sat by her. She was writing her talk for the devotional the next day. Basically, I have to go, so I'll make this short. One thing led to another, and on Friday, I ended up holding hands with her. yeah. I've never done that before. I was pretty happy. goodnight world.

I'm starting my on police force.

2008-06-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I was out on deliveries, I saw a police car that said transit police. And it had a UTA symbol on it. I asked myself, why does UTA need its own police force? And why does this police force need patrol cars? What are they going to do, follow buses around making sure no one holds onto the back? Wouldn't it be more efficient to put the Transit police on the buses?

This got me thinking, and I decided I'm going to start a police force, called the drug police. It'll be people who go around making sure that people take their drugs properly. It'll be owned by the pharmacy. I mean, if UTA can have a police force, why not me?

Applications to join my police force will be accepted in the comments section of this post. Qualifications are basic literacy and driving skills.

Some thoughts on life

2008-05-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have decided to make this a more normal blog.

When I woke up this morning, I realized two things. One was that I had to be to school in 15 minutes at 6:30 in the morning, and the other was that it was the last day of my free education. These thoughts made me extremely happy and angry at the same time.

I went to school at 6:30 for an assembly practice, then went home for breakfast. I went back to the school for the assembly, then went home for lunch. I went back to school for last period, and an army guy told us not to do drugs or we'd get raped. It was funny, because I don't intend to do drugs, so I'm not worried. Sounds pretty repetitive, eh?

After school, I went straight to work, where nine deliveries were waiting. they were all really close, but I was still out till 5:30. I then went to the store and clerked till 6, then got pizza for my sisters, and went home.

This is where things get annoying. I get home, and don't do anything except read blog posts till now. I was extremely bored.

I think I'll watch a movie with my sisters, or call someone to see what's up.

PS I'm not going to the dance. I have this nasty problem with indecision. I couldn't decide who to ask to the dance, till right now. And now I would be a jerk to ask. grr.

College...

2008-05-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Prince Caspian again, because it was free. Then I went to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and heard him say something that I have believed for a long time.

"We don't care about your degrees. We care about the knowledge you obtain as you get the degrees. You want to know something we care less about? Your 'pedigree.' We do not care WHERE you went to college. Only 2% of employers care about that." -Dave Ramsey

This reminded me of a conversation I had with Alec and Juliet. I was saying that no one really cares where you go to college, and Alec said, "In today's competitive job market, where you go to college determines whether you will be hired."

Moral of the story. College is not worth going into extreme debt over. Mr. Ramsey gave an example of what not to do. A guy called into his radio show and said that he had over $100,000 in student debt... and he had a degree in Sociology, was working as a case worker for the state making $30,000 a year. Is this a sound financial plan? NO!

Yeah, go to college. It's probably a good idea. I am going to a college in the fall. It'll cost me all of my savings. But I won't go into debt for it. I figure that $10,000 a year for all of my expenses of college, room, board, tuition, books, etc. is a good price.

I am very impressed with Mr. Ramsey's program, but most of it is impractical because I haven't graduated from college yet. I mean come on... I cannot save money for my kids college when I haven't paid for my own yet.

Random thoughts.

2008-05-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

So today I was reading the paper and saw that two german climate scientists decided that we're in for a 10-20 year cooling "diversion," which I see as them saying, we're wrong about global warming, but we're too coward to admit it.

Me + girls = who knows? I guess my life is a little odd comparatively to most people I know. I've never had a girlfriend, I've never kissed anyone, I've never had anyone like me that I know of... but hey, who cares? I've gotten over it. I don't need a girlfriend. I don't plan on getting married before I'm back from my mission, and as I see it, the whole point of a girlfriend is a step towards marriage. It's like more involved courtship than would be the case if you just date around. I dunno, I just live my life, and I generally enjoy it.

whatever, I've got to take my sister's to school. peace out people of the magical land of Inter Net.

By the way, the name of the girl I held hands is Sara Smolka. For more information, see "The way things stand right now." kudos to those of you who notice this.

Politically Charged

2008-05-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

I realized today as I went out for my daily walk that I have just written two blog posts that are superbly politically charged. This is because they are on issues I care about, and because I want people to respond. I admit that some of the time I am being overly strong about these topics, but I want to know what people think. I want to know how they respond to pressure against their opinion, I want to know what they believe.

I find that reasoned argument is the path to truth, so I try to write out reasoned arguments against the orthodox belief. If a lot of people disagree, I'm fine with that, but I demand that they support their disagreement.

I may write in a way that sometimes makes me look like a moron. That's okay, but please tell me that I am being a moron, and tell me why.

If you disagree with anything I say, let your voice be heard, but don't try to silence me because you disagree. There are people who think that if someone says something they disagree with, they should silence them. In fact, today, I was talking with someone and they said, "your argument is dead, ben, give it up." I did not think my argument was dead by any means, and yet he insisted on silencing me because I disagreed.

Global Warming...

2008-05-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

I ask, Why is it that today think that it is their job to predict the biggest problem of 100 years from now? please, allow me some license here, but, can you imagine "environmentalists" of 100 years ago trying to fix our problems? They did not have cars, they had carriages, and their biggest problem was too much poop in the streets.

Our meteorologists today cannot predict the weather accurately more than 5 days in advance. Why is it then, that climatologists think that they can predict global mean temperatures 100 years from now?

If global warming is truly human caused, why is it that every other planet in this solar system is also warming? Are there people there on mars and pluto too, or does it have something to do with the huge ball of fire in the sky?

Now, if global warming IS human caused, I would suggest that the current solution of carbon caps is utterly idiotic. Assuming that the countries of the world actually abode by the kyoto protocol, which they don't, the damage to the world economy is gigantic. somewhere to the order of 10's of trillions of dollars. Put this in perspective, the US GDP is about 13 trillion dollars a year. In using these carbon caps, the world is killing the equivalent of the US GDP in growth. Might I suggest an alternate solution? Instead of putting caps on carbon production, allow business to find solutions. Let's use carbon sequestration, develop green technologies, and not kill economic growth. There are much better ways to go about stopping an imaginary catastrophe.

Connected to the issue of global warming is that of "clean" fuel. The government seems to think that Ethanol as a gasoline substitute is a good idea. Now, burning ethanol in your car may be very clean, as it produces less CO2, CO, SO2 and other toxic gases than gasoline, but please consider the process used to make it. It requires gasoline to produce ethanol, and so the net carbon production is about the same as using gas. Another issue with ethanol as a fuel source is that it uses food to produce it. To produce enough corn for ethanol to meet the US fuel demand, you need nearly all of the US land area. none of this is going towards feeding the people. With ethanol, you either feed people OR their cars. not both. For the simple reason that I want to stay fed, and I think everyone else deserves the right to buy food for cheap, I think that ethanol production for fuel should be outlawed. I realize that anyone who lives in the midwest may kill me. I accept that risk.

I generally think that the public obsession with "going green" is not a good idea. I think that environmentalism has its place, and that many of its ideas are good. Conserving world resources is a good idea. Reusing products is a good idea. Stopping all world economic growth to stop a problem that is not proven to exist, and in which the details are still hazy is a bad idea.

Let's not "Stop global warming," let's stop the global warming movement before it kills us.

Evolution, Communism, and Voting. Plus also Mother's Day.

2008-05-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

I would like to make my opinion of the theory of Evolution perfectly clear. First, I do not believe what orthodox science tells you, "man evolved from lower orders and such." Second, I believe that evolution occurs as is stated in the scriptures, "after their own kind."

Now, imagine Noah's Ark with me. If every species in existence today was on that ark, it would be a pain. Now instead, imagine that two of every kind of animal was there. Instead of two tigers and two cats and two lions and such, just one kind of cat. When they got off the ark, this cat-like animal had children who gave rise to all of those. However, its children did not give rise to dogs or birds or monkeys or people. Noah's Ark makes more sense now, eh? (This is not official church doctrine, but it does not disagree with anything that I know of).

Now, Communism. When talking to my brother last week, he said something that I found funny but true. "In the media today, you're about as likely to find a fairy, yeti, or wizard as a communist." This was after I read something about "Red China." No one calls China "Red" anymore, but it really hasn't changed its government much. It's still as "Red" as it's ever been. I think that communism is of the devil, which is why I support anything that makes China any less "Red," like Free Tibet.

Now here's a disturbing question for anyone who supports Mr. McCain (I don't actually know anyone who really does, but hey). Why are his supporters breaking party rules to make him win the convention by acclamation? Are they that scared of Ron Paul? I mean, honestly, can they not put up with a healthy debate? Or another question, why does his own son call him totally dishonest? I don't like the guy. So I won't for him unless he has a good running mate.

For Obama supporters, why is it that the man wrote a book with the same title as a reverend wright speech if he doesn't agree? Please understand that I do not necessarily believe that Obama is that extreme. He might, he might not. I'd rather give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I still disagree with him on nearly every issue, so I won't vote for him either. He has THE most liberal voting record in the senate. That's more liberal than Ted Kennedy, not an easy feat.

Hillary supporters, why is it that she says she does not support NAFTA, when her husband literally started it? Lying?

It's Mother's Day, right? So, funny story, my mom had me order her some gifts off of Amazon, so I got her this awesome brownie pan with all edges. Plus also, I got her some camera filters for her Nikon d60. I had a good Mother's Day, I ate good food at my cousin's house, and the Jazz won. What could be better?

In summary, I don't agree with most of Charles Darwin's implications, I don't like China, I am voting for president based on the vice-presidential candidate, and I love my mommy. Out of randomness, I find it funny the spell-check thinks that "Obama" is spelled wrong.

The reason why I'm "Massa"

2008-05-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

One day, long ago, there lived 2 young boys, one named Ben, and the other named Peter. As they were talking, they decided that their houses both looked like southern manors so they began calling each other "Massa' (Insert Last Name here)." This continued, with much other ridiculous adventures, and fudgysmudgikinsing. It was very amusing. The End.