Beautiful Children

I love my kids. This is the most recent photo I have if them.

Actually, that's not exactly true. This is the most recent photo I have of them that *they* sent me. I received it as a texted photo the day they left for BYU, about five weeks ago.

Since then, we've seen photos of them taken by other people (thank you, others, your photography is awesome!). And we've managed to skype with them (taking a handful of snapshot while they fidgeted, blinked, and scratched their noses).

But we'd really like to see stuff from them, too. Maybe Max could get someone to snap a picture of him in his new Men's Chorus uniform?

The Law Debate

One down, maybe another dozen or two to go.

My daughter sent us a link for a $.99 download of one of the games we wanted to replace. It was kind of an obnoxious install, and I had to accept a membership to a club (which required I resign or else I'd get charged a monthly fee starting next month).

But hey, $1 games are awesome.

And it came with a few new features that were actually really cool.

Thanks kiddo!

NIH Vaccine Research Center Malaria Trial Update

Found out some cool things, and wanted to share details with a few folks who were curious about the program;

Call 1-866-833-5433 to participate in the trial. It doesn't have to be the Malaria trial, either, they have several open. General requirements are;

* you have to be age 45 or younger
* you need to be free of autoimmune disorders (psoriasis, crohns, lupus, etc)
* meet all the regular criteria for donating blood
* be available for regular follow-up appointments (blood draws are almost always a part of the follow-up)

But you need to not be skeeved out by the idea of being mosquito-bitten. I learned that the "trial" which will involve me getting bit by malaria-positive mosquitoes will require that five mosquitoes have a "full feeding". They put a glass compartment against my skin, avec mosquito, visually confirm that it feeds, then they examine the mosquito to confirm it got a full meal. If Señor Skeeter has failed to eat fully, then I will be bitten by another mosquito. And so on, until five full feedings have taken place.

I've been assured they will provide the anti-itch topical cream.

If you live near the DC area, need some extra cash, want to make the world a better place (and can stand the thought of deliberately letting mosquitoes feeding on you), give them a call.

And you get copies of all the cool blood work and the EKG they do while screening you. It was actually reassuring to see, for instance, that my kidney function was normal (since I had a screening blood draw two days after my Dad had a kidney stone surgically removed). It doesn't include a cholesterol screening (unfortunately), but hey, free tests. My hematocrit screened a little low, so the next time, I'm supposed to have red meat and green leafy vegetables before a blood draw. So hey, eating steak for science!

And swag! You get a pen, a little backpack, a mug. Most mornings, they have little sack lunches with a muffin and some orange juice for volunteers, too.

Seriously, the reason to do it is for the money (which is good) and the benefit to the world (which is incalculable).

The Bees Sneeze

I took this picture of a bush in our garden one day after work last week during a rare moment of sunshine. I was struck by the dozen bees I saw crawling around the blooms. You might need to click and zoom the picture to see them.

As soggy as it has been, it's nice to have a moment of clear sky and sun, even if that brings bees with it.

When Is It too Late to Change Course?

Right now is the 4th time I've been the Gospel Principles teacher at church. Twice in the 90s, once last decade, and since last summer. I've joked about being in a cycle of callings at church. Years ago, I was the first counselor in the Young Men's Presidency, but was called from there to teach the Gospel Principles Sunday School class (my third time). From there, I was called to be the Elder's Quorum President. Then, I was released from that to be a Young Men's counselor, but that only lasted a couple of months before I was called to be the Gospel Principles teacher again.

So I've had time to familiarize myself with the material. Sunday, I taught lesson 31, on honesty, and there is a new sentence in the section on how stealing is dishonest (emphasis added)

Jesus taught, “Thou shalt not steal” (Matthew 19:18). Stealing is taking something that does not belong to us. When we take what belongs to someone else or to a store or to the community without permission, we are stealing. Taking merchandise or supplies from an employer is stealing. Copying music, movies, pictures, or written text without the permission of the copyright owners is dishonest and is a form of theft. Accepting more change or goods than one should is dishonest. Taking more than our share of anything is stealing.

I've taught this lesson before, but today, another thought from earlier in the lesson kept coming back to me as I considered the meaning of this paragraph (and the emphasized language).

Satan would have us believe it is all right to lie. He says, “Yea, lie a little; … there is no harm in this” (2 Nephi 28:8). Satan encourages us to justify our (dishonesty) to ourselves. Honest people will recognize Satan’s temptations and will (be honest), even if it seems to be to their disadvantage.

What was the last thing you were told to change which prompted you to . . . justify not changing? When was the last time you were exhorted to correct a behavior (especially a long-standing one) and instead you took an honest, sober look at the behavior in considering whether to change it or not (rather than shrugging off the exhortation and continuing with your historical patterns)?

A classic question is whether a speed limit sign should prompt strict obedience or not (which is NOT a behavior I am considering changing), but surely you can think of other good examples.

Teaching this Sunday School lesson was a clear moment of insight for me. I knew that there was a lot of pirated media on the computers in our home. I put some of it there! And I was moved to make a decision to change that.

I could hear unspooling in my mind's ear a dozen excuses. With each excuse, I hear the echo of the lesson, “Satan encourages us to justify our dishonesty…”

What's the difference between Tivoing a TV show and torrenting a file of it? Both let me watch it when I want and skip the commercials.

If I download something to try it out and then like it enough to buy it, how is that bad?

What's the difference between downloading a movie and getting it from the library?

What's the difference between taping a song off of the radio and getting a good .mp3 of it?

What if you buy a video game and then the CD for it breaks? What if the game's manufacturer doesn't even sell it anymore? What if the manufacturer doesn't even EXIST any more?

What if someone gives you a copy of , how are you supposed to know its provenance?

If someone else buys a movie/game/CD, copies it and then gives you the original, how is that any different from watching/playing/listening to a torrented version of something?

I'm not sure I know how to answer all of those questions. I have a lot of faith in the benefit of doing good things and finding the right path by the doing of it. I imagine that there will be some combination of amnesty, replacement, and deleting going on to correct our current ownership scheme.

But I am also certain that I don't ever want to be guilty of downloading pirated media again. And I want my children to understand my stance on it.

If you justify lying a little, stealing a little, because there's no harm it, where will that take you in the coming months, the coming years? Satan is patient, and he's in the conflict to harm us over time. Surely he knows that he won't ever actually win, so all he needs to do is damage us. A little bit at a time, perhaps, but that damage adds up.



Even if the "law" about sharing/downloading files is, in your opinion, wrong; it's too draconian, too strict, too inflexible. Even if that's true, every time you break that law, you know you are doing something illegal. How can that behavior continue without doing Spiritual damage to you? How can we justify stealing when our ultimate reasoning rests in the assertion that it's just more convenient to steal the media than to get it legally? Isn't that why Willie Sutton robbed banks?



Last Fall, I waited during Conference for a message that would encourage civility in public discourse, and I got one! This year, I will be waiting for a talk that speaks to honesty in media consumption.

In the meantime, I am open to suggestions. If you really, REALLY can't find something legally, ask me for help. I may know a guy.

And if anyone can point me in the direction of an inexpensive way to acquire all of the Sims 3 expansion packs (Ambitions, Generations, Pets, High End Loft Stuff, Outdoor Living Stuff, Fast Lane Stuff, Town Life Stuff), my kids would be extra grateful.

Sometimes Wry is Funny

We play games to have fun. We play them to socialize, to recreate, to learn, and so on.

I’ve written before about playing the Lord of the Rings Online. One of my favorite features of the game is the interactive nature of many of the non-player elements. In any Role-playing Game, you interact with other people playing characters. But you also interact with Non-player characters (NPCs) who sell you stuff, give quests, comment on your progress. There are quests that ask you to broker peace between people who have been enemies in the past due to old enmities. If you succeed, then in the future when you walk by either NPC, they call out to you, thanking you for your help in bringing a feud to a happy ending.

Another player aid in LotRO are certain reminders or hints that you have completed some portion of a quest. I like the pseudo-interactive nature of these things, they help me to remain aware of what I am doing. As you perform tasks, text will appear telling you when you’ve completed a step. It fades into view, to keep you informed of your progress.

"FOUND ONE OF BILBO’S BUTTONS IN GOBLINTOWN"
"COLLECT ANGMARIM WEAPONS (3/15)"

Stuff like that.

One of my favorite interactions sort of breaks the 4th wall, acknowledging the text’s interaction with you, the player, the audience. Commenting on what’s happening, as it were.

While adventuring in the frozen northern lands of Forochel (That’s Northwest of Angmar for you kids tracking this on your own Third Age Map of Middle Earth, an area referenced mostly in the appendices of the books), you encounter a fellowship that is scattered. Hapless even. Every member of this non-player group has lost stuff critical to the performance of their particular class, and needs your help finding it.

You retrieve a lore-master’s pet raven, slaying wargs to keep the bird safe while escorting it from hostile territory.

You find the lost sword of a guardian (it’s not really that nice a sword, but it has familial value as it once was used by the NPC’s sister).

The best one is a quest to help the minstrel. First, you retrieve three lost sheets of music (the quest is called Three Sheets to the Wind. Get it? Hilarious!). Then, you help the poor musician re-tool his lute. He has heard a rumor about a special saber-tooth cat stalking the wintry wilderness; he really believes some catgut from that fierce beast will be the thing that could put his lute-playing over the top.

You have to battle your way to the top of an island in the middle of a chilly river, then fight an especially hard-to-kill saber-tooth. Finally, you are victorious! You loot the corpse, looking for the item.



Got it! The acknowledgement words fade, and you are greeted by another message. In a game where you have collected 100s of hides, weapons, scales, nails, pieces of meat, and other sundry items, a strand of feline intestine finally provokes an editorial comment from the game.



Comedy gold!

Looks Can Deceive

Look close; is that a happy face or a sad one?



Sam ran ahead of us down a steep grassy hill towards a pavilion where we were convening for an Elders Quorum picnic. His feet got ahead of him and he tumbled to the bottom.

Laughing hysterically.