Critics of the Book of Mormon often deride it for its apparent lack of archaeological corroboration. Indeed, most of the evidence that bears on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is “internal,” meaning evidence derived from the text of the book itself. Those given to rejecting an ancient origin for the Book of Mormon [...]
Archive for July, 2011
Defending Internal Book of Mormon Evidence: The Lesson of Proto-Indo-European
Posted in Language and Literature, Religion, tagged apologetics, Book of Mormon, English, evidence, linguistics, old English, Proto-Indo-European on July 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Two Tea Parties
Posted in Humor, Politics and Society, tagged tea party on July 30, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Today, my two daughters had a tea party over here for their friends. I was pretty excited when they had the idea–imagine, my precious little girls wanting to voice their concern over bloated government waste and dwindling civil liberties, mildly protesting the financial burden that our leaders’ policies are putting on them. But, apparently, their [...]
Two Shakespeare Quotes Dissing School
Posted in Humor, Language and Literature, tagged Henry IV Part 2, jokes, Romeo and Juliet, school, Shakespeare on July 28, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Some people may think Shakespeare is difficult, elitist, old-fashioned, or whatever else they don’t like, but nothing could be further from the truth. Like all permanently classic works–Mozart’s music, the Bible, The Simpsons–Shakespeare endures precisely because he’s the opposite of all those things. Shakespeare speaks the truth of real, universal human experience so powerfully and [...]
Reviews of Movies I Haven’t Seen: Final Destination 5
Posted in Humor, tagged Final Destination 5, movies on July 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I haven’t seen any of the Final Destination movies, but from what I understand, they all start the same way: there’s a crowded place, and an interesting young person has a vision of imminent doom, which is heeded only by a few others. They all escape while the rest of the poor fools are graphically butchered. My [...]
Shakespeare, As Performed By Several Silly Celebrity Voices At Once
Posted in Humor, Language and Literature, tagged Jim Meskimen, Shakespeare on July 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Jackie Chan on Homework. Sort of.
Posted in Education, tagged discipline, educational standards, homework, Jackie Chan on July 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Clearing some old dead weight off my bookshelves (The Starr Report? Um, pretty sure I won’t need to read that one twice…), I came across another late-90′s acquisition that was fun for a few minutes, but has long since lost its usefulness: celebrity martial arts movie star auto-bio I Am Jackie Chan: My Life In Action. Surprise! [...]
I Love Me Some Celtic Woman
Posted in Arts, tagged Celtic Woman, covers, music, pop music on July 25, 2011 | 2 Comments »
But then again, who doesn’t? I read somewhere that 85% of world music bought in the United States is Celtic. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that PBS trots out these concert specials every pledge week. Celtic Woman web site. Wiki.
Ironic Rhetoric Advances the Book of Mormon’s Thesis
Posted in Language and Literature, Religion, tagged Atonement, Book of Mormon, irony, Jesus Christ, rhetoric on July 24, 2011 | 5 Comments »
3 Nephi 27:14 is one of the more rhetorically clever verses in the Book of Mormon. It features an ironic parallelism that explains the point of the Atonement while emphasizing its apparent absurdity. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon [...]
Reviewed: James Clavell’s Noble House
Posted in Language and Literature, Politics and Society, tagged book reviews, China, cold war, communism, Hong Kong, James Clavell, Labour, liberalism, Margaret Thatcher, Noble House on July 23, 2011 | 2 Comments »
James Clavell’s Noble House is a novel about one week in the life of a Hong Kong business executive in 1963. And it’s 1370 pages long. No, wait, don’t stop reading! That wouldn’t have enticed me, either, but it’s actually one of the most fascinating and exciting things I’ve ever read. It’s full of espionage, [...]
So Stanley Rimer Thinks He’s a Prophet
Posted in Humor, tagged Colleen Rimer, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Stanley Rimer on July 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A story in yesterday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal covered the sentencing of Stanley and Colleen Rimer, the people who left their disabled 4-year-old son locked in a vehicle overnight in June, 2008. Little Jason Rimer died from the heat. The parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Jason, as well as for neglect and abuse of their [...]
Please Help a Wonderful Young Woman Fight Cancer
Posted in Random on July 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I know a young person with an inoperable brain tumor. She was in one of my classes last year–just a wonderful, wonderful young lady. She’s been in pain and been diagnosed with cancer only fairly recently–a couple of months ago–but her options are already pretty limited. Still, she needs treatment and medication, and that’s not cheap. Here’s [...]
Fun With Patronymics
Posted in Language and Literature, tagged names, patronymics, Scandinavia on July 21, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I remember when Northern European patronymics was explained to me, I felt like a whole new level of reality had opened up. Here was a system that gave us so many of the names that are still common among us today, and I’d never realized it! Seems pretty obvious now. In some European societies, a [...]
Speaking of Aardvarks…
Posted in Humor, tagged aardvarks, Monty Python, teaching on July 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
One of the hardest things to do naturally as a teacher is to transition smoothly and logically from one topic or activity to another. Sometimes lessons are closely related; often they’re not. Sometimes a useful transitioning device will present itself; usually they don’t. I’ve been quite fortunate to discover some pretty clever ways of connecting disparate [...]
Gary Oldman vs. Tim Roth in Questions
Posted in Humor, tagged Gary Oldman, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tim Roth, Tom Stoppard on July 20, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Alas, yours truly has succumbed to a rampaging case of nap/sugar/vacation-fueled insomnia, so here’s a middle-of-the-night video for you: Gary Oldman and Tim Roth duke it out in a kinetic bit of verbal sparring, from Tom Stoppard’s weird but funny 1990 re-imagining of Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead:
Pick Yer Poison…
- Arts (108)
- Education (191)
- Humor (260)
- Language and Literature (167)
- Living well (140)
- Politics and Society (321)
- Random (103)
- Religion (219)
Posting Schedule
Archives
- May 2012 (7)
- April 2012 (14)
- March 2012 (24)
- February 2012 (22)
- January 2012 (20)
- December 2011 (21)
- November 2011 (19)
- October 2011 (25)
- September 2011 (13)
- August 2011 (52)
- July 2011 (38)
- June 2011 (53)
- May 2011 (17)
- April 2011 (7)
- March 2011 (22)
- February 2011 (29)
- January 2011 (27)
- December 2010 (28)
- November 2010 (23)
- October 2010 (26)
- September 2010 (27)
- August 2010 (1)
- July 2010 (15)
- June 2010 (5)
- May 2010 (14)
- April 2010 (17)
- March 2010 (14)
- February 2010 (14)
- January 2010 (20)
- December 2009 (22)
- November 2009 (18)
- October 2009 (27)
- September 2009 (27)
- August 2009 (22)
- July 2009 (25)
- June 2009 (38)
- May 2009 (30)
- April 2009 (28)
- March 2009 (20)
- February 2009 (35)
- January 2009 (19)
- December 2008 (19)
- November 2008 (24)
- October 2008 (31)
- September 2008 (13)
- August 2008 (16)
- July 2008 (24)
- June 2008 (26)
- May 2008 (29)
- April 2008 (31)
- March 2008 (7)
-
Recent Comments
Amy on 50 Things New Teachers Need To… Kshepherd on Five Gross Things You Might No… sean on A Silly Test of Book of Mormon… Dennis on The Death of Talk Radio in Las… sean on The Condensed Book of Mormon, … sshaver on Mean Mr. Huston Wonderdog on Mean Mr. Huston Andrew on Mean Mr. Huston Velska on What is Marriage? Velska on The Talk: All Races Versi… sean on What Was the Mark of the Curse… Pratt on The Five Worst Problems In Ame… AIrmonkey on Is Stansberry’s “E… MANON KUBLER BY MANO… on Funky Science Fiction! ahmed on The Five Worst Problems In Ame… -
Top Posts
- The Five Worst Problems In America Today and The One Thing We Can Do About Them
- The Five Worst Problems In America Today--Revisited
- 50 Things New Teachers Need To Know
- Blessings and Responsibilities of the Tribe of Ephraim
- 50 More Things New Teachers Need To Know
- Is Stansberry's "End of America" Video Right?
- Ten Best Atheist Arguments?
- The Condensed Book of Mormon, In 15 Verses
- Books Of The Old Testament In Chronological Order
- Book Review: Tinkers, by Paul Harding
Tags
-
