Ironhold

Facebook is pretty much your best bet right now.

MSN says that the death toll is up to 35 now.

Normally, I don't get homogeneous answers.

Every so often, I'll drop hypotheticals to shake up whatever board I'm on. Usually, it's because the board's not all that active, and so this gives people something to talk about for a while.

A hypothetical that has come to mind of late. You have recently joined a new congregation. While getting to know everyone, you discover that Brother _____ is one of the more colorful members of the congregation. Among other things, he's on retainer for the State Gaming Commission. It turns out that he's been playing pencil-and-paper role-playing games since he was young, during which he discovered a rather incredible affinity for handling and rolling dice. Thanks to 2+ decades of practice, his affinity is so strong (almost to the point of being supernatural) that he can tell just by handling them whether or not any given set of die are loaded. He'a also so skilled / lucky that for most types of dice (6- , 8-, 10-, 12-, and 20-sided) if he's allowed to roll them by hand he can tell you ahead of time what number will come up, loaded or not. He can also seemingly calculate in his head the probability of any given set of numbers coming up from any given dice roll, and can - through observation - tell if a set of dice are deviating from this and by how wide a margin. The State Gaming Commission first learned about him when he and some friends decided of their own accord to "raid" a dirty casino. After confirming via observation that their dice games were indeed rigged, he put his skills to work by taking them for $5 million; he was literally going to bet the casino owner "all or nothing" (casino ownership vs. the $5 million) when an undercover inspector finally intervened, at which point he explained - publicly - his discovery. Since then, most casino owners in the state won't let him through the front door unless he's waving his state credentials around, and when he is waving his state credentials around they panic because they know he's there to inspect their dice tables and there's no trick in the book they can use to deceive him. How would you react upon discovering that you're going to church with Brother _____?

Consider this thread a catch-all for random news articles that strike your interest. ** 1 dead, 1 wounded in a hostage-taking gone wrong. Seems two guys got the bright idea to kidnap a 17-year-old right in front of her house. Her parents responded by both grabbing guns and opening fire. One of the two was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was apprehended after he showed up at the hospital to have his wounds treated. Oops.

The building here in town has been vandalized and broken into so often that the previous building manager had the cops on speed dial. This includes an incident in which someone painted a pentagram on the front lawn and stapled a dead deer to it. A Protestant church in the area also suffered vandalism around the same time, but shattered exterior lights don't compare to something like this.

The term is used for people whose entire purpose is to tear down the LDS faith. Specifically, it refers to people who believe that the ends justify the means. That is, they'll gladly commit all sorts of wickedness in God's name. Some don't even recognize that they're sinning, others believe that God will excuse their actions under the circumstances, and the rest just don't care for morality at all.

I'll be honest - I'm surprised that my comment made it through moderation there.

Big thing is that they gave Peppermint Patty red hair when she's always been a brunette. The only way this would make sense would be if they were trying to make her the "Little Red-Haired Girl", but the wall poster on display at theaters now IIRC shows her and Patty as being separate characters.

This Gospel Coalition article on vicarious baptism. To quote them: Yes, the author literally said that. If they don't know just what Paul meant, then how can they be sure that we're wrong?

If the Legislature agrees on removal, he's gone. However, IIRC it's the President who will be given the opportunity to select the guy's replacement.

Things like this are handled in the legislature. It's a matter of getting enough members of the legislative bodies to vote for the guy's removal. As far as Obama goes, he's shown an unfortunate willingness to try and antagonize his political opponents, so even if this guy does get removed Obama may try to push forward someone similar to be his replacement.

Sounds like they've gotten confused about the old Pennsylvania Dutch practice of bundling.

Back when I was in high school, I nearly got one of the campus cops to publicly soil himself one day. I was taking an "intro to business and personal law" class as part of a trade / college prep focus. Well, one day the teacher invited the campus cops in for a question & answer session about the law. This proved to be a big mistake. The campus handbook said that if a fight broke out, all parties involved would be arrested for assault. I asked the cops about it. They all froze, a look of fear on their faces. The cop who had taken the lead on speaking looked especially confused and frightened. It took half a second for them to respond. Once they did, they explained that - yes - the law allowed for self-defense provided that the person tried non-violent options first (warnings, disengaging, et cetra) and only used the minimum amount of force needed to stop the attack. So yeah: I got the campus cops to admit that the handbook was fluff.

Thanks.

My parents' ward usually has an annual Trunk-or-Treat event the Saturday before Halloween; failing this, it's early in the afternoon on Halloween itself. The centerpiece is an annual chili cook-off, in which members bring in pots of chili for judging. Once judging is complete, the people who showed up get to eat buffet-style.

Depending upon the source, I might even have a canned response hosted on my Deviant Art account; if he's got good ad-blockers installed, I could give him a direct link.

So why are you criticizing something that you've never read?

You still have an angel carrying the gospel.

Tell me - Revelation 14:6, KJV 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, If any angels bringing a gospel are supposed to be suspect, then who is the angel John saw?

It's a bit more complicated then that.

Water can't be all three at the same time. It can be at the point between two of them, but not all three. Yes, we do. It's Mormonism 101 that we do.

My nieces and nephews love all things Snoopy. This month, McDonald's facilities that serve the United States will be offering Peanuts figurines as the Happy Meal promos. My parents are thus wondering what specific figurines they'll be offering as part of the promotion. I figured that I could just check online, but to no avail. McDonald's.com doesn't have any images, and Happy Meal.com (what Yahoo, Bing, and Google sent me to) isn't working. Anyone know where I can get the images? Thanks.

I'm 31 and still living at home. I had a decent enough office job I worked part-time while doing my undergraduate work, but I was laid off when the recession hit. I had just enough money left to finish my degree and get started on graduate school, and so any plans to "spread my wings" had to get put on hold. I have my MBA, but white-collar jobs so greatly retreated from my area due to the recession that I'm now having to save up so that I can afford to relocate. Until then, I'm helping my parents take care of the house and I pet-sit for them when they're gone.