Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

Posts for October 7, 2009

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QDear 100 Hour Board

Why didn't Adam and Eve just eat from the tree of life? They weren't commanded to not do so. I know it would have frusteated the plan,so I know its good that they didn't. How else, if it was, was partaking of the tree of life in opposition to the plan of salvation?

- Fruitfully,
Moroni's biggest fan

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ADear Fruitfully,

I assume you're asking why they didn't eat prior to the Fall, since it's pretty clear from Genesis 3:24 that an angel was sent to prevent them from doing so afterward.

The truth is, we have no evidence that Adam and Eve didn't eat from the Tree of Life prior to the Fall. I suspect that the Plan of Salvation would have been frustrated only if they had eaten from the Tree of Life after having fallen. We don't know much about the Tree of Life, so almost anything I can say is necessarily speculation. However, imagine that eating from the Tree of Life grants freedom from death for one month. As long as Adam and Eve had free access to the Tree of Life, they could have lived forever in a fallen state, which would have prevented death and subsequent resurrection, foiling the whole plan of salvation. Perhaps it wasn't necessary that the Tree of Life be immediately inaccessible after the Fall, but rather simply that continued access was not available.

And with that, I cease my speculation.

-Yellow

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Did the BYUSA set the world record with their Capture the Flag game on Friday? I've looked about and the best I've found was a rumor from some kid on a weight training site saying that we had 1280, compared with the established record of 1200.

And, if I may sneak in one unrelated question:

Why were there 2-3 police officers continually next Florida State's head coach during Saturday's football game?

-->Amazin' Goose *

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ADear Amazin',

As for your first question:

According to the Daily Universe's article on the event, nobody knows (yet). According to the article:

Quote:

Whether or not BYU now holds the record for the largest capture the flag game is yet to be known. There are certain requirements to make the attempt valid, like a detailed log book with a clear count of how many people attended, photographs and video footage. These things and others will be put together in a packet and sent to the Guinness Book headquarters in London in the next week or two. Once they look and evaluate the packet they will officially say if BYU will hold the world record.

Hopefully the 1280 participants were enough to set the record!

Wishin' I coulda been there,

⋯Anomalous

ADear Amazin'

While I'm not certain of the rules/regulations that the NCAA has in place, it is not uncommon for two police officers to be assigned to shadow an opposing head coach at a football game. This is obviously for the safety of the head coach, as opposing fans can be a hostile bunch.

While it's not uncommon to see the officers shadowing the away team's coach, it isn't universal. I would guess that the away team can request protection, and the home team is obligated to provide it.

Often, during the coverage of the game, they will show the away coach reacting in anger when something goes well for the home team, and you can sometimes see the assigned officers celebrate in the background. Sadly, this never happened in the BYU-Florida State game.

-Humble Master

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QDear 100 hr brd.

Just got back from the Economics Student Association opening social. Like everyone else, I only went for the t-shirt. This year's was pretty cool . . . but I've seen much better. I want to know just how bad I got ripped off compared to past years. How long has the ESA been making its own t-shirts, and what have been the snappy catch-phrases on the back of each year's model?

- Guybrush Threepwood.

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ADear Doppelgänger,

I have no response to your real question, but I would like to say that never will any t-shirt beat the one that you/I (we?) received from the Mêlée Island treasure hunt.

"I found the Legendary Lost Treasure of Mêlée Island and all I got was this stupid t-shirt."

But really, I almost wrote under this 'nym...

-Guybrush Threepwood

ADear Guybrush Threepwood,

I apologize for the delay in answering this question; it was quite a doozy! However, I return triumphant with your answer. I emailed the president of the ESA, Daniel Ash, who gave me the following information:

Quote:

The front [of the shirt] has always been the traditional BYU ECONOMICS.

The back has always been something new:

2009: GDP: Keepin' it Real
2008: Talk to the Invisible Hand
2007: Assume Responsibly
2006: Widgets give me utils
2005: (X'X)^-1 X'L

Sometimes non-econ students get them, sometimes they don't. But we find pride in our creativity each year, though it be occasionally too specialized for others to understand why it's funny. Ha.

Daniel also informed me that the club has been making t-shirts and slogans since the group began, but he wasn't sure how far back that went.

Marzipan

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QDear Miss Scarlett,

As I've read through the archives, I stumbled upon Board Question #52499 about the Board's "unpopular" opinons.

1) I was really sad to hear that August Rush stunk. I've wanted to see it.
2) I just got the hankering for Christmas music yesterday.
and for the actual question
3) Okay, so you hate edamame. What if it is to replace something utterly disgusting like lima beans? My mother-in-law makes this rice, almond, and succotash salad, but I HATE lima beans. Is edamame acceptable to you in this situation?

- Pretending to be gorgeous

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ADear Pretending,

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed August Rush.

-Yellow

ADear gorgeous,

Woohoo! Can I call this fan mail? I feel so flattered that you chose my unpopular opinions! Let me respond to what you said:

Well, first of all, the thing with opinions is that they are just that. A lot of people--probably most people--really enjoyed August Rush. If you've been wanting to see it, then by all means, go and see it. I just really struggled with it, being a musician, and being really familiar with similar surroundings and people portrayed in the movie. I guess the story line could be moving to some (even though it is really a retelling of Oliver Twist), but I couldn't get over the ridiculousness of it all. Also, do they have to put Freddie Highmore in every movie? He is like the new Haley Joel Osment. Anyway, go watch the movie and find out for yourself.

I am glad to hear that you are hankering after Christmas music. I sure hope you checked out my recommendations!

Ok, on to your real question. I don't exactly hate edamame, I just hate that it gets put into everything. When it comes to succotash, though, I think you can only improve the dish by putting anything besides lima beans in it! Blegh! Who likes those? They're almost as bad as green peas! Anyway, I suppose edamame are an acceptable substitution in your mother-in-law's succotash salad, but I think the real issue here is the fact that she makes succotash salad!

Merriam-Webster defines succotash as "lima or shell beans and kernels of green corn cooked together." If it was me, I think kidney beans would make the nicest substitution, but it sounds like any shell bean would do.

Hope that helps! And I hope you at least find ample opportunity to exclaim, "Sufferin' succotash!"

-Miss Scarlett, in the kitchen

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ADear Neelix,

Dr. Smeed

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QBoard!

I am contemplating a bookbinding project, and I am in search of a good methodology for printing signatures. I'd like to print on 11x17 paper (so each book page will be the size of a normal 8.5x11 page) in such a way that when I hit print the first dozen or so sheets, when they are stacked and the stack is folded in half, will have their pages in the correct order. And so that the next dozen will do the same thing automatically. And the next dozen, for all 1200 or so pages.

I have InDesign and Acrobat Professional. I know it's possible to just copy the correct ordering into the print dialog and print a bit at a time (been there, done that). I also know that Acrobat Professional has a "print booklet" mode that can be used on a per-signature basis (likewise). But it sure seems like there should be a right way to do this and that what I'm doing isn't it.

So. What's the best way to do this? Anyone have experience? Anyone know how the bookbinding classes do it?

-John

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ADear John,

It turns out InDesign actually includes this functionality; you're looking for the "Print Booklet" feature (File>Print Booklet). Under "Booklet Type" select "2-up Saddle Stitch", then pick a Signature Size in that drop-down menu, make sure you're all set up to print on 11x17 (right paper size is selected etc.) and then you should be good to go. I'm assuming this'll be sufficient, but if you or anyone else needs further explanation please do ask again and I can elaborate.

~Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

So another music question. Sometimes when the music I listen to plays with the surround sound (like, moves the sound from one side to another) I start to feel dizzy. It always happens with "Cool Blue Reason" by Cake. I know your inner ear is in charge of your balance, but why would sound throw me off like that?

-Vertigo

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ADear (I'm at a place called) Vertigo,

It turns out that you aren't the only one who has experienced this strange sound-related dizziness before. I consulted with my Papa Marzipan, a pediatrician, who referred me to this interesting article. It attributes the phenomenon to "superior canal dehiscence," an irregularity of the inner ear when one of the little bones erodes and, in the process, disrupts your abilities to gauge equilibrium and sound. This, presumably, is the source of your Cake-induced dizziness.

You know, my favorite part of this article is when the author quotes Professor Cohen (a professor of otolaryngology at Baylor College of Medicine), who says, "One patient couldn't listen to his daughter talk because her voice - and not any one else's - made him light-headed."

I wonder if my parents ever feel the same way.

Marzipan

ADear Vertigo,

If what you're noticing isn't just with a specific frequency, I think I can offer another explanation.

If you talk to people (or do some looking on the Internet), it's pretty common to find people complaining about dizziness, disorientation, or vertigo when listening to music with heavy panning (that is, sounds that move quickly from one side to the other). I looked for a medical explanation, but I couldn't find one. However, I have a guess that makes sense to me.

We use the direction a sound is coming from to help us tell our orientation. When you hear a sound moving rapidly from your right ear to your left ear, it fools your brain into thinking that you're spinning, leading to the dizziness you're talking about. (Yellow offered the same explanation when I was discussing this with him.)

The effect is especially pronounced with headphones: with speakers your ears hear some of both speakers (even though the left ear will hear the left speaker louder than the right, and vice versa), but with headphones your left ear only hears the left channel and your right ear only hears the right channel. However, hearing panning over speakers can do it too.

—Laser Jock

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QDear Female Board Writers,

Assuming you're not well-endowed, would you consider getting breast implants (honestly)?

- Bee stung

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ADear Bee stung,

Absolutely not. I hate anything having to do with needles, surgery, and getting cut open, and to do it all for the sake of vanity would be absolutely absurd to me.

But that's just how I personally feel about myself.

-Sky Bones

ADear Bee stung,

I second Sky Bones' answer. I'm terrified of needles...just looking at them (the kind that go into your body, at least) makes me nauseous. I'm also terrified of doctors (I've been to the doctor's office once since I was old enough to be scarred by memories of such a painful experience) and avoid them at all costs. Why would I voluntarily put myself through that?

Plus, it would be more of a pain to go running after implants.

Just sayin'.

⋯Anomalous

ADear Bee stung,

Your 'nym associated with plastic surgery reminds me of something that happened right before my freshman year and makes me laugh. Very hard.

Unlike my lovely colleagues, I am not afraid of needles. This one time I watched a PIC line being shoved into my arm and thought it was pretty awesome, really. Like my lovely colleagues, however, I would not undergo any kind of breast enhancement. I couldn't spend the money on it. It's the same reason that I'll never own a pair of Jimmy Choo's.

- The Black Sheep

ABee Stung-

Maybe when I get all saggy and gross. Call me vain, but I like mine as they are now, and so does my husband. However, I don't consider the surgery evil or anything, so if I genuinely think it could contribute to my overall appearance without making me look top-heavy, I'd go ahead and do it.

- Cuddlefish

ADear B Stng,

Sometimes I wish I had bigger breasts when I'm stuck with tops (clothing) made for larger women, but when I think about it, I worry that large breasts would get in the way. In a lot of ways.

-Whistler

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ADear .net,

I actually do have a .edu BYU email address. (I used to not, and then the option to add one magically appeared, so now I do.) I assume it's because as a research assistant I'm an academic employee of the university. So you probably can get one if you get the right job.

Since .edu addresses seem to be available only to employees, you presumably can't have one because you aren't an employee. I assume the distinction exists for the benefit of employees (to make their communications more official or whatever), so when you get right down to it, it looks like the reason you can't have a .edu address is that BYU loves its employees more than you.

Ouch. Or something.

~Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe

ADear thinks,

Graduate students also have the opportunity to use two .edu addresses.

-Whistler

ADear everyone,

Kirke is right that it is for employees, and it is not limited to academic or full-time employees. I am not an academic employee, I work for the police department, and I have an @byu.edu address.

+The Sentry+

Thanks, Yellow

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

So I've had really bad vision my whole life. Tonight, as I was taking out my contacts, my roommate and I starting talking about how blind we are. She says she is blind and her contact strength is -3.25. She asked my prescription, and I pulled out my contact box. My right eye is -9.00 and my left eye is -10.00! She was shocked! I guess this is really bad? I honestly never gave it much thought. Give me some perspective... how bad is my prescription comparitively? Is my vision really bad? Am I truly blind? I literally can't see ANYTHING without my glasses or contacts. How strong is your prescription?
Gratzi.

Blind Child

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ADear BC,

As someone who has worn glasses and contacts, I've talked about this a bit with people I know. Most people I've talked to who use some sort of vision correction seem to be somewhere in the neighborhood of -2.00 to -3.00 diopters, and many have better vision than that. (I envy folks whose vision is good enough they only wear their glasses or contacts part of the time.)

You're definitely much more nearsighted than most people. And just think what your glasses would look like if you wore them! Aren't contacts wonderful?

—Laser Jock

ADear Blind Child,

Wow.

My prescription is -4.75 in my right eye, and +3.75 in my left eye (yet another way that I am an anomaly). I am so nearsighted that I can't read the writing on someone else's shirt when I'm standing right in front of werf. Without my contacts, I have to hold print up to my nose, and even then it is blurry. I seriously run into chairs and stuff because I don't see that they're there (and only part of that is due to my depth perception problems). The other day I made the mistake of setting my black glasses down on the black couch (don't look at me like that; I got distracted). I forgot where they were, took out my contacts, and then had to have my roommate hunt down my glasses for me because I couldn't see anything smaller than a dinner plate. I honestly didn't know that prescriptions even went up that high...an old roommate had terrible eyesight, and her -5.75 was the worst I have ever heard of.

Thank heavens for contacts, eh?

Prego,

⋯Anomalous

ADear Blind Child,

I'm with LJ on this one: contacts are such a wonderful thing and I'm so envious of people with vision good enough that they only have to wear glasses or contacts once in a while (i.e., my husband).

But yes, your prescription seems to be a bit stronger than average. I've been wearing contacts for about seven years now and my current prescription is -2.50 in my left eye and -2.25 in my right eye. Perhaps you have excellent hearing or superb taste buds instead? Just a thought.

-Sky Bones

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QDear 100 Hungry Boars,

It seems to me that the active board writers slightly vary in levels of social conservatism. Were you to list yourselves from least conservative to most, how would it turn out?

- Just Proteus (Though that would less predictable than one might assume.)

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ADear JP,

You might be interested in Board Question #50753, in which quite a few of us reported our scores on the political compass. (Whistler even made a chart of our responses.) Board Question #50742 also addresses the issue of liberals vs. conservatives on the Board.

—Laser Jock

ADear JP,

I wasn't around the Board yet when the political test was taken, so here are my results:

Economic Left/Right: -3.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.15

Basically, I'm a little more libertarian than authoritarian, and more liberal when it comes to economics. I would love to do a question-by-question analysis of this quiz, because I do have some complaints about the questions. But that really is beyond the point. Although I don't know any of them too well, I think I would be closer to the least socially conservative among the Board writers.

-Mico

ADear JP,

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about how my political beliefs have changed over the past couple of years. The first time I took the Political Compass test (freshman year), I was quite far right, with pretty strong authoritarian tendencies. I took it again last semester (when I first read Board Question #50753), and was interested to find that my political beliefs had become quite centrist (and I mean that literally--I was almost directly on the origin). Upon reading your question, I decided to take the test for a third time, to confirm the trend that I had observed. My results?

Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.67

How strange. The more time I spend at BYU, the more liberal I become. I would have thought that being surrounded by conservatism all of the time would have had the opposite effect. Although, I guess it fits my personality to have become more liberal in response to being surrounded by conservatives.

I looked over the responses in the Board question I mentioned above, and, if writers' beliefs have stayed more or less constant over the past half-year, my score would mark me as one of the most socially liberal writers on the board. From looking at those scores (which mostly hover pretty close to the center) it seems like the Board, as a whole, is more liberal than the general population of BYU. Which makes me way more liberal than the general population of BYU.

Now, how do I tell my mother?

⋯Anomalous

ADear Anomalous,

I was a moderate back in arts school in a city known primarily for its, uh, moral deviance. A few years later, post-BYU, I'm pretty liberal. I hear ya.

Dear Just Proteus,

I'm going to answer your question using our Social Libertarian/Authoritarian scores on the Political Compass, imperfect test though it may be. That will at least give you an approximation, though not all the active writers have taken the Political Compass test or revealed their scores. Note also that most of these scores are almost seven months old, and at least I have experienced marked changes to my political ideology since then. So here it is, then, from least to most socially conservative (is "liberal" a dirty word?):

-4.16 - The Black Sheep
-3.95 - Whistler
-3.18 - Sky Bones
-2.67 - Anomalous
-2.15 - Mico
-2.05 - Cognoscente
-1.95 - Claudio, Cuddlefish
-1.28 - Hermia
-1.13 - Dr. Smeed
-0.97 - Hobbes
-0.77 - Laser Jock
-0.51 - Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe
0.21 - Commander Keen, Sauron
0.26 - Foreman

In short, I'd say that we more than "slightly vary."

- The Black Sheep

ADear The Black Sheep,

This makes me look like a freaking liberal!

-Whistler

ADear Whistler,

Eh hem, I believe you mean "freaking non-conservative." Such language, honestly. (And by the way, Just Proteus, I'm just teasing.) Don't worry, though, because you were a lot closer to the middle of the Board pack economically, so your soul is safe, thus saith the Lord.

However, I can exclusively reveal that in an unpublished result on the political compass test Sauron scored a -5.88 on the economic scale (for reference, I scored a -5.50 during that testing). His reaction was, "I am more liberal than [the Black Sheep]? AHHHH! Seriously, guys, I did vote for Mitt Romney." It kind of made my life. Sauron, I salute you.

Come to the dark side,

- The Black Sheep

ADear JP,

Economic Left/Right: 6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.21

Looks like I'm only slightly left of Kirĸe, and one of the few who is in the positive on both categories. Go team!

-Commander Keen

ADear Just Proteus,

For many reasons, I typically don't like to engage in political conversations. I was around for the last question, but for some reason decided not to take the test. Well, I finally did and I'll just let my scores speak for themselves:

Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.18

-Sky Bones

ADear JP,

I think the ranking in the Black Sheep's answer is correct-ish, but my personal beliefs don't fall nicely into categories. I'm quite conservative on marriage and abortion, but I take some libertarian stances elsewhere. (For example, I figure the federal ban on marijuana is an evidently useless and ineffective waste of potential tax dollars. It's not like anyone has ever not used marijuana because it's nominally illegal or that it's any worse than already-legal tobacco, so we might as well legalize it, tax it, and as a bonus end a massive disgrace to the rule of law. This is not a typical social conservative position.) But I'm still probably on the more socially conservative half.

Congratulations to Commander Keen for his political views. We should start a cabal to promote arch-conservatism on the Board.

The rest of you didn't read that.

~Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe

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QDear 100 Henri Büssers,

I played the violin for nearly the second half of my lived life but quit in my Junior year of high school due to an unpleasant Russian man named Alexander "Sasha" Belavsky. While I maintained the talent, I found myself more drawn to guitar after a while. When it came time to drive to Zion, I decided to forego the violin in favor of the guitar (for the sake of both preference and durability). However, I still love the instrument and am craving a quick reunion with it. What would be the cheapest (free would be nice) way of procuring one for a short period of time-- say, an afternoon? Is there a board/other way to get the attention of orchestra kids without accosting them on the street?
Thanks!

- Proteus Stradivarius

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ADear Proteus Stradivarius,

Well, you can post things on the cork board outside the orchestra room, in the hall between E250 and E251 in the HFAC. However, the probability of anyone actually letting you use their baby (instrument) is slight...especially without some persuasion. I checked the Instrument Office for you, but they only offer instruments to students taking classes that need instruments. Sorry. You should try Harris Music down University Avenue. They offered me daily prices instead of a monthly fee when I needed a bass for a wedding reception.

-Ineffable

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QDear 100 Haberdashing Baboons,

Is there enough incentive for any country/the world to institute a metric time system (one that is based on units of 10) within the next hundred years? The only reason I can think to start such a system is so that third graders will never have to learn to use a base-60 clock and do those dreadful time-subtraction sheets. Somehow it seems to make intuitive sense to me that we ought divide our days in this way (plus it feels future-y and exciting).

- Proteus per Tempore

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AProteus,

All right, you really want someone to say something about all the ridiculous things you call us, don't you?

Well, here goes:

While I am not one, I would LOVE to have a baboon who is also a haberdasher. I mean, that would be awesome, undeniably.

In answer to your question, no, I don't think it will ever happen. We have been using a sexagesimal (a fun word that means base-60) system for thousands of years, so it's a very well-established clock. Also, to make an example out of America, if we as a country can't bother to measure a few things the same as most other countries, how could we expect the people of a country, let alone the world, to switch from a time system that is used at least dozens of times a day to an entirely unknown and mathematically differently formatted system? It won't happen.

But, if you want to carry on in your futile attempts, you're free to join this guy in his crusade.

-Commander Keen

ADear Proteus,

I'm firmly with Commander Keen on this one - it is not going to happen. If inertia has prevented the scientifically superior and far more convenient metric system from catching on in America for 200-odd years, a new and questionably beneficial time system is not necessary.

I'm sure I've already ranted about how awful the Standard System or British System or Imperial System or whatever you elect to call it is and how inexcusable its continued use is (see archives) so I'll spare you that here.

The fortunate thing is that we already have a metric time system. Seconds are in fact an S.I. unit, and people already correctly apply metric prefixes to seconds all the time (e.g., millisecond). You don't hear a lot about kiloseconds, but they're a perfectly valid unit and you're welcome to begin using them.

I guess what you're really asking is if there will be a time system that evenly divides an earth day into ten or a hundred (or 10^n) chunks, and the answer is no. The earth day doesn't even have a consistent length. The discussion here might be educational; briefly, everything from tidal friction to changes in the distribution of mass around the center of the earth as a result of our geologically recent emergence from the ice age affects the length of any given day. Since modern scientists are aware of all these problems they wouldn't base anything on the length of a day.

Another good reason it won't happen: if you replaced the second with a new unit then all the units that currently involve the second would also end up changing. This would include the newton, joule, watt, tesla, farad, coulomb, pascal, hertz, ohm, siemens, weber, henry, becquerel, gray, sievert, and katal. To me, that sounds like it would be an epic disaster.

Digression 1: My first impulse for an example of a metric-prefixed second unit was "femtosecond," which might show that my line of work is messing with my head.

Digression 2: Most of you are hopefully unaware that some engineering texts use the "kip" or "k" as a unit. It means kilo-pound, as in 1000 pounds. This is an abomination, and now you can join me in righteous indignation.

~Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

I'm looking for inspiration for an art project. I work at a university library and (as you may or may not know), academic libraries typically throw away the dust jackets that come with books. (They're not a big "selling point" for out patrons, and they're difficult to keep track of and maintain.) Some of the dust jackets get used in displays to highlight the new books we've acquired, but most of them end up in the trash (or, hopefully, the recycling).

I was cataloging a really cool art book the other day (with an equally striking dust jacket) when it occurred to me that I could probably do something very interesting and artistic with the dust jackets we normally toss. I have some ideas, but I'd like other input, as well. You'll want to consider that dust jackets typically have a lot of information printed on them (title, author, blurb, colophon), so I'll either have to work with that or work around it.

- Katya the librarian

P.S. If it makes a difference, we do keep the dust jackets for the books in our juvenile collection, so I can't use those for my project.

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AKayta-

You should make them into a flock of birds and hang them with fishing line. You could also use the books and shelving to make a nifty landscape.

Or, you could cut them into the shapes of characters in the story doing something exciting, and make a collage.

- Cuddlefish

ADear Katya the librarian,

Col-lage, col-lage, col-lage!

Hem. That was supposed to be a chant, but that's one of those things that doesn't translate really well. Anyway, I really, really like collages, in case you haven't guessed that already.

- The Black Sheep

ADear Katya,

I'm thinking you could cut out the best covers and frame them into great library art. Is that weird?

-Whistler

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

What would happen if in an irrevocable act of legislation that got completely passed, all the banks in the US were nationalized and every person in the banking industry was given the option to become a federal employee or find another job?

- hypothesizer

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ADear hypothesizer,

The government would have even more power, and lots of people (including me) would be even more worried about what it would do with it.

Also, you do know that there's not really any such thing as an irrevocable law, right? (Even amendments to the Constitution can be overturned by another amendment.) (I know this is a hypothetical, but I wanted to make sure that was clear anyway.)

—Laser Jock

ADear hypothesizer,

The banking industry would go even more to crap than it already is, just like anything else that the government gets its hands on.

✭Banana Republican (who says "No!" to nationalization)

ADear hypothesizer,

Banking would become more regulated and probably more inefficient - this is an impractical idea that I doubt will happen. But hypothetically speaking . . . .

Republicans would long for a return to our current banking system that helps the rich get richer and keeps the poor poor. They would splutter and bluster and forget that the government's involvement in banks in the 2008-2009 banking crisis was to offset the losses caused by banks' greed-inspired over-lending and acquiring of toxic, mostly foreign, assets. And their constituents, fearful of the "guvmint," would thank heaven that they had been stocking up on guns and ammunition.

- DemonCrat (who can also use unfair, sweeping generalizations)

ADear Hypo,

Wow, I bet when you asked this you weren't thinking you'd cause some sort of hidden-nym political showdown, were you? Kudos on that, I suppose.

Keeping in mind that I am nowhere even close to expert level on this kind of thing, I have a few thoughts on the actual question (rather than my own blustering overpoliticking):

1. Most of the higher-ups in banking are making great money, and would be unlikely to consider government wages sufficient for maintenance of their lifestyles. As such, I think you would see the extremely savvy and skilled people leaving the industry, seeking greener pastures. This would result in the promotion of people who may not have earned their way up to the high posts. While this is not always a bad thing, there would undoubtedly be a learning curve to directing such a complex system, and I think that the transition in leadership would cause a downturn...the length of that downturn would be based on how good the new leadership is, but frankly, I wouldn't be extremely optimistic.

2. As the banking system would be temporarily, I think, subsidized by tax dollars, interest rates may go down on lending and up on savings, to give an incentive to pull people toward the new system. This, however, would push the government further into its already astronomically huge deficit, and could only be continued for so long. Eventually, the economic market (probably the most powerful force in the universe, behind the priesthood and love) would bring some equilibrium to the rates, which might cause people to seek other opportunities for investment...again, leaving the system.

3. The inefficiencies inherent in bureaucracy would likely make banking a more difficult endeavor. In addition to the huge amounts of paperwork, we would likely see a slowdown in turnaround. This would probably reach into many areas of the economy (for instance, as people have to wait for several months to get mortgages approved, the housing market would hit a slump while adjusting to the new process).

4. There would be stronger heuristics to determine the ability and fitness of a borrower. It's obvious that the current banking system was a bit loose with their lending standards, and though I think the remaining players have learned their lessons, the government would be likely to take those lessons even further. This would prevent bad credit risks from getting loans. While that would be mostly a good thing, I think this would do horrible things for the morale of the middle class, and would cause them to be even less trusting of the government than many of them already are. Classes, I think, would get more defined than they already are as the wealthy (with collateral easily available) could obtain more loans than the much riskier Joe Six-Pack.

Overall, I think it would be a bad idea. While the banks have messed things up pretty badly, there is still something to be said for the invisible hand. I'm a believer in the free market, and I think that the capitalist system of banking has proven itself mostly resilient and largely beneficial to the economic status of America.

But hey, that's just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

-Claudio

ADear Hypo,

Y'know what's even scarier than the prospect of the government controlling the banks? The banks controlling the government... which is exactly what the recent bank bailout signifies.

Love,
Waldorf and Sauron

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

I can't help but find it disturbing that ward choirs should spend tithes of the church on sheet music to sing in our worship services. Shouldn't LDS composers make their music free for performance in our meetings? Am I wrong to be concerned about this form of "priestcraft"? Fortunately, there are several websites by LDS composers that provide free sheet music downloads.

- Concerned

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ADear Concerned,

Yes, you're wrong to expect these professionals to simply give away their livelihood because the Church happens to be involved.

By your argument, our church buildings should be built for free, at least in highly-LDS areas (e.g., Utah and parts of Idaho). There should be no paid custodians or maintenance crews. Release time seminary teachers should work all day for nothing.

Certainly we're supposed to devote ourselves to building up the Lord's kingdom, but that doesn't preclude making an honest living.

I think the problem here might be that you seem to be a bit confused about the definition of priestcraft. In 2 Nephi 26:29, Nephi explains that "priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion." Are these composers preaching and setting themselves up for a light unto the world, with the goal of money or praise instead of the welfare of Zion?

Mormon gives a similar definition in Alma 1:16, describing people who "went forth preaching false doctrines; and this they did for the sake of riches and honor."

Just because the Church spends money—and pays some of its own members, even—it doesn't mean we're talking about priestcraft.

—Laser Jock

ADear Concerned,

I personally think it's much more disturbing how quickly and how often ward choirs disregard copyright notices printed right on the sheet music stating that it is illegal to make unauthorized photocopies.

There is a whole lot that could be said about the myriad other products, literature, and movies that are marketed almost exclusively to an LDS population (basically the idea behind Deseret Book), but Laser Jock more than sufficiently points out that people can expect to be paid for creative work they produce. Since decisions about the music sung in church meetings are ultimately left up to the bishop, if ward leadership shared you concerns, the bishop could just instruct his ward music leaders to do what I suspect most of the world outside the United States does and just sing another congregational hymn from the hymn book.

- Rating Pending (who is uncomfortable with the pristcraftiness of EFY music and many of the marketing ploys of Deseret Book. Ladies, did you all get great deals at this weekend's Priesthood Session sale?)

AConcerned-

What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor? A lawyer? An artist? How much money will you spend on training? How much time? How many hours a week will you devote to your work? Don't you think you should be donating all of that to the Church? And if so, how do you intend to support and sustain your family, which, by the way is a commandment? Life is not free. Even general authorities are given a living allowance. Seriously, people need to eat, and nothing good is free. To be honest, most of the art and music donated to the Church by the artists is horrible anyway. I'd much rather pay for something quality that I'm not embarrassed to dedicate to the Lord.

- Cuddlefish

ADear Concerned,

I don't find it disturbing that we have to pay money for music, but I think it would be really cool if we had more local composers interact with ward choirs. Maybe if someone were talented enough they could be the ward composer as their church calling (you know... like Bach!). Then the choir could sing songs or arrangements by him, and we'd save money. It's just a shame that our current culture isn't set up to support this kind of thing.

-Whistler

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Where do you draw the line on how picky you can be when it comes to dating and relationships? (I am not talking in the appearance side of things - because although you do need to be attracted to them, I don't think that is all there is to a relationship). I date a lot and I give EVERY guy a chance - I never turn down someone for a first date, but I often find that little things really turn me off from a guy. For example, I went out with a guy who I thought was really cute and we had a good time, he's LDS, return missionary, getting an education (all things that are admirable) however, he swore a couple of times and he talked a lot about some movies that he liked (a lot of which were rated R). I came home from the date really disappointed because I really do like him, but swearing and watching rated R movies are not things I want to live with or want my future children to be around. I was telling this situation to a friend and she expressed to me that she feels I am too picky and need to "let some things go". Is she right?

-Feeling justified in her pickiness, but doesn't want to stay single forever

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ADear picky,

This guy sounds awesome! But if he's not what you're looking for, keep moving. You write like a hot girl... if you're as cute as you sound like, you shouldn't have any trouble finding someone who fits you better.

-Cognoscente, who totally matches the description you gave

P.S. You also shouldn't forget the power of the influence a righteous babe can have on a man. Seriously. We're suckers for righteous babes.

ADear Feeling Justified,

This is a tough line to draw, mostly because it'll be different for everyone. For instance, your friend clearly doesn't think a little swearing or watching R-rated movies should be that big of a deal, while you do. (I happen to agree with you, by the way.)

However, if this is the kind of thing you mean when you say you worry about being too picky, I think you're fine. They're called standards, and it's okay if yours aren't the same as someone else's.

If it helps, you might remind yourself that you're not looking for (nor are you going to find) a perfect person. Whoever you end up marrying will have weaknesses and bad habits that they're working on fixing, and you'll have to be okay with that. As long as you can accept that idea, you're not being too picky.

The working to fix their problems is important, though. If they simply have different standards and can't see any reason to change, that's something you should definitely take a look at. And like Cognoscente said, it's okay to move on if the guy isn't right for you.

—Laser Jock

ADear Feeling,

Can you set me up with this guy?

Seriously.

⋯Anomalous

P.S. I, too, don't believe that you should change your standards for anyone. It sounds like you are being picky for the right reasons.

ADear Feeling,

Can you set ME up with this guy?

Ha! Just kidding.

But really, if you're not feeling that something is right, don't do it. It's okay to trust your feelings (at times).

-Commander Keen

ADear picky,

Actually, come to think of it, you should date Laser Jock! You seem like you would go well with him. He's smart, sensitive, and good-looking in a really nerdy pocket-protector kind of way. Think Keanu Reeves if Keanu Reeves had gotten picked on a lot as a child. So, basically... think Keanu Reeves.

-Cognoscente

ADear Coggy,

In Laser Jock's defense, he is nothing like Keanu Reeves.

Dear Justified,

But he is one very eligible bachelor.

Just two quick thoughts before you give up on this other guy:

People can change. You certainly shouldn't count on it, but if everything else is perfect about this guy, it's possible you can influence him for the better. These aren't things that will keep him from going to the temple, so that's a plus, but if they're important to you you can ask him to change. He could surprise you.

But the thing that concerns me here is not that he swears and watches R-rated movies, but that he revealed these things about himself on (what appears to be) a first date. That's generally when you put your best foot forward. So he's either unusually open or he's got darker secrets waiting to be revealed.

Good luck,
Waldorf and Sauron

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ADear Aadvark,

Yes, in fact, there were many people that were rescued alive from the ruins of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, there were many people that survived the collapsing, but the EMT's simply couldn't reach them in time.

A member in my home ward is an EMT and his unit was immediately called to New York City as back-up on September 11, 2001. I'm not sure exactly how long he was there, but I know it was at least two weeks. He kept a very detailed journal about his experience. There were quite a few people that they were able to rescue.

I remember he said the worst part was all of the sounds of the people caught under the rubble that were moaning and screaming for help over the next few days following the attack. It was impossible for them to rescue all of the survivors, however, because there was just too much rubble and not enough time.

But to end on a more positive note, a member of my stake presidency back home used to work in the World Trade Center. On the morning of September 11, 2001 he had a very strong impression that he shouldn't go in to work that day, so he didn't.

-Sky Bones

ADear Aardvark,

Wikipedia says 23 people escaped from the wreckage, and New York Magazine says 20. Neither cites any other sources for that figure, but I think that the number must have been somewhere around there. Almost none of them were really pulled out of the rubble, however. According to a segment ABC aired the evening of September 11, 2002, 14 people (12 of them rescue workers, the most famous of whom were fire fighters from Ladder 6) survived in stairwell B of the North Tower between floors two and five when the building collapsed. They thought that they would never be rescued because they believed that there was over 100 stories' worth of debris on top of them, but after three hours the dust cleared enough that they could see the sky and they all climbed out and hours later reached the edge of Ground Zero. Information on the other six or nine or so people is harder to find, though New York Magazine mentions Pasquale Buzzelli. I'm not sure whether people like Ron DiFrancesco are counted in that figure or not.

2,605 people died in the Twin Towers that day. Only twenty or so were in or very near to the towers when they collapsed and lived. Almost everyone who was in either tower but who was below the point of impact made it out alive, but almost everyone else was trapped over 70 stories above the ground when the towers fell. That says nothing of all the courageous rescue personnel who sacrificed everything trying to rescue people. Thank God for people like them, who are willing to do whatever is necessary to try to do what they can for other people, no matter the consequences for themselves.

- The Black Sheep

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Theoretically, would it be possible to run old-school JAZ drives in a RAID?

-Cognoscente

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ADear Cognoscente,

I’d like to begin by noting how ridiculously I’m here indebted to Wikipedia. (Like even more than usual.)

That said, background info: a JAZ drive is/was “a removable disk storage system” using hard disc technology. Think like a floppy disk, only the disk inside is not floppy. (This picture might help explain the concept.)

A RAID is a “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks” or sometimes “Independent Disks” (contrast SLED, “Single Large Expensive Disk”). There are a number of different types (levels) of RAID, but they all basically let multiple drives interact in helpful ways. For example, a RAID setup can constantly keep exactly the same information on two disks so that if one fails the other will still have all the data. It can also keep half of every file on each disk so that the file can be read off the disk twice as fast, and there are all sorts of ingenious combinations of this type of attribute.

There are apparently a few ways to implement RAID systems: it can be done on a hardware, firmware, or software level. JAZ drives only natively use the SCSI interface, but it turns out that SCSI hardware RAID controllers are apparently out there, so it should be possible to do on a hardware level. Plug in the JAZ drive and it ought to get treated just like any other SCSI drive.

It looks like firmware-based RAID would be a challenge as “firmware controllers often can only use certain types of hard drives in their RAID arrays (e.g., SATA for Intel Matrix RAID […]).” It might be possible, but it’d probably be the worst way to do it, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t spend a long time researching it.

Finally, software-based RAID should definitely be possible. I’m not sure how you’d go about it on a Windows box, but since I know you’re no slave to Microsoft I’ll skip straight to the Linux discussion. Assuming your kernel has RAID support and the mdadm tool (read: assume you’re not deliberately using some completely obsolete, stripped-down, or otherwise fringe distro, which I understand you’re not), you have software RAID support. The command to set up RAID-0 looks like this (taken from wonderful documentation here):

mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=stripe --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb6 /dev/sdc5

The RAID drive is at /dev/md0 and the component drives are just generic drives mounted to /dev/, so it looks to me like any writeable drive you can mount to /dev/ could be part of a Linux RAID setup. JAZ drives are presumably mountable on a Linux system, so a JAZ-drive RAID setup appears to be very possible. You’d obviously need two SCSI ports, which I think is a little unusual and might cost you a bit of money, but after you did that and got the JAZ drives mounted it looks like it’d be pretty easy.

Corollary to all of the above: I don’t recommend anyone go out and set up RAID-6 on floppy disks, but it looks possible.

~Ƥ. Ɗ. Kirĸe

ADear Cognoscente,

You mean, something similar to this?

-Yellow

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

So I know that the Provo temple just has the baptistry open during operating hours for anyone to use, but I'm curious, are any other temples (particularly in Utah), like that? I know that in Denver (where I'm from), you typically need to have an appointment, except for like tuesdays or something like that. I love doing baptisms in different temples, and I'd love to venture out of Provo to some of the surrounding temples, but would that require going with a group, or can I just walk in?

- Rekrab

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ADear Rekrab,

I am impressed that you will go to temples on your own. Just saying! Amazingly, a quick, not too stealthy search brought me to this site which has tons of information about LDS temples. The page I linked to has schedules for all the temples, which is exactly what you need. But, Rekrab, I'm feeling generous this morning, and so will also actually answer your question rather than merely providing a link. These are the other temples in Utah into which you could just walk and perform baptisms:

Bountiful Utah
Draper Utah
Jordan River Utah
Logan Utah
Manti Utah
Mount Timpanogos Utah
Ogden Utah
Oquirrh Mountain Utah
Provo Utah
St. George Utah
Salt Lake City Utah
Vernal Utah

Apparently, an easier way to ask this would have been, "Which Utah temple does not allow a person to perform baptisms for the dead without an appointment?", the answer to which would have been the Monticello Utah Temple. On the website I mentioned there are also scheduled maintenance dates and times, or other things that might prevent you from visiting a temple. Make sure to look over the information ahead of time for whichever temple you plan to visit.

It seems that temples in Utah are an anomaly. Most temples outside of Utah do not let people come in and do baptisms for the dead without an appointment. If you are traveling outside of Utah, look up the information or call the temple ahead of time.

-Mico

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Which is worse: Surgery in third trimester, or surgery during the early postpartum period?

Just a little background: I'm 29 weeks pregnant, and I have a benign tumor growing in my thyroid. Although it's benign, it's growing pretty rapidly--increase of about 20% in the last 2-3 months. My ENT doctor told me a few days ago that it has to come out (along with half of my thyroid), and soon.

So, the big question we're facing is, do we take it out before the baby comes, or after? I hate the thought of leaving the tumor in and letting it grow for another 2-3 months. And if we wait until after the baby comes, I'll have to go through recovery while dealing with a toddler AND a newborn, and all the fatigue that comes in those early postpartum days (i.e. sleepless nights!). Also, I wouldn't be able to breastfeed or pump for at least 24 hours, and that would get...really painful.

On the other hand, surgery and third trimester might not play well together either. I guess my husband and I are leaning towards doing surgery before the baby comes, but maybe that's just because we aren't very well-informed on the risks and difficulties of operating on a pregnant woman. Would it be really unwise for us to opt for surgery while I'm still pregnant? I guess if there's a REALLY good reason to wait, we're willing to do that. But we just don't know. It will definitely be a subject of much prayer and meditation, but the clock is ticking down, and I'd like to feel like I have more information before deciding on a lesser of the two evils. And by the way, I've already tried to contact my OB/GYN about this, but the soonest opening he had for an appointment is over a week away. So I'm just waiting, and need something to chew on while I wait...

- girl with a lump in her throat

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ADear Lumpy,

When I call myself Dr. Smeed, "I mean [doctor] of law, not physic [sic]" so after I read you a little bit from thyroid-cancer.net I will direct you to ask your real doctor at that soonest opening.

Quote:

There are several special considerations when thyroid cancer is discovered in a woman who is pregnant. First, a decision must be made whether to perform surgery to remove the thyroid gland during pregnancy or whether to wait until after the baby is delivered. Surgery during pregnancy may be advisable if a thyroid cancer is large, appears to be a more aggressive variant, or has already spread to other sites in the neck or elsewhere in the body. If surgery during pregnancy is indicated, it is usually performed during the second trimester (i.e., months 4-6 of pregnancy). This timing has the least chance of interfering with the baby’s early development or causing premature labor. On the other hand, delaying surgery until after delivery is often a reasonable choice if the thyroid cancer is small and there is no evidence of aggressiveness or spread. Delayed surgery may also be best if other aspects of the pregnancy increase the risk of performing an operation. Small studies have shown that delaying surgery does not increase the risk of spread, recurrence, or death in pregnant women with papillary thyroid cancer. During pregnancy, whether surgery is performed then or not, treatment with thyroxine should be started. This ensures that thyroid cancer tissue will be “put to rest” until surgery can be performed. Free T4 and TSH lab tests should be done every 1 to 2 months to ensure that the dose of medication is just high enough to suppress TSH. After delivery and surgery, a decision must be made about whether to give radioactive iodine treatment. Radioactive iodine must not be given during pregnancy, as it can damage the fetus' thyroid gland. Similarly, radioactive iodine cannot be given until the mother has stopped nursing her baby. It may be advisable to wait several months after breastfeeding, since breast tissue that is active concentrates more radioactive iodine within itself.

Read that, chew on it, then talk to both an oncologist and your OB/GYN.

Dr. Smeed

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ADear Portia,

This is actually one of the FAQs on Oktoberfest's official website. They respond:

Quote:

The historical background: the first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September.

By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over "die Wiesen" or the fields much longer without feeling chilly. Historically, the last Oktoberfest weekend was in October and this tradition continues into present times.

Wikipedia further states that Oktoberfest is generally the 16 days leading up to and including the first Sunday in October.

Besides, why wait an extra two weeks for beer, sausage, and Bavarian-style dresses?

-Claudio

P.S. - Those dresses are called dirndls, and they are hot.