The Event

So I've been interning at the LDS Public Affairs office. I started about three weeks before this event. The World Affairs Council invited President Uchtdorf (one of the main leaders of our Church) to speak at a dinner. Our job was to get the word out to the LDS community and to invite as many public opinion leaders as possible. We had about 20 Consuls General in attendance along with religious leaders of other faiths.

I worked up a beautiful excel document so that we knew who was invited to which reception, and then if we were paying for them or now, and then the seating chart. It was a pain.

I also had to call around 800 people to "make sure they had the information" and get it to them along with instructions. It was a lot of phone calling. But I got to talk to some fun people (and some who weren't as fun). It was a lot of work.

The event was last Thursday and it was amazing. So stressful, but amazing. Pres Uchtdorf was amazing and everything ran smoothly. And I looked amazing in the vintage dress I stole form my mother's closet.

"Anthem"

I just finished a really interesting short story by Ayn Rand. For those of you that don't know, my sister has challenged herself and anyone who wants to join in the fun to read "Atlas Shrugged" (it's over 1000 pages of tiny writing). I decided not to read it along with her, but I was intrigued by her comments on it and on seeing the movie of part one of Atlas. So I read "Anthem."

It's a dystopian novel that was published in 1937 in England. Mankind has entered another dark age and collectivism prevails. Everything is done "for the brotherhood." You go to school for a few years, then the council decides where you will work and you do that for the greater good. Procreation is set aside for just making babies and the children never know their parents - you are raised by the society. It took a while to get used to the writing because for most of the book the word "I" is missing. There is no individual. Eventually the main character discovers the self along with electricity and love and all kinds of other things that were missing in this society.

First of all, Ayn Rand is brilliant. She is native Russian but wrote in English and the prose is just beautiful. I've never been one to really care about that kind of thing until recently and now I really appriciate it. Second of all, I was impressed with the way that she is able to point out the wrong in both methods of thinking. Thinking about only the self is what got society into trouble in the first place, but thinking only about others prevents progress.

I'm reminded of this film my mom brought home from her library the other night. It's called "2081" and is based off the short story by Kurt Vonnegut. In that story, everyone is handicapped in order to make everyone equal. They are watching a ballet and it's awful because none of the Ballerinas are the best of the best. There is one man who fights against it and he shows up and keeps the one cellist who plays with feeling and the one dancer who is fearless and does a beautiful pax de deux before they come in and shoot him on national television. He gets everyone to understand how handicapping people prevents exceptional performances and feelings and then shows the government who placed the restrictions on them in the worst light so the people hate them.

Society doesn't work when we try to keep everyone equal. We aren't all equal, but that is what is beautiful about the world. People who fail at math can write beautiful poetry.

Birth Control?

So Sister Smith had to use my computer today to print out some checks. While I was waiting, I went and sat with Elder Smith in the conference room and read the paper and watched some news. I felt very old fashioned, sitting at this big table with an old man, our noses in the paper. Every now and again bringing up another way the world is heading down the drain.

Anyway, I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about birth control with a touch of Darwin entitled "The tricky chemistry of attraction: taking birth-control pills may mask the signals that draw the sexes together." Birth control, apparently, "disrupts some chemical signals". It removes the natural attraction that women get to a certain kind of man during ovulation. Normally, a woman will gravitate towards more masculine men and men who have different immune system properties than she. Both of these things will produce superior stock (hence the Darwin) - babies with strong bodies and fabulous immune systems allowing for the greatest chance of survival. The same is true as far as men being attracted to women. Because birth control masks those hormones/pheromones, his body isn't alerted to the fact that a woman is ready to make babies. Normally, he would be particularly attracted to ovulating women.

It wasn't conclusive evidence to anything, and they weren't trying to say "don't use birth control," but it's interesting to note. I've also heard that two people who are compatible physically taste/smell good to each other. I never really realized how our bodies are really prepared to continue to populate the world. We unconsciously gravitate towards opportunities that allow for successful reproduction.

Speaking of saliva, do you ever wonder who the first people were to discover kissing? or Mono?

You Should Know

I'm going to start a new section of my blog called "You Should Know" (I'm probably going to change the title quite a few times until I come up with or someone suggests one that I Like). These posts are going to be about what I learn about hidden products or health effects of various things. Businesses try to hide a lot about their products. They get away with crap that is the reason the human race is having all kinds of problems.

Consider, for a moment, the Tobacco Industry. They knew the effects of smoking and still they did it, they just didn't tell anyone what they were doing and let millions of people die for it.

But today, we are talking about sulfates.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate(SLS) is a cheap chemical that produces a lot of foam, along with other, less pleasant things. In a report on the safety of SLS, the American College of Toxicity reported that "In absorption, metabolism and excretion studies Sodium Lauryl Sulfate had a degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties. High levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration." So remember, as I tell you what I've learned, that this all happens because it can get into your very cells. I don't know about you all, but I prefer to keep things that aren't meant to be there out of my cells, thank you very much.

They did tests on animals (another topic for another day) and found that at 15% there was skin irritation and by the time it got to 30% it was intense skin irritation. Itchy head = SULFATE SHAMPOO!!! I've looked at a bunch of shampoos and it's usually the second or third ingredient, which means that it's in high concentrations. It's cheap, so they use it as a filler. Also, it produces a lot of foam, which is what people believe cleans their hair/body. Not true. It does nothing good.

It affects development, so keep it away from your children. "Studies at Georgia Medical College indicated Sodium Lauryl Sulfate kept young eyes from developing properly by possibly denaturing the proteins and not allowing for proper structural formation. This damage was permanent." Remember that whole protein thing, and it getting in your cells, yeah. Now think about how many people wear glasses now as opposed to 50 years ago. While that could be due to better detection of poor eyesight, it probably has something to do with these sulfates in our cleansing products.

There are other studies that SLS enters (from skin contact) and maintains residual levels in the heart, the liver, the lungs and the brain. Alrighty, so lets put chemicals in our hearts! WHOOOHOOO that's exactly what I wake up hoping for every day.

Let's talk hormones. So the SLS gets into your system and attaches to estrogen receptors (which are present in both men and women, though not as many in men). The body can't tell the difference between the regular molecules and the SLS commandeered ones and so the hormone levels go crazy causing PMS, menopausal symptoms, infertility, breast enlargement (in males), and gender confusion. CRAZY!
Bro/Manzier anyone.

One last bit, remember how I said that it gets into our cells, well it completely disrupts the cell cycle. What does that mean? "Firstly, existing proteins are damaged, leading to an increase in the amount of healing required by the body. Secondly, new proteins can be damaged and cells disrupted while they are under construction. It is exactly this type of activity that can lead to the early stages of skin cancer." And, not only does SLS itself cause cancer, but the production of SLS also produces carcinogens.

Thats all for now. Has your world been turned upside-down? Do you look like this?


Works cited: http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-health-implications.html

Celebration?

Osama is dead. Huzzah! He did some terrible things and murdered many people and it is a good thing that he can't continue what he was doing.

That being said, I don't know if we need to celebrate the fact that someone is dead. A few weeks, months, years from now whoever threw that bomb is going to have to deal with the fact that they killed a man and I don't know if the fact that he was evil will affect the way he feels. My sister's asked me if I would have celebrated Hitler's death (which, ironically enough, was announced on the same day, 1945). I honestly don't know. But I still think that if I were the person who may have killed either of these men, I would eventually only feel guilt for killing someone - even if they were the devil incarnate. And that is why I can never join the army.

I should also say that sometimes I think about the devil and if he regrets his doings.

How far is too far to take the whole 'love everyone' concept? Not that I love Osama or Hitler. I don't.