Doctor Steuss

If you have never read David Stewart's page on the tribes, you might really enjoy it (it's long, but well worth the read, IMO). The Twelve Tribes of Israel Today Also (although it doesn't really have much to do with your specific question) you might enjoy the PBS page from an old Nova dilly: NOVA Online | Lost Tribes of Israel | Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Here's a transcript of the show: NOVA | Transcripts | Lost Tribes of Israel | PBS

I might have to add this to my wish list. I love the Book of Enoch (I've read it many times now [Richard Laurence's translation]). It's a bit hard to tell what all within it was in the "original" due to the vast editing that has taken place as time has gone by, but given the amount that we still have and how much Christ and His apostles liked to quote from it, maybe one day it will return to the place that Christ, His apostles, and the earliest Saints held for it -- as scripture (at the very least, I think it deserves to be held in the same regard as the apocrypha).

If you attend a Single’s Ward, you will inevitably discover what I did when I first began attending one. G-d evidently communicates via text-messaging.

The weather has actually been fantastic lately. I can never remember a year when "Spring" has lasted this long. Temperature right now... a cool 82. Which means that the 110+ days of June, July and August will probably last into October.

Hubba-hubba.

I’m going to opine here a bit (sorry). If you want to support a musician (i.e. give them some $$$), the best way is to either buy a ticket to one of their concerts of buy merchandise. Many bands don’t end up seeing any money from CD sales. The majority of the money goes to the retailers and the labels. It is an unfortunately antiquated medium. The label I’m currently signed to doesn’t even put out CDs (the music can only be downloaded). Of the bands I’ve been in, we mostly just gave away CDs or used them in Press-packs or in order to get shows booked. There are a few bands out there that have gotten sweet deals with their contracts (Beck comes to mind), but the majority are only getting nickels and dimes from their studio recordings (if anything at all). I would link to a great Rolling Stones article from a couple of years back on the subject (a music promoter here in Vegas pointed me to it about a year ago), but unfortunately the title of the article contains an expletive. Needless to say, when you copy a CD, you aren’t really hurting the musicians. You might be inasmuch as their recording costs aren’t being recouped by the label, but by-in-large you are hurting the label or the retailer. Radiohead even went so far as to make their last album available for download for whatever you were willing to pay for it (even if that amount was zero). Although there was a more expensive “download” (with a set price) which contained oodles of extras. To me, copied CDs are a fantastic way to discover and share new artists. There are many artists I never would have found out about if one of my friends hadn’t copied a CD for me. And those same artists would never have received my fan loyalty of me going to their concerts and purchasing their later recordings. At this point in time, as a musician (albeit not a successful one) I readily accept that music piracy is a fact of life. One that should not be fought against, but should be accepted and worked with to the advantage of the musicians (and not the multi-billion dollar leaching corporations). Then again, it does depend on the label (for example, Amy Mann’s label is very good to the artists and has their interests in mind more-so than appeasing some guy who owns his own island).

Mature flatus.

And your fears were justified. Had you postponed, you'd be stuck with the likes of me.

I think you're special...

Yeah, the weekends can kind of be a downer. Especially when all of your friends that you hang out with are either married or are in a relationship.

Nah, those of us who aren't married are old farts (ages 18-30) so we tend to hang out in the other forum.

Definitely the lack of a companion. Friends can fill some voids, but there's some voids that are best filled with someone who you have romantic feelings towards. More-and-more lately, the “tick-tick-ticking” is becoming a close second.

Sometimes I wish my dates were blind... ------- Seriously (not that the above isn't serious), I think you should just tell them the truth. You just didn't feel that "spark" (or however you want to word it -- I usually say I didn't have a "hubba-hubba moment").

The Temple grounds are beautiful, and because it is up on the mountain, it provides for a great view of the city (you may want to just head up that way at night for the view). If you go to the Temple grounds, make sure to go all the way to the back, as there's a fountain and some benches back there that provide for some good "thinking" space. I've been really lucky to live just a few blocks away for some time now, and make use of the grounds often for reading. The Old Mormon Fort is probably the only "Mormon History" type site that is within the Las Vegas Valley. It is at 500 E. Washington (Google maps is your friend... but that's essentially around LV Blvd & Washington). It is only open until about 4:30, so you have to go early. It is only $3 for adults (and I think $2 for kids). If I had my druthers, I'd probably make use of the fantastic weather by going swimming instead of hitting up the Fort... to each their own.

It wasn't the Sesquicentennial (this time). My actual birth was though (April 6, 1980). My 50th birthday will be April 6, 2030, which will be the bicentennial of the Church. I think it ironic that on the same day, millions will be celebrating the founding of G-d’s kingdom on earth, while a select few will instead be celebrating the birth of one of Satan’s spawns…

Fantastic. May your belly swell with joy.

The majority of wedding announcements that I receive where they will be sealed essentially say something along the lines of: "You are hereby invited to attend a reception in their honor at______" without any mention of when the actual wedding will be occurring. If you have a lot of family and friends who aren’t LDS, check with your bishop on the possibility of a small ring-exchange ceremony. It won’t have any of the pomp of a “regular” wedding, but it might fill that void of “participation” for those who aren’t LDS. My close friend had a ring exchange ceremony as hardly anyone in his family is active LDS. It was just a real short dilly right before the reception. If I'm invited to the sealing (which is a rarity as most people who know me know I've never been to the temple) there's usually a small separate card that says I've been asked to attend the sealing, and the time/place/etc.

No worries on being late. That sort of thing tends to happen when you had the misfortune of being born on the Sesquicentennial of the Church. I have a feeling my 50th birthday will have man late-comers...Sadly, sweater-weather seems to be long gone. I actually had to use the AC in my car on Sunday… not too happy about that.

By all means. I’m still full from my Coldstone ice-cream cake (yum!). And, for my birthday, I got two more volumes of Nibley’s collected work (almost have all of them now). I need a new bookshelf though…

Wow, what a wonderful thing to start my week out with. A thread that feeds my ego, and makes me feel as if, maybe (just maybe) people do not think me to be as scurrilous as I oft times suppose. Thank you all. It was by far the best birthday I had all year. Hugs, Stuart (And, yes, I have already repented for the birthday celebrations and shenanigans that took place).

Modern science (not to be confused with the early science of philosophers) deals with the question of "How?" Religion should focus on the "Why?" IMO, problems occur when people try to mix the two.Religion = Why G-d does things. Science = How things are done.

I believe in the shallow end of the pool... while wearing floaties... and an inner-tube... and a life jacket... during a drought. Maybe one day I’ll get swimming lessons in order to venture into some deeper waters of belief. Thus far though, the swimming instructor hasn't returned my calls. Maybe I'll get Him an answering machine for His birthday; I'm sure He's just busy and St. Peter stinks at passing on messages.

AFAIK, 10% of your "increase" is all of the guidance that the Church gives. Beyond that, it is between you and G-d as to what you deem to be your “increase.” Technically I suppose that assistance from the Church should be tithed as it is an “increase” to you. At the same time though, it seems silly that the Church wouldn’t just take 10% off the top before giving you assistance. *shrugs*

"Have the Presbyterians any truth? Yes. Have the Baptists, Methodists, &c,, any truth? Yes. They all have a little truth mixed with error. We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true “Mormons.”" (History of the Church, 5:517)

A common (yet forgivable) mistake.