Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

[Link] I've had some training in research and experiment design, so I have a different perspective than Owlet and The Soulful Ginger. Unless drugs and treatments go through randomized, experimental human testing, researchers are never sure whether the drug or treatment is actually having any effect...

Just wanted to point out that tenured faculty get paid more than pre-tenure faculty, so I'm sure post-tenure religion professors are getting paid more than faculty librarians who are just starting out. I have no way of knowing whether BYU pays its tenured religion professors $100,000, but I bet that...

If your ancestral home is in Sevier County, there's a good chance you're related to me.

Thanks, Arcaiden, for laying all this out so clearly.

It's not a perfect analogy, certainly, but I think names are a similarly essential part of a person's identity and how they present themselves. Maybe a more extreme example would illustrate my point better. While they were in high school, my sister's friend (we'll call her Mary) acquired a cutesy ni...

Haleakala, I agree that gender is an eternal characteristic, however, I don't necessarily think that our "physical" gender is an eternal characteristic. We know that our bodies are imperfect. People get cancer, others are born with CF, MS, and other debilitating things. People have trials...

Relevant: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/07/co ... -cars.html

I appreciated Divya's answer about the one-date policy. My thinking on the subject has undergone a similar evolution. In addition to Divya's reasons, I think it kinda feeds into really harmful cultural norms that women's romantic desires are somehow inferior to men's.

It's funny to me that Mormons, who have their fair share of dietary restrictions, are often baffled or offended by vegetarian/vegan dietary restrictions. Personal or ethical beliefs are just as legitimate a reason for restricting one's diet as religious beliefs are. A while back my parents had a mis...

By Common Consent did an excellent post comparing the church disciplinary process to the secular court system: http://bycommonconsent.com/2014/06/20/j ... -fairness/.

Maternal grandmother: schoolteacher, reading tutor
Maternal grandfather: forest ranger
Paternal grandmother: homemaker
Paternal grandfather: potato chip truck driver

I've attended a couple of ASL endowment sessions, and they follow the same practice for that ordinance. It was pretty cool to watch.

And I'm all for epidurals if someone wants one, but just based on what I've seen, nitrous oxide seems to work almost as well, and that is what I would probably personally try first because it's so much easier. But again, that is probably something that varies based on what country you live in. I'm ...

Thanks to Imogen introducing me to the Mad Style blog, I'm analyzing my own clothing choices and the choices of everyone around me. (Tom and Lorenzo are addictive!) Reading Tom and Lorenzo is maybe the best part of watching Mad Men. When I discovered Mad Style I spent most of a day going back and r...

Today I finished writing the last chapter of my dissertation and got a 4096 tile. Both of those are significant accomplishments. Now I will go reward myself with a burrito for dinner.

To be fair, I think a good share of those questions are coming from one extremely stressed-out new mother.

Emiliana wrote:We named him Chompsky.

That's even better than my friend who studies China naming his cat Chairman Meow.

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/77489/ I liked Ozymandius' economics-based analysis of dating. :) When I took a game theory class a few years ago, my classmates and I got a lot of mileage out of comparing dating to game theory: it's a non-zero-sum and hybrid cooperative game with imperfect inform...

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/77400/

Fantastic answer from MSJ about dealing with mental health issues in a serious relationship.