The FBI just shot and killed an elderly brother in our ward. Financial clerk for years. Sweet guy. Full swat team. My wife is good friends with his neighbor, she and her 5 yr old were terrorized. Wife went to check on her. His body is still laying in the street. My God. I can't believe this has happened. I will get more details soon. This guy was a threat to no one. He was an elderly 300lb guy who could barely walk with a cane. Took care of his disabled adult son. Liked to make furniture. My God what is this country coming to?!

Okay on April 5th 1933, FDR seized all private gold in a misguided attempt to end the depression (TLDR it didn't) BUT what if he had an ALTERNATE reason such as... A group of spelunkers in KY stumbled upon the lair of an actual dragon. Awakened, the only thing that would appease it was...MOAR GOLD. And THAT'S how Ft. Knox got built...BUT!

Okay guys, D&D Honor Among Thieves is a good film, even a pretty dang good film. Go see it. It is fun, yet takes its material seriously like Galaxy Quest and the characters are likable and it isn't at all woke. I know people are pissed at WoTC but don't punish the film. I get it, nerds and geeks are pretty tired of Hollywood right now. The same people that mocked us for liking nerd stuff in HS took over the nerd franchises and pandered to people who never liked the stuff to begin with. We've been hurt and are pissed, justifiably so.

Gather round kiddies and let's talk about obscure early Christian Iconography!! (Don't worry, this is actually about Dan McClellan and his "No Monotheism in the Bible" schtick, but it will take me a while to get there.) Okay, first an image! This is a mosaic from the Tomb of the Julii, late 3rd C. from the Vatican Necropolis. This was discovered in the 16th C. but resealed and excavated again during WW2.

So today I discovered I am Satan. Sit back, let me explain... I have a person in my life that is, to say the least, frustrating. This person isn't a bad person per se, but lacks all common sense, and requests my intervention when the obvious consequences results. I don't really need to say any more than that.

And so now we begin the fourth installment of the seemingly never ending "#WhatisgoingonatBYU"

But first some housecleaning! First off I can't believe I didn't hashtag this from the start. It's really blown up and I appreciate all the positive and even some of the negative feedback. If you missed the first 3 parts, they are listed below:

Papers graded, midterm posted, sourdough baked. You know what that means? It's time for another episode of "What's going on at BYU?" Part 3! Okay so this one gets pretty deep. Honestly, if this thread were an anime it would be titled: "What if a small Utah religious school turned into Mormon Yale?" So let's go.

Okay are you ready for "What's going on at BYU" Part 2" Electric Boogaloo? Well too bad, because I'm doing it anyway. So in the last installment I shared a few stories that explained the "vibe" at BYU. To reiterate:
1. The faculty and admin were outright antagonistic to each other and far more that at a usual university.

Okay, here it is, the beginning of the epic "What's going on at BYU?" thread. First off, let's start with the tedious but unavoidable airing of credentials. I am LDS and I have a PHD. I have been in academia in one capacity or the other, grad student, lecturer, professor, adjunct, etc. for the last 30 years. I have seen some stuff. /1

Evangelicals for LDS 101

Okay I’ve been hemming and hawing on this for a while. Partly because this will inevitably slip into “Evangelicals in the Mist” territory which could be a tad condescending, which I don’t intend, but I’ve decided to soldier on anyway... 1/ Mostly because it’s clear that most LDS have no idea where Evangelicals are coming from and why they think the way they do, and what they are really like, and we really need to know. So, buckle up because this is going to be a long thread. 2/

By pure chance, I had two kids with CAH, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, a rare hormone disorder that affects the adrenal glands. This meant I had a son who entered puberty at age 6 and needed puberty blockers. 1/ I also had a daughter whose own body was pumping her with androgens. We had to give her cortisol replacements therapy to stop her body from making her masculine, hairy and infertile. 2/

Satan: Okay, let's make this quick, I gotta get back to Disney with a quick stop at the Maxwell Institute on the way. What have you got for me?
Devils: We are going to do a Satanic rite on live TV.
Satan: Great, where?
Devils: (Nervous) Well... Devil: It's just the Grammys but we have a big star lined up.
Satan: Grammys are fine, but nix the big star.
Devils: What? But we thought a big star...
Satan: No, get someone fat, washed up, preferably hasn't had a hit in years.

I am tired of these AI bots distorting the human form, the oversized hands, tiny feet, ridiculously long necks and impossible perspectives. I mean just look at this. For the uninitiated, this is The Madonna of the Long Neck, a famous Mannerist piece by the Italian painter, Parmigianino. c. 1535-40. He loved distorted imagery. Here's his self-portrait in a convex mirror.