The crazy thing was that in high school I was stuck in the bass section; at auditions the first week of college when the director ran me through the full range I could sing I was put into one of the most critical spots in the choir: he already knew what I didn’t, that the lead tenor would have a heap of solo stretches in the Christmas concert program.
My best guess is that the high school choir needed another bass, the selections didn’t go terribly low, so that’s where was was put.
Thinking of cults, the video I posted that got put here reminded me of a question raised by a Mormon hitchhiker some thirty years ago: the Mormons have been working so hard to appropriate everything Protestant so as to look like they’re actually Christian, how much do Mormons of the younger generation actually know about what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught? The guys in that small vocal group are much farther into the process than was the case with that hitchhiker, so the question is even more to the point today!
(This could make for a spin-off to its own thread; it’s theology, politics, and sociology rolled in together.)
Ha! Love it! Not being sure of the spelling, of course I had to google it – somebody at Google has too much time on their hands or this came from the entertainment department – check it out (maybe wait a second or two ; - )…
True story–tonight we were in missions committee, and nearing the 15 minute mark in prayer. Due to the lack of movement of the 8 folks with bent heads, the lights timed out and shut off! That got a chuckle out of all of us. It reminded me of @paleomalacologist and @Paraleptopecten’s story above. It seems that someone needs to reset the motion detector from “Pentecostal” to “Baptist” (or Presbyterian)!
Or when you’re playing basketball and the guy on your right has just bounce-passed you the ball and you go up for the jump shot, and just as you start to apply pressure with your fingers there’s a massive “BOOM!” and a flash from outside and the place goes jet black dark – and you’ll never know if you made the shot or not.
But worse, you then have to find the locker room, locate your locker, and somehow take a shower and get dressed when you can’t even see your hand held three inches from your face.
Okay, that wasn’t a motion-sensor situation, it was an overloaded electrical transformer that shorted out because the snow in the blizzard was so think coming down that the power arced – but still, unexpected darkness is annoying.
From The New Yorker (I wouldn’t subscribe, but I see the occasional headline):
I’m a Hack, by ChatGPT
I know that I’m one of the issues in the W.G.A. strike, but I won’t be able to write myself out of a paper bag for decades.
By Al Franken and Pat Proft
(Is that AL Franken or AI Franken? I can’t tell from the font I’m in. ; - )
I know that the AI bots cannot deal with consonant sounds. For instance, try “Give me a list of one syllable words with only one consonant sound, namely the /t/ or /d/ phoneme.”
I think that given the concept of some dialogue ChatGPT could turn out some stuff as good as a lot of today’s writer’s; the issue is that ChatGPT can’t generate the concept in the first place.
That fits with something I saw about ChatGPT and puzzles: it can recognize a word puzzle, but taking a batch where humans figure them out four out of five times, ChatGPT can’t even get them one out of five!
Not being sure of the spelling, of course I had to google it – somebody at Google has too much time on their hands or this came from the entertainment department – check it out (maybe wait a second or two ; - )…
