“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:14-15)
Author: Ryan Shinn
AI Experiment (Infographic Edition)
Everyone is talking about AI. Is it going to make society into some Star Trek style utopia, or will we have to send Arnold Schwarzenegger back in time to save the world. I dunno. I’m kind of agnostic about it all. What I do know, is that I need to be able to use it as a tool as effectively as possible.
I’ve been spending much of my spare time learning about it and experimenting. I’ve taken online classes and created lots of things. Last weekend, I used AI tools to create some songs that I thought turned out really amazing. You tell me. I’m curious what you think.
Leaving Paradise
A life-long friend called me the other day and spoke about his family’s decision to leave the state of Washington, where they’d called home for over 2 decades. It seems they’d had enough. They’ve had enough of policies that make it harder for honest people to live and provide for their families, enough of political vitriol that separates neighbors and families while creating boogey-men out of anyone with a different opinion, and for them enough with new policies forcing them to make decisions about their children’s health. I totally understand. I’ve been in similar situations myself, as have countless people. Two thousand six was the moment for me. I’d had enough of California and moved to Dallas-Ft Worth Texas, where I’ve been ever since. So, I know about moving to a state far away first hand.
Continue reading “Leaving Paradise”Humphrey
When I was a kid I remember watching a short Disney cartoon that made an indelible impression on me. It showed a bear named Humphrey, who desperately wanted some fish. He swiped at the lake over and over, and all that he ended up with was a tiny minnow. As he held it above the water, sad that it was so tiny, a bigger fish jumped up and swallowed it whole.
At that point he had an epiphany. He could hold the fish over the water and one by one collect the larger fish that jumped up to eat the minnow. Soon his arms were full of large fish. Just as he was about to go away with his dinner, a small fish jumped on the side. He dropped all of the other fish and pounced.
In another vignette, when his arms are full of fish, he sees a fish bigger than them all. He throws those to the side and pounces again.
Continue reading “Humphrey”Stealing the Sunrise
In my first year of college, I pulled a lot of all-nighters—and not the wimpy ones where you go to sleep at 3 AM and then get a good 6 hours rack-time before going to class. No, I mean staying up until the sun rose and then going to class without having slept at all. I did this because as a Political Science major, I had a lot of reading to do. I have always been a good reader but a bit of a slow one, so that meant spending a lot of late hours reading and chewing ice to stay awake.
I remember one night I finished my homework around 4:30 AM. My morning class was at 9, and I knew that 3 ½ hours sleep would end up only being worse than if I hadn’t slept at all. The chances of oversleeping my alarm was also just too great. So, I made the decision to walk somewhere off campus and watch the sunrise. In my young man’s mind this was a good idea and I don’t know if I’d experienced a sunrise on my own before.
Continue reading “Stealing the Sunrise”