Study Notes: Mar 15-Apr 11, 2015: "The Culture of Violence in Joseph Smith's Mormonism" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "How To Turn Real Science Into Great Science Fiction" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "Why Did The Doctor Start Eating Meat Again On Doctor Who?" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Post, "The Visual Intelligence of Pacific Rim" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "The 'Monkey Master' Fable"; (2) "Economics of Star Trek"; (3) "Technologies of Abundance and the Fairytale of Jobs"; (4) "Hope For A Lumpy Filter"; (5) "What Wide Origins You Have, Little Red Riding Hood!"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also need to do some reading on polyamory. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Mar 8-14, 2015: "How long until North Korea collapses?" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "A Non-Biblical Dating for the Jaredite Migration" by Daymon Smith
• Paper, "Prophets, Kings, and Swords: The Sword of Laban and Its Possible Pre-Laban Origin" by Daniel N. Rolph
• Article, "Here's One Genre That Could Replace Post-Apocalyptic Stories" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "Noah's Ark is a Sustainable Floating City for a Post-Apocalyptic World" by Bridget Meinhold
• Article, "How long until North Korea collapses? Eleven defector perspectives" by Chad O'Carroll
• Post, "You Don't Have to Read That Text Tonight" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "The Girls Who Walk Away From Kyubee" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "The Culture of Violence in Joseph Smith's Mormonism"; (2) "Study Theology, Even If You Don't Believe in God"; (3) "The 'Best Arguments for God's Existence' Are Actually Terrible"; (4) "How To Turn Real Science Into Great Science Fiction"; (5) "Why Did The Doctor Start Eating Meat Again On Doctor Who?"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also need to do some reading on polyamory. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Feb 22-Mar 7, 2015: "How Deaf People Think" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Horror, the Grotesque, and the Macabre: A Christian Appraisal" by SDG
• Article, "How Deaf People Think" by Daven Hiskey
• Article, "Multilinguals Have Multiple Personalities" by Alice Robb
• Article, "Raising Backyard Chickens for Dummies" by Jason Price
• Post, "Multiple Systems FAQ" (& other pp) by Living Plural (Blog)
• Post, "Hermione Granger Versus the Methods of Rationality" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Hunger Metagames" by Sam Keeper

Study Notes: Feb 15-21, 2015: "Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox", &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Into the (Mind of the) Dalek" by David Selby
• Post, "Good Works?" by Eric Peters
• Thread, "Definitions Master List" on Asexuality.org
• Article, "11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox" by George Dvorsky
• Post, "Our Love is Synthesis: Marx, Muse, and 'Madness'" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "A Company of Heroes: Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Cloud Atlas, and the Power of Ensemble Casts" by Sam Keeper

Study Notes: Jan 18-24, 2015: "Parafanfiction and Oppositional Fandom" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time?" by Natalie Wolchover 
• Article, "New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time" by Natalie Wolchover
• Article, "Dream Machine: The mind-expanding world of quantum computing" by Rivka Galchen
• Article, "Five Practical Uses for 'Spooky' Quantum Mechanics" by Nicola Jenner
• Post, "Parafanfiction and Oppositional Fandom" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Creating as the World Falls Down" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future: 

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) 
• "Technical debt and the making of payments on it"; (2) "Marxist Feminism / Materialist Feminism"; (3) "Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists"; (4) "Friedrich Nietzsche on Why a Fulfilling Life Requires Embracing Rather than Running from Difficulty"; (5) Nietzsche, the Overhuman and the Posthuman: A Reply to Stefan Sorgner"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Jan 11-17, 2014: "Star Trek and Moral Judgment," &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "5 Unconventional Ways to Become a Better Writer" by Belle Beth Cooper
• Post, "Star Trek and Moral Judgment" by Joe Holbo
• Article, "Less Thinking, More Doing: Develop the Action Habit Today" by Daniel Wallen
• Essay, "Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon" by Andrew C. Skinner
• Article, "Choosing the Right Name for Your Story" by John Floyd
• Post, "Queerness in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell," by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Night of the Living Fandom," by Sam Keeper
• Book, "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins (Ch. 2 only)
• Book, "Evolution? The Fossils Say Yes!" by Donald Prothero (Ch. 9 only)

Homework for the future: 

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time?"; (2) "New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time"; (3) "Dream Machine: The mind-expanding world of quantum computing"; (4) "Five Practical Uses for 'Spooky' Quantum Mechanics"; (5) "Quantum Physics Just Got a Tiny Bit Easier to Understand, As Two Oddities Merge Into One"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Jan 4-10, 2015: "Janelle Monae: Contemporary Queen of Science Fiction," &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "What the inside of a spaceship might really look like" by Richard Hollingham
• Essay, "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts" by Thomas De Quincy
• Article, "10 Writing 'Rules' We Wish More Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Would Break" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Post, "Janelle Monae: Contemporary Queen of Science Fiction," by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Janelle Monae: Sci Fi Queen Yet Uncrowned," by Sam Keeper
• Speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet," by Malcolm X

Study Notes: Dec 28, 2014-Jan 3, 2015: "Anarchism and the Constitution"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Anarchism and the Constitution" by Jeremy Weiland
• Essay, "Anarcho-Theocracy: The Only Biblical Form of Government" 
• Page, "Historical Examples of Anarchy without Chaos" compiled by Roy Halliday
• Post, "Is Medieval Iceland an example of "anarcho"-capitalism working in practice?" by afaq
• Post, "Cha-Change! Formal Experimentation in Adventure Time" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Hyperflexible Mythology: Classpects, Fandom, and Fanfiction" by Sam Keeper
• Thread, "Obscure Mythology"
• Article, "4 Famous Movies with Deceptively Complex Symbolism" by Gladstone
• Post, "How to write like... Philip K Dick" by Phil South
• Post, "How to write like... David Lynch" by Phil South
• Post, "How to write like... Douglas Adams" by Phil South
• Post, "How to write like... Neil Gaiman" by Phil South
• Post, "How to write like... "Ian Fleming" by Phil South

The Art Gallery: "Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)"

Alright. I'm going to start this out by saying that I'm not really sure where I'm going to be going with this. I would like for this to be a kind of "these are the stories that are coming out of these pictures" thing, but I'm not sure if that's what it's going to be. If it can manage to be that then I'll transfer it over to White Marble Block. Otherwise it'll stay here as... I don't know. As a thing. 

Study Notes: Dec 14-20, 2014: "The Evolution of Names and Personal Identifiers"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "The Evolution of Names and Personal Identifiers" by Eric Hellman
• Essay, "At One with Nature: An Ecocritical Study of the Nature Motif in Three Swedish Horror Writers" by Lars Martinsson
• Article, "Five Bold Predictions for the Future of Humanity" by Balam T. Salem
• Article, "Twenty Top Predictions for Life 100 Years From Now" by Ian Pearsson
• Article, "Is Vat-Grown Meat Kosher? We Asked a Rabbi" by Tim Barribeau
• Article, "The Next Big Disruption: Three Major Shifts That Will Influence the Future Global Economy" by Terry Young
• Article, "11 Predictions on the future of social media" by Mary Catherine Wellons
• Article, "The Transhumanist Bodhisattvas," by Butsugen Chigen
• Article, "Turn Your Inkjet Printer into a Chemistry Lab" by Mark Lorch
• Article, "PAN'S LABYRINTH-- Interview with Guillermo Del Toro," by Michael Guillen
• Post, "Will Rituals Return?" by Robin Hanson
• Article, "Today's Apps Are Turning Us Into Sociopaths" by Evan Selinger
• Article, "Anti-aging Oxymorons and Anti-oxy-morons" by Josh Mitteldorf
• Article, "Robotics Update" by Len Rosen
• Article, "Is It Better Never To Have Been Born? (anti-natalism)" by John G. Messerly
• Article, "Lithium for Life Extension?" by Josh Mitteldorf
• Article, "Designer Viruses Could be the New Antibiotics" by Luc Henry
• Article, "The Future of Lunar Archeology" [sic?] by Dr. Beth O'Leary
• Article, "Aging Brains Aren't Necessarily Declining Brains" by Angela Gutchess

Study notes: Nov 23-29, 2014: "Gene Study Finds Cannibal Pattern" and other things

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "The Seven Types of Short Story Opening, and How to Decide Which is Right for Your Story," by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "Gene Study Finds Cannibal Pattern," by Nicholas Wade
• Paper, "Buddhist Hard Determinism: No Self, No Free Will, No Responsibility," by Riccardo Repetti
• Article, "Vladimir Putin is Right Out of a Russian Novel," by Linton Weeks
• Letter, "Letter of His Holiness John Paul II to Artists," by Who Do You Think?
• Article, "Neoreactionary Movement," on Rational Wiki
• Article, "Geeks for Monarchy: The Rise of the Neo-Reactionaries," by 
• Article, "Mormon Women, Traditionalists and Feminists: An Evolving Conversation," by Andrea Radke-Moss
• Article, "Mormon Studies in the Classroom: Mormon Women, Patriarchy and Equality," by Andrea Radke-Moss
• Article, "Pragmatism and Progress: An Overview of LDS Sister Missionary Service in the Twentieth Century," by Andrea Radke-Moss
• Article, "Ukraine, Not the Ukraine: The Significance of Three Little Letters," by Katy Steinmetz
• Article, "Ukraine or the Ukraine: Why do some country names have 'the'?," by Tom Geoghegan. 
• Article, "Life Tips You Need to Know," by Likes.com
• Article, "College Life: Tips for Survival," by Hassan Ishtiaq
• Article, "What's so bad about hating the Daleks, anyway?" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "The Economics of Star Trek: The Proto-Post Scarcity Economy," by Rick Webb
• Article, "BYU prof fears Mormon scholars are giving in to secularism," by Peggy Fletcher Stack

I Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

And I really didn’t like a lot of it.

First, just to get it out of the way: I didn’t appreciate the deathism of Gwen Stacy’s speech. Death gives meaning to our lives? The shortness of our lives is what makes them precious? Fuggin’ Stockholm Syndrome. No. Just no.

I also did not approve of how even though Peter Parker’s friends were no younger than he was (and were perhaps demonstrably more capable of making smart decisions), he decided that he knew better than them and had the right to decide their lives for them. Gwen Stacy, you don’t get to make cost/benefit analyses and decide if a situation is too risky for you. Harry Osbourne, you don’t get to do that either, even though you’re going to die.

I'm a Mormon, and... I think that "Reign of Judges" is a horrible movie

There are a lot of problems that I have with this movie, Reign of Judges. The whitewashing, for instance.

I cannot tell you how frustrated the whitewashing in this film makes me. If for one instant the filmmakers are taking the Book of Mormon seriously as a historical document, as something that tells the stories of people that actually lived, breathed, and died, then it is an indefensible whitewash.

But there's something else that gets me, too. A few things, really, but the biggest of all is that it's promoting the idea that you have to kill in order to have peace.

Jesus Christ, the Serpent

The snake was originally a symbol for Jesus Christ. The reason can be easily seen if we look at other cultures: the shedding of the snake's skin is a type of rebirth that associates the snake with healing, regeneration, resurrection, and eternal life.

The Redemption of Shemesh

Note: I apologize for my lateness in posting this. I was caught up in wanting perfection for this story. 

There once was a young man, or a horror shaped in the likeness of a young man, whose name was Hastur. He was the moon, or, in other words, his light was not his own. He had light, but it was only a light that had been taken from others, and he gave nothing of his own in return to she that had loved him. His true name, spoken only in the wild places and in terrified whispers, was Darkness, and the name of his dominion the same.

Shakespeare's Beam

Follow-up to: Afflatus

Over the past two years I have undergone a paradigm shift in re my understanding of writing and the creative process. Or perhaps I have not had a shift of paradigm so much as I have gotten a paradigm: Whence creativity came from, I did not much consider in the past.

Fiction: Four Snapshots of Eternity

"Yesterday's rose endures in its name." -Eco

One.

She thinks that she is going mad. She writes but without direction; her hand has a mind of its own. She writes memories. Her memories, but they are new to her as they form in black ink beneath her fingers and spread across each page with lightning speed.

Intertextuality

If you look at older posts you will see that the number of hyperlinks in them is increasing as time goes on. Eventually there will be some posts that will have very little that is not hypertext. The first reason for doing so, as pertains to hyperlinks that lead to other posts of mine, is to make this blog like Wikipedia insofar as you go from one post to another and keep finding new posts to click on and read.

The other reason for doing this is to illustrate intertextuality, or "the interrelationship between texts [and] the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other." As the stories that I have told thus far are meant to point forth certain ideas, so to is this blog also meant to illustrate the idea that all books are really one book, and everything (not just in literature, by the way) is connected. These blog posts do not exist independently of each other, nor did they spring from my head without deeper origin like Athena, but they are all part of a single blog, and are drawn from everything else that has so far come out of the world.

What does Mormonism mean to me?

When I sit down and turn the lights out, what does Mormonism mean to me? When I lay down to sleep and wait for morning, what does Mormonism mean to me? 

Other people say things in answer to questions like this. Most of the time, so do I. But this question is answered differently for me. I could bring up particular scriptures and give a commentary on them, or talk about family history work, or speak on how the Book of Mormon has affected my life. But I feel that no matter what I say there is someone else that has already said it, and said it better.

What Mormonism means to me is encapsulated in the lyrics of the hymn If You Could Hie to Kolob, written by William Wines Phelps, an early member of the LDS Church.

If you could hie to Kolob

In the twinkling of an eye,

And then continue onward

With that same speed to fly,

Do you think that you could ever,

Through all eternity,

Find out the generation

Where Gods began to be?

Or see the grand beginning,

Where space did not extend?

Or view the last creation,

Where Gods and matter end?

Methinks the Spirit whispers,

"No man has found 'pure space,'

Nor seen the outside curtains,

Where nothing has a place."

The works of God continue,

And worlds and lives abound;

Improvement and progression

Have one eternal round.

There is no end to matter;

There is no end to space;

There is no end to spirit;

There is no end to race.

There is no end to virtue;

There is no end to might;

There is no end to wisdom;

There is no end to light.

There is no end to union;

There is no end to youth;

There is no end to priesthood;

There is no end to truth.

There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

This is what is in my bones when I hear and speak of Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Empty Tomb. This is what I try to see when my eyes are closed, what I try to hear when there is silence. This is what the Gospel means to me, and this is what I think when I think of the Christ's conquest of Death. 

And why these stories?

Follow-up to: Stories We Tell Each Other in the Dark

There are some stories that we tell to each other in the dark because they are scary, and we like to scare and be scared. There are some stories that we tell to each other in the dark because they are comforting, and in the dark we desire to be comforted, to know that there is light around the corner of midnight and that our dying campfire is not all there is.

These stories are of the second variety. We are real, tangible, flesh-and-bone entities with flesh-and-bone dreams. But we are also stories. Stories being told for our own comfort and for the comfort of other stories, who in turn are for our and their own comfort. 

These are Just So stories, It Gets Better stories, This Is Your Purpose stories. When God saw the darkness, He spoke, and order was forced upon the chaos. In the oldest stories that we have, God told a story and thereby created the universe. 

I don't consider myself up to par with God or even Terry Pratchett, but I am at heart a storyteller, even if one of dismal talent, and when I see a truth I feel a need to tell it with a story. They may not be stories of facticity, but that does not mean that they are not, so far as I am able to understand and express truth, stories of truth.