So. . . I was looking at Google Maps the other day and happened to click on the Street View around Heritage Halls at BYU. And guess what I found? Deseret Towers! They’re still there on the images on Google. Along with the big pile of dirt where the other two towers used to be across the parking lot.
Maybe some time in the future they’ll redo the images and DT will disappear forever from the annals of history that are Google. But for now, it’s a nice bit of nostalgia.
A friend introduced me to OC Remix quite a while ago, and I recently rediscovered one of the songs I liked. I also downloaded a few others and have been thoroughly enjoying them. I thought I’d post the links for any of you who are fans of remixed video game music. I’ve never actually played any of these games, but the music is pretty sweet. Enjoy!
The piece I enjoyed the most was titled “Gabriel’s Oboe,” a song written by Ennio Morricone for the film The Mission. The arrangement they performed featured Brenden McQuay on the tuba, playing a transcription of the oboe part. The song was beautifully arranged and featured well the lovely, full brass sound for which UPB is so well-known.
In researching the origin of the song after leaving the concert I discovered a vocal version entitled “Nella Fantasia“. It features a beautiful Italian text which conveys a longing for a world of peace and mutual understanding. The lyrics are so intriguing, both in the Italian and in the English transcription, that I find it fitting to reproduce it here in both languages:
Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto,
Li tutti vivono in pace e in onestà.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien’ d’umanità in fondo l’anima.
Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo chiaro,
Li anche la notte è meno oscura.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien’ d’umanità.
Nella fantasia esiste un vento caldo,
Che soffia sulle città, come amico.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien’ d’umanità in fondo l’anima.
In my fantasy I see a just world,
Where everyone lives in peace and in honesty.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the clouds that fly,
Full of humanity in the depths of the spirit.
In my fantasy I see a bright world,
Where each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the clouds that fly,
Full of humanity.
In my fantasy exists a warm wind,
That breathes into the city, like a friend.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the clouds that fly,
Full of humanity in the depths of the spirit.
Below is a recording of Paul Potts singing Nella Fantasia:
This hymn text by Theodore E. Curtis from the 1985 LDS hymnal has grown in significance for me over the last few days, as I have personally witnessed the “ample arm” of the Lord extended to me.
Lean on My Ample Arm
Lean on my ample arm,
O thou depressed!
And I will bid the storm
Cease in thy breast.
Whate’er thy lot may be
On life’s complaining sea,
If thou wilt come to me,
Thou shalt have rest.
Lift up thy tearful eyes,
Sad heart, to me;
I am the sacrifice
Offered for thee.
In me thy pain shall cease,
In me is thy release,
In me thou shalt have peace
Eternally.
–Theodore E. Curtis
The storm in the breast, the depression, the difficulties of one’s lot on life’s complaining sea–all these can be soothed by the Savior’s rest as we come to Him in humility. After all, Christ is the One who could and did take upon Himself our sins and infirmities (see Alma 7:11-13).
In Christ we can have peace, both in the storms of this life and in the eternities.
Last week I listened to a Stack Overflow podcast in which Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood discussed the effects (intended or otherwise) that Craigslist has had on professional journalism.
Joel contends that Craig Newmark has, in effect, stolen classified advertising from the newspaper industry and made it something freely available to everyone. Advertising is the method newspapers use to fund professional journalism. But if people can advertise their stuff for free on the internet and reach a wide audience, they have no financial motivation to pay money to a newspaper to publish their ad in print. Instead, people are taking the money they would have spent on advertising and putting it to back into their businesses or their own wallets.
Professional journalism is something that keeps citizens informed and keeps governments transparent (or at least tries to). While it sounds like an appealing alternative to professional journalism, citizen journalism simply doesn’t work. Bloggers link to each other, tweeters retweet things they like. But amateurs simply don’t have the financial motivation that a professional has to do original research and report objectively. Citizen journalists simply aren’t doing justice to journalism. Their work is useful and relevant, but it just can’t replace professional journalism.
The net effect of Newmark’s decision not to charge for his service is that he’s taking all that advertising revenue out of the pockets of the newspapers and putting it back into the hands of the citizens or businesses, who do with it as they please. That means that a large sum of money is being taken away from an entity that performs a public service essential to a vibrant democracy and freedom of speech.
Newmark says he doesn’t know what he’d do with all that money. But Joel suggests that if Newmark doesn’t want the money, he should put it to use for some public good. After all, that’s where the money would have gone in the first place: the public good of investigative, professional journalism.
Posted by Steven 
Posted by Steven 
Posted by Steven 
