My Ancestors’ Religious Freedom

Public Square Magazine has just published my essay on my ancestors’ experience with political repressions in general, and religious freedom specifically. Give it a look!

Down the Ethereum rabbit hole

I know smart people who react to cryptocurrency with everything from outright skepticism to guarded indifference to enthusiasm. This year I finally looked down the rabbit hole for myself, and was surprised how much potential is there, specifically in Ethereum; this post is an attempt to collect what I’ve learned. So first, links and commentary […]

Leisurely Consecration

Public Square Magazine recently put up a piece I wrote on Josef Pieper’s “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” and his concept of leisure/worship as contrasted with laziness/idleness/acedia. I’m quite proud of it; give it a read!

The Request Batting Average

There may or may not be stupid questions, but there are definitely stupid requests. I have a concept of a “request batting average,” computed as [number of approvals] divided by [number of requests]. You can tell a lot about the quality of an engineer asking for money, or a Christian saying his prayers, by looking […]

My Stock Advice for Engineering Students

Good engineering students often do a poor job of managing their career opportunities. I want to help. I’ve participated in career fairs and job interviews various times on each side of the table, hiring and searching. I have been in the room making decisions on who to interview. I’ve been in the room making decisions […]

“Building Israel” piece in Public Square Magazine

Public Square Magazine just put up a piece I wrote, on Israel (the religious concept, not just the country) as an institution. This is what I came up with as I took President Russell M. Nelson’s challenge to study what the Lord has promised Israel, in light of my prior reading and interest in how […]

Review: “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”

Search no further: this is the one phonics program to rule them all.

Family Christmas Letter 2020

Hello world, this is Tom. Normally Elissa does our Christmas letter, but I’ve hijacked it this year. Executive summary: we’ve actually had a pretty good 2020, pandemic notwithstanding. Marie was born on April 18, with a thick head of black hair. She is now babbling and crawling around like crazy. She brings out the best […]

Review of “The Book of Mormon in One Hour”

Brennen Ricks, a guy from my ward, had the interesting idea of putting together a ~20K word cut of the Book of Mormon. I usually prefer to read complete works, and particularly with the Book of Mormon I wish other people would too. But at the same time I recognize there are readers who don’t […]

Low-Key Family History: A Call to Mediocrity

Genealogy is cool, and it’s good for your soul to spend some time thinking about your ancestors. For this and other good theological reasons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints asks members to work on their own family history, particularly on FamilySearch.org. People often seem to either take this incredibly seriously, or do […]