Arrrrrgh!

How I wish the whole game would have gone

Why does life have to be so frustrating!  BYU couldn't win their game against, even though they put up a good fight.  I would like to blame it on the slippery field, but it really comes down to a couple of plays that were just a lot worse than they should have been.

You are unauthorized. Your death will now be implemented.

That, added the fact of failing to say the things I want to say, two days in a row, has made this a pretty frustrating weekend.

GOP Debates and Stuff

So, the other day we were listening to the presidential debate while we were working in the lab.  They started talking about Cain's 9-9-9 plan and how it wouldn't work. (I like calling him Cain better.  It makes him seem evil for some reason.)  There was this discussion about how the states that don't have sales tax wouldn't want to increase their tax, blah, blah, blah.  So, this is my idea.  And I'm probably not the first person to think of this, since it's been done before.

There's probably a flaw in this plan.  But, like in Physics, assume we live in a perfect world.  (frictionless, infinitely small, spherical)  What if the federal government, instead of taxing individuals, divided that same amount of money they're looking for among the states based on population.  Then the states could collect that tax however they wanted and pay it to Uncle Sam by whatever day.  Nevada, for example, could collect it all through gambling, or at least a large part of it.  Oregon could collect it through a property tax.  New York could collect it through a sales tax.  California could collect it through an ignorance tax.  Utah could collect it through a consumption tax.  However the state wants to collect it.

That way, Samwise would get his money, people would pay the money, and they would decide what was fair in each state.  This all should sound familiar because it's what happened before the 16th amendment was passed.

But I doubt that anyone will ever take me too seriously on a national tax code level, but you never know.

Will Amy find her Rory?

BCS - A better method

So, here's my little rant about the BCS system.  Basically, most conferences already have a pod system.  For example, the Pac-12 divides the conference into North and South.  And they're planning on having a conference championship game.  Why can't we all just play as though we're in one big conference?  Here's the math:

There are currently 11 conferences in Division I-A football:

• ACC
• Big 12 (which currently has 10 teams)
• Big Ten (which currently has 12.  Ironic, isn't it?)
• Big East
• Conference USA
• Mid-American
• Mountain West
• Pac-12
• SEC
• Sun Belt
• WAC

Suppose that each conference was treated as a pod.  Conference winners get invited to the tournament I'm instituting.

For a good tournament, you would need 16 teams.  The five remaining teams would be the five highest ranked teams that hadn't been invited to the tournament yet.  So, if you think it's unfair to have to win a conference, or if you're BYU, Notre Dame, Army, or Navy, just rank higher than everybody else and you won't have to worry about it.

A 16-team tournament would require 4 rounds.  We're going to keep the last round on New Year's Day.  That puts the first round this year on the week of December 10th.  That's the first week after regular season play.  Four weeks later, you have this awesome game, that would end up rotating between the traditional four BCS bowl games, just to keep them happy.  This year it would be played in the Louisana Superdome.  I would call it the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl.  Of the other three bowls, two would be the semi-final games the week before, and the third would be played between the two teams from the final four that didn't make it into the final game.

Alternatively, we could possibly have the semi-final games played on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with the final on January 2nd, as has been done in the past.  That would give teams an extra week after the regular season to do whatever they want.  Probably practice, if they're going to the tournament.

Also notice that this doesn't eliminate all of the other bowl games in the country.  You can still have one, but your conference champions won't be there, since they're playing in my tournament.  If one of your bowl game spots was guaranteed to a conference champion, you get one of the quarter-final, or first round games, depending on how "important" that conference was.

So, I'll be posting my tournament layout and handing out my own championships.  The inaugural 2012 Glen K Thurston Award for Excellence in Football (GKTAEF) goes to the team that wins my tournament.  That causes a few problems because the teams probably won't actually play in my tournament.  So, I'll hand it out based on the following method.  If the teams happened to really play each other, I'll use the real scores, regardless of when the game was played.  If they didn't really play each other, I'll either use an online poll, or some other method of figuring out who would win.  Check out the tab at the top of the page for the bracket.

Mormons are Christians

In light of recent political happenings, here's my personal statement.

I define a Christian to be someone that believes in Jesus Christ.  They probably read the Bible.  They probably try to do good in the world.  By that definition, Mormons are Christians.  Our beliefs are outlined here.

Merriam-Webster defines a cult as:

1

: formal religious veneration : worship

2

: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

3

: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents

4

: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>

5

a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fadb : the object of such devotionc : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

By this definition, I think all religions are cults.  Unorthodox has to do with a frame of reference.  Anything could be unorthodox to someone.  What person do Mormons have a great devotion to?  Jesus Christ!  We don't worship Joseph Smith, don't pray to him, nothing.  He was a prophet.  Moses was a prophet.  Abraham was a prophet.  We don't worship them either.  But we study their words.  We still have a prophet today.  We have twelve apostles.   John was an apostle.  Peter was an apostle.  We don't worship them.  We do listen to their words, when they speak as the mouthpiece of God.  

If you can understand all that, I commend you for understanding my confusing writing style.  I don't mean to offend anyone.  I'm just pointing out the Mormons believe in Christ and are just as much of a cult as any other religion.  I should know.  I'm a Mormon.

And happy birthday Mom!

Who loves conference? I love conference!

If you missed it, click here.

Important highlights/what I thought was awesome about conference:

• The Provo Tabernacle will be converted into a temple!  I'm excited for all the celebrations and things associated with dedicating a temple - and it'll all be here in Provo.  What a wonderful blessing to have two temples in our city.  
• President Thomas S. Monson - what a character!  He's so excited about the gospel and just transmits his happiness straight through the television screen.  I especially enjoyed this poem he shared.  Even though he's shared it before, it had more personal meaning this time.

Dare to be a Mormon;
Dare to stand alone.
Dare to have a purpose firm,
And dare to make it known.

• The power of covenants.  I think that this was brought up over and over again.  The marriage covenant is the most important covenant we can make.  After understanding this concept even more fully this past week during my Book of Mormon class, I would say that even the word welded almost isn't accurate in describing how linking this covenant can be.  I would go so far as to say that it fuses the two individuals together.  If they keep their covenant, they will receive their eternal glory.  
• The eternal perspective.  The gospel gives us a greater understanding of what is going on around us.  There are things that seem unfair, unjust, but they will be made fair through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  As we learn from modern-day revelation, doctrines found in the scriptures are clarified and can have even more meaning and application in our lives.  

General conference, combined with BYU winning their football game and the end of this season of Doctor Who, made this last weekend the best weekend ever.  And I have feeling that things will just get better from here.  Of course, it depends on everyone using their agency righteously.

As a footnote, or something, congratulations to Joe and Emily who got married yesterday.  I don't know why we say congratulations.  To me it sounds like saying, "Way to fall in love with each other," or, "Good job at getting along and deciding to spend the rest of your lives together."  I just think it should be something more along the lines of, "I'm so happy for you.  Remember to forgive each other."  I guess congratulations is just shorter and easier to remember.