Demeter

On a completely unrelated note...

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:40:58 -0400

I can tell my home teacher is distracted, and not just because he just graduated and his wife just had a baby and they’re moving in about a month and he’s getting a brand-new really astonishingly important and responsible job halfway across the country.

But rather because I’ve been accidentally put back on the list of less-active members for the missionaries to go bother. And now I have to ask him to take me off again. Ugh.

You should get the book of official terms, and make sure that the person gets a lot of written...

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:58:35 -0400

You should get the book of official terms, and make sure that the person gets a lot of written materials (Gospel Principles, etc.) Also, a lot of the videos that the missionaries have access to come with ASL interpretation or captioning; here’s all the “materials for those with disabilities” stuff.

Oh… and be sure the person actually uses ASL - it’s possible they use Signed Exact English or Cued Speech or something other than ASL, or are alternatively highly skilled at lip reading and vocalizing. Having a pen and lots of paper on hand is also a really good idea.

And obviously, the online chat-with-the-missionaries tool is a HUGE resource for the individual investigator/member.

cristinmcmullen:

I’m not even a certified interpreter…

What exactly are the Church’s rules for teaching the Deaf? I’ve heard of ASL missionaries but we don’t have one in my area right now. (Obviously. They wouldn’t be asking me if they did.)

Does anyone have advice? The church website is a little helpful but I’m not sure what else I need to know about teaching this person.

Also

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:50:30 -0400

If you have questions about temple recommend standards, your primary resource is your bishop.

Also check out this website (written by a temple prep class instructor) and the temple prep class materials themselves. The For The Strength of Youth pamphlet is also worth reviewing in its entirety.

I also recommend without reservation the official Gospel Topics page on same-sex attraction and this awesome explanation of where the Church stands on political neutrality.

Message boards, forums, social blogging sites, etc., are generally a really spectacularly not-good place to sort these questions out (if what you are looking for is answers and not a fight.)

PS: The only really really good source for you is the person who is going to be conducting your temple recommend interview (i.e., your bishopric/stake presidency.) The only good source for [insert every other person on this earth, i.e. several billion people] is the person who is going to be conducting their temple recommend interview. Neither of these sources is going to jump in on a Tumblr conversation full of hypotheticals and “I heard this, this one time.” No temple-recommend-interviewer is supposed to share what is being said in those interviews with people who aren’t directly involved (like, the actual interviewee, basically.) It is none of your business whether someone else will “pass” their interview or “deserves” the recommend.

(Seriously, this stuff has been causing fights all over the internet since at least the first month I started talking with Mormons online, which was during the Clinton administration. I beg you all to please keep the fight-causing off of Tumblr, which has largely been free of the infighting.)

And yeah, I am feeling a little passive aggressive.

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:20:59 -0400

I’m also not enjoying this “let’s bring the Facebook arguments to Tumblr” business: those of us who choose not to participate on Facebook aren’t exactly pining for lack of that stuff.

There's no need to be antagonistic

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:19:38 -0400

There are many subjects upon which reasonable faithful people who share the same creed can still manage to disagree on (for good and wise reasons as well as for bad and foolish reasons.) It’s not necessary to go looking for such arguments, regardless of how wrong and stupid other people are being.

BTW, the best thing I did for myself as far as anxiety and the church goes...

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:55:00 -0400

… was to tell my bishop about my diagnoses, and explain why it is he wouldn’t be seeing very much of me. My VTs and the RS/EQ presidents also know (amongst other things, this helped me avoid the constant rotation of teachers.)

They’ve been very supportive and understanding and it’s helped me a lot. I’m even considering going to a thing next month.

(I told the bishop via email, incidentally.)

Church magazine articles about or related to mental illness

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:51:08 -0400

Also: be the change you want to see in the world: the Church magazines accept submissions. (Ensign) (New Era)

I totally did like the bravest (for a person with agoraphobia and social phobia in the middle of an asthma episode) act of service ever.

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:36:24 -0400

I came home to find a bunch of stuff - a reusable shopping bag filled with library books, a neoprene tote bag with some random soap and things in it, and a box with some, like, foam padding inside - outside my door, on the stoop I share with my RIGHT NEXT DOOR (like literally you can’t open her door and mine at once) neighbor.

And I totally did the following:

1. I tried knocking on her door (she one time forgot milk outside, so technically this isn’t the absolutely horrifically terrifying thing it would be with any other door in the neighborhood)

2. I went into my house, got a piece of paper, found tape, and wrote a note to my neighbor that included my name and my house number. I taped it to her door (!!!!!)

3. I picked up all the stuff (!!!!!) and took it round back to her patio and OPENED HER PATIO DOOR (!!!!!!) and put the stuff actually in there, like even under a table which required moving things around and more than just hovering over the edge into the patio, AND I EVEN COVERED THE STUFF WITH A GARBAGE BAG which means she’ll have to trust that it’s not a bomb or a horrible trick or whatever (in her shoes I would probably have to call a friend to open the bag, but I bet she’s less scared than me, since nearly everyone is less scared than me.)

I was absolutely shaking after all of this; normally I feel worried just looking at their patio in general, and they also have a dog that could have theoretically been outside (yeah, scared of dogs in particular too.)

And the whole time I was seriously fighting off the desperate urge to drop everything and run in my house and pretend I hadn’t seen any of the stuff.

I think that if the weather people hadn’t been promising rain all day, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. But there were books, and I have actually spoken to this person once or twice, and she was happy when I gave her the milk, so.

I just hope it doesn’t end badly. :(

Now is the season of evil.

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:01:41 -0400

And by evil I mean pollen.

Have you gone through the Gospel Classics collection yet? jie-lin: Does anyone have any favorite...

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:41:54 -0400

Have you gone through the Gospel Classics collection yet?

jie-lin:

Does anyone have any favorite talks? Ones you think are absolute must-reads, especially for investigators? I’ve been trying to make my way through talks the internet tells me are particularly important and/or famous, but there are just so many!

This morning I read Jeffrey R. Holland’s “The Other Prodigal” and it sort of hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m sure all of you have read it, but if not…. please do yourselves a favor and do so! It’s the kind of thing everyone should read.

This is the time of year

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:40:42 -0400

When things get significantly more miserable for me. My tendon issues (in my hands/arms/shoulders) are acting up severely, I’m nauseous and my stomach is incredibly unhappy, and I’m having a huge increase in symptoms, particularly depressive agitation/insomnia/irritability. I’m also suffering from seasonal allergies, which, well, yay.

(This happens every year - my depression symptoms fluctuate with the seasons, and I’m invariably best-off in the mildest weather.)

It is always OK to make this kind of decision. Your wellness matters to Heavenly Father, and he...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:33:15 -0400

It is always OK to make this kind of decision. Your wellness matters to Heavenly Father, and he does not want us to put ourselves at risk to perform a service when know we can’t do it.

It’s also OK not to get into details with people. ”My health won’t let me go back out, so I’m looking for other ways to serve here at home” is a 1000% valid response when people ask. You can even give them less info - “no, I’m afraid not” is totally fine, too.

psychoprism:

mormonpost

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The thing about Yahoo

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:53:16 -0400

Potential changes that would make me happier:

Having a paid version with better service and no ads/promoted content (sorry, guys, I work enough that I’m willing to buy nicer stuff, and paying Flickr has been beneficial,)
Enforcement of content filtering settings that users select themselves (I am ambivalent about your porn being on Tumblr, but I DO NOT want to see it.)
More admin corrections/support/etc. for things that really, quite frankly, Tumblr has not been responsible enough on (pro-ana, pro-cutting, abusive anons, suicide threats…)
Robust search, tagging, and commenting features.
Consistent support for features that the community wants but can’t get (basically: all that stuff Missing e used to be able to give us,) and for independent developers in general.
The ability to see my messages and reply to them in the Android mobile app; a better app in general.

Potential changes that would make me unhappy:

Ads I can’t turn off on my dash
Ads I can’t control on my actual blog (I don’t really mind if Yahoo puts pro-LDS ads on my blogs, but I want selection/veto power.)
Further stupid modifications of the freaking user interface.

One potential change that would make me leave (delete all my content) immediately: Attaching my Tumblr account to any account/services at Yahoo. This is an anonymous blog (to the Tumblr administration as well as to the readership) and that will not change. I’d try to find a place to home the LDS content that’s still social, but I’d probably switch the personal blogging on a password-protected personal site only accessible to those I invite.

Best temple announcement ever

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:51:00 -0400

There is no more awesome in-my-lifetime temple announcement than the Rome Italy one, thanks to President Monson’s reaction to the reaction of the assembly (here’s the video.)

I say this, BTW, as someone who was actually at the announcement of the first temple to be built in Ohio since Kirtland (and that was my first-ever in-person talk from any general authority.)

Good luck! If you have trouble concentrating or getting through it (which can definitely happen,)...

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:52:28 -0400

Good luck! If you have trouble concentrating or getting through it (which can definitely happen,) try reading along with the MP3s. (zip file link)

scriptures:

If I read 37 pages a day I will be able to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover by my birthday! Operation scripture study starts today (:

Some companies Yahoo! ruined or killed (or both) after they acquired them

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:36:21 -0400

AltaVista:

In February 2003, AltaVista was bought by Overture Services, Inc. In July 2003, Overture itself was taken over by Yahoo! AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but lost its ground with the rise of Google. In May 2011, Yahoo! shut down the site.

GeoCities:

In April 2009, approximately ten years after Yahoo! bought GeoCities, the company announced that it would shut down the United States GeoCities service on October 26, 2009. There were at least 38 million user-built pages on GeoCities before it was shut down.

eGroups:

In August 2000 with 18 million users, the company was purchased by Yahoo! for $413m in a stock deal and became Yahoo! Groups.

Flickr:

[W]as created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005.

On 12 June 2007, in the wake of the rollout of localized language versions of the site, Flickr implemented a user-side rating system for filtering out potentially controversial photos. Simultaneously, users with accounts registered with Yahoo subsidiaries in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea were prevented from viewing photos rated “moderate” or “restricted” on the three-part scale used. Many Flickr users, particularly in Germany, protested against the new restrictions, claiming unwanted censorship from Flickr and Yahoo.

In 2007, Virgin Mobile launched a bus stop advertising campaign which promoted its cellphone text messaging service using the work of amateur photographers who uploaded their work to Flickr using a Creative Commons by Attribution license. Users licensing their images this way freed their work for use by any other entity, as long as the original creator was attributed credit, without any other compensation being required. Virgin upheld this single restriction by printing a URL, leading to the photographer’s Flickr page, on each of their ads.

Del.icio.us (an example of one sort-of-halfway rescued from the heapbin of Yahoo history, but still ruined):

Yahoo! acquired Delicious on December 9, 2005. On December 16, 2010, an internal slide from a Yahoo! meeting leaked, indicating that Delicious would be “sunsetted” in the future, which seemed to mean “shut down”. Later Yahoo clarified that they would be selling Delicious, not ending it.

On April 27, 2011, Delicious announced the site was sold to Avos Systems, a company created by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Unbeknownst to members, Yahoo! operated the site until September 2011.

On September 26, 2011, Delicious launched its completely new version 3.0 design in beta. This redesign came in as a surprise to many of its users, with many features being disabled, removed or temporarily unavailable. AVOS Systems removed the Delicious Support Forum and had advised users that communication with Avos should take place via email. Reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative.

See, also: List of acquisitions by Yahoo.

Alta Vista: tumblr/Yahoo - let me explain you a thing

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:21:00 -0400

Alta Vista: tumblr/Yahoo - let me explain you a thing:

This is all very true.

And I am about dying here giggling over the username “Alta Vista.” Heh.

alta-vista:

Anyone who thinks that we, as tumblr users, can influence this sale is delusional:

1. tumblr does not care about its users outside of data points. The many requests we’ve made for changes were ignored, changes the majority of users didn’t need or care about were implemented, and tumblr even…

Back Up Your Tumblr Blog

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:07:24 -0400

Back Up Your Tumblr Blog:

If Tumblr’s (nearly) day-long outage taught us anything, it’s that we should probably start backing up our content.

Just in case you need to bail out, you know.

It’s about modesty, in the sense of “keeping your minds, hearts, and eyes on...

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:03:00 -0400

It’s about modesty, in the sense of “keeping your minds, hearts, and eyes on what’s actually important, rather than on showing off/drawing attention to yourself/etc.” There’s a bit of “respect the gifts your Father gave you” and some “conform to traditional lifestyle strictures” in there, but I definitely think this has more to do with the ostentatiousness factor than anything else.

At least, as far as I can tell; the “conform to traditionalism” thing was born specifically as a response to the deliberate ostentatiousness of the counterculture in the 1950s and beyond, which is where things like “let’s dye our hair blue” really got started in the US.

This response is also behind the facial hair rules: wearing a beard became a symbol of the counterculture, which also advocated free love, walking around naked, taking copious amounts of drugs, mouthing off to your parents, forcibly occupying academic offices when you disagree with the administration, and about fifty other things that are to varying degrees quite clearly against pretty obvious commandments.

orcarina-of-time:

honestly it bothers me so much how my university won’t let me dye my hair different “unnatural” colors

like really? what is the harm of getting blue hair extensions?

i’ve had colored hair since age 14 and i haven’t felt like i’m breaking any commandments or something

in all seriousness i don’t understand the logic

Calling

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:57:09 -0400

BEST CALLING OF ALL TIME.

Seriously, it is awesome. Just be ready to enforce the “no, you can’t sit on my lap in Sharing Time” thing (and for the occasional battle over who gets to sit next to you.)

Seriously, best calling ever. Congratulations!

shellylikescats:

I’m going to be teaching primary 6-7 year olds :)
These kids are just adorable :)
My calling is for teachers assistant but I don’t think they have a regular teacher so I’m taking over I got the book and every thing
I’m so happy :)
Yay :) everyone is so proud of me :D