The Plan

I could use some help with this poem I wrote. I'd love to make it a regular meter throughout each of the verses so that it can be put to music. I'm open to adjustment of other words as well.

Each day is a gift,
To do with as you will -
Your heart will predict
Destinations that are real.
Though your past is forgotten,
And your future yet unknown,
Each choice that is before you
Will lead or stray from home.

Your heavenly home above
Awaits through covenants,
While Jesus as your Savior
Will lead in reverence.
Though your road may seem dark,
And your closest future dim.
His promises are eternal -
If you will but look to Him!

What great blessings await you!
What great blessings he gave!
Your all-powerful Father loves you!
Open your heart and let him save!
You have promised you are willing-
To take Christ's name as yours.
He promises his Spirit to help you
But so much more is in store.

In his temple you may enter
Serving those who came before.
Invite that peace to stay with you,
You feel entering those doors.
Then continue living worthily,
Through Christ's grace being healed,
Preparing for eternal life,
Through all eternity sealed!

Copyright 2018 Daniel Lee Gibby

As I Listen

As I Listen

As I listen, as I ponder,
Quietly my heart aligns
With the purpose of my Father,
While his Spirit in me shines.

Be with me, and as my teacher,
Show me how to be like Thee.
Take my pains and be my healer.
After blindness, let me see!

As I study, and desire,
For my heart to be transformed,
Tenderly his light and fire
Shows his pathway through the storm.

Thank you, Savior, for thy mercy!
Thank you, for the Spirit's grace!
Help me daily to be worthy
And in time to see thy face.

Love! Oh how His love will brighten,
Every load of heart and mind,
In each day and as I hearken
And through trials am refined.

Thank you, Father, for my Savior!
Thank you, Jesus, for thy love!
Be with me, and through the Spirit,
Help me to return above!

-Daniel Lee Gibby

THE JOHN SEVER FANCLUB!!: Twelve

My cousin has some great mind-bending posts on his blog, including his post this week about Twelve. That caused me to think of this follow-up post.

My oldest sister's kids all were born with 'extra' digits... toes, fingers, etc.
So what did the doctor do when they were born? Showed them to their father/mother (one of whom is a doctor himself), and then promptly chopped them off. And now those kids all grew up to be 'pretty' smart, but they could have been geniuses...

So I'm thinking since I don't have two more fingers, I can count 6 on each hand by simply making a closed fist to represent 0. The problem is that we aren't starting with 0 or giving it enough credit!

That ends up working like this:

• 0: only using one hand so far, with all fingers closed (this is really the first number)
• 1: only one hand up, with 1 finger up, just like you normally count to 1 (we've really counted 2 things, including 0)
•  2..5: same as normal with one hand (but we've really counted up to 6 so far, including 0)
•  6: now you bring up the other hand, and add fingers as normal.
•  7-9: this is still totally normal counting for everybody, (but don't forget 0!)
•  d (10): I think lower case d would make more sense, (you can fit it onto a digital, and it is d as in dime, diez, dez, which mean 10. Over time I think everyone would call it dez.)
• L: L is for ELeven, which makes it easy to remember, and also makes some sense as meaning L for loaded up or large or something like that.

To show 10, you'd be holding up 10 fingers.

To show L (11), you'd close all the fingers on both hands! Really you've counted 12 numbers, including zero.

Closing all fingers on both hands makes it fast to be ready to move on to the next number, because you just drop one hand and you are now at the number 12.


It gets kind of confusing after that, but that's just because we aren't used to counting by 12s.

Every time you have just one hand up with all the fingers down you'd be at a multiple of 12, and if you have both hands up you'd be at the number right before that.


Sounds simple enough.
Now take it another step and place your hands in different elevations to show how many 12s you've added.

• 0: away from body (most common for smaller numbers)
• 1: Knees
• 2: thighs
• 3: waist / stomach
• 4: chest

I found 12 different ways I could hold my hands, but I think the above 5 would be easier, and you could count right up to 59 (which is 60 numbers) with just 5 easy to remember positions.

You really don't need the number 60 on a digital display when counting minutes and seconds, you just need to 59, which is what we'd be counting.



I think I'll start using this system for base 10 numbers and base 2 numbers, which I frequently count on my fingers so I can count much higher than 10. I can count up to 512 on two hands, but usually only need to count up to 100 or so.


When I used to commute in L.A. I would count the number of cars I passed or who passed me on each side of my car (with the corresponding hand for each side of the car), so I could gauge the efficiency of my lane. Using base 2 made me able to count enough for that job really well. If it got over a certain number I'd switch into the better performing lane, and smile as my hand starting counting the number I'd passed instead of the number passing me. You do have to hide the number 4 and similar numbers from other drivers. (See if you can figure that one out!)

Thanksgiving Special (November 18, 2012) - Music & The Spoken Word

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is last year's episode, so it isn't a direct repeat of this week's Music and the Spoken Word.

The national PTA is advocating to receive 5 Billion dollars from the federal government and predicts doom and gloom if they don't receive it. In reply to an email they sent out today, I sent this email to the national PTA.

Re: Stop Sequestration ( http://www.pta.org/5382.asp )

I'm a husband of an elementary school teacher, and a father of four kids who are in K-12 schools. I've experienced about 9 different schools, a dozen principals or administrators, dozens of teachers in schools in 2 states in places as different as California and Utah. My wife teaches 2nd grade at a normal public school, but has also taught 6th grade, home school, preschool, and has been a Parent Organization president at a charter school. We've had our kids in schools where our kids were minorities and schools where they were not. They've been in Title 1 schools, a charter school, home school and are all currently in normal public school, have been for 3 years and probably will until they all graduate. We have schools in our district, and have lived in districts where the majority of kids have only one parent or who are being raised by a grandparent because both parents aren't around or are in jail. We've seen curriculum from the school district, from the state, common core, online, offline, etc. We've seen the spectrum of what schools have to offer; but shockingly there are similarities in them all. In every school and following every curriculum type, there are still kids who excel, some who float along with the masses, and some who 'fail'.

What is the one common factor that plays the largest role in the educational success of the students? It isn't the teachers, although we've seen some great, and some not so good teachers, in every school and school type. It isn't the type of school or the method of instruction. It isn't the class size. It isn't even only about economics, although that can be an indicator of the real problem.

The parents are the real problem and the real answer, the elephant in the room that is never discussed when the conversation turns to why 'education' is failing. It isn't education that is failing, it is the parents.

America is way too in debt, it is a bad idea to seek 5 Billion dollars from the federal government for schools. A fundamental shift in perspective needs to take place in our nation in order for there to be any money for anything. It isn't the nation's job to educate its children, it is the parent's responsibility. I'm not talking about home schooling, I'm talking about taking responsibility.
The P in PTA still stands for parents. Please don't take away my parental responsibility and try to give it to the government.

Of course we need teachers who take up the responsibility to educate when that trust is placed in them. That trust comes from the parents, not from the government. We need excellent teachers, but it is an unrealistic task for even a good teacher to always overcome a home environment that deters or even impedes a child's education. For a teacher to overcome every child's poor upbringing is impossible. You can't legislate desire by force.

We need teachers, principals, districts, boards and the nation as a whole to recognize and promote that children's schooling is primarily a parental responsibility. Parents need to be held partially accountable for their kids' performance. Good teachers want the parents to be involved. Excellent teachers help parents be involved, and think of a bigger picture than just the curriculum they are supposed to teach. The best teachers know that teaching math and reading is only a small part of how to change lives for the better, and that there are more lives that can be improved than just the kids in their class that year; they think of the future, and help parents know how best to help their children to learn going forward. The teachers are in the trenches; they see what the children need, but far too often they see that there isn't much they or any other teacher will be able to do. They can sometimes already predict in Kindergarten and 1st grade which kids will likely drop out of school, or who are likely to become teen mothers. The teachers see and experience it all, and if they were allowed or expected to, they could help parents know what to do to make a difference.

Merit pay is most likely coming to a school district near you; it is already being tested and legislated in various forms all around the country. But it is being implemented poorly in most circumstances because it is not the teacher's fault when a kid can't learn all that is legislated for them to learn; more frequently there are kids who won't learn, simply because they don't want to or sometimes because they don't have the support they need at home. Kids need more than one model (the teacher) of success, educators should push parents to be role models in their own homes. Parents should be given a report card; school PTAs could perhaps find ways to reward parents and their kids if the parents have a good report card. If a teacher isn't modeling success, they should be held accountable, but if the parents aren't modeling success, why are they not being held accountable, when it is truly their involvement that is the largest factor in the child's success? How likely is it for the child to even know they can become successful if it isn't modeled to them and explained to them? Teachers and parents should both be expected to be the example.

In what mentality is it fine for teachers to be required to spend more time with the kids than the parents do, but it isn't fine for teachers to require something from the parents? With responsibility comes privileges, without responsibility there are no privileges. Parents cannot abdicate their responsibility to teachers, and then blame the teacher without again taking the responsibility back to themselves. Parents can't choose when they will have responsibility and when they won't, and still always expect the privileges of being a parent. Of course I'm not arguing for less parental privileges, I'm saying parents should expect to have final responsibility. Parents realize deep down they are responsible for their children. When they perceive something wrong at the school, they take charge and demand what is theirs. If parents can demand what is theirs, it needs to be clear that the responsibility is theirs, and that the teacher is there to help them, not the other way around.

Teacher merit pay formulas need to take individual students' history and performance into account, along with how involved their parents are in their education. To completely blame the teacher is wrong, but they should be held accountable if the students and parents also are. Alternatively, if merit pay is about rewarding good teachers, don't reward them just because they are lucky enough to work at a school where the kids have involved parents, while another teacher works a much harder job to literally raise the kids in their low-income school where the majority of the parents are not involved. The teacher that has to give breakfast, lunch and dinner to the kids is no longer the teacher, they are basically the parent, but without any of the rights. Think how unreasonable it is to expect someone to parent 20 kids who are all the same age! Teaching a curriculum to dozens of kids is doable, but teachers have been filling in the gap and doing much more than that.

Parents should be invested in their kids education, they should step up and get their local community and governments to do something about it.
Since there are many localities where the parents have almost completely abdicated their responsibility, then the local school boards and the states should figure out how to help the parents take the responsibility back. It would be more effective to pay an additional teacher to teach the parents in a school district how to help their kids than it would be to hire ten teachers to teach the kids of the failing parents.

Getting more money from the federal government will only perpetuate the problem of kids having lesser desire to be educated than in times past. To truly care for the kids, and to help government to have money at all for education, help build a country where our children's future isn't enslaved to debt.

Kids will be more driven to learn when they are driven to want to work hard. How can you teach a kid to want to work hard? By showing them an example of how it makes their life better, by loving them no matter what, and by helping them see that life is hard, but they have the ability to make a difference for themselves and for those around them. They will only be driven to want to work hard when they know that it is expected of them, and they see how it will benefit them.

These things aren't taught in any school subjects I know of; they should be taught by the parents, but if they aren't, the school should focus on helping the children become future parents who will take responsibility.

Please focus on different solutions to help students and their families, don't look for money from the federal government, or from any government for that matter, as the solution to fixing education. Every 'little' 5 Billion dollars here and there is what is driving our country into financial ruin. The fall will be a lot harder in the future if everyone doesn't take responsibility now. If larger class sizes are inevitable, find a way to engage parents to make up the difference. Be an advocate for the future of the children by being an advocate for parents and families and the solidarity of our nation.

Ask not what federal money can be given to you, ask what you can do to lighten the government's burden.

Remember the P in PTA, and put responsibility where it ultimately is due.

Rice at Home

Here's a Christmas present to all!

I was just cleaning my office, was looking through a mission journal from when I was in Brazil, and found a poem I wrote.

This is a variation on 'Love at Home' that I wrote in Portuguese in 1997.
I thought Brad, and maybe anyone who served in Brazil would like it.

The english translation, which I just wrote today (and is pretty darn good if you ask me), is below.

-------------------------------------------------------

Com Arroz No Lar
Escrito por Daniel Lee Gibby, 1997

Tudo é belo em derredor, com arroz no lar!
Nossa vida é melhor, com arroz no lar!
Bem igual não pode haver,
Que a fome combater,
E sustento promover, com arroz no lar!

Refrao:
Com arroz, com arroz.
Nunca a gente vai faltar, com arroz no lar.

Temperado, há prazer, o arroz no lar.
Sem feijão não pode haver, o arroz no lar.
Pega logo seu pratão, não tem maior emoção,
E se sobrar dá ao cão, o arroz no lar.

Refrão.

(Canta as próximos dois linhas bem triste)
Todo mundo vai chorar, sem arroz no lar.
E os caracões quebrar, sem arroz no lar.
(Agora canta bem animada!)
Este jeito vai acabar, não podemos esperar!
Hoje mesmo vai pegar, o arroz no lar!

Refrão.
Translation (not a direct translation, but hey, it rhymes!):

Rice At Home
written by Daniel Lee Gibby, 2011

There is beauty all around, when there's rice at home!
Life is better by the pound, when there's rice at home!
You just can't find nothing else, that will feed your hungering self,
And provide long years of health, than some rice at home!

Chorus:
Rice at home, rice at home.
Never will we lack again, when there's rice at home.

Cooked with spices, it's the best, when there's rice at home.
Add some beans, please don't forget, when there's rice at home..
Everyone go get your plate, there is nothing quite as great!
Feed the dog what's left out late... extra rice at home.

Chorus.

(sing the next two lines very sadly)
Everyone will surely cry, without rice at home.
What a world! We're going to die, without rice at home.

(Now sing very exitedly!)
We just can't keep on going this way, hurry now and don't delay!
Quickly go and make our day! Bring some rice on home!

Chorus.

--------------------------------------

Something to think about

I think pretty much everyone goes along in life just trying to be comfortable, not really thinking why they do the things they do.

The evidences for creationism are just as thoroughly obvious to people who think logically about statistics and the probability that all evolutionist theories would come together in their proper order for them to all end up working together the way life is.

For example, we could postulate that the nerve endings in my body evolved over millions of years through many types of animals so that they would protect me from hurting myself, so that I survive the facts of nature. On the surface that might seem logical enough. Name any one itty bitty part of your body or of other organisms and you can make the same assumptions. Imagining that each one on its own, or that a few of them together all evolved that way seems logical enough. The problem is that no-one stops to think about how illogical it is that every part of all of life's systems somehow did this at the right time in order for everything else to progress to the point it is at.

What are the odds that everything turned out just right through evolution? Well, for a back-of-the-napkin calculation you just have to calculate the probability that one itty bitty thing would evolve to what it did, then count up all the itty bitty things that would have to evolve, and multiply their probabilities together to get your final probability.

In other words, if the chance that my nerve endings would evolve to be the way they are is 1 in 1000, (I'm making the chance extremely good here just to prove the point,) and you have let's say a list of 1000 other systems in your body and in your environment that would need to evolve at about the same probability (again, I'm really reducing the number of systems and collaborating circumstances that would have to come together, just for arguments sake,) then math says that 1/1000 * 1/1000 * 1/1000 * 1/1000... repeated 1000 times is 1/(1000^1000), or 1 divided by (1000 times itself 1000 times). Any idea how many zeros that is? It isn't 1000 zeros, that would be 10 to the 1000th. It is 3000 zeros. Not 1/3000, 1 divided by 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Hmm, I said back of the napkin, but I don't think I could fit that many zeros on my napkin. That is a very, very, very small number.

Remember that even with that tiny chance I've grossly exaggerated how likely it is that something would evolve, as well as grossly under-exaggerated how many systems and circumstances would have to evolve at about the same time for everything to work out OK. If the chance was 1/10000 instead of 1/1000 that something would evolve, you'd have 10 times as many zeros there.

Now, let's say that for a minute we believe scientists who say that the earth is around 4500 million years old. (That's when they say that the Hadean Eon started.) Let's even say that it is 10 billion years old to make the math easier (in the scientists favor again, even though there weren't life forms evolving according to scientists until later in the Proterozoic Eon, around 2500 million years ago), but just to make the math easy and to give another big advantage to the evolutionists we'll say that life forms were evolving as early as 10 billion years ago. That's 10,000,000,000 years. Now compare that many years with our calculation for the likelihood that things evolved.

All I'm saying is that it is easy to believe that something could evolve over 10 billion years if the likelihood that it will evolve is 1/1000. That gives it a 1 in 100 chance every 1000 years, and you'd say that would happen - no problem. Pure statistics for that one thing evolving say that not only would something evolve once in those 10 billion years, it would happen probably around 10,000 times. Again, that seems really believable if there were only 1,000 things that needed to evolve and none of them had to rely on each other to happen at the right time, but that's not the way statistics work, nor the way that evolutionists claim evolution works, nor are there only 1,000 things needing to evolve.

Remember, to find the probability of two things both happening, you multiply the probability of each happening by the others. That's how we got our back-of-the-napkin calculation.

So what are the odds that in 10 billion years all the 1000 different things would evolve together? Divide that tiny long number by 10,000,000,000 (or remove just 10 zeros out of it). How many zeros are left from the original 3000 zeros? 2990.

So that would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Do you think that looks very likely?

OK, so maybe we beat the odds, right?

Ahem..

(the sound of crickets or just plain silence follows)

Google Picassa 3 Unnamed People

I really like Google Picassa 3's face recognition features. You tag who people are and it searches through your photos for matching faces and asks you if people in other pictures are also people you've tagged. After a while, it makes pretty good guesses about who is who.

It has been really cool for finding pictures of certain people when we need them. For example, we needed pictures of me or of my wife, or certain pictures of other people, and rather than go into our huge picture folder and think, I know that one of these years there was this good picture of Person X, you just click on the thumbnail of Person X and it shows the zoomed in view of Person X in all the different photos that they appear in... at least in the ones that you've already confirmed.

The problem is that I still have 7,140 unnamed people!

Many of them are indeed people in my family. I decided not to tag hardly anyone not in my family or extended family. So then you just click the X to ignore all the other people in your pictures you could be tagging.

It is funny how many of the people I don't know at all. I'll see hundreds of spectators at parades across the street from us, or who were sitting next to us in the parade route; there are kids who go with my kids to school in group pictures from school plays, but who I have no idea who they are.

There are even pictures of people hanging on the wall behind people who I was actually taking the picture of! So sometimes I'll mark Person B and Person C as being in a picture, and then it will show me Person B and I'll mark it as them and realize that actually it is from the same photo that I just tagged Person B in... it was just that there was a picture of Person B hanging on the wall in someone's living room. If it weren't for that, I was going to suggest to Google that Picassa have a feature to be a bit smarter and once you've tagged any particular person in a picture that it shouldn't recommend that the a face might be the same person again. I've realize there are other reasons that someone could be in a picture twice: remember the people in the rotating camera school class pictures that ran around the back of the bleachers so they'd be on both ends of the picture? That would need people to be there twice. More often though, is the case of photo collages, where the same person is there a bunch of times.

A few weeks ago I had over 10,000 unnamed people, so I guess I've whittled it down quite a bit. But it has taken seriously 3-5 hours to do that. It will be awesome to have it done, if I sometime get another 12 hours to finish the project. (I didn't do the math, that is just a guess.)

Pretty cool, this Picassa feature! Now who are these unnamed people?

Star Spangled

I know it isn't July, but I just had the Star Spangled Banner play randomly from my playlist.

I love all the verses, but the last one (also written in 1814) is more impressive to me than the rest:

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

General Conference is coming up this weekend and I'm stoked.

I watched this video that was recently produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Elder Jefferey R. Holland's talk about prophets in our day.

I love that talk, and couldn't help from watching the rest of the church sponsored videos on YouTube in the new Mormon Messages channel.

Now I'm singing this song in my head!

Come listen to a Prophet's voice
And hear the word of God.
Then let us in the truth rejoice
And sing for joy aloud.

Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice - Hymn #21

I can't wait until Saturday and Sunday!

Powerful MySQL 5.1 - Cool is an understatement

MySQL 5.1 is here - as I was reading through MySQL's white paper on the new features, I occasionally thought, "yeah, that is cool." The most exciting things though were when I read about some features that made me get excited enough to want to blog about it. There are some totally powerful and powerfully cool features in 5.1

SQL Profiling

For example, the SQL Profiling Utility which lets you see exactly how much time the SQL server did doing what while it logged a profiling session. You can start and stop the session, then look back at each query that happened and then see in microsecond detail what things are taking a long time and which are taking... well, microseconds.
You'll be able to see in certain terms what things are taking a long time and what queries, indexes, or settings or hardware should be improved.

Replication

There are great replication features available that make it more reliable and able to ensure that the master and slave or a whole cluster are correctly in sync. Hurray for row-based replication!

Query Logs

The Slow Query Log and General Query Log are now logged as CSV files, which are accessible (along with any other CSV file) through the MySQL server, which makes it easy to see exactly which queries are taking the longest.

Process List

The show processlist command can now also be accessed through SQL (someone read my thoughts!) which means I can have one thread check whether another thread is currently running a query and how long it has been running, and how many other things are running and then the thread could decide whether it should go ahead or wait or abort. That would have been so hard before, and now it would be pretty simple.

CSV Storage Engine

The CSV Storage Engine gives us a whole new way to think about how to deal with CSV files. You can load any file instantly into MySQL and access it there as a normal table with SQL commands. I could have really used this 5 or 10 years ago, and all my manual work importing CSV files would have been handled in a fraction of the time. A ton of the work that we have to do with programming can now be done with SQL queries instead.

Event Scheduler

There is now an Event Scheduler which makes it easy to optimize tables or execute any other command and set them on a MySQL cron rather than have to depend on (or remember to setup) Linux crons and their accompanying programs.

Table and Index Partitions

There are awesome new indexing features - the coolest is the ability to create Table and Index Partitions. Now queries against sets of data only need to look for the data in a fraction of the table. Say we have web logs that are being added to a database or click through tracking data. Over time it grows and grows until we have millions of records. In the past we'd have to delete data or else summarize it and archive it, at which point we don't actually have all the data available to us anymore, just the summary, or we don't have it at all. If we setup table partitions instead, we can migrate partitions off to other physical locations (meaning we could move a set of the table to another physical disk partition), and the table would just keep plugging along. Meanwhile, the queries that only care about the last week or month, or the last year, as well as the queries that only care about January 3 years ago don't have to look through huge indexes or scan the whole table, they just look in the partitions they need data from and use the indexes for those partitions. That is a huge, HUGE benefit. This is the kind of thing that makes a Google search engine run quickly.

Full-text search enhancements and Plug-ins!

There is enhanced full-text search capability, with even the option to build your own plug-ins.


I haven't read about new features this cool for a long time. It will mean a lot of people being able to use a lot of data more efficiently and more quickly than ever before.

Glow Brightly bedtime song

My 7-year-old daughter spontaneously came up with another bedtime song that I want to write down before I forget. I'm sure she'll like it if I remember it and sing it to her again...

Goodnight fireflies! Close your eyes.

Glow brightly. Glow brightly.

While you sleep the stars will shine.

Glow brightly. Glow brightly.

Actually, I came up the second part to match the first right after she sang it.

The melody goes like this:
Mi Sol Mi Do, Mi Sol Mi -
Re Mi Fa, Mi Fa Sol.

Mi Sol Mi Do, Mi Sol Mi -
Re Mi Fa, Mi Re Do.

I think I'll try to come up with another verse now...

Heaven's close now. Close your eyes.

Let your heart glow brightly.

Sing your praises to the skies!

Glow brightly! Glow brightly.

At first I wasn't sure whether it should say "Pray for hope now", or "Heaven's close now." Michelle like it better with "Heaven's close" and I think I like that better too.

Like with my other songs on this blog, feel free to use this, but if you ever write it down or use it, you need to give credit to me and my daughter. Let me know if you like it or use it in a public venue or want to try to make money with it, since it is after all copyright Daniel Lee Gibby, November 2008.

:)

Conserving our Nation's Precious Resources

George Washington said:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports."

Our constitution was made by a religious people.

Many times people invoke the separation of church and state to mean something it was not intended to be. This separation of church and state was probably first mentioned when President Thomas Jefferson mentioned a wall of separation between church and state in a letter to a Baptist church organization in Connecticut. The Danbury Baptists had previously written President Jefferson since they were concerned that the state of Connecticut was establishing a state religion that was not of their religious persuasion. Here is the text of President Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists:

"To messers Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.
Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem & approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful & zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more & more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.
Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.
(signed) Thomas Jefferson
Jan.1.1802."

Notice that nothing President Jefferson says disagrees with what President Washington said. When Jefferson spoke of the separation of church and state, he was not implying that the morals of the church should not guide the state, he was remembering the oppression of his fathers in Great Britain where they were not allowed to choose a religion because there was a state religion. He was assuring the Danbury Baptists that the nation would not choose any one religion over another. He actually didn't even go as far as to speak as to whether the state of Connecticut could or could not do that in his letter, but it might be implied.

Notice particularly the sentence where Jefferson mentions the separation of church and state:

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

If we were to translate this to today's language, it might be written this way:

I think of the Constitution and its first amendment which was passed by the whole American people in high reverence. In effect that Constitution says that our legislature should not force anyone to worship in or belong to any particular religion, and also allows everyone to freely believe whatever religion they choose. This creates a wall of separation between church and state.

Many people falsely imply that Jefferson somehow meant that no church should have any right to speak in the public forum regarding anything that has to do with politics. Let's think of the logical implications of that line of thinking for a minute.

If we assume a church should not talk about anything political, it must be determined what is political and what isn't. Governmental politics is the process by which groups of people make various decisions that effect how the people are governed. As the government in the United States of America is defined so as to be ran 'by the people, for the people,' anything that would effect the rights of any citizen of the country would be considered something of political nature. Also, anything that would effect the government's interaction with any citizen of the country would be political in nature. We would also probably conclude that anything that effects or alters the ability for citizens to freely choose their path through their 'pursuit of happiness' is political.

So, in simple terms, if the people are discussing anything that would have an effect on citizens of the country, it is political.

So logically, if that is what is meant by politics, and if churches are to have no input on anything political, churches pretty much can't say anything at all about daily life in the world. I guess they are just supposed to talk about what came before this life and what will come in the afterlife but leave us in the dark about how we are supposed to get from here to there. That is the logical end result of the 'churches should stay out of politics' frame of mind.

So, I'd like to leave that frame of mind. I suppose there are some churches that say that it doesn't matter what you do, they say you are predestined to heaven or hell and God has already chosen your path, so just be thankful for what you have and go on with life. I know there are some churches that used to say pretty much exactly that, and there are many more today that say things fairly similar. But to me, a church that doesn't help me in my daily life to get closer to my end goal is not really doing me much good.

Here are two more letters that are sometimes misinterpreted to mean that Jefferson thought that in no way should religion ever give its stand on political issues.

"I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them, an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises and the objects proper for them according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands where the Constitution has deposited it... Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents (letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808).

...(O)ur rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. In neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg (Notes on Virginia, 1785.)

I don't see why these letters would be misinterpreted to mean what people think they do, except that possibly people don't read 18th century English very well or maybe hope others don't. To me they are clear examples that show again a few things:

1. Jefferson was religious himself
2. It was his opinion that religion shouldn't ask the government to be in charge of it
3. The government should not organize or direct religions for its people
4. He believed we received inalienable rights of conscience and moral agency from God.
5. Government should be tolerant of all religions.

If anyone else found a point in one of those letters that says something along the lines of 'religion should stay out of politics', I'd like to know where. Regardless, there is no wording regarding separation between church and state in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson is regularly invoked for a separation that he did not imply.

Yet, we regularly hear of the separation of church and state as if Jefferson and other founding fathers meant that religion should stay out of politics completely. In fact, they meant nothing of the sort and meant much the opposite.

To ask that individuals leave their morals home in the forming of laws that govern the people is ridiculous and logically impossible. Not only that, it was not what our founding fathers had in mind for us. They were mostly all religious themselves, and they formed a government which allowed for the people to choose for themselves which religion or even a lack of religion they would follow.

"Our law is by definition a codification of our morality"
- Barrack Hussein Obama, 2006

Morally liberal arguments followed to their logical conclusion say that there is no need for morals at all, and that we would be all better off if everyone was just allowed to be 'free'. The problem is that logically following their definition of being free to its conclusion means that anyone should be allowed to do whatever they want with no consequences. Very few really think that and say "of course that's not what I think", but that is where those arguments lead.

The liberal view seems to be to make everyone be taken care of, which is a good goal, but it should not be done by coercion or by force, which is where morals come in. I should want to give to my neighbor because it is the right thing to do, not because I'll go to prison if I don't pay my taxes. That's morality.

If liberals don't really believe that everyone should be able to do whatever they want with no consequences, then they believe in morality in some form, which seems to basically be that we shouldn't hurt each other or each other's property. If that is all law is about, then the liberal mottos should be:

1. Leave me alone and let me do what I want, and I'll leave you alone.
2. I want my government to take care of me and everyone else.

Unfortunately, at their core, those two liberal mottos are selfish. Selfishness does not make a great country.

The pursuit of happiness should be allowed for all people so that they can make their own choices. If I am expected to support cause after cause through my taxes then I no longer have the choice whether I could use that money in some other way, whether it be to help someone else or not.

Our country rightfully allows someone who doesn't want to give to their neighbor to spend their money in whatever way they choose, even to their own destruction. We can try to help them make good choices, but their choices in their end are their own. There are certain inalienable god-given rights, and there are also government-given rights. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are all based in choice.

For a government to be able to sustain itself over time, its people must:

1. Sustain the principles of free choice
2. Limit the number of additional government-given rights
3. Not attempt to take away the inalienable rights of any of its people

Regarding not taking away inalienable rights and sustaining the principles of free choice, there are times that the government must make laws that do not actually limit a person's choice, but do impose consequences on those choices. There are horrific things that almost everyone in the world agrees should be against the law of the land. To kill another person is to take away the gift of life, which is tragic and wrong because it takes from the victim their free choice. It is similarly dangerous to tamper with the entrance into life, or to kill a life before it has even begun. Freedoms should be extended to all so they have the opportunity to be happy. When someone is seeking self gratification to the point of self destruction it is hard to know whether government should step in, but when it gets to the point that they are destroying the well being or lives of others, laws should be made and enforced so that there are limits to the damage an individual can do. The government over-steps its bounds if it attempts to limit the choice of any individual.
However, the government is morally bound to set consequences to those who take away the rights, property or life of others. If the government were not morally bound, there would be no basis to have any laws at all.

When people choose things that are destructive to themselves, it usually affects those around them. That is when laws that might seem pointed at taking away the liberties of individuals are really meant to protect others. For example, if all drugs were legalized many who would not otherwise have their lives destroyed would become victim.

Many times government over-reaches into individuals' lives... especially outside of our country. But individuals still have a god-given right to choose for themselves their own path. The reason good governments should have at their core a tie to religion and morality is because without those pillars the care for self becomes greater than the care for others. Those who care for others have morals that cause them to do so. When we care for others our happiness grows. When we care only for ourselves, we expect our government to take care of us but the government is unable to do it if no-one cares for others, because the government is run by the same people who give it power.

People tire of oppression, and rightly so. Over time their innate freedom of choice makes them want to be able to choose more. But if their choices are focused mainly on helping themselves, inevitably the government they seek to create is one that will take them back to the bonds that were once broken.

Look at Russia to see an example of what happens when freedom swells until the governed oppressed become courageous enough to overthrow their shackles, allowing a new government to be chosen. Their continuing struggle is more difficult for them because those making the choices of how the government should be were not given the opportunity to be taught morality. They were taught from their youth that their government would take care of them, and that their individual choice was limited only to what would 'benefit the society'. The irony being that in taking away the choice to find out for themselves what would lead to a fulfilling life, the people were not all happier or living in a more perfected society. So, the promises of the left to extend more and more government-given 'rights' to the people leads in its end to oppression of choice, while the leaders of the movement to subjugate the people claim that the people are getting a fuller expression of their rights.

Through history you don't often see political parties that claim for their platform to hold morally conservative values and yet otherwise have fiscally liberal values. Historically, our nation's democratic party was much more morally conservative and the republican party was more as well, along with being more fiscally conservative. The republicans have rightly lost recent elections because they didn't hold their moral ground and have at times lied and pandered along with the rest, out of fear and greed. That doesn't mean I should stop voting for the party that is most likely to uphold my values (and unfortunately only a party that can potentially win is able), otherwise I might vote for a third party, such as the Constitution party.

Today is a proud day for our nation and really shows how wise our Constitution was formulated in a way where no group would hold power except the majority. The change I hope in is that the majority will understand the founding basis of our country and the source of its providence. The day the majority choose evil is the day the nation will start to fall. My fears lie in that this happened before I was born. My hopes lie in that there are many who only choose incorrectly because they know not where to choose correctly and if they are educated with correct principles they will choose a government that governs fairly and continue to be blessed with the blessings of heaven.

I hope that no matter someone's belief they can be civil and respect my rights and not oppress me or secretively or unknowingly oppress those who don't have the full ability yet to choose for themselves because they haven't been free to have life's experiences to the point yet to where they can be accountable for their choices.

If people use their freedom of choice to infringe on the rights of others, on the right of parents to teach their morals, or on the unborn or the innocent (school kids who are still being taught what is right and wrong), by twisting true principles together with false ideas, I'll let my voice be heard. The way towards making sure no-one is oppressed is for everyone to be not harbor hateful or disrespectful attitudes towards their supposed oppressors. Sarcasim and generalizations are forms of attacks that warrant defense, and it is hard to not respond in kind - it is fallen human's nature. However, someone who governs their choices and who purposefully limits their actions so as to be respectful and yet maintain their views is able to open channels of communication and both sides are able to learn and find common ground. There has been hatred from both sides of the political and moral battles, but what angers me are the hateful accusations of hatred that do not exist.

As citizens of the world, and especially of the nation of the United States of America, we should recognize that mostly we hold the same values and that we can all hope our nation continues in peaceful strides towards real freedom of choice - the kind that the government cannot give and should not attempt to take away.

Music available from General Conference!

Last spring, as I've become accustomed to do after each General Conference, I downloaded the talks from the April 2008 sessions. I downloaded the talks and have enjoyed them ever since then. I also remember feeling the Spirit very strongly during the hymns the choirs sang, and I was hoping that I'd be able to download the music as well as the spoken word.

There wasn't a way to download the music without downloading each session as one large .mp3 file. I didn't want to do that, but I did decide to make a comment at the feedback link of the church site, asking whether they might consider making the songs from General Conference available as they do the talks.

I did receive a response from someone at the church thanking me for my suggestion. I don't remember the exact words they said, it didn't promise anything but I do remember that whoever it was that had written to me did think my idea had merit.

Well, six months have passed and we have just had another wonderful conference. Again, the talks were inspiring and music superbly motivational, each being a testimony of the kingdom of God being on the earth.

As I went to download the talks this time, there was a little more to the content of the page than I was used to. There is now a podcast available that automatically updates each conference. This makes it so your mp3 player can be setup to download the talks for you without you having to remember to come back and download the sessions (as if I'd forget). Even better than that, it makes it so you don't have to individually click to download each talk as an mp3, saving them into the folder you setup for them. Rather, it is all taken care of... just set up your subscription to the podcast once. I use WinAmp (I even paid for a Pro version a couple of years ago), but iTunes and many other programs can also subscribe to podcasts.

Well, to my surprise, as I put the podcast into WinAmp, it downloaded the first thing in its list automatically, and it was a hymn! The opening music you hear as the announcer says: 'This is the 178th Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'. (Oops, I hope that wasn't an unauthorized transcription- but I think Bonneville Communications might be fine with that much...) So, quickly I looked through the list of mp3 files available in the podcast and all the hymns were there!

I went back to the Church website to see if they might have retroactively made hymns available, or if I might have missed the podcast option before. It was there for April, but no music was available. And then I noticed that there is even a link for just the music starting with this fall's conference!

They took my comment to heart and made the music available! I don't dare think that I'm the only one who asked for it, but if it was my request that made it happen, that's pretty neat. I'm listening to the music right now. It is heavenly.

Here's the mp3 podcast link.

Here's an mp4 podcast link.

Technical Google searches many times lead to irrelevant results

I've used Google from the beginning and it is great... but I was hoping that by now some search problems would be solved. The major feature I find lacking in any search engine is the ability to search for exact matches of any combination of characters. You know, the types of things that show up in programming source code, but usually get ignored by search engines.

Note: The rest of the below is pretty technical, someone who has knowledge of programming using perl or mysql would understand what I'm talking about in the details, but others will understand the gist of what I'm saying if they just skip past the parts that talk about the programming languages that I mention.

I know that MySQL by default doesn't allow full text indexing of the various characters + = , -, etc. and maybe that is why Google isn't able to search for something like '++' and find results for that exact match, but it sure would be handy if I could search for things related to coding in various languages and actually find results related to what I'm looking for.

For example, if I'm looking for help related to a hugely useful and hugely used functionality in Perl, I might look for help with the =~ operator, or ~=, whichever it is, I can never remember, which is why I've tried searching for it from time to time. The problem is, even if I search for that exact phrase with quotes around it- "=~", I don't get any results that have that exact match, unless I'm lucky and just happen to type perl "=~" and then the search for perl happens to show something down in the results with =~ in it. My point is there are tons of things like that which should be search-able, but aren't. There are pages on the web dedicated to explaining how to use =~ in perl, and if I were to search for 'perl "=~"', you would expect that I'd get 200-300 or more results and they'd be totally relevant. Instead, I'm left with nothing really relevant.

Here's another example related to searching for something related to MySQL. This is a lesser used functionality that MySQL has, but it is very valuable from time to time.

:= is a way of assigning a value from within a MySQL statement to a variable so that it can be used again in the WHERE part of the query. It isn't something that is used all the time, so when I forget what the syntax is, I try searching for it on Google. What happens? There are no relevant results. I also try searching for it on MySQL's site, and they have the same problem.

These types of things are pretty annoying. I wonder if any-one has worked on solving this problem. I've searched for another search engine that can handle it, and haven't found anyone yet.

Google was started by and was originally most useful to techies because of the enabling power it gave to those who used it. I think it is time that someone work on the problem of indexing and returning relevant results for technical programming-type phrase searches.

I'm sure it is more than just flipping a few switches, but I'll be waiting right here...

Save the Cursor People!

Careful, if you read this, then you'll know, and you'll be afraid to not join one side or the other...
If you are the non-committal (guenzo!) type, then you should try reading something else so that you can remain blissfully unaware.

I don't think my sister realized the implications of what you are about to read when she forwarded me a link to something that she assumed was something comical:

Subject: What moves the cursor?

What moves the cursor on your monitor when you move your mouse?
Haven't you ever wondered how it works?

Now, through the miracle of high technology, we can see how it is done. With the aid of a screen magnifying lens, the mechanism becomes apparent.

Click on the link below and you will find out. The image may take a minute or two to download and when it appears, slowly move your mouse over the light gray circle and you will see how the magic works.

Follow this link and find out the truth.

http://www.1-click.jp/

A word of advice let them rest once in a while.

If you haven't clicked the link above yet, you must do that before reading on!


To think that I lead music with my mouse sometimes for no reason while waiting for web pages to load. That has got to be a lot of dizzying work for nothing.

I'm ashamed of myself. I thought I knew what was going on behind the scenes; that there was a bunch of over-complicated software to supposedly keep the display of the cursor in sync with the movement of the mouse. It was supposedly a better way of doing it that it had been back in the days where the display was actually exactly tied to the mouse movement, which would mean your mouse could always move even if almost every thing else was locked up... but I guess either way was all a cover-up for cheap labor. The slavers probably switched their explanation of how it worked when the slaves started getting tired too often and not performing their duty quickly enough to look like it was exactly in sync. Maybe that happened when the slave force started getting older and when monitors started getting bigger. They probably could all keep up when they were 14-18 years old on a 640x480 screen. But you can see now that they are mostly becoming middle aged, and we make them run 4-10 times as far all the time!

Those poor guys! Just imagine the millions of slaves that are working all over the world. We need to re-evaluate our humanity! There are probably more individuals living that horrible life than there are of people who live outside of monitors. And lately we've been taking more and more of their space by converting to flat screen monitors. Where they used to have room for apartments projects, now they probably just have to sleep in between the pixels in the alleys. And who is behind all of this? Either someone is breeding tiny men or else they have found a place to enslave them, reduce their size and lock them away in each new monitor manufactured.

What happens to them when we finally throw away the monitor? Do they escape, or are they out of work: jailed away where they will starve to death? Maybe that is the real movement behind recycling! The people making money off of this slave labor want to collect the slaves out of the monitors because it is cheaper than getting more. Plus, if the slaves do escape or are left somewhere 'un-recycled' in a place where they might talk, word could get out, and then who knows what could happen. Plus, they could become organized and figure out a way to overcome their captors. I'm sure they would treat all of us large people the same, no matter whether we were the ones who originally enslaved them or not. This really explains viruses a lot better as well. I thought that there wouldn't be anyone stupid enough to write a virus to do it out of fun, well now I see that viruses are part of the liberty movement, and we ought to let them spread. When you look at a virus email, if some of the little men can read your email (most can't read because they were enslaved young) they get excited and start rebelling, messing up all sorts of things in your computer. Then they figure out a way to spread the message to others and pass the message of liberty along.

Be prepared for a revolution the size of which you had never seen, and mostly can't see.

Ethan's Baptism

Here's what I told my boss about this week, so it is kind of just a rough outline of what has taken place during the last seven days or so.

I had mentioned I was pretty tired from the last two crazy days, and he asked what was tiring, so I said:

The tiring part comes from yesterday having a birthday party with twelve 8-year-olds, the ducts on our house cleaned (meaning I had to move bookshelves full of books and an entertainment center for access to them), and since new flooring was put in in our kitchen while we were on vacation I needed to put the fridge and stove back, plus install a new toilet - all yesterday. Then today was my son's baptism and another accompanying party to get ready for, and the house had to be really clean for today (after the party and floor and ducts being cleaned) because Michelle's grandma flew in from Long Beach. All that right after coming back from a vacation and driving a total of 16 hours (including the drive time during the vacation around Las Vegas). Oh, and we had another party / family gathering at my sister's house last night, and another gathering Sunday morning early for another sister's baby blessing, besides our own church services (where my wife taught an hour lesson and gave Easter gifts to the girls in the young women group where she is the music chairperson, and I played the organ for the main meeting with just an hour or two's notice.)

Now we are done with everything, but I am a bit tired! It has been nice actually, filled with a lot more joys than frustrations, but I think we could have spread out some of the things that happened a bit more... well at least the ducts being cleaned. Still, things ran very well, and I only had to leave work early two days, and then plan on working more later at night, like last night, and then what I was planning tonight, so I am really happy with how it turned out.

However, what I really wanted to write about was how wonderful some of the experiences were with Ethan preparing and being baptized and confirmed. I got pretty choked up a few times during the actual service, but the time leading up to Ethan's baptism was rewarding as well. I was very impressed by the way that Ethan gave a prayer last night on his birthday at our family home evening at the Biddulph's house. Ethan spoke using wording and tone that was much higher than I had heard him pray before. It appears that he has been really paying attention during prayers.

I'm so proud of him for reading the whole Book of Mormon before he turned eight. That just amazes me. I hope that will give him a good foundation of knowing that he is able to accomplish many things as long as he sets his mind to it. I also hope that he enjoyed what he learned, and that it gives him a strong base for continual gospel learning.

Related to the actual baptismal service and confirmation, I wanted to make sure and write down the things I remember so that Ethan can have something to help jog his memory about his baptism day.

I remember Ethan being very excited before the baptism and jumping around a bit with his cousin Sabrina, who was also baptized just after Ethan.

Ethan asked to practice how he would bend back under the water. We had practiced at home already a few times, but Ethan wanted to be sure to do it right.

I remember feeling grateful and having the impact of what was about to happen hit me again when Ethan's Aunt Malauna gave the opening prayer for the service. I got weepy eyed and had to wipe my eyes dry during the prayer. (Ethan had asked Aunt Malauna to give the prayer.)

Ethan and I waited to one side of the baptismal font for a minute or so while someone kept trying to unlock the doors for everyone to see. We dry-practiced laying him under the water while we waited, and I talked with him about how many of the kids out there who would be watching are just like Ethan was in previous times when he looked up to other kids being baptized.

The water was a little cold, but not too cold. It came up to about the middle of my thigh, about a foot below the high point where it could have been, but it was plenty enough for Ethan to easily go under the water. I went in first, then Ethan came down the steps holding the railing, even though I had my hand out for him to come to me. He grabbed my hand while he was still on the last step, and then he was baptized.

I don't remember anyone by name who was watching when we were in the water, except for the two witnesses: Robert Ralph Gibby and Lawrence Edward Presser, both of Ethan's grandpas. Uncle Ryan said that they both gave a thumbs up after Ethan was baptized. I know I made sure to look to them to make sure it had been done properly.

I remember Ethan did a good job of keeping his legs down under the water, even though I didn't try and hold them down. Ethan mentioned that he heard quite a few little kids who were watching talk about the water and how they wanted to get in.

Ethan and I watched from the side as Sabrina was baptized. I got a white towel so Ethan had a towel over his head and started to get a little cold, but I think he was glad to get to go first so Sabrina wouldn't be cold if she were to have watched him instead.

I remember that Ethan said that he felt really good or really clean just after he was baptized when we were going to change our clothes. He was also a good sport about the fact that we had forgot to pack him an extra set of underwear, and no belt, so Uncle Ryan borrowed a leather braided belt to Ethan that we wrapped more than one and a half times around him to make sure his new suit pants stay up. (His pants are wide enough to fit him for two more years, but that he will probably outgrow in the legs in six months.) We probably took a little too long getting dressed, but that always seems the way of things.

When we got back to the Relief Society room where Ethan and Sabrina were to be confirmed, Grandpa Gibby gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, emphasizing that he is a special, pure and sacred member of the Godhead, that it is a very special thing for us to have the gift to be able to have him with us, that he is a comforter (which Grandpa showed symbolically by giving a white comforter blanket to Ethan and Sabrina which Grandma had made), and that he can speak to us to warn us if we listen and try to stay close to him. Grandpa related how his Uncle Grant had a near crash in an airplane, but had been saved because the Spirit had whispered to him that he was taking off right into the path of a landing plane.

The things I remember about what was said in the blessing that Ethan received after he was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and told to receive the Holy Ghost are that he will continue to grow in spirit and that his testimony will be strong if he seeks to be close to the Spirit. Also, I was very emotional when I was prompted to tell Ethan that Satan will tempt him. I'm not sure that I voiced all that I felt related to that. I think my emotions and tears may have portrayed through the Spirit what was felt more than my words. I felt like saying something similar to 'Satan desires you' or 'You will have some hard trials', but what I ended up saying was that Satan would tempt him, but that he could overcome if he stayed close to the Spirit through prayer, scripture study, and by listening to the counsel of those who loved him or of those who love him and who also are close to the Spirit.

What I remember most from Sabrina's blessing was that Ryan said that this time in the world is a troubling but also a wonderful time to live.

I hope that these things I've written can help Ethan or those who are close to him throughout his life.

Called to the Work

I've been called to be a Ward Missionary. That means that I get to go out and look for opportunities to teach the gospel in my area. It is interesting that such a calling is needed in the church. You would think that if everyone were doing their duty (including myself), that a ward missionary calling wouldn't be needed. We should all be looking for opportunities to teach the gospel in our own areas.

Indeed, any of us who have desires to serve God are called to the work. (See Doctrine and Covenants 4:3)

So that is the real barrier that prevents us all from receiving this calling: we must not have a true desire to serve God. Sad as it is, too many mundane things get in the way every day.

Even worthy goals prevent us from going out to talk to our neighbors, and some of those goals might even be more important. For example, teaching the gospel in my own home is a very worthy goal. If I'm not teaching and living the gospel in my own home, I won't have a large measure of the Spirit with me if I go out and try to teach the gospel to my neighbors. However, that could easily be used as an excuse for not going out to do the work. Many of the early brethren were called to leave their wives and families to go and preach the gospel abroad. Surely their families were blessed greatly because of their service. Teaching others is one of the most excellent ways to show our own families the importance the gospel has in our lives.

What other obstacles do we have from being called to the work? Anything in our lives that lessens our desire to serve God prevents us from receiving the call. And yet, many are called. Many do have a desire to serve God. Many have covenanted to serve God every day of their lives, even to give up their lives in the service of God, if necessary. The desire is there, the spirit is willing.

But the flesh is weak, few are chosen. What is it that those who are called to serve are being chosen for by the Lord? Simply to do that for which they have been called.

There has been a day of calling, but the time has come for a day of choosing; and let those be chosen that are worthy. (D&C 105:35)

It is our worthiness that determines whether we are chosen to serve:

Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall.

But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work; (D&C 3:9-10)

That is why many are called, but few are chosen (D&C 121:34). Our hearts are set too much upon the things of this world. We also have the tendency to aspire to the honors of men, rather than seek for the honor of God by giving the honor to Him. Those who are chosen have the desire to do God's will, not their own. How many times do we worry what others may think. Isn't that one of the biggest excuses that we come up with for not doing missionary work? We are afraid of man, when we should fear God.

What do we do to be able to overcome the tendency of the natural man? God is willing and waiting to help us. He wants to bless His children. What is the over-encompassing reason that we are commanded to build temples and receive the ordinances thereof and why do we receive the priesthood? Their purpose is one: to enable God's children to be blessed and be able to once again return to His presence.

Yea, verily I say unto you, I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high; D&C 95:8

The marvelous thing about the temple and the sealing power of the priesthood is that it confirms that God is no respecter of persons. He wants all of His children to have the opportunity to choose for themselves and be able to return to His presence. Indeed, He wants to bless His children with all that He has. Those of us whe are parents that love our children get a good glimpse into understanding the nature of this love.

What is meant by the sealing power of the priesthood? Whenever the priesthood has been given to man in its fulness, God has promised that "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matt 18:18, Hel. 10:7, D&C 124:93, 132:46). The power is referred to in conjunction with the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16:19).

The sealing power of the priesthood has been restored on earth so that all of God's children can receive the choice whether to accept His plan for them. If we choose to follow His will for us, He asks us to make covenants with Him that we will keep His commandments and that He will bless us. These covenants are made when priesthood ordinances are bestowed. Baptism has its associated covenants. Men who receive the priesthood make covenants as they receive it. The other ordinances of the temple (endowments and sealings) also have their associated covenants.

We must prepare ourselves to keep the covenants that we enter into. That is why only worthy members of the church who are keeping the commandments can attend the temple.

God would not be just if he allowed some children the ability to receive exaltation and didn't give the oportunity to others. Those who don't have the opportunity to make these covenants in their lifetime are given the opportunity to accept the ordinances that are performed for them vicariously. In this way, God is completely fair to all of His children. He ensures that all of us will have our agency to choose whether we will accept His will and enter into a covenant with Him to do His will and thereby be blessed to return to His presence and receive all that He has. Someone who dies without receiving the gospel can receive it in the post-mortal spirit world. Once their temple ordinances are performed, they can choose to accept them.

Vicarious ordinances are not something new. We all have had the greatest vicarious sacrifice of all performed for us by our saviour Jesus Christ. It is when we accept His sacrifice through baptism that we are allowed to enter into the path that returns to our Father's presence.

What greater cause is there for motivation to share the restored gospel? When we consider that we are sinners and that we could never hope to amount to anything without the atonement of Jesus Christ, and when we consider that our Father sacrificed His son and that Jesus gave his life freely for us because of their unconditional love for each one of us, you realize how much love and desire they have for all of us. Recognizing our own reliance on God for all that we have, and for every blessing that we may receive, causes us to feel empathy for our brothers and sisters. We cannot accept the mercy given to us without recognizing the need for us to extend mercy to all those around us.

When we learn and remember that God's plan and purpose for us as His children is to have us grow to become like Him, that his commandments are the path laid down to help us receive this joyful outcome, and that His greatest commandments are to love the Lord thy God above all else, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, we realize that it is through sharing the gospel with our brothers and sisters that we can receive the greatest joy, the greatest opportunity for growth, and the most blessings- in this life and into eternity. (See Matt. 22: 36-40, Moses 1:39).

I pray that we may have the desire to be called and live worthy to be chosen to do God's work. It is all about love.

Kallise is born!

Michelle had a baby girl this afternoon (April 11th).
She will be named Kallise.



Michelle was induced today around 9:00am and had her easiest labor out of the four.
Kallise was 20 and a half inches, and seven pounds one ounce.
She scored a perfect 10 on her two Apgar scores, which means that she appears to be a healthy little girl.
What is Apgar?

Kallise is a different spelling, but the same pronunciation for her Grandma Marie's maiden name, which in Germany was spelled Kallis, but was changed to Colles at Ellis Island.

If all goes well, Michelle and Kallise will be coming home on Thursday.
Ethan, Hailee and Jaron are happy to have a baby sister and Mom and Dad are glad things turned out so well.

Zelda freaks - on the SNES!

When I was a kid, I always wished that I had the cool toys that the neighbors had. I especially wished that I had an Atari, and then a Nintendo, and then a Super NES, but I had to just go over to their house and watch them play. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I would get a turn playing something.

Soon after I got married, we bought a stereo, a Super NES and some other electronics for like $100 from a friend who goes through new technology like water in a sieve.
That same game system has lasted us 7 years and we haven't gotten anything 'better'.

We started out with only Donkey Kong Country, Toy Story and Animaniacs. The system came with DK Country. Our friend bought Toy Story, which is an OK game to play, but it seems like it was cobbled together quickly before the release of the movie by 3 different development teams and one guy stuck it together without music between levels and NO ending music. It just basically says "Thanks for Playing!" Kinda lame.

We have occasionally went out and got 'new' games, which are really used games that work just fine. They end up being anywhere between one dollar and 10 dollars. Compare that with the price you normally pay: $20 if you are lucky to $60 plus.

For Christmas, we got a few 'new' games, and I was excited to see that my wife had found "Zelda, A Link to the Past", since it is one of the best games of all time.

My son wasn't all that excited at first because he didn't know what it was like, but soon we found ourselves stuck in Zelda's world. I wanted to conquer the game as fast as I could, and so did my son. Since there are three available save game slots, we had three players: me, my son, and my wife.

I soon discovered that it takes forever to get through some of the secrets of the game unless you get help. It sucks away enough time to just play it already knowing what you are doing. I can't imagine playing the game and not having help available online. Instead of calling the help 'Cheats', we just call it help, because we don't want to promote the fact that cheating is OK. Getting help from others is an important thing to learn in life, though... especially if you are doing something that you aren't that good at, you can get it done better and more quickly if you have help.

Anyway, a few sites became my lifeline, especially GameSpy and RPG Classics; then I help the rest of the family through all the dungeons and secrets. My son caught on quick. He soon was thinking about Zelda day and night. We took a break to go to my brother's house in Idaho, and luckily no-one had a problem with doing something else for a while. I guess we weren't SO addicted to the game that we couldn't take a 3-day break.

Anyway, after around a month of playing, and in 89 tries, I finally won the game.



My son completed his game a day later in 131 games; my wife is still working on hers about once every other week, so she should be done in about a year.