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Keeping Up Appearances? David's Surprise Anointing to Be King

  Have you ever watched the show, Keeping Up Appearances? What it is. A comedy about a British woman who wants to be thought of as very high class even though her family is low class. Her name is Hyacinth Bucket but she pronounces it Bouquet. She wants everything perfect but her family works against her, and her neighbors run from her. We all know someone who wants to keep up appearances, and sometimes we do. In our everyday life, we depend on our eyes and we automatically trust them, at least at first, and we often don’t look closely or below the surface. Like puzzles. But we know that appearances can be deceiving, even though they catch us. So I wanted to show this video I saw recently because it’s disturbing but informative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FERa1AI2EK8 AI has gotten far better on making these deep fakes—videos that are not of anyone but totally generated by the software. Even though they look like someone, they are not. Of course, it is stealing fro...
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Birdwatching

 Whose world is this, anyway? My husband came out to the deck where I was reading, thinking, and taking long pauses to listen to birds and watch them visit the feeders. Nala and Butter were keeping the the squirrels away. The cardinals, like kings, were making sure they were fed first but wrens, sparrows, finches, robins, swifts sat in the trees calling and cackling. My Cornell Labs app has identified 18 in 18 minutes, some new ones included. “How interesting that God made all the birds have distinctive calls,” I said. “But I guess they are calling to their own kind, their mate and children.” “Do you think they are talking to each other?” he said. “Not like we do, no communicating, but signaling.” “I thought they were singing for us.” We laughed about that; our human-centric, self-centered view of things takes over. “They sing and make noises when we are not here, so it’s not for us. If they are singing for anyone, it’s God.” I had read Samuel’s speech to the nation in I Samuel 12,...
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I Samuel 10-13, Saul’s bad choices that led to dethronement

1. First bad choice: Not telling good news. In 10:9-16. His uncle comes to him and he talks about the donkeys. Not about being made king. What? 10: 14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel.” 15 Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he didn’t tell him. When Christians come together, they should share good news of God working in their lives. Paul Christensen spoke on Gospel conversations, and it was a clear, insightful sermon on one of our responsibilities that should be a joy. D o we talk about the most important truth of our lives? Psalm 107:2 Give thanks to Yahweh,[ a ] for he is good,     for his loving kindness endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed by ...
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Retirement!

  Photo credit: Amherst College Library I am retired as of June 1. I had wondered what emblazoned T-shirt I would wear the first day. From a subconscious choice, I picked one I bought in 2013 at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA. I have not worn it much, wanting to save it, for some reason. But such conservatism seems silly now. It contains the first three lines of this poem: I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one’s name – the livelong June –To an admiring Bog! I don't consider this one of her best poems--not sure what I would pick on that account, since there are so many, but it is fun and it fits now that I am retired. At least as far as my former employer goes. I'm (sort of) a retired Nobody, as far as that organization goes. Nobody there is going to come to me for help, advice, wisdom. Well, they might, but I have no a...
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Must read on AI and copyright

  https://georgiawriters.substack.com/p/the-inventions-of-others?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=570089&post_id=164360045&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2pwl1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email A good explainer on the issues of LLMs and our original writing. 
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