March 2008

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PAF is dead! LDS Tech: Official statement on the future of Personal Ancestral File (PAF)

FamilySearch has been developing a web-based genealogy system that will allow the general public to create, search, manage, and share their family histories completely online. This online system will also replace TempleReady, a software program used exclusively by Latter-day Saints to prepare records for temple ordinances. The first phase of the new system (referred to as New.FamilySearch) is being rolled out to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Once the system is complete, it will be available for free to the general public and in multiple languages.

Now Mac users can finally do their family history at home.

An asteroid destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?

A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness’s account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And Brigham Young called them “fornication pants” (supposedly): Women in jeans ‘cannot be raped’. (via Our Thoughts]

Supreme Court agrees to take Utah religious speech case.  Sounds like this is the flipside of most Ten Commandments cases: where once the government allows a religious monument on public land, is it required to allow any and all petitions for monuments from other churches?

The dispute stems from Pleasant Grove City’s refusal to allow the display of a “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” monument in the same park that is the home for a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles 47 years ago.

At issue is whether a donated monument displayed by a municipality remains the private speech of the original donor, or is government speech; and whether placing donated monuments in a government-owned park creates a public forum or whether the government retains authority to select which monuments to display. . .

Summum, a Latin term meaning the sum total of all creation, was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City. The Seven Aphorisms refer to a notion that when Moses received stone tablets on Mount Sinai inscribed with writings made by a divine being, he actually received two separate sets of tablets — the Seven Aphorisms and the Ten Commandments.

I’ve noticed this strange trend too. What’s up with all the new up and coming former-Mormon celebrities?

U. of Texas plagiarizes honor code from BYU:

University of Texas at San Antonio students wanted to draft an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagiarizing.
Unfortunately, it appears they copied Brigham Young University’s code without proper attribution.

Blame it on the Internet and Google!

“That’s the consequence of the Internet and the availability of things. It doesn’t feel like what would be in a book. You Google it and here it comes.”

CNET’s Matt Asay on “Mormons for open source.”

It does my heart good to see my church putting its tithing dollars to work in an inspired cause: open source. A friend just sent me a job posting on the LDS Church’s website calling for a Linus Torvalds-like figure to lead open-source development efforts for the LDS Church and its IT projects.

NY Times: JetBlue Founder Starting Airline in Brazil

David Neeleman, who as founder of JetBlue Airways helped to redefine start-up carriers in the United States by using new jets and offering above-bargain-basement service, said Thursday that he would start a domestic airline in Brazil. . .

Mr. Neeleman was born in Brazil. His father was a journalist stationed there for United Press International. As a Mormon, Mr. Neeleman returned to Brazil for two years, starting when he was 19, and did missionary work. He is a citizen of both Brazil and the United States, which allows him to hold a controlling interest in an airline in both countries. . . .

Mr. Neeleman stepped aside as chief executive of JetBlue last May, months after the carrier suffered a meltdown of operations during an ice storm at John F. Kennedy International Airport, stranding hundreds of passengers for long periods on the tarmac. He remains chairman of JetBlue.

“One of the things that excites me about Brazil is they don’t have ice storms,” Mr. Neeleman said.

They are relentless: Google Calendar Spam

BCC ’s Zeitcast #7 is out.  The podcast includes a discussion of Bloggernacle aggregators and hubs. Thanks to Steve, Ronan, and Brad for the kind words and mention of ASA and LDS and Mormon Blogs. 

Another photo of Joseph Smith? LDS Anarchist has images of another purported daguerrotype of Joseph Smith. It looks quite different from the other one.

Romney to join McCain at Utah fundraiser tomorrow.

China’s New Empty Nest and rethinking the meaning of family in China:

Family is the bedrock of Chinese society, at least in theory. But three decades of gut-wrenching change are testing those old bonds. More kids than ever are leaving their hometowns—even the country—in search of jobs. This generation is the first to grow up under the one-child policy, rolled out in 1979. They are “more likely to be spoiled and self-centered,” says demographics expert Cai Feng. “As adults, children of this generation lack the inclination to support their parents.” Forty-two percent of Chinese families in 2005 consisted of an old couple living alone, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

It’s amazing how relatively quickly a government policy can reshape family behavior (see also Spain’s quickie and temporary divorces). 

In the aftermath of the one-child policy, more Chinese prefer daughters as they are more loyal (an improvement) while elderly couples are adopting middle-aged “children” to provide them the company they miss with their own (”We’re not looking for a maid, but someone to be with us until we’re dead”). 

Romney and Giuliani are taking the unusual step of returning some campaign donations.

“This shows that Giuliani and Romney were really pretty honorable people,” Saxe said. “Some people loan their own money to the campaign and then pay it back through donations. But they’re returning money, and they’re doing it quickly.”

Considering that Romney spent $42.3 million of his own money, it seems especially generous that he’s returning unused donations.   That, or he and Giuliani know McCain needs every penny he can get.

A Plea to end unwanted news conferences - “CDC: Abstinence Prevents Some News Conferences”

In a week when 76 Democrat lawmakers sent a letter to a House panel urging an end to federal funding for abstinence-education programs, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows that abstinence not only prevents pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases, but it can also radically reduce abortions and some types of news conferences by political figures.

[Warning: satire]

“Confessions of a News Junkie“  It is sobering to compare how much time I spend on email and RSS feeds compared to reading the scriptures.  Urgent news that “we need to know” really isn’t that important.   

Scripture is the most important tradition that man can have, and yet how few people make use of it. Instead they read the news. The news is what will be old tomorrow and without interest. Yet it becomes a narcotic that must be taken daily and that yields no lasting satisfaction but only another craving. ‘Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ (John 4:13-14.)

First Presidency urges Utah members to attend caucus meetings tomorrow night, w/ the obligatory disclaimer.

The church statement also reiterated that “principles compatible with the gospel may be found in the platforms of all major political parties. While the church does not endorse political candidates, platforms, or parties, members are urged to be full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs.”

Religion matters increasingly more in politics because it matters less to increasingly more people.

Today, because there is a big and powerful bloc of voters who resent the role of religion in politics, and because there is another bloc equally convinced of the good effects of faith on public affairs, our political process now raises issues of faith, just as it raises divisive issues of immigration, economic, and foreign policy. Any contested issue of public importance provides an opportunity for political actors to try to motivate, reassure, deceive, energize, and otherwise mobilize voters. The more visible and intense the political rhetoric, the more sure you can be that the issue cuts very close to the majority.

Religion Clause: “Repeat Defendant Sentenced To Attend Church”

[I]n Davenport, Iowa last Wednesday, Scott County Associate Court Judge Christine Dalton sentenced Pachina Tehran Hill, as part of his probation, to attend the men’s counseling program at Third Missionary Baptist Church in Davenport and to attend church services there for eight consecutive weeks.

Parents in Spain are getting divorced “for the children” in response to a combination of easy, no-fault divorce, high-demand for elementary school placements, and school preferences for children of divorced families.

Apparently parents have caught on to the incentives involved: Some parents are filing for divorce in January and February (the legal costs of a divorce are very low), with the divorce becoming final in the summer, so that their kids then acquire top priority for entry into a desirable elementary school. The parents re-marry shortly after the child is safely in a desirable school in September; and once in a school a child has the right to remain there.

[via IMAPP]