Thanks Utah

[YOhio]

It's been one of the biggest stories in the local news for more than a week now, but thanks, anyway!

I thought it was interesting. Same sex marriage is legalized in Utah and the national bird suddenly starts dying. Just a thing that made me go hmmm...

[smokymountainrain]

I thought it was interesting. Same sex marriage is legalized in Utah and the national bird suddenly starts dying. Just a thing that made me go hmmm...

Ahhh...my eyes have been opened.

[Topper]

I thought it was interesting. Same sex marriage is legalized in Utah and the national bird suddenly starts dying. Just a thing that made me go hmmm...

You forgot to mention that apartments are given away by the state for free no less. It must be a sign or something.

[cougjunkie]

15 US cities driving the future.

http://www.businessinsider.com/best-...arcos-texas-15

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

[Goatnapper'96]

15 US cities driving the future.

http://www.businessinsider.com/best-...arcos-texas-15

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Provo is north of SLC? Nice job, Magellan!

[Uncle Ted]

Utah War II:

Seth Lipsky: Utah's Marriage Battles and the Ghost of Brigham Young

The federal micromanaging of who can wed has a long, ironic history.


The last time Utah got into a dustup with the United States government over legal questions regarding marriage, federal troops were involved. This time phalanxes of lawyers are doing the fighting, with the state's 2004 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage at issue. But history holds an astonishing twist that could present the appeals courts with a dilemma.


The latest case involves the Dec. 20 decision of a U.S. district judge overturning Utah's ban on same-sex marriage. More than 2,000 Utahans promptly plighted their troth to persons of the same sex. On Jan. 6, the Supreme Court, at the state's request, issued a stay. Gov. Gary Herbert then announced that Utah would refrain from recognizing the same-sex marriages that were licensed, only to have Attorney General Eric Holder announce that the federal government would recognize them.


In 1857, Utah's marital spat with Washington was over polygamy. This too-little-studied episode in American history, known as the "Utah War," was also called " Buchanan's Blunder." It wasn't only about marriage; general lawlessness in the territory was also a concern. But alarm in Washington was inflamed by reports of "plural marriages"—polygamy—among the Mormons who were settling the Utah territory.

[…]

It is not my intention to get between the Mormons and other Christians or between anyone, of whatever religion or sexual orientation, and the Constitution. It is my intention to remark upon the abiding nature, and explosiveness, of these passions. And upon the tricks that history can play on all of us.


For it turns out that only a week before a federal judge struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage last month, a different federal judge, also sitting at Salt Lake City, struck down the core of the very ban on plural marriage that the federal government had once established as a condition of statehood.


So where does this leave our justices? It's too soon to say whether the Utah same-sex marriage case, known as Kitchen v. Herbert, or the polygamy case, known as Brown v. Buhman, will go to the Supreme Court. But it's not too soon to say that the justices could find themselves in quite a quandary—one predicted precisely by Justice Antonin Scalia when, in Lawrence v. Texas, he dissented from the court's decision to end state bans on sodomy.


Texas, Mr. Scalia had noted, "undeniably seeks to further the belief of its citizens that certain forms of sexual behavior are 'immoral and unacceptable.' " This, he wrote, is "the same interest" furthered by criminal laws against, among other things, bigamy. He warned that the justices were denying the legitimacy of such a state interest.


So might the Supreme Court insist that Utah bow to a federal authority and end its ban on same-sex marriage? Or might the justices insist that Utah no longer bow to a federal Congress that once required them to outlaw polygamy? No wonder they call Utah the Beehive State. One way or another, someone is going to get stung, and the whole country may feel it.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...045217982.html

Someday it may be possible for someone to marry (or cohabitant with) as many husbands as he wants all thanks to Utah.

[RC Vikings]

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor...Reckoning.html

Article about the battle between Utah and Colorado for the winter outdoor dollar. It sounds like Ogden may be the place to be if you want a job in the industry.

[Uncle Ted]

Utah earns digital learning excellence

For the second year in a row, Utah received the No. 1 ranking — among all 50 states — on the Digital Learning Report Card, a national initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. The report card measures and grades primary and secondary educational policies among the states against the foundation’s 10 elements of high-quality digital learning.


Far too frequently, many in the education establishment criticize Utah for its large class sizes and low per-pupil spending. In 2012 the median size for a high school geometry class was 31, and despite spending 48.9 percent of its budget on public education last year, Utah still spent the least per pupil in the nation.


On the report card, however, Utah emerges as the vanguard of the nation, with a 92.3 percent score, because the state has opportunities for students in all grades to access online courses, because it requires credit to be based on mastery of skills and content rather than on seat time, and because of its “Student Achievement Backpack,” which creates a portable education record that follows the student from school to school — and gives parents the right and ability to securely access those records.
[…]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8...xcellence.html

Those Utah kids know how to get educated on-line. No wonder Utah ranks high in on-line porn consumption.

[Uncle Ted]

Thanks Utah for being the Nerdiest state in the union and making the rest of us look good...





http://blog.estately.com/2014/04/the...es-in-america/

[Applejack]

Thanks Utah for being the Nerdiest state in the union and making the rest of us look good...

http://blog.estately.com/2014/04/the...es-in-america/

D.C. for the win! All you Utah nerds should feel free to give me a call if you ever want to do cool, non-nerdy stuff like body shots, spring break, or tattoos.

[Blueintheface]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsin...oogle.html.csp

Here’s the list of what Utahns searched for more than residents of any other state:

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Def Leppard (band)

• Demolition derby

• Girls Gone Wild

• Global warming hoax

• Jay Leno

• Kama Sutra

• Laser hair removal

• Magic tricks

• Mustaches

• Star Trek

• Star Wars

• Twinkies

• Tinder

I thought this was interesting given today's topic de jour (global warming).

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Love how tolerant my state is, just trying to learn about other religions. #respecteveryone #coexist

[smokymountainrain]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsin...oogle.html.csp

This should be posted in one of those threads about Texas. Not sure which one. My initial thought was that it should be posted in the What's wrong with Texas thread, but Texans might actually be proude of that.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I don't care if that map is real or fake, that is funny.

[All-American]

I don't care if that map is real or fake, that is funny.

I can confirm. That is a real map.