Rickety

Mostly about Utah

Rickety Blog Statistics

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I have a few friends that have shown an interest in my rickety blog statistics. This post is for them. Looking at the most popular posts you can see that four of the five are about family or friends so it is understandable that they would rise to the top.
Google Analytics and snapshots of popular posts.
The five post popular posts:

  1. Bear Lake Trip
  2. DoFollow
  3. Nephi Overnighter
  4. Dan at the Bountiful Temple
  5. Ward Campout 2008

Countries with the most visitors:

  1. United States
  2. Australia
  3. United Kingdom
  4. India
  5. Canada

States with the most visitors:

  1. Utah
  2. California
  3. Texas
  4. Washington
  5. Illinois

Cities with the most visitors:

  1. Kaysville, UT
  2. Hill AFB, UT
  3. Layton, UT
  4. Midvale, UT
  5. Draper, UT

Top referring sites:

  1. osmossis.blogspot.com
  2. blogcatalog.com
  3. www.blogged.com

Browsers:

  1. Firefox 77.7%
  2. Internet Explorer 17.1%
  3. Safari 4.6%
  4. Opera .4%
  5. Netscape .2%

Operating Systems:

  1. Windows 56.8%
  2. Linux 37.5%
  3. Macintosh 5.5%
  4. Not set .2%

Our Home Storage Center

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Kaysville Granary

Our Our home storage center is located at the Kaysville granary

My family is fortunate to live very close to a home storage center. We live in Kaysville and the center is located at the Kaysville granary — you can’t get any closer than that! There are home storage centers located throughout the United States and Canada. We still refer to our home storage center as the dry pack cannery — same place, new name.

Our home storage center assists my family with longer-term food storage like wheat, white rice, dry beans, oats, dried milk, and other basic food items. Our stake welfare specialist tells us when times are available at the center and we pack the food ourselves and purchase the items to take home that day. We go as a group and work together on everybody’s orders. We simply scoop the dried food into the cans, place a small packet inside to aid in sealing, and use a simple machine to seal the lid. Slap a label on the can and put six cans in a box and we are all done. It doesn’t take long to process even the largest orders.

There is a home storage center order form available that we use to plan our purchases. There are prices listed on the form. We like to use our computer to enter quantities and the form automatically updates our total cost. We then print the form and take it with us to the home storage center.

Drypack cans

A sample from our storage: instant potatoes, sugar, rolled oats, hot cocoa mix, and apple slices.

Our favorites are the fruit drink mix and the potato flakes. You really should try the potato flakes for they make the best mash potato you will probably ever taste. The dry onions work well in stews and the apple slices don’t last long if our children get a hold of them. Check out the storage life listed on the form. Most of the items are good for 30 years.

By keeping out of debt and having an active food storage program our family has a peace of mind that allows us to enjoy life to the full.

Resources

Distribution Services: Home storage products
Food Storage
Gospel Topics: Food Storage
Ready.gov: Build A Kit
Be Ready Utah
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Some American words rendered in English

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We Speack English sign.
When acquaintances learn I am from England one of the first things they talk about are words. Everyone knows that the hood of a car is really a bonnet. Or that gas should be called petrol. But Rickety is Rickety the world over. Over the years I have compiled a list of American words and their counterparts in English. Some of the English words are really slang, for example an American who is sarcastic would still be sarcastic in England. Cheeky is merely slang for sarcastic. However, the table below for the most part represents some true differences in American and English word usage.

Before proceeding I must mention one short conversation I had with a lovely American lady. This illustrates that there are more differences than just a few words:

Are you from England?
Yes.
I could tell by your accent, it is really cute.
My wife thinks so too.
Where in England are you from?
From Crewe in Cheshire.
Do you have Thanksgiving in England?
No, but we do give thanks the pilgrims left.

American English
Apartment Flat
Baby stroller Pram
Bad guy Rotter
Bar Pub
Candy Sweet
Cookie Biscuit
Cop Bobby
Crib Cot
Diapers Nappies
Elevator Lift
Expensive Dear
Extravagant Posh
Flat Puncture
Freeway Motorway
French fries Chips
Garbage can Dustbin
Gas Petrol
Good-bye Cheerio
Grandma Granny
Guy Bloke
Hood Bonnet
Line Queue
Liquor store Off-licence
Mom Mum
Movie Film
Overcoat Mac
Pants Trousers
Parking lot Car park
Popsicles Ice lollies
Potato chips Crisps
Rest stop Lay-by
Rest room Toilet
Sarcastic Cheeky
Senior citizens Old age pensioners
Soccer Football
Steal Pinch
Subway Underground
Television Telly
Thanks “Ta”
Truck Lorry
Trunk Boot
Underpass Subway
Vacation Holiday
Welfare Dole
Yard Garden

Dan at the Bountiful Temple

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The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

Yesterday Daniel, my youngest son, went to the Bountiful temple to receive his endowments. For my readers that are not familiar with temple endowments I will give a short overview.

The Gift of the Endowment

Daniel at the Bountiful Temple

Daniel at the Bountiful Temple

An endowment is a sacred ordinance. Endowments take place in a dedicated House of the Lord, or temple. Temples were centers of religious worship anciently and Mormons build temples today to administer the ancient ordinances of salvation that have been restored to the earth.

The dictionary defines an endowment as a gift given by a higher power. The temple endowment is a gift of knowledge that helps Mormons understand who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. It helps members understand what they should do to prepare to meet God, and how Jesus Christ offers salvation to each of us.

The temple endowment conveys information in a highly symbolic manner. Symbols used in the temple endowment and the meanings of those symbols are sacred to Mormons. Mormons don’t talk about the details of what goes on in the temple—it is too sacred to be discussed, except in the most holy of places.

Temple Covenants

When presenting the endowment, Church members are required to make very specific covenants with God. A covenant is a two-way promise. In religious terms, a covenant is a sacred promise made between an individual and the Lord:

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King, the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions. (James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord, p. 84)

A Family Gathering

All endowed extended family members met at the Bountiful temple to be with Daniel when he received his endowments. Not present were Jake who is serving a mission in Mexico and Derek who is building a school in Guatemala.

All available endowed extended family were at the temple

All available endowed extended family were at the temple

We gathered after the ceremony in the Bountiful temple grounds and took some photographs. In parenthesis is the relationship to Daniel. Left to right: Rick (father), Jill (mother), Daniel (himself), Miguel (Melissa’s fiancé), Susan (aunt), Melissa (cousin), Kent (uncle), Connie (cousin), Mark (Connie’s husband), Sarah (sister), Paul (brother), Steven (brother), and Adelaide (Steven’s wife). By now it was 8 pm and we were very hungry so we headed out to Chuck-a-Rama to eat all their food and ruin their profits for the day. For Jill and I it was a great feeling to have all five of our children endowed and active in the faith.

About the Bountiful Temple

In 1897 John Haven Barlow Sr. purchased forty acres of land from the United States government. There was little that could be done with the land until in 1947 some of the land was cleared and four hundred apricot trees were planted. Bountiful City requested the use of the soil from the site to build a dam and over two hundred thousand cubic yards of soil was removed, leaving the area an ideal spot on which the temple would later be built. The temple is the 47th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I remember well helping to direct traffic at the open house and being one of 200,000 members attending the temple dedication. Sarah and Derek were married in the Bountiful temple. Some temple details:

Announced: 28 May 1988.
Site: 11 acres.
Exterior finish: Bethel white granite.
Architect: Allen Ereckson.
Rooms: Baptistry, celestial room, four endowment rooms, eight sealing rooms.
Total floor area: 104,000 square feet.
Dimensions: 145 feet by 198 feet. 176 feet spire.
District: 30 stakes in central and south Davis county.
Groundbreaking: 2 May 1992 by President Ezra Taft Benson.
Dedication: 8-14 January 1995 by President Howard W. Hunter; 28 sessions.

Source: 2008 Church Almanac, p 518

The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

The Bountiful Temple showing the entrance at the north

Rickety Kiva Map

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Kiva Map showing Rickety micro finance loans over the globe
Kiva, back on July 23, announced Kiva Maps. To show you what it looks like, consider my own Rickety Kiva Map above. Each of the leaves represents one of my loans all emanating from Kaysville. Neat huh? It is just a Google map so you can zoom in for more detail. In Cambodia I have a number of loans as you can see in the detail map.
Kiva Map in detail showing Rickety Cambodia loans
Every day over 16,000 people all over the world are viewing Kiva. Kiva Maps also uses the Google Maps API on each Entrepreneur Profile page to show the geographic distribution of lenders to that Entrepreneur. Check it out by clicking “Map View” in the “Lenders to this Business” section.

Kiva did experience some problems shortly after going live with the feature. There were some Internet Explorer issues (as usual), and they also ran up against Google’s limit of 15,000 geocoding requests per day very quickly. Seeing Kiva laid out on a map will show how big this thing really is and encourage even more people to participate.

Below is the geographic distribution of lenders for one of my borrowers, pardon me, one of my entrepreneurs. Picks me right out in little old Kaysville.
Kiva Map showing Kiva entrepreneur linked to Rickety in Kaysville

Related Posts: Kiva

A Property Tax Alternative: The Home Consumption Tax

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Jake pursues Daniel across the lawn for non-payment of property taxes.

Big Tax Increases

Last year my property taxes increased from $740.06 to $938.13, an increase of 26.76%. This year my taxes were raised to $1,062.94, an increase of 14.22%. So over the last two years the increase is an enormous 44.8%. As a software developer you might think my pay increases would counter this raid on my bank account. Really? 2006 saw a 3.8% raise and 2007 delivered a 5% pay cut. Additionally, in 2007 my wife switched from full-time to part-time work. Before kind hearted soul you rushes to send me a check I hasten to add my finances are in very good shape.

Property Tax Defects

If my property taxes seem low I must point out dear reader that compared to other states they are indeed low but in Utah we have a lot of other taxes to pay. My property taxes are in line with what my neighbors pay. So rather than write a post that only complains, I would like to propose a solution. But first let us look at the defects in the current system:

  • Assessments are hard to kept current.
  • Large increases in property values bring government tax windfalls.
  • Property improvements without a permit escape taxation.
  • The burden is on the homeowner to prove false an over valuation.
  • You can lose your home if property taxes are not paid.
  • A bureaucracy is needed to run the program.

I am sure you can think of some more problems with the way property tax is administered.

No More Property Tax

I sound like a campaigning politician with my No More Property Tax mantra. But consider that the quickest way to reduce cost is to cut out the overhead and/or simplify the process. The taxes must be collected so the key is to use an existing system of collection. Now it would seem fair to tax on something related to the property. In addition the tax should fall a little heavier on those able to pay.

Home Consumption Tax

Any heading that has Tax in it is not a very pretty sight. Nevertheless, as a separate line item on your utilities will appear a Home Consumption Tax or HCT. These are the utilities that will have the HCT:

  • Electricity
  • Water (excluding secondary water)
  • Garbage
  • Natural Gas

I was tempted to add phones to the list but they are heavily taxed already, and VOIP phones would avoid the tax. Besides, phones consume very little resources. Each of the items in the list can have a different tax rate if desired. Also the option to exempt from HCT the first $20 of say, electricity and natural gas could be implemented, thus helping the poor.

Summary

  1. We have scrapped an inefficient system.
  2. Utilized an existing collection process to fund county government.
  3. Based our new HCT on consumables that are billed monthly instead of yearly.
  4. Significantly reduced the chances of home loss through non-payment of taxes.
  5. Eliminated huge tax windfalls.
  6. HCT assessments are automatic and accurate down to the last drop, amp, and BTU.

Well, my friends, pick holes in my proposal but don’t tax me too much with your contrary insights. I do believe my HCT would work rather well.

Grandpa Rickety Twice Over

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Adelaide and Steven

This is a family blog so it is appropriate to post once in a while about birthdays, new births, and pregnancies. Speaking of which you may recall that I blogged about Sarah and Derek expecting a boy in October, their first child. Of course some family members decided to fire up their creativity and contribute to naming the baby and came up with mossly good suggestions like:

  • Pete Moss
  • Forrest Moss
  • Chris Moss

I am really looking forward to being a grandpa. To make things even better, on 29th June Adelaide and Steven announced that their first baby is due in February. We do not know the gender yet. Last week they said it was OK to let everybody know. If the photograph is anything to go by this is going to be one beautiful baby.

So now I will soon be a grandpa twice over. Awesome!

How to not NoFollow

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U Comment I FollowThe NoFollow attribute

When you comment on a blog and leave your own blog address you will get a backlink that search engines will pick up that will help you to increase your ranking. However, many blogs use the NoFollow attribute to make search engines ignore your backlink. They do this by including code like this:

href="http://www.rickety.us" rel="nofollow"

You can see it in a blog’s comments by using your browser’s “View Page Source” command. Blogger and WordPress both have NoFollow turned on by default, as do many other blogging platforms. Some blogs delay removing the NoFollow by a measured number of hours and others require a certain number of comments. I call these type of blogs restricted DoFollow.

Removing NoFollow

When I used to remove NoFollow from my WordPress blog I used the DoFollow plugin by Denis de Bernardy. I no longer remove the NoFollow attribute. This is purely an effort to reduce the number of plugins I use. Note that links placed in the body of the comment will still be NoFollow but the website listing typed into the website box will be DoFollow. Of course there is really no DoFollow attribute but if the NoFollow attribute is removed, the link is automatically followed.

Detecting NoFollow

The way I prefer to detect NoFollow is to use the Firefox SearchStatus plugin. Once loaded, when you go to comment you will see links that are NoFollow in a pink box. Very useful.

Finding DoFollow

There are a number of DoFollow directories that list DoFollow blogs. The problem is that restricted DoFollow blogs are mixed in with the the good unrestricted blogs. In some directories there are even some NoFollow blogs that slip through. Now that gets really annoying. So for a time I kept my own directories. With the SearchStatus plugin, when I came across DoFollow blogs, as I read the comments I would add them to my directory. Just surfing by a blog’s homepage that has Recent Comments displayed, Stylish will display the true colors of a commenter’s link.

A more direct approach is to use Google Image Search for “U Comment I Follow” (with the quotes). You might even want to make sure that the same text is displayed in your alt tag when you choose a DoFollow image for your blog.

Update

I have discontinued using the dofollow plugin to reduce the number of plugins I use.

Scripture Links

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My Book of Mormon and Holy Bible

Note: Since lds.org was redesigned many of these shortcuts do not work. Check back for updates.

Studying from my scriptures is a great way to improve my life. I want to know how to quickly get to them online, and it has been useful to me to learn these shortcuts.

To link to a scripture so that it is highlighted use:

scriptures.lds.org/en/hel/13/26-30#25
where:
en = English (de=German, es=Spanish, fr=French, it=Italian)
hel = Helaman
13 = chapter
26-30 = verse range
#25 = starting verse at the top of the page (not highlighted).

Notes:
When no language is specified, defaults to English.
Here is a list of abbreviations. This is about all you need to know except for a few additional ones I list.

To refer to separate verses use commas:
scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89/1,4-5#1

To refer to the study helps indexes:

scriptures.lds.org/en/gs links to Guide to the Scriptures. Substitute for gs bd, tg, in, jst, biblemaps, or chmaps for the other helps. Add a through z to access the contents, for example scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/d lists all topics beginning with d. This works for the other helps except for the JST which uses a number to refer to select passages. biblemaps, in addition to a through z, also accepts a map number from 1 to 14 as does chmaps with map numbers from 1 to 7. biblephotos and chphotos only accept numbers 1 to 32 and 1 to 18 respectively.

Old Testament

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/ps/127/4-5#5

Only use ot for contents (ot/contents) or The Epistle Dedicatory
(ot/epstlddc)

Genesis gen Ecclesiastes eccl
Exodus ex The Song of Solomon song
Leviticus lev Isaiah isa
Numbers num Jeremiah jer
Deuteronomy deut Lamentations lam
Joshua josh Ezekiel ezek
Judges judg Daniel dan
Ruth ruth Hosea hosea
1 Samuel 1_sam Joel joel
2 Samuel 2_sam Amos amos
1 Kings 1_kgs Obadiah obad
2 Kings 2_kgs Jonah jonah
1 Chronicles 1_chr Micah micah
2 Chronicles 2_chr Nahum nahum
Ezra ezra Habakkuk hab
Nehemiah neh Zephaniah zeph
Esther esth Haggai hag
Job job Zechariah zech
Psalms ps Malachi mal
Proverbs prov

New Testament

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/eph/4/32#32

Only use nt for contents (nt/contents)

Matthew matt 1 Timothy 1_tim
Mark mark 2 Timothy 2_tim
Luke luke Titus titus
John john Philemon philem
The Acts acts To the Hebrews heb
The Epistle to the Romans rom The Epistle of James james
1 Corinthians 1_cor 1 Peter 1_pet
2 Corinthians 2_cor 2 Peter 2_pet
Galatians gal 1 John 1_jn
Ephesians eph 2 John 2_jn
Philippians philip 3 John 3_jn
Colossians col Jude jude
1 Thessalonians 1_thes Revelation rev
2 Thessalonians 2_thes

Book of Mormon

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/10/32-33#32

Only use bm for the first seven items below

Book of Mormon contents bm/contents
Title Page bm/ttlpg
Introduction bm/introduction
The Testimony of Three Witnesses bm/thrwtnss
The Testimony of Eight Witnesses bm/eghtwtns
Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith bm/jstestimony
A Brief Explanation about The Book of Mormon bm/explanation
First Nephi 1_ne Alma alma
Second Nephi 2_ne Helaman hel
Jacob jacob Third Nephi morm
Enos enos Fourth Nephi 4_ne
Jarom jarom Mormon 1_ne
Omni omni Ether ether
Words of Mormon w_of_m Moroni moro
Mosiah mosiah

Doctrine and Covenants

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/121/46#46

Doctrine and Covenants contents dc/contents
Explanatory Introduction dc/introduction
Chronological Order of Contents dc/chrono
Official Declaration—1 od/1
Official Declaration—2 od/2

Pearl of Great Price

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1/13#13

Pearl of Great Price contents pgp/contents
Introductory Note pgp/introduction
Selections from the Book of Moses moses
The Book of Abraham abr
Facsimile No. 1 abr/fac_1
Facsimile No. 2 abr/fac_2
Facsimile No. 3 abr/fac_3
Joseph Smith—Matthew js_m
Joseph Smith—History js_h
The Articles of Faith a_of_f