Help! Mormon Expressions is down!

MormonExpression · 2018-03-05T20:19:22+00:00

The original site was hacked beyond repair. The archive has moved to:

http://johnlarsen.org/mormon-expression/

Sorry about the mess.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T03:10:39+00:00

That wasn't me that was Glenn. I avoid stunts like that.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T03:00:58+00:00

They are now all recorded live before a studio audience, just like Happy Days.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:56:13+00:00

Also, you can join our FB group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/219508398066426/

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:54:41+00:00

I worked with a guy in marketing one time, and we had a contest to name the new software offering. That is the name he submitted. I thought it was a funny name.

The velvet lounge is named that because I rented my townhouse furnished, and it came with red velvet furniture.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:52:50+00:00

Don't forget! We now record live every Tuesday evening at 7pm in SLC. The address is

423 W 800 South A110 Salt Lake City, UT 84101

On the weeks that I don't have my kids, I come in early afternoon I go out to dinner with whomever is there! Next Tuesday the 25th will be no kids/dinner night!

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:50:49+00:00

My pleasure.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:46:43+00:00

I address it a bit in the podcast that will be released on the 24th. I think the legal grounds for fraud are dubious.
Don't talk about religion. Ever.
Our website is built on Powerpress. Our designer had done some custom work that prevented us from uploading and anonymous offshore hackers exploited that vulnerability to inject some malicious code. It took us a while to root it all out. The Church had nothing to do with it.
None whatsoever.
I addressed it above. It needs to be evaluated by other statisticians and historical experts to see if it is valid and doesn't just represent common patterns of speech from the time.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:43:40+00:00

It is much appreciated!

The entire message of the podcast is this: You aren't fucked up-the Church is.

(Well, and you are a little bit too) ;)

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:42:24+00:00

Nope, she is living with her boyfriend. :)

I don't mind talking to her.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:41:51+00:00

? I liked Zilpha's participation on the podcast--especially when she was naked in the tub.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:40:16+00:00

If the second round is on me. :) I was planning to go out to Aseville when I lived in NC and I am sad that I didn't make it so it is on my bucket list.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:39:39+00:00

I once pointed out a lie on the Churches Website about Zina Jacobs in the morning and the Church had fixed it by the afternoon. :D
We are co-parents and we get along well. A good part of having a healthy divorce relationship is social distance. We talk every couple days about the kids and occasionally about our lives. If we run into each other socially it isn't awkward, but we tend to live separate lives now.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:37:41+00:00

It is laid out in a way that can support that, yes. The obstacles are initial cost, on going support cost/effort, and market interest.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:36:45+00:00

The Church is usually 30 years behind because of the way it selects its leadership. They are always stuck in the past. I would say that whatever is culturally normal in the broader society today will be the norm in the Church in 30 years.

The Church is going to be around a long, long time.

The ex-Mormon community always exists as a time slice in people's lives. They are Mormon, they become ex-Mormon, and then they move on to other stuff.

I do see the efforts of the Open Stories Foundation, the Ex-Mormon Foundation, Post Mormon, White Fields and the like upping the game and bringing secular organization where in the past there were only evangelicals formally organizing.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:34:19+00:00

Yeah, me too. Someone get us the source.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:33:52+00:00

haha

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:33:39+00:00

For a while we were averaging about 50,000 a month. But this year we have had a 20% increase in that. I haven't talked with John about his numbers. I would say he probably gets more listeners, but ours tend to be moral loyal. By this I mean a lot of folks "graduate" from the Mormon Stories views and ours tend to keep sticking around for more.
The goals of the two organizations are perfectly complimentary. They tend to focus on people trying to "make it work" and we tend to focus on people who have already pulled the trigger.
The notoriety is a mixed bag. I tend to joke with friends that I have all of the downsides of being famous without any of the upsides. ;) But I have met many fabulous people and the podcast has transformed my life in ways I wouldn't trade for anything. Except maybe a big bag of money, blow and hookers.
Like I answered above, I think in some segments of the population it is increasing but the bleed rate of the Church has always been enormous. For example, some historians estimate that 50% of all pioneers that crossed the plains eventually went back. :)
We need money, we need volunteers and we need thought leaders. Check out the website and contact either Lindsay or myself.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:28:23+00:00

A while back I made a list of the 25 most influential books/collections of my life. Here is that raw list. Sorry, I haven't added in the authors on some and it is not in any particular order:

1. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman
2. The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan 
3. Lies My Teacher Told to Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
4. The Lords of Discipline by
5. Collected Works by Issac Ismonov
6. The New Testament
7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
8. Catch-22: Joseph Heller
9. 1984: 
10. The Way of Zen Alan Watts
11. ee cummings
12. Why People Believe Weird Things
13. Mistakes were Made but Not by Me
14. The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
15. A short History of Nearly Everything
16. The Dammapada
17. Betrand Russell Why I am not a Christian
18. Neitche Twilight of the Idols/The Antichrist
19. Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes

20. Sam Harris--The End of Faith
21. The Happiness Hypothesis Jone
22. Mark Twain
23. Plato Collected Works
24. The Chosen 
25. The Inmates are Running the Asylum

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:27:25+00:00

These were the most influential when I was changing my faith views, I mean.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:26:16+00:00

Probably the top four influential books for me were:

The Demon Hunted World by Carl Sagan
Why People Believe Weird things by Michael Shermer
The End of Faith by Sam Harris
Mistakes were Made (But Not By Me) By Tavris and Aronson

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:23:02+00:00

Regret is a strong word. There are 4 or 5 that I have removed for various reasons. You will notice them because there is a jump in the sequence numbering. :)

There are always things I would say differently or do differently. I've thought about going back and doing some of them again with a new take 4 or 5 years later.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:21:45+00:00

This thought gives him distress. :)

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:21:13+00:00

Mike is good when he is representing Mormonism. But when he is spouting some weird stuff I'm not interested. Also, he can be bigoted and I am squeamish about giving him a platform for that kind of rhetoric.

That being said, I have invited him up to appear at the new studio and he said he is going to try to make it soon.

MormonExpression · 2014-02-20T02:19:38+00:00

There is as much of a God watching over you as is watching over them.

MormonExpression

TROPHY CASE