Vort

I copied the names of the most active from the leaderboard, removed those whom I hadn't seen in a while, and tried to make some of the topic titles directly or indirectly reference some of the others. Then I used who was left for the OPs/repliers. You and a few other regulars got left off because I couldn't figure out a way to extend another seven places. Very sorry about that. It's not that you are valued less. You are not.

In my life, I have sometimes rationalized that thinking about certain unGodly things, e.g. revenge fantasies or dreaming of riches, has no real spiritual cost. That rationalization has proven a lie. I'm currently in the middle of a decades-long (really lifelong) effort to reign in my thoughts as well as my actions. I actually stopped watching most television largely because every comedy is smut and every non-comedy is an extended revenge fantasy.

PDF attached. Here's a screenshot, if you would rather use that. And yes, I'm seeing a typo already. You'll just have to deal with it. Besides, mordorbund deserves a definite article. It sets him apart from all the other mordorbunds. THLogicPuzzle.pdf

You realize, of course, that this is literally untrue.

Let's hope not literally.

Please be sure you make it available to your fans here.

Didn't Earn It.

NTS.

Have You An Amusing Anecdote?®

My answers (SPOILER: select to show): . . . . . . . . . . Platform: I r/F Y FPG FPN Pen: S V L PV PP Ink: D K R P M

Excellent puzzle! And not easy. I had no real insights, so just ground through it. Your casual usage of pen or ink names was charming, but it did add a layer of difficulty as I tried to figure out e.g. which one was the Homo Sapiens. You made me actually read the names and stuff.

This all goes back to what the wrongly named Artificial Intelligence really is: A language processing and pattern-matching algorithm. It has nothing at all to do with what we call or think of as intelligence. The "AI" label is a modern fraud, a convenient label that misrepresents what it names. Just marketing as usual.

I tried that a year ago, and discovered that the AI (at least ChatGPT) utterly lacks a large-scale logic algorithm. You'd think an AI would solve such a puzzle immediately, being as it is a logic-driven machine and the puzzle being nothing more than a straightforward exercise in pure deductive logic. But the AI is utterly unable to solve even a simple logic puzzle. That's not to say that the AI won't confidently answer you. It will. But the answer will be obviously and even hilariously wrong. SMH.

Genealogy is not removing privacy. Your ancestry is literally as transparently obvious as the nose on your face. Learning our ancestry should never be considered taboo or distasteful. We are what and who we are, and self-discovery should in all cases be a destination of primary importance.

I agree. I think many Latter-day Saints join in with much of larger Christianity in thinking that the payoff is all in the eternities, not realizing that we are in the eternities right now. A good friend who was my elders quorum president many years ago put it this way: Many of you (fellow elders) are joined to your wife in an eternal marriage. Are you reaping the benefits of that eternal marriage right now? If not, why not? It's not all in the next life. God's commandments bring peace and prosperity now, to communities as well as to individuals. Now, if you keep the commandments with an eye to enriching your pockets by so doing, you will be bitterly disappointed. But that's not because there are no blessings, including what we would call "temporal blessings", to be gained by keeping the commandments. Rather, it is because your heart is in the wrong place. You love the things of the flesh more than you love the things of God, even if you do love God a little.

Funny you should say that. I realized decades ago that knitting was an amazing thing. I told myself I would learn how to knit one day. So far, I haven't. But I have had my wife show me how to make the stitches. Maybe that will be a retirement hobby.

You aren’t alone. Genealogy isn’t my biggest interest either. I suspect that mik was speaking as one who likes genealogy. I am one of those, and I have found many meetings and classes to be light on information content and not a seemingly very productive use of my time.

We should be within one generation (human generation, not software generation) of mapping out at least the bones of the tree of human descent and identifying people's ancestry to a surprisingly specific degree just by swabbing their cheeks. Lots of old bones to be found in that closet. But nothing disinfects like sunshine.

Jamie, you've been a list member for a long time now. We've grown quite fond of you. Please remember that any advice or suggestions you receive (at least from us fellow old-timers) is given in a spirit of brotherly love and affection, with no critical intent. Heaven knows we all find ourselves in a pickle from time to time. Salvation is a rope, not a pole. You cannot push people to be saved; you can only pull them in. That means that you yourself must be standing in a safe place, on firm ground, before you can help them. As the stewardesses always say pre-flight, put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs. That includes masking up your children. Knowing nothing about your situation but what I've read here, it sounds to me like you're being leeched off of and sucked dry. You cannot control the actions or decisions of your wife or daughter, but you can at least make sure that your own private house is in order. Your wife says that she can take care of the financial thing? Let her. Let Her. You're in a hole, and you need to quit digging. This is literally not your problem, even though it feels like it is. Professional help might be a great idea. I am distrustful of many who call themselves experts, but it sounds like you're in a financial death spiral, so maybe it's exactly what you need. Whether it's professional help or otherwise, please get help, my friend. There are many people, both on the internet (in this forum) and, I am sure, in real life who love and care about you and want to see you happy. Figure out a good path to go, then make the hard decisions required to walk that path, even if it means saying "no" to your wife or your daughter. Keep on keeping on. And if you can find it in your heart, please keep us updated.

The sad truth is that I would have rooted against her just because of those nightmarish fingernails.

There are some very deep differences between Americans and the English in matters of temperament, manners, mannerisms, expectations, and social grace.

It's your own fault. You should have chosen West African parentage.

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I once worked as a technical writer for a developer lead named Jeff, a really smart guy whom I liked. He was a details kind of guy, and very precise in his wording. In one meeting with all the devs, he made a comment about something or other being the "penultimate" example of how to create some piece of the software. In horror, and as if outside my own body, I heard myself comment, "'Penultimate' means 'second-to-last'." As I sat stunned at my own comment, Jeff looked at me and said, "No, it means 'highest' or 'best'." Apparently too stupid to know when to shut up, I quietly and red-facedly said, "No, actually, it means 'second-to-last'." After the meeting was over and we went back to our desks, we got an email from Jeff. It said, "Vort was right. 'Penultimate' means 'second-to-last'." My victory has cost me years of regret and shame at not keeping my mouth shut over such a trivial, silly matter (and, to be fair, a few laughs at telling the story). So I, too, have suffered foot-in-mouth disease.

Ma che dici?

I'll probably want to revisit this and do it in a more meaningful way with better categories. But what the hey. This seemed like a fun little exercise, if you don't take it too seriously. OLD TESTAMENT Writing style: 9.5: Not perfectly even, but on the whole, this is a collection of the highest literary achievements of a great and ancient Palestinian civilization. Reading the Old Testament, you can see the common thread of humanity running from prehistoric times right through today. People were people, even back then. This is truly great literature, on par with any other literature we discuss and frankly superior to most of those. Cohesion: 8. It's a library, and a good one. Narrative books like Genesis and Joshua are wonderful. You don't expect much narrative or internal agreement from a book of ancient Phoenician/Near Eastern proverbs or a love poem or a dour lamentation. On the whole, it's doctrinally consistent and hangs together quite well. Insightfulness into human nature: 10. The Old Testament is a mastercourse in What It Means To Be A Human Being. Doctrinal content: 8.5. Foundational to all the other scriptures, the Old Testament sets the bar for everything else. Quite a bit of time up front spent on the law of Moses, which determines or influences everything that comes later. It's clear that the law of Moses was in many ways a period-specific patchwork, and not all principles were applied evenly, but it's there if you're looking for it. Day-to-day utility: 6 for the average scripture reader, I think. All the principles are timeless, but seeing their application to people 3000 years ago in a situation much different (at least on the surface) from what we experience might make application unclear for many people. You can laugh about how it's better to live on the corner of a roof than with a contentious woman, or (in the privacy of your room, with the door closed) even nod in sober approval; but I suspect that the average person finds less immediacy in the writings of the Old Testament than in other books of scripture. Overall: Probably an 8. NEW TESTAMENT Writing style: 8. Everyone loves the New Testament. Let's admit that up front. But people thinking it's a literary masterpiece might be surprised to learn that it's written at about the level of a third-grade reading primer. I think its literary simplicity makes it all the stronger in its statements of truth, but from a stylistic standpoint, it's certainly a step down from the Old Testament. Cohesion: 9. A generous rating, since the gospels (which are not perfectly consistent with each other, no matter what some Biblical apologists want to pretend) don't always mesh well with Paul's, um, forthright statements, and John's Revelation seems an extreme outlier. But if you stand back and maybe fuzz your eyes just a bit, the New Testament takes on a 3-D quality where all the different pieces seem to fit together. It's amazing. Miraculous, really. Insightfulness into human nature: 10. A continuation of the Old Testament mastercourse. Doctrinal content: 10. Really defines Christianity, or what we understand it to mean. I think there is sometimes a feeling among some Latter-day Saints that there is "too much Paul". I think I would not agree with this, but it certainly would have been nice to have more of Peter's writings, more testimonies of the acts of the apostles and other Church servants, and so forth. With the latter-day clarifications of doctrinal points that we have been given that others might not have understood correctly, we're in a pretty good position to mine the diamond benefits from these scriptures. Day-to-day utility: 10. Hard to think of a better resource for meeting the challenges of life. Overall: 10 BOOK OF MORMON Writing style: Irrelevant. Maybe a 7 or 8, if I had to give it a number. Sorry. I love the Book of Mormon, but writing style is totally beside the point of the Book of Mormon, so it doesn't bother with it. Don't misunderstand. The Book of Mormon is a great and very productive read, one that I find enjoyable. But it's not Genesis or the book of John. If that's what you require, you will miss the benefits of the book. Cohesion: 10. This is mostly a focused narrative throughout, with one man literally acting as the editor through more than half of the book. It's a perfectly balanced work of art. Insightfulness into human nature: 10. Especially for us today. Doctrinal content: 10. As Jarom put it: "For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me." Day-to-day utility: 11. Drink from this well every day. Overall: 10. This is truly the book for our day. DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS Writing style: A solid 8+. Joseph Smith was not formally well-educated, but he was a very smart man who learned to express himself elegantly. When he acted as the mouthpiece of God, you could hear God speaking through him. Cohesion: Irrelevant. Maybe a 5, if I had to give it a number. This is a random-seeming and non-exhaustive collection of revelations. They do work together and build off of each other to some degree, but that's not how the book is organized. Insightfulness into human nature: 9.5. Lacking the narrative structure of the preceding three scriptures, you don't have the opportunity to witness the same kinds of things. But the insight into the human condition comes through loud and clear in instances such as Oliver's struggles (and failure) to translate the Book of Mormon and Joseph's unsparing observation that "...it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." Doctrinal content: 10, especially for Church organization and function. Absolutely indispensable. Day-to-day utility: 8. Definitely something you want to include in your scripture study. Overall: 10, since it is our latter-day Leviticus. PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Writing style: 9+. Joseph at his prophetic apex, IMO. Whether Joseph composed the wording himself or received it from divine sources, this is beautiful scripture. Cohesion: 2. Completely irrelevant in a grab-bag of revelatory scripture such as the PoGP. Insightfulness into human nature: 9.5, if for nothing else but the Book of Enoch excerpts in Moses, not to mention the entirety of the Book of Abraham. Joseph Smith's history might push that to a solid 10. Doctrinal content: 9. I don't say 10 because it's not comprehensive. But it fills in the cracks. Day-to-day utility: 6, maybe. I think there's a lot there that is extremely useful, but it doesn't replace the Book of Mormon or the New Testament. Overall: 9.5