In today’s marketplace—yes, in your own neighborhood, town, and cities—scheming, deceiving promoters are making available to gullible purchasers all kinds of enticing offers. We are sorry to report thousands within our ranks are being duped by the glib tongues of those who offer and solicit in whispers. “Once in a lifetime opportunities” and “Just for you” approaches are unusual no more. Such offerings and deals should be avoided like a plague.

I believe the Lord wants us to become alarmed and concerned when we see the wicked and unscrupulous taking unfair advantage of the weak and uninformed. No Latter-day Saint should exploit another man’s situation, manipulate, lie, steal, cheat, or deceive. Our responsibility is to assist each other in avoiding involvements that can be devastating to our welfare.

-Elder Marvin J. Ashton, from his talk “Give with Wisdom that They may Receive with Dignity”

I’ve seen any number of people express the regret that the brightest minds in our generation are devoted to inventing subtler financial manipulations and more addictive online ad platforms. (more…)

“Male Teacher Punished For Refusing To Oversee Middle School Girl Get Undressed In Boys’s Locker Room”

And I thought it was bad back when I was getting the rather strange “health” course in the Jedi Primary School.

I have been following the almost daily use of ‘deplatforming’ directed against any organisation or person who steps out of line with respect to the rapidly-evolving norms of political correctness.

I mean, when the internet giant corporations terminate (typically with zero notice and no appeal) access to the media or (a recent development) online payment systems. But almost any service could/will be affected when so many corporations are ideologically-driven. Often this termination seems to drive people and organisations out of business – or, at least, cause a very substantial contraction.

Since this practice is accelerating and spreading like wildfire; it surely cannot be long before Christians are targeted; and in a US context perhaps especially the CJCLDS, who are among the most staunch and forthright on today’s ‘litmus test’/ hot-button issues.

This could suddenly and adversely affect both communications, and a wide range of financial and logistical activities.

It is presumably a matter of when, rather than if.

[In the Washington Post sports news]
As his free agency heats up, Bryce Harper begins ‘social media fast’

Don’t bother looking to Bryce Harper’s social media accounts for clues about what the free agent outfielder makes of the reaction to the 10-year, $300 million deal the Nationals reportedly offered him in September. At least not for the next week. (more…)

I’m a compulsive experimenter and tinkerer. Inspired by the Tartine Book No. 3 bread cookbook by Chad Robertson, I bought some non-wheat flours to play with.  You can find them at Asian and Indian/Pakistani grocery stores.

My problem is that while I measure most ingredients, I just eyeball others, especially at that final adjustment stage when you try to balance the moisture content just prior to the final rise.

Once you know the key things to look out for and adjust for, bread recipes can be quite forgiving, allowing for a wide range of playing “some of this – some of that.”

Those key things – to me – are: sufficient starter or yeast, hydration level, fermentation time, sufficent added gluten (“vital wheat gluten”) if using any whole grain or gluten-free flours, and sufficient rise.

Here’s how I start: (more…)

Welcome again to the True Blue Mormon Podcast! In this episode we have our first General Conference Review, and we have a LOT of ground to cover….

At 4:08 we discuss the implications of the change to so-called “2-hour Church.” At 8:18 Will mentions his initial misgivings about the loss of time for his kids to spend with other Latter-day Saints, and at 12:15 we recount our experiences with teaching the Gospel at home.

At 24:59 we discuss President Nelson’s talk regarding the discontinuation of the use of the word “Mormon” and whether we need to change the name of this Podcast. At 29:47, MC gets into the implications of the idea that past prophets were “wrong” for using the name “Mormon.” At 34:18, Will has an epiphany about how ditching the name “Mormon” moves us from one kind of peculiarity to another.

At 39:07 we talk about President Oaks’ two barn-burning conference talks. At 42:41, MC gets into a mini-rant about the fabled President Oaks Conference Talk Suicide Epidemic, with a discussion of its connection to James Poulos’ idea of the “Pink Police State” at 45:52.

At 50:28 Will gives his thoughts on President Oaks’ comments about the fertility rates at the women’s session. At 55:13, MC yearns for Latter-day Saints to take advantage of the current baby bust and seize victory in the War of the Cradle.

Finally, at 1:00:21, we discuss the social media fast for women, and how nothing will ever make feminists in the Church happy.

All this and much more! Please enjoy and share.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

MC’s piece on “Suicidocracy”: http://www.jrganymede.com/2015/11/11/suicidocracy/

G. on “Home Church: http://www.jrganymede.com/2018/10/06/home-church/

James Poulos on “The Pink Police State”: http://thefederalist.com/2014/07/17/welcome-to-the-pink-police-state-regime-change-in-america/

Bruce Charlton’s studies on Latter-day Saint fertility: http://mormonfertility.blogspot.com/

Last month one of our commenters, COB, opined at this site concerning our coming pattern of Sunday worship:

When something is good, and helpful, you want more of it. When it’s not helpful, you want less of it. We have God specifically telling us that church time is more harmful than helpful. [. . .] If what we need is actually LESS time together, then the membership itself is actually not only not helping each other but potentially harmful.

When I read those words, it called to mind a time not long ago, when my wife came home from the Relief Society meeting feeling underserved. (more…)

We live in a vast charnel house, a morgue, a knacker’s yard . . .  Dead people, dead animals, odd ends of decaying meat are just laying around, heaped up there, rotting here, a stray piece rolled into that corner.  Its easy to get sick.  A little cut can swell into a great putrid infection.  A little carelessness with your food, you can be puking for  a week.  Its easy to die.

If you want to thrive, you have wear masks at all times, have to be careful where you step, have to follow careful rituals, can’t afford to slack off.  You and your whole house.  You can’t do it by yourself.  Every one with painstaking care when they are outside, at all times.  Everyone following the most stringent procedures when they come back inside the House.

But not enough do it.  Too many live diseased, crippled, and high-mortality lives.  It is difficult not to.  It is very difficult.  And there are agitators who wander through the decay without mask or glove, proclaiming their freedom.  No one else can shout as loud as they can, as they wear no mask.  No one can easily refute their lies that careful living is joyless, because the joy is in the Houses, and no one can go to one, not really, until they have joined it and are washed and cleaned and passed through quarantine.

The strict rules of hygiene are hard, but now with the agitators they are harder.  We can be mocked and attacked for our masks and our gloves.

Some of us wonder why we have be so extreme.  (Those of us are getting the infections and dying off.) Some Houses wonder if they could not spread the word of hygiene better if they weren’t so rigid about it. Masks and washing and stuff appears so alien, we need a hygiene that speaks to today’s youth. After all, the message of hygiene is ultimately a message of health and hope, not despair and grimness. So these Houses wash without washing and ward off disease without warding it off, and perish.