BYU Idaho bans skinny jeans.

[lambdacoug]

For Your Consideration:

[Green Monstah]

I made it through 2 years while my brother managed only a semester.

Hah. I made it through Fall, Spring and Summer, then dropped out in October on the day of the add/drop deadline and started at Provo the following January. It was madness up there. Learned a lot, but felt so claustrophobic up there.

[Green Monstah]

In defense of Rexburg most of the crazies moved in from elsewhere else. The local's, the farmers, are a pretty sane bunch.

You live there, right? You're probably in Rick Davis's stake. He's a great guy. Batshit fucking crazy, born and bread in Madison county, but a nice guy. (This is where my horrible luck reveals that RCV is actually Rick Davis).

Agreed that the local folks are on average pretty quality people.

[Green Monstah]

I just have to chime in and say that those flip flops on that poster are the cheapest looking pieces of crap I've ever seen-- not fit for a foot prophylactic in a dirty third world shower. Just looking at them is viscerally irritating.

FTR, those at 1.99 at Old Navy. I've owned several pair over the years. Gray, Brown, Navy, Black. I've had them all.

[The Rambam]

Is there a place for God to be a little of both?

Most of the time I allow my children to learn some things on their own. I mean, I teach them general principles and let them apply them themselves. Sometimes I even go so far as to advise them of a number of choices, tell them what I would do, and then leave them to decide what they will do.

Yet even in the midst of allowing them to learn through experience and their own development of thought, I also want their exact and precise obedience at certain times. Of course, usually those are things like "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!", "DON'T LIGHT THAT ON FIRE!" or "DON'T YOU DARE TAKE THE LAST COOKIE!"

Sometimes I need them to move - like get out of the road - immediately so as to keep them from getting killed. Sometimes there isn't time to give them all of the background - I just need for them to trust that I care about them, have their best interest at heart, and expect them to do exactly what I say without debating it first.

I agree that God should shout out to me to move when I am about to get hit by a truck. Please God, stop me from making a mistake which will result in the death of one of my kids.

But these examples have nothing to do with form-fitted clothing or number of earrings or nude toes.

Unless you ask your local 70's hardcore member. They will tell you that a bellybutton piercing is the gateway to showing your abs to the opposite sex, which is pornography which is a violation of the law of chastity which is the sin next to murder--so if you are going to get your button bejeweled, you might as well go an kill someone. You are going to be damned just the same.

[Blueintheface]

Hah. I made it through Fall, Spring and Summer, then dropped out in October on the day of the add/drop deadline and started at Provo the following January. It was madness up there. Learned a lot, but felt so claustrophobic up there.

I started at BYU a few weeks later as well. I made some lifelong friends but the isolation and religious zealots drove me to eat (Domino's pizza guy knew my first name )

[lambdacoug]

If God is out of the equation, then do the laws of happiness still apply? I'd think they do (e.g., addiction results in a loss of freedom, dishonesty results in alienation from others, greed results in harming man and nature for personal gain).

And if the laws of happiness still apply absent a God, then the analysis is pretty much still the same.

Do you follow earthly authority (Church leaders, school administrators) without questioning or do you reason it out for yourself? All you have done by removing God is to shift the argument to an absurd one--because no one has argued that anyone should abdicate their agency to another human unconditionally. At least not in rational public circles.

I'm not sure I get your point.

Your argument assumes that there are "laws of happiness" to begin with. Then by asking if these "laws" still apply without a god, you imply that a god is the source of these "laws". Furthermore, you make another assumption that following these "laws" leads to happiness. The absurd argument you identify is a result of false assumptions, not removing god from the equation.

[The Rambam]

Your argument assumes that there are "laws of happiness" to begin with. Then by asking if these "laws" still apply without a god, you imply that a god is the source of these "laws". Furthermore, you make another assumption that following these "laws" leads to happiness. The absurd argument you identify is a result of false assumptions, not removing god from the equation.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so. The laws of happiness are naturally laws and apply whether a God exists or not. If you get addicted to something, you lose freedom. This isn't dependent on any God. If you lie and steal from people, you are going to find people isolating themselves from you. Losing freedom and isolation from others equates with unhappiness and the converse is also true.

So I call these the laws of happiness. They are natural and inevitable consequences, not dictated results. No God needed.

These laws are taught in AAA meetings, Boy Scout Troops, Catholic Seminaries, LDS General Conference, Yoga retreats, Buddhist monasteries, Muslim madrasahs, and so forth. If there is no God, these principles still apply.

[Uncle Ted]

[WashingtonCoug]

I just saw this post and ouch! I only mildly resemble that guy, but thanks for pointing it out.

[lambdacoug]

I could be wrong, but I don't think so. The laws of happiness are naturally laws and apply whether a God exists or not. If you get addicted to something, you lose freedom. This isn't dependent on any God. If you lie and steal from people, you are going to find people isolating themselves from you. Losing freedom and isolation from others equates with unhappiness and the converse is also true.

So I call these the laws of happiness. They are natural and inevitable consequences, not dictated results. No God needed.

These laws are taught in AAA meetings, Boy Scout Troops, Catholic Seminaries, LDS General Conference, Yoga retreats, Buddhist monasteries, Muslim madrasahs, and so forth. If there is no God, these principles still apply.

All of which are organizations that advance the belief in god or some higher being. (With the possible exception of Buddhism.)

Anyway, I am not convinced there is a universal set of guidelines that lead to happiness. Just trying to define happiness is fraught with issues. A universal set of laws would imply that they work equally well for everyone, at any point in history and in any culture and/or civilization. That is an extraordinary claim, and as such requires extraordinary evidence. None of which is apparent and from my limited understanding of sociology there is very little that is universal across all cultures.

[marsupial]

Speaking of fashion... Those are some sweet heels.

[wuapinmon]

Speaking of fashion... Those are some sweet heels.

They're exceedingly hard to walk in, but it's worth it when I walk in a room and everyone stops talking and stares.

[FMCoug]

Also, I'm thinking this may be parody, since the author slyly constructed a semi-coherent paragraph using all the official Played out Words @ BYU-I: "Honor Code"; Disciple; Commitment; prayerfully; recommit; abide; "Father in Heaven"...

How awesome would it be if this turned out to be a practical joke. Kids sitting around bitching about the rules and decide to come up with something completely ridiculous and post it at the testing center to see what happened.

That would be some quality real world trolling ...

[Art Vandelay]

I haven't been following this thread because it is stupid. However, I'm curious if there have been PMs between Commando and Hottie, after she revealed her new name and he revealed his female body type preference?

Hot, I've seen photos of Mando, he is a handsome man. And if you like a guy sensitive enough to play an acoustic guitar and sing about Clown-faced serial killers, then I suggest you both update your ldssingles.com accounts.