3 Podcast Recommendations and 2 Books

Here I recommend three podcasts I've been listening to recently.  They are:
The Unexplained with Howard Hughes.
The Higherside Chats.
Occult Science Radio.

The two books I've read and recommend highly, particularly the King memoir:
On Writing, by Stephen King.
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield.

Ebola - Another 'Serious Crisis' That We Should Not Let Go To Waste

When you see the Mainstream Media flogging a crisis like the latest - Ebola - you should soon start to see patterns and inconsistencies.  The Government Media Complex works very hard at Herd Redirection, something that before the internet must have been much easier.  The Ebola 'crisis' is confusing.  Does the government 'care' about making people better, curing the sick?  Then why do over a million people die from Malaria each year?  Why do more Americans die of the flu each year than have died from Ebola during its entire history?  Where is the crisis mode attack and howling in the MSM over these things?  Now that I think about it, around 100,000 people die each year from prescription drug use - that number only includes those using the drugs correctly under a doctor's supervision.  Where is the high pitched high volume media panic?

Politically, here are the W Bush-esque moves that the latest "different" administration had done.  These will be explained away and justified only by True Believers.  Think "The Church of Salvation Through Legislation - first pew".

• An Ebola Czar appointed with zero experience in the field - echoes perfectly with "heckuva job Brownie".
• Troops committed to the area - to do what?  Shoot at a virus? - echoes perfectly with the W Bush reaction to every crisis.
• Executive order that allows detaining Americans against their will - echoes perfectly with W Bush's executive order because it simply amended it!

Early 90's Dave Matthews Band and the 10,000 Hour Rule

In one of the more unpredictable posts, I match the early 1990's music I'm listening to from the Dave Matthews Band (courtesy of DMBlive) and the 10,000 hour rule talked about by Malcolm Gladwell.  I'm a big fan of DMB, and getting recordings from 1992 and 1993 from this wonderful group of musicians is fantastic.  The music is great, the original lineup works wonders (Peter Griesar, the original keyboard player who quit in March 1993 is included) and one can see how good these guys were early when they were unknown and playing small gigs locally.

No Man Knows My History - Book Review

No Man Knows My History - the life of Joseph Smith, provides a detailed, interesting and yes, entertaining picture of the life of the founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith.  I don't fully understand why I am fascinated by the story of the origins of the Mormon Church. Perhaps it is my love of conspiracies, esoteric knowledge and independent thinking.   Reading John Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven got me started.  Like most Americans, I had heard of the the Mormon church, I knew about the polygamy of the old days of the church, and knew it was vaguely connected with Christianity.  I did not know initially about the tight connection to Freemasonry.  Like everything we learn in our adult years, the truth is much more complicated and interesting.  Fawn Brodie provides a wondrous explanation of what happened at the very beginning.  No Man… also sends the reader back to these days as if one were  in a time warp.

The details of Smith's early life in the Burnt Over District in New York State sets up both a base for who Smith became and a detailed portrait of that era.  The difficult life presented explains clearly how it was easy to be hungry, tired, cold and impoverished.  Smith's insatiable desire to avoid hard work, to get wealthy by sticking rods into the ground to locate buried treasure via a peep-stone, fortune telling, and mooching off of others is well documented.  Brodie took a lot of criticism from the Mormon church (she was excommunicated) for her depiction of Smith as what he document-ably was.  A feather in her cap and one of the reasons I felt compelled to buy the book.

Part of me, throughout my reading, kept asking 'why did people believe this guy?'  There are instances that are beyond credulity once Joseph Smith became the leader of somewhat sizable organization.  The discovery of the 'golden plates' and the following creation of The Book of Mormon seem impossibly ridiculous today.  (Don't go looking for the plates, the same angel that showed them to Smith spirited them back to Heaven).  Much of the book explains what Smith said and how it was received by his flock and his detractors.  Smith routinely had 'revelations', dictates from God that told him what to do and how others should behave.  Brodie explains: "In January 1841 he presented to the church a revelation from God ordering the Saints to build a hotel.  The extraordinarily mundane details of of this commandment seem not to have troubled his people" "…and they shall not receive less than fifty dollars for a share of stock in that house, and they shall be permitted to receive fifteen thousand dollars from any one man for for stock in that house.  But they shall not be permitted to receive over fifteen thousand dollars from any one man…"  No Man… is filled with this kind of thing.  That God would lay out the financial details of building a church is strange, if not blasphemous.  Was God worried about inflation - did He take into account the Jacksonian attacks on the Central Bank?  The subtly adjusted Gold Standard? Throughout much of the book I started to see a common thread:  people, even intelligent free thinking people who have gone through real struggle, will  believe anything.

I had heard of the connection between Mormonism and Masonry via my readings within the Conspiracy Community.  I was curious if Brodie would comment on the topic.  Perhaps when she wrote this book mentioning Masonry didn't get you branded a conspiracy theorist! and therefore a fringe kook, because Brodie goes into great detail the Smith's close connection to the Freemasons (he was one) and the Mormon practices and initiations that mirror the Mason's. The Mormons believe that with enough prayer, practice and patience they can become like God (hence the Latter Day Saints), and the Book of Mormon has close parallels to the stories within Freemasonry.  Joseph Smith, out of bullets and about to jump out of the Carthage jail window and be killed, reportedly flashed a Masonic symbol and pleaded for help from his 'brothers' in the crowd.

It is easy to bash the Mormon Church, and I feel I have to be careful that this review not become a polemic against the LDS Church.  Firstly, America is supposed to be a place where people can worship whatever and whomever they choose.  Shamefully, many of Smith's peers seemed to have forgotten that part and persecuted him and his followers because of their nonstandard beliefs.  Secondly, Smith, in an entrepreneurial fashion stuck with what worked and discarded what didn't in his creation and evolution of the Church.  He moved to different areas of the country and overcame seriously violent opposition.  (He was killed while he was the prisoner of a rogue prosecutor).  Lastly, Smith's life was fascinating.  His story reads like the incredible thing it was, and Brodie combines exhaustive research, multiple appendices and a free flowing writing style in order to depict it appropriately.  Despite my incredulity and disbelief, I highly recommend this book.

They're People, Not Numbers

The continued practice of "data driven instruction"and "testing" and relentless taking for granted of students in school goes off the rails.  I explain how in this 10 minute podcast.