I've seen people put personal gain over doing what's "right" over and over in my life. As a person with an "upholder" tendency (see Gretchen Rubin's book the Four Tendencies) I tend to take this sort of thing poorly.
I remember a guy that was a member of the church we were going to. He was a divorced father of 1 teenage boy that lived with him. He told everyone he was in the "import/export business" didn't appear to work very hard or much. He rented a house and had rented out a couple of the bedrooms to other men. He got involved with the money management group at our church and even appeared in a video "ad" for the group and how well the church was doing with the money donated to the church.
Once his son was an adult and out of the house the guy "fell in love with" an ugly older woman. He told people and the pastor at our church that they were "married in the eyes of God" but when pressed admitted that they were not legally married because the woman didn't want to lose her dead husband's pension as income.
This bothered me a lot! It struck me as dishonest on multiple levels. And from the guy's slick personality I deduced that he was doing this for the money and distanced myself from him.
I knew people at work that did the same thing. One woman lost her husband in the Middle East while he was deployed with the US Army. She got his pension then started living with another man. I watched her continue living with that man and even have a child with that man without ever getting married. She was open to people about how she didn't want to give up her dead husband's military pension and benefits. Another person that I kept my distance from due to dishonesty and what I perceive as cheating the system.
I've seen so many stories and examples of this over the course of my life. And I feel like these people have been poor examples to the younger people coming up that now see no issue with this sort of lying and stealing.
This sort of stuff plays out in welfare circles to the point that women have children to augment their income. Other people aspire to being deemed "handicapped" and "disabled" by the government so they can get a monthly check in an amount that allows them to live without having to "work". Then they work for cash or barter so they don't jeopardize their "income" from the welfare/disability office.
Then the things happening to younger people as they watch these older people live this way! Living together as a couple is treated as a financial decision instead of committing to an engagement and then marriage as a way to come together as a couple. I feel like these poor examples being set by older adults help lead younger people to more and more faulty thinking as they think the "morals" of the past are old fashioned and useless.
I find it sad to watch this rotting of our societal moral fiber happen in my lifetime.
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Sunday, October 4, 2026
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
AI dangers ~
One of the fascinating things you can do with an artificial intelligence slash large language model is to give it parameters in its response. In most of them that I've worked with so far, you can add to your prompt that you would like the response to be in the voice of a CEO or respond with a blog post or respond in a conversational style.
You can even ask it to respond as if you are a teenager or a child. And I can see people using this instead of going and asking the different groups that are not in their circle or comfort zone. I can also see this leading to issues because the AIs are becoming echo chambers that respond to us the way that we want to be responded to.
I guess you could add to your prompt of an AI to respond to me in an adversarial way. And you could even ask it to pick apart your idea with criticisms for every point. And that would be safer in a lot of people's minds than going into a room full of critics and having them pick your work apart.
I still think that people are going to be trapped in their echo chambers and then shocked when they come out into the real world if they ever do.
These new tools are exciting, but be careful. Be very careful.
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You can even ask it to respond as if you are a teenager or a child. And I can see people using this instead of going and asking the different groups that are not in their circle or comfort zone. I can also see this leading to issues because the AIs are becoming echo chambers that respond to us the way that we want to be responded to.
I guess you could add to your prompt of an AI to respond to me in an adversarial way. And you could even ask it to pick apart your idea with criticisms for every point. And that would be safer in a lot of people's minds than going into a room full of critics and having them pick your work apart.
I still think that people are going to be trapped in their echo chambers and then shocked when they come out into the real world if they ever do.
These new tools are exciting, but be careful. Be very careful.
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Saturday, September 26, 2026
Women fighting as entertainment ~
One of the sad trends that I've noticed in the past few years is women fighting. I know that this has gone on all of my life, but it seems to be taking a different form as it shows up more and more in what we know as entertainment.
Mixed martial arts cage matches between women just sadden me even worse. I don't ever watch them, but sometimes I'll catch a commercial or something that people are talking about and it just disgusts me.
Women's boxing is on the rise and more and more movies and shows on streaming networks they have woman fight scenes where either a man and a woman are fighting with full contact facial, punching and kicking, or two women in full contact facial, punching and kicking with knives and guns and everything else.
It makes me sad because the way I was raised, I was taught to respect women, that violence against a woman was wrong, and that anyone who committed violence against a woman was not a good person.
My children went through public high school, I was told about the fights that happened. They said the ones between girls were worse than the ones between boys.
While that may be the case, I find it saddening that more and more we tolerate women fighting in our entertainment.
I choose to turn it off when I run across it.
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Mixed martial arts cage matches between women just sadden me even worse. I don't ever watch them, but sometimes I'll catch a commercial or something that people are talking about and it just disgusts me.
Women's boxing is on the rise and more and more movies and shows on streaming networks they have woman fight scenes where either a man and a woman are fighting with full contact facial, punching and kicking, or two women in full contact facial, punching and kicking with knives and guns and everything else.
It makes me sad because the way I was raised, I was taught to respect women, that violence against a woman was wrong, and that anyone who committed violence against a woman was not a good person.
My children went through public high school, I was told about the fights that happened. They said the ones between girls were worse than the ones between boys.
While that may be the case, I find it saddening that more and more we tolerate women fighting in our entertainment.
I choose to turn it off when I run across it.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Live wires ~
Over the years I've enjoyed trying to come up with ways to describe myself. I guess it's my brain trying to wrap itself around who I am and why I am like I am. Not a bad thing, and it's actually fun until I descend into the self-recrimination and negative self-talk and all that stuff, which I'm learning not to do.
I remember a question and a meme floating by in the great stream of information that asked, if you had to have a warning label on yourself, what would it say? My warning label has always been "Volatile when shaken".
If I don't know what's coming and I get shocked and surprised, you may get what you don't want. I may get what I don't want. The volatility goes way up. As I thought through that over the years, I kept going back to the image of a fallen power line.
A live wire laying in the middle of the road or on the side of the road. Lots and lots of energy there. But it doesn't look like it's doing hardly anything. But it's best to have someone handle it that knows what they're doing and understands that they may get shocked if they're not careful.
I tend to think of myself as a bundle of live wires. I bring a lot of energy, but I really don't look like it at times. And sometimes people are surprised when they tap into it.
Yeah. A bundle.
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I remember a question and a meme floating by in the great stream of information that asked, if you had to have a warning label on yourself, what would it say? My warning label has always been "Volatile when shaken".
If I don't know what's coming and I get shocked and surprised, you may get what you don't want. I may get what I don't want. The volatility goes way up. As I thought through that over the years, I kept going back to the image of a fallen power line.
A live wire laying in the middle of the road or on the side of the road. Lots and lots of energy there. But it doesn't look like it's doing hardly anything. But it's best to have someone handle it that knows what they're doing and understands that they may get shocked if they're not careful.
I tend to think of myself as a bundle of live wires. I bring a lot of energy, but I really don't look like it at times. And sometimes people are surprised when they tap into it.
Yeah. A bundle.
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Friday, September 18, 2026
Survived again ~
I survived another near-death experience the other day.
My wife and I were driving home. We were in our pickup truck, so we were both in the front seat with her sitting beside me. We were on a two-lane road approaching our neighborhood. We were doing about 50 miles an hour in a 45 zone.
I saw a car coming out of a neighborhood ahead of me. He hesitated but didn't stop at the stop sign, then pulled out turning left right in front of me. I was at a speed where I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to T-bone this guy. When I saw him pull up towards the stop sign, I really thought from the looks of the car and just the way it rolled that he wasn't going to stop. So I had automatically, instinctively started slowing down. I pressed on the brakes and pressed harder and finally really pressed to where the anti-lock system kicked in and started pumping the brakes for me. I came to a complete stop about a foot or so from his rear driver's side quarter panel and he just continued rolling and finished his turn left and pulled off. His windows were tinted so I don't know if it was an old person or more likely a young person. Because of the tinting, I don't know if he even looked or if it was even a he. I don't know what pronouns he used or better yet what pronouns that person used.
What I do know is that I was very thankful for good brakes and good awareness and quick reflexes.
And my wife and I live to tell more stories.
This modern life is dangerous in weird ways.
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My wife and I were driving home. We were in our pickup truck, so we were both in the front seat with her sitting beside me. We were on a two-lane road approaching our neighborhood. We were doing about 50 miles an hour in a 45 zone.
I saw a car coming out of a neighborhood ahead of me. He hesitated but didn't stop at the stop sign, then pulled out turning left right in front of me. I was at a speed where I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to T-bone this guy. When I saw him pull up towards the stop sign, I really thought from the looks of the car and just the way it rolled that he wasn't going to stop. So I had automatically, instinctively started slowing down. I pressed on the brakes and pressed harder and finally really pressed to where the anti-lock system kicked in and started pumping the brakes for me. I came to a complete stop about a foot or so from his rear driver's side quarter panel and he just continued rolling and finished his turn left and pulled off. His windows were tinted so I don't know if it was an old person or more likely a young person. Because of the tinting, I don't know if he even looked or if it was even a he. I don't know what pronouns he used or better yet what pronouns that person used.
What I do know is that I was very thankful for good brakes and good awareness and quick reflexes.
And my wife and I live to tell more stories.
This modern life is dangerous in weird ways.
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Monday, September 14, 2026
Planet Earth continues ~
Him there is what the news calls disasters lately. Tornadoes, floods in South Florida, another natural things that happen where humans are living.
It's always interesting to me when we get so full of ourselves that we think that the order that we've imposed around us is so strong that the natural world will obey it.
A friend at work went to Africa. While there he went on a couple of trips out into the bush. Not really safaris, more like outings to go and see the wildlife.
When he came back he said it was amazing! He said it was so incredible to see elephants and lions and rhinoceroses and so many other creatures that we typically only see in a zoo or on a screen. He said they were beautiful!
But he also said something that fascinated me. He said it was so weird that the animals acted as if he and the others in his group didn't even exist. He said these big animals didn't even bother to acknowledge them. They just kept motivating along their way and doing their thing.
He said that that was almost scary because their tour guide told them the group was not a threat to them and so they're not even looking at the group. The guide said "They know we're here, but because were not prey right now and we're not a threat they just do their thing."
The weather is even more indifferent to us. We act as if we can predict it. We build things in ways that will hopefully handle whatever the weather sends at us. But then a tornado or a flood or other things happen and we try to reason it out and say we caused it with global warming, our flatulence, and our emissions.
In the same session scientists will talk about how things have been happening on our planet for eons and then say that because of our little 200 years of charcoal burning in mass cities we are the ones causing the environment to change.
It just amazes me. Is it hubris? Or arrogance?
More and more I just try to live my life and stay devoted to my God. Because I know he'll help me handle whatever comes up.
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It's always interesting to me when we get so full of ourselves that we think that the order that we've imposed around us is so strong that the natural world will obey it.
A friend at work went to Africa. While there he went on a couple of trips out into the bush. Not really safaris, more like outings to go and see the wildlife.
When he came back he said it was amazing! He said it was so incredible to see elephants and lions and rhinoceroses and so many other creatures that we typically only see in a zoo or on a screen. He said they were beautiful!
But he also said something that fascinated me. He said it was so weird that the animals acted as if he and the others in his group didn't even exist. He said these big animals didn't even bother to acknowledge them. They just kept motivating along their way and doing their thing.
He said that that was almost scary because their tour guide told them the group was not a threat to them and so they're not even looking at the group. The guide said "They know we're here, but because were not prey right now and we're not a threat they just do their thing."
The weather is even more indifferent to us. We act as if we can predict it. We build things in ways that will hopefully handle whatever the weather sends at us. But then a tornado or a flood or other things happen and we try to reason it out and say we caused it with global warming, our flatulence, and our emissions.
In the same session scientists will talk about how things have been happening on our planet for eons and then say that because of our little 200 years of charcoal burning in mass cities we are the ones causing the environment to change.
It just amazes me. Is it hubris? Or arrogance?
More and more I just try to live my life and stay devoted to my God. Because I know he'll help me handle whatever comes up.
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Thursday, September 10, 2026
10 Commandments devotional ~
Recently my wife and I went through a devotional about the 10 commendments in the YouVersion Bible app. Sounds boring, right? But it wasn't because this one was put out by the Bible Project team.
It was amazing to have the 10 commandments that I have read and heard sermons about for so long explained by these guys! I really enjoyed the lofi approach to the videos and the way they brought the thing into focus in regard to the overarching story of God's love that the Bible tells.
If you're interested I highly recommend checking it out at
https://bibleproject.com/videos/the-10-commandments-as-wisdom/
or in the YouVersion Bible app at
https://www.youversion.com/bible-app
Go to Plans and then search for Bible Project 10 commandments
Enjoy!
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It was amazing to have the 10 commandments that I have read and heard sermons about for so long explained by these guys! I really enjoyed the lofi approach to the videos and the way they brought the thing into focus in regard to the overarching story of God's love that the Bible tells.
If you're interested I highly recommend checking it out at
https://bibleproject.com/videos/the-10-commandments-as-wisdom/
or in the YouVersion Bible app at
https://www.youversion.com/bible-app
Go to Plans and then search for Bible Project 10 commandments
Enjoy!
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