The Folk Prophet

On some other stuff: I have too many hobbies. It's ridonkulous. I get into stuff. Here's some of the stuff I've gotten into over the past: Motorcycles Digital photography/videography and camera gear Making (braiding) bullwhips Model Trains Playing plectrum banjo Leather carving (belts, bags, holsters) Bicycling Making hats and western wear Guns And that doesn't include the primary hobby I have, which is writing musicals. I know...you can't buy happiness. But you can buy pleasant distraction. And goodness me...why are most of the hobbies I get into SO expensive! It's interesting to me how some of these that I've gotten into I never expected to. Like...I got into braiding bullwhips because I (delusionally) thought I could make myself a high quality, what would be $1000+ Indiana Jones bullwhip for the cost of materials (a few hundred). 15 years later and I've spend WAY more than the $1000+ and still don't make them as well as the pros. (Though a lay person wouldn't know they're not as good. Here's a pic of 2 of them I've made:) Anyhow...because they're "leather" people would often ask me back 15 years ago or so when I was getting into it if I did other "leather" work. And I'd say no way. No interest. Not my thing. I just wanted a bullwhip. It wasn't about the leather. But.... then a few years back I get it into my head that I can make myself a high quality gun holster on the cheap too! (Same delusion as before.) And...voila...into leather work. Now I'm really into leather work. Silly me. And bicycling. I have a bro-in-law who's always been into it and I'd always be like, "Bah...." about it. But then a few years back, the wife and I decided to get in shape and decided to get bikes...and then I got into it...like obsessively. I even got myself some of those biker shorts I swear I'd never be caught dead in! And...western wear and country music? That's just weird. Anyhow...mostly I'm just a big nerd and when I finally started making "grown-up" money, I realized, bit by bit, that I could....sort of...afford stuff. And so a lot of it is just child-hood fantasies being realized. Except I'm always trying to not just spend like crazy...so instead of buying the nice bullwhip or holster or cowboy hat or whatever...I decide I can be frugal and make my own. And then I get into the hobby because I'm a bit obsessive (the proper term, I believe, is hypo-mania ), and I end up enjoying the researching and crafting and hobby of it more than I enjoy the thing itself. Owning and cracking a bullwhip has brought much less pleasure and fun to me than making bullwhips has. Same with quick-drawing a six shooter (I wanted to get into cowboy quickdraw...they have real competitions and shoot wax bullets at metal plates and stuff....). I've much more fun getting into carving leather. Anyhow.... currently I'm into the hat making (as per the other thread I started on that), but I decided to sell a bunch of stuff I've gotten over the years on Ebay. Stuff that didn't quite work out. One of the cameras I have. One of the very expensive model trains I had. Etc. One of the excuses I always make myself is that I can always sell things to get out from under it if I get into financial trouble. Which ends up being true with a lot of hobby stuff. Model trains...expensive ones...are limited runs often. And that means they hold value pretty well, especially buying popular ones. I got the VisionLine Big Boy back in 2014. Spend $2200 on it (on a sale). Should be able to sell it for $2000 on Ebay pretty easily over a decade later. The problem was (if anyone cares) is the thing is too big and I had delusions (a common theme here) of having a cool train layout. But, I don't have the space! It's too big. The minimum curve of the thing is 6 feet. And that's for a simple circle, which isn't all that fun. I just don't have room to build a layout. Here's a pic, btw. So selling it....which is good because it's ended up being nothing but a decorative item for ten years (I've literally only run it once), has gotten me into the idea of moving to HO scale (which is half the size of the larger 0 gauge that this one is). And HO is less expensive. The size is cool on the 0 gauge. I'm kind of a go-big-or-go-home thinker on these things. But, in practice, that doesn't work out a lot of times. So HO might be just the ticket. So now I'm back into researching model trains again! Dang it! Haha. Except not dang it. I love the research almost more than the thing. If only I could stick to just researching and not actually buying I could have all the research fun without the money spent. But...it's the fantasizing about buying and building and all that that's half the fun, and so if it was just research..... Well, you get my point I suppose. C'est la vie. I've rambled on here a bit too much. But, you know... I did say the thread wasn't really meant to be about just soundbars and subwoofers.

Maybe this has been said (I didn't read all the responses), but me, for example, being an Elder...am STILL a Deacon. The age thing (unlike baptism), clearly isn't a hard rule, since we get 11 year old deacons now. But we are, undoubtedly, training young men. Ideally, yeah, 11-year-olds would be teaching... but...really? I'm a Teacher's quorum advisor...and some of those kids... like, you know... I don't want to use the word "retarded" or....anything...and not because it's politically incorrect to do so (which I shouldn't use it for that reason either)... but it's just a maturity thing. They're children still. And they act like it. The ages of 12 to 18 are HUGELY transitional years on maturing. We are training them. They get the priesthood young because they're old enough to start really learning and developing maturity and responsibility and all that...but they are NOT mature enough to just do it. So we train, and we train by assigning, and expecting, and giving responsibility to, and etc. And this is seen through more than just passing the sacrament and so forth. Almost every Young Man at some point will end up in a presidency, unless they're just not willing or active. And the way classes run now...the Young Men teach. And, boy howdy, we struggle with that. But they're learning. They improve, sometimes, in some ways, bit by bit. They're learning and preparing for missions. They're developing the things they need to become what being a Deacon mean by being Deacons, Teachers, etc. So, no, I don't agree they're treated as solely a sacrament passer...not in the least. But that is one way where they do learn, if nowhere else, responsibility, dignity, reverence, and so-forth. They are also all assigned as ministers. Which...once again... teaching, watching over the church, etc., But as Young Men...they're in training.

^This. Nice that we have a living prophet and revelation guiding the church, eh? Isn't "at-large" a bit confusing and subjective here? I mean you mention the 70s and high councilors. Surely the 70s and high councilors don't "govern" the church "at-large" (quote marks implying subjective words).

Maybe they'll add Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

And strumming it too!

I guess that depends on what you consider contention. Do we all have to agree?

Welcome to mortality.

Yeah, it's led you to philosophically misunderstand the nature of what a right is or should be.

The concept that culture defines my rights is baffling. Take that to the extreme. If culture dictates that it's legal or otherwise acceptable to rape and murder, you'd argue that those being raped and murdered should just accept that because of the so-called "rights" set forth by said culture or legality? Or do those being murdered and raped have the God-given right to rise up in rebellion against that abuse? I'm not even arguing for or against free Healthcare. But it's not a cultural question. Abusive is abusive. By the way... there's no such thing as "free". Someone is paying. It's only a question of who. Obviously higher taxes because of so- called "free" Healthcare isn't in the same class as rape and murder. But the logic applies, generally. That's not even my problem with a welfare state though. I'd be fine with higher taxes and free Healthcare IF... government didn't suck at everything! There may be exceptions... but they're few and far between. By and large, if you want to make something worse...put it into the government's hands. Socialist government's aren't compassion. They're beauracratic, wasteful, self-serving, corrupt machines of destruction. By human nature and the fact that they have their priorities wrong. ALL governments are beauracratic, wasteful, self- serving, corrupt machines of destruction. The best have checks and balances against such, and prioritize freedom above ALL else, including Healthcare or other welfare issues. Governments that prioritize welfare over freedom and/or have no checks and balances allow for unrestrained evil, pure and simple. No one is against welfare. But at the cost of freedom? Nope. Because welfare without freedom is for no one's welfare at all. Moreover... government can't and won't understand what's actually beneficial when it comes to things they can't and won't understand, because they're politicians and driven by politics. Capitalists have to understand or they don't make money. It's not a complicated idea, actually.

Welcome to the entire history of mortality.

And slavery, as we all know, is approved of in the Bible.

No.

I wouldn't say either of the sides of your equation here are accurate. Capitalism doesn't care about time, talent, or energy. Nor does it care about benefit. It's simply you sell what you can, and buy what you want. And that's it. If you can sell a lot, somehow, regardless of time, talent or energy, you make money. And if others don't want to buy what you have to offer, it doesn't matter if it's beneficial or not. Time, talent, energy, and benefit are useful tools. But they're not, on an individual basis, mathematical certainties in capitalism. That being said, in the long-term and the grand scheme of capitalism, that does tend to work out, as the market will equilibrate on the whole. But in the individual case it won't necessarily play out as an, if-you-work-hard-you-will-win situation. And that's one of the problems with the way some look at it. They see it, definitionally, as -- anyone who works hard WILL succeed -- and that is shown to be false pretty quickly. But the fact that it's false doesn't negate the reality that it's still the best system which allows for growth and potential to succeed based on hard work. But that's really missing the point in a way. It's less about the individual's potential (the so-called American Dream, if you will), but more about an overall system that best allows for overall growth of economy and benefit. Individually what capitalism gives back may not work out. But societally, what capitalism gives back with the broad input of time, talent, and energy IS beneficial to society at large, of which the individuals (even those without specific success from their time, talent and energy, or even input of those things at all), partake. That, of course COULD be true outside of capitalism as well...but it simply is not. Because the one missing component that all other systems (except one) seem to have is motivation. The reason capitalism works is because of the POTENTIAL that it will give back based on your time, talent, and energy. And, moreover (another false point in your equation above), the POTENTIAL that it will give back significantly beyond "proportionate" to the benefit offered. Simply put, the hope of getting rich, because it's actually a possibility, drives the value of capitalism. Yeah...most won't get rich. But the "dream" of it pushes the time, talent, and energy more than other systems. There's solid motivation for effort. There's a three-tiered hierarchy of motivation. At the bottom is fear of punishment. At the top is love and altruism. In the middle is hope for reward. Socialism and similar ideologies (communism, welfare states, etc.) claim love as their motivating factor, but they're delusional, and so must relegate to the lowest tier and motivate through fear. In an ideal world -- the generally fictional utopian only seen twice that we know of in all of history motivated by pure love and goodness -- all would be motivated without fear or hope for reward, by pure love. But in the real world, people are motivated by hope for reward -- a lower tier than the ideal, but one that works much better in this fallen world.

Finished "matching" hats for me and the Mrs. I say matching in quotes because, A. The bands are different (though you can't see the one on my wife) and B. The shape isn't the same because I have no idea what I'm doing. But they're similarly shaped. I supposed "finished" should be in quotes too since I still need to make hat liners for both. Or not. I guess I don't have to. But... On another hat...my brother said he wanted his IJ hat weathered. So... I need to rework the shaping just a bit on this one. Not that he'd know or care...but it's not quite screen accurate! Finally... my daughter really wanted me to make her a hat. But she's growing and I didn't want to spend too much money on a hat that she'd grow out of...so I got a super cheap wool hat blank. (Like $10) And it wasn't stiffened at all, so I had to stiffen it with shellac....which discolored it. Argh. And then my shaping on it was TERRIBLE. So I need to reshape it. She wanted it all yellow: Here's another angle on the "matching" hats so you can see they are sort of the same-ish: Sorry this one's fuzzy:

History says otherwise.