#ldsconf

Here’s a fun gift box to gift some cookies in.

Are you guys doing well? You can always message me if you need anything. 

Happy Sunday! 
So, I think we can all agree that I suck at posting regularly. It is a new year and I’m not going to bore you with all that “new year, new me hahaha” stuff but I could try to post more often. Let’s see if I can do it. 

Good luck! I think we all might need it if 2018 is anything like the last two years.

My midterms start tomorrow so I’m freaking out just a bit. Anyway, Happy Sunday everyone! How are all of you? Do any of you have exams this week or are having them soon? Good luck to those who do. 

So, this one has more plants around it but I still find it breathtaking. How are you all? 

Hey Everyone! Happy (late) Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful for everyone whohas been here to support me and I am so thankful for everyone who has spread joy and the gospel. I am thankful for God. He has done everything for us. 

Its almost Christmas time which means midterms. Good Luck to all of you who have to take them. I know you can do it! 

Hey, I am back after a really long week visiting my Grandma in the hospital. I hope you are all doing well!

John 21:15

Holland: Bro, are you texting?
Hales: He totally is.
Ballard: I’m checking out the #ldsconf memes, chill.

#ldsconf meme business gets called out before #ponderize can expand to City Creek

Sunday night after a heavy controversy, ponderize.us was shut down, as was it’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The word was used by Devin Durrant during the LDS semiannual general conference to encourage Mormons to ponder and memorize scriptures. It was discovered afterward that his son and daughter-in-law had setup a website with merchandise to sell the “ponderize” brand. After some controversy they claimed that funds would go to the Mormon missionary fund, then hours later the whole site shut down.

His son and daughter-in-law are Valerie and Ryan Durrant, but the public WhoIs data on the site showed that ponderize.us was registered by D Durrant early in September - a whole month before general conference. Devin had also been tweeting the term as a hashtag for some time on his Twitter account.

The idea wasn’t entirely ridiculous- conference memes have become increasingly popular, and quaint little buzzwords used during conference talks spread like fire among the righteous. It’s a built-in market, and isn’t the first time someone in the Mormon public eye took advantage of the money making opportunity there. Celebrities create their own money making brands all the time that take advantage of their ready-made following. But any amount of market testing would have shown them that this shot at religious entrepreneurialism would turn out to be a botched job at best.

The pre-planning involved in creating a brand for any profit that is then broadcast around the world as an innocent message to remind people to indoctrinate themselves on a regular basis makes the Mormon church seem more like a money hungry mega church. The church’s PR department may want to consider monitoring the general authorities activities a little closer, and offer to pay the extra few dollars a month to keep their website registrar data private. Or perhaps more planning could involve having a known third party buy the URL that they then purchase from said accomplice after the 30 day domain registration lock is lifted.

Then on the other hand, why hide it? They may as well have projected the site on a screen during his talk and proclaimed “Let’s go shopping!” The millennials at conference who were creating conference memes in between tweaking their deadly virus in an aim to wipe out the world on the game Plague Inc. (you know who you are) could have had a ponderize t-shirt in the mail before the closing prayer. Then they might have made enough money to expand into a boutique shop at City Creek mall!

Next time maybe.