zil2

It's hugely popular.

BIC have managed to redeem themselves, slightly.

Yep, still instinctively coming here to start a new post for my morning scripture study... Apparently it only takes 4 months to form muscle memory.

BIC and other ballpoints were brought to you courtesy of Marcel Bich (whose name morphed into BIC) and László Bíró (in Europe, they call ballpoints "biros"). You can read about Marsell, the Oily Sorcerer of Bicbiro in The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh. (Marsell appears in Part 1: Quintus, the Fifth Wizard. He plays a major role in Part 2: The Oily Adventure. He's mentioned in passing in Part 3: The Old Goat Adventure and Part 4: The Quest to Find Happy Silkworms. Part 5: The Quest to Heal the Source of Magic is not yet complete, so I have no comment - you'll just have to read. New episodes posted every Tuesday morning, Utah time.)

BIC, filling landfills everywhere. The villain of my ink review story is Marsell, the Oily Sorcerer of Bicbiro. If that means nothing to you, you clearly don't know your BIC history nearly well enough.

I switched to this. It's taken a while to be sure, but switching dishwasher soap has definitely helped. I think any remaining reluctance to eat from specific bowls (I have four varieties) may just be association. Anyway, he's eating more and eating from his bowls now, so Meowmy is happy. Now, what to do with the old stuff? Sigh. Maybe someone in the ward needs it.

This became such a significant part of my day that I'm now sitting here wondering what to do with my time!

5 hours and 11 minutes late. You're taking Mormon Standard Time to a new level! Happy New Year (+5 arbitrary hours and 11 arbitrary minutes)!

Moroni 10 v3: Moroni tells us to remember how merciful the Lord has been. In 1 Nephi 1:20, Nephi tells us he is going to show us "that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." I submit that the entire Book of Mormon has been showing us what Nephi said he would show us, and what Moroni is telling us to remember. I further submit that this is no trivial thing - to remember how merciful the Lord has been. That there are blessings and changes of heart which flow from this exercise. And like all good things, it can be repeated over and over, each time with a positive outcome - if we will be humble. v4-5: This is not as simple as it sounds, and applies to all truth, not just the truthfulness of the things presented in this book: Ask God (must have an idea who God is and how to ask him) in the name of Christ (must have an idea who Christ is and what it means to ask in his name) if these things are true (what to ask) with a sincere heart (must figure out what this means and how to have a sincere heart) with real intent (ditto) having faith in Christ (you must already have some - how else could you ask in his name?) by the power of the Holy Ghost (must learn to recognize this; it can manifest differently for different people) v6-7: If it's unjust or false, it's not good. If it denies Christ, it's not good. Have faith. v8+: The gifts of God are many. Don't let the skeptic in you win, have faith and seek for the best gifts. But seek them so that you can serve God and others. v18: Be grateful for the gifts you have, not proud. They come from Christ, not you. v19: The consistency of God is critical if we are to have faith in him. Were he inconsistent, how could we have faith in him? If something seems inconsistent, recognize it as either a false teaching or a misunderstanding on your part. Have faith in God and seek understanding. v20-21: Faith and hope feed or build on each other. Charity is a gift of God and one must have faith and hope to receive such gifts. v22: The first part makes perfect sense; the second part can be hard to read for someone suffering from depression. I'm not entirely convinced that the iniquity has to be in the person feeling despair. Perhaps it does, I'm just not sure. Whatever is the case, one can only be benefited by choosing to be humble and to rid oneself of all sin, so work to that end (since you can't rid others of their sins, work on your own). v23: It doesn't say you can do "all things" by faith, but all things which "are expedient unto [Christ]" - there's a difference. Don't forget it. Learn what is expedient to Christ. v25: When you are doing good, you work by the power and gifts of God. Be humble and grateful for those gifts. v29: Believe this! God can and will show you, if you have faith. (Or at the judgement day, regardless of faith, I suppose.) v30: Good counsel to live by every day. This is the repeated pattern that teaches you to make better and better choices, to love better and better things, to put off the natural man and become a saint. v31: Temple, covenant, and Church growth imagery. Like the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 - the more room we make, the greater blessings we can receive. v32-33: Only in Christ can we be perfected. But to do that, we have to choose to give up all that is unworthy (ungodliness). And to have the strength to do that, we must love God with our all - because nothing else will allow us to endure that process, nothing else will enable us to be sufficiently humble to accept his grace. v34: Moroni finally gets to rest, and not be alone any more. Live so that you can look forward to the "pleasing bar of the great Jehovah". Phew! Now, back to the beginning.

Written like a complete amateur - the alphabet for variable names. Zero elegance. Sigh. There you go, @Ironhold - you could write an article about the difference between elegant code and hacks, using Easter calculations as an example. (Granted, your readers would be baffled and wonder when their newspaper turned into geek central, but sometimes that just can't be avoided...) Alternately, you could write an article about how you asked some friends for ideas on what to write about and here are all the lame ideas they came up with...

So, tomorrow (or today, for @Jamie123 and @askandanswer) is our last day, and I wanted to say two things before we finish: 1. Thanks, Jamie, for inviting us to join you, and thanks, @Vort, for pushing us to do it by the end of the year so that we don't overlap with the Book of Mormon reading for 2024 Come, Follow Me. Were it not for these two things, I might never have read the Book of Mormon this quickly, nor been convinced of the value of reading it quickly vs at any other pace. I have seen patterns I wouldn't otherwise have seen and learned things I wouldn't otherwise have learned, and I'm grateful for that. I intend to read it even faster at some point, but not in 2024. If you're reading this, and you've never read the Book of Mormon in 4 months or fewer, I encourage you to try it. 2. In today's chapter, Moroni "exhorts" the reader to ask God if the things they have read are true (there's more to it than that, so read the chapter for details). The missionaries ask this of people investigating the Church. I'm not going to ask you, Jamie, whether you intend to do as Moroni encourages - that's a personal matter and you can share it or not. But I think anyone considering acting on Moroni's exhortation should hear something like @NeuroTypical's story as related here: ...so, I'm including a link to that story and this message encouraging you to read NT's story first and then decide what to do about Moroni's exhortation. I hope you know, whatever you decide to do, that we love you here and that's not going to change either way.

Perfect. Now write the code to do that.

Everyday symbols of death and resurrection: Sunset-sunrise Going to sleep at night-rising in the morning Plants dying in winter and coming back to life in the spring Animals that hibernate Butterflies (caterpillar > cocoon > butterfly) whatever else you can think of How to make the most out of the eclipse - followed by a list of songs, artists, books, foods, etc. named "eclipse".

Oh, best non-Easter "Easter Eggs" from software and other media.

5 ways to cook a bunny for Easter dinner! Yum! (Yes, I'm perverse, what can I say.) "Easter Egg" Roll or Easter "Egg Roll" - why not both! What to do with all those dyed Easter eggs - target practice. Spring Calendar Planning - a few amusing suggestions for what to do around each holiday/event (adjust as needed for your local events): Start of DST Saint Patrick's Day Good Friday Easter April Fool's Income Tax Day Passover Star Wars Day Cinco de Mayo Mother's Day Why is spring called spring? The best places to buy springs this spring. 101 things to do with springs this spring. Spring resolutions (for those who missed New Year's) 10 Toxic Texas Spring Flowers Easter (or Spring) Safety (interview police, fire, ER officials to learn the most bizarre things they've encountered on Easter / in the spring, and write an article) 5 tips for making sure all your Easter egg hunt eggs are found (RFID tags, glow-in-the-dark paint, GPS tracking, ... ) 12 things not to say at the office Easter party

Easter: A brief summary of crimes committed on Easter, starting with the execution of an innocent man and ending with...? (I actually think this might be pretty interesting - if you've had some interesting Easter crimes in your part of Texas.) Why you should absolutely not stuff the Easter ham. (Or, why people eat ham on Easter. Or, why people eat ham at all.) Oh, how to calculate Easter - it's absurdly convoluted (from a programming perspective). Should take a good half a page just to explain it. I have code, somewhere, should you need it (though I'm sure Wikipedia explain it). Why is Easter called "Easter" (as opposed to Wester or Norther or Souther or Resurrection Day or something...)? 101 Things to do with those plastic eggs that held M&Ms on Easter morning. (Or 11 things, if you're in a hurry - just not 10, everyone does 10 - it's so cliche.) The dangers of fake grass in Easter baskets. Spring: How to get @Traveler to do your spring cleaning for you. Common spring cleaning chores that would be better done in the fall. (You'll become the local hero for this one!) Things to hurry and do in case the world ends this year. Insects you can look forward to killing this season (and the common household items you can use to do it). (Alternately, how to turn plastic Easter eggs into roach motels! Surely someone has done this already.) Best spots for viewing said eclipse. How to avoid all the eclipse-nuts. What to do if the eclipse-nuts park in your yard. Etc. Where to go to find spring wildflowers. Best eclipse-oriented baby names (someone's gonna need these, I'm sure). Things to do because the eclipse-nuts are in town: like yard sales and lemonade stands and hording bottled water and what-not. How to make authentic-looking UFOs (you know the UFO crowd overlaps with the eclipse crowd - you just know it)! Kitten and puppy adoption (spring is the time for this, you know) promotion. The best fountain pen inks for spring. (This year, it would have to include Diamine Eclipse, even though it's not really a spring color.) I'm sure I can come up with more. This is a fabulous way to procrastinate whatever I should be doing right now.

So, dandelion seeds?

Today's delay was brought to you by cannibalism and Klawboy McPurry needing cuddles. Moroni 8 (letter from Mormon to Moroni) v2: Rejoice when others are called to serve God. v3: And pray for their spiritual welfare. v6: Correct errors (within your stewardship / as appropriate). v8: Annoying though they sometimes are, apparently, little children cannot sin. And because they cannot sin, the Lord's got them covered, unconditionally. v9: "solemn mockery" seems a strange combination. I suppose in this instance "solemn" means "serious" or "severe". And I suppose "mockery" is less the "derision" definition, and more "imitation" or "vain effort" definitions. Doing something which can have no effect. And in this case, which denies or even rejects the mercy of God. v10: Learn to become like little children. v14-16, 19-23: The strength of his language is surprising in some ways. Perhaps the commonness of this practice in our day has numbed us to this level of response against it. And I rather doubt those who practice this today have considered what Mormon is teaching here. v16: "perfect love casteth out all fear" - this is a true principle. Love the Lord. Love others. And if your love is sufficient, you will not be afraid to do what is right in relation to said others. v19-22+: Don't deny the mercies of Christ for anyone (sometimes we want to think that this or that person should be condemned, but this isn't our place - let Christ judge, be grateful repentance is offered to all and mercy extended to those who cannot repent). v25: The logical result of repentance is a desire to be baptized. For those of us who have been baptized, it should be a desire to renew and keep that covenant, act in faith, keep the commandments. Remission of sins isn't from repentance alone (or, repentance includes keeping the commandments - it is to change your heart and actions). v26: As you experience the Lord's mercy in forgiving you, you should increase in humility, meekness, lowliness of heart, which will then allow the Holy Ghost to more fully be your companion, filling you with more virtue - it's an ascending spiral, each step raising you to the next. v27: Whether of a nation or an individual, pride destroys. Be humble and live. Moroni 9 (letter from Mormon to Moroni) v3: Satan may stir, but you, @askandanswer, get to decide whether to get angry. (Sorry.) v4: Pay attention to how you receive the word of God, and do whatever's needed to receive it with gladness and gratitude. v5: I think the precursor to this is simply constantly being angry and hating others, and we have too much of this already - wanting to ruin another person's life (cancel them) because they believe differently or were foolish at some point in the past. Be a peacemaker! v6+: Those who know the gospel have a duty to live it and share it. v7+: Resist everything that encourages or glamorizes or celebrates or leads to brutality - whether it's music, movies, video games, hateful comments on social media - reject it and pray for ways to encourage peace and love instead of it. Be the light, leaven, and salt of the earth! v15: Live so that God's judgement doesn't sound scary to you. v16-20: "...to be helpless is the most subtle of all agonies." -- The Peking Target, Adam Hall v22: It is possible to be righteous, even in the midst of the darkest wickedness. v25-26: Christ can lift us despite whatever horrors are happening around us. Always remember him.

Context suggests it was written well before that last battle. I suspect the letter was exchanged and read before Mormon died, and Moroni, rereading it after everyone else was dead (because, you know, lonely), decided it was worthy of inclusion on the plates. (Poor Moroni - he must have been so lonely.) But heaven knows. Mormon's work was in his day. Moroni was the angel of the restoration. Whatever the reason, Moroni was chosen to represent the Book of Mormon peoples and aid in the restoration. Perhaps he was the last key-holder from the Book of Mormon. Or perhaps that was just the calling to which he was foreordained. Whatever the case, we may be assured that this was the Lord's decision and therefore the right one. From the verse @Jamie123 mentioned, we have in the footnotes, Leviticus 26:29 and Jeremiah 19:9. Elsewhere, we have Lamentations 2:20 and 4:10, and Ezekiel 5:10. Also, 2 Kings 6:28-29 and Micah 3:1-4 (might be figurative, but the idea had to come from somewhere). Some suggest that people sacrificed to idols were generally also eaten after begin cooked (burnt).

Wonderful! Please do! I hope all is well with her, her family, and her pens! I miss seeing her on here.

President Uchtdorf disagrees with you:

Hey, we all work from home now anyway, and I'll bet sellers would get on the delivery-drone bandwagon real quick... (And don't you dare go asking how employees are going to get to work to load and fly those drones, I'm enjoying my imaginary isolation over here, so they're just going to have to build better robots!)

Moroni 7 (Moroni's recounting of Mormon's teachings to the people of the church) v2: When you are called, remember who it is that called you. Be humble and grateful. v3: If you follow Christ, you will strive to be "peaceable" and obtain hope. In Mormon's day, this must have defined the followers as there was so much wickedness and violence that only those with a firm hope could have followed Christ. v5-21: @askandanswer has demonstrated the difficulty of defining and judging what constitutes good and evil. Mormon's words, "by their works ye shall know them", and using the third person: "a man" and "him" and "he", sure sound like "here's how to tell whether another person is good or evil". But he goes on to speak about how God will judge the described actions and their motivations. So perhaps Mormon is instructing people in what to do and not do to be judged righteous by God. Whatever he intended, we cannot judge another's intent (unless they (or the Spirit) tell(s) it), so when I read these things, I read from the perspective not of how to judge what anyone else is doing (or at least, not to condemn or unrighteously judge), but how to know what I should do. To that end (in the following, "thing" might be an object, person, event, thought, emotion, behavior, etc.): When you do what is right (e.g. offer a gift, pray), do it with "real intent". Don't begrudge the gift you intend to give (figure out how to change your heart so that you don't covet your own possessions, so that you can truly be generous). Pray with real intent - the only meaning I can think of for this is "pray with the intent to act in harmony with whatever answer God gives you". This is harder than it sounds. It requires serious humility. Follow Christ. If something comes from God, choose to receive it as good (even if you don't like it or don't want to - reject the natural man reaction and force yourself to accept it as good). If something comes from Satan, no matter how appealing, reject it as evil. If a thing encourages me to do as Christ did (good), or to love and serve God, it's good. If it discourages me from following Christ, it's bad. Rely on the Spirit of Christ (what some call your conscience) to teach good from evil. By choosing good, one's perception of this guidance is ever honed and refined so that what you thought good as a child is no longer good enough as an adult, etc. I have personally experienced this. There are things that my younger self thought acceptable that my older self cannot accept - they are not good enough. If it encourages me to believe in Christ, it's good. If it discourages that belief, it's bad. If it discourages me from serving God, it's of the devil. Lots of things discourage me from serving God. And I think things can flip - if I want to stay home from Sunday meetings, or ministering, or whatever good work so I can go fountain pen shopping, (my attitude and behavior toward) those pens have become evil. But if I use them to take notes in Church, to write a thank you card, or encouraging letter, now they are helping me to serve God and are good. If a thing cannot be used to serve God, it may well be something that should be removed from your life. Beware of the phrase, "there's nothing wrong with" - if the best you can say about a thing or behavior is that there's nothing wrong with it - if you can't say, "here is what's right / good with" it - then maybe it's not worthy. Invite the light of Christ into my life. Move ever into it, never away from it. Enhance my tolerance for that light (the natural man hates this light). Strengthen my ability to be in that light. Diligent effort is required to search, by the light of Christ, for what is good or evil - it's not obvious! (v19) We must work for it. And when we see a good thing, "lay hold upon" it! (If we don't, we will lose our perception or sensitivity to the light.) Faith is required to lay hold upon good things! (v21) (Remember, in the preceding, "thing" might be an object, person, event, thought, emotion, behavior, etc.) Judging good and evil is not an on-off switch. It is a gift and a skill we develop as we search in the light of Christ (hard to search for things in the dark). As we choose good and reject evil, our ability to distinguish between them will increase and we will increasingly choose better and then best. (Or worse and worst, I suppose, but don't go that way!) And while good and bad are in fact absolutes (God and nothing of God), during mortality, the choices for every person are relative to where they are and what they know at that moment. If you consistently choose the better option before you, you will become better and perceive better options than you previously knew existed until you are righteous. If you consistently choose the worse option before you, you will become worse and perceive worse options than you previously knew existed until you are downright evil. Chose the better and best options - seek for them, ask for the ability to discern them. v21: We're gonna talk about faith now. v22-23: The foundation of faith is that God knows all, and that "in Christ there should come every good thing", and that God has sent angels and prophets to teach these things. v24: After the fall, no good thing could come, except for Christ. IMO, pondering on this could help to define "good" and teach how to discern "good". At least in part, and perhaps as a beginning: the fall separated us from God. Christ offers a way for us to return to God. Thus, that which separates us from God is bad. That which brings us back to God is good. Mormon is clearly talking about the ultimate good here. Not: "cake and ice cream - good, Brussels sprouts - bad" (or vice versa, ), nor "new car - good, broken car - bad", nor "healthy - good, have the flu - bad". But rather: "separated from God - bad, with God - good". Thus, we could define our measuring as: does this bring me closer to God or does it keep me separated from God? v25: We exercise our faith in Christ by living as God has instructed - keeping commandments and covenants. This is how we "lay hold upon every good thing" - now "good thing" starts to be more specific. v26: And now we learn what to pray for - that which is good, that which God has spoken, that which will bring us back to God - but we must have faith, believing that we can in fact be brought back to God. v27: Interesting that it now goes straight to miracles with no apparent transition. Receiving the things prayed for in v26 is perhaps the miracle addressed in v27. "...to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men" - The Atonement is what allowed Christ to claim these rights. The Atonement isn't what helps you and I, Christ is. v28: Have faith in Christ so that he will claim you as his - and have mercy on you. If you have faith in Christ, you will "cleave" to good things (that which brings you back to God, which is Christ, his gospel, ordinances, and covenants). v30: Strengthen your faith and firm your mind. "in every form of godliness" - in other words, in the covenants of the temple! v31: The work of angels is to call people to repentance and the work of covenants. It occurs to me that this includes the covenants we make in the temple - the Father makes promises to us as well as we to him, and angels minister "to do the work of the covenants of the Father". Bear testimony of Christ! v32: Share the gospel with "the residue of men", so that they can have faith in Christ! v33: Faith in Christ gives you power to do Christ's will (not some arbitrary thing, not what you want, what Christ wills). v35+: If miracles and ministering angels and the Holy Ghost are missing from your life, repent, come unto Christ, and exercise faith in him. v39: Those with faith in Christ will be meek. v40+: Faith and hope feed one another. Faith in Christ, hope for the blessings Christ promises. v43: Meekness and lowliness of heart required for faith and hope (after all, you're trusting Christ for everything - no room for pride here). v44+: We need the gift of Charity. Plead for it (v48), practice it, pursue the virtues it encompasses (v45). Be a true follower of Christ (v48) or you cannot receive it. v47: Love Christ with all your heart, and you will receive his love for all others.

I have heard that this is because, in part, corporations are buying up houses and renting them, keeping people from being able to buy houses, increasing the demand, which increases the price. While I don't suppose I can blame any home-seller for accepting the highest bid, my advice to those who can is to refuse to sell to anyone other than an actual person who intends to live in the home (don't sell to corporations).

Moroni 6 v1: I was baptized at 8 years old. I remember very little about it. I remember there was an interview with the bishop, but I only have visuals (he ran a 5-and-dime store and there was a lot to see since the interview was in his office there (we had no church building, but used rented space in a government building). I remember nothing of what was said. v2-3: Whenever one was baptized, one should continually show worthiness of that ordinance and covenant through repentance and obedience. It can be easy to forget that. The Sacrament is meant to remind us. It's amazing how two little verses can take a lifetime to master: broken heart, contrite spirit, repentance, taking Christ's name upon yourself, being determined "to serve him to the end". v4: All that is so that you can have the Holy Ghost guide you. Don't be the sort of member who doesn't give their contact information to the Church, who never responds to Church leaders and members trying to contact you. Church membership isn't a mere formality, it's an active thing - names are taken so that we can live our religion, helping each other, asking and being asked for help. We can't do any of that if we don't know how to contact each other. Being "kept track of" is part of our Church! (per the end of verse 4, and other scriptures.) Remember that it is only through Christ's merits that we have any hope at all, so rely on him. v5-6: Meet together often with your fellow saints! You need them, and they need you. v7-8: Encourage others, and be encouraged, to live the gospel, to not give up. v9: Learn to recognize and follow the Spirit. (This and preceding chapters read to me like Moroni thinking, "OK, now what all am I going to need to teach this Joseph Smith guy, and how am I going to remember it all? I'd better just write a few notes for him.") Holy cow. I should have done 6 yesterday. 7 is a doozie. Will post it next.