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Aren't neutrinos just young neutrons from south of the border?

This quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell is one of my favorites related to this topic: All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [1979], 14–15, 21

I don't know how to respond to Brigham Young's assertion that immortal beings continue to learn. in Lectures on Faith, it is well argued that if we didn't have assurance of God's omniscience and omnipotence, we couldn't have faith it God's ability to save or exalt us - after all, if He doesn't know all and have all power, how does He know that he can exalt us - for all He knows, there is something that will stop him, or someone more powerful that will interfere. Of course, one can argue that God's omniscience and omnipotence are both within his sphere, and that he may well be increasing in knowledge and power by advancing to higher spheres: Revelation 2:17 D&C 130:10-11 This white stone (the phrasing may make it seem like there are two, but I think the combination of both references clarifies that it's one) will reveal to those in the celestial kingdom "things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms" - What!? Yep, that's saying there are kingdoms higher than the celestial - at least, I don't know what else it could be saying. Now, I think it's worth noting that only those in the celestial kingdom receive this. Therefore, I don't believe it can be argued that those in the terrestrial or telestial may also advance. Indeed, every indication is that they cannot. What's more, there's every indication that only those in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom have any chance at advancing, if anyone does. So then we go back to the quote from the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith - about the Savior working out his kingdom and giving it to the Father. Perhaps this constitutes the Father moving into a higher order of kingdom. That would correspond to only those in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom advancing - since only they have increase / continuation of the seeds. Eventually, the "round" will repeat, and the exalted will present their kingdoms to the Savior, etc. etc. This leaves the lower levels of the celestial kingdom, and the terrestrial and telestial kingdoms stagnant while one of your quotes has those in outer darkness devolving back into raw material and loss of identity (difficult to reconcile with the teaching that resurrection is a permanent, unchangeable state; also something that I think would be dangerous to preach in our day and age when depression and despair are prevalent enough that those in such states might find a sort of hope in the idea of an eternal cessation of consciousness and therefore act to "obtain" said cessation).

Ha! I tripped over that the other day when looking through the list of things others had shared with me on my g-drive (trying to find things to delete - no, I did not delete it ).

The proper use of iridium: (full disclosure: they say nibs aren't tipped with iridium any more, even though most Chinese nibs claim to be - but then those same Chinese nibs usually say "IRIDIUM POINT GERMANY" on them - I suspect the nibs on the left and right are Chinese. The one in the middle is not and likely has an iridium tip.) (I'm not aware of any fountain pens with platinum(-plated) nibs, but here's one with platinum-plated trim: There. Now everyone knows the proper uses for platinum and iridium. (Let me know if you'd like to see palladium too. )

Yes, that seems quite clear from the Words of Mormon. I wondered the same thing. I mean, if keeping plates is quite common, and it seemed to be (as far as prophets and rulers were concerned), and someone had made the "template", so to speak, why not reuse it?

So, today while finishing my study of the intro material to the Book of Mormon, I went down a rabbit hole, and discovered things that lead me to this conclusion (supports to follow): The 116 pages were entirely the book of Lehi. That's what was lost. But Joseph had translated more than those 116 pages. The "more" was not lost. But it also was not used to produce the Book of Mormon. Rather, it was all replaced by the translation of the small plates. Whatever happened to this additional part, which Joseph had not given over with the 116 pages, I have no idea, and have never even heard mention of. I would guess they were destroyed so they couldn't be used as the 116 pages might have been. Supports: That quote @Vort posted, from History of the Church, volume 1, page 56, footnotes: D&C 10:41 (says the same thing) Section 10 pretty clearly delineates this in my mind - there are the pages "which have gone out of your hands" and "that which you have translated, which you have retained" - two different groupings. The large plates, which Mormon abridged, would have contained: Lehi The equivalent of 1 Nephi through Omni (but as history and from the perspective of the kings rather than the prophets) Mosiah through 4 Nephi My reading of "which you have retained", suggests Joseph Smith translated to some point in bullet #2 (likely to the end of it, given the rest of verse 41). Now, I suppose one can argue that "which you have retained" refers to some other thing, but I don't think so. I recommend reading the entry in History of the Church and all of D&C 10 before deciding what you think. (My rabbit hole also makes me believe that Mormon wrote the Words of Mormon on Nephi's small plates (even if he had to make a new plate to do it, though there's no evidence he did). Some verses in Words of Mormon have him referring to "these plates" in a way that suggests they're not just the small plates, but that he's writing on them.)

I think it's more a case of, God would like for things to be as clear for man as they are for him, but before we are ready for that clarity, it would destroy us. So to prepare us to receive the clarity, he gives us parables and "blurry" versions ("through a glass, darkly") and as we choose to be led into the light, we see more and more clearly. Etc. (So, not so much that God wants things blurry as that in his mercy, he leaves things blurry, lest we be destroyed by the clarity.)

@Vort's explanation is the only one I can think of.

IMO, that's not what's happening here. I mean, "these two feathers went over to the head on the right" cannot in any way be understood as "they left the right side and went to the bad side". I think dude is just royally confused or spouting what he wants it to say, or something. (But yes, generally, you're right.) Amen! Double amen! Amen and amen! I believe this is in part due to our language, which cannot communicate everything (see all the instances in 3 Nephi where people were unable to write, speak, or even imagine the things Christ said). I think there are things in each of us that we simply cannot communicate to others - we'll have to do it in the next life (this includes the depth of certain feelings, the significance to us of small acts of kindness, and the things we have come to understand). To try would take volumes. And, of course, you cannot teach trigonometry to someone who has yet to learn algebra.

Yeah, a set of scriptures, where God wrote the answer.

If people are getting their information from videos like this rather than reading the vision itself in II Esdras - and I keep getting the impression that no one is reading it - it's no wonder there's confusion surrounding it. The video in the above thread has the guy saying "the right side, the good side" - there is nothing whatsoever in the text of the vision to suggest the right side is good (yes, I know, it's frequent in scripture, but not in this vision). The only indication of meaning for the right side is that it represents the place of rulers (the wings go there ("arise") when they rule). People are assuming an eagle with two wings, one on the left and another on the right, but the vision doesn't read like that at all - it has 12 feathered wings1 and three heads, and "out of her wings there grew [8] other wings over against them;". Usually, "over against them" means "across from them" or "on the opposite side" - suggesting there are 12 wings on one side of the eagle and 8 on the other. (Some translations have the 8 "opposed" or "contrary" to the 12 (and growing out of the feathers of the bird rather than the wings).) Given that the ones that rule always "arise" or "rise up" or are "set up" on the right side, and sides aren't otherwise mentioned, I don't think we can assume anything except that the right side is a place of authority. Anyway, he talks about how these two little wings "were on the right side, the good side, they're gonna break over to the bad side" - but the vision says: "...lo, two little wings divided themselves from the six, and remained under the head that was upon the right side..." Um, so they didn't go from the "right side, the good side, ...to the bad side" - they went from some undefined place (but possibly the left side) to the head on the right. Dude just read those verses aloud before saying the exact opposite of what the verses say. What the, huh? How can I be the only one to catch these things? Good grief. Dude is claiming the vision says things it doesn't! It's like this guy never read the Old Testament and doesn't know the way they spoke / wrote. It's also like he never read chapter 12. (And he's crappy at making videos - using a pointer that doesn't show on the recording and doesn't edit the video to add visual markers. Grrr. Why would anyone pay attention to this dude? I can't bear to watch more.) 1Wouldn't it be funny if this should have been translated as "twelve-feathered wings". Then there would be 24 "big" feathers and 8 little feathers. But alas, I don't know Latin, Armenian, Ethiopian, or Gregorian (the languages of the oldest versions of this text), so I can't go try to figure it out. Apparently it's universally accepted as 12 wings, so, nevermind. It was fun while it lasted...

Sweet! The Jinhao dragon pen. As I recall from online reports, it weighs a ton. This pen rates between fabulous and "most obnoxious" depending on who you talk to. I've never seen it in purple before and I have to say, of the colors I've seen (just black and red, I think), I like this one the best. The concept (fude nib) is Japanese, but that nib is made in China by Jinhao (and despite what's stamped on it, there's no gold in / on that nib). It would have been fine if you drove (elevation change should not be fast enough to change air pressure and push ink out of the pen (only airplanes taking off should be enough to do that)). The pumpy thingy is called a converter. (Anatomy of a Fountain Pen (and its accessories).) It will take Jinhao cartridges or any that say they have a 2.6mm bore diameter. Some Chinese brands use that same 2.6mm bore, others use 3.4mm. Standard international is 2.4mm. I've noticed a tendency in Amazon listings for them to say the bore size (or to say standard international for non-Chinese brands; all Japanese brands, and some European, are proprietary). Bottled ink is cheaper anyway, and you get a wider variety. You can use a blunt-tip syringe or tiny pipette (these have a small enough tube) to transfer the ink out of the cartridges you have and into the converter. The syringe will open the cartridge for you, the pipette is too soft to do that - you just have to push a nail or some other stiff thing against the ball that's sealing the cartridge opening. Tell me the color and I'll happily give you recommendations for good-performing inks. Or you can visit https://inkswatch.com/ and pick a color and it will suggest inks. (If you like the look of a Noodler's ink, we should talk before you buy - a few have special, um, concerns. ) I foresee visits to Dromgoole's in your future (they're in Houston and I'm jealous).

And some more:

Here's a fountain pen you can appreciate:

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...