I have to admit it. I like Donny Osmond. I listened to his albums as a kid (”Crazy horses. Weeee. Weeeee”). We (as a family, pre-divorce) used to watch him and Marie in a weekly ritual (eating popcorn and drinking Kool-Aid). And I got to see him in Chicago perform in “Joseph”. He was amazing.
This makes me nervous. I pray that this won’t happen.
(AP) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The U.S. Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.
The maneuvers bring together two strike groups of U.S. warships and more than 100 U.S. warplanes to conduct simulated air warfare in the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.
The U.S. exercises come just four days after Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors and marines who Iran said had strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters. (more…)
I’ve been informed that this stuff has been around for a while, but still I think it’s exciting!!!! Semi-authoritative, apologetic answers to the tougher questions on a church owned and controlled web site!!!!
Check it out! Frequently Asked Questions from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
“Mormons often speak of Joseph Smith as a “martyr” who died for his religious beliefs. But Smith fought off the mob at Carthage with a pistol, killing two of them in the process, which disqualifies him as a martyr. A real martyr willingly lays down his life for Christ. ”
To me, this is amazing candor on the part of BYU’s Maxwell Institute. Kudos to you all!!!!
A small situation has arisen and I’d love to gather a few letters from folks who feel like Mormon Stories has helped them find a way to remain active in the church when they otherwise might not have.
If you are able to help, please either email me at mormonstories@gmail.com or post your story here.
A few of you have inquired lately as to my job situation, so I thought I’d let ya’ll know all at once. Here’s the scoop:
In 1999, MIT Provost Robert A. Brown asked a committee of MIT faculty, students, and administrators to provide strategic guidance on how MIT should position itself in the distance/e-learning environment. The idea that emerged was called “OpenCourseWare” — which was quite revolutionary at the time (and remains so today). Instead of trying to make $$$ off of the Internet, MIT decided to openly and freely share its course materials with the world (via the Internet) — to help improve education worldwide. The result was MIT OpenCourseWare — where today you can find the course materials for over 1600 MIT courses freely available to all. Some are even available in video and audio format.
It should be noted that 2 foundations (staffed by incredibly competent and visionary folk) stepped forward to fund/enable this endeavor (to the tune of tens of millions of $$$). Specifically:
Well, neither these foundations, nor MIT intended OCW to be a single-university thing. Instead, they hoped that just like with open source software, OpenCourseWare would spread as a movement, and become prevalent worldwide as one important approach to enabling global education. Consequently, Hewlett decided to expand the OCW program by funding OCWs at other institutions, including Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Utah State University (which is how I got involved in all this, thanks to Dr. David Wiley), Open University UK, UC Irvine, and several other universities worldwide.
I have to admit it. I like Donny Osmond. I listened to his albums as a kid (”Crazy horses. Weeee. Weeeee”). We (as a family, pre-divorce) used to watch him and Marie in a weekly ritual (eating popcorn and drinking Kool-Aid). And I got to see him in Chicago perform in “Joseph”. He was amazing.
If you are LDS and don’t like the idea of Dick Cheney speaking at BYU … consider writing President Samuelson and letting him know.
This makes me nervous. I pray that this won’t happen.
I was up on the BYU Maxwell Institute web site, and noticed something really fascinating. Check out the “Frequently Asked Questions” blurb at the top right of the web site. It reads:
A few of you have inquired lately as to my job situation, so I thought I’d let ya’ll know all at once. Here’s the scoop:
Wooo hooooo!!!! A new Ken Burns documentary is coming in September entitled: “The War” — about World War II.