We watched the Royal Wedding, today

It was a good service. Our African Grey Parrot joined in with the hymn singing and church organ music, and caused us to laugh when at one point in the service she shouted out: "Help! Help! Help!" not entirely sure what THAT was all about!

I spoke with my mother on the phone who was of the opinion that only the British could pull off such a magnificent service. Maybe she has a point.

Two days later, in the warm sea!

We re-visited the Welsh coast today and found the temperature now 26 oC, and we sunbathed (sunblock and hats, natch ;o)) ) and went in the sea again, which was warm today.

We also watched RAF pilots preparing for service in Afghanistan, piloting transport planes low over the sea and then through the Welsh Valleys, below the tops of the mountains. There was a Hercules and a large plane with four propeller engines that were all smoking quite badly. Might have been an older Hercules.

We were in the Welsh seaside resort of Barmouth, a small and delightful town with really nice beaches.

That always happens

Yesterday, we went to the seaside.

After several days of the temperature being higher than in Spain, the temperature of the day we went out was not 26C but 12-13C, instead.

We went into the sea, but did not stay for long, as it was far too cold, even with the Gulf Stream warming the Mid Wales coast as it does. Goodness knows HOW cold the sea would have been otherwise!

But today, of course, the temperature is quite balmy and the sun is out. Typical!

When my blog started

My blog started in February 2006. That's just over five years ago.

During that time I have made a large number of posts on a wide variety of topics. Many on Mormonism and what it is like to be an ex-Mormon. Some, however, have not been about Mormonism and ex-Mormonism, but on topics that I hold dear to my heart. Conservation is one such subject. Not long ago I wrote an article on frog conservation because I believe that frogs are an important part of the web of life.

I have even posted about when my wife and I met the Queen and Prince Philip. Oh. Or have I? I'll check, and if I haven't I'll make that post, soon!

I have published a book based on some of my blog posts. Most people like this, one person thought there were too many swearwords in it. Oh, dear. In my opinion that is one person who cannot cope with life outside the precious Mormon bubble. Hopefully they will learn to cope with life in the real world.

Well, what will the next five years bring? Let's find out together, shall we?!

And thanks for Blogger.com for making the whole thing possible!

Killer reason why Mormonism is not true

The killer reason as to why Mormonism is not true is that Joseph Smith, and several other people, made the whole thing up.

The Book of Mormon was made up from bits of the Bible, bits of other books including even a bit of Shakespeare, and he mined the philosophy of others to add verisimilitude to the whole rotten structure.

Plus, of course, there was the latter stealing of Methodist Church services and formats, the wholesale theft of Masonic Rites, etc., etc.

An oddity of Mormonism

An oddity of Mormonism is that, although the official name of the Mormon Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Or LDS) is that there seems very little real emphasis on Jesus Christ, himself.

In fact, there is often more emphasis on Joseph Smith the founder of the LDS Church than on Jesus Christ.

Several years ago BYU had a sort of weird Joseph Smith Nativity Scene instead of a traditional Jesus Christ Nativity Scene. And yet Mormons still cannot understand why other Christians can look at them and wonder exactly how Christian the Mormons are.

The writings of Joseph Smith seem to indicate that he thought he was not equal to Jesus but even better than him. Blasphemous? Joseph Smith? Well, you read what's on this link and then see how people might think it so...

http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_josephsmithworship.html

Combine THAT with the "Amway, Noni Juice, Nu Skin, Mary Kay, Nature’s Sunshine Products, Herbalife, Nutra-Smart, XanGo, Living Scriptures, 4Life Research, NSA, Pharmanex, Quixtar, Shaklee, Kirby, etc., etc., etc" Multi Level Marketing aspects of Mormonism and see why many people in the world shake their heads and wonder if, perhaps, Mormonism is more a money making pseudo cult rather than being a 'straight' religious cult?

By the way, some of those MLM firms have roots in Utah and were, in at least one or two cases, founded by faithful Mormons...

Why? Why are people so nasty?

As Rodney King Said: "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"

But there seem to be people hell-bent on NOT getting along. And if they are called on their obnoxious and vile behaviour, then they make YOU a part of the problem! They will then target you, as if, somehow, you were in the wrong for noticing their bad behaviour!

They will special plead as to multiple reasons as to why they should not be called to account or punished for what they have done ("I am under pressure!" "It is that time of the month!" "I didn't know people would take what I did/said so badly!" "It was meant as a joke!" "Nobody understands me!" etc., etc., etc.) but they resent it when it is pointed out that bad behaviour cannot, under most circumstances, be excused.

They seem to think they live in a consequence-free environment, that if they commit act "A" if this leads to consequence "B" that they have no responsibility for what happens when "B" hits the fan.

The idea for this post was started by something that happened to me at work and also by this post at the blog by Alexis, the url for which is here:-

http://alexisar.blogspot.com/2011/04/judge-alexs-facebook-page-turn-for.html

In Park City... Utah? What WERE they thinking?

The Responsible Retailing Forum (RRF) is to meet in Park City, Utah, to Address Preventing the Sale of Alcohol to Kids.

The press release starts of SALT LAKE CITY, April 12, 2011

The Responsible Retailing Forum (RRF), a leading organization in preventing underage sales of alcohol and tobacco, is holding its 9th Annual Responsible Retailing Forum (RRF) in Park City, Utah, from April 12-13, 2011. The meeting is being hosted by Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the theme of this year's conference is: "Leveraging Resources: Non-traditional approaches to achieving responsible retailing in a time of fiscal austerity."

"The meeting will be attended by members of the public and private sector, including alcohol regulators, state attorneys general, law enforcement and transportation, retailers and their associations, distributors, alcohol manufactures and other stakeholders representing 24 states."

I do not care who the Responsible Retailing Forum is, or what they think they are doing. Allowing their event to be hosted by Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is rather like having King Herod host a Responsible Childcare Forum meeting.

What WHERE these people thinking?

Six am

Yes, it is six am here in the UK, Britain, England and I am busy working on my own websites before I leave for work at 8.15am and start working at 9am on the websites and print magazines I work on for my employer!

It's truly lucky that I enjoy writing so much, isn't it?

Had I still been a Mormon I doubt very much if I would have been able to establish myself as a writer.

There's something horribly stultifying about Mormonism. It seems to sap creativity and to take the pleasure and enjoyment out of so many things in life.

It shouldn't do, but it does. All the meetings and the meetings about meetings and the fact that the day of rest is turned into just another day of three hour block meetings and then the additional meetings that surround that. But wait a minute?! Wasn't the three hour block meeting introduced to stop extra meetings?

Well, in part, yes, I seem to remember that was one of the reasons given, but instead it seems that the leadership allowed their eye to wander from the ball and now meeting seem to breed and grow like viruses.

An interesting point from Alexis re the Alaska case

Alexis raised an interesting point in her comment on the Alaska case.

Why the silence?

It is possibly due to child protection issues. It is often the case that the names of children are kept out of reports on criminal matters, even, or perhaps especially, if the child is an innocent or injured party.

In the UK a journalist cannot name even a convicted person under -I think- the age of 18 in a report of a story, unless a judge has given special permission.

They might be trying to arrange a plea bargain with the woman concerned to try to ensure that the names of the children -adopted or otherwise- are given the least amount of publicity as possible.

Other issues (off the top of my head, interest of the Russian authorities in the case, examining of the mental capacity of the woman to take part in a trial, lack of preparedness of the case by defence or prosecution, etc. A smart lawyer might try to argue that due to the publicity surrounding the case, she would not be able to get a fair trial. But an even smarter prosecutor would say: "Who was it who asked her to get her daughter to video her disciplining the boy and send it to a highly popular national TV programme, seen by millions of people?"

We await developments with interest.

The Many Banes of My Existence by Alexis: Jessica Beagley, Dr. Phil, and Other Things

Alexis asks a very interesting question at her blog which I have linked to here:-

The Many Banes of My Existence by Alexis: Jessica Beagley, Dr. Phil, and Other Things: "Jessica Beagley, the Stake Primary President of the LDS Church who appeared on Dr. Phil to share, highlight, or lament her childrearing prac..."

It is the Royal Wedding, soon!

The royal Wedding is soon. Later this month, in fact. Everyone in Britain has been given a day off to celebrate the Royal Wedding, or to ignore it, as they see fit.

I am somewhat ambivalent to the Royal wedding. Unlike some people I do not follow everything the Royal family does, but unlike other people I have nothing against them. In fact, I am something of a Royalist. The system of government that we have (with the King or Queen in a fairly ceremonial position only, with certain exceptions) works, by-and-large, quite well and my rule is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

The Queen or King never has to go out on the hustings, never has to indulge in electioneering and can, sometimes, back a cause that might not be very popular, but is the morally right thing to offer their support to.

A president, however, might shy away from such activities if -for example- it is within several years of his or her election.

The system is fairly cheap (in fact the Crown Estates generates far more income than is spent on the Queen and the rest of the Royal family) and the Queen also pays taxes, though legally speaking, she doesn't have to, but does it voluntarily, instead.

Plus there is the tourism industry and the amount of income the Royal family generates. Far better, one would suggest to say: "That's where the Queen lives, and as the Royal Standard is flying, she is at home, now," than: "That's where our Royal family used to live, when we had a Royal family.

"Oh, look! Over there is a poster for the election of the president. He is likely to be re-elected as a couple of months before the election he introduced a new law that, although popular with much of the electorate, might be seen to be grossly unfair on certain minorities. But shhhh! We'd best not talk of such matters, as the Presidential Intelligence Service have spies everywhere!"

The desperate acceptance of Mormonism. It doesn't have to be this way

The desperate acceptance of Mormonism, it doesn't have to be this way, is the title of this post.

What do I mean by the desperate acceptance of Mormonism? My parents became Mormons when I was ten years old. As a family we all had the lessons from the missionaries who all had those little portable reel to reel tape recorders/players with the small-sized tapes reels that fitted on the top. I remember that when their was a quiet passage on one of the tapes the electronics in the tape player (they must have been incredibly badly shielded!) would pick up short wave radio transmissions. Often, ironically, Radio Moscow!

We all believed, my mother more so than anyone, I think, and we were all baptised. But when I was baptised I felt a strange, unpleasant feeling in my chest. It was as if something was wrong, very badly wrong, but I did not know what. In fact, it was not the baptism so much as the Confirmation that made me feel this way. I later rationalised this by telling myself it was the power of Satan trying to disturb my, or something.

When I was 16/17 I began to notice things that weren't quite right with the Mormon Church. But, as people say, I put them on a shelf and ignored them. I became an elder, served as a primary teacher, became Ward Executive Secretary but when I was in my early to mid 20s, I began to have doubts, serious doubts. But I internalised these. It was, I felt certain, all my fault. If I pray, all would be well. But I felt that there was something wrong with me. I had what I can only describe as a desperate acceptance of Mormonism. If Mormonism was not right, then what was?

Then one day I received an answer to my many prayers. I then knew that Mormonism was a fraud. It was like a heavy weight being removed from my shoulders. Like a yoke filled with sacks of cement being taken off. That was in 1981/82. It wasn't until the late 1990s when I found RFM (I had realised I might not be the only ex-Mormon and searched using the term ex-Mormon, imagine my shock and joy when one of the first sites I found was RFM!) it was a long and continuing process of learning and discovery, of finding out that not only was Mormonism not true, but a deliberate fraud and the damage it has caused -and causes to this very day- in the lives of millions of people.

I gave up my quiet, desperate belief in Mormonism. It wasn't easy. But as the first man to swim the English Channel, Captain Webb, said: "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy."

Remember Save the Frogs Day!

SAVE THE FROGS DAY EVENTS PLANNED WORLDWIDE APRIL 29TH
Prince’s wedding coincides with the world’s largest day of amphibian conservation

Santa Cruz, California Was Prince William a frog in a past life? Quite possibly, since he chose his wedding to take place on the 3rd Annual Save The Frogs Day, a worldwide celebration of amphibians also scheduled for April 29th. Frog lovers and environmentalists of all ages are gearing up for what is expected to be the largest day of amphibian education and conservation action in the planet’s history. The goal of Save The Frogs Day is to raise awareness of the rapid disappearance of frog species worldwide. Events are being planned in at least 15 countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. The events are being coordinated by SAVE THE FROGS! (www.savethefrogs.com), a California-based nonprofit dedicated to amphibian conservation.

Amphibian populations worldwide have been declining at unprecedented rates, and nearly
one-third of the world's amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species
have completely disappeared in recent years. Amphibians are faced with an onslaught of
environmental problems, including climate change, pollution, infectious diseases, habitat loss,
invasive species, and over-harvesting for the pet and food trades.

“The goal of Save The Frogs Day is to get people worldwide educating their fellow citizens about the plight of amphibians and ways they can help” says Dr. Kerry Kriger, Founder & Executive Director of SAVE THE FROGS!. “We are certainly hoping that Prince William and Kate Middleton will become spokespeople for the frogs, which are the most rapidly disappearing group of animals on the planet.”

The royal pair are not the only British couple with nuptials scheduled for Save The Frogs Day.
Frog fanatics Sabrina Jayne Labrina and Simon Pittman of Bournemouth set their big day to
coincide with Save The Frogs Day, and have even asked guests to donate to donate to SAVE
THE FROGS! in lieu of gifts.

Some other events scheduled for Save The Frogs Day include a large rally at the steps of the US
Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. “There are 18,000 registered pesticides in
the United States. One of the worst is Atrazine, an endocrine disruptor that can turn male frogs
into females at 2.5 parts per billion” says Dr. Kriger, who will be leading the rally and speaking
in front of the White House afterwards. Atrazine was banned in the European Union in 2004,
but eighty million pounds of it are used in the USA each year, primarily on corn. “Atrazine is

the 21st century’s DDT. We want it banned.” A frog legs protest will take place at a New York-
based chain restaurant that sells frog legs. In San Francisco, SAVE THE FROGS! supporters will
gather at the steps of City Hall to call on the city to save the Sharp Park Wetlands. The wetlands
are home to endangered California Red-Legged Frogs, but San Francisco currently pumps the
wetlands out to sea to accommodate a public golf course.

On the less serious side, Toronto’s frog enthusiasts will be celebrating Save The Frogs Day
with their 2nd Annual Frog Leap-a-Thon, a 250 meter race down the city’s boardwalk. Students
at Texas Tech University will attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records
by organizing the largest gathering of people wearing frog masks in planetary history. In
Bangladesh, a 2km Frog Run is set to take place in the town of Chittagong. Students and teachers
in several countries will be taking part in the SAVE THE FROGS! Art & Poetry Contests, which
received entries from 27 countries last year.

You can learn more about Save The Frogs Day and events in your area, at:
www.savethefrogs.com/day

(EDITOR: The formatting is still not 100% right, but it will have to suffice for now)

Posting on World Frog Day scrapped

A posting on World Frog Day has been scrapped as the formatting went wrong. I'll try to load it up, later.

Mormons that are pseuds

There are some Mormons that are pseuds. They pretend that they have great knowledge. I recall one idiot, sorry!, one General Authority (I can't remember who he was, save that he was from Utah) who said to a Stake priesthood conference session when he was addressing the Aaronic Priesthood that the boys there knew more than the most learned religious scholars (he used the term scholars in a mocking, ironic fashion) and had more power in their little finger than the Pope and also more power in their little finger than their own mothers.

This statement bothered me and when I mentioned this to my mother she said: "Perhaps he should remember who did his cooking, ironing and cleaning and who looked after him when he was a little boy?"

Looking back on it, I can see that he was going against Bible teachings: "Honour Your Parents, but don't bother to honour your mother" is not in any Bible I have ever seen. But then, perhaps it is in a spcial Bible for pseud Mormons who pretend great knowledge of af all things, yet know far, far less than even the most relatively unlearned Bible Scholar?

Have you watched or listened to the Mormon General Conference?

I must admit, I have not.

The last time I bothered with the Mormon General Conference was when I was a believing Mormon in the early 1980s.

Since then, I have not bothered. Well, why on Earth would I? I know there's an argument for bothering to keep up with it so you know what they are up to, but I really cannot be bothered, to br quite frank!