How To Convert iTunes to MP3

Background

When a song is downloaded using the iTunes program, it is encoded in an Apple proprietary format with the suffix ".m4p". When the free iTunes program is used to convert these files to mp3 or any other actually usable format, an error message is displayed informing the user that "protected" files cannot be converted to mp3.

This makes it virtually impossible for the user to use the files, which have been rightfully bought and are now owned by the user, on any non-Apple device. This also restricts the user from using the files as part of a slide show, movie, or any other multimedia project which is not compiled on Apple software. This is a problem for the sensible people like me who are more concerned with system performance and usability (and thus PC owners) than bright colored lights, shiny things, creative commercials, and how 3-D and new-age my desktop looks (and thus Mac owners).

Two Methods

If you have a pile of writable cd's around that you don't care about and a bunch of time to waste, iTunes does allow the user to make music cd's with their iTunes files. Then user can then use any of the myriad of free cd ripping utilities (including Windows Media Player) to rip the music back off of the cd onto the computer in mp3 or any other format.

A better solution to this problem is to use the MyFairTunes utility. This free program creates a new music file, magically changing the encoding of your song from the protected ".m4p" format to the unprotected ".m4a" format. Once the format is changed, the user can import the ".m4a" file into iTunes and then use the built in iTunes mp3 converter without reservation.

Tag, I'm It

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. Enjoying being a typical 15 year-old Sophomore at Lenape High School.
2. Taking flight lessons.
3. Doing my Eagle Scout project.
4. Getting rides from Matt Braydich home from school cuz I wasn't old enough to drive yet.
5. On a youth Church trip to Kirtland, OH I totally developed a crush on a girl named Rebecca Defeo.

5 things on my to-do list today
1. Pack for huge holiday trip.
2. Clean the house in preparation for leaving.
3. Continue reading the book "Five Families" about the rise of the 5 most powerful NY mafia families.
4. Finish grad school applications.
5. Enjoy not actively having any assignments due.

Snacks I enjoy
1. Snickers
2. Ice cream and brownies
3. Crumb Coffee Cake
4. Cheese poofs (Nicole totally inspired me to say this one!)
5. Chocolate chip granola bars

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
I'm going to go presidential here and change the heading to say "when" I'm a billionaire :)
1. Save Africa with Lisa (our agreement is that I can't buy anything for myself until we save Africa).
2. Call up Lisa's uncles to setup a trust fund and otherwise soundly invest it.
3. Pay off any debts anyone in the family has.
4. I don't think I would start any new charities...I think there are plenty out there. I would probably focus on one or two that have realistic and honorable goals, wise leadership, and a clear direction and contribute both financially and in influence and manpower (if I've got billions, I probably know influential people).
5. Get Lisa her yellow Jeep and me an airplane hanger for my Aston Martin and Cessna.

3 Bad habits
1. Sometimes I get too focused on my work and don't pay enough attention to Lisa.
2. I really really really enjoy sitting around and totally wasting time and doing absolutely nothing.
3. Yea it's true, I pick my ears.

5 Places I've lived
1. Born and raised in Mt. Laurel, NJ.
2. Provo, UT for undergrad.
3. Salt Lake City, UT.
4. Tampa area of Florida for my church mission.
5. Brighton (Rochester, NY) for grad school.

5 Jobs I've Had
1. Weed slave for Hans' Landscaping...man that's some tough work.
2. Rock climbing instructor at Vertical Reality.
3. Research Assistant for BYU physics dept., Dr. Durfee.
4. Waiter at Chef's Table in Orem, UT.
5. Lisa and I were both "outside sales reps" for a jewelery store.

5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me
1. I took flying lessons.
2. I love to cook.
3. I've never naturally been very good with kids. (Lisa and I share this one!)
4. Ever since I started rock climbing, I developed a fear of heights. I have no fear whatsoever if I'm attached to a rope, but ladders and other heights kinda weird me out now.
5. I play the guitar.

I tag anyone who wants to do this. David Timme and 4 of my imaginary friends.

The Office, Writer's Strike, And My BFF

Lisa and I pay for "cable" (essentially it's just the networks, but we don't have to fiddle with bunny ear antennas) primarily so that we can watch ER and The Office every week. I was saddened today to see that it was another re-run...obviously a ramification of the writer's strike. I quickly went to the NBC website to see if there was any additional information about when new episodes would be airing. There wasn't...but there IS this gold mine of a section where anyone can post "comments" about recent episodes. Most of the comments are pleas for NBC to "pay the writers" so that new episodes can air. This one, I thought, was amazing:

hey guys!
i just got hooked on the office and i always set my alarm clock to 8:00 on thursdays, just do i won't miss the office, MY BRAND NEW FAVORITE SHOW!!! well, u can proabably imagine how disappointed i was when i found out there's gonna be NO MORE NEW EPISODES. me and one of my bff's jenny, always talk about the office in our spanish class and we always qoute these two sayings: "hey hey you you i dont like ur boyfriend, cuz cuz cuz cuz cuz he sucks at ping pong!" and "hey your ugly and the evidence is RIGHT THERE." hahahahahah, im cracking up just typing those. so i dont really think u read this and i dont think this will make a difference or anything but PLEASE MAKE A DEAL. I CANT LIVE ANOTHER MONTH WITHOUT A NEW EPISODE OF THE OFFICE!!!! ughhh. pleaseeee. pretty pleasee.

all love to the show/company,
Julia
JULESS ferrn
December 5 - 6:32pm PT

Wow.

Book Review: Freakonomics

I've been so busy recently with school and my sister's wedding (which was awesome) that I'm way back-logged on posts I want to write. We'll start with a book review. This was another book on cd for Lisa and me. We listened to it while driving to and from Lisa's dad's house in Detroit for Thanksgiving.

Freakonomics claims to present a mind-altering perspective to the way we view not just the economy, but life in general. In the beginning of the book, the author states that many of the points he makes may seem unorthodox at first, but after hearing him out we will discover that his conclusions make perfect sense.

He argues his points in solid syllogisms throughout the entirety of the book, making his points clear and salient from impetus to conclusion. However, almost in passing, the author points out a principle which ultimately is the mortal downfall of his entire platform.

He briefly mentions a principle called "The Butterfly Effect"- one small overlooked cause can have dramatic effects [a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can cause a tornado to form in Texas...see below for a more nerdy description]. Having done numerous calculations of differential equations and knowing more than the average person about chaos theory, my attention was perked when I heard him mention the Butterfly Effect.

On every issue, the author gives us some initial condition (abortion being legalized; the No Child Left Behind program being enacted) and then holds our hand through a series of facts and statistics which lead to the now-logical conclusion (our current crime rate is much lower than 20 years ago because kids who are prone to crime are no longer being born; teachers are becoming corrupt [like sumo wrestlers] in order to keep their class grades high).

The problem is that the Butterfly Effect doesn't work both ways...it's an irreversible process. Essentially what the author is saying is that he has found THE butterfly in South America that caused the tornado in Texas. That's quite a claim!

With that said, I really enjoyed the author's thoughts and feel that he made some interesting points. Maybe he has found the butterfly in many of the issues he tackles. However, the tornado was also effected by the Earth's rotation and the jet stream and the warm and cold air masses...all of which need to be considered.

I think there are two good items of discussion from this book.

1- Let's say that his syllogisms are accurate (the legalizing of abortion does have a significant effect on our current crime rate). How significant of an effect is it in comparison to the myriad of other factors which contributed to the outcome(improved economy, improved schools, fewer crimes being reported, etc...).

2- Let's say that he has genuinely found THE butterfly and direct cause of whatever his conclusion is. Does it qualify that means towards the specified ends? Suppose that the legalizing of abortion is directly responsible for our current drop in crime. Does that mean that we should never consider outlawing abortion for fear of crack-babies shooting up the streets? Where is the line...1st trimester, 2nd, 15th? My sister-in-law (an elementary school teacher) recently had an altercation with one of her more troubled students which ended with the student shoving her. This child obviously is in a statistically high position of engaging in crime during his life. He probably should have been aborted. We might as well just kill him now in order to avoid the inevitable, right? Enter Jonathan Swift...

Or is the problem more with the fact that we have these socio-economic sectors that are prone to crime in the first place? Maybe if we focused more on improving peoples' quality of life and "teaching them how to fish", the crime rate would go down without having to kill children. I realize how naive and high-and-mighty this sounds. I have no idea how to improve the economy or an entire civilization's quality of life, and I'm not creative or charismatic enough to make people think that I can. That's why I'm in science, not politics.

All in all the book is a great "bathroom reader". It's chuck full of interesting statistics and is at times thought provoking. By no means does is knock you over the head and change your view of the world, but it just might make you say "hmmm...interesting, I hadn't thought about that" a few times.

[Butterfly Effect: Gets its roots in chaos theory. Edward Lorentz in the 1960's was running a weather simulation (again) on one of those new-fangled things called computers. Complex calculations took a long time back then...commonly over the course of days. Lorentz stopped his calculation one night and recorded the current value of his computation. He came back the next day and re-entered the value, but truncated it to three decimal places instead of pushing in all six from the night before. To his amazement, the end result of his computation was completely different than the first time he ran it. Apparently, the onehundredthousandth of a change in his daily initial condition was enough to alter the entire algorithm. One uncreative scientist after another suggested a name for this phenomena until eventually "the Butterfly Effect" was settled upon.]

Why My Wife Is Awesome

This is a stereopost.

1) She is the best mom ever. Seriously, you have to see how James lights up when he sees her. You have to see how James interacts with her. He trusts her. He loves her. He knows that she's going to always make him happy and take care of him.

2) She's an incredible wife. Staying at home and supporting me and our family has been a difficult adjustment for her...she's incredibly intelligent and motivated to work in her field...but she has been wonderful. She works hard to have food ready for our family, she works hard to make our house beautiful, and she works hard to make my life easier in any way possible.

3) She's a wonderful friend. Lisa genuinely cares about me and my life and tries to care about the things which are important to me. She calls to see how my day is going and thinks about me when I'm not with her.

4) She's one hot mamma :)

Stereopost

Ladies and gentlemen, you are currently witnessing a historical event. I am, right here and now, coining the word stereopost. Definition: Stereopost- when an identical message is posted on multiple blogs at the same time.

Call me Shakespeare.

Book: The Smartest Guys In The Room - The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron

Book: The Smartest Guys In The Room - The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron

This was by far the most enjoyable, intriguing, thought-provoking, and fastest read I've picked up so far. (As a side note, I have wondered, and still wonder, whether the title is supposed to be a play on the homonym "Smartest guise in the room.")

It was written by a couple of writers at Forbes magazine who were intimately familiar with Enron, having dealt with the company since its inception. They meticulously step through the company's existence from the promising and fruitful beginnings of its energy operations to it's ultimate demise as America's largest bankruptcy, weighing in somewhere in the order of $30+ Billion in debt.

The most enlightening aspects of the Enron saga are the personalities and personal journeys of each of the key players behind Enron's existence. I think it's fair to say, in general, that most successful people in business are either 1) Brilliant, 2)Incredibly charismatic, or 3)Fortunate benefactors of nepotism. The founder (Ken Lay) wasn't very business smart, but had a good idea and was amazingly charismatic and quickly roped in his brilliant minions.

Minions is a bit misleading of a word because I think it has too negative of a connotation. I honestly think that at the beginning, the business plan was legit and had all the promise to be a very successful enterprise. Actually, it was wildly successful in it's first year of existence. If done correctly, the Enron dynasty could probably have been bigger now than it ever was.

The reader very quickly sees what happens when incredibly intelligent people are put together towards a common goal in an atmosphere of amoral adherence to the "letter of the law". Like I said, the operation was legitimately making money hand over fist the first year or so...but quickly after that, all "profits" were merely the magic of clever accounting.

This is a story of brilliance turned to hubris and invincibility but yet no accountability. I think the theme of the epilogue "Is anybody to blame?" sums up well the personalities of the key players involved. Everyone felt as though they had done nothing wrong. It's almost impossible to pinpoint when any laws had actually been broken...the regime was one continual exploitation of loopholes and gray areas.

The tale is truly terrifying in a very real sense. It's amazing to think that one of the worst businesses in American history was heralded as stable and as a "good buy" by many Wall Street analysts even up until the day before it imploded and ruined thousands of people's lives as well as the bottom line in some of the world's largest banks. It's amazing that brilliant accountants and relentlessly charismatic leaders can do more to bolster the stock of a company than actual legitimate earnings.

What I learned: Honesty, honesty, honesty. Then hard work. Then brilliance.

Living A Whole Life

Becoming a parent is quite amazing. You're going along in life and everything seems to be going just great. You get your education, you get married, and you're enjoying life. Then you have a child and can't imagine how life would be without a kid. It's amazing how having a child fills such a wide void that you never even knew was ever there.

In Church today a woman about my age spoke today about gratitude. To make a long story short, her husband and she weren't planning on having kids when they did. She's a med student and he's also in school and also working, but they're working it out and their child is obviously an unforeseen blessing in their lives. The introductory statement of this post is from her talk.

Her comments reminded me of Lisa and my baby story. I had always been of the persuasion that young married couples should hold off on having kids for a few years and just really focus on getting to know each other first. After all, once you have kids, you really don't get much time for just you two as a couple until the kids are out of the house right?

I also, however, always thought that the decision of when to have children would lie primarily with the mom...after all it is by divine design that women are moms. I think that the "divine" part of that statement warrants some serious attention to the woman's feelings as far as timing.

When Lisa and I got married, we talked at length about kids and timing and Lisa felt the same way as me in that we should wait a while and enjoy our lives as newlyweds first.

At the beginning of our marriage, Lisa and I were in the habit of attending the Temple every week. Only a few months in, Lisa started feeling some strong promptings to have a child. Needless to say, this came as a surprise to both of us. We both started praying frequently about the matter, and the feeling didn't subside. I still had a couple years of my undergraduate education left, and Lisa still had her graduate education as well as the professional experience necessary to become certified in her field left to complete. We had no idea how the timing could possibly work out.

I think this was the first time in our marriage that we really put forth a conscious effort to act on faith.

Our son James, who is now about 16 months old, was born about 11 months later. In retrospect, if we had not had James at that exact time, we would most likely still not have a child, and not be in a position to have one for months still. We were blessed with absolutely heavenly friends in Utah who helped us in so many ways. Lisa was blessed with incredibly understanding professors who didn't necessarily make her load any easier, but made sure she knew what she needed to do and made the path clear in order to graduate.

I'm sure that I'm not really conveying how I feel here, but this whole experience has been truly miraculous. I love that kid so much. I look forward to waking up in the morning and seeing him; I look forward to coming home at night and seeing him.

Had we not had James when we did, I'm sure we would have taken more vacations. I'm sure we would have gone on more extravagant dates and probably earned more money. We might live in a better home. We might have better furniture and more toys. We most likely would be more well rested and be in better shape physically.

We probably would have had more fun (or at least fun as we knew it back then), but I'm positive we wouldn't be nearly as happy.

I'm thankful for a wife who listens to the promptings of the Spirit and has the courage and faith to act. I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows just what we need, even if it's not what we think we want.

Book: Under The Banner Of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven

This is by far the most difficult book for me to objectively review. I picked it up while visiting a relative's house (who hasn't been to an LDS Church service in a while, but is respectful towards the Church) after reading the inside cover jacket. I had never heard of it before and was under the impression that it was an investigative report on how some members of the FLDS church committed a heinous murder. I had been wanting to know more about the FLDS faith, and it seemed like a good storyline, so I dove right in. Boy was I in for a ride.

I went through a broad spectrum of emotions while reading Under the Banner of Heaven. At first (like the first 20 pages), Jon Krakauer does a great job of being completely journalistic and reports only the facts of the perpetrators' backgrounds and the history of the FLDS church. Then he ever so carefully and slyly introduces his personal agenda into the writing.

His comments were upsetting to me at first- not because he was shaking my faith (I have spent a LOT of time reading anti-Mormon books and literature and researching the facts...his discussion and "facts" about the "evil dark side" of the LDS faith were actually some of the least compelling and persuasive I've read...but more on that later). It's more upsetting and saddening to me that so many people have read this book and trusted this man's writing and now have a skewed and tragically incorrect knowledge of the faith that I know, love, and cherish.

Krakauer bills himself as a journalist, but in reality he is a story-teller. His previous works have similarly been stories based on true experiences (He also received much scrutiny for his other best-selling book Into Thin Air for inaccuracies in his depiction of that story). Nonetheless, he is a great storyteller, and it was engrossing and a fast read.

I can't decide if I believe that Krakauer endeavors to be as deceptive as he is. His writing style is such that he uses broad hyperboles frequently, and goes so far in his emphatic descriptions that he changes the meaning of his original statement. For example, he bluntly states as absolute fact that Mormons (members of the LDS Church) have to work hard and earn the love of Heavenly Father. While true that we do believe that faith and works are both required to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, we believe that the undying love of our Heavenly Father is unconditional. Many times he makes simple slips like this. He also repeatedly harps on the fact that violence and plural marriage are two of the greatest, most taught, and sacred tenants of the LDS faith. I'm really not sure where he got that idea...it was strange even to me that he would keep saying that. Again I'm not sure if he is trying intentionally to be deceptive with regards to these simple doctrines.

He does obviously have some adverse feelings towards the LDS Church. Though he advertises the book as focusing on the FLDS church, he spends the great majority of the work analyzing the mainstream LDS faith (which does intertwine to a certain extent with the FLDS), and speaking of how the current LDS members have this dark history which trains them to be violent and secretive.

He makes his case mainly by using two sources, whom he claims are the most reputable and well respected historians in American Mormon history. Both of these sources were apparently not friendly towards the LDS Church. The material Krakauer uses isn't anything groundbreaking or new- he essentially perpetuates the same fables, misconceptions, exaggerations, and hearsay which has been circulating (and depending on who you ask disproven) for generations now. As always, it is up to the reader to decide whose evidence they are going to believe, as the many versions of "Mormon History" all claim to be factually based and easy to believe from first examination. Naturally, if the reader only reads this story, they are getting an awfully one-sided account. According to some historically based reviews I read of this book, he didn't even consistently use his sources correctly. It has been said that he used the sources accounts as they fit his agenda, even if the accounts from his sources differed. How unenlightening.

After I finished the book, I heard that there was quite the hoopla within the religious community when it came out. I searched online and found these official statements from the LDS church concerning Under the Banner of Heaven. I had no idea the book was such a big deal!

From an intellectual point of view, I was disappointed from the first blatantly incorrect statement read. He lost his journalistic integrity with me, and now I cannot even believe anything he said about the FLDS faith and their followers, thereby frustrating the reason I picked up the book in the first place. Krakauer would be better served to keep his label as a storyteller, and stop trying to build an image as an investigative reporter.

Book: The Kite Runner

Kite Runner

Apparently everybody in the world loves this book...except me. I don't really like fictional books. I realize that this book is supposed to incorporate true events into a fictional storyline, but it just didn't work for me. Actually, this book was a testament to me why I don't spend time on fictional books...it was a semi-compelling story based upon bona-fide compelling events. I'd rather learn about the actual struggles of Muslim youth than a made up tale.

Admittedly, I didn't actually read this book. Lisa and I listened to it on CD as we drove across the country. Maybe that made the story less interesting or harder to follow. All I know is that I wasn't really compelled to listen.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. It's not a bad read if you like historical fiction (obviously...it's a NYT best seller about to be a movie). Just not my cup of tea.

Book: The Mormon Way of Doing Business

The Mormon Way of Doing Business

I had heard that there were a disproportionate number of LDS CEOs and high ranking corporate people in America vs. people of other faiths, and this book essentially highlights why the tenants of the LDS faith make these people who they are and how their faith affects their business principles. To be unbiased in my review, I must admit that the author of the book is LDS, but I believe that he was objective in his writing.

At the time of publication, the CEOs of JetBlue, Dell, Madison Square Garden, and Deloitte and Touche, the CFO of American Express, and the president of Harvard Business School as well as a high ranking professor in that same program were all LDS. It seems like there were more I just can't think of anymore, but those were the main ones.

The first half of the book steps point by point through the main beliefs of the LDS faith, giving relevant personal stories from each of these people's lives. The second half focuses mainly on the American Express, JetBlue, and Madison Square Garden CEOs experience during the events of September 11.

This book has probably done more to motivate me to work hard and to read than any other book I've read. Every one of these successful individuals has worked exceedingly hard in life, and has developed a love for reading. They have also, even though their positions are extremely time consuming, done all possible to keep their family as their top priority and to fulfill their callings. Most of them are either Bishops or Stake Presidents.

Lesson's I learned while reading this book: it's more important to work hard and intelligently during the time that you are working than to just pull long hours; it is much easier to focus while at work if your affairs at home are in order (in other words, disarray at home always effects job performance...or to be blunt, observe complete marital fidelity); behind every successful man is an amazing and patient and equally busy and productive woman; it is truly possible to be successful as a father, husband, and member of the workforce all at the same time if you're willing to put in the time and effort.

Book: The Science of Cooking

The Science of Cooking

As if there were any doubt, I think this solidifies my standing as a total nerd. This book is published by a company that mainly puts out textbooks, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were part of the curriculum in some culinary schools. I picked this one up because I love to cook and it seemed logical to me that I could be a better chef if I scientifically understood the process of cooking. I believe that I achieved that goal.

I think that another dimension is added to the cooking experience when preparing a gourmet dish is viewed as an experiment in chemistry and biology rather than a mechanical procedure. It is one thing to be able to follow the directions of a cookbook. It is another to understand why we cook different foods at different temperatures and why we add certain ingredients and mix them certain ways.

In reality, I still have no idea what I'm talking about, but it was an interesting read. It reads like a textbook and is chuck full of information you probably haven't thought about before (Why does meat brown? How do you know when something is fully cooked? What makes a food/sauce thick?). If you like science you'd like this book. If you like cooking you'd love this book. If you like science and cooking, well then more power to you. If you don't like either, I pity the fool!

Horray For Books!

It took me some 25 years, but I can now say that I enjoy leisure reading. I guess that's what happens when you haven't owned a gaming system in your residence for over 6 years and then don't get cable for a while. On a side note, we realized recently that we pay $8/mo for the most basic cable package (I don't even call it cable because it only gives us the network stations) and only watch 2 shows every week- The Office and ER. Considering that The Office is 30 mins. long and ER 1 hour, that means we pay approximately 67 cents for every episode of The Office and $1.33 for every episode of ER. Money well spent!

Anyway, since I've been reading, I figured it was time to do a quick review of the books I've read since April. I'll list them in the order I read them, with the most recent being last. This will be a series of posts to section the reviews more.

Stuck between a Rock and a Hard Fist

Those of you who know me well know that I have a somewhat unhealthy infatuation with sports which, if left unbridled, would probably take over my life. (Little known fact- My two pipe-dream professions while in high school were an airplane pilot and a sports announcer...I even did the on-air tv morning announcements and some local cable shows for my high school). However, Lisa keeps a good watch on me and I'm pretty well motivated to do well in school, so I don't spend nearly as much time on sports as I used to.

My favorite league to watch and follow has always been ice hockey. I know...you're thinking to yourself "I thought they only still played that in Canada and Soviet-bloc countries anymore." Well guess again...it's still around, although the least popular of the big 4 (football, basketball, baseball, hockey), but picking up steam.

So I was checking the game recap recently for when the Philadelphia Flyers played the Washington (DC) Capitols, and this was the picture they had posted on the Flyers homepage: Now what can we gain from this picture? Hmm...maybe that parents and kids alike have bright beaming smiles on their faces like they're watching Copperfield perform magic as they observe Mike Richards (Flyers - orange) make a little school girl out of some Washington player. My favorite is the kid in the upper-right corner who looks barely 10 with the HUGEST open mouth smile. My mom just walked by, saw the picture, and commented something to the effect of how barbaric and horrible it is. Ladies and Gentlemen, consider this your introduction to one of the most interesting and ongoing debates in all of sports...the need (or lack thereof) for fighting in hockey.

What are we, Neanderthals?! It's just a street fight on ice! Somebody think about the children! What kind of role models are these thugs?! How can bare knuckle brawls possibly enhance a skill sport? Well my friends, you may be surprised to know that I am a long-standing and avid supporter of fighting in hockey. I could write for entirely too long all about why hockey fights get a bad wrap from the ignorant, but I'll suffice to list just a few reasons why hockey brawls actually give more to the game than they take away.

First of all, critics claim that if the NHL (National Hockey League) is ever going to become more mainstream, they have to get rid of fighting because it's just not something that people and families want to see. Hmm...again I refer you to the picture at the beginning of the post. Furthermore, I give you one of the greatest overall fights of all time. This was a few years ago between Philadelphia and Ottawa. A (still record) 410 penalty minutes were handed out, and there were barely enough players left on each team to finish the game (you need 5 on each side and I think the Flyers had 7 and Ottawa 8 when all was said and done). Listen to the crowd in the background and you tell me how many people were mortified at the atrocity happening on the ice.



Uh huh. Didn't hear too many people in that sold out arena of about 19,000 complaining about what they were seeing. (FYI, this all took place on consecutive face-offs and took probably no more than 15 seconds off of the game clock. Although over 400 penalty minutes were assessed for the game, no real punishments of any consequence were handed out...everyone was back for the next game)

Ok, now this is an extreme example. Most fights are only a minute long and only between two players. Anyway, my point is that people seem to like it. I mean really like it. I think from a popularity standpoint more hardcore fans would be put off by a loss in fighting than new fans would be attracted. The real problems with popularity, in my opinion, are that the NHL has done a horrible job with marketing and that the game simply doesn't lend itself to TV well (it's just plain hard for someone who doesn't know what's happening to follow along!).

Secondly, it's not the so-called bloodbath that many would have you believe. The players are in a controlled atmosphere with the referees closely watching (yup...they just watch). I'm not going to get into it, but there are plenty of written as well as unwritten rules governing hockey fights. By and large the players walk (skate) away with minor cuts and bumps with most of the damage done to ego.

Finally, I buy into the theory that allowing fights prevents more serious injuries. Look at it this way- hockey is a very fast sport. I trust most of you have gone ice skating before, and realize that you start going pretty fast pretty quickly once you get those legs pumping. Many of you have probably accidentally ran into someone else while skating- yea ouch. Now imagine that you're trained to skate exceptionally fast and someone else as equally trained doesn't like you and decides to "accidentally" clip your knee or your FACE while skating by each other. Or how would you like to have a half-pound brick of solid rubber hit you in the head or back going about 95 mph?

It would be hard to prove that any of these actions were done purposefully, but yet many of them could end your career. Fights allow an effective outlet for aggression before frustration and anger lead to cheap shots. In essence, fights actually protect the players from incidents like this:(FYI- in an odd coincidence, the player you just watched get whacked across the side of the head is the same player that started the whole Philadelphia-Ottawa scrum you watched earlier. His name is Donald Brashear...an "enforcer". Word to the wise...don't mess with a team's enforcer.)

On a relatively side note, if you understand the dynamic of the game, you understand that winning a fight many times shifts momentum and can lead to winning games. Teams put a lot of money into having players who can intimidate and win fights if needed.

Anyway, this is getting absurdly long, so there's the debate - consider yourself informed.

Source of Emotions

First of all, since Lisa is going to be posting something everyday this month in our family blog, I'll probably stick mostly to this one so as to not overload the other one.

I was walking down the stairwell of the Wilmot Building (which is where I spend most my time on campus...it is the epicenter for the Institute of Optics) and thought to myself "Hmm it feels like Christmas." Yup- I'm fully aware that it is November 2nd and I was all hyped up on Halloween all of two days ago. I'm also aware that we have such milestones as Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, The First Day of Advent, Hanukkah, and my personal favorites Diwali and Eid al-Adha to hit before Christmas.

So what it is that makes us "feel" like it's a certain season? Ever since we've been here in Rochester, I feel flooded with old feelings that I used to get every year that I didn't get while in Utah. Is it the trees? The humidity? Maybe it's the overall colors or something less obvious like the altitude. Is it the weather patterns or maybe how people act? Could it be the building materials and how they look or smell at different times of the year?

Whatever the cause, I find our unconscious emotional reactions to seemingly unidentified catalysts amazing. All I was doing was walking down the stairs to heat up my frozen chimichanga lunch for the billionth day in a row after completing a somewhat difficult mathematical derivation (not exactly bringing in the holiday cheer!) and BAM, I'm ready for Christmas. Maybe it's the faint smell that emanates from the heating ducts mixed with the smell of hot beverages.

I felt the same way about the start of school and Halloween. For some reason the feelings conjured up while in my youth are stronger when I'm in an area that more closely resembles home. I really enjoy it and almost every day have had some sort of thought revolving around how much I've missed living in the Northeast for the past 7 years. (Though I must add, to appease the non-Easterners in the crowd, that I'm not saying that we'll live in the east forever- I'm just saying I like it :) )

Maybe I should read a book on human psychology. Maybe I should just attribute it to Wal-Mart having their "Black Friday" holiday kick-off celebration today instead of the day after Thanksgiving.

Happy Hallowtests!

Wow have the past couple weeks been rough! I was talking with some of my classmates about it recently, and we all agreed that we knew the program was going to be rigorous...but none of us expected it to be like this. Don't get me wrong- I'm not complaining, I love the fact that we'll have a full out MS degree in only 9 months...but good grief we're earning it. I've never worked so hard (except for my mission) and felt like I'm still struggling to tread water. The homework assignments all take many many hours to complete, and they continue to come, like clockwork, overlapping at the same time every week without relief. At least I score well on the homework.

I've had three of my four midterms now and numerically done horribly on all of them. Fortunately, it doesn't matter! All that matters is that I do as well or better than everyone else. For example, on my first midterm I scored an 80 out of 120. The class average was a 77/120, so that'll probably land me an A- or B+ for the test. Still, though, after all the studying I do, knowing that a 67% will probably be the highest percentage grade that I get on any midterm this year is kinda disheartening. I had my hardest midterm today because, according to my teacher, Halloween seems like a good day for it...grrrrr.

I asked him if anyone had ever scored 100% on his midterms before, and he replied "I don't think so." Faaaaaaaaaaaantastic. Couple that information with the fact that I am not Asian (those kids are seriously intellectually amazing) and I had zero hope of answering all the questions (not answering the questions correctly, just flat out answering the questions). Taking that test was like stepping on the end of a rake so that the pole comes up and whacks you in the face...over and over again. Fortunately it seemed like everyone else had similar bruises on their foreheads afterwards.

Well, hooray for the tests of this week being over! Check the family blog for pictures of the fun part of Halloween (mostly of James, of course :) )

I Am Now "That Dad"

Yup, the dad out in the hallway with his son during most of Sunday School and Elder's Quorum. There really ought to be a "pre-nursery". Lisa is a primary teacher, so she is gone for those two meetings every week. I've tried (and done a pretty good job I think until now) to keep James in the meetings with me, but I might as well be trying to bring a pet squirrel to class. He really just wants to run around and throw things and bang things and yell. Don't get me wrong...he's a happy kid- just a very loud happy kid. To my consolation, I saw a couple members of the Bishopric in the hallway doing the same thing. January 18...just three more months and then he'll be in nursery! Tell you what though- I sure love that kid. If I "have" to spend a couple hours outside of class with someone, I'm glad it's him.

How To Get Girls

Don't wear one of those "supposed to be funny but in reality everyone knows that you picked it off the rack at PacSun back in high school" shirts with the caption "How to get girls" written across the top of it with stick figure people doing wierd things.

Proof Positive

After reading that last post, my soon-to-be-brother-in-law (who is an incredibly intelligent guy in the world of biology and law) shared this picture with me. Thought you'd all enjoy it as well. It's titled "New Jesey children play in a fog of DDT in 1948." My parents were born in 1949...you see, we all turned out alright!

Nobel Warming

"Leeeeeet theeeeeeere be peeeeeeeeace on Eeeeeearth and let it begin with Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr..." Here's Albert as he officially wants the world to know him. Here's a more happy Al Gore. Well as you all undoubtedly know by now, Mr. Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for "creating the internet...[and taking] the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives...".

Alright, that was the obvious dig on Sir Albert. In reality he and the International Panel on [Global Panic and] Climate Change (IPCC) get to split the US $1M payout for "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". Now that he's a legitimate Nobel Laurette, I finally find myself vindicated in asking myself in difficult and trying times "WWAGD"- What Would Al Gore Do?

So it is appropriate at this point to admit that (regardless of my opening satire) I am like Sweden when it comes to Al Gore...just about as neutral as they come. I honestly find the man fascinating. I really don't know much about him as a person. I really don't know much about his cause(s). I DO know that he is NOT a scientist. Actually, I think he's more the antithesis of a scientist- a businessman...and not just a normal businessman, a politically motivated businessman. Maybe he really does have an amazingly super-human altruistic care for our planet and has honestly devoted his life to reducing the amount of carbon (and other "harmful" agents) in the world around us. I'm not one, however, to join movements simply because they're convincing and popular.

Anyone who frequently solves math problems knows that one of the best techniques to get a feel for an answer is to go to extremes (limits). So in this case it's not difficult to remember some other convincing and popular ideas from our past...Communism, National Socialist German Workers Party, Democracy, and maybe more applicable DDT. These are probably poor examples, but I think they illustrate my point in that movements aren't necessarily good ideas simply because someone tells you they are...although Democracy did turn out pretty darn well (except maybe in Iraq.....).

I've listened to the arguments for both sides of the "global warming" issue, and I've been impressed with both the caliber of people and level of logical persuasion that both sides have presented. It's refreshing to see a controversial topic being debated mainly with logos without so much of pathos and ethos which is so common among most political infomercials and agenda-pushing materials (see "Bowling for Columbine", "Fahrenheit 911", "The Wal-Mart Movie", and "Under the Banner of Heaven").

So after all the research I've done on the so-called impending global crisis (which I'm sure is not much by some peoples' standards) I've come to the conclusion that I don't know what to think about it. The arguments on both sides are terribly convincing. The leaders on both sides are well respected and highly educated. In an ideal world I would like to simply sit down and talk openly and honestly with members from both factions and just get the stone-cold facts...no propaganda, no misleading or incomplete or unweighted information, no exaggeration. Even then I still probably wouldn't know. Whatever the world deems to be truth, however, I'm afraid we're heading towards another DDT-type mega-decision which will impact the lives of millions and future generations. Like many out there, I AM sure the Earth is warming...I'm just not sure it's because of us or whether there is anything we can do about it or whether it is simply a cyclic pattern of the Earth's natural course.

(DDT note: DDT, as the pesticide is now infamously known, was a miracle bug killer upon its inception, and the inventor Paul Muller actually won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine directly because of it. Then in 1962, Rachael Carson [the 60's version of Al Gore] published a book Silent Spring bringing to light the possible effects this chemical could have on humans and animals, including cancer and birth defects. Unfortunately, before any decisive agreement could be made within the scientific community, DDT became black labeled as the next Agent Orange and since then has been outlawed in most countries around the world. As a result, countless people have suffered from bug-born diseases like Malaria simply because Rachael Carson thought there could be a chance that DDT would be harmful, and it's STILL up for debate in the scientific community if it's really harmful. In retrospect, even if DDT is harmful, which is worse- DDT effects or Malaria? Is the global warming issue one we're going to look back on in 15 years after we've spent billions and billions of dollars on it and say to ourselves "What were we thinking?"

Prologue

Though I don't feel as if I have a great knack for it, I find myself enjoying writing down my own personal thoughts about the world around me. I have no desire to write a private journal (unfortunately), but for some reason I find it both entertaining and intellectually stimulating to communicate the incessant ramblings of my mind to the world around me for everyone to read. So, since I would like to write a journal but just can't find the motivation to do it, we'll call this "blog" a happy medium. Don't worry though, I'll continue to be a regular contributor to our family's main blog. That forum will continue to serve as means to keep everyone updated on what's happening with our family. As the title suggests, this page will mainly be a conduit into the running commentary of my mind as I observe the world around me.