the CIA is tracking you

I stumbled upon the following CIA site while doing research on a completely different topic.

It's amazing what you can get access to on the Internet.

Here is the link

This is some pretty interesting stuff, and equally useful for students doing research.

Griswald Family Vacation 05

It's slow around here so you can all view the pictures from our vacation this summer. I find that looking at other's vacation photos can be quite facinating. ;) I recommend the slideshow set at 5 secs between photos. That way you get the whole experience. 4500 miles and 15 states! Rock on!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=608420808203

Whoop off, mother-whooper!

Whoop-up days is gay.

Having just watched parts of what I assume was supposed to be a parade, it occured to me exactly how much vitriol I have for this annual event.

I don't like large groups of people, I don't like 'western' heritage, and I think parades are generally stupid (this particular one being a stellar example).

**sigh!**

Sometimes I wonder how the hell I was raised here, and still seem to hate so much about where I live.

Not ALL music is rad....

So this afternoon Robert comes in the house furious because the construction workers outside were listening to "Old time Rock and Roll" which he HATES because it gets played about 50 times a day on oldies stations and at every cheezy wedding or dance that he has ever been to. The song just makes him feel anger inside!

So now that we have discussed what music we think is cool, I thought it would be funny to start voting for the music that sucks the worst.

I'll start with my vote for "If You Believe in Life After Love" by Cher (or anything else by Cher) and "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston, which I heard the other day in Walmart and almost had to leave the store.

Once all the votes are in, maybe we can download all the sucky songs and make a CD to give as a gag gift to somebody....Moi-ha-ha-ha!

Rob Schneider, thy name is mud

The new Duece Bigelow movie is being DESTROYED by Roger Ebert. I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Ebert, but you've got to read his review of the new Duece movie.

I believe the term is,"He ripped him a new one."

Losing my religion

I have lurked, but only occasionally. I know this was started in the aftermath of losing a most excellent friend. I called Rick and Dave the night they were having a small gathering in memory of Kent, and it was comforting to hear old friend’s voices. One of my favorite memories is driving around listening to the Ramones with Kent and Rick.

It is comforting to have friends from the past. Not keeping in touch doesn’t change the connection you have had with others. Things have changed, people are doing different things with their lives, but if you put us all back into the halls of the mhs, or made us loiter at any public place for three hours, things would seem to not have changed at all.

Reminiscing is weird for me. Everyone has a different perspective on events that took place and my memories are hit and miss. While there were mischievous good times, and funny things to recall, and it’s always fun to listen to and tell old stories, I would never choose to relive that time period. Some dark days were lived in that town for me.

I have a strict policy that I don’t talk about religion or politics with friends. I watched my father speak only these subjects when he “visited” with friends and family, and he truly created his anti-social lifestyle. He wasn’t a fun guy to be around.

Randy Sr. was and is extreme in the ways of religion. There seems to be a connection with the world not ending in the year 2000 as he and the works of G had predicted, and him really losing it and starting to do some crazy shit. When he walked out of the house this spring, my mother, the siblings and I have never felt better about life. A serious weight lifted off the shoulders of my two younger brothers, having to live in such a disrespectful household. It also created some extra storage space, as Marlene was able to sell off the 38 buckets of wheat that were being stored under the stairs at the garage sale for a buck each!

I wouldn’t say that everyone has this same experience, and I know that everyone’s life lessons are different, so to each his own. It is personal, and that is how I feel about spirituality. For me, it never has and never will be contained within any four walls on this earth.

I sometimes refer to myself a recovering mormon, just as others I know are recovering from catholicism, the guilt religion. I no longer defend it in conversations, and I no longer feel judged or guilty about the life I live. I am not a bad person. Beazlebub and I have a drink once and a while, play come cards, just hanging and listen to some tunes. It’s cool.

Please note: I am not debating, nor will I about anything to do with the church. This was my experience and is my opinion. Take it or leave it.

Reading through the blog got me thinking it has steered off its original course, so maybe it’s time to change it up a little. Here are some new topics to get going on:

What the first album/cassette that you purchased?
What was the first concert you went to?
What are your top three most memorable concerts?

Waxing or shaving? What’s better? Does Brazilian really change your life?
If you didn’t know how old you are, how old would you be?
If you had a whole day just to yourself and $20, what would you do?

Do it.

That was my first blog, how was it for you?

amos

In other news, Randy went to the Bob Dylan concert and had a good time!

I read this on a cup from Starbucks ...

"Recently I eavesdropped on a conversation between two twenty-something employees at a local Starbucks. I listened as the barista mused about his taste in music. Then the cashier asked him if he had ever heard the song 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. After a pause, the barista answered, 'No I can't say I ever heard that one before'. That's when I knew there really was such a thing as a generation gap." - Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Way I See It #52

This both amuses and scares me a bit.
I can't possibly be on the other side of a generation gap can I?

Blanks 4 Cheep

Hey Milk River man!
Check this out.
Uncut Santa Cruz Blanks - $15.50 each
Have you seen this before?

White Stripes and Sleater-Kinney

Saw them at a super cool venue in Washington State (overlooking a huge valley). Met Tim and Amy there. Lots of fun and beautiful weather. Bands were great, would have liked more Sleater-Kinney though. On our way to Mt. Saint Helens today. Bye all!

Sweet Sweet Little Ramona.....

She always wants to come over....yeah! I was recently going through some old stuff in my parent's storage unit and I found an old Ramones tape, amongst other interesting artifacts. Sure I've got them on CD, but what could be more nostalgic than a crappy dub on cassete? Which also reminds me of Kent, which makes me feel sad but also brings back a lot of good memories. Found some other funny stuff too. So then I pull out an old photo album, and there's a photog with Rick, Monti and Dave at one of my parties. Rick has his back to the camera so it's a good view of the old RAT TAIL, Monti's got the black leather jacket and Dave's got the long skater bangs. There's also a pic of me at the ramp on the Lucero, which I thought Monti should know I tried to buy back from Francis even after he broke it cause I felt bad for selling it. But apparently George had a bonfire with all the evil skate stuff he could find around the house.

Dave, I wanted to ask you, I found a framed 8x10 Grad portrait of you and I started to wonder if that had been your only copy. If so, do you want me to mail it to you?

Amy says she's been lurking on this site so we need to all gang up on her and peer pressure her to start posting.

Ang

Reformed Egyptian?

Since we all dig scholarly evidences, here are some interesting links in regards to Reformed Egyptian as well as the geography of the Arabian peninsula. There are strong indications that the BOM was written in Hebrew using Egyptian characters (since they take up less space and are easier to engrave on metal plates). There are also some interesting evidences of the BOM in the Arabian peninsula. My dad actually travelled to these places (Wadi Sayq, Salalah) in Oman, and even went to Yemen (with hired armed guards). Check it out, it's only fair since I have been subjecting myself to plenty of anti-mormon websites in order to be an informed member of society.

http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/lehiEgypt.pdf

http://ldsfaq.byu.edu/emmain.asp?number=35

http://www.jefflindsay.com/BMEvidences.shtml#egyptian

To quote a few passages off the last link:

"One of the most common attacks against the BOM focuses on the use of "reformed Egyptian" as a writing system for the golden plates (Mormon 9:32-34). It is alleged that no self-respecting Isrealite would ever use Egyptian to write sacred scripture, and it is alleged that no such language as "reformed Egyptian" has ever existed. These arguments are typified in the anti-Mormon book, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism by "Dr." John Ankerberg and "Dr." John Weldon (neither one of which appears to have a legitimate Ph.D):" (pg. 17)

"Several modified or "reformed" Egyptian scripts are well known, including forms called Demotic and Hieratic...However the Reformed Egyptian used by the Nephites is described as a language system unique to them (Mormon 9:32-34), having evolved with their culture over a 1000 year period. It was apparently used for sacred writings, and should have been almost wholly lost with the destruction of Nephite civilization. How can we expect Egyptologists, with typically no training in Central American matters, to know whether such a language ever existed there?" (pg. 17)

Then there is some evidence that Jews did indeed use Egyptian characters in their writings, such as the Papyrus Amherst 63, a text from the second century BC, which contains Aramaic texts written in demotic Egyptian script. (Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew and was the spoken language of Jesus). The first link also provides evidence of why Isrealites( like Lehi) would know how to write in Egyptian. Apparently Egypt was a historic enemy of Judah, but was the least hated of their conqueres and was used as an ally to overcome the rule of the much nastier Assyrians and Babylonians. Successful business people of the time would likely have been fluent in Egyptian.

"As for the grammar [of the BOM] there certainly were many strange and awkward structures in the original manuscript...That's completely unacceptable English--but it's very good Hebrew, known as the Hebraic conditional...There are dozens of examples of other expressions and grammatical structures in the 1830 Book of Mormon, many which survive in the current printing, that are unusual or awkward in English yet are natural and proper in Hebrew...The language of the Book of Mormon cannot be explained as the English of Joseph Smith or the King James English of the Bible. It's more Semitic than either." (pg.27)

"Uto-Aztecan " [language of ancient Central America] as a language family exhibits more similarities with Hebrew than could be attributed to coincidence; nevertheless, that Hebrew element is obviously mixed with other language elements very different from Hebrew...there are still many traces of similarity suggesting some degree of contact or derivation. Over 1000 similarities have been derived, enough to merit further investigation." (pg. 28)

"...This type of [language] structure [in Mosiah 7:21-22] is an ideal way of translating the typical Hebrew hal-clause(or circumstantial clause)...Many English sentences in the BOM that an English editor would tear apart are perfectly acceptable in Hebrew structures, appearing to be fairly literal translations. The King James translation loses much of the literal flavor of such passages, but they are present in the original Hebrew. (pg.28-29)

"The name 'sheum' appears in Mosiah 9:9 as a foodstuff in a list of grains...sheum is a prefectly good Akkadian cerial name...this word was not know to scholars until at least 1857, long after the BOM had been published. How did Joseph Smith make up this ancient word from the Near East and properly treat it as a grain?" (pg.32)

"The non LDS Rabbi Yosef ben Yehuda notes that 'Liahona' was probably coined by the Nephites but represents very good Hebrew...The related roots fit the meaning of Liahona quite well." (pg.32)

"Near Eastern scholar, William F. Albright, though not a believer in the BOM, wrote a letter in response to an anti-Mormon critic, noting that Joseph Smith probably could not have learned Egyptian from scholars of his day, yet included some authentic Egyptian names in the BOM" (pg.33)

"..no spot has received more vigorous attacks than Alma7:10 , which contains a prophecy of Alma about the birth of Christ. This passage makes the 'enormous blunder' of placing Christ's birth in the land of Jerusalem, rather than Bethlehem...In fact, the phrase 'land of Jerusalem', which is used dozens of times in the BOM, is never used in the Bible...The Dead Sea Scrolls and other recently discovered ancient documentations from Isreal confirm that phrase 'land of Jerusalem' was an authentic term used to describe the area around Jerusalem--an area that includes nearby Bethlehem...Use of that term was utterly illogical for Joseph Smith, who published the BOM over a century before the Dead Sea Scrolls were even discovered." (pg.34)

"Yale's Harold Bloom is perplexed as to how to explain the many parallels between Joseph Smith's writing and ancient apocalyptic, pseudepigraphal, and kabbalistic literature...'I can only attribute his genius or daemon his uncanny recovery of elements in ancient Jewish theurgy that had ceased to be available either to normative Judaism or the Christianity, and that had survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched Smith directly" (pg.45)

Also fascinating is the section on Chiasmus, the use of Cement in Ancient America, and Gardens, Towers and multiple markets. All aspects of meso-American culture unkown about in Joseph Smith's time, but discovered more recently. Also particularly interesting is the section on the Arabian peninsula (you'll have to scroll upwards to find this info).

"The description of Lehi's journey through the desert has been attacked in anit-Mormon literature. Finding a garden spot on the coast of the Arabian peninsula was laughable and was laughed at in the 1800s, because nobody knew of a place that could come anywhere close to being a candidate for Lehi's Bountiful..." (pg.9)

Then there are photos to support the discovery of garden spots in the Arabian Peninsula, namely Wadi Sayq and Salalah, (both places have been visited by my parents recently).

"'By describing in such precise detail a fertile Arabian coastal location, as well as the route to get there from Jerusalem (complete with directions and even a place-name en route), Joseph Smith put his prophetic credibility very much on the line. Could a young, untraveled farmer in rural New York somehow have known about a fertile site on the coast of Arabia? Could a map or some writing other than the Nephite record have been a source for him? The answer is a clear no. Long after 1830 publication of the BOM, Maps of Arabia continued to show the eastern coastline and interior as unknown, unexplored territory...'"

The article also points out other Arabian landmarks described in the BOM that were previously undiscovered, but that correspond with the distances traveled and directions given in the BOM.

Anyhow, given this scholarly info on the Hebrew writing styles and the geography of the Arabian penensula, I would say this qualifies as having an infinitesimally small probablilty of all being a coincidence. Then combine this with other evidences in this article and it's pretty impressive.

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout?"

Yes I know you are all going to be green with envy when you hear this but Gary Coleman is my new neighbor. Ok he doesn't live next door but he does reside a couple of blocks from me now. Maybe I can invite him over for FHE. ;) Interesting tidbit...our town manager Stefan Chatwin is Jerry Chatwin's son.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600151418,00.html

Newest Order

I found it, I liked it.
You can watch it if you're interested...
Click me, I'm a link to the latest New Order video


Don't listen to that last link...I'm the link direct to a windows media version of the video