but I be done seen about everything

I was quite surprised to find an NPR article in my news feed this morning titled Mormon Church Backs Salt Lake City's Gay Rights Law.

Having been a Mormon in the SF bay area while Prop 8 was going down, I felt like I knew the church's attitude: everyone is a child of God, but only heterosexual marriage is okay.  I didn't get why it was so important for marriage to be only heterosexual, and there was a whole lot of discussion about it, as many of the members in the area are fairly progressive.  Needless to say, it was a time of a lot of conflict between individuals and the institution.

I knew that the church wasn't against the individuals of the LGBT community, just against homosexual marriage.  (And premarital sex, so it often feels like they're against homosexual relationships, but I sure hope they never get into legislation about that.)  So when I read the aforementioned article, it didn't come as a huge shocker, at least in retrospect; it was consistent enough with their previously declared positions.  

But it did make me extremely happy that they were making the effort.  The church does see where it could do better, and is having open conversation about it.  If there is one thing that I think the world could use more of, it's the willingness to be a little flexible and converse about differences.  I think knowing your own position and defending it is noble too, but we already have strong tendencies to do that.

And though I like the call to change, perhaps the church is wise in its decision to go about change slowly--it makes people more open in the long run. 

Update: NYT article on the topic

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every day is special

I am 23 years old today.  Twenty-three is a very good number--I shall make it my fifth favorite number.  Like Christmas, graduation days, and anniversaries, birthdays feel a little special.  Today, this happens.  Today, I am changed. 

And perhaps these things are true.  People act atypically and we feel something in ourselves.  But some of it is just anticipation, and often we are let down by the day.  I thought I would feel different.

Today being my birthday, I woke up and thought, I am 23 years old.  And through the day, I thought of things I could do to treat myself--nothing too indulgent.  Mostly I just wanted to eat well and enjoy myself.  I have done nothing terribly exciting; I went to work as usual, ate lunch, and then back to work.  Tonight will be simple as well, since I have the CS GRE tomorrow morning.  My fortune cookie at lunch said, "It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice," which I thought was fitting for an important day.

I feel very peaceful.  No extravagance, just seeing the simple joys.  I should feel this way everyday.  Perhaps tomorrow I shall wake up and think I am 8403 days old today.  I'm bound to fail miserably at keeping every day special--that defies the nature of the beast--but I will try.  It's less special, and more beautiful anyway, and beauty does not exclude those that surround it from being beautiful as well.

buying bread vs. making bread

I've been struggling with the dilemma of whether to buy bread or bake bread. Home-made bread tends to be healthier and is obviously more fresh. It can be tastier too, if you're skilled enough, which just comes with time. However, it takes much more time and energy to bake a loaf than it does to go out and buy one (unless you live quite far from a store and consider it exceptionally difficult to deal with the check-out personnel). Unable to make a conclusion, I decided to run some numbers to see which was cheaper, and I thought I'd share.

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The cost of buying bread every week is basically $2.50/loaf for Oroweat 100% Whole Wheat Bread from Safeway. I'd factor in transportation, but I go to the store just as much, whether my bread is bought or baked. That one loaf of bread is 1620 calories, which brings it to .154 cents per calorie.

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The cost of making bread is a little more complicated. There are a million permutations, but I'll just consider two: buying your yeast and keeping a yeast starter.  Also note that I'm not counting the cost of water.

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Weekly bread ingredients: packaged yeast: $0.44, 1.25 lb flour = $1.12, 2T honey = $0.25
Calories: 2200 calories

This comes to about .082 cents per calorie.  Additionally, you can factor in your time into the cost, but I enjoy baking enough not to do that.

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Weekly yeast maintenance: .25 lb flour = $0.22
Weekly bread ingredients: 1lb flour = $0.90, 2T honey = $0.25
Calories: 2200 calories

Once you get the routine going, it comes to .062 cents per calorie. There is a startup cost of getting your yeast going, but you might be able to find someone to give you some of theirs to start. 

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It's hard to grasp the cost of things when we're talking fractions of cents, but think of it this way: an individual consumes about 14000 calories a week.  If one-tenth of your caloric intake comes from bread, the difference between buying bread and baking bread is about $1.29 a week, or $67 a year.  If half of your caloric intake is from bread, it comes to $6.44 a week, or $335 a year.  It's counting pennies, but more information never hurts.

As for me, I'm going to see if I can get a yeast starter going.

Shotwell 0.3!

Yorba has released Shotwell 0.3.0, a major update to our digital photo organizer.  Yay!  Check it out: http://www.yorba.org/shotwell/

"The Most Amazing Halloween Costume Ever"

I know what I'm doing next year.

it's easier to draw it than to write its name

I'm on an errand to buy a can of air, so I swing by Office Depot. Standard procedure. I pick up the can and go to check out, a nice lady ringing me up. She's doing her thing, then asks me, "You 18?" Umb, I'm over 18 if that's what you mean. "Yeah," I say. "Of course," says my face. I didn't know you had to be of age to buy air. I don't even get carded when I buy cooking wine.

Okay, so it's not actually air; it's 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, or CH₂FCF₃. And I guess it makes sense to double check that kids aren't buying it...you turn the can upside down and spray a liquid stream that is colder than 100 below (F). Maybe I'll start carrying one of these around instead of mace. Anyway, people should be smart enough not to sell the things to eight-year-olds that are looking mischievous, or if they are going to have a government or company policy, they should actually check ID. Having faith in people is good, but laws that people don't take seriously are silly.

C3PO's girlfriend

Jeremy Mayer "disassemble[s] typewriters and then reassemble[s] them into full-scale, anatomically correct human figures. [He] do[es] not solder, weld, or glue these assemblages together- the process is entirely cold assembly." Way cool.

Some parts of the sculptures feel a little sterile--the faces mostly--but that happens easily with rigid parts. Overall, very nice.