When they speak, we listen.

I believe that when the general authorities speak, we have the choice to listen. When it comes to me and my choice, I choose to do what my Father in Heaven wants for me. Here are some articles given by the brethren about the media and the influence it can make and the choices we can make.

Brad J. Bushman talks about violence in the media in the article "It's Only Violence"

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=590b74536cf0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

This article has no one named author but was published in the 1987 Ensign, "Helping Children Understand the Media's influence"

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=032067700817b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Joe J. Christensen talks about raising a family in a troubled environment in, "Rearing Children in a Polluted Environment"

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=fec9425e0848b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

The Young Men and Young Women manuals even have lessons about the media and its influence. "Avoiding Degrading Media Influences" in the Young Women's Manual 1

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7a5ecb7a29c20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=d6371b08f338c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

and "Avoiding Degrading Media Influences" in the Aaronic Priesthood Manual 2
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=344c97a7c1d20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=ba805f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

One of my favorite is the CES Fireside's by Elder Bednar that he gave here on campus. "Things as they really are."

http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4830-1,00.html

Books I want to read

If I am going to read about the mass media, I am going to read about something else I am interested in, politics.

Bill O'Reilly - Culture Warrior

Glenn Beck - Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspirited by Thomas Paine

Leslie Savan - Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever

Bernard Goldberg - A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media

David Brock - The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How it Corrupts Democracy

Glenn Beck - An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck

Article 13 - 4th Century old Christian Bible

Fourth-century Christian Bible now available online to the public


The fourth-century manuscript of the Christian Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, was made available online to the public on Monday. It contains the earliest complete copy of the New Testament. However, due to damage and lost pages, it contains half of the Greek translation of the Old Testament, Septuagint. There are other books within the codex that are not part of the traditional Bible, Epistle of Barbabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, available to the public. Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU said that the inclusion of the additional books that are not in our current Bible demonstrates that early Christians did not have a closed canon. Some Christians felt they were important to keep, but later Christians did not think they were authentic and did not, therefore, include them in their canons. No other early manuscript has been extensively corrected, by way of alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences, than has this one.

News from the Scroll page 9. July 14, 2009

Media observation 26 - New way to interact with computers

So I just watched a video about PC's and Microsoft's new way of interacting with it. Their saying is, It happens with the flick of the wrist. There will be a built in "Natal Camera" that will see the actions of you, and your wrist, and do just precisely that! The report said that Microsoft and X-Box manufacturers are working together to make the users of PC and X-Box consumers able to use the exciting and new technology available by Fall 2010. This is going to have a huge impact on laptop users. I think it may also have a bad impact on the social community. Making them even more lazy and apt to sit and just move their wrist to do things. However, it may make things faster and quicker for businesses and everyday life.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-63/1334841

Media observation 25 - Walter Cronkite

My dad is a huge space fan. He grew up with astronaut pictures on his wall. Every year we go to Florida we always go to the Kennedy Space Center and never get tired of learning and seeing everything that has to do space shuttles, the International Space Station, and of course, astronauts. In fact, there was one opportunity that my dad had that I now regret not being there for. He got to meet and talk with Jim Lovell - the pilot of Apollo 13. (He has got to be one of my distant relatives, but I am not positive.) Which brings me to my connecting point, the one way i remember Walter Cronkite is from his broadcast of the 1969 moon landing. That is very emotional and very real for my dad and has therefore made it even more important and more special to me whenever I get to see reruns. I love Cronkite's voice and the way he puts his broadcasts together. I think he is like Don LaFontaine. Very extraordinary in their work and very important characters in the media business.

Article 12 - Walter Cronkite

Cronkite: Peerless anchor when TV news came of age

Cronkite did more than just live the life of an anchorman, he invented and embodied it. As a communicator, he was authoritative yet companionable. He was a man the public understood and believed. He had printer's ink in his veins and a wire-service background. He joined CBS' Washington bureau in 1950 and hosted the nightly TV newscast on a local station. By 1962, he was told that he would be anchoring the network's prized evening newscast - "CBS News with Walter Cronkite." His 19-year stretch of evening news anchor framed a crucial era in the nation's history. It was also a pivotal era in TV news. Cronkite retired in 1981. It was only three weeks later when President Reagan was the victim of an attempted assassination. It was then that "I realized right away I'd made a mistake...I shouldn't have gotten off that desk!" Nevertheless, Cronkite could never disappear from the airwaves, reaming a trusted source of information for another quarter century.

Cronkite was Uncle Walter. To newscasters and to the world. In this article, author Frazier Moore tells this experience. But then something happened on an even more telling level. As we shared coversation and morning coffee, Cronkite, inn mid-sentence, rose from his chair and stepped across to his desk, where, from a drawer, he fetched a Bic pen. His coffee needed stirring and with no spoon available, he knew a simple ball point pen would get the job doe. Then, satisfied with his coffee, he returned to his chair and gave the sweet roll he was having for breakfast a good dunking. In the no-nonsense company of Cronkite, known as the most trusted ma in America, I felt my trust i him go up another notch.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/article/tv-news.en.ap.org/tv-news.en.ap.org-20090718-us_cronkite_tribute

Article 11 - Blockbuster

Blockbuster Fires Back at Netflix with Samsung Deal

Blockbuster announced on the 14th of July a deal with Samsung Electronics to bring on-demand content to home theaters. They joined to give consumers access to Blockbuster's library of digital entertainment on new and select Samsung HDtv's, home theater systems, and Blu-ray interfaces. Chairman of Blockbuster said the agreement carries the video-rental one step forward. The Blockbuster OnDemand service offers features that will be attractive to home-theater users. It eliminates viewing information on a PC, users will be able to do an on-screen search with browsing capabilities, full details, ratings, trailers and other information. Once you push play, the movie begins instantly without interruptions. This merger cam about because Samsung is constantly seeking ways to provide greater value to their customers. They plan on having the Blockbuster OnDemand service into Samsung Blu-ray Disc players and HDTv's this fall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20090714/bs_nf/67769/print