Recent Thoughts

Here are three things I've thought about recently:

1) They should make an app that takes pictures of Jelly Bellies, scans them, and then tells you the flavor. I really like most Jelly Bellies, but I can never tell what I'm going to get when I bite into one. Also, I can't really use complimentary flavors when I am eating them blindly. I eat watermelon, then cherry, and I'm going strong on a fruit theme....and then BAM! Coffee flavor!

I think there is probably an optimal order to eating Jelly Bellies...with each flavor building off the last in an orderly and increasingly delicious way...but right now this is just conjecture. If someone has given this some thought let me know.

And all you computer programmers get on this app, please. I think the Google goggles app would be a good framework to build from.

2) Easter egg hunts are a microcosm of capitalism. When the hunt starts you have to rely on your wits, creativity, and speed for success... and you have to pit these virtues against your competitors. Success is for the person who wants and works the hardest, and who has the skills to make their ambitions real.

But, sadly, there is a downside to the thrill of competition: Some people won't get as many eggs. These unfortunate souls sit sadly on the sidelines...in some corner with their sad, solitary Cadbury egg. They sit there wondering why they can't compete, and with nothing more than empty calories to console them.

This past Easter we had a predetermined amount of eggs for each family member. Everyone benefited the same from their search, regardless of effort. This meant everyone wandered aimlessly around the house without any drive or excitement. This is bad. This is what happens when big government (in this case my parents...sorry Mom and Dad) step in and kill the drive to excel by rewarding mediocrity.

There is no easy Easter egg distribution solution. The invisible hand favors the fastest and most aggressive Easter egg hunters, and it gives the invisible finger to the slow and the passive. Perhaps a combination of free market eggs and control? Maybe if we had an egg threshold and upon reaching that high threshold you paid a tax on your future findings, or perhaps a flat tax for everyone to be distributed to the neediest amongst us, or perhaps everyone gets a certain amount of eggs assigned to them, but then there's another class of egg that is a free agent and the property of whomever finds it first.

Who knows. All I know the matter is this: I know how I'll teach my children about capitalism.

3) Yesterday in church some guy gave a testimony that was easily 10 minutes. During the first few seconds of his testimony he grabbed the pulpit with both hands, and sorta just perched there. You could tell from his posture that he intended to be there for some time.

Within moments he had his scriptures out and he was giving a talk on authority. The man had long hair and was unshaven so he quickly addressed that and said this gem: "White shirts are connected to the priesthood, long hair to connected to culture, and this varies from season to season."

That's a poetic way of saying I'm not cutting my hair and I'm waiting till it's cool again.

I really love his line about white shirts. I'm gonna have to remember that one.

He also said, "The quorum of the 70 is half a prophet." I took this to mean that a prophet is a unit of measurement. The prophet, according to this fellow, is twice a 70...or 140. So, a prophet is equal to 1 prophet (the unit), which is equal to 140. If the quorum of the 12 is equal to 1 prophet that puts them at about 11.66 (repeating) each.

Maybe I'm taking him too literally.

Anyway, that guy was full of funny things. Maybe I'll mention more of the notes I took on his testimony/talk later.

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Well, that's all I'm thinking on right now. Hope you all have a great day.