Sunday in Outer Blogness: Back to School Edition!

It’s sad to see Summer vacation coming to a close, isn’t it? (For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, that is — I don’t know how the vacation schedule works down under…)

In a highly controversial move, the president (of the US) has decided to open the school year by speaking to students about their education, and, naturally, Outer Blogness is up in arms about it. Holly reports on the intellectual carnage in Farmington Utah, and Runtu reports on Utah’s solution (replacing the president’s message with a more inclusive president’s message). U.S. Wanker requests a school marm with balls. And Michelle attended the school where the president will speak (and promises to report on it)!

In theology, it has totally been Book of Abraham week! I think it started with this satire post and/or by this article in the Church News. Both the Latter-day Skeptics and Anubys analyze the church’s retreat from the BoA. Chris Smith analyzes the claim that Joseph Smith said Moses and Aaron signed the BoA papyrus. And Mormon Coffee has done a four part series on the BoA (including a discussion of the penis pics in the facsimiles, which one of my personal favorite Mormonism fun-facts, as seen here).

In other LDS ephemera, does anyone remember two-and-a-half minute talks? At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Swearing Elders contemplate what it would be like if Sacrament Meeting were more like an academic conference. The USU secular humanists et al critique the Pope’s environmentalism, and Andrew is still taking on the everyone’s favorite LDS intellectuals, this time Bob McCue!

Now let’s see how people are spending the last gasp of the summer! Wren photo chronicles the Minnesota State Fair (the same fair where my niece won a ribbon!). Lilly De Nalish has a plan. Lis is unpacking and culling. Susan Mercedes is (unfortunately) getting repeatedly hit on at Wall-Mart. And Saganist’s Primary class produced a hilarious “kids say the darndest things” moment! 😀