Archive for January 2008
In December 2007, Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk to students who were graduating from BYU-Hawaii. The talk is titled “Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church.”
I would suggest that LDS people (whether they blog or not) should read through the entire talk carefully. I can’t really do it justice or say things any better than he did.
In this talk, Elder Ballard discusses the history of technology and mass media and the tremendous power and influence these developments have had on individual freedom, knowledge of the scriptures, etc. He speaks about the invention of the printing press and what that meant for printing the Bible and making it available to the common man. He mentions radio, newspapers and television and then provides significant discussion of what he refers to as “new media” and its potential impact upon the world.
Here are some excerpts:
“How different your world is today. If you read newspapers, the chances are you read them on the Internet. Yours is the world of cyberspace, cell phones that capture video, video downloads and iTunes, social networks like Facebook, text messaging and blogs, hand-helds and podcasts … This is your world, the world of the future, with inventions undreamed of that will come in your lifetime as they have in mine. How will you use these marvelous inventions? More to the point, how will you use them to further the work of the Lord?”
“Today we have a modern equivalent of the printing press in the Internet and all that it means. The Internet allows everyone to be a publisher, to have their voice heard, and it is revolutionizing society. Before the Internet, there were great barriers to printing. It took money, power, or influence and a great amount of time to publish. But today, because of the emergence of what some call New Media, made possible by the Internet, many of those barriers have been removed. New Media consists of tools on the Internet that make it possible for nearly anyone to publish or broadcast to either a large or a niche audience. I have mentioned some of these tools already, and I know you are familiar with them. The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate. This modern equivalent of the printing press is not reserved only for the elite.”
There is perhaps no other time in its history when the Church has received more attention from the news media and on the Internet than right now. Obviously, that is being driven by the fact that one of our faith, Mitt Romney, is seeking the office of President of the United States. It’s as if a national conversation is going on about the Church. The Church, of course, is politically neutral. We do not get involved in politics. Still, because of this attention Public Affairs is making a concerted effort to define the message of the Restoration rather than letting others define our beliefs. That word conversation is important. There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time. The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists … , may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. This, of course, requires that you understand the basic principles of the gospel.”
Personally, on my own blog, I want to make more of an effort to bring the Church and its meaning into my posts. The LDS Church has played a wonderful and positive role in my life and I’ve always wanted to help answer questions people might have and encourage others to learn more about the Church.
Last night we watched Juno. We both liked it and I ended up calling a friend and suggesting he should see it as well. The movie deals with some heavy issues: teenage sex, teenage pregnancy, abortion, adoption, marriage, divorce, etc. Still, at it’s core, it’s a sweet and often humorous drama. They chose a very good group of actors to depict this story, although (after watching “Ten Things I Hate About You”) I kept wondering if Juno’s step-mom, played by Allison Janney, would find a way to use the word “tumescent.” But that didn’t happen.
This morning I finally got around to figuring out some things about Scrivener and quite frankly it looks like a program that could save my academic soul. I just wish it was available for Windows too so that I could download it to my work computer.
Using Scrivener is a bit of a revelatory experience. It makes writing and researching a much easier process. After using it for just a short time I wanted to wad Microsoft Word into a tiny little ball and throw it into the trash.
Then again, it looks like I may need to use Scrivener in conjunction with a word processor, so for the time being I’ll restrain my violent instincts.
In the process of looking up information about Scrivener I also came across some other writing programs that look interesting: Journler and Avenir.
Here’s an article I found about essential Macintosh apps that might be worth further perusal.
For about three weeks now, on weekdays, I’ve been making a change in what I eat. Instead of getting my breakfast and lunch foods at local eateries I’ve been bringing oatmeal (sweetened only with raisins) and Progresso soup. Progresso offers a nice variety of low-calory soups (100 calories per serving, two servings per can) and I’ve found it doesn’t feel so much like dieting to go this route for my lunches.
For the most part I’ve dropped fruit juices from my diet. Instead I try to eat fresh fruit. When it comes to beverages, now I’m mostly drinking water and sometimes milk.
I’ve basically dropped red meat or meat that has been fried. So I’m eating chicken or fish that is boiled, broiled or baked.
On the weekend or when we go out to eat with friends I allow myself to splurge a little on something that is forbidden.
So far I haven’t actually missed the red meat all that much. I am sure at some point I’m going to want a hamburger or some ribs … but it’s been surprisingly easy to say no to these things. I haven’t had them for awhile now. I have craved fried chicken or General Tzo’s chicken.
The hard part for me is that I have a wicked sweet tooth, and that’s where I like to cheat a little when I can. A glass of cranberry juice really hits the spot with me. I also have a thing for peanut butter and honey sandwiches. It’s probably better NOT to buy icecream - because if it’s in the freezer I’m going to indulge.
One thing I have so far refused to give up is bread. I like bread and was kind of annoyed at the whole South Beach diet craze that hit some years ago. However, I haven’t had a slice of pizza in three weeks. That’s really saying something. For awhile, pizza was what I had for lunch every day.
Close to the beginning of making these changes I weighed myself and figured out how much weight I’d like to lose. Since the initial weigh-in, I haven’t weighed myself at all. I figure once a month has passed I’ll check my weight, just to see if what I’m doing is making any difference in that area. The point of my efforts right now is to make some significant lifestyle changes in a way that works for me. Previously I was very spontaneous about what I ate and all of these changes are calculated to get some control over certain aspects of what I eat. Weight-loss is important but I have to believe that will happen naturally if I’m eating the right things and mostly avoiding the wrong things.
One other area that I want to change … I tend to eat my meals from late morning to late evening. I need to start eating breakfast early in the day and try not to eat too much in the hours just before I go to bed. That’s not something I’ve managed to alter yet - but I will get around to it. Probably sooner rather than later.
A long time ago I gave Google Reader a tryout and ended up running back to Bloglines.
However, given the fact that Google is always updating it’s projects and adding new features to them, a return visit to Google Reader was probably inevitable. This time around I think I’m about ready to give up Bloglines. One of the decisive factors is Google Reader’s Share feature … which makes it ridiculously easy to post interesting links to the blog. Just add the necessary code to a widget and you’re running.
This doesn’t mean the share feature is perfect. It would be nice to have the option of adding a url and title manually … which would come in handy when you want to share only one link from Arts and Letters Daily or when you stumble across the interesting link from a site you don’t want to subscribe to all the time.
Every now and then I run across a person who does not use an RSS reader. If that happens to be you, please try out the linked sites. It will make your online life easier and help you to waste time more efficiently.