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I know this one! Because the metric salespeople lie. Metric is supposed to be sooooo much easier, but those that have looked into it know it isn't. For length (in the standard system) I'm dealing with nice round numbers like 12, 3, 5280, etc. For volumes we get nice numbers like 2 and 4. Move over to metric and suddenly we're using 2.54 and 3.785. Yeah, that's so much easier. Also nature uses the Standard measurement for time with numbers like 12, 60, 7, and 30. Don't go against nature - abandon the metric system!

Well now I'm totally thrown off having it on the left but that's okay. I'm glad Heather got it worked out for you.

Shepard, I know you received a lot of feedback here and I hope you kindly allow me to give you my little two cents on this matter. I do understand your concern about the Bishop and the kind of questions he asked during that interview but I would like to deal with your daughter's manipulation techniques and of course, I can only write from a very limited understanding. I know everyone feels the need for you to "fix" your daughter, but the truth is that your daughter isn't broken. She is manipulating you emotionally and I have the impression she has been doing that for a very long time but let's make something very clear: No one can manipulate you without your permision. What is needed? Well, a little instrospection where you will have to face and deal with your own feelings of insecurity, inadequency, guilt, feeling intimidated, bullied etc because in the end, if you do not deal with those feelings FIRST and realize who you are and where you are standing and what do you want to do from here, your daughter's manipulation techniques will continue working on you because she will NOT stop, I repeat, she will NOT stop until YOU decide to change some things and pronto. Children who manipulate know their parents more than the parents know them, it makes them feel powerful and that feeling gives them a quick ego boost. Having said that, teenagers also need to be heard and less preached and if they express a particular point of view, they strongly need someone to believe them and validate their feelings (not necessarily agree with them) and if it doesn't happen around those who he/she trusts, they will do whatever is necessary to prove their point. It might not an appropiate course of action (but I believe we should also understand that their pre-frontal cortex isn't fully developed as yet and that's the part of the brain that deals with decision making and judgement between other things). No matter what is the cause, you need to hold your teenager accountable and that's the number one reason she is manipulating everyone around her and that's why she doesn't seem to understand boundaries and is unrepentant. You need to become more proficient than her in your ability to communicate, you need to ensure that when you are talking with her, YOU are the one in control of the conversation and no matter how much she tries to deviate the convo to fullfil her own agenda, you always need to bring it back to the negative impact her behavior is having to those around her. All this, takes an enormous ammount of emotional strenght and you will have to learn a few techniques along the way therefore I suggest before even starting dealing with your daughter's issues, that you can seek professional help for yourself first, your wife and your entire family. All the best.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/quiz/2013/jun/05/check-your-privilege-quiz I scored 100, and it was suggested I pay someone to check my privilege for me. Background: A conservative student, who was Jewish, was debating about welfare benefits, during a class at Princeton University. His opponent told him to check his privilege. He responded in an editorial that he was tired of having presidential drones targeting him because he was a white male. Just what privilege was he to apologize for? Was it the handful of kin who were killed during the Holocuast? Was it his grandparents who arrived in this land as penniless immigrants? . . . http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/princeton-student-responds-to-check-your-privilege/ He stirred quite a debate. Of course, non-Princetonians found it amusing that Ivy Leaguers were debating who was and was not privileged. :-) Anyway...let us know how privileged you turned out to be.

Luxuries.... hmmm ... a dishwasher is a luxury. But without it my hand would be raw. They are almost raw just rinsing of the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. A washer and dryer is a luxury. But the alternative is unthinkable. I can't imagine boiling clothes in a cauldron outside. Everything we have is a luxury except food and minimal clothing and bedding. But... because we live in the place we do there are certain things that become necessities just to survive in society. My cell phone is a luxury, but without it I wouldn't be paying bills the same way. I wouldn't be in contact with my adult children. I wouldn't be able to communicate with young mothers in our ward who have children my grandson's age. I wouldn't be able to provide some of the service I am able to do without my phone. My car is a luxury, but again, without it I couldn't go to the grocery store. I couldn't pick volunteer at my grandson's school. Sometimes I am bothered when we compare an American lifestyle to Filipino or African. We do have luxuries. But to successfully provide for family in our society somethings that would be a luxury elsewhere are a necessity here. In my opinion its sad that we have lost the simplicity of life, but there it is.

I suspect it goes back into the idea of gender roles/separate stewardships. Holding the priesthood gives one a degree of ministerial responsibility towards the Church and its members (and indeed, the world at large) that will necessarily pull the priesthood holder away from the home. To facilitate child-rearing the Lord has set up a system where one parent is primarily responsible for ministering outside of the home, while the other parent is free to make ministering inside the home her number one priority. (Could the Lord change this? Of course. But up to now, He hasn't.) With regard to the initiatory ordinances, I think the Lord makes an exception to the paradigm outlined above for the reasons TFP suggests vis a vis the initiatory ordinances--although, with the 2006-ish changes to the ritual, I think it would be highly amusing to see the Church leadership decide that the reasons for allowing women to officiate in those rituals for other women are no longer valid and instruct that henceforth only (male) priesthood holders may officiate in that ritual as well. There's certainly precedent--IIRC, women giving (non-priesthood) blessings by laying-on-of-hands was fairly common up until the 1940s at which time the First Presidency decided that that function rightly pertained to the priesthood, and the Relief Society was instructed to stop doing it.

Hey I'm thinking about taking a road trip to Nauvoo in 2016. Can't go sooner with other trips/obligations this year and next. Want to go with me in 2016?

Yep just a matter of getting used to it. I like it better. Just have to adjust my thinking. :)

I think I mentioned before that in my area most families can't afford for both parents to work because the cost of childcare is too high. A side effect of this (and other things, like mediocre schools) is that our area has a HUGE homeschooling community. There are half a dozen school districts in the city, and homeschoolers outnumber all but the biggest 2. Over 25,000 registered homeschool kids in my county. So if ya wanna get into Princeton... No need to go all Breaking Bad 'Cause Ivy leagues are recruiting HARD from the HS community. 'Cause HS'ers have the time to do all the snazzy well rounded stuff (to the point that a lot of parents are complaining that homeschool,kids have unfair advantage in academic competitions... From spelling bees to internships), and since most states are dual enrollment* (38 last I looked) Most HS'd college "freshmen" already have 2 years of community college under their belts at 17. So the Ivies are getting YOUNG, advanced, highly motivated kids they can either use their CC credits as a highschool transcript, or just funnel them through 2 years, diploma, and off to grad school (depends on the school whether they want more grads or less out in the world. Different schools, different policies). * Dual Enrollment has different names in different states -RunningStart, BrightFutures, etc.- but it boils down to a Federal option that allows highschool students to take community college courses for free (tuition waved, still need to buy or rent textbooks & materials) until they graduate from highschool or age 18/19. Away-school kids do these courses on top of their other coursework, although some kids get 1-2 periods a day off / use them as elective credits. Most come school kids doing dual enrollment attend full time. I'm sure, sooner or later, more parents are going to catch on that they can pull their kid from highschool & send them to college for free instead, but until then... It's a meth-free alternative that can help getcha into a competitive program. Q

It has thrown me off too, but I'm sure it's just because I'm not used to where it is now. I'm thinking that within a day or two I'll automatically go to the top left to find it.

Snoozer- Well, I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but what you are preaching is nothing more than the wisdom of the world mingled with scripture. We take our personality with us when we die. ALL of our personality, including all our bad habits, character flaws, faults and addictions, in addition to our good qualities. What you are preaching sounds more like the "eat, drink and be merry" and if we are guilty, "God will beat us with a few stripes" crowd. Our personality is eternal. We brought it with us from the premortal world. In 1912, the First Presidency made the following statement: "The written standards of scripture show that all people who come to this earth and are born in mortality, had a pre-existent, spiritual personality, as the sons and daughters of the Eternal Father." (Improvement Era, Mar 1912, Pg. 417) Elder Russell M. Nelson stated: "Important as is the body, it serves as a tabernacle for one's eternal spirit. Our spirits existed in the premortal realm and will continue to live after the body dies. The spirit provides the body with animation and personality. ("Thanks Be to God," Ensign, May 2012) We develop our personality on this earth through our experiences, what we do, what we think, say and how we react to the consequences of our actions, both good and bad. When we die, we are the exact same person in the postmortal world. In 1918, Elder Anthony W. Ivins gave a conference talk specifically addressing this subject. "...the personality of the individual persists after death, otherwise how could he be responsible for the deeds done in the body? The two outstanding attributes of God are justice and mercy. How can I in justice be held responsible for the transgressions of another or rewarded for his righteousness? No; I must answer for myself, just as you must answer for yourself; so my personality must persist, I must be the same man, my future life inseparably connected with this life. (Conference Reports, Apr. 1918, Pg. 85) From the church publication, "Preach My Gospel," pg. 52: "Death does not change our personality or our desires for good or evil. Those who chose to obey God in this life live in a state of happiness, peace, and rest from troubles and care. Those who chose not to obey in this life and did not repent live in a state of unhappiness." From another church publication, "Introduction to Family History, Student Manual 2012," Pg. 8: "Death will not change your personality or your desire for good or evil. If you choose to follow Jesus Christ during your life on Earth, you will be at peace in the spirit world. Those who choose not to follow Christ and do not repent will be unhappy." You are twisting the things you've quoted to suit your own beliefs without researching further to understand what the prophets truly mean. You seem to think it is the corrupted body that causes us to become addicted or have character flaws. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

I love and admire Emma. She was called an Elect Lady, and as far as I'm concerned, she earned that title and still holds it to this day.

Sacrament meeting in the evening.....Primary held during the week. On fast Sunday you never had to go back to church in the evening.

Okay...I know Emma bashing is taboo it our current culture of Mormon-dom, so I'll be careful (sort of). Per "Whatever decisions she made after her beloved Joseph died, she never lost her testimony of the church and the divine restoration of it." Whereas there is obvious truth to parts of this statement, I think it needs to be qualified a bit. I'm not entirely sure that Emma had a testimony that the church as led by Brigham Young remained as the "true" church, this somewhat, perhaps, being supported by the support she threw behind the Reorganized church. To be fair, this may have been simple misunderstanding on her part, rather than evidence of testimony focus, but....well....there it is. Regardless, if I decided to leave the LDS church and go join the Community of Christ instead, I think it might be valid to say I lost my testimony of the church. Even if I claimed to believe that both churches were just as true as the other, that still falls into the category of loss of testimony at some level, imo. We are hardly as forgiving of others who went and joined or started other branches of LDS based groups. Whereas it would be fairly valid in their cases to also say that they never lost a testimony of Joseph Smith's divine mission and/or the early church, in determining that the current church was not the proper path to continue down, they still undoubtedly lost their testimonies at some level. I want to be clear, lest someone accuse me of something unfairly, I am not contending, nor do I believe one way or another, that Emma lost her salvation or became wicked or something. That is between Emma and God. But I do believe that we should look at Emma's later life as an example of what not to do, rather than some shining example of steadfastness.

http://lds.net/forums/topic/54066-did-women-ever-hold-the-priesthood/#entry777367 We've acknowledged that women have been given authority to perform saving ordinances in the temple every bit as binding as though they were performed by a priesthood holder. Why stop there? What is so different about washings and anointings that they can be authorized to perform that ordinance but not baptism?

Was driving home last evening, and some guys with backpacks and white shirts! I thought "well, they're either Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons!" So I stopped in the middle of road and asked them. They looked really confused and said Mormon, so I just gave them a thumbs up..... As I was driving back I got a sudden urge to turn around and go talk to them. So long story short, I ran them down and we talked and they gave me a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon! Looking forward to reading them!

One other thing.....at some point after this talk with youth about law of chasity....need to encourage them to involve their parents.

Outsider pondering string... 1. What is appropriate in LDS interviews concering the LOC? How many follow-up questions would be appropriate for a spiritual counselor to get a full understanding of what needs to happen? 2. What is the status of the bishop as a counselor? For example, pastors are not licensed counselors or psychologists. We often will have one or more courses in short-term pastoral counseling. Bishops usually would not have even that. So, it is understood going in that they offer spiritual advise based upon the leading of the Holy Spirit, and upon their life experience. That's it. They should be held to the common standards of bishops, not to the professional standards of therapists or counselors or psychologists. 3. As disturbing as some of the questioning may have been, I doubt that a law enforcement investigation will go far. Spiritual leaders have some protection and privacy expectations during confessionals. Granted, this is not a Catholic rite. Nevertheless, it is an established practice in your church. 4. If the interview and temple activity are optional for this age group, and the daughter is angered by it and opposed to it, why press the issue? Attendance at church should be mandatory, but not spiritual work that assumes willingness and devotion. 5. Recording the interview and posting it was a horrific violation against the bishop--whether he was creepy or not. Yet, the daughter, according to the narrative, feels justified. The consequences should be enforced, even if they were not all necessarily what some would recommend. A decision was made. None of the restrictions were abusive. The girl is a teen. If she determines that it was worth then, for her, it was. 6. If there is a feeling among the parents that the bishop was out of line, then talk with him one more time. Then, in accordance with church protocol, report it up the line, and let the counsel of many shed light.

It must have taken FOREVER to send a text.

I take my daughters to the library regularly!