So glad Chad didn't win.
He supports a candidate for governor - who also lost - who has, shall we say, interesting things to say about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then can't figure out why his own support in the Bear Lake area - home to many members of the Church - dropped from the last election.
RIP indeed.
We've seen our property taxes double since we moved to Ammon in the early 2010s. Voting yes on a larger levy for School District 93 means another increase.
I get that the schools need the money. Thing is, everybody needs the money. I know we could use it. I'd love to pay off that mortgage that much sooner. Build a shed or a shop. Repair the porch roof that's sagging. So many other things.
If we had a state legislature that was doing something to help schools instead of frittering tax money on vouchers and tax cuts and only restoring some of the cut funds after the cuts literally killed four people, maybe I'd feel differently.
That's a big if, I know. So I'll probably vote for this levy. Just like voting for legislators that actually care about education, it's part of the bargain. But I'm tired, boss.
2013, we paid $976 in property taxes. Same year, about $740 in state income taxes on income of about $75,000.
Last year, $2018. This levy vote will put that up another $150 a year. Same year, $4,200 in state income taxes on income of about $110,000.
He's going to Gilbert, Arizona.
Before he opened his call, I had three predictions:
1. New Zealand.
2. Quebec/France (somewhere French speaking)
3. Mongolia.
At the last minute, he guessed Flagstaff, Arizona. So I was way off and he was really close.
And of course as his guests are here, right before the call reveal he's out at his therapy wood chopping area:
He's out there still chopping with Josh, one of his buddies.
Yes, in his Sunday duds. Getting ready to serve like a missionary.
Anyway, it was fun to mess with them.
So here's the deal: This book is indeed a soppy romance story featuring, at the end, an English Ignatius J. Reilly who gets locked in the dungeon of an ancient castle tower until he writes the second book of his genius career and the family is set back on kilter, or at least as much on kilter as the family could be.
I liked it. It felt a little ponderous and wandering, but at least it had a plot, unlike John Crowley's "Little, Big," to which I compared the book earlier this year.
If you want eccentric rural with a lot more humor, pick Stella Gibbons' "Cold Comfort Farm," but this book had a slow charm of its own, and built nicely toward the end when I suppose we should be cheering that someone connects with someone else. And they do, in ways you expect because that's how the expectations were set up waaaaaay at the beginning.
Dodie Smith does keep the story going, however, something Crowley didn't seem bothered to do. But it could have used a lot more of Gibbons' humor.
As I sometimes to at church as and after we sing hymns in Sacrament Meeting, I looked up the history of the lyricist or composer of one of the songs we sang.
We sang for Sacrament "In Humility, Our Savior," which has long been one of my favorite hymns, and is in fact one I became most familiar with as I served a mission in France, as the hymn is one the saints there love. In fact, the three songs we sang today were very popular in France.
Anyway, this lady is Mabel Jones Gabbott, born in Malad, Idaho, as part of a colony of Welsh Mormons who settled the area. She grew to have a love of words, fed in part by Welsh traditions of singing and storytelling. More of her story here.
She spent a life with words, crafting hymns, poems, and editing many works for various church magazines. In her life is proof that one doesn't have to have widespread recognition to contribute to the greater good.
One of her most recognized works is the poem "Eve and I," which she wrote as she realized there was little told from Eve's point of view in the creation story. It's a lovely poem:
Neighbors have indeed chimed in:
Isaac, looking for things to do as he waits for the mission call, split up a ton of the wood we have left in the front yard from the pine tree, probably almost half of what's left, so the yard is looking excessively bare tonight.
No word yet. Not that I'm all that bothered; I 've got lots to do without spending time on the second job.
I guess we're lucky at BYUI, with this happening at the start of one of our semesters, not at the end of the semester as with many other schools.
I feel a little dissed, though. I got a friendly message from BYUI when I tried to open Canvas, not this neat little message from the hackers.
I guess the hackers are trying to prove a point or something? Or they're dicks and just want money. Which, I guess, is a point on its own.
It's everywhere on Facebook, and, irony of ironies, being used copiously by people fighting against AI data centers.
Of course they're *not* fighting against AI data centers. They're posting ragebait to engage the masses and push whatever useless metric they're trying to push so they can farm likes and gather followers and virality and then sell whatever they have to the highest bidder.
Of course, some feign sincerity. But the irony of using AI to fight against AI eludes them.
So my rule now: I don't engage. I take screenshots, then I block.
It's like Whac-a-Mole, though. Block one and three vie for the space you just opened on your feed.
Doesn't matter. Will keep blocking until I wear our my mouse and keyboard.
And inspiration to me to go more often.
Just waiting for the mission call now . . .
This is why we're urged to study and study and study our scriptures and consider how we should apply them in our lives.
Then when the question of "where do I draw the line on forgiveness" arises, we already know the answer and how we should respond
Nothing in this passage, or the entire section of Doctrine and Covenants 64 says it's going to be easy, but often things the Lord requires are hard to do.
This, from Matthew 18, applies as well, of course:
[Dad takes the dogs outside, because one is barking pathetically at the back door to be let out and the other one, a geriatric, has yet to produce an adequate poop for the day. So Dad is not merely sitting on the back steps doom scrolling, he decides to finish cleaning out the dead leaves and crabgrass from around the air conditioning unit.]
Emergency backup dog (the barker}: [Sniffs around for ten or so minutes, maybe takes care of business and generally struts around like she owns the back yard, as she always does.]
The geriatric, as yet undepooped dog: [Expresses deep interest in what Dad is doing and noses around in the dead leaves and crabgrass and generally makes a nuisance of herself as she and Dad go for the same pile of dead leaves handful after handful. After five minutes, she locks eyes with Dad, produces one of the stinkiest poops known to mankind about a yard from where he is working, then wanders off to leave Dad inhaling the deadly fumes as in haste he finishes up the last of the leaf-and-grass cleanup and staggers inside to get some fresher air.]
Potted this on the Facebooks this morning:
The idea, of course, is a good one, at least as long as people remember to put the plates back in the right place.
What I object to is the AI presentation of this scenario.
First of all, it's pretty odd to have a blank plate to cover a box in a wall. Sure, I've got a few in my house, but a junction like this isn't likely to be set up this way -- there should be a switch. Unless this was the result of a remodel, but even then, why not a switch if you're adding new wiring?
But on to the AI.
Look at the baseboard on the floor. Then look at the open box in the wall.
The perspective does not match. Behold:
It's clear the photo with the box was taken straight on, or near enough straight on. The lines for the box don't match the perspective line for the baseboard, which is probably a reason the plate covers the bottom of the box, which is closer to the baseboard.
Also, that hole in the wall is HUGE compared to other elements in the photo. A plate ain't gonna cover that.
I guess if you're hungry for content and engagement, AI is a good way to get people to comment on the slop, and then argue about it. Either way, it's sloppy.
In regards to this.
I'm no lawyer, but personally I don't think this'll stick. At best, the meaning of "86" is ambiguous enough they're going to have a really hard time proving any evil intent.
I'd sure like to be able to read the date on this newspaper, but it's just too blurry.
The cartoon itself is from 1943, so some wishful thinking here.
