Billy was born into working-class Pennsylvania home, and after a short stint at college, he began the grueling work of pitching products to passers-by on the Atlantic City boardwalk, transitioning to an arduous schedule of state fairs and auto shows for another 12 years. He loved what he did, and he was, by all accounts, kind and good with a strong sense of fairness. The man who hired Billy to be the national spokesman for Orange Glo was former rival, Max Appel, who had once competed fiercely with Billy for audiences at events. Billy earned Max’s respect and his friendship when he lent Max a microphone when Max’s had broken.

When Billy made himself into a household name, he wasn’t just some TV actor who’d won an audition. Billy Mays was the real deal. Through his own hard work and his own ingenuity, he developed a memorable pitching style and parlayed it into a multi-million dollar empire. All with an easy sense of humor that was as happy to laugh at jokes about himself as about anything.

In a world transfixed by cheap thrills and momentary sensationalism, where respect falls too often upon useless “high brow” experts who just bloviate about the abstract, Billy Mays sold products by communicating their value, and he thrived in a realm where only concrete results mattered. He made his name famous through many years of hard work and exceptional performance. How many famous people can we say that about? (At our house, we keep a tub of OxiClean by the washer & dryer, and it works.)

He is survived by his wife, his 3-year old daughter, and his stepson in his 20s. Our thoughts and our prayers are with them.

Farrah Fawcett died, and when she went to heaven God granted her one wish. She asked Him to protect all the little children. So He killed Michael Jackson.

What good jokes have you heard?

Here’s the link.

She had two abortions, one at the urging of her mother (Holy Moley!) and the other at the urging of friends who felt having a baby at the time was a bad career move. The first was a late term abortion; I’m beyond appalled about that one. That baby had to be killed to be aborted.

The way she writes about them is kind of cold and emotion-less, although she writes about screaming and feeling she killed her baby and she doesn’t really write about any anguish she may experience today

When I was 17, I lived in a small two bedroom house with other women. The number varied, depending on who need a place to live at the time. The oldest, a 22 year old waitress, we called Mom. She paid the rent, we just pitched in for food and paid our own bills otherwise. Men came and went and I guess it was pretty bohemian, but I lived simply and despite the circumstances, mostly virtuously. I worked and attended school–graduating from high school during that time.

Ginny was another matter. She was 14 years old and would sleep with any man, any time, any where. She had a bad reputation in town and was known to be the go to girl at parties, I assume boys lined up outside the bedroom door. I don’t know if Ginny had been molested; her mother had died when she was very young and she and her three sisters–I believe there was also a brother—lived with their father, who I recall as a creepy character, but quiet and dark, in the background. At least one of the sisters was also promiscuous and the last I heard, a very serious drug addict.

Ginny was pregnant when she came to live with us. “Mom” urged her to have the baby. I urged abortion. Because of my childhood, I firmly believed there were some children who should never have been born and I knew she was in no way capable of being a mother. Our leader, I cannot believe we thought she was mature at the time, kept urging her to keep and love her baby. We had loud and emotional arguments. I lost. Ginny had her baby. I can’t remember if it was a boy or girl, but of course, she didn’t keep the baby for long. The child ended up in the care of the state and I don’t know how things all turned out. Ginny’s life spiraled down hill, as did her sisters.

Now, of course, with the gospel in my life, I have a different perspective on life’s purpose and the preciousness of babies, of our children. I’m pro-choice, though. I believe it’s the woman’s right to choose. I believe the woman who wrote this blog piece made the wrong choices, but I’m not going to condemn her for it. That is between her and her God. I think there may be times that abortion is exactly what should take place in a woman’s life.

I hope my daughters never feel that desperate. As for Ginny, well, I still think she should have abortion was a reasonable step under the circumstances. If there had been a responsible adult around who could have guided her through adoption, yes, that would have been the answer, but in her case she had nothing and nobody. That baby never had a chance.

There are all kinds of opinions and themes in this post. Just go with what you feel and knock yourselves out.

Some demonstrators are being killed.

It is difficult to foresee what the future of Iran will be. As is often the case, there are reasons for feelings of hope and for cynicism.

In my reading recently I ran across this paper by Karim Sadjadpour about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who is in the role of the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Iran has been (long before Islam began), is, and always will be a major player and influence in the region and in the world. Now might be a good time to remember Iran and its people in our prayers - that the outcome(s) of the strife and controversies taking place in that country will be for good rather than evil.

1. Scale - everything is big. The number of brand new skyscrapers either new or under construction is amazing. 16 of the World’s largest 50 metropolitan areas are in China (most of which I have never heard of) - the US has 3 of the top 50. Whereas the NYC to DC flights are average size planes (737s/A319s) that fly hourly shuttle flights, the Guangzhou to Beijing hourly shuttle flights are on Boeing 777s. Again everything is just a lot larger than the US.
2. New infrastructure - there is construction everywhere and so many nice new things (of course interspersed with third world structures). For example, in their current five year plan they are upgrading or building 41 airports. There are new highways everywhere.
3. Scientific prowess - The conference I went to was a biotech conference. China has made it a goal to woo back 500 researchers from the West. I met a bunch who had already come - they are native Chinese and trained at the best Universities in the US. They are now going back. They said that the Chinese government was willing to give them a lot of research funding that is much harder to get in the US.
4. Excitement - whereas in the US, people are down about the economy, I saw and heard nothing of the like there. Everyone is so excited that China is going to take its place as a world leader.
5. Nationalistic - I am amazed at how nationalistic the citizens are. I was talking about politics with a couple of US based Chinese researchers and we discussed a hypothetical war between the US and China. Everyone of them said they would go back and fight against the US.

Ok so what? Well, lets look forward 20 years. In 20 years, China will have infrastructure that will be much newer than the US, it has 5 times more people, the economy will be approaching the US in size (if not bigger), they will have world leading scientists (all trained in the US and paid for by the US taxpayer), they are nationalistic and excited about the future. Hmm, seems in contrast to the US where we like to complain about everything, our infrastructure is aging and falling apart, few Americans want to be scientists, and our nationalism is pretty weak.

It will be an interesting comparison in 20 years…

Today, Father’s Day, was acknowledged only by a “Happy Father’s Day” from the brother conducting Sacrament Meeting. Then, sans gift, we trooped through all our normal meetings, followed later in the day by a Court of Honor, Baptism, and Bishop Youth’s Discussion. I believe involved families to have been complicit in planning some of these events on this day, but no one would try it on Mother’s Day!

So, why the different treatment?

(Note: The song doesn’t have to have the word “father” or some iteration of father in the title. Permission to interpret broadly here.)

Corinne; The Gentile City

[Don’t ask me why they use a semicolon.]

A comedic pageant featuring some of Corinne’s colorful history

Friday June 26 and Saturday June 27, 2009

Corinne City Park

5 Miles West of Brigham City / I-15 Exit #365

Yes, Corinne, the erstwhile “City of the Ungodly” or “Dodge City of Utah” — population 621, that’s right folks, so small it’s actually a suburb of Brigham City — has decided to cash in (to the extent that “collecting non-perishable food items” for donation to Brigham City food pantries is “cashing in”) on the unquenchable Mormon thirst for pageants.

With book, music, and lyrics by former resident Diana Jeppesen, this pageant is truly one of a kind. In a 2005 article in Ogden’s Standard Examiner quoted on the production’s website, pageant committee member LaNan Donovan remarks: “No other Utah community has a history like this one. Corinne was raising a city in opposition to all the Mormons.”

Let us venture into Carlos Argentino Daneri’s basement and consult the Aleph (Wikipedia) for a little historical context:

In its heyday, Corinne had about 1,000 permanent residents, not one of whom was a Mormon, according to the boast of the local newspaper. As an end-of-the-trail town, Corinne reflected a very different atmosphere and culture from the staid and quiet Mormon settlements of Utah, nurturing not only a number of commission and supply houses but also fifteen saloons and sixteen liquor stores, with a gun-fighting town marshal to keep order in this “Dodge City” of Utah. The permanent residents of Corinne did their best to promote a sense of community pride and peaceful, cultural pursuits but had a raucous and independent clientele of freighters and stagecoachers to control.

Driving through “downtown” Corinne today, you would never guess. It is perhaps most notable for having one gas station, a speed trap, and a sign directing you to the Golden Spike National Monument. It is also predominantly Mormon.

Among other things, the pageant features the town’s infamous “divorce machine,” where couples could obtain a hasty divorce at the bargain price of $2.50, only to discover later that it wasn’t legal. At the pageant’s conclusion, Brigham Young curses Corinne and the Lucin Cutoff denies the town of its importance as a railway depot, draining its population and condemning it to Mormondom.

I have to admit that, plot-wise, these two items alone make it sound more interesting to me than any other pageant I have ever seen. What’s more, the cast list even has an entry for “can-can girls”… Yet, despite all the potential gentile content, one has to wonder if there is any actual cursing.

No word yet on whether anti-Mormon protestors deem it worthy of their attention.

Let this be a lesson to anyone foolish enough to doubt the efficacy of a prophetic curse. The irony of these independent minded gentiles being immortalized by Mormons in the most Mormon of all mediums amuses me immensely. The doctrinal implications scare me out of my wits.