As a chemical engineer, I was genuinely troubled when I saw the announcement for a conference on the Juvenile Instructor blog: “Conference on Mormon Thought and Engineering.” I’m certainly not implying that there is anything about us engineers that might not be totally hip and exciting (“hip” is a an adjective, isn’t it? Maybe I should have said “groovy” – it’s been so long since I’ve been out). The public loves listening to engineers talk about engineering, and loves listening to Mormons talk about Mormonism. I’m just worried that bringing the two topics together might result in an overload of excitement that could put the few brave attendees into some sort of coma, so make sure you get physician approval before going. Wish I could be there!
What kind of papers might be presented at such a venue? If my sources are correct, they could include:
- “The Refiner’s Fire and the Eternal Flames of Hell: Carbon Emissions Reductions through Improved Combustion Dynamics”
- “Mortality as a Distillation Column: Fractionating into Three Kingdoms”
- “Free Energy and Maximizing Entropy: Insights from a Primary Class”
- “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: A Granular Solids Separations Model for Optimizing the Harvest of Souls”
- “Advances in Computational Finite Element Models: Removing the Need for Faith”
Like I said, wish I could be there. Actually sounds interesting! Hope the rest of the public sees it that way.
But now for the point of this post: I’ve just added the Juvenile Instructor blog to my blog roll and am happy to report that it’s an interesting blog with a great deal of insights into Mormon history. Unlike certain blogs you may be reading at this instant, it is written by scholarly, intelligent people who know their stuff. Kudos!
Just letting you know that someone thinks you’re hilarious.
Could it be that sin is driving increased carbon emissions? Is there a sin/transgression off-set program that one could sign-up for?
In your blogroll is Kevin Graham’s Apologia, but it has apparently been taken over by anti-LDS interests. Just FYI.
Thanks. Let this be a warning to all of you with domain names: Don’t let them lapse. If you want to let it lapse, let me know first. Maybe I’ll take it over or buy it from you instead of letting cybergangs take it.
I read part of the Juvinile blog you mentioned. I found of particular interest the article of indulgences for the Catholic Church.
Sounds like a Bishops court or probation to me. Pay your tithing, go to church, Pray, pay, and obey. does the LDS church sell indulgences?
Halibut, not really.
I don’t know the official LDS church policy, but most Mormons believe in “It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission” anyway. 🙂
I’m selling indulgences on Ebay. Missed home teaching last month? No sweat – just $5.
Jeff, I’m another one of those zany Mormon engineers, and I’ll confess to having supplemented the EQ John Taylor lesson #7 a few years ago (on “Integrity”) with liberal usage of the Working Draft ISO Standard 16587-1.3 (“Condition Monitoring Of Structures – Part 1: General Guidelines”).
*Nobody* fell asleep *that* week. There are some amazing parallels for the practical everyday maintenance of personal integrity and structurally sound testimonies.
…and yeah, I’ll admit to repeating that lesson after moving to a new ward a couple years later. 🙂
Taylor, I sense an LDS classic is about to emerge here. Could you put this on YouTube or prepare a detailed description for a blog post of your own or else here if you prefer? Serious!
Heh heh heh… Thanks, Jeff! I’ll work on converting this lesson to a more web-friendly form and pass it along soon. 🙂
Heeelarious.