There is a big spray painted sign on Cowell Road that says "Happy Birthday Jesus." I am not always fond of big visual displays of faith (I believe Gordon B. Hinckley's view that our representation as believers is best based on how we live our lives), but it still made me happy to see that. I hope there are at least a few people who will think about where Christmas comes from and why we consider it so significant.

Christmas

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
-Henry W. Longfellow

Merry Christmas everyone!

A scene from Atonement

The following is a clip from a movie everybody who values true art and real beauty and intense drama in movies should see:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=i6tYtWYWgGo

The name of the hymn sung is "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"; the name of the music played is "Elegy for Dunkirk."

BTW, the title of my next novel is in that hymn. I decided to do that to pay homage to it for inspiring the basic storyline and characters (although not the theme).

-SALVARE

Remember Ken Jennings from Jeopardy?

Well he's back. With a vengeance. And he wants blood. Your blood. My blood. Everybody's blood.

Nah, I'm just kidding. But he does have some insightful stuff to say. Nothing super revolutionary, but probably a good summation of what Mormons all over the country are thinking in regards to the trash talk we've been receiving on the internet and the news daily.

-SALVARE

More entertaining if you actually caught some of the debate...

http://townhall.com/blog/g/80aba493-15c3-4367-8d60-9dfb62fda142

But still pretty good.

Two awesome things

Mitt Romney has received the official presidential endorsement of National Review, one of the most respected conservative magazines around. I thought he would probably get the nomination before; now I'm pretty much certain he will.

and

w00t!

-SALVARE

This is real

"It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it's the party of women and 'We'll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'"
-Ann Coulter

This is for humour, guys. I don't endorse it, but it is interesting.

Americans are afraid of math.

This is anecdotal, but I think it holds up. Today my math teacher asked why we, as a nation, are weak in math. It seems like our education has not done so well in the area of mathematics, and I'm here to offer my opinion why: I think that we are increasingly afraid of answers. We have let ourselves become so tolerant that we don't think anyone could ever be right, or that anything could really be true.
Think about it. In English things are different. The ability to communicate is stressed, but there is essentially no wrong answer, as long as that answer is well reasoned, defended and expressed. In my math class, we talked briefly about other reasons for American weakness in the subject; negative experiences from childhood, elementary school teachers who prefer English, childhood impatience, etc. Still, maybe this runs deeper. Maybe our weakness in mathematics is a symptom of our desertion of a belief in truth.
Listen to news radio, or politicians, and you may begin to see:
to quote 2 Timothy 3:7
"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."