Nisi Dominus

If the Lord has not built the house,

in vain will those who build it toil.

If the Lord does not protect the city,

those who keep it watch in vain.

It is vain for you

to rise before light.

Get up after you sit down,

you who eat the bread of pain.

The Lord will to his beloved give it in their sleep.

Lord's gift are the children,

His grace is

the fruit of the womb

The Lord will to his beloved give it in their sleep.

Lord's gift are the children,

His grace is

the fruit of the womb (3 times).

Like arrows

in the hand of the mighty,

so are the children of exiles.

Blessed the man

who met his wish of them.

He will not be muddled

when he treat with his enemies

at the gate.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, and now, and ever shall be, and unto the ages of ages.

Amen.

Translated by Pietro Lignola at https://lyricstranslate.com/en/rv-608-nisi-dominus-if-lord-has-not.html

He's Got the . . . SPACE. MADNESS.

So for the next few weeks, I'm taking on additional duties at work, filling in for the boss while she's gone.

It's a little nerve-wracking. I can't talk about the specifics, but suffice it to say it's a process that has to be done in a particular manner and I don't have a lot of experience with it.

But that's okay. I'm learning it, and getting tips from the boss via phone while she's away. I'm trying to keep those to a minimum, because she's supposed to be relaxing. But maybe she'll relax more if she sees I'm not exactly going rogue while she's gone.

Nevertheless, this is kind of how it feels:

I Will GOOOO I Will DOOOOOOO!

It’s something I shout from the rooftops when my wife isn’t around to stop me:

I really don’t like Hymn No. 270, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.”

The words? Well, they’re okay. I remember, however, being regularly cudgeled with them as a callow youth at many a fireside or camp meeting or whatnot, when those in charge of us felt we were derelict in our duties or threatening to become so. We sang it in the mission field – sometimes in English, sometimes in French – when mission shenanigans were getting out of hand and president called us all together for a meeting.

The tune, though. It’s the tune that gets me every time. It’s a slow-motion fall down a flight of stairs put together by a nearsighted carpenter with a terminal case of the hiccups.

That probably sounds cruel. Because, well, it is. While I can sing passing fair, I can no more compose a tune than give mouth-to-mouth to a dying fish through a tuba connected to a trombone, so I should not criticize. I also realize there are many people out there who love this song, tune and all, and I’m okay with that. Others can love things I don’t like, just don’t expect to hear it at my funeral. Or maybe do, since I won’t be around to have to sing it.

Irony: I read tonight that the tune is the second assigned to the words in question, with the first being dumped because, in the words of Mary Deveau, former Municipal Historian of Griswold, Connecticut, it was “unsingable.” What a disaster that first tune must have been to make the current one better.

Yet.

You knew there was a yet coming, because not only does God work in mysterious ways, I’m pretty sure He also really enjoys hitting me in the Ironic Punishments department.

Because whenever we sing the song – as we did at the conclusion of a fireside tonight – it sticks with me and sticks with me and once my brain gets past the batty tune, the words seep through and I truly do understand what those youth leaders and those mission presidents were trying to accomplish with it: “Alert Stupid Here He Can Do Better.”

(Aside: The Primary song “Nephi’s Courage” is similar in vein and near unsingability, but at least we get the joy of hearing the Primary kids shout “I will GOOOO I will DOOOOOOO! The THING the LORD commands!”)

Because I truly can do better. My wife wants me to do better. Those who put me in church callings want me to do better. The missionaries stopped by yesterday and, in so many words, invited me to do better. I know the Lord looks at me and says, “You can do better.” And when we sing this song to that terrible tune, He uses it to speak to my heart.

So tonight as I’m sitting here in my study with that song falling down the haphazard staircase in my mind, I’m reminded of all the things I need to do better. I’ll make a list; maybe work on a few things.

I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be.

Just don’t make me sing it.

"Didn't Even Charge Her for the Ride"

I tend to be a logical person.

The three most vivid experiences I've had connected with the spirit defy logic.

I've felt the spirit speaking to me through a shout in my head on a very quiet evening; a shout that stopped me in my tracks in a crosswalk and prevented me from getting into a car/pedestrian accident.

I've felt the spirit speaking to me through a weary Scout who suddenly wasn't weary when I asked him how he was doing.

I've felt the spirit speaking to me when I really had some heavy thoughts on my mind; speaking through a Weird Al Yankovic lyric.

As many others have said, my testimony of many things is based on my experiences with those things. And a strong testimony of one gospel aspect leads me to seek to develop a testimony of other aspects. It's not a place we get to -- it's a journey. A journey like author and columnist Jenkin Lloyd Jones describes:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .

Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

I guess there's enough logic in that.

Sometimes, the journey even feels like this.

Just Waiting for Quality Assurance

Lest anyone think I know what I'm doing, this is the second time today all the pavers were in place. I had a miscalculation that left me having to make some ugly cuts at one end, so we decided to make the border different to make up for the mess and make things look a lot better. I think it worked.

It did take up a lot more pavers than I expected, though, so we'll have to go buy some more to finish the rest of the job, but it's nice to see all of this in place. I hope it passes quality assurance. I do need to put the sand in, but I'm not doing that until it's been approved.

Update 1: I moved two half-pavers, and it has passed QA. Now I just have to finish waiting for my sand to dry out and this bit is finished.

Update 2: I'm pleased to report the table my saw is on -- you can see part of it in the picture -- isn't broken. I thought it was the last time I put it away, so when I got it out this time I cleaned it up really good after I used it and it all seems to have folded together just fine.

Pavers Going In

After I put in the sand we got from Sandy Downs, I started test fitting some pavers in the space. I'm not yet sure we're going to go with the basketweave pattern, but I like it so far. I've got to figure out a better way to level the sand.

I'm excited for this portion to be done -- but it's going to be the easy portion. The rest is going to be more of a challenge.

I do like the Neil Armstrongesque footprint in the sand in the second photo.

Asasdf *at* Kajdsf? That *is* Impressive

1. What does it mean, exactly, if one is "asasdf at kajdsf"?

2. Why are there two people on LinkedIn who fill this particular role?

3. Why do their profiles come up as 404 errors?

Could it be . . . nah. People wouldn't lie about being asasdf at kajdsf, would they?

[Swallows a Yo-Yo]

There seems to be a lot of division among the World War II cognoscenti concerning Gregory A. Freeman's book "The Forgotten 500," telling the tale of more than 500 Allied servicemen rescued by the OSS from Yugoslavia, due in part to the sheltering of the servicemen by those allied with Draza Mihailovich. Some are accusing Freeman of projecting modern conservative anti-Communist political leanings into the story.

That's as may be; I know nothing of Freeman's politics.

But some of the criticism leveled at the story is laughable, and comes with modern projecting of its own, so I'm not going to discuss it. Suffice it to say that Communism *was* as much of a bogeyman in the 1930s and 1940s as it was in the 1980s, and the Stuka bombers, while vulnerable to figher attack, were also used to extreme success during the Blizkreig and afterward.

What I do appreicate are the firsthand stories shared in this book -- and I'll always go with firsthand stories over anything else. Freeman tells a good tale, from start to finish, even in parts of the book that others have described as "boring." I wasn't bored reading this. I was surprised many times, shocked a few times, and reminded many times of the concern raised -- and I wish I could remember who said it -- in stating that nations excelled at doing great things at times of war, and often fail to rise to that level of dedication and excellence in times of peace. Freeman's book is a good reminder of people getting stuck in a bad situation and fighting their way through it to survive. And if that's the lesson I get from reading this book, I'm better off for it.

The book is also a good reminder that even the Allies -- the US included -- didn't always fight with honor during what Studs Terkel called The "Good" War. Anyone looking for a saint will be disappointed to find them in the company of devils.

The photo above is from Google Maps and shows the "aerodrom" at Pranjane, as described in Freeman's book. It seems someone there thought it fitting to remember what happened there, despite the politic slop and modern projections, anti-communist or what have you, aside. Seems like these airmen, who saw the sacrifices these people did, and fought for recognition for them and their leaders for decades, still have some fights to make.

No Eye for What's Wrong: Thanks, AI.

(I apologize for the potato-taken screengrabs; I'm not sure what's going on, but wanted to include the whole thing so I'm not accused of plagiarism here. Any emphasis added is mine.)

The text (available here in context, with comments):

Posting this on behalf of a member who would like to remain anonymous:

"I’m an art director and supervisor for a large studio. The studio heads had the bright idea before I started to hire prompters. Several bros were brought onto the film project. I absolutely hated myself for not quitting on the spot but stuck with it because it’s mercenary out there. Have a family to feed etc. I decided to use this time wisely. Treat them as I would any artist I had hired. First round of pictures of a sweeping Ariel forest landscape comes through and it’s not bad. They submit a ton of work and one or two of the 40 are ok. Nearly on brief. So first round feedback goes through and I tell them about the perspective mistakes, colour changes I want, layers that any matte painting would be split into. Within a day I get 5 variants. Not changes to the ones I wanted but variations. Again. Benefit of the doubt I give them another round of feedback making it clear. Next day it’s worse. I sit there and patiently paint over, even explaining the steps I would take as a painter. They don’t do it, anomalies start appearing when I say I want to keep the exact image but with changes. They can’t. They simply don’t have the eye to see the basic mistakes so the Ai starts to over compensate. We get people starting to appear in the images. These are obviously holiday snaps. 

“Remove the people”

“What would you like them changed to?”

“… grass. I just don’t want them there” 

They can’t do it. The one that can actually use photoshop hasn’t developed the eye to see his mistakes, ends up getting angry at me for not understanding he can’t make specific changes. The girl whose background was a little photography has given me 40 progressively worse images with wilder mistakes every time. This is 4 days into the project.

I’m both pissed about the waste, but elated seeing ai fall at the first hurdle. It’s not even that the images are unusable, the people making them have no eye for what’s wrong, no thicker skin for constructive criticism and feedback, no basic artistic training in perspective and functionality in what they’re making. 

Yes the hype is going to pump more money into this. They won’t go anywhere for a while. But this has been such a glowing perfect moment of watching the fundamental part fail in the face of the most simple tasks. All were fired and the company no longer accepts Ai prompters as applicants. Your training as an artist will always be the most important part of this process and it is invaluable. I hope this post gives you a boost in a dark time."

This harks back, unsurprisingly, to what we're seeing with AI and the written word, or indeed with anything: Those using AI are taking shortcuts and aren't developing the skills they could be using to create on their own without automated assistance. Yes, AI is a heck of a lot faster, but there's no learning. There's no investment, outside of knowing how to tweak what one asks the AI to do.

The AMAZING META AI Reads Articles So You Don't Have To!

With artificial intelligence on my mind since I had to fail a student last semester for continued use of ChatGPT, I was curious to see what Meta AI had to offer when I saw these helpful suggestions on a local news story.

Being a naturally distrustful person, I read the story first, then went back to see what AI would have to say. I asked the second question: HOw many students have worked at the station?

Meta AI responded:

(I apologize for the potato-like quality of these screencaps.)

So it made a guess. It couldn't tell me how many precisely, because of course the story didn't offer a number. So it looked at what numbers it had and came up with the answer "many hundreds."

I guess a human could have come up with that answer. So why did I need AI for that? I don't know.

I still don't like the shortcut-edness of it all. Reading the story myself took only a few minutes; having AI do the reading and give me a response wasn't a timesaver, particularly in light of the noncommittal answer. Maybe with something more complicated it would be more helpful. But I'd still want to do the reading to make sure the AI wasn't misinterpreting something.

But what if I ended up misinterpreting something myself? Always a possibility. Still, it's worth checking myself.