My first experiences of Halloween was courtesy of the Mormon Church. Until we were introduced to the idea of Trick or Treat and the Halloween Party, Halloween had been nothing but some apple bobbing and very little else.
But the Mormon Church, being an almost exclusively American institution, changed all that and, in its own way, helped pave the way for a revival of Halloween activities that, until fairly recent times, been a largely forgotten and moribund festival, with only a few small pockets of places in Britain where the old ways had held sway, still marking Halloween and the older native religious festivities that had taken place before the first Christian missionaries had found their way to the British Isles.
Still, happy Halloween, All Saints Eve, Samhain to everyone, believers or otherwise!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Heading toward Christmas
It's late October and as we head toward the festival of Christmas it seems strange to look back on the year behind us.
Last Christmas I missed my company Chirstmas party because I fell ill with the flu. Colleagues who had not had the flu shot were much worse off than me and spent the entire Christmas and New Year ill in bed.
The year seemed to go very quickly and in September I found myself in California. Something I'd always wanted to do but never thought I would achieve.
California is a very beautiful country / state and I would like to visit it again. Will I be able to do so? Maybe not, but we shall see.
Last Christmas I missed my company Chirstmas party because I fell ill with the flu. Colleagues who had not had the flu shot were much worse off than me and spent the entire Christmas and New Year ill in bed.
The year seemed to go very quickly and in September I found myself in California. Something I'd always wanted to do but never thought I would achieve.
California is a very beautiful country / state and I would like to visit it again. Will I be able to do so? Maybe not, but we shall see.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Finally got the antibiotics
After a week of coughing and keeping Mrs Matt awake at nights, and having work colleagues complain about his terrible cough, Matt finally went to the doctor where he was diagnosed with a nasty chest infection.
It happens every October, a viral cold leads to a secondary bacterial infection which causes a nasty, productive cough. And I finally have to get the antibiotics. It's so regular you could almost set your clock by it.
My wife works at the hospital in which my doctor rents space in the grounds so I waited for my wife to finish work and we were going to the late duty chemist's shop when we found someone collapsed at the side of the road on the pavement/sidewalk.
He was on his side and snoring. Of course, there was the possibility that he was drunk, but the last time we found someone collapsed like that he had gone into a diabetic coma, so no point in making judgements on people and someone who is drunk could choke to death. We had some problems getting the emergency operator to understand the location but eventually an ambulance, a police car and a police can turned up.
We then left to continue our journey home. Too late to get my prescription filled, so I'll get that done this morning in the chemist that is round the corner from my office.
It happens every October, a viral cold leads to a secondary bacterial infection which causes a nasty, productive cough. And I finally have to get the antibiotics. It's so regular you could almost set your clock by it.
My wife works at the hospital in which my doctor rents space in the grounds so I waited for my wife to finish work and we were going to the late duty chemist's shop when we found someone collapsed at the side of the road on the pavement/sidewalk.
He was on his side and snoring. Of course, there was the possibility that he was drunk, but the last time we found someone collapsed like that he had gone into a diabetic coma, so no point in making judgements on people and someone who is drunk could choke to death. We had some problems getting the emergency operator to understand the location but eventually an ambulance, a police car and a police can turned up.
We then left to continue our journey home. Too late to get my prescription filled, so I'll get that done this morning in the chemist that is round the corner from my office.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Oops! Memory loss of computer at work!
My computer at work has an 8.5Gb hard drive. It suddenly flashed up a "low memory on C Drive" warning. Lucky, really, as the IT engineer happened to be on site.
Apparently being down to only 23Mb of available memory from 8.5Gb is NOT a good thing.
He cleaned 1.5Gg of crap off it (mainly Windows error reports and bits of random Microsoft bloatware, I think) but we are looking at a second drive, internal or external for storing images, etc.
Apparently being down to only 23Mb of available memory from 8.5Gb is NOT a good thing.
He cleaned 1.5Gg of crap off it (mainly Windows error reports and bits of random Microsoft bloatware, I think) but we are looking at a second drive, internal or external for storing images, etc.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Arm news
My arm was just badly bruised, it seems.
The lump is a haematoma which will, they hope, go down, eventually.
It is a tiny bit smaller, but I fear it will remain as a nasty lump for some time to come, if not for good.
Oh well. We shall just have to wait and see.
The lump is a haematoma which will, they hope, go down, eventually.
It is a tiny bit smaller, but I fear it will remain as a nasty lump for some time to come, if not for good.
Oh well. We shall just have to wait and see.
More guilt, my dears?
Doubtless in the days and weeks after the Mormon Church General Conference the faithful and less-than-faithful members of the Mormon Church are feeling guilty or, probably, even more guilty than they did before.
They will have been convinced that they should have given the Mormon Church more of their time, more of their money, have done more to spread the word of the Gospel according to Joseph Smith to their friends, neighbours and, indeed, the rest of the world.
They will have been convinced, too, that they should "lengthen their stride", "attend the temple more", "put their shoulder to the wheel", "magnify their calling", "strengthen their testimony", "close their cover before striking" or some other such meaningless platitude.
The General Conference of the Mormon Church: A place where elderly executives of what can be described as the world's oldest MLM pyramid selling scheme or, more accurately, the world's oldest and most successful Ponzi scheme gather to shake down their victims one more time.
They will have been convinced that they should have given the Mormon Church more of their time, more of their money, have done more to spread the word of the Gospel according to Joseph Smith to their friends, neighbours and, indeed, the rest of the world.
They will have been convinced, too, that they should "lengthen their stride", "attend the temple more", "put their shoulder to the wheel", "magnify their calling", "strengthen their testimony", "close their cover before striking" or some other such meaningless platitude.
The General Conference of the Mormon Church: A place where elderly executives of what can be described as the world's oldest MLM pyramid selling scheme or, more accurately, the world's oldest and most successful Ponzi scheme gather to shake down their victims one more time.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Trip to the doctor is indicated
Last week I slipped on some mud and badly hurt my arm.
There was a hell of a lump on my arm just above my elbow, so I visited A&E, had an X-Ray and was told it was not broken, but badly bruised. I was given some powerful NSAI tablets and sent on my way.
A week later the lump has not shown any significant decrease in size, so I am going to visit my doctor and have them take a look at it.
There was a hell of a lump on my arm just above my elbow, so I visited A&E, had an X-Ray and was told it was not broken, but badly bruised. I was given some powerful NSAI tablets and sent on my way.
A week later the lump has not shown any significant decrease in size, so I am going to visit my doctor and have them take a look at it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Global warming?
When I was a young man, some people predicted Global Warming. But they were considered to be totally off the wall by the majority of other scientists who predicted that there would be, instead, a period of Global Cooling. Another Ice Age, if you will.
Then, suddenly, the Global Warming theory was in the ascendancy. Why? Well, the cynical wonder if the reason is that some powerful people realised you could make a lot of money out of pretending that CO2 was a vile, evil pollutant (Carbon Credit Exchanges, which change hands for potentiality Billions of Dollars) whereas the only way to make money out of a new Ice Age was to sell more knitwear...
Then, suddenly, the Global Warming theory was in the ascendancy. Why? Well, the cynical wonder if the reason is that some powerful people realised you could make a lot of money out of pretending that CO2 was a vile, evil pollutant (Carbon Credit Exchanges, which change hands for potentiality Billions of Dollars) whereas the only way to make money out of a new Ice Age was to sell more knitwear...
Monday, October 10, 2011
Exclusive Notamormon goods available!
Yes, you too can enjoy owning some special Notamormon merchandise! Bearing the name Notamormon and the legend: "Mormonism, it's OK to say no" they are only available at this link to the Notamormon online shop:-
Notamormon shop
Notamormon shop
An interesting website
An interesting website -that links to Notamormon, is http://www.monergism.com/online_ministries.php.
It contains links to a wide variety of websites and has Notamormon listed as being a counter cult website. A designation with which, after a second or so of thought, I found I could not disagree with.
It contains links to a wide variety of websites and has Notamormon listed as being a counter cult website. A designation with which, after a second or so of thought, I found I could not disagree with.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Weather now more like it should be for the time of year
Even though the weather is still fairly mild for October, the weather has taken a change for the worst. The unusually warm Indian Summer weather is now gone.
There's rain, the usual higher winds of October and there are reports that we shall soon be suffering from frosts and snowfall. My wife likes the idea of it snowing. I do too, but not as wildly as she!
There's rain, the usual higher winds of October and there are reports that we shall soon be suffering from frosts and snowfall. My wife likes the idea of it snowing. I do too, but not as wildly as she!
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Mormon General Conference
Yes, the Mormon Church has just had their General Conference.
Members of the Mormon church will have received instructions that they must pay their tithing, be subservient to local Mormon leaders, visit the temple as often as possible and testify to people that the Mormon church is the true church of God.
How do I know this? Because that is all the leaders of the Mormon Church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to give it its full title) every say at their General Conferences.
There will also have been a few rather weak jokes, but that will have been about it.
It is, in reality, a slick presentation by a large MLM corporation, rather than a church in any meaningful sense of the word that would be understandable by an outsider. It's like an MLM convention salted with a few hymns and prayers to make it more palatable to the members.
Members of the Mormon church will have received instructions that they must pay their tithing, be subservient to local Mormon leaders, visit the temple as often as possible and testify to people that the Mormon church is the true church of God.
How do I know this? Because that is all the leaders of the Mormon Church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to give it its full title) every say at their General Conferences.
There will also have been a few rather weak jokes, but that will have been about it.
It is, in reality, a slick presentation by a large MLM corporation, rather than a church in any meaningful sense of the word that would be understandable by an outsider. It's like an MLM convention salted with a few hymns and prayers to make it more palatable to the members.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Better weather is here
After an indifferent summer here in the UK, I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Silicon Valley, California.
The weather was gorgeous. Cool and overcast in the early morning, with the sun punching its way through the overcast very quickly to bring a delightfully hot -though not muggy- day. (Muggy is an British word for when the weather is hot and damp.)
When I got back home, it started to rain, so all was normal. And the weather remained normal until this week. I.E., sunny with periods of cloudy weather with some rain.
The weather has become unseasonally warm this week, with temperatures in our sun trap back garden reaching a high of 32C.
It's almost as nice -but not quite as nice- as the weather in California.
When the weather is like this it is known as an Indian Summer, a term borrowed from America.
The weather was gorgeous. Cool and overcast in the early morning, with the sun punching its way through the overcast very quickly to bring a delightfully hot -though not muggy- day. (Muggy is an British word for when the weather is hot and damp.)
When I got back home, it started to rain, so all was normal. And the weather remained normal until this week. I.E., sunny with periods of cloudy weather with some rain.
The weather has become unseasonally warm this week, with temperatures in our sun trap back garden reaching a high of 32C.
It's almost as nice -but not quite as nice- as the weather in California.
When the weather is like this it is known as an Indian Summer, a term borrowed from America.
Monday, September 26, 2011
A question of Tithing and Mormonism
Someone at the RFM board posed an interesting question, recently. It was: "How can Mormons afford to pay tithing?"
My answer to this question is: "Many of them cannot afford to pay tithing."
My parents could not afford to pay tithing. But they did and, as a result, the family suffered.
I well remember when an officious and overbearing Mormon Bishop demanded a meeting with my parents. Apparently he was "concerned" that my parents were not paying a full fast offering, so small was the amount that my parents donated every month.
When my mother showed him her shopping list with each item carefully costed (that was something she always did, in order to eke out my father's miserly wage, we were in a rural area were pay was ridiculously low) he was shocked that our family got by on such a small amount of money for food.
He was shocked, but not shocked enough to offer any financial help to my parents. "The Church Welfare Programme does not operate in Britain" he had told them. "And the fast offering is for poor people." He apparently failed to see the irony in the fact that as he knew what my father's income was and knew the minuscule amount of money my mother spent on food every week that my family was, in fact, poor. But that he declined to offer them any help.
My answer to this question is: "Many of them cannot afford to pay tithing."
My parents could not afford to pay tithing. But they did and, as a result, the family suffered.
I well remember when an officious and overbearing Mormon Bishop demanded a meeting with my parents. Apparently he was "concerned" that my parents were not paying a full fast offering, so small was the amount that my parents donated every month.
When my mother showed him her shopping list with each item carefully costed (that was something she always did, in order to eke out my father's miserly wage, we were in a rural area were pay was ridiculously low) he was shocked that our family got by on such a small amount of money for food.
He was shocked, but not shocked enough to offer any financial help to my parents. "The Church Welfare Programme does not operate in Britain" he had told them. "And the fast offering is for poor people." He apparently failed to see the irony in the fact that as he knew what my father's income was and knew the minuscule amount of money my mother spent on food every week that my family was, in fact, poor. But that he declined to offer them any help.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Raptor Jesus; His book
The book is about a man who was born into the Mormon "religion" and who faithfully served a mission, proselytising for his faith.
However, that's when things started to go seriously wrong, from one point of view, or. From another perspective, seriously right. He became quite ill on his mission.
Because of the intense pressure of the religion and the beliefs dealing with faith and healing, he developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when he is not healed by faith and cannot finish his mission.
After searching for answers, he finally discovers that the Mormon church is not what it claims to be and he decides to exit the religion and confront his past. The book skewers the religion and American pop culture as much as it explains them.
Author Raptor Jesus said: “If I were to explain what the book's about in one sentence it would be: The book is about punching the Mormon god right in his f***ing face.”
He went on to say: “The book is aimed at anyone who enjoys a good, naughty joke and has been curious about Mormons or Mormon missionaries. It was written during the same time that the Book of Mormon Musical hit Broadway like a rabid gorilla. The audiences would be very similar.
“I wrote this because I had to in order to recover from my past as much as I could. I also found that everyone who had a strict religious upbringing that didn't want to conform really liked the parallels of their stories with mine.”
The book is available via Amazon. From Amazon.com it costs $3.44 as a Kindle book and from Amazon.co.uk it costs £2.09p.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Santa Clara is cool!
I loved my time in Santa Clara! The meal with exmos did not happen, due to security at San Francisco Airport taking two hours to get through. Apparently it was thought to be a very good idea to send everyone but a tiny handful of staff on break when they KNEW four VERY full 747s would be arriving at pretty much the same time.
So there was the ridiculous spectacle of hundreds of visitors to the USA waiting in a massive line, whilst the domestic arrivals/US citizens staff were sat doing nothing!
Eventually a small woman with a fiery, feisty nature came up, berated them and turned most of the gates from US to foreign visitors. But by the time it was too late to get to the hotel, register for the convention and then sort myself out.
But! I was able to enjoy some drinks with Mrs E and Wine Country Girl from the RFM board, so that did make up for it, as they were delightful company.
Will I be back in San Francisco next year? Perhaps. We shall wait and see!
So there was the ridiculous spectacle of hundreds of visitors to the USA waiting in a massive line, whilst the domestic arrivals/US citizens staff were sat doing nothing!
Eventually a small woman with a fiery, feisty nature came up, berated them and turned most of the gates from US to foreign visitors. But by the time it was too late to get to the hotel, register for the convention and then sort myself out.
But! I was able to enjoy some drinks with Mrs E and Wine Country Girl from the RFM board, so that did make up for it, as they were delightful company.
Will I be back in San Francisco next year? Perhaps. We shall wait and see!
Monday, September 05, 2011
If you want to know the truth about Mormonism: Ask a Mormon! No. That doesn't work
But that's what Mormonism gets its members to say, isn't it?
The church says to its members: "If someone says: 'Well, I read that the Mormon church believes in such-and-such on a website called www.exmormon.org tell them to ignore that, as that site is filled with nothing but bitter Mormon haters! Tell them that the only way to learn about the truth about Mormons is to ask a Mormon!"
Now, at this point it might be worth asking why the people who use the Recovery From Mormonism board (RFM) found at the website referred to above might be described as "bitter Mormon haters."
In truth the people at RFH -and several other boards and websites for ex-Mormons or former Mormons-are not Mormon haters. But they do have a wide range of issues that might see them described as bitter towards the Mormon church. And for pretty good, solid and valid reasons.
The idea that one can only receive correct information about Mormonism from Mormons is pitiful in its naiveté.
If someone said: "Why, you should not ask other, bitter people formerly involved with an MLM downline about the MLM scheme! You must only ask the people who are currently involved with that MLM scheme!" You would think them to be a bit silly.
Or if someone is asking legitimate questions about a new financial investment that looks too good to be true, nobody in their right mind set would say: "Why, bless your heart! You do not want to be asking the police about this scheme! The only person you should be seeking information from is that lovely Mr Charles Ponzi! Or perhaps there's that charming Mr Madoff!" you would wonder at their sanity.
If you want a sales presentation, ask a Mormon. If you want a perspective on the Mormon church that the Mormon church might not want you to know, ask an ex-Mormon.
The church says to its members: "If someone says: 'Well, I read that the Mormon church believes in such-and-such on a website called www.exmormon.org tell them to ignore that, as that site is filled with nothing but bitter Mormon haters! Tell them that the only way to learn about the truth about Mormons is to ask a Mormon!"
Now, at this point it might be worth asking why the people who use the Recovery From Mormonism board (RFM) found at the website referred to above might be described as "bitter Mormon haters."
In truth the people at RFH -and several other boards and websites for ex-Mormons or former Mormons-are not Mormon haters. But they do have a wide range of issues that might see them described as bitter towards the Mormon church. And for pretty good, solid and valid reasons.
The idea that one can only receive correct information about Mormonism from Mormons is pitiful in its naiveté.
If someone said: "Why, you should not ask other, bitter people formerly involved with an MLM downline about the MLM scheme! You must only ask the people who are currently involved with that MLM scheme!" You would think them to be a bit silly.
Or if someone is asking legitimate questions about a new financial investment that looks too good to be true, nobody in their right mind set would say: "Why, bless your heart! You do not want to be asking the police about this scheme! The only person you should be seeking information from is that lovely Mr Charles Ponzi! Or perhaps there's that charming Mr Madoff!" you would wonder at their sanity.
If you want a sales presentation, ask a Mormon. If you want a perspective on the Mormon church that the Mormon church might not want you to know, ask an ex-Mormon.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
I will be in Santa Clara next week
I will be in Santa Clara, next week, from Monday 12th September, for several days. I will be attending a three day conference arranged by Google.
I am hoping to meet up with some exmos in a local eatery on Monday 12th.
Please email me at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk.
I am hoping to meet up with some exmos in a local eatery on Monday 12th.
Please email me at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Mormonism as a Country Club
Let's imagine Mormonism as a very exclusive Country Club which you are invited to join. Membership, you are told is very egalitarian. Everyone pays a membership fee of 10% of their income, so no one pays more than their fair share.
You decide to join and start paying your membership.
After a while you decide it would be nice to enjoy some of the facilities of the club. Can you use the gymnasium? No, you are told, you cannot use the gymnasium of the club.
Well, can you use the steam room? No, you are told that you cannot use the steam room.
Could you use the library of the Country Club? That too, is off limits to you.
Could you have a massage in the health suite? No, that is not available to you.
There is, in the brochure, a high quality restaurant. Can you book you and your family in there for a meal? No, with regret, you are informed that the restaurant is not available, either.
By now you are more than a little frustrated by this. You ask what facilities you CAN use? You are told that you are able to attend weekly presentations as to the benefits of membership of the Country Club and also you can attend special sessions of the Country Club when members who CAN access the facilities denied to you tell you how marvellous being a member is, and how you should live your life as a member of the Country Club.
You ask, with a sense of rising anger, if there is a two tier system of membership at the Country Club? The official who you approach is scandalised by this. But when you question him it transpires that he has never enjoyed any of the facilities of the Country Club, either! But he did once meet someone who knew someone who did enjoy the facilities.
"So, we are expected to pay our membership fees whilst an elite group of members actually enjoy the facilities of the Country Club and we get nothing in return?" you ask. "What are you? Some kind of rebel?" is the shocked response.
Now, at this point, most people would cancel their membership and quit the Country Club. For many people in the Mormon Church this is not an option. Because Mormonism really IS a Country Club for a few very, very few, lucky members (with many more facilities than I have outlined above) who have managed to convince several millions of people round the world that Mormonism is a church and not a Country Club.
You decide to join and start paying your membership.
After a while you decide it would be nice to enjoy some of the facilities of the club. Can you use the gymnasium? No, you are told, you cannot use the gymnasium of the club.
Well, can you use the steam room? No, you are told that you cannot use the steam room.
Could you use the library of the Country Club? That too, is off limits to you.
Could you have a massage in the health suite? No, that is not available to you.
There is, in the brochure, a high quality restaurant. Can you book you and your family in there for a meal? No, with regret, you are informed that the restaurant is not available, either.
By now you are more than a little frustrated by this. You ask what facilities you CAN use? You are told that you are able to attend weekly presentations as to the benefits of membership of the Country Club and also you can attend special sessions of the Country Club when members who CAN access the facilities denied to you tell you how marvellous being a member is, and how you should live your life as a member of the Country Club.
You ask, with a sense of rising anger, if there is a two tier system of membership at the Country Club? The official who you approach is scandalised by this. But when you question him it transpires that he has never enjoyed any of the facilities of the Country Club, either! But he did once meet someone who knew someone who did enjoy the facilities.
"So, we are expected to pay our membership fees whilst an elite group of members actually enjoy the facilities of the Country Club and we get nothing in return?" you ask. "What are you? Some kind of rebel?" is the shocked response.
Now, at this point, most people would cancel their membership and quit the Country Club. For many people in the Mormon Church this is not an option. Because Mormonism really IS a Country Club for a few very, very few, lucky members (with many more facilities than I have outlined above) who have managed to convince several millions of people round the world that Mormonism is a church and not a Country Club.
Why Mormonism is worse than MLM
Some people have likened Mormonism to MLM. I know where they're coming from, but I think Mormonism is worse than MLM. Far worse.
Let's look at it this way:
If you work seven days a week with Amway (or most other MLM businesses) there is a possibility that you might earn a decent income.
But if you work seven days a week at being a Mormon the only people who do well are the very small amount of people in the Mormon Church who are the the top of the Mormon pyramid.
So no matter how much time and money you give to the Mormon church, you will never earn a penny from all your efforts. And that, in my opinion, is worse than any MLM that is not 100% crooked.
Let's look at it this way:
If you work seven days a week with Amway (or most other MLM businesses) there is a possibility that you might earn a decent income.
But if you work seven days a week at being a Mormon the only people who do well are the very small amount of people in the Mormon Church who are the the top of the Mormon pyramid.
So no matter how much time and money you give to the Mormon church, you will never earn a penny from all your efforts. And that, in my opinion, is worse than any MLM that is not 100% crooked.
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