quotes

along with reciting D&C 4 (and other various scripture references) every morning in my mission prep class, this quote was always read by someone in the class.

"to every man, there comes that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder, and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. what a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared, or unqualified to do the work"

~Winston Churchill

we also did this one quite often too

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

~joseph smith

Android vs. Borg

Again, i've been on a star treck kick. this time, i changed it up a bit, and instead of watching reruns of the next, i found a DVD at the library devoted specifically to episodes where they delt with the Borg. it was fasanating to watch. it made me think, if i were to be on star treck, and had a choice of being either a borg, or an android like Commander Data, which would i choose? it depends on the day, honestly.
being an android, Data is able to be a free thinker. he makes his own choices, he can choose to use the holodeck for whatever he likes, and "enjoy" it, as much as an android can enjoy anything, at least. he can form oppinions, and not worry about that someone else will know without him knowing they know. he is even free to choose to pursue a relationship (it wasnt at all successful, but it was entertaining to watch, anyway). borg dont have that choice
being a borg means being part of the hive mind. what you know, so does everyone else. you have no free thoughts of your own. you comply with everything the queen says. you cannot have an oppinion. it isnt part of your hardware. all this in the pursuit of perfection. its an appealing thought sometimes. if life gets overwhelming, why not become a borg. then you will never be overwhelmed, and you no longer have to deal with your life. being part of the collective would be ideal at that point. one major downfall to this idea is that then you have no control over your life, someone else controls it completely. looking at it on a spiritual scale, it would be more like having Satan's plan for us all. to not let us have our agency, but to blindly comply with what he wants. being an Android would be more like the plan we all chose, Heavenly Fathers plan of letting us have our agency, and letting us make mistakes.
both the borg and androids are both emotionless. wouldnt that be nice sometimes? there are days i wish i just had no emotions. it makes life complicated. i am still free to believe what i like, still free to pursue what i like, but without emotion. it might make the world a little more flat, (data once tired to compose a poem "ode to Spot (his cat)" that was emotionless, all about spot's attributes. again, not quite successful, but amusing to watch), but oh, the relief it would bring. i wouldnt have to try and figure out my stupid human emotions (being an empath would accompish the same idea, but that is a different tangent). i could go through my days, not worrying about this, that, or the other, not caring what others thought. either one of those sounds nice.
so who has the biggest advantage? honestly, they both do. again, it all depends on the day. which would you choose?

team hoyt

i had learned about these guys in my Leadership class up at school, and had forgotten about them until i passed a bilboard for them on the way to the library. amazing people. i wish i could say i would be that dedicated to my child

dates for Everything?

we have preset dates for dating, for weddings, for vacations, for everything. but a pre-set date for a funeral? okay, so maybe it isnt that unusual. but the person isnt even dead yet?! that, i have to admit, i dont get. why would you set a date for your funeral, but you arent even dead yet? a lady that is in my Grandma's congregation has a date set for her funeral. the 10th of may. but she isnt dead. so why does she have a funeral date already? and what happens if she isnt dead? does the funeral go forth anyhow? do they do a funeral, and do everything but bury the person? thats one of the best ways to know what was said about you at your funeral. be alive while its happening. oh, i know! they kill the person off, right before the funeral so that they can still have the funeral! that must be it! i do admit to seeing some wisdom in it. then, you can make sure that the people who want to be there, can be there. but it doesnt do them any good if you really arent dead. unless you kill the person off. that might be interesting. kill off a person just before their family gets there for the funeral, just so that you can have the funeral, and make sure the people you want there are there. i love it. killing off people just so that they can have their funerals just the way they want it. maybe i'll follow suit, and make sure that i have a hand picked day for my funeral, and then, if i'm not dead, you can kill me off (but it has to be by my method of being killed. you have to at least promise me that), and make sure that my funeral is just how i wanted it. can i write that in my will? "i want my funeral this day, and if i'm not dead, kill me off, but do it in this fashion" i'll try it and let you know how it works.

No Child Left Behind

mom came home from work today telling me about this new girl who just moved to Utah from Iraq. the thing is, they are now just doing the CRT testing for no child left behind, and this girl has to take them. she doesnt know any english so she cant understand what is being presented. she should be able to do the math portion, you would think (do they have math portions? i dont remember), since math is "the universal language" and they have math in Iraq. but, for the purposes of No Child Left Behind (herin referred to as NCLB), she is basically just one more student who will make their child fail. i would think that since she just got here, they wouldnt make her take the tests, but they are. why? it doesnt give an accurate report. she arrived in the middle of doing the tests. and she doesnt know any english. is this fair? they dont even have the bubble sheets for her to make pretty designs on it any more, its all computerized. i dont see how they can be getting accurate reports with having people who have just arrived in the country taking the tests. does it make sense to you, cause it certianly doesnt make sense to me.