Annals of the Homestarmy - Personal Entry

Considering recent events

nospam@example.com (Radar) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:32:11 -0600

All of us who write on this blog are familiar with the Harry Potter series. While not all love it, I do want to briefly paraphrase something from it. Dumbledore said at one time that aid will always be given to Hogwarts when it is most needed or called for (or something along those lines). I would like to reiterate to all of you that I, like Dumbledore, will always give whatever aid I can to those of my friends who need it. All you have to do is ask.

Cloning and Mormonism

nospam@example.com (Daboo) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:40:21 -0600

I just read The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance: A Memoir and it is hilarious and a little sad. I was really worried it would bash Mormons too much but it was too honest for that. No hate here, no prejudice, just honest reality. I liked it a lot. As someone who has actually thought about my faith and grappled with its major questions and problems, but have still chosen to be Mormon, I can really relate to her. But at one point of the book a guy the author dated asks her about cloning. It really throws her and she doesn't have a good answer, except that it's not possible to clone a real thinking person. I can see why she thought this but she is wrong. I wrote a response to her: what I would like to tell her in person. It is below the fold.
Continue reading "Cloning and Mormonism"

News From the Giggler Family

nospam@example.com (Daboo) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:35:18 -0600

Just letting everyone know that the girls went back to their birth mother yesterday at 8:00 am. It's kind of sad knowing that we'll never see them again, but I think that we gave them a good experience and I do think their BM deserved to get them back and I'm glad I helped out with that. We'll be taking a year off foster care so the boys have some much-needed stability. Overall it was a great experience for all of us and I'm glad we did it, but I am pretty exhausted and looking forward to a bit of a slower pace.

News From the Elbow Family

nospam@example.com (Johnny Elbows) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:52:35 -0600

We've had a new arrival at our house. Her name is Madeleine, but we usually call her Madi (or Squeak, since she squeaks rather than crying most of the time). There's a picture of her below the fold.

Continue reading "News From the Elbow Family"

Things to do in Utah

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:39:15 -0600

So as some of you may or may not be aware, my In-Laws have recently moved to Salt Lake From Oregon.

My mother in law is starting to be a bit bored just hanging around the house. Unfortunately her mobility is somewhat limited.

So I'm opening the question to you guys for some ideas. What are some things that she could go see/view, even if it's just from the car. She can walk, just not up or down stairs, and if she were to leave the car, restrooms would need to be somewhat easily accessible.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Paramore

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:30:00 -0600

So, most of you probably know that I've been caught being unfaithful. . .to my favorite band. At some point I started listening to Paramore more than U2. This put me in a difficult position when I had to choose to go with friends to see U2 or go by myself to see Paramore. With some hesitation I opted to see the U2 360 Claw Monster tour. Then, on Mother's Day, I was informed that my mother-in-law would very much like to see Paramore (the next night) and would I be interested. Of course I was interested. I know I'm not cool, so what do I care if all those kids 10+ years younger than me think I'm weird for going to a concert with my mother-in-law. There were still a few upper-bowl tickets available, so Monday night "ladybug" and I drove out to Sideshow's neck of the woods and attended an extremely fun show.

The opening band was Fun. You can stream their latest album here or download a free mp3 from Amazon here. Ladybug compared their lead singer to Mick Jagger, and I'll admit he had some really good stage presence.

The second band was Relient K. You may remember their single "Must Have Done Something Right" from a few years back. I didn't feel that their live show was very impressive.

Paramore was, of course, awesome. Hayley is an incredible performer. She has more energy than a nuclear reactor - which is probably why I could barely speak after scream-singing for two hours straight.
Continue reading "Paramore"

Objectivism and Christianity, Part One

nospam@example.com (Ancient of Days) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:32:00 -0600

Bumped to continue discussion. Original post date: 2010-04-11 09:28
[I am posting this here because Radar had mentioned that he would be interested in reading it. It's not complete, and the writing still needs to be polished, so please have some patience with it -- AoD.]

“You’ll come back,” said Hugh Akston, “because yours is an error of knowledge, not a moral failure, not an act of surrender to evil, but only the last act of being victim to your own virtue.”

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999. Print.

From time to time, I have a conversation where someone asks me to justify how I can claim to be both a Christian and an Objectivist – the speaker believing these to be views in opposition.
Continue reading "Objectivism and Christianity, Part One"

Weekend Reading

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:01:29 -0700

I'm reading Compensation by Ralph Waldo Emerson for the first time and I'm super impressed at what he has to say about life and what you get out of it. You can read a copy here.

Here's an excerpt:

Continue reading "Weekend Reading"

The Blight of Suburbia

nospam@example.com (Daboo) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:37:20 -0700

This morning it is snowing, already four inches or so on the ground, and my two school-age children have been outside romping through the drifts in the front yard for 15 minutes, waiting for their walking buddies to show up. (This means that my previously pristine, smooth front lawn is now a riot of paths and bumps, and the trees have deliberately had all their snow shaken down upon young heads. What will the neighbors think? Gasp!)

I sent them to school by themselves when it became clear that the walking buddies weren't going to show, and not thirty seconds later the very thing I had feared occurred - a neighbor mom in an enormous SUV saw them, pulled over, and offered them a ride.

I am outraged.

First of all, it's five blocks to school. Six if you go the long way. It's not hard for elementary school age kids to walk five blocks - in fact, they burn more than that amount of energy just zipping around getting ready in the morning (colliding, panicking, playing, hysterically laughing, and in the case of Preston RIGHT NOW, cuddling three light sabres and tucking them into bed.)

Secondly, KIDS LIKE SNOW. I know this comes as a surprise to those of us who don't remember childhood. But I can guarantee that my kids, upon looking out the window this morning, did NOT think to themselves, "dammit, now I will be forced to frolic my way to school while pelting my siblings and friends with snowballs and sliding on the sidewalk in my snow boots." They LIKE walking those five blocks in a magically transformed, white-purple world (which has miraculously become wholly edible overnight.)

And thirdly, and most outrageously, does that SUV mom actually think my kids are SAFER in an SUV which will go join a queue of a hundred other cars and SUVs, sliding on the slush with kids dodging before and behind as they unload? My kids are much, much safer walking to school than driving. Period. But most especially, they are safer in crappy weather like this. What to a driver is a harrowing death journey is to a child an enchanted wonderland. And yes, I am aware that my children probably won't be injured because of that sheltered, heated, crowded SUV, but that doesn't change the fact that they would have been better off outside of it.

When did Suburbia become like this? When my grandmother raised her children, she sought out a suburban neighborhood. The kids roamed in packs, playing night games and raiding fruit trees. Now, my children play outside alone unless a neighbor invites them in to watch TV or play video games. And in this lovely, soft snowfall, all the children in my neighborhood can only watch through tinted windows as they join the endless queue to drop them off immediately in front of the school doors. Heaven forbid they have to walk down the school sidewalk. They might have to do something inconvenient, like enjoy themselves.

Why Twilight Isn't That Bad

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:56:00 -0700

Joey, just stop reading now. Just kidding, it's not really about vampires.

This is a post I've been meaning to write ever since I first read this blog post by L.E. Modesitt Jr. My view on this has been further solidified by the defensive nature the authors of the tor.com blog take when discussing the "elitism" of so-called literary magazines while simultaneously slamming the Twilight series of books and movies.

One person I know dismisses the Twilight series out of hand because it deals with vampires. This person would also willingly admit to avoiding Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Interview with the Vampire, Dracula and basically any media involving vampires. This post is not about that. I think I may have already mentioned that.

This post is about dismissing something because it's not cool or comes from a genre that is not cool.
Continue reading "Why Twilight Isn't That Bad"

The London Broil

nospam@example.com (Daboo) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:24:53 -0700

When I was 18 and in college in Arizona, Sarah and I went to the Renaissance fair. It was cool for a couple of reasons: It was in a little faux town built just for that purpose out in the desert, there were lots of hot guys brandishing pretty weapons (NOT A METAPHOR), and the performers were awesome. My favorite performers were this group of cute juggling guys. They were so funny that I couldn't breathe through most of their act, I was laughing so hard. I sat through their show twice. They were talented too - they balanced on giant balls juggling flaming clubs (ALSO NOT A METAPHOR).

I was curious today and looked them up, and it turns out that not only are they still performing but they are getting gigs outside of Renaissance fairs. (Not that there's anything wrong with performing at Renaissance fairs. I would be caterwauling ballads there RIGHT NOW if they'd have me.) They're still totally cute and one of the guys, Matt, reminds me of Joey if he had dedicated his life to entertaining others and juggling rather than plotting the destruction of others and writing code. Their website is www.thelondonbroilshow.com

A Policy of Non-Embarrassment

nospam@example.com (The Fox) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:41:24 -0700

Recently I read for school Concerning The Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei. This scientific treatise is presented by Galileo as a discussion over the course of four days between three friends: Salviati, Sagredo, and Simplicio. Salviati leads the discussion, presenting the findings of Galileo, while Simplicio spends most of his time refuting Salviati's argument. This enables Galileo to address probable objections to his work in a way that shows both friendliness and familiarity with the arguments. On the fourth day, a curious exchange takes place, which serves to remind us to avoid embarrassing those whom we engage in discourse, scientific or otherwise.

As Salviati begins to explain a new proof, he is interrupted by Sagredo. "Here Salviati, it will be necessary to stop a little while for my sake, and I believe also for the benefit of Simplicio; for it so happens that I have not gone very far in my study of Apollonius...." Salviati wonders at this: "You are quite too modest, pretending ignorance of facts which not long ago you acknowledged as well known...." Why should Sagredo pretend ignorance? One might think that Galileo employs this device in order to introduce Apollonius' work to the reader, but Galileo doesn't do that. Instead Salviati presents the work of "the Author" (Galileo), saying, "I did not happen to have at hand the books of Apollonius." In fact, Galileo's proofs are shorter, he says, so that he may save time by skipping over Apollonius' work anyway. So, why does Galileo put this exchange into a scientific treatise full of geometrical proofs?

The answer I think comes from Simplicio: "Now even though Sagredo is, as I believe, well equipped for all his needs, I do not even understand the elementary terms...." Sagredo is familiar with Apollonius, but Simplicio is not. Sagredo does not wish to embarrass his friend, however, so he claims to share his ignorance. It is evident that Galileo is showing the reader that one must be sensitive to protect the honor of his friend. Scientific discovery can be shared without humiliating the unlearned.

I sometimes forget to hold other people's honor as sacred to me as my own. In a debate, I will not notice if I have humiliated another if it means I've made my point. This fault of mine ignores the very dearness of the other person. As I post on this blog, it is likely that I will post arguments against others. As I do so, I will endeavor to look after the honor of others. One can be right about an argument, and all wrong about he treats those who either disagree with him or are merely unfamiliar with the facts. Thanks to the Homestarmy (especially Peter and Joey) for the opportunity to write here.

Source: Galileo. Concerning The Two New Sciences. Great Books of the Western World. Ed. Mortimer J. Adler.Trans. Henry Crew and Alfonso de Salvio. Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1990. 238.

Cash poor. House rich!

nospam@example.com (Radar) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:48:52 -0700

So for the last 4 months I have been searching to purchase a house. It has been one of the most eye-opening and arduous experiences of my life. And I am happy to say: it is finally over! I closed on my house Monday night and got the keys Tuesday evening. I am officially a home owner.

I don't have any pictures yet, but when I do I'll post some up for you all to see. And once my moving of my accumulated 8 years of crap has finished I'll even invite you all over for some sort of gathering. Special thanks should go out to my real estate agent Lisa. She was absolutely fantastic. There is no way I could have ever done any of this without her help. If any of you are looking for an agent I highly recommend her.

A Reminder

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:41:00 -0700

Just a reminder that Kalissa's Blessing will be this Sunday.
Our Sacrament starts at 11:00 a.m. Our church is located at 3737 S 5600 W, or you can just meet us at the Asylum (3513 S. 5450 W.) before hand.

After Sacrament we will have an open house back at the Asylum.

Happy Halloween

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:07:41 -0600

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