dahlia

Yes, to some degree. If your child is going to go the liberal arts route, suggest a minor in accounting, business, a science, etc. At my uni, we offer a certificate for students in Entrepreneurial Management and Nonprofit Management. They can major in anything, and get the certificate, which gives them some business background and makes them more competitive. I used to teach management and still write a quarterly article for the Library Leadership & Management journal. A lot of liberal arts types (including my grad students) think that management is some kind of dirty word. They want to work in a nonprofit. Fine - but you still need management and basic business skills, even in a nonprofit. College is tremendously expensive. Being able to write nice paragraph shouldn't be the only thing a liberal arts grad can do. That's why a lot of them are baristas at Starbucks.

I got lenses that give me intermediate vision. I think they were regular lenses. I am very happy with them - was able to read the hymn numbers on the wall at church today! I couldn't do that with my contacts. I was a little anxious as to what 'intermediate' would really mean, but I see well enough to drive, use the computer, get stuff at the store, etc. I need readers for very small print like a medicine bottle. I actually read a book on the commuter bus, which I haven't done in years. I will read from my Kindle, where I can adjust the font size, but a hardcover book, nope. I'm just thrilled. My vision at 25 was probably around 20/200. It was 20/400+ when I got the operation. So this is better than I've seen since I was a little kid.

I'm diabetic and have a dilated eye exam each year. My last visit, in August, indicated that the cataracts were 'on the horizon' and that we should just watch for changes. However, by February my vision was so bad, I had to see my doc again. She did some extra tests and said, yeah, you probably need cataract surgery. I came back, did some more tests (all painless; they shine a light in your eye and ask questions about your vision) and talked to the surgeon. As I mentioned, I wasn't seeing contrast on web pages, which worried me when people at work pointed out things they were seeing that I wasn't. I've been able to reset all my web pages back to normal now. I'm also able to see pages at 60-80% and not the 150% I had to use before.

Were you working at the time? As it got close to the time for surgery, and I was getting a little nervous, I thought that if I weren't working, I might have waited. I was getting by. But, working in front of a computer (actually 2 monitors) 8 hrs a day, the vision problems were making my life miserable. Personally, I'm glad it happened because my eyesight is so much better than what I've been making do with. It is a blessing.

Coming from the Catholic tradition of choosing a pope and all the pageantry that goes along with the new pope's installation, I wondered - God forbid that President Monson, dies, but if he does, what happens with the next President? I know the person will be the next senior person, but is there a public ceremony? Is it private? Does anyone get to wear a red cape and big hat?

Good point.

I'm very glad that the Priesthood session is available for all to see on TV or online. I generally find them very useful for filling in my gaps in Mormon knowledge. But of course, I have a question or two - Can women attend the session at the Conference Center? Can men attend the Women's Session? I assume that's rarely done, but I wonder if you could do it or if you'd be blocked from entering the hall?

No. It looks good, but as a diabetic, I don't eat much pasta anymore. Strangely, potatoes don't bother my blood sugar as much as refined carbs, so I might put all those veg on a potato, or just eat them on the side.

Madoff, the miniseries with Richard Dreyfus and Blythe Danner. It was fascinating from the criminal aspect as well as looking into this guy's psyche. What a terrible person (which is saying a lot, for me).

Well, I found out what my problem was - cataracts! I had one eye done the other week and the other eye will be tomorrow. I went from 20/400+ in that eye to 20/25!!!!! I haven't had a score that low since I was a kid. A little kid. What a difference the surgery has made - the screen's not blurry, I've been able to take off the high contrast tool from most sites I visit, and don't have to jack the font up to 25. Wow! And Mordorbund, here's some vegetarian pasta for you, since I know you like veg food so much - http://www.food.com/recipe/tuscan-vegetarian-pasta-392763

I didn't even address the scapular because I figured it might be too much for folks here, even after looking at it online.

You devil, you.

On another thread, someone mentioned purchasing an item from the Catholic Store. As I looked around, I wondered if LDS could wear something like a Miraculous Medal, or have a picture of a guardian angel in a child's room? I understand that LDS don't usually wear crucifixes and it would probably be hard to justify having a rosary at Sacrament meeting, but I'm curious how far people can go. Recently I've seen non-Jews, black and white, using prayer shawls. I'm not sure what I think about that, I typically equate the shawls with Jews, not black Baptists, but there you are. Maybe there's some other religious item that people have started using across religions? I think the Mother Theresa dish towel might be a bit over the top, tho... : )

When I read this the first time, it struck me like a bolt of lightening. I wasn't sure I wanted to be baptized, but wow, I had to really question myself and my motives for NOT getting baptized. btw OP - keep talking to the people here. They helped me out a lot.

Wow. I don't take this view.You know, not everyone who wants to can serve. Not even every worthy male. This is the kind of attitude that makes people leave the Church and/or makes them unsure and have low self esteem for years. No thanks.

We had a young man in the ward who joined the military and went to the Middle East. He was one of the nicest guys and active in church, but just did not see himself in a mission. When he came back on leave and gave a talk, he spoke about being a witness to the faith, how he avoided certain activities, talked to people about the Church, the good reports he received because of his behavior and charity to his fellow soldiers, etc. He may not have been dressed in a suit and carrying the Book of Mormon, but believe me, he was a missionary nonetheless. btw - Our ward listed him in the bulletin and on the bulletin board with the 'regular' missionaries from the ward. No one thinks any less of him that I know of.

This is fine by me. I wanted to know if there were limits to who gets invited. BYU is a church school. If the admin thinks all speakers should be guided by the spirit and have an LDS outlook (tho I'm not sure that's exactly what you're saying). Surely someone like Justice Clarence Thomas could speak, and he's not LDS.

You're mixing apples and oranges. None of these are political figures - Milo is or at least aims to be. I don't care what 'celebrities' say about anything. Except Billy Corgan, who is doing a 30 day tour thru much of the Heartland and posting on FB. I care desperately about what he has to say about music, American rock and blues music history, and doing laundry in a laundromat. : )

I went to Michigan in the 1970's, and then again in the late 1990's. We had a range of people speak, some of whom, especially the political types, were not 'dignified or scholarly,' but they were at the forefront of the Native American movement, student rights, women's movement, etc. People at the forefront of societal change may not be educated. They may not be dignified. Shoot, they may not even be men, but they have something to say. And, I would suggest that their very popularity is a reason to hear them out, at least once, to see what they are about. I didn't know Milo had a podcast, so when I found out, I listened to a couple of them. My biggest complaint is that he sounded like a lot of young people. I got his message in a couple of minutes and didn't really need to listen to much more. It's not the world I live in anymore. And yes, I admit to being a terrible ageist in that regard. On the other hand, I also recently learned that Nigel Farage of the UK's Brexit movement has a radio show that is played on YouTube. Now that is man worth listening to.

Sorry to get back so late. Here are some choices; they may be repetitive. http://www.mormonmatters.org/2010/04/11/mormon-vegetarianism/ http://ldsmag.com/discovering-the-word-of-wisdom-pioneers-the-most-vegetarian-general-conference/ http://www.ldsveg.org/ChrisFosterPhd.htm

Get better soon! Enjoy not putting the dishes away while it lasts. I just learned this week that I will have to have cataract surgery, sooner rather than the year or so down the road that I had hoped.

So, after the shameful behavior at Berkeley this past week, where the tolerant left destroyed private businesses, brutalized people, and damaged the campus to make sure a gay Republican would not speak, I got to wondering... Could Milo speak at any of the Church schools? Thoughts: 1. Not invited, too controversial in toto. 2. Not invited, there might be violence. 3. Not invited, he's gay. 4. Not invited, uses too much profanity. 5. Invited, we give everyone a chance to speak and we educate our students to think critically about what they hear. 6. Invited, a good conservative, tho he's a lot different than what we're used to. 7. Other. What say you?

I have known a number of transgender people since the 1970's, though I have not known them well. I've also watched a few shows about transgender issues, especially when a child is born intersex and the parents end up choosing a sex for the child. I go two ways on this. If the person is an adult, has felt something was 'wrong' for years, and is finally making an informed choice about this issue, then it's his/her issue to deal with. I wish them well, cause what' they've chosen ain't gonna be no picnic. However, I can't get behind teens or kids, especially little kids, who think they are transgender. The mind is not fully formed, even at 19. These children need psychotherapy (and often parents who aren't into some weird version of Munchhausen by Proxy and getting a kick out of having a transgender kid in the spotlight). Some may indeed be transgender, but I think many are not. Waiting until the mind has matured makes sense. There appears to be a difference between people who suddenly think they are transgender and the many gay people I've known (and known well), who knew practically from childhood that they were gay. The fact is, there is a high rate of suicide with trandgenders, both before and after surgery. I think we are called upon to have love and be compassionate toward them, no matter what we may think personally.

I think my politics and religion have to mesh because I'd hate to be in church every week and have the priest/minister/rabbi tell me it's OK to abort babies, that gay marriage is OK (I can live with it, but don't tell me it's religiously correct), etc. I had to stop going to some public events and even swim aerobics because every darned time libs would start going off about Bush, even when the conversation wasn't about him. It was like you couldn't get away from their hysteria. And now, if they know who you are, God help you, because if you say something in response, you're liable to get your car keyed. So, yeah it would be nice to separate politics and religion, but it's increasingly difficult to do so.

Trump wasn't my first choice, but I have enjoyed watching the show. As an east coaster, a lawyer, a corporate stooge before going into academe, I know Trump types. He doesn't bother me because I know that's how those people act. It's like Chris Christie. I liked him fine because I don't have a problem with his brashness, etc. On the other hand, I know people who get their knickers in a twist because they think these guys aren't 'nice people.' So what? You don't have to be a nice person to get the job done. That said, I've certainly learned more about Trump's niceness and generosity than I have about Hillary's (non-existent). I found the term 'Mormon Social Justice Warrior' to be interesting. My son has been asking me about a church to join that would support his family. Obviously, I would like him to be Mormon, but he thinks that the Church is too 'feminine,' too willing to roll over in the name of being nice (or diversity, or immigrants, or women, you name it). I wouldn't have used the term 'Mormon social justice warrior,' but yeah, it fits. We have to deal with SJW garbage almost daily being academics and he doesn't want to have anything to do with people who think that way. He's looking at the Orthodox Church because it is has stayed true to its conservative beliefs (and he is Greek on his grandfather's side, with an ethnically Greek name, so it's not as odd as it may seem.). Most people here can probably separate their religion from their politics. I have a difficult time doing so (hence my being attracted to the LDS because of its history in America and its generally conservative nature). Personally, I was shocked when many of my RS sisters said they would vote for Hillary, who was in favor of 3rd term abortion and other matters that are so anti-LDS. I don't know how they could do that. Politics and religion are interlocked, but maybe that's just me. I'm going to do some thinking about Mormon SJWs and what that means.