Categories
Church

Reading the Book of Mormon in 2024

The scripture that “Come, Follow Me” will be based on in 2024 is the Book of Mormon. I currently work with the youth, and as I was thinking about how I could encourage them to read the Book of Mormon, it got me wondering about how many books/chapters/verses there are, and how many of each you need to get through each day in order to finish the book by the end of the year.

I did some of the work on my own, but also found a couple of helpful sites.

https://scripturetools.net/ has some great stats regarding all of the different scriptures. The Book of Mormon information is at https://scripturetools.net/statistics#bofm

https://church-of-jesus-christ-facts.net/ also has some good information. The Book of Mormon sections is at https://church-of-jesus-christ-facts.net/justfunbomcenter/

The main stats are as follows:

  • 535 pages in the English Book of Mormon
  • 15 books
  • 239 total chapters
  • 6604 total verses

There will be 366 days in 2024 since it is a leap year. That means to finish the book in 2024, you would need to do any of the following:

  • 1.47 pages per day
  • 0.05 books per day
  • 0.66 chapters per day
  • 18.05 verses per day

My spreadsheet with this data is attached.

In my own personal study, I’ll be finished the book by the end of the year, and will be ready to start over on January 1.

Categories
Fun Stuff

Funny 30 Rock clips

I recently heard Alec Baldwin on the Fly on the Wall podcast (hosted by Dana Carvey and David Spade). That led me to his website. On both the podcast and website he mentioned how much he enjoyed working on the TV show 30 Rock. I used to love that show, and on his website he posted a Vimeo video with a bunch of funny clips. Check it out at https://player.vimeo.com/video/55315710

Categories
Computer Tips

Microsoft Design Wallpapers

Visit https://wallpapers.microsoft.design/ to see some a small selection of high quality wallpapers from Microsoft Design

Categories
Computer Tips

Upscayl

I haven’t been able to use it yet (I don’t have a computer that meets the specs), but if you visit https://github.com/upscayl/upscayl you can download an application that enlarges images using AI.

You may have had experiences in the past when you tried to enlarge an image, it would look pixelated. Now with AI, things look a lot better. Like I said, I haven’t tried this specific tool yet, but I’ve used some online tools, and they do a remarkable job.

Categories
Computer Tips

PDFgear

The description couldn’t be any clearer…

PDF Tasks Made Easy

Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up.

Check it out at https://www.pdfgear.com/

Categories
Food

A Bulk Barn tragedy

One of my favourite treats in the history of the world is available at the Bulk Barn. Sour Ju Jubes are amazing! I was out the other day with my daughter to get some treats, and they were out! What?!?! Nooooo!

UPDATE: Literally more than a year later (April 2023), they are finally back in stock. Within the last couple of weeks I’ve started to see them again at a couple of different Bulk Barn locations. Phew!

Categories
Church

Consuming vs Contributing at Church

Last Saturday we found out that the Church parking lot had not been cleared, so we were unable to have Church in-person. We had a Zoom Sacrament Meeting, but no second hour classes. Since January had a 5th Sunday, rather than holding some kind of combined class, they just pushed the 4th Sunday lessons to the 5th Sunday.

Yesterday I led the discussion in Elders Quorum. Our source was President Dallin H Oaks‘ talk “The Need for a Church” from the October 2021 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was probably my favourite talk from that General Conference. I love church. I love the Church. I wish everyone went to church. I find some much satisfaction and fulfillment when I worship together with other people.

As I was preparing some questions for the discussion, I did a search online to see what current information there was about the prevailing though on going to Church. I came across a post called “Why attending church no longer makes sense” by someone named Carey Nieuwhof. I wasn’t familiar with Carey, but the title certainly got my attention. I read through the post, and discovered that it wasn’t that he is advocating that people stay away from church. It is about our attitude as we go to church.

The main reason I gather with the church is because I am the church.

You don’t attend church. You are the church.

Merely attending church doesn’t make you much of a church because sitting in a back row consuming church doesn’t make you very good at being the church.

I think being the church has something to do with living your life for Christ, demonstrating God’s love by serving others and sharing your faith with people. That’s very different than consuming church in a back row, which you can just as easily do on your back deck.

The reason you would go to church today is that you’ve moved from being a consumer to being a contributor. You don’t just go to be served, you go to serve. There’s something deeply scriptural about that.

gathering together was Jesus’ idea, not ours…

You are the church. Remember that. And the church is at it’s best when we engage in the mission God has given us.

https://careynieuwhof.com/why-attending-church-no-longer-makes-sense/

I really like that distinction between “consuming” and “contributing”. Of course, if all you can do is get out of bed on a Sunday morning is consume, please do that. It will be beneficial to you. But at some point we need to do more. We need to contribute to the atmosphere, share ideas during lessons/discussion, and minister to others. We need to contribute.

Categories
Commentary

Following the science

This is a phrase I’ve heard all too often during the last 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem with that phrase is that science doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t tell you what to do. It doesn’t warn you. It doesn’t support you. It just exists. The data from trials/experiments are just information. It is PEOPLE who make decisions, and they try to bolster their argument with “science”. Like any other debate, it is easy to manipulate data to support “your side” of an issue.

I believe that Covid-19 was a big deal. I believe that many people died unnecessarily. But I also believe that if we are following the science, then we need to adjust our approach.

On the January 26, 2022 episode of “The Daily” podcast from the New York Times, David Leonhardt was on with Michael Barbaro speaking about a survey that was done asking Americans about how they feel about different aspects of the pandemic. There was one part that I think was particularly interesting:

David Leonhardt
…But the idea that unvaccinated people continue in many cases not to express much concern, and that boosted people continue to express high levels of concern in many cases — not everyone, of course, but in many cases — that’s really remarkable. I think it’s important to focus for a second on just how small the risk is for most boosted people in the case of Omicron.

We’re still waiting for the data to confirm this, but there’s a lot of indication that if you are boosted, Omicron appears to present less risk than the flu. So if you think about yourself, if you’re a boosted person — I’m a boosted person — and you think about what you are going to do today and the risk you’re going to expose yourself, by my calculation, looking at data on how many people go to E.R.s and die, I almost certainly expose myself to more risk by setting foot in a vehicle today — vehicle crashes kill about 40,000 Americans every year — than Covid presents to me.

Michael Barbaro
Hmm.

David Leonhardt
But that’s not how boosted people are thinking about it. They’re not thinking, ooh, this morning when I get up, there’s a small risk that I might choke. There’s a small risk that I might be in a car accident. They’re focusing overwhelmingly on this tiny Covid risk.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/podcasts/the-daily/omicron-coronavirus-behaviors.html?showTranscript=1

So, there are people who are following the science and getting vaccinated, but then they aren’t following the science about the risks after they get vaccinated. That is what is driving me crazy! Fine, if you are unvaccinated, you should go into a restaurant. I understand that way of thinking. Now that I am vaccinated and boosted, why can’t I go into a restaurant to eat? Why has the Ontario government closed restaurants when boosted individuals are safe? I fully support reasonable restrictions when the data shows that there are sufficient risks, but to “punish” us all because there are people who are unvaccinated is absurd. Our government leaders need to do better!

Categories
Sports

Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood

Image courtesy of https://sneakerhistory.com/2015/11/04/the-neighborhood-welcomes-mr-robinson-david-robinson-debuts-in-the-nba/

I am a big fan of David Robinson. He was probably the first basketball player that I idolized. Of course many players have come around since then, but I just always appreciated his skills, and his demeanor.

I really enjoyed the Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood commercials from the early 90’s. I remember having a shirt when I was a teenager that had the logo on it.

Anyway, for a trip down memory lane, check out the site which has links to a bunch of the commercials.

Categories
Movie and Video Stuff

Fascinating version of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five

!! I’m a casual Jazz fan, and someone recently shared this with me. Some Pakistani musicians did a version of Take Five with instruments from their country/background. Very cool!