Comments for Boap.org's Blog

Comment on John Goddard (1924-2013) RIP by Mex

Mex — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:08:42 +0000

He talked at my High School in Anchorage, Alaska about 1968 -1970 (can’t remember) and it was great. Got many of us to examine our lives and do some big planning. I remember him saying that he wasn’t going to get to the moon or climb Mt. Everest because of his age. He really was a great speaker and I forgot he was a Mormon. Not many like him anymore. I think some of our kids, now days, could use a guy like him. I got to get my bucket list back out and start living.

Comment on John Goddard (1924-2013) RIP by WVS

WVS — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:40:28 +0000

He was a larger than life persona, as I recall in the dim recesses of memory. Hearing about his death made me think of the dedication it took to go on those expeditions, time after time. Admiration, but not really envy for me at least.

Comment on John Goddard (1924-2013) RIP by Amy T

Amy T — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:22:56 +0000

Thanks for the note. I heard him speak back when I was a teenager and was so fascinated by his many experiences, and since then I’ve had a secret wish to kayak the Nile River. (Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, etc.) It looks like his Wikipedia article needs to be updated, but I don’t see an obituary yet. I’ll try and remember to check for one this week.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by WVS

WVS — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:56:22 +0000

Did he have access to RB1? Even Phelps gets confused about it. But I’m away from data.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:25:23 +0000

I thought that he had access to Manuscript Revelation Book 1, no? I forget when he made the comments about the sample of pure language.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by WVS

WVS — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:45:21 +0000

Cool stuff, Ardis. Thanks. It’s not completely clear that Orson *could* have translated all the names in any case.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by WVS

WVS — Sun, 12 May 2013 18:33:43 +0000

Ebenezer Robinson owned them because JS couldn’t come up with $200.00. After going with Rigdon, he went RLDS (and for a few years, Whitmerite). Maybe the plates survived him in RLDS hands? Shout out to Robin Jensen on this one, I guess.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:22:18 +0000

There are a lot of references to stereotyping in the BY correspondence, and this post prompted me to run a search. The most interesting (to me) reference that turned up was in an 1853 letter from Orson Pratt to Brigham Young: “I have not altered the fictitious names in the book of Covenants for the original ones, as it would interfere too much with the stereotype plates.” Just think — if he *had* been able to alter those names that early, we’d have missed out on one of the gloriously mysterious quirks of Mormonism!

The only Nauvoo-era reference I have, in case it supplements what WVS has, is a 13 January 1845 plea from Parley P. Pratt in New York to Brigham Young in Nauvoo: “Please Either authorise me to publish them both here as your agent and forward the Stereotype Plates of the D.C. or else publish them there in sufficient quantities to supply us.” (PPP is referring to the Doctrine and Covenants and to a hymnal.)

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 7. by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:35:16 +0000

Where did the Nauvoo-era stereotype plates end out?

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 6. by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:54:07 +0000

Fascinating. I had no idea. But that explains a lot. Thanks.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 6. by WVS

WVS — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:29:19 +0000

Closely related in fact. A freshly penned letter was pressed between the pages of a blank book with thin leaves, slightly dampened so that ink of a certain kind was impressed on the back of the thin leaf (so the ink on the verso could be seen when looking at the recto). A press was used much like one illustrated above, smaller of course.

Comment on Books and Printing and Mormons. Part 6. by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:34:26 +0000

Does this usage of letterpress relate to what seems to me the fairly common term “letterpress copybook”?

Comment on Compatibilist Free Will by WVS

WVS — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:48:17 +0000

“I have stated clearly why I believe determinism allows for real choice, and you have provided no other refutation than a blanket statement saying otherwise.”

Steve. Come on. I gave my definition of free will, one which most everyone understands in the same way. You are the one who claimed it doesn’t exist in order to support an idea that can’t be supported when free will exists. The business about fearing randomness is simply not sufficient to conclude that the universe is fully deterministic. But I leave you to your awful fate. May your past be kind to you!

Comment on Compatibilist Free Will by Steve

Steve — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:38:43 +0000

I am familiar with Blake Ostler’s positions, and again disagree on the principles outlined above. If you are going to say my position is that human choice does not exist, while I said the opposite, you should provide reasons. I have stated clearly why I believe determinism allows for real choice, and you have provided no other refutation than a blanket statement saying otherwise. I have provided evidence that free will cannot coexist with indeterminism, and yet you have not addressed these issues. No libertarian philosopher to my knowledge has either.

It is apparent you are not willing to address this conversation other than restating your position, and taking liberty to restate mine. So I will have to leave this conversation to rest.

At least we both agree that free will does exist. I additionally believe and have faith in a God who knows the specific future, and while we disagree, this is of central importance to my faith in God.

All the best!

Comment on Compatibilist Free Will by WVS

WVS — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:23:28 +0000

Steve, there are a number of ways to provide for your “Please explain the following without a God with foreknowledge: Christ being the lamb slain before the foundation of the world; knowing with 100% confidence that Christ would successful perform the atonement; knowing that the Jews would slay Christ and specifically hang Him on cross, Christ would be buried in a sepulcher, that Martin Harris would lose the 116 page manuscript,” without assuming exhaustive foreknowledge. If you want to really understand such, may I suggest you start with Blake Ostler’s Exploring Mormon Thought series, Greg Kofford Books. They will help.

Just one last remark on indeterminism: human choice really exists (for you, it does not). It’s not necessary for the orbit of Jupiter to be random for that to happen.