Bar Code

[SoonerCoug]

Originally Posted by Tex

What was that line about the apple falling from the tree? This reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes sketch ...

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1414600

I just called my parents to double check the story.

I guess I had it wrong, but only slightly.

There was a person in the ward who kept a roll of how often you attended, and this was reported to the bishop and stake president. (Someone was assigned to call each member of the ward once a month and ask how many times they attended the temple that month.) This is the record that was used during recommend interviews. My mom says they quit this practice ~20 years ago.

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Adam

My grandfather was a life-long employee of the church real estate acquisition division before his retirement. He knows all of the Apostles down to Eyring personally. He was at the table for every significant real estate transaction the church did for over 30 years and many of the insignificant ones.

My aunt is the personal secretary to one of the more powerful 70s. A former member of the presidency of the 70 who currently runs one of GBH's pet projects.

The closest person I have to a mentor left his successful worldly career and became a high level church employee. He puts out the big fires. The really big fires.

I live in Alpine Utah and associate socially regularly with high level lawyers for the Church.

One of my close friends is a professor at BYU and close friend of the child of an apostle. He always has great inside stories.

So there you have it. I think I am probably as well connected as anyone and have as good an idea of what goes on at HQ as anyone not working there.

Don't forget to tell them that your office is full of rich mahogany

[creekster]

My conscience is pricked (don't get carreid away with this, please). In a lukewarm defense of Soonercoug, I must say I have a very vague recollection of people at the ward level checking to see how many times members had attended the temple. It is a hazy memory and I believe it was a short term program, but I think I do recall this happening.

I also must say that I find Adam's story plausible, and it certainyl makes sense to me that this infomration could be useful for some decisions and may even be collected for that purpose. OTOH, while he has at least described how he might get such information, he did somehow omit any connection between his sources and the position he has suggested could be true.

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Does anybody know people who can fake a bar code readably insert? Where is Jason Bourne when you need him.

It's easy to create barcodes. I would bet money that the barcode is printed in a standard barcode font. The difficulty might be in creating the value. I would assume that the value has a checksum calculation that can be used to verify that it's a valid value. If not, it would be trivial to put any old numeric value on the barcode and have it work.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Don't forget to tell them that your office is full of rich mahogany

Now come on, I did ask him to decribe his sources, and even if he did set off the "overload of arrogance" meter a little, he at least gave some insight into the sources he has.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

It's easy to create barcodes. I would bet money that the barcode is printed in a standard barcode font. The difficulty might be in creating the value. I would assume that the value has a checksum calculation that can be used to verify that it's a valid value. If not, it would be trivial to put any old numeric value on the barcode and have it work.

May I borrow yours? Something's wrong with mine. I'd ask to borrow Sooner's but upon checking with SLC, his is only valid for temples in Oklahoma.

[jay santos]

In my stake, the stake prez tells everyone their goal for annual temple attendance, and they ask you to report on how many you did when you renew. The idea that they would use the bar code for information is certainly not far fetched. Tex can surely find better battles than this.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Adam

It is interesting that you don't have any idea what goes on at Church HQ but dismiss what I say about it.

Please show me one thing I have said about how the church functions that is false. Please show me. I might say things you don't like or don't want to believe, but show me where I have been proven wrong. If you can't provide examples, but you insist that I have no credibility, you only reveal your bias and ignorance.

For an attorney, you really don't have that "burden of proof" concept down very strong. How about this: each week when the Twelve gather together they exchange baptismal number for the areas they oversee. Whoever does the worst has to wear pink garments for the entire next week.

Prove me wrong.

Originally Posted by creekster

OTOH, while he has at least described how he might get such information, he did somehow omit any connection between his sources and the position he has suggested could be true.

This is kinda what I was getting at.

Originally Posted by Adam

You seriously lack imagination.

What I lack is the goofy opinion that General Authorities, mission presidents, and stake presidents are vetted like political appointees.

Originally Posted by Adam

What if he didn't go to the temple for 8 months straight last year.

Given that until now they didn't have that information, I wonder how they did this? Hire a PI?

Note to Lebowski: notice liberal use of the word "now." Don't freak out.

Originally Posted by Adam

This has nothing to do with our discussion. I have never said that local leaders would use the info in any way. I doubt they have access to any past tithing or will have access to the temple recommend attendance information.

Procedure for issuing local calls mirrors that of general calls. If it's good enough for a stake president, why not for his counselors, or for a high councilman? We're concerned about a 70's temple attendence habits, but not a bishop's?

Originally Posted by Adam

You have gone from pretending to not know who "they" were, to saying the phrase was inaccurate, to now saying the phrase isn't common. Like nailing jello to the wall.

I was just trying to discern if "they" really say that. Apparently, "they" don't.

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

It's easy to create barcodes. I would bet money that the barcode is printed in a standard barcode font. The difficulty might be in creating the value. I would assume that the value has a checksum calculation that can be used to verify that it's a valid value. If not, it would be trivial to put any old numeric value on the barcode and have it work.

I would certainly hope so. If not, then they are seriously overpaying their programmers, and let me tell ya: for the church that's really saying something.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by SoonerCoug

I just called my parents to double check the story.

I guess I had it wrong, but only slightly.

There was a person in the ward who kept a roll of how often you attended, and this was reported to the bishop and stake president. (Someone was assigned to call each member of the ward once a month and ask how many times they attended the temple that month.) This is the record that was used during recommend interviews. My mom says they quit this practice ~20 years ago.

And for good reason. It's a pretty intrusive practice, IMO, certainly not one I would expect to find practiced on a church-wide scale (thus my doubt).

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Tex

And for good reason. It's a pretty intrusive practice, IMO, certainly not one I would expect to find practiced on a church-wide scale (thus my doubt).

My ward experienced something akin to that nature for a short term, IIRC.