Ramblings and overdue comments

All of the following items probably should be comments on various posts (like Karl's), but I find it easier to write one post than 5 comments.

To Glenn

Congratulations is way overdue. The baby pictures were nice, but I especially enjoyed the pictures from the "Hair Raising Experience" blog entry. Today I was reading some articles by Steven Landsburg, including one called Do Daughters Cause Divorce? (Landsburg has written a series of interesting articles for slate.com about Everyday economics: How the dismal science applies to your life.) Anyway, when I read this article, I thought of you Glenn and hope that you can beat the odds.

Glenn, I also enjoyed your post on the Joseph Smith presidential candidacy. We just finished reading the D&C/History of the Church picture scriptures with our daughter, but the bid for the presidency was not a topic that was covered. I understand that it doesn't build testimonies to talk about Joseph's run for the White House, but it doesn't hurt testimonies either.

I'm listening to this book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me". Most of it deals with how our Euro-centric history text books omit or misrepresent the history of people of different races (starting with the Indians) and social classes. The author also has a section on heroification and how he thinks it does people a disservice to talk about historical figures as real people with real struggles that made mistakes. I know there is a limited time in church, so it is important to focus on the most uplifting things. Still, I can't help but feel the church does a bit of a disservice by not talking more about the whole Joseph Smith and things like his presidential bid.

Speaking of books, did anyone else volunteer to be part of the book club core or is it my turn to choose again? If it's my turn, books I have been kicking aroung include one's that I've already read "An Ordinary Man" (About the Hotel Rwanda story), books I've half read "Rough Stone Rolling", and books I plan to read in the near future "The Omnivore's Dilemma". Let me know if you have any opinions.

The Dismal Science and the Environment

So a while back I asked Jesse to post his half finished post on the environment because I wanted to comment on it. I decided that if economics and environmental science are indeed comparable, then I have been underestimating environmental scientists because I have a lot more faith in economic predictions than environmental predictions. Also, I liked Karl's point that you don't have to know when the smoker is going to die to know that smoking is bad. (Aside: I think a more apt analogy than thinking of the US as a smoker would be if the country were a '50's coal miner. Both are eventually going to suffer lung disease, but the coal miner needs the job in a different way than the smoker needs a cigarrette.)

I still feel like environmental scientists have not come up with a viable solution to the problem. Most of the "cures" are worse than the disease. I don't understand why most environmentalists aren't quicker to embrace nuclear power, as it is much more proven than wind, solar, and biofuels. If someone can explain it to me, I'll be one step closer to accepting Obama (our next president?), who often repeats the wind, solar, bio mantra, as the thoughtful person he has a reputation of being.

The Lost Cause

I still haven't come to a firm conclusion about the rightness or wrongness of Lost. In retrospect, watching 3 seasons in 3 months was probably a bit much. My wife has definitely concluded that she won't be watching it, and I definitely feel that I shouldn't spend that much time watching stuff without my wife. So by default, I guess I won't be watching the rest of Lost.

I am starting to look more into devices that can help filter out a lot of the bad stuff because, as Karl pointed out, most episodes of Lost aren't that different than the commercials or other media. Personally, I don't feel offended by most commercials or most episodes of lost, but that may be more of a reflection on me than the media. I don't know. Either way, I figure if there is technology available to help me access cleaner media, then I should try to utilize that technology. I've heard some success stories, but if any of you have had any success, let me know.