52 weeks in the foothills: week 3

Dry, hazy and cold week in the foothills.  Old snow hanging around from the last storm a few weeks ago.  Patchy on south facing slopes.  Pounded down to a slick icy sheet on the water tank road.  It was a good day to be wearing spiked running shoes made by screwing hex head sheet metal screws into an old pair.   No wildlife seen this week.  Saw 4-5 people and a couple dogs though.   Shin splint keep this to a 1 running day week.  Ibuprofin working just fine though. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from mikemike's posterous

Allison pole vaulting

These were taken at the BYU invitational in January 2010.  The cool thing about these pictures is Allison is pole vaulting one year later at exactly the place where she tore her ACL.  First step back: done. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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52 weeks in the foothills: week 2

Week 2 included just a jog and walk up the road to the repeater (it's about 1.5 miles round trip) after class Thursday.  Turns out I picked up a shin splint somewhere last week so that was about it for that.  The sunset was nice and the elk herd was crossing the road up from the golf course.  I don't know much about elk, but the antlers on that one looked big to me.  

I'll sit out until next Saturday to give the shin splint time to heal.  It's feeling pretty good right now.  

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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52 weeks in the foothills: week 1 (take 2)

This time with pictures!  (not sure what happened there, I used firefox with a drag and drop plug in to attach the files, which weren't attached to the final sent mail.  This time with chrome and file dialogues...).  Anyway, the plan is still the same:  running in the foothills once a week for 52 weeks, take pictures, post them.  

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 8:51 PM, Michael Jones <senojekim@gmail.com> wrote:

The plan is to run up in the foothills each week this year.  While I'm there I figured I might as well snap a few photos and post something from each week.  I thrive on structure, so there will be 1 flora close-up, one shot aimed at Mt. Timpanogos and one shot aimed back into the valley. 

This is week 1 (December 27 - January 2, 2010).  The sunny day shots from this week were cold.  Very cold.  I went up the gun range trail, free ranged it south on the ridge and then glissaded onto the water tanks road (using Kris Nosack's map and names I don't know that Kris invented all the names, but he's lives in my neighborhood and he's an all around great guy so I'm calling them Kris' names and map). 

The cloudy day shots, taken later in the week (on December 30) were also cold.  It was a little disorienting being up there in the fog.  I especially liked the shot with the power lines fading into the fog.  I stuck to the road that day. 

Mike Jones
801 422-2217 (office)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from mikemike's posterous

52 weeks in the foothills: week 1

The plan is to run up in the foothills each week this year.  While I'm there I figured I might as well snap a few photos and post something from each week.  I thrive on structure, so there will be 1 flora close-up, one shot aimed at Mt. Timpanogos and one shot aimed back into the valley. 

This is week 1 (December 27 - January 2, 2010).  The sunny day shots from this week were cold.  Very cold.  I went up the gun range trail, free ranged it south on the ridge and then glissaded onto the water tanks road (using Kris Nosack's map and names I don't know that Kris invented all the names, but he's lives in my neighborhood and he's an all around great guy so I'm calling them Kris' names and map). 

The cloudy day shots, taken later in the week (on December 30) were also cold.  It was a little disorienting being up there in the fog.  I especially liked the shot with the power lines fading into the fog.  I stuck to the road that day. 

Mike Jones
801 422-2217 (office)

Posted via email from mikemike's posterous

"To Help Other People at All Times"

It didn't look like this today,
but you get the idea.
Image via Wikipedia Today I was riding my bike along toward Lehi north of Utah Lake. I hear a motorcycle approach but it doesn't pass. A lady and a little boy pull up next to me and match me speed. She says "do you know where we are going?" I reply that we are headed toward Lehi. Turns out that she's trying to get to the other side of Utah Lake. So I encourage her to follow the Utah Lake Century Epic Ride (ULCER) markings then start turning left.

I was amazed that she could keep her motocycle straight and upright at my slow bike speed.

Hopefully they found what they were looking for and it was nice to be helpful even while out on a ride.

Close call for BYU Football

This morning while driving across BYU campus, I stopped at a crosswalk to let a guy finish crossing the street. Consensus between my wife and I was that it was one Bronco Mendenhall (he looks even younger up close). The guy in the other lane almost didn't stop and almost ended all discussion of whether or not Bronco would stay at BYU by taking him out in a crosswalk.

Fortunately all ended well and we are looking forward to seeing him (on TV) at the game against NIU this weekend.

Most of my Personal Money Management Dreams Have Come True

Image via WikipediaThanks to mvelopes.com which is everything I hoped MSFT Money would be in 2004. It slurps in all my credit card, retirement and savings account info. It lets me categorize spending, it lets me make an envelope-based budget, it lets me track spending. It runs in the cloud. It's awesome.

That said, there are some issues. The user interface is pretty good but not great. Classifying new transactions is oddly painful due to a clunky drop-down menu system. The report functionality is laughably bad. The excel reports seem to use some kind of multi-column merge thing to get horizontal lines. That's fine except it makes actually working with the report impossible. In some panes, clicking an envelope opens the envelope, in other panes it does nothing. The process of funding a spending plan is bizarre and confusing.

Even after all that, we signed up (but only 3 months a time, going to need some more history before I commit more money in order to save money).

Oh, and a friend of mine claims that his home teacher is the CTO or CIO or something. So they are a Utah-based company. Keeping it in state--even better.

More Free Time in July

Image via WikipediaI put professional cycling on a 5 year doping ban and have made no effort to follow, watch or even know the stages in this year's Tour de France. That certainly frees up a lot of time in July, it's been nice.

Bangkok Grill in Orem

"A rural scene in Utah County"
Image via Wikipedia
In our never ending quest to try all the Thai restuarants on the Wasatch Front, we visited Bangkok Grill in Orem last night with the Barney's. We deviated slightly from our control order which was pad Thai, massaman curry, green cury, tom kha gai and a surprise dish. It was hot and a hot bowl of soup didn't seem to fit the bill so we got satay and a waterfall beef salad instead of pad Thai and tom kha gai.

Anyway, the first thing you should know is that Bangkok Grill is not at 852 S State St, Orem. Here's a picture of where it used to be.

Bangkok Grill is actually at about 344 East 800 South in Orem and here's a picture of that location while it was still a tanning salon. Well, as soon as Evernote comes back, I'll put that up.

The massaman cury, beef waterfall salad and satay were divine. It made me glad to live in Utah County again (I was a little worried that I would never find good Thai in Utah County after the Mekong Grill and that one place in American Fork). The green curry was best described as "tom kha gai with green dye in it." The seafood king was bland and uninspired--and I even like bland food.

But the massaman, beef waterfall and satay were very good. We'll be back for the pad Thai.

Thank "U"!

Image via WikipediaIt looks like the University of Utah has lost my identity information for the second time in 6 years. The good news is that I keep getting a year of free credit fraud monitoring! No identity theft detected yet, though we did have quite a scare a month or so ago. That turns out to be a case of mistaken Mike Jones identities (who knew that two of us would live in the same city).

Voters may have got one right

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI think the voters got the Cannon/Chaffetz race right even though I voted for Chris Cannon yesterday. I started to think that when I read this in the Des News this morning:

"If I don't win I'll do exactly the same thing I did before and essentially what I'm doing now. I'll go out and make money, which I can't really do now"

Hopefully Jason Chaffetz will work out well as our new representative.

Oh, I mean, assuming he beats the Democratic Challenger. Hold on a sec while I look that up... looks like it's going to be Bennion Spencer. Should be a fun race.

Welcome Back Lee!

Image via WikipediaLooks like Lee Cummard will be playing in the Marriott Center again next Winter. Works for me. Cummard's a great work-hard player. A friend of mine is in the Cummard's ward. They tell us that the Cummard's are a solid student family.

Deseret News | Cummard is turning NBA heads: "Said Rose: 'He's out to find what the likelihood of his going in the first round is. There are three to six teams that have a lot of interest in him, but if he's going to be a late second-round selection, I think he will decide to come back and finish his career at BYU.'"

Graduation rate woes?

Image via WikipediaDespite all our consternation about lowest per-pupil spending, it looks like we have only the eighth highest graduation rate in the nation now, down from the first.

Don't get me wrong, I think we should increase pay for teachers and supplies, but I also think that that's pretty darn efficient.

Maybe other states should try to figure out why we spend so little yet do so much better

From the SL Trib... "The future might not be as bright for many other Utahns, according to an Education Week report released Wednesday. Utah's graduation rate is still higher than the national average, but it no longer is the nation's highest, according to the report. Utah's graduation rate of 78.6 percent is now the nation's eighth highest, based on 2005 data, the most recent available. The year before, Utah topped the country with a rate of 83.8 percent."

Memo to Flashers in Provo

Apparently, some guy allegedly flashed two women on the Provo River Parkway Trail. I happened to ride by, apparently, while they were on the phone with 911 and later while the police were on the trail. I stopped and talked to the police and later to the two women.

Frequent trail users, such as myself and several other people out this afternoon, are going to be watching a little more closely. We'll do our best to make it harder for flashers, drug dealers and other law-violating citizens to ruin this resource.

Best Thai Food on the Wasatch Front

Image via WikipediaWe've been to two Thai restaurants so far in our quest for the best on the Wasatch front. Restaurants are judged based on their Tom Kha Gai, Green Curry, Massaman Curry, Pad Thai and a randomly chosen entre.

Of the two we've officially visited so far, Mekong Cafe in Midvale (Hat tip to Gazelem) at 7777 South State St. is the current clear winner.

My personal favorite is the Thai Chilli Garden in South Provo. But we haven't made an official visit yet, so it's not on the list. I am little scared for the Thai Chili Gardon becase the Mekong Cafe was so good.

Cycling in north Orem Utah--even on the Provo River Parkway

Image via WikipediaJason, a scout leader, is wondering where to take some scouts on a 15 mile (I would guess) ride. He's thinking about the Provo River Parkway but my comments from last year made that seem like a less-good idea.

Here's an 18 mile loop in Orem:

Start at 1600 North and 400 East in Orem. Ride down to 400 West (where the new goofy light is next to State St). Turn right and head over to 2000 North in Orem. Turn left and ride/coast all the way to the dump at the west end of 2000 North. Turn left and ride along Utah Lake to 400 South. This will involve a few left and right turns. Generally keep heading south to 400 south. Then turn left onto 400 South and ride East back to 400 East. Remember that fun descent along 2000 North? Now is when you pay for it. It's not bad, but some climbing. Turn left onto 400 East and ride north to where ever you left your car (or wherever you live).

I've been riding the Parkway trail in the canyon this Spring. It hasn't been too bad in the afternoon on weekdays. The worst of it is the section before and after Bridal Veil Falls which can be avoided by taking the road on the west side of the river then crossing the bridge at the parking lot beyond the old tram station. It's also a good chance to teach scouts some manners.

I did the cycling merit badge with my scouts 2 years ago. I loved the Provo River Parkway trail because traffic was not an issue. I am very very conservative about taking risks with other people's kids and the Parkway trail was great that way. We did a 25 miler and a 15 miler on the parkway trail including riding up south fork and down to Utah Lake both starting from north Orem.

Just this week, some kid on a sweet mtn bike chased me down on the Parkway Trail. Turns out it was one of my former scouts. He's really into mtn bike racing now and seemed genuinely out of breath when he caught me. I felt pretty good about that because one time I had to chase him down on the White Rim Trail after he rode right past our campsite. I was pretty out of breath then. Good thing he wasn't racing then or I might not have caught him. Scouting made a difference for him. It felt great.

Fake picture of Mt. Timpanogos

If you took photographs of a mountain for a year about 20 times a day and recorded the weather and time for each shot, then you could use machine learning to learn what the mountain should look like as a function of the date and time.

If you did that using 3 perceptrons per pixel to learn linear functions for hue, color and saturation for each pixel, then you'd get this image for May 20 at 2:20 pm. Not quite convincing yet, but not bad for such a simple model.

That's in 10 days. And for it to be correct for this year, a lot of snow better melt!

Algorithm and image by CS 658 student Ilya Raykhel who is a graduate student in machine learning.

Nice work Trent Plaisted

So I was running slowly around the indoor BYU track at lunch a while
ago (as I often do) when I saw one Trent Plaisted shooting free
throws, with someone to shag rebounds for him (his wife?), on one of
the hoops at the volleyball court.

That paid off nicely tonight. Nice work.

Overheard on NPR

On NPR this morning they were commenting about how the risk of anyone being fatally exposed to rocket fuel gas from the spy satellite was "only 3% and even then you'd have to hold your face next to it and breathe for a while"  Clearly, this was just a pointless display of military might. 

Suppose the satellite had not been shot down.  And it hit a populated area.  And someone died. 

Would the NPR commentators have said:  gee, it was only a 3% chance, I guess we rolled the dice on that one and came out wrong.  Well, in the end, that was a good call to take a 3% chance. 

That's why I only listen to NPR during the Leg. Session.  Their coverage has more depth than anyone else's (in the morning at least, Nightside project all the way in the evening). 

First time I saw that

One of my hobbies is watching the mountains so that I can watch avalanches roll down through the cliff bands.  I am pretty good at it, not that it's very hard, and have seen a fair bit of avalanche activity on Timp.  At least before our kids were born.  Sitting by the window and watching for avalanches isn't that compatible with raising kids.

So while I was driving home today I watched the tail end of an avalanche coming down the front of Y mountain.  From the first cliff band above the Y and north of the Y.  I couldn't watch if for long as the light turned green.  But a cursory glance at another red light revealed that the run out got quite a way down the mountain.   Looks like there's enough snow this year to get interesting activity below 8,500 feet. 

He's got a point

Tony Caputo (mmm, Italian) says "Our government, both federal and state, is opposed to someone eating salami, but they're not opposed to us being in the environment with toxic nuclear waste"

He's got a good point. 

If we can't important some salamis because they are too dangerous, then,um, why should nuclear waste be any safer?

That's too bad

I see that our legislature repealed in-state tuition for the children
of illegal immigrants. Bad call.

Yet another indication that our Republican Legislators are out of touch.

If some kid graduates from High School and gets accepted at a college
or university and his/her parents have established residency in Utah,
even illegally, then that kid should get in state tuition.

Someone please tell me why this was a good idea. I can see repealing
in-state tuition for their parents, who broke the law, but why do the
kids have to pay for it too?

I wish I'd waited 45 minutes to vote

Because I had to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes to vote in my precinct in Orem. 

Mostly I felt sorry for the poll worker volunteers.

Not what I thought

I thought this article titled "Cosmo vs. Provo" would be about parking in Provo or some other town vs. gown issue. It wasn't. Pretty funny.

Better duck if you are Mormon? Not quite.

Doug Robinson wrote a piece in the DesNews which gave his take on the recent torrent of ignorant statements about Mormons.  It hasn't been since High School in Montgomery, Alabama that I had to deal with this kind of stuff.  It was really awkward in High School. 

This time around, it is much clearer to me that Mormons just aren't well-understood in popular American culture.  That lack of knowledge is easily converted to prejudice. 

An interesting analogy for Mormons to think about is the recent Tom Cruise Scientology video release.  If you are Mormon, it's likely that your first reaction to the video was a lot like most American's initial reaction to anything about Mormons. 

For me it was.  I don't know much about Scientologists, so it was easy for me to get creeped out by the video.  But once I slowed down and listened to the what he was saying (at least in the clips I heard on Nightside with Ethan Millard (Etahn you rock!) while remodeling the bathroom), it's really not that weird.  It's all about believing that you have some kind of power to help people and that that gives you an obligation to help.  I don't know much about Scientology, but on the surface, that's not too different from the Mormon belief that "where much is given much is required." 

Like I said, I don't know much about Scientology and comparisons between Scientologists and Mormons isn't the point.  The point is that I was willing to get creeped out by a video about Scientologists because I just don't know much about them.  My ignorance made me vulnerable to sensationalism. 

I think that for many (normal) Americans, the reaction to something Mormon is very similar.  Because they know so little, they are willing to get creeped out by something presented with just the right spin.   I think that Mormons are currently faced with a great chance to define themselves rather than letting other people do it for them. 

Duck if your are Mormon?  Not quite.  More like stand up and define yourself if you are Mormon. 

I don't mind criticism (in High School it wasn't so fun, but that's just an awkward age for everyone) but I'd prefer to be criticized for things I actually believe and do rather the for a stereotype put forth by someone else. 

Of course, there's a group of people which seem to be obsessed with attacking Mormons on pet issues over and over again in Newspaper comment pages, on CNN's Hardball and so forth.  I don't understand those people either and arguing with them seems pointless.  They've already got their mind made up (as do I). 

Rolly and I agree on Something?

Rolly nailed this one about Republicans in Utah County.  It's not often that we agree. 

However Steve Baugh picked a tough race to win against Stephen Sandstrom for three reaons.  First, Sandstrom does a great job staying close to his constituents, third, Sandstrom voted for vouchers as did just over 1/2 of the voters in his district and third, Sandstrom is a productive and engaged legislator.  The first two are going to make a "Sandstrom is out of touch" campaign very difficult.  The third makes Sandstrom a good incumbent candidate. 

Macbook Air: No Regrets Here.

I finally bought a new laptop in December. I knew I could have waited for Apple's rumored new ulta-portable, but didn't and bought a Dell XPS 1330 instead. Now that the new Macbook Air is out, I am happy to say that I have no regrets.

The Air fits nicely in a manila envelope, as demonstrated by Steve Jobs in his keynote talk. Here's a picture of my Dell XPS not fitting in a manila envelope (it was close). Next to the now ruined envelope is my spare big battery. It clearly wouldn't fit. So that bad news is that if I ever have to mail my laptop, I'll have to get something bigger to put it in. The good news is that I can change my own battery, get a high capacity battery, use DVDs and plug in an ethernet cable.

The macbook air is beautiful, but I'll wait for useful and beautiful.

Memo to anonymous commenters

I've gotten a spate of anonymous comments of late.  Either lots of anonymous people are hitting my blog, or someone with a lot of time and no identity is working through the archive.  I thought I'd respond to all 4 in one post.  So here goes.

Steve Baugh anonymous #1:  I am going to assume that that was a complement.  JM Bell wasn't so gracious.  You'll need to keep an eye on him, he's not playing Mr. Happy Blogger anymore.

Steve Baugh anonymous #2: I am happy to know that you don't think I have same political views as you do. 

Orwellian Solution anonymous:  Wow! Great catch!  I first read 1984 and Brave New World at about the same time, so I get them mixed up.  Your education level, well, the fact that you can and do read, suggests that you aren't Steve Baugh Anonymous #2. 

Nice Work Robert Gherke anonymous:  Let it go.  Just let it go.  But thanks for reading and I hope my cheekiness doesn't annoy to much.  I like being cheeky in a blog format.  You got me on that one.  I am not a journalist and I do not hold myself to journalist standards.  I don't have a press pass, I am not a credentialed reporter and I didn't go to j-school. If you are this like real news, such as a newspaper, then you are going to live a life full of disappointment and sadness.  My perception is that when someone says "that's off the record" then it should not show up in print.  If real journalists have different rules of engagement, then they need to work to correct public perception (and commit fewer ethics violations in general). 

Steven Baugh?

Maybe so. I don't think I am going to switch parties, but I'll give an ear to Steven Baugh. Sandstrom is right, a Republican will likely be elected in District 58.

But a viable Democratic Candidate in our Distract may energize moderate voters in our District (where "moderate" in our District only means "didn't join the John Birch Society in college") and move the Rebuplican party away from the far right.
THE UTAH AMICUS: Meet Steven Baugh for House District 58

Sandstrom v. Baugh in District 58

Now that's a race I'll be watching closely because I live in District 58. Baugh is running as a Democrat. Cool. I may end up voting for a Democrat in my District race. We'll have to see how it goes.

Sandstrom is having a breakfast this Sat for Precinct chairs. I'd need to find a sitter since my wife will be at Cub Scout Training, which I might just do now.

Sandstrom was, if I remember correctly, the "friend of the UEA" candidate while his opponent was the charter school developer candidate.

Sandstrom won. I voted for him, in a switch, because they other candidate sent me a postcard that seemed to suggest LDS church sponsorship of his campaign or position (can't remember).

I voted against vouchers. Sandstrom voted for. I voted against because I think that taking money out of the general fund and putting it in private education is just like taking money away from public education. Over half my district voted for as well.

Sandstrom is a great guy. I've been impressed with how he matured during his first year in office. I like having people like him in government because I think he considers issues carefully. Baugh might do the same and Baugh and I might agree more. So I may switch there too.

Good race to go along with the Presidential race. Best year in politics ever?

Salt Lake Tribune - Voucher backer inspires challenge

New Type of Boy Scout Story

The Maldives, best known for printing really colorful postage stamps , has given us a new type of Boy Scout Story, which brings us to 4 types and now two of them are good.  Type 1 is "Adult leader abuses scout", not good, type 2 is "Boy scout is injured/lost/worse", also not good.  Type 3 is "Boy scout performs heroic first aid", good, and now type 4 is " Boy Scout thrwarts assissination attempt".  Very nice. 

Provo Canyon Trailer Park Closes

I often wondered how that trailer park in Provo Canyon stays open.  It's a throwback to hippie life in the 60's.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see the Rainbow Family there.  I thought that was all fine and kind of liked having some solid Americana in the canyon.  However, it turns out that the county has caught up with the park and it's now closed due to all the usual kinds of issues that a county can throw at a business on the fringe of proper society.   Hope all the former tenants find new homes and that the land gets used for something good.

In the future...

I rather listen to the Nighside Project on the day of New Hampshire's primary than listen to Dave Rose talk about why Wake Forest demolished the BYU basketball team.  In fact, they could have switched away from the game to the primary in the first half when the game was pretty much over. 

My coffee mug collection

Now includes a J.M. Bell - and Friends coffee mug. I put red pens in it just to be sure that (a) I didn't look too liberal and (b) my students would continue to respect the power of the red pen (just kidding).

I got the U of Utah water bottle at a PhD recruiting thing we went to at the U in November. It was great, me and another guy sat behind a desk for 3 hours while nobody came and asked us (or our neighbors or anyone else for that matter) about doing a PhD in CS at BYU. So we packed up and went for a great lunch at a Thai restaurant with my former research adviser.

The other coffee mug is from a research conference a few years ago and the lava lamp was a present from my parents when I got my first real job. It's supposed to make me look credible.

Huckabee vs. Obama?

It's an interesting proposition because it may set up a Democrat to win Utah in a Presidential election. I'd vote Obama over Huckabee at this point (though I haven't made up my mind yet).

SLCSpin � Blog Archive � I Don’t Usually Do National Topics…

Memo to Huckabee: How to be competitive in Utah (if it comes to that)

Mr. Huckabee:

Congratulations on the win in Iowa. I was glad to see that money doesn't always win. That's refreshing. I noted in a CNN article that you won 45% of the evangelical vote and they comprised 60% of caucus goers. That's an impressive bloc.

You won't have that cushion in Utah. In fact, some of your comments and campaign so far may have alienated LDS voters in our fair state. You'll need to overcome that perception.

Here's a five step plan for becoming competitive in Utah:

1. take the Al Sharpton VIP tour of Temple Square. Meet with some LDS leaders for a private consultation. Ask them tough, but sincere, questions (the "Jesus and Satan are brothers?" thing won't cut it, ya'll have been asking that for at least 17 years. I first heard it on my LDS mission in 1990).

2. go to an LDS family home evening somewhere in the valley.

3. come with me unannounced to my LDS ward on a Sunday or Wednesday night (for youth activities). Don't worry, very few people will recognize you.

4. assuming that all goes well for you, have a press conference where you say "you know what, I didn't know much about those crazy Mormons, but now I do. We have deep doctrinal differences but, you know what, they are pretty normal people trying to do what's right"

5. quit being so dumb about stuff! Get your facts straight on foreign policy. Know about the writers strike. You don't have to know everything, but your staff should. Be decisive. No more "I made an ad, I pulled the ad, I showed the ad" tricks.



CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Schneider: How Huckabee won � - Blogs from CNN.com

I can relate

This lady in a Trib article bought a vacation home in Park City because... 'When you travel with three small kids, a nanny and a housekeeper, you need all the conveniences.'

Boy, don't I know that! When we travel with the twins we couldn't imagine roughing it without a nanny, a housekeeper and a grocery store.

Salt Lake Tribune - Opulent getaways a big chunk of Park City's housing market; few mortgages are involved: ""

Good thing the SL Trib Editorial Board Doesn't Live in Georgia

Because their reaction to Gov. Perdue's prayer for rain given on the steps of the capitol would have been off the charts. (That is, if their indignation of Leavitt's early morning seminary classes in the Gov's mansion is any indication. )

Did the home teachers visit at the mansion too or did they have to go to a park or something?

There's got to be something I am missing here, but I am not sure what it is.

The trib's editorial board does good work, but I am not sure where they are coming from on this one.


Salt Lake Tribune - Leavitt's lessons: State archivist is right to keep those records open

Tough Questions from 4 Year Olds

Christmas brings difficult questions from 4 year olds (Can I have it? Why do Santa's reindeer fly?) But this year we got 2 tough questions.

First, the nature of the internet. Daddy, where did you get our game? We got it on the internet? Daddy, where's the internet? I'm thinking what do you say at this point? Well, it's a bunch of boring looking boxes with lots of wire coming out of them.

Second, we got them David Weisner's book Flotsam which includes a medium format film camera as a central story element. Daddy, what's film? Back in the old days, we used to take pictures with film now we use little cards. (Now I know what it feels like to feel old) Daddy, where do the pictures go on the little card? Do I say well, a special circuit senses light intensity in red, green or blue, converts the intensity to a number and the number is stored in memory.

Mormon Journalist Prof on Media Coverage of Mormonism

Joel Campbell gives an insightful analysis of media coverage of the LDS faith.

Apparently, journalists writing articles are supposed to give both sides of a discussion a chance to respond. Wow. Letting Mormons respond to claims about how non-Mormons define Mormons? Great idea.

Also, note how Campbell reveals his bias in the first paragraph.

Deseret Morning News | Mormon Media Monitor: Time to grade LDS coverage

Question for Mike Huckabee and for Baptists in General

Question for Huckabee: if elected, will you continue to preach a sermon every Sunday? The POTUS should be at Church most every Sunday. I like that idea. But I am still warming up to the idea of the POTUS giving sermons. It seems to erode the appearance of separation of church and state.

Question for Baptists: I understand that Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister. I have to say that I don't really know what that means. As an ordained minister, has Huckabee made a commitment to preaching a sermon every Sunday? What else is involved in being an ordained Baptist minister which might affect his ability to serve as POTUS?

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker Huckabee unapologetic for religious tone �

New trail in Utah County Perfect for Winter

The Utah Lake trail, surprisingly, runs next Utah Lake on the east side of the lake. It's 1.75 miles each way and has lots and lots of sun which makes it perfect for those short winter runs on a sunny day.

I ran it earlier this week and guessed the length at 1.25 miles each way based on my time. Looks like my pace was either a little fast or the newspaper article didn't count the .50 miles that goes north to nowhere.

Daily Herald - New Utah Lake trail open to public

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker Huckabee denies subliminal Christmas message �

It's funny, but this was the first thing I thought too when I saw screen shot from the ad.

I'd really like to vote for Huckabee, I like his approach to dealing with critics, I like his personality as it comes out in the recent NY Times Magazine article. But at some point the guy's got to bring out some serious "this is what I'd do if elected" stuff and convince me that he can function as a POTUS.

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker Huckabee denies subliminal Christmas message �

Rally around JM Bell (echoed from SLCSpin)

Thanks for the tip, Ethan. Now I've got a Militant Progressive t-shirt to wear to my next Utah County Republican Party Central Committee Meeting and a Militant Progressive coffee mug to put on my desk at BYU. Maybe I'll give the tshirt to my Democrat sister in Idaho.

I first met JM Bell yesterday when he took me to task for getting after Jon Krakauer without reading Under the Banner of Heaven. Apathy is, in my opinion, one of the biggest problems in politics right now. Jeff is clearly not part of the problem.

Get the credit card out and make something good happen here.

Jon Krakaur as a source on Mormonism? Seriously?

In her recent editorial on Romney and rant on Mormonism, Mitt’s No J.F.K. - New York Times, Maureen Dowd used Jon Krakauer as a source on us. Wow.

Calling Krakauer to get his opinion on the speech would be something like calling Dick Baer (just google his name, you'll get the picture. I didn't have time to find an objective source) to get his opinion on General Conference. But not quite as bad because in his quotes, Krakauer comes across as well-reasoned and rational.

Mitt's Speech

I was not embarrassed to be a Mormon. I can hold my head up high in political circles as a Mormon American after that sincere explanation of how patriotism and my religion might merge.

Megan on Hillary Clinton

While driving to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving last week, my 4 year old daughter Megan heard a clip of Hillary Clinton on the radio. It was a particularly shrill clip (Sean Hannity's replacement played it so I am sure it was impartial). Megan said "that's not a very nice person." I said "do you think she should be our next president?" She said "no Daddy."

So there you go. Megan would vote against Hillary. I guess I would too given the chance. But my vote would be based on politics and not neccesarily a sound bite on a far right conservative radio program.

My next $11,995 bike

Will definitely be one of these Arantix open lattice carbon-fiber bikes by Delta 7 sports. At 2.7 pounds for the frame, the frame itself weighs about 8 to 9 times less than my current low-end of the high-end mountain bike.

We have a bog in Orem?

Turns out that the recent stink in Orem is a bog fire burning out by Geneva Road.

PECASE awarded to professor at BYU

This is a very big deal. The PECASE ain't quite the Nobel Prize (congratulations Dr. Capecchi!), but it's the top award in the US for young faculty. Congratulations to Adam Wolley and the Chemistry/Biochemistry Dept. at BYU.

Memo to BYU students angry over parking

In a representative democracy, such as Provo, you need to vote. Otherwise, your only recourse is making angry statements about parking at city council meetings.

A $cout executive is...

Well-paid. And honestly, I have no problem with that. But if we could just file trip permit applications over the web and/or email, I'd be much happier. The IT infrastructure in my Council is just new maturing into web 1.0, sort of.

How change education in Utah, step 1

Step one is to go to your neighborhood caucus meeting and elect delegates which represent your views on education. Neighborhood caucuses (or is it caucii?) are held in March. You will know most of the people there, they will be your neighbors.

The caucus system puts a lot power at the grass roots level, the you have to go to your caucus meeting.

In the Post-Voucher Era

Let it not be said that Utah Republicans blindly follow their state party leadership like sheep.

Memo to George F. Will at the Washington Post

George:

Nice op-ed piece on the Utah voucher fray out in the wild-wild-west. In paragraph 6, you mention that Utah's pending population boom will bring many students into our already crowded school. The good Senator Bramble and the Chamber of Commerce radio ad raise the same issue. I am not convinced. Here's why:

But public education is funded by property tax. Won't those newcomers need somewhere to live? If we assume that they won't live in existing structures with existing residents, then new residences will need to be constructed for these newcomers. Won't that increase the tax base and increase property tax revenue?

Vouchers actually make the situation worse. According to the Voter Information Pamphlet, vouchers will cost the Utah tax payer an extra approx. $40,000,000 in 13 years (that's cost of voucher program minus savings to public ed.). So not only will we have to build more schools, we'll also have to pay more money to fund the voucher program.

The fun thing about vouchers is that it's a financially complex issue. I must be missing something. Somebody please tell me where I am wrong.

To What Extent do Vouchers Make Private School Affordable?

If tuition is $4,500 (the PCE number), vouchers have a significant impact on affordability across both family size and income. If tuition is $6,935 (a Deseret News number), vouchers have very little impact on affordability. I also did the numbers for sending my 2 kids to Ivy Hall at $5,600 per kid. Vouchers have a negligible impact in making Ivy Hall affordable for us (it's not, if you were curious).

Assumptions, model and detailed results given below. If you want the Excel spreadsheet to play with on your own, leave a comment below and I'll send you a copy.

The following graphs express the cost of vouchers as a percentage of annual income assuming that half of eligible children attend private school in a 2 parent home (except for single parent and single child homes). In the graph, the horizontal axis is annual family income. The vertical axis is number of children attending private school. The values on the vertical axis are 1, 1, 2, 3 (sorry for the lack of labels, my medicine kicked in and it happens to cause excruciating headaches and fatigue).

I decided that "affordable" means that tuition accounts for 5% or less of the family income. Affordable is colored blue. "Might be affordable" means that tuition is between 5 and 10% of the family income. Scenarios which might be affordable are colored orange. "Not affordable" means tuition is greater than 10% of the family income.

First up, we'll assume private school costs $4,500 per kid as assumed by Parents for Choice in Education.

Without vouchers, private school is affordable for only families making more than $110,000 and with less than 2.5 kids in private school. Not so good. Private school is maybe affordable for families making more than $60,000 a year and for larger families with more income.





The impact of vouchers on affordability with tuition at $4,500 is striking. With vouchers, all but large families with low income can afford or might be able to afford private school. Using the PCE tuition assumption, vouchers have a significant positive impact on affordability.

Next, we'll redo the numbers using the amended Deseret News numbers, which includes some kind of weighted average tuition which is $6,935.

If tuition is $6,935 then private school is affordable without vouchers only for small families making around $150,000 a year and might be affordable for small families making $70,000 or more.




Vouchers have little impact if tuition is $6,935. There's no significant change in families that can afford private school. Some small families making around $50,000 may be able to afford private school.

We happen to send our twins to a private preschool, all preschools are private so no sympathy cards are being played here, and I sanity-checked my affordability assumptions on our family budget. No problem. We'll send them to private kindergarten next year and kindergarten will be affordable because we'll make it affordable, but that's another story for another time ... maybe later this week depending on how things go.

Clarifying What I Meant by "Cost to Public Education"

In a comment, Bradley reacted to a plausible interpretation of my last post on the cost of vouchers to public it. It was a plausible interpretation of what I said but not what I meant.

Here's what I meant...

Suppose little Jimmy's parents choose to send him to private school next year. Rightfully so, as you point out, Jimmy's public school allotment no longer goes to the public school. That's the way it should be.

But the problem for me is that $500-$3000 of your tax money also follows Jimmy to private school. That's $500-$3000 coming out of tax revenue and into education but not into public education.

I am calling that a cost to public education because that's $500-$3000 that our legislature decided to spend on education (instead of transportation, infrastructure, public safety etc.) but which did not go to public education.

The central question for me is still this: if we can find and extra $40 ish million a year (that's cost to tax payer minus savings to public ed. using the numbers for the 13th year in the Voter Information Guide) to spend on education, then is subsidizing private schools really the right way to spend it?

For a state with the lowest per-pupil spending in the nation already, I think that the answer is no.

If you look at educational outcomes (in terms of % of population with a HS degree for example), no other state in the union spends less on education per capita and gets better results. Imagine what we could do if we were closer to the national average.

Why do vouchers cost public schools money?

My neighbor and I were carpooling home the other day and talking about vouchers. He was surprised, I think, that vouchers will cost public schools money. I knew that they would (from the voter's guide) but couldn't explain why.

I re-read the voter's guide and here's why.

When a student's parents choose to send that student to private school on a voucher, some of that student's oreo stack (ie dollars) remain in the public school. But some go to the private school. Sure. We've seen the ads we know this.

The catch is that the oreo stack only stays in the public school for 5 years. After 5 years, the oreos just go back into the general fund, or something. Maybe they get dunked in milk?

5 years is a long time in school years for a child. But, in the end, the money still goes away.

Other People Question Spending Tax Money on Vouchers

The KSL Editorial Board says "Is Utah's public school system broken and in such disarray that doing something as radical and unproven as directing precious tax dollars toward private schools, many of them parochial, the answer? We think not!"

And Green Jello says "I believe providing more accessibility to private schools would also provide another great option for students who need a non-traditional approach to their education needs if it could be done without creating an additional drain from Utah's taxpayers and from the already underfunded public schools system. However, referendum 1 doesn't succeed in this point. After the 13th year and beyond it would be a drain on the public coffers, and I'm afraid it would be viewed as nothing more than another entitlement program."

I agree with both. Pramahaphil over at Green Jello is even an accountant. I am not very good at accounting, so reading the numbers in the Voter's Guide was all I could handle. Pramahaphil read the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Report, probably enjoyed it, and reached a similar conclusion to mine.

Cycling Moab with 4 Year Olds

 

We took the girls down to Moab for the weekend and they were dying to ride their bikes in Moab, just like Daddy did with the Scouts a year ago. So we packed up their bikes and headed to Sand Flats by the Slickrock Trail. And we biked at the Rotary Park down the hill off the road to Sand Flats.

They had a great time. Megan is a pretty good biker for a 4 year old and Ashley is a little more apprehensive so far.

The Rotary Park is a fun green shady oasis in town.

Faculty are anti college sports?

[Salt Lake Tribune - Monson: Professors show their annoyance with college athletics]

Monson's citing a reputable study, so he's probably on the right track. But I wasn't surveyed in the study and I just want to go on record as saying that as a college professor myself, I love college sports. In my department, lunch conversations alternate between football and "other stuff" almost all of fall semester.

Then again, in our department, Computer Science, we don't see players from marque sports like football and basketball. I've had a men's diving diver and a women's tennis player. Both were good students and seemed to enjoy the challenge of doing both school and sports.

I suppose that if I were in an, um, easy major like the humanities or public broadcasting, that I might see more marquee sports players in my classes. Ok, easy is probably the wrong word. Let's go with "less time consuming."

If you know any football or basketball players or cheerleaders in a technical major, I'd love to know who they are. So far, I know 0.

I should add that I knew a Utah scholarship football player and met a BYU scholaship basketball player. Both starters. Both very smart impressive people. Seriously. Just don't have a lot of time for demanding majors.

Input needed on field work test sites

In the lab, we are preparing a proposal to a build the technology for capturing the shape, color and reflectance of rock formations using consumer hardware. This technology will allow the general public to virtually visit remote sites and create an archive of fragile rock formations before they are damaged by vandalism or natural causes.

We are looking for a field work test site somewhere in the desert. This will be a place we can visit to test our ideas. We need a place with the following characteristics:

1. Within 2.5 hours of Provo, Utah.
2. Includes a cool looking rock formation. Need to be able to walk around the entire rock formation.
3. Low elevation. We want year-round access.
4. Is between 1 and 2 miles from the closest road. This is negotiable though.

We are thinking of using the Conquistadors near Little Holes Canyon near the Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River, see picture above. The problem with the Conquistadors is that they are next to a 50 foot cliff with loose rock. Safe enough, but safer would be better.

We are also thinking of using the first Pinnacle (following Steve Allen's guidebook) in Pinnacle Canyon off the Tidwell Draw North Road.

Got any other ideas?

The Budget Numbers on Vouchers

After reading comments left here and elsewhere, I decided to go do some studying to find the cost of vouchers to the Utah taxpayer. As you might guess, it all depends on which assumptions you make. I'll use the Impartial Analysis in the Voter Information Pamphlet.

In the end though, the question is: If vouchers create an additional tax-payer burden, are vouchers the best way to spend that money?

More specifically: What if we spent the extra cost (if any) of vouchers on teacher raises?

Let's say that there are 30,000 teachers in Utah. (There were about 21,000 in 1999). In the first year, vouchers may only cost the tax payer an extra $3.1 M. Using that number, we could give all teachers about a $100 raise. Not that exciting, but a nice way to say "thanks" to the people who teach our children. The other estimate gives vouchers a $6.0 M net savings to the tax payer. Teachers would need to take a $200 pay cut to fund vouchers the first year. Not that appealing if you are making a teacher salary and if you are trying to actually hire teachers.

It's a lot more interesting in the 13th year (when vouchers are fully phased in). In the 13th year, vouchers cost the taxpayer either an extra $60 M or an extra $43 M depending on which numbers you believe. So the question is: should we use that extra $51.5 M (I used the average) to subsidize private schools or should we use it for public schools? If we use it for public schools, I vote we put it all in teacher raises. Let's say we have 40,000 teachers in 13 years (I made that number up), then we could give all of them a $1287.50 raise. In 2020 dollars, an extra $1287.50 per year won't be a ton of money, but every little bit helps--especially if house prices continue to rise and you want to buy a house.

Vouchers may save money in the first year. But after 13 years, when everyone thinks of them as an entitlement (which is why it's odd that conservative Republicans support them so passionately), they are going to cost additional money. If we are going to spend additional money on education, and I think we should, then let's spend it on making public education better.

And that's why I'll still vote no on vouchers.

Loading a helicopter with 1 skid on the ground

Apparently that's what it took to get these guys out of Grand Staircase Escalante. I saw it happen once on Timpanogos above the Timponooke Basin just below the saddle. It was impressive even from a distance.

[Salt Lake Tribune - Three hikers plucked from wilderness cliff in daring helicopter rescue: "The helicopter flew in this morning, landing one skid on a ledge and opening the door for the three men to jump inside."]

The Secret 18 Mile Loop in North Orem

One of the pending comments was curious about the 18 mile roadie loop I mentioned in a post about the dangers of riding the Provo River Parkway in clueless foot traffic. Since I am sitting in my living room in my new cold weather cycling jacket and not riding my bike (due to rain), I thought I'd take a minute to post that route.

It goes something like this:

Get on 2000 North in Orem, head west. Turn left at the stop sign just before the dump. Head south for a while. At the next stoplight (next to a park, I think it's 400 South), turn left. Ride west to 400 east. At 400 east, turn left again. Head north for a while. Turn left on 2000 north for another 18 mile loop.

One of my woodbadge tickets was to ride the Alpine Loop, which I did two weeks ago. That was my first time all the way around. It's pointless. The climb up Provo Canyon, then to Sundance, Aspen Grove and the Summit is great. The descent down the Sundance side is way fun. But the drop down the AF side is not so fun and the ensuing ride through Cedar Hills, AF, PG, Lindon is even less fun.

Moderating comments, oops

It turns out that there were 25 comments waiting to be moderated here at Utahania. I took a long summer off from many things, including blogging. But the good news is that I got continuing faculty status (BYU equivalent of tenure), taught computer graphics for the first time, published my first paper in computer graphics, took the scouts to camp, the kids on a vacation or two and even went to family woodbadge.

Anyway, at some point in that process, the blog set itself to have comments moderated. I guess that actually sending me email when a comment needed to be moderated was too much? At any rate, I am now caught up.

20 out of 25 were great comments that I wish had been out there in the community. I even agreed with some of them :) . The other 5 were, or appeared to be, unrelated spam.

Sorry about that, I'll stay more on top of that now that I know there's a silent queue of pending comments.

Why I oppose vouchers

As much as it kills me to be on the same side of an issue as the UEA, I am going to have to vote against vouchers. I have two primary reasons.

First, I am a fiscal conservative. While I do support parents' choice in education, I don't think that the government should spend your tax money to help parents choose private school. Similarly, I don't support using your tax money to help parents have a choice, for example, in what kind of car they drive. Just to be clear though, I do think that your tax money should be spent to provide education to all children for free. Public ed has problems. However, I think many of them can be blamed on the UEA (sorry UEA). Tenure in 3 years? That's crazy. Stretch that out to 6 or 7.

Every person I know who supports vouchers and hates their local elementary school (n=2) simply has a bad principal. If it weren't so hard to fire a bad principal, then public ed would be a better place. It's easier to fire a college football coach than it is to fire a principal. What's wrong with that?

Second, voucher proponents have made a big deal out of the following arguement "vouchers aren't bad for public ed because a student who leaves on a voucher leaves behind the money spent to educate that student." Apparently, the legislature found some money in the general fund that can be used to pay for vouchers without taking money out of public ed. If we have the political will to take money out of the general fund and spend it on vouchers, then why don't we take that same money and use it on public ed? The Utah Senators and Reps. that I've met are pretty smart. They have to understand this arguement against vouchers. So why don't they support using that money for public ed but do want to use it for vouchers? That's an easy one: UEA again. Legislators are reluctant to throw more money at public ed because they aren't happy with how it's going to be spent.

Dawn: hope that helps you get through class next time!

Memo to DesNews: Paper Ballots are not Ludite

Last Thursday's editorial in the Deseret News painted me, and people like me, who want voter verifiable paper audit trails as being afraid of technology. That's funny because I love technology and have made it a major part of my career.

Back in '04, many Computer Science professors at the U and BYU got together to ensure that our legislature understood the difficulties of getting electronic voting right. I was one of those professors and still believe that a voter-verifiable paper audit trail is important in establishing the legitimacy of an electronic election. Not because of public perception, but because it's just too easy to get electronic voting wrong.

Phil's post, Phil Windley's Technometria | Saying Yes to Paper Ballots, reminded me that I needed to say something about this.

Welcoming the New Utah County Democrats

The New Utah County Democrats were elected as the party leadership last night. Welcome! It's good to have a viable second party in our county.

They say, on their website, "even our moderate Republican friends and neighbors are now grumbling about how out of touch their own party is to the needs and opinions of real Utahns."

Exactly correct. As a moderate Republican, I was dismayed by statements at my party's convention last week. We are very close to "Republican means anti public education" That's an extreme position I don't agree with. (Not just the "Satan's role in immigration" thing but also just about everyone's statements on education and vouchers).

A viable second party in our county will pull the Republican far right back towards the middle. They won't like it, but it will be good for our state.

The other way to pull the county Republican party back to the middle is to get moderates elected as delegates and then as party leadership. Unfortunately, moderates tend to be uninvolved other than voting every 2 or 4 years in November.

War Criminal?

Memo to those who call President Bush a war criminal:

It's a serious thing to call a sitting president of the United States a war criminal during a time of war. Unless you are correct, it borders on treason.

If you really believe that he's a war criminal, then you should be doing more than leaving comments on blogs, writing blog entries, holding rallies and debating radio talk show hosts for charity.

You should be presenting a case to Congress and the UN to help you get a war criminal out of the Oval Office. You should be prepared to see it through until Bush and Cheney are imprisoned, probably for life.

If you commitment to Bush/Cheney as war criminals isn't that deep, then let's all continue to oppose/support the war but let's tone down the rhetoric a little.

Usage rules for incite versus insight

The BYU newsnet today has the following headline: BYU NewsNet - Speakers to Share Incite at Women's Conference.

I think that they meant "insight" but "incite" is much more interesting especially if you watched "The Mormons" documentary and listened to the bits about women in the church as described by a former Church member.

The Mormons

The Mormons documentary wasn't too bad. The first night was far better than the second. Ken Verdoia did an excellent job of speaking about LDS history in a way that I think non-Mormon people will relate too while remaining correct and positive. I was extremely impressed with Ken's pieces.

I think anti-Mormons will be disapointed with the coverage and I think that some Mormons will be as well. That means that they probably got it about right.

Elder Oaks' on Mountain Meadows was good. I thought they made Will Bagely look pretty dumb. They let him say "Brigham Young ordered it" but didn't let him give any justification. I guess you just have read his book if you want to find out how he formed his opinion.

The bit on dancing in the middle was odd but fun. Both my sister (in Boise ID) and brother (in Seattle WA) had their spouse turn to them in that part and say "but you can't even dance!" My wife was asleep by then.

The second night was pretty slow and less balanced. The disaffected intellectuals got lots of air time to comment on the state of the church generally.

Mormon intellectuals are fine. The problem is that one can't actively advocate positions that oppose the LDS Church _and_ remain a member of the LDS Church. People are free to oppose the LDS Church, you just can't be a member while you do it. It's neither complicated nor oppressive. I am probably over simplifying the situation, but if you oppose the LDS Church and don't believe it's fundamental claims or positions, then why do you care if you remain a member or not? I am sure it's more difficult than that because Toscana seemed to sincerely struggle with the actions of others, her decisions and their consequences.

Utah County Republican Convention

Fortunately the resolution on Satan's involvement in illegal immigration failed. There wasn't a quorum so it was all moot. Even so, it would have failed in a straight up vote. The wording on "close the borders" may have passed if there was a quorum needed to suspend the rules and remove the Satanic part.

I was extremely pleased to hear Stephen Sandstrom talk about immigration. He said, more or less, that his first year in the House taught him that immigrants are people too with desires, goals and feelings. That's progress.

The debate on vouchers in our Senate District Caucus was fascinating. John Valentine is our senator and gave a great inside scoop. I had an interesting discussing with the State or County PTA President afterwards.

The good news is that I've finally come to a position I agree with on public/private education. Stay tuned...

Ralph Nader at UVSC (for BYU, sort of)

I didn't attend the alternative commencement. I draw the line at one commencement a month. Even if the guy who gave Bush the presidency is speaking.

One of my colleagues did go and the comment I got from him was "you should have heard his ideas on health care." So it's just as well I didn't go.

It's interesting that the alternative event was far more political than the official one. Politicizing graduation was one of the original complaints with the Cheney invitation.

Unfortunately, news reports suggest that Nader did not follow Mike's first law of graduation speaking, which is, be short, be uplifting and sit down.

Serious kudos to the students who arranged it. It strengthens my hope in the future of our democracy.

VP Cheney at BYU

 

Being a BYU professor has very few perks. There is no annual bonus. The Christmas present is a book. Although I love the books, seriously, you aren't going to remodel the living room with a book. When I retire, I hope I have a collection of about 30 of them. I already had a copy of the book, it was an LDS triple combination, we got last year. The gift was bound in a very fancy Italian leather. I digress.

But today the perk was a short line to get in commencement and a second row seat. See blurry picture to the right.

Graduation today was excellent. Completely non-partisan. Even the 9 protesters at the gates of campus on my way home from the Marriott (3 pro 6 against) seemed silly and trite. It was a fine occasion. The VP seemed touched to get his honorary degree and I thought it was an appropriate gesture for a guy who's been in government service since 1976.

I hope the graduates all enjoyed the talk. The VP obeyed Mike's first law of graduation speaking. Which is: nobody really came to hear you talk. Keep it short and meaningful then sit down.

Satan?

[deseretnews.com | County GOP delegate links illegal immigration to Satan]

I got this resolution in the mail as part of my packet for the county convention on Saturday. I can't decide if I should stick around to vote against it or just let the lack of a quorum kill it naturally.

Mormon Democrats I know

Stereotypes about Mormons and politics are easy and fun. And there is ample evidence to support them. However, the problem with stereotypes are that they ignore a small but significant part of the population which does not fit the stereotype.

In an effort to debunk the "all Mormons are Republicans" stereotype, I thought I'd list off a few staunch Mormon Democrats that I know well. Names have been omitted to protect the innocent :)

A Bishop. I served as his counselor. He is one of the most significant influences on my church service life.

A Stake Young Women's President. She's doing great.

A Ward Clerk. Formerly one of the best Scoutmaster's I know.

Another Bishop.

A few BYU faculty.

A counselor in a Relief Society Presidency.

A Stake President.

I continue to be a Republican. There may be other Democrats lurking about as well, but, oddly enough, politics rarely come up at Church.

BYU Protest Update

I took a quick lap around the BYU library today to see how BYU students were enjoying their rights of free assembly as given to them by the BYU administration and American Military power.

Conservatively, (I am a conservative after all) the anti-Cheney protest by the BYU Democrats drew 2 times as many people as the pro-Cheney protest staged by the BYU Republicans. The Republican protest drew about 3 uniformed ROTC students while the Democrat one appeared to draw none. It was hard to spot military uniforms through all the people at the Democrats' protest. Graduation should be interesting. I'll bring a camera to this one.

Since the Republicans are outnumbered 2 to 1 here on the BYU campus, I predict the Democratic candidate will win by a landslide in November 08. Unless of course, something happens in the next 18 months...

Walsh on Commencement Speakers at BYU of U of U in 2007

My other favorite part about Walsh's recent article is this:

Paragraph 3: "The decision to invite Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at Brigham Young University's April commencement shreds the LDS Church's perennial claims of political neutrality. "

Paragraph 4: "the University of Utah's commencement speaker choice of LDS Apostle Thomas S. Monson. "

Let's do some cut and paste to consistently apply the standard from paragraph 3 to the information in paragraph 4:

Mashup of paragraphs 3 and 4: "The decision to invite [Apostle Thomas S. Monson] to speak at [the University of Utah's] [May] commencement shreds the [state of Utah's] perennial claims of [religious] neutrality."

Doesn't really work does it?

Neither does the original paragraph 3.

[SLCSpin » Blog Archive » The Problem With Rebecca Walsh’s Column]