Stargate - Replicators and Energy Weapons

"Overconfidence in our technologies has been our undoing. The entities learned from the very means that were employed to stop them. They have become a plague on our galaxy that is annihilating everything in its path."

— Thor

This is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet.

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This is a Replicator.

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This post is for those who don't know or are not aware of  what might be dangerous.

If we are to put ourselves in the position of the Asgard, we could say that we have discovered how to use natural resources to help ourselves have a better quality of life.

However, those same technologies which we have become so accustomed to in our daily lives, may prove to be our undoing.

About fifty years ago if someone had mention the World Wide Web, everyone would have simply thought that they missed an episode of Star Trek.  Cell Phones are common even among teenagers, when only twenty years ago they were expensive 'Cellular Telephones' that only business men would have. (not to mention they were huge bricks back then, making a great self defense weapon)

Now we have all these great items: the Internet, Cell Phones, Video Games, Calculators, Computers, Tablets, Automatic Garage Door Openers.

These are all very useful technologies, but as the Asgard found their Energy based weapons had very little effect, if any, on the replicator swarms.  It wasn't until they teamed up with SG-1 that they began to turn the tides of the war.  While the Asgard were using their Energy Weapons, the Tau'ri (Earthlings) used Projectile Weapons which were much more effective at killing Replicators.

Likewise our efforts must be of a different type.  We need to change from just ignoring those things which might harm us and actively prepare ourselves against the oncoming attacks.
In one particular episode there were three Replicator ships headed for an Asgard planet.  The Asgard were in the middle of building a brand new Warship named the O'Neill. This particular ship was intended to be the first of its class and would be bigger and better than all other Asgard war vessels.  Nevertheless, they would not be able to get the weapons system online before the Replicators showed up.

Samantha Carter had been brought to help come up with a plan to stop the Replicators from getting to the O'Neill and assimilating it into their technology.  Her plan was referred to as a 'stupid idea'.  However, the plan was to use the ship with higher technology to bait the other three ships into a hyperspace jump and then self destruct the O'Neill, thereby blowing up the other three ships as well.

Her idea worked, and the Asgard admitted that they never would have thought to Sacrifice the ship in order to eliminate the others.

 

This is the Anti-Replicator Weapon.  

It was designed to disconnect the electrical bonds between individual Replicator blocks.

The only Energy Weapon that had any effect on the replicators was not designed to merely 'shoot' them.  It was designed to deactivate them.  It had to be told the code for the specific breed of replicators that was being fought.

For instance, you don't need to worry about how much time you spend using the Automatic Garage Door Opener.  You might however need to worry about becoming prideful if your neighbors don't have Automatic Garage Door Openers.

You usually don't need to worry about which cell phone you are going to use, or which company to have the contract with.  However you do need to make sure that the texts you send and the pictures you look at are appropriate.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once said,

"Tragically, the same computer and Internet service

that allows me to do my family history

and prepare those names for temple work could,

without filters and controls,

allow my children or grandchildren access

to a global cesspool of perceptions

that could blast a crater in their brains forever."

(Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul)

For years I have had fun playing many video games.  While many argue that some should spend less time playing video games, I argue that time spent doing something you enjoy, whether it be gaming or knitting, should simply follow the rule of, "Would I do this with my Mom?"

So find that code that will deactivate the terrors of technology, and the target that part that should have 'place no more' in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It might even require a 'Dumb Idea' or two.

 

Patience - Children

"Patience means active waiting and enduring. 

It means staying with something and doing all that we can 

working, hoping, and exercising faith; 

bearing hardship with fortitude, 

even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. 

Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

 

-- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

Many times in Life we seem to put ourselves in a position we need something but have to wait on others before we will be able to get it.  If we are always trying to move forward it becomes easy to forget that we sometimes need to "be still and know that [He is] God."(Psalms 46:10)

Even when we are pained from seeing someone else struggle, we might be able to help them more by allowing them to figure it out and being patient with them, even if we already have a solution.

“We should learn to be patient with ourselves. 

Recognizing our strengths and our weaknesses, 

we should strive to use good judgment in all of our choices and decisions, 

make good use of every opportunity, 

and do our best in every task we undertake. 

We should not be unduly discouraged 

nor in despair at any time when we are doing the best we can. 

Rather, we should be satisfied with our progress 

even though it may come slowly at times.”

-- Joseph B. Wirthlin

 

I sometimes struggle because I feel that I am not 'good enough'.  A good friend showed me the other day that even if I do something stupid every now and again, it doesn't make me a bad person.

There are 168 hours in a week which is 10,080 minutes.  Even if I was to do something stupid for 30 minutes a day, only 2.08% of my week was stupid.  If 60% was a passing grade, I think most of us are at least C average because we spend roughly 30% of our time in bed.  Knowing that I was doing much better than my brain thought I was has helped me to move forward, feel better about who I am, and what I do.

Learning of Life - Current and Past

Hey Everyone.  I was wondering, why is it that we are always trying to understand the same thing that those before us were trying to understand?

Maybe we just have the same questions and no one ever found the answer.
Maybe because we don't understand what our ancestors already knew.
Maybe we have the answers, and we just haven't put forth the energy required to actually understand what is in front of us.

"The scriptures also enlarge our memory by helping us not forget what we and earlier generations have learned. Those who either don’t have or ignore the recorded word of God eventually cease to believe in Him and forget the purpose of their existence.

In Tyndale’s day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible, especially in a language they could understand. Today the Bible and other scripture are readily at hand, yet there is a growing scriptural illiteracy because people will not open the books. 

Consequently they have forgotten things their grandparents knew."

-- Elder D. Todd Christofferson

There must be some other reason for us to be interested in what has happened to our families in the past.
Go to http://mormon.org/family-history/ for more information.

http://new.familysearch.org/ is also very helpful for doing Geneology.

Some of My Favorite Scriptures

"And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you?

And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being.

Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.

And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou saidst unto me—Behold these six onties, which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadst it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have thy reward."

-- Alma 11:21-25

"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."

-- 2 Nephi 2:27

"And I will come unto you, and if there be any among you that has a desire for freedom, yea, if there be even a spark of freedom remaining, behold I will stir up insurrections among you, even until those who have desires to usurp power and authority shall become extinct."

-- Alma 60:27

Why Does it Feel so GOOD to be Baptized??

So this post comes from abyss of my minds' twisting nether.  Mostly I have a mental 'filing cabinet' where everything to do with gaming or movies and TV shows gets dumped.  It's probably the biggest filing cabinet in my brain.  But, once upon a time I was watching a movie called "Stargate", where a group of US Air Force guys use an alien device which creates a stable wormhole to another location, usually a planet, and when you pass through the event horizon, (point at which the wormhole is located), it transports you almost instantly, (about .2 seconds or something), to the other side.  No one had ever recorded being able to turn it on before.  So when they go through the first time it has a cool Computer Generated visual sequence with some intense sound effects.  You then see one of the characters standing on the other side and he says, "What a rush."  After a few minutes go by everyone calms down and they go about securing the area and doing their military thing.

Well, I'm not military, but that is kinda the best way to describe how I feel when someone follows Christ into the waters of Baptism.  I feel this RUSH every time someone comes to the waters of baptism.  However just like in the movie, a few minutes go by, or for me it is a few days, and then everything is normal again.  Nice and pleasant where I know what I need to be doing and can do so with confidence.  This is one way that the Lord prepares us for future trials in life.  He gives us a taste and when we handle it well, we prove that He can trust us.  He then trusts us with a little more the next time.

 "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little"
-- Isaiah 28:10

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God:
I will give unto the children of men line upon line,
precept upon precept,
here a little and there a little;
and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts,
and lend an ear unto my counsel,
for they shall learn wisdom;
for unto him that receiveth
I will give more"
-- 2 Nephi 28:30

I know that as we follow the lord, we will be able to have that RUSH of Happiness, that EXCITEMENT within our soul, so that we will be sustained in our trials and carried through all our afflictions.

Have a Firm Foundation, Don't Fall Down

"And now, my sons, remember,

remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer,

who is Christ, the Son of God,

that ye must build your foundation;

that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds,

yea, his shafts in the whirlwind,

yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you,

it shall have no power over you

to drag you down to the gulf of misery

and endless wo,

because of the rock upon which ye are built,

which is a sure foundation,

a foundation whereon

if men build

they cannot fall."

-- Helaman 5:12

Good Things Are Good

Hopefully this makes everyone smile.  :)

Hello. My name is Bruce.



Good feelings gone.

So this is my, 'Happy Time' post for the week. 

 Remember, if it makes you smile, and promotes good, it is of God

Prince of Egypt

So as i studied the scriptures this morning I read a little bit out of Exodus where Moses is born and a few chapters later when he confronts Pharaoh.  I then thought about one of my all time favorite movies, the Prince of Egypt.  It goes through the life of Moses, and depicts how he came to understand and obey the Lord.

One of the best parts is when Moses must use the Priesthood to perform signs and "wonders" and thereby convince Pharaoh to "Let his people go."

I found this video and the words of this song make so much sense, it seems a wonder of its own that Pharaoh would not soften his heart before losing his firstborn son.

I hope we can all listen swiftly to the Spirit, and not harden our hearts against the Lord.  When His Spirit whispers to us that we need to do something, quickly obey and just do it.  I know that by obeying the voice of the Lord we will find greater peace and happiness in our lives, and we will be able to build upon a firm foundation.

bad day, Bad Day, BAD DAY!!!!!!!

So....sometimes we have a "Bad Day", and this is one of my favorite childhood cartoons that exemplifies how to react to a Bad Day.

Even though we have the Bad Guys to worry about, when we look to the Lord we will have the strength to pull some sweet awesome moves and make our escape!!!!

"There hath no temptation taken you

but such as is common to man:

but God is faithful,

who will not suffer you

to be tempted above that ye are able;

but will with the temptation

also make a way to escape,

that ye may be able to bear it."

-- 1 Corinthians 10:13

Learn From Trials, Then Act Upon Your Knowledge

"I love the musical and motion picture Fiddler on the Roof. There a wonderful Jewish father sings “If I Were a Rich Man.” His memorable prayer concludes with this pleading question:

Lord, who made the lion and the lamb,

You decreed I should be what I am;

Would it spoil some vast eternal plan,

If I were a wealthy man?

Yes, Tevye, it might. Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality." --Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign May 2003, Give Thanks in All Things

I found this talk from the April General Conference in 2003 to be rather interesting.  I also quite enjoy this movie quite a bit.  But as Elder Oaks said, we must be grateful for the situations we find ourselves in.  Sometimes this can be rather difficult, but as long as we do our best to deal prudently with what we are given we will be able to see the lessons the Lord intends for us to learn from those situations. 

If everything was easy, nothing would be difficult.  We learn from struggle, when we want to gain more muscle or strength we don't sit around and play video games all day.  Instead we get up and go do something.  We lift weights, go for a walk, go jogging, go on a hike with friends, go outside and play tag, go play rugby or frisbee.  All of these options require GOing and DOing something.  If you are in a race and want to make any sort of progress towards the finish line, you must first GO forward.  If we sit back and are not actively looking for ways to do better, than we will indeed not do better.

From this we know that in order to gain spiritual strength, we must exercise our spiritual muscles.  We can GO to church, DO some scripture study, Pray to our Father in Heaven, watch video clips from General Conference.  There are many ways in which we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.  But each of them require that we DO something.  We must choose to learn of them and then follow their teachings.  Once we know what we need to do it is time to GO and DO it.

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father:

I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded,

for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments

unto the children of men,

save he shall prepare a way for them

 that they may accomplish the thing

which he commandeth them."

-- 1 Nephi 3:7

When Things Don't Go According to the Plan

So I am a huge Stargate fan.  SG-1 and SGA for those who watch it.  But I have found so many similarities between Stargate and the gospel it can sometimes be quite funny.

Here is a clip I found in which Teal'c, an alien from another planet who is working with the US Air Force, makes a comment that would normally be considered wrong or confusing.  However, due to him not being familiar with earth culture and American sayings, he is often found saying things that are outside what we would normally think would be said.

Here we see that from his understanding of our use of words, to calm down is to get better.  So if things were going to get worse, being the opposite of better, they would indeed calm up, the opposite of down.

Just like Teal'c had a hard time understanding how we thought, and they way we speak, so to do we often have a hard time understanding the way our Father in Heaven thinks and speaks.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, 

saith the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways, 

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

-- Isaiah 55:8-9

I hope that as we speak with those around us we will have the understanding that they might not understand what exactly we are trying to say to them, and that as we pray unto the Father we may be able to listen to what He says, so that we may learn from Him what is right.

I also know that as we turn to Him in prayer, we will be able to find peace in our hearts, even when we are in a situation that appears to "calm up".

That is a Cool Movie!!!!

These are just a few of my favorite movie quotes.

"Sanka, you dead?"..."Ya, mon."

-- Cool Runnings



source



"Define 'dancing.' "

-- WALL-E



source



"You must be the dumbest, smart person in the world.

And you must be the dumbest, dumb person in the world."

-- I Robot



source



These are a few of my favorite scriptures.

  "Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.

And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou saidst unto me—Behold these six onties, which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadst it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have thy reward."
-- Alma 11:23-25

   "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
-- Matthew 7:24-29

I love the scriptures because they teach us everything about life, like how to have fun, how to work hard, how to grow crops, and how to raise a family.  Not only that but they have lots of really good quotes!!  Everyone around me knows that I quote things all the time.  I don't think a day goes by where I don't quote something.  Sometimes I quote something and I don't even realize it.

The connection I made between funny movie quotes, and inspired writings from God, is how everything that we find interesting is easier to remember.  I love quoting things, so if I watch a movie that doesn't have a lot of good quotes I don't usually watch the movie very often.  It is the same with the scriptures. If I can't say it to myself and find something in it, I don't remember it very well.

I know that as we read and study the scriptures we can find things to be very interesting, and then we will want to go back to it more and more so we can remember what it said and how it said it.  From studying the scriptures I have found many days to be easier to handle than before I was reading.  The Bible, particularly the New Testament, talks about those people in the Jerusalem area of the world, and of the life of Christ. The Book of Mormon talks about a people separated from those in Israel and living in the Americas, and is a record of their dealings with God.  These two books are the most important source of quotes in my life because 'in the I think I have eternal life.'

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

-- John 5:39