Glenn Beck has gone off the reservation. His elevator doesn't reach the top floor. He doesn't have both oars in the water. Whatever saying you want to use, the man is insane. Not like the "ha ha you are adorable" insane. Not like the crazy uncle at the party who was right about government surveillance. He's gone full conspiracy nut crazy.
Like him or not, Rush Limbaugh is a good advocate for conservative values. If you want to see how a functional right winger thinks, listen to Rush. Shockingly, you might be surprised about how entertaining it is. You don't have to agree with him-but don't be "that guy or girl" who can't fathom listening to a view that isn't exactly like their own.
Beck though, has gone off the deep end. He's a brother, and I shouldn't talk this way about another brother, but I can't help it. I was once a fan. He seemed to be a rising star in the conservative talk media world.
Sadly though, Beck has become a lunatic. He has become obsessed with Ted Cruz-that's fine, but don't act like Ted Cruz is the last hope for the republic. He's also become obsessed with praying for the country and wearing his religion (and mine) on his sleeve. First off-we are not all like this. Second, adding religion to your politics is fine, but be careful. I know of some people who will be crushed when Ted Cruz loses and it will effect their faith and belief in the Almighty. That's my fear with Brother Beck. My other fear with Beck is that he'll start to handle snakes next Sunday in sacrament meeting.
Beck and I agree on religion and on many things politically. Promise me something though-if I ever become like him in style and substance, you'll smack me back down to reality.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Album of the weekend
Anvil-Metal on Metal
Fanboy alert.
Widely considered their masterpiece, every song on this album is fantastic. The title track is a metal anthem. "Metal on Metal, it's what I crave, the louder the better, I'll turn in my grave." Just thinking about it makes me smile. This album also has what is the greatest instrumental in metal-"March of the Crabs." It also sounds much more crisp and professional sound their first album "Hard n Heavy", which is also quite good.
Anvil is your local garage band that got their second chance with this album. It's a must have for metal fans, for sure.
Keep on pounding, join the heavy metal fight.
Fanboy alert.
Widely considered their masterpiece, every song on this album is fantastic. The title track is a metal anthem. "Metal on Metal, it's what I crave, the louder the better, I'll turn in my grave." Just thinking about it makes me smile. This album also has what is the greatest instrumental in metal-"March of the Crabs." It also sounds much more crisp and professional sound their first album "Hard n Heavy", which is also quite good.
Anvil is your local garage band that got their second chance with this album. It's a must have for metal fans, for sure.
Keep on pounding, join the heavy metal fight.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Snopes, I love you.
Remember when Grandpa told you that a story that was too good to be true was probably not true?
My maternal grandfather was a great man. He passed away when I was a child, but I think about him often. I visited his grave every three months or so when I lived in the north. His wife, my Memere will be turning 90 this summer and she lives down in Florida.
They had a special word for stories that were too good to be true. They called them "bunk". It's a wonderful old word that really means bullshit, but they were too polite to swear in front of their seven year old grandson. Cool thing-my love of hard boiled detective stories about grisly murders comes from my Memere. LA Noire is one of my favorite recent games. Sure it's replay value isn't high but it's fantastic.
Snopes is one of the greatest websites out there. Whenever a story comes out and goes viral, my first instinct is to believe it-than check Snopes. Many, many people say that they follow their "gut" and it's the best choices they make-but that is not the option for me. Following my gut is usually a terrible choice and following my head is usually the best one.
Snopes will debunk anything. From politics to urban legends to fake news stories-if it's not true, Snopes will find out. Snopes does what journalists should do, but in the time we live in today it is literally impossible to stop fake stories from going viral. Snopes seems to be focusing more on news stories than whacky urban legends and thank God for that. With the right believing everything negative about Obama and the left believing everything negative about Bush-Snopes stands alone in telling the truth.
My maternal grandfather was a great man. He passed away when I was a child, but I think about him often. I visited his grave every three months or so when I lived in the north. His wife, my Memere will be turning 90 this summer and she lives down in Florida.
They had a special word for stories that were too good to be true. They called them "bunk". It's a wonderful old word that really means bullshit, but they were too polite to swear in front of their seven year old grandson. Cool thing-my love of hard boiled detective stories about grisly murders comes from my Memere. LA Noire is one of my favorite recent games. Sure it's replay value isn't high but it's fantastic.
Snopes is one of the greatest websites out there. Whenever a story comes out and goes viral, my first instinct is to believe it-than check Snopes. Many, many people say that they follow their "gut" and it's the best choices they make-but that is not the option for me. Following my gut is usually a terrible choice and following my head is usually the best one.
Snopes will debunk anything. From politics to urban legends to fake news stories-if it's not true, Snopes will find out. Snopes does what journalists should do, but in the time we live in today it is literally impossible to stop fake stories from going viral. Snopes seems to be focusing more on news stories than whacky urban legends and thank God for that. With the right believing everything negative about Obama and the left believing everything negative about Bush-Snopes stands alone in telling the truth.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Curt Schilling and ESPN
The baseball player Curt Schilling is a complicated person. He's a man of strong opinions-and most people who are intelligent and passionate also have strong opinions. I've mentioned it before, but those who dismiss others strong views instead of discussing them are often (not always) too stupid to form their own intelligent opinions.
He's an outstanding baseball pitcher. One of the best of his generation, really. He played for several teams and achieved stardom during his Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox years. He was a key piece on teams that won the World Series. Without him, I can assure you that the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox would never have won the championships.
Like most athletes, he seems to think that he'll be successful in any field. His video game company was a disaster. Many people lost their jobs, health care and savings because of him. He also lost 50 million dollars given to him by the governor of Rhode Island. While I don't think he committed a criminal fraud, he was grossly negligent and by all accounts an incompetent businessman.
He's been in the news lately because he was fired from ESPN for remarks on his private Twitter account about transgender people. To be upfront-these are not views I share. I support the rights of transgendered people, whatever that means. They have the right to be transgendered and prejudice against them is certainly wrong.
And so is prejudice against people who disagree with me. ESPN certainly has the right to fire Schilling-it's private company and they can do what they want. Oddly, the "private company" argument is only brought up by the left in cases like this. In cases where a private company wants to refuse a transaction-the left ignores that argument. Speaking of transgenderism and the left ignoring arguments-laws will not stop sex offenders from going into public bathrooms, and laws won't stop sex offenders and other criminals from getting guns either. Consistency, thy name is not leftism.
Back to Schilling. It's hard to imagine that if Schilling were an atheist or a marxist who spouted off regularly he would have been disciplined by ESPN. In fact, ESPN lets liberals like Jason Whitlock and Tony Kornheiser spout off in the private lives all the time without punishing them. Double standard much? Yes. It exists.
ESPN is losing viewers and money. While it's mostly because in 2016 we can get our sports news from many different sources, I am convinced it's also because people are tired of the politically correct obnoxious attitude they show to anyone who doesn't agree with them. Like all tolerant colleges/corporations and people -they are only tolerant if you vomit out what they believe.
Free Schilling!
He's an outstanding baseball pitcher. One of the best of his generation, really. He played for several teams and achieved stardom during his Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox years. He was a key piece on teams that won the World Series. Without him, I can assure you that the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox would never have won the championships.
Like most athletes, he seems to think that he'll be successful in any field. His video game company was a disaster. Many people lost their jobs, health care and savings because of him. He also lost 50 million dollars given to him by the governor of Rhode Island. While I don't think he committed a criminal fraud, he was grossly negligent and by all accounts an incompetent businessman.
He's been in the news lately because he was fired from ESPN for remarks on his private Twitter account about transgender people. To be upfront-these are not views I share. I support the rights of transgendered people, whatever that means. They have the right to be transgendered and prejudice against them is certainly wrong.
And so is prejudice against people who disagree with me. ESPN certainly has the right to fire Schilling-it's private company and they can do what they want. Oddly, the "private company" argument is only brought up by the left in cases like this. In cases where a private company wants to refuse a transaction-the left ignores that argument. Speaking of transgenderism and the left ignoring arguments-laws will not stop sex offenders from going into public bathrooms, and laws won't stop sex offenders and other criminals from getting guns either. Consistency, thy name is not leftism.
Back to Schilling. It's hard to imagine that if Schilling were an atheist or a marxist who spouted off regularly he would have been disciplined by ESPN. In fact, ESPN lets liberals like Jason Whitlock and Tony Kornheiser spout off in the private lives all the time without punishing them. Double standard much? Yes. It exists.
ESPN is losing viewers and money. While it's mostly because in 2016 we can get our sports news from many different sources, I am convinced it's also because people are tired of the politically correct obnoxious attitude they show to anyone who doesn't agree with them. Like all tolerant colleges/corporations and people -they are only tolerant if you vomit out what they believe.
Free Schilling!
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
The death of Prince
We all know that Prince has passed away. It's a tragedy, for sure. For all of his quirks he really was a musical genius.
I'm not the biggest Prince fan. That doesn't mean I don't like any of his songs-I really like "Little Red Corvette" and "Raspberry Beret". That's it. I'm not like his "fans" online that suddenly came out of the shadows and are talking about what a huge impact his songs had on their lives-but they never expressed their fandom until after he died. These people are among the worst types of bandwagon jumpers because they cheapen the death of their "idol" and ruin it for all of us. Now people can't tell the difference between the posers and legit fans.
I wasn't a legit fan. I can appreciate musical genius wherever it is though, and he was certainly a musical genius. His death is incredibly sad not only because he was so young, but because it apparently was drug related too.
Prince had some issues with the internet. He lost a lot of fans for suing a select few that uploaded some of his songs to Youtube. It didn't stick to him though like Napster stuck to Metallica.
Cool Punk fact-My first slow dance was to "Diamonds and Pearls." Her name was Terri-Anne, and after sixth grade, I never saw her again. I'm sure she doesn't remember this, but wherever you are Terri-Anne, we'll always have "Diamonds and Pearls".
I'm not the biggest Prince fan. That doesn't mean I don't like any of his songs-I really like "Little Red Corvette" and "Raspberry Beret". That's it. I'm not like his "fans" online that suddenly came out of the shadows and are talking about what a huge impact his songs had on their lives-but they never expressed their fandom until after he died. These people are among the worst types of bandwagon jumpers because they cheapen the death of their "idol" and ruin it for all of us. Now people can't tell the difference between the posers and legit fans.
I wasn't a legit fan. I can appreciate musical genius wherever it is though, and he was certainly a musical genius. His death is incredibly sad not only because he was so young, but because it apparently was drug related too.
Prince had some issues with the internet. He lost a lot of fans for suing a select few that uploaded some of his songs to Youtube. It didn't stick to him though like Napster stuck to Metallica.
Cool Punk fact-My first slow dance was to "Diamonds and Pearls." Her name was Terri-Anne, and after sixth grade, I never saw her again. I'm sure she doesn't remember this, but wherever you are Terri-Anne, we'll always have "Diamonds and Pearls".
Monday, May 2, 2016
Aventures in home teaching
Home teaching is one of the things that LDS do that I wish every single church did. Basically every member of the church is assigned a home teacher. Home teachers are two priesthood holders (Again, only men can be priesthood holders. I disagree personally but accept the church teaching) who check in on the status of the family. Is anyone sick? Anyone need a priestly blessing? Is there something bad happening in the home (abuse, home falling apart, money woes)?
It's a huge, huge positive. Many church goers only see each other on Sunday, when people are usually acting their best, dressing their best, etc. It's good to dress up in your "Sunday best" but it sometimes doesn't show the entire story. With home teaching you can actually go to the persons home and see how they live.
So anyway, I went out home teaching for the first time in my new ward. My companion (a very nice guy, really hit off with him) wore a blazer and a tie. I wore blue jeans and a t-shirt. I'm not comfortable in suits and formal wear.
Growing up in Catholic schools we had to wear a tie all the time. It was miserable. It also accomplished nothing. People say that having a dress code stops the kids from competing against each other. It doesn't, we competed about who had the better ties, shoes, and shirts all the time. They say having a dress code detracts from dressing provocatively-that's also rubbish. Even though I don't find Catholic school attire sexy many other men do. They (by "they" I mean school officials, parents) say a dress code "brought us together as a school". That's garbage too. It further enhanced cliques and factions because certain kids could get away with dress code violations while others couldn't. In other word, dress codes themselves are mostly useless.We couldn't have long hair, facial hair, earrings, visible tattoos-in other words, conformity was required. Reason #42 high school was the worst time of my life.
The wife of a member (herself not a member) saw what I was wearing and said "You are the first Mormon I know who looks normal." I get that a lot. The church won't change on this issue, but they should. It's not dogma to dress like a mortician or a Wall Street investment banker from the 80's.
My home teaching companion was fine with how I dressed. He made a good point. "I'm just glad we're getting people to go out home teaching again."
Sounds good to me.
It's a huge, huge positive. Many church goers only see each other on Sunday, when people are usually acting their best, dressing their best, etc. It's good to dress up in your "Sunday best" but it sometimes doesn't show the entire story. With home teaching you can actually go to the persons home and see how they live.
So anyway, I went out home teaching for the first time in my new ward. My companion (a very nice guy, really hit off with him) wore a blazer and a tie. I wore blue jeans and a t-shirt. I'm not comfortable in suits and formal wear.
Growing up in Catholic schools we had to wear a tie all the time. It was miserable. It also accomplished nothing. People say that having a dress code stops the kids from competing against each other. It doesn't, we competed about who had the better ties, shoes, and shirts all the time. They say having a dress code detracts from dressing provocatively-that's also rubbish. Even though I don't find Catholic school attire sexy many other men do. They (by "they" I mean school officials, parents) say a dress code "brought us together as a school". That's garbage too. It further enhanced cliques and factions because certain kids could get away with dress code violations while others couldn't. In other word, dress codes themselves are mostly useless.We couldn't have long hair, facial hair, earrings, visible tattoos-in other words, conformity was required. Reason #42 high school was the worst time of my life.
The wife of a member (herself not a member) saw what I was wearing and said "You are the first Mormon I know who looks normal." I get that a lot. The church won't change on this issue, but they should. It's not dogma to dress like a mortician or a Wall Street investment banker from the 80's.
My home teaching companion was fine with how I dressed. He made a good point. "I'm just glad we're getting people to go out home teaching again."
Sounds good to me.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Scripture Sunday Alma 16:17
The Christian God is often thought of being "unforgiving" or "harsh in His judgements". He actually isn't. He only uses violence as a last resort and usually gives people every last chance to redeem themselves. In this Book of Mormon passage, I think it shows that.
God is telling Alma to take it easy during warfare. God seems to be reminding people that "they (the "enemies") might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving and go on destruction but that they might receive the word with joy."
You can use this passage in your daily life. We often want to close the door on people we think are lost causes-maybe because of how they look or how they act-but we should be reminded that God never closes the door on people.
God is telling Alma to take it easy during warfare. God seems to be reminding people that "they (the "enemies") might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving and go on destruction but that they might receive the word with joy."
You can use this passage in your daily life. We often want to close the door on people we think are lost causes-maybe because of how they look or how they act-but we should be reminded that God never closes the door on people.
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