Well, Reilly made out the check this week when Jimmer started a pre-season game for the Sacramento Kings.  Quoting from Reilly, “In the check’s memo line, I wrote: Crow.”

Reilly had quite a few complimentary things to say about Jimmer.

I said he wouldn’t be able to get off his shot off in the NBA. So far, in two preseason games, he’s averaged 16.5 points. He’s been pyrotechnic from the wider NBA 3-point arc (67 percent). His handle is tighter than a coffee pot’s. His rebounding and defense still have more holes than a Danielle Steele novel, but, all in all, he’s been jaw-droppingly good.

But here’s the best part:

And now it looks like he has a chance to become the Tim Tebow of the NBA.

Tim Tebow plays for the team I hate the most in the NFL: the Denver Broncos.  Yet I like Tim Tebow.  I can’t not root for the guy, even if I hate his team.  For a guy everybody said would be a bust in the NFL, and thought the Broncos were crazy to take him in the first round, Tebow has reeled off 6 consecutive wins in the closing minutes of games–all in miraculous fashion.   (Thankfully, my Patriots didn’t let Tim do any magic last week.)

Tebow expresses his religion more than anybody in recent memory.  (He’s a Southern Baptist.  Perhaps Reggie White came close.)  To top it off, Saturday Night Live did a funny bit on Tebow (and called Tom Brady “God’s nephew”.)  It’s good in it’s own right, but there was a very funny reference at the tail end of the skit, so watch it all the way to the end.

What’s your take on Jimmer or Tebow?

I’ve been visited by nearly every country in South America–missing only Guiana, and French Guiana.  Perhaps I can drum up some visitors from there.  (I’m big in Brazil–158 visits over almost 2 years.)  Europe looks great.  (I’ve never heard of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, so I’m not surprised they’ve never visited.)  Former soviet republics don’t visit–I need a visitor from Belarus, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  Surprisingly, I’m bigger in Ukraine (47 visits) than Russia (32).

Nearly all of the Middle East has visited.  Syria is my big empty spot.  I am making inroads into Africa, but I’m still missing a visitor from about half of the continent.  Laos, Papua New Guinea and North Korea are my last missing countries in Asia.

As for the U.S., apparently I don’t interest people in Delaware (40), North Dakota (45), or Rhode Island (48).  Almost 25% of my visitors come from Utah, with California (12.5%) and New York (6%) next.

Anybody know anybody in Greenland?

http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/a-song-for-the-mormons-121409/1185331/

Here’s some other cool videos:

I don’t know about you, but I really like this Hannukah song by Sen. Hatch.  I love the quote at the end:  “All it is is a hip-hop Holiday song from the senior senator from Utah.  That’s all it is.”

Apparently Don Imus liked it.  (Yes, THAT Don Imus.)  Imus even said it’s one of the most downloaded songs on Amazon, right up there with Black Eyed Peas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-p1udCQXTs&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Here is Adam Sandler’s Original Hannukah Song.

BiV wrote some lyrics, and even included me in one of the verses!

I found this YouTube video on Famous Mormons that I liked.

Finally, Why can’t Mormons send flowers?

I know that’s a lot of videos, but what did you think of them?

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

“We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.”

I’m all for the ethical treatment of animals, but not insects, and especially flies.  This is truly unbelievable.  I wonder what their position is on mosquitos.  Anybody know?

A friend of mine gave me a copy of Sunstone, the magazine.  I’ve never read it before, and have really wanted to get it for quite some time.  I am very grateful to my friend for giving it to me.  I read the articles he suggested, as well as many others that he didn’t, and came across a really interesting one by Jeff Burton.

Burton writes a column using the style of the CS Lewis book, where the head devil writes to an apprentice devil on how to properly tempt people.  The full article is found here, but I just wanted to quote a brief section of it, and get your reactions.  The article comes from the Nov 2006 issue.

OKAY, let’s get down to today’s tempter training lesson. The most effective approaches to corrupting the practice of charitable giving are based on my favorite temptation principles: fear, greed, and pride. There are many variations, but if you handle them correctly, these three principles will work very well with your man.

For example, try to instill in your man a fear that if he does not pay tithing, he will incur the displeasure and wrath of a God who keeps score. Let him believe, for example, that he will get sick and won’t be able to work, or that his money will be stolen, and so forth.  Place into his mind the old Mormon saying, “I couldn’t afford not to pay tithing.” This fear based approach to giving is beneficial to our side because your man will not be sharing out of a sense of love and generosity; no, he will be paying in order to avoid trouble.

The second tactic is based on greed. Point out to your man the folklore common among many Mormon men that paying tithing will result in an outpouring of material blessings that will compensate for any sacrifice made to pay tithing. Be sure you emphasize the word “material” as it is central to the greed approach.  Yes, yes, I know that our Enemy often rewards those who are generous and unselfish, but often it’s in the worlds to come and in non-material ways. Your man must not be allowed to dwell on those facts.

Pride can be useful here, too. Your man is a bit too young, but my man’s experience with prideful giving will be educational. Over the past few months, I have quietly reminded my man that liberal but discreetly public donations to the Church might be rewarded with future plum callings such as mission president, director of a visitor’s center, or other “white collar” or administrative callings that don’t involve getting directly involved in genuine service such as callings at Deseret Industries or the Humanitarian Center—those we must avoid like the plague. I have had my man envision the potential shoulder-rubbing with the very elect that may ensue… or the eventual call to a real position of authority, such as a Seventy! Of course it is pride that
tells my man that this will come as a result of his “generosity” and “Christlike demeanor.”

We must be careful, of course. Unless fear, greed, or pride continue as the prime motivators for giving, your man may actually get caught up in that dangerous spirit of giving that relates to unselfishness, and this may put him on a path to assist in the work of our Enemy. It’s a danger we will have to workaround. I will be here to help you if your man
doesn’t respond well to the fear, greed, and pride ploys.

When you are using money to tempt your man, it will help, of course, if your man adopts the prevalent assumptions of “to be successful, I need to make good money” and “I am expected to provide well for my wife and kids.” We have been very successful in encouraging many Mormons (and Americans in general) to “need” things. We’ve made them think it is their duty, even their prerogative, to “get stuff.” It makes it easier if your man, for example, thinks he is doing it “for the family.”  Yes, “a Humvee for the whole family!”

Has Wormwood tempted you?  I’m afraid I am guilty of several bad attitudes mentioned above….

Check out this video.