Category Archives: Personal
Wednesday’s Book Review: “The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy”
The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy. By Alex Zhavoronkov. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. This is a fascinating book and overall Alex Zhavoronkov is to be commended for putting it together. It is also … Continue reading
Bill Veeck’s Rules of Etiquette for Baseball Owners
When Bill Veeck was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1991 his widow, Mary-Frances Veeck, offered some interesting comments about how he conducted himself, offering twelve commandments of professional life. They were, in essence, Veeck’s rules of etiquette … Continue reading
Re-Direct: The National Academy of Engineering Video Contest
The National Academy of Engineering wants to know how engineering impacts YOU! Enter the Engineering for You (E4U) Video Contest and tell us how engineering creations serve the welfare of humanity and the needs of society.The NAE is offering a $25,000 prize to the most … Continue reading
Re-Direct: Guide to Online Academic Research
Accredited Colleges.com has created an on-line resource that will be of use to several researchers. The “Guide to Online Academic Research” offers step-by-step instructions of use to college-level students in undertaking research amid the myriad sites and structures of the … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and other Pseudoscience”
Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and other Pseudoscience. By Georges Charpak and Henri Broch. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Georges Charpak received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1992. His friend and colleague, Henri Broch, is not a Nobel Laureate … Continue reading
America and the Cult of Conspiracy
Americans certainly, and perhaps all the cultures of the world, love the idea of conspiracy as an explanation of how and why many events have happened. It plays to their innermost fears and hostilities that there is a well-organized, well-financed, … Continue reading
Nauvoo Mormonism and the Question of Class
Early Mormons in the 1840s founded the Mississippi River town of Nauvoo, Illinois, as a stronghold of their religion. Many historians have analyzed the Nauvoo sojourn of the Mormons, and there is a long list of very good books and articles … Continue reading
Replacement Theology and the Early Mormons as a Chosen People
Perhaps the single most important tenet of Joseph Smith’s emerging Mormon ideology in the 1830s and 1840s was the identification of his church as “latter-day Israel.” This identification drove much of the rest of his scripture and doctrine, from his … Continue reading
A Conservative Take on the Ideal of Zion: Joseph Smith III and the “Gathering”
Perhaps the most persistent ideal in Mormonism has been the concept of Zion, essentially a utopia, and the gathering of the Saints to achieve it. The early Latter Day Saints believed that they had been commissioned from among the world to … Continue reading
Roger Launius’s Blog: 2013 in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 99,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at … Continue reading
Roger Launius's Blog 