I've come to the conclusion I have some kind low-level allergic reaction to wheat. I was on a wheat-free diet some years ago and decided it didn't make any difference. For awhile, it didn't. Then recently I started having significant problems with digestion, especially at night. After praying I decided to simply back off wheat. Immediately the symptoms improved. So I just stopped it altogether and now a lot of little nagging issues have improved. My joints feel better, the floaters in my eyes are gone now, and of course, my stomach doesn't bother me so much. The energy level has come up just a little and I think the effect is somewhat ketogenic because I've already lost a couple of pounds.

Here's hoping I can keep it up this time.

The frontier of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not a better life, but simply more of what's wrong with human intellect in the first place.

Yesterday I replaced the brake pads on the rear of our car. I went out with just the tools recommended in several different videos showing how to do it. Those tools were not enough because the details of my situation were not the same as those faced by the mechanics in the videos. For example, my package of parts included things those other mechanics didn't replace (buffer springs). Further, there were peculiar effects from corrosion and foreign material not present in those videos. As noted in this article, there are some jobs AI can't do better than humans.

Quote:He would explain which jobs are in danger of being replaced by AI and which are safe for the time being:

Quote:Customer service, but not every kind. Customer service with very high-end human touch will stay. Telemarketing and telesales will disappear. Dish washing, fruit picking, assembly-line inspection will all disappear. Paralegals and accountants — but not 100%. Some lawyers who do form filling, those would be replaced. Creativity-oriented jobs are safe. Working in a construction environment is safe. Cleaning is hard to do for a robot and every house is different, so that’s safe.

I need your help, I get panic attacks. The first one was after I got laid off, my father in law was losing his battle with cancer and my Dad got his second cancer diagnosis. I tried to keep things going like normal but, it ate at me night and day, I started feeling like I couldn't breathe and on day three of hyperventilating I went to the Dr and it was diagnosed as a panic attack. My Dad got them after his Dad died so, I didn't feel like I was weak. The way it was explained to me; it was a physiological response to excessive stress and yes I had a lot on me. That's the background. Oh, he gave me meds and they work but, they slow you down and make you sleepy. The other thing is, because the panic attacks were frequent I wound taking them twice a day to prevent them and that worked. The problem is being slow and sleepy does not  mix well with making money as an upholstery assembler (Upholstery is a craft where perfection is the end. In mass production quantity over quality rules*) 
  For me to work fasterfaster, I resolved to cut out my midday dose. On weekends I go back to the prescribed dose on the evening of Sunday 25th I noticed I was out after my bedtime pill. At lunchtime Monday, I called the pharmacy to get my refill but, I didn't have any. In these cases, the pharmacy sends a request to the clinic and then fill after my Doc signs off. This has happened many times without a hitch, however this was good ole Dr D's day off and when I went to get my meds, the pharmacist said "we haven't got the authorization back yet". "I bet you Dr D is off today, no problem I'll get them tomorrow" I replied as I skipped merrily on my way out the door. I had no idea what was coming.
   Monday night, I could not fall asleep. When I got up  Tuesday I was groggy and just wanted go back to bed but, duty called I ate a granola bar chased with coffee and then chugged a 260mg of caffeine energy drink, like I do every morning to clear the cobwebs and ensure I don't fall asleep driving to work. The critical missing link was the fact I had missed two doses of NOCRAZI™. I felt like something wasn't right but, didn't make the connection. I was seconds late for work (I saw the time clock change from 6:45 to 6:46), normally it wouldn't  bother me in the least but, this time it did and after that things just got worseworse, to the point where I had to be excused. I drove back up the mountain and picked up my meds at the pharmacy, went home took my tab and lay down. It didn't get much better so, Wednesday, I went to my doctor who gave something else to take in addition. Has your head ever felt like it's a shook up pop bottle, mine does. I'm all white knuckling the edge of an abyss.
Please Pray.

PS. My wife just called to say her car won't start. Four people, three destinations  tomorrow morning. Three vehicles one in the shop, one won't start and one will run. One motorcycle and it's too cold to ride it.
God bless america.
PPS. The new meds laid my out all day today after the first dose last night. 2.5 days lost work. More things to bother me.

Ed wrote a post some time ago, Antidote to Fear 05, on the Biblical view of curses and addressing them via your prayer life. I won't reprint the post here, but it would be good to review it before continuing on this post any further.

Much has been said about the subject of curses in the last few hundred years of fiction. Modern literature borrows heavily from the paganized Western idea of curses, which finds their source in the folklore and legends of that area and period–consider Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, all the way up through Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm; Poe, Kafka, Lovecraft; Stephen King and the current overload of modern retellings of the classics.

While curses can make for an effective storytelling mechanic (Lovecraft is one of my favorite writers), the Western view of curses are nearly entirely wrong. As in the various manifestations of materialism, it presumes we have utter control of creation–in the case of curses, control over what happens to peoples bodies, or the weather, or the ground, etc.–so long as people have some kind of key: the right formulation of words or prayers, the sufficient amount of willpower, or a vaguely mystical "gift" of supernatural control.

I reiterate here a core teaching of Radix Fidem of creation being a person unto herself*. This view fails to appreciate the "personhood" of Creation, not as made in the image of God as humans are, but the sensual result of an act of organism-making by God's hand. Creation is under no obligation to do our bidding, as though it were a form of input-output machinery. As a sign of things further down the road of God's plan, God grants us some control over Creation as He sees fit for us to implement our marching orders. There's no one way we're given access to Creation; it's personal our particular mission, and bound tightly to that. With this assistance from Creation can issue forth both curses and blessings as God directs it.

Quote:“The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate. This gives to the typically Christian pleasure in this earth a strange touch of lightness that is almost frivolity. Nature was a solemn mother to the worshipers of Isis and Cybele. Nature was a solemn mother to Wordsworth or to Emerson. But Nature is not solemn to Francis of Assisi or to George Herbert. To St. Francis, Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed at as well as loved.” 

Our Lord is our publicity agent. His directions are to simply live our faith and build up our shalom, and He'll take care of the rest. That doesn't mean we can just ignore things that might happen in the realm of publicity. There will come a time when folks will start asking questions, and we may even draw a wider interest.

Don't be a sucker for secular publicity. That's easy for me to say because I really dislike the attention that comes from it. I don't mind my ideas getting attention, but I don't enjoy being treated like a celebrity. Just tell me "thanks" and we'll keep moving forward. I am more likely to shine proudly when you can demonstrate using my ideas than if you throw flowers at me.

Not everyone can be like that. For some, garnering attention for something like this is a temptation hard to ignore. Let's make one thing clear: With very few exceptions, the mainstream press will always be hostile to us, even if not overtly so. I have a quote, never mind where I got it:

Quote:Journalists interview you, then use your statements to smear you, then get you deplatformed on the basis of the smear. They do this on purpose. It is an intentional, malicious trap. They get paid for it.

Lost my wallet for a few hours. It turns out I had left it at my mother-in-law's last night when we were there for Turkey Day. I don't get nervous or worried when stuff like this happens, moreso very annoyed. The idea of spending hours looking for something feels an enormous waste of time. I'm just glad God is patient with my quirks.

I was so excited about today. Monday, Monday while the S.A.W.* is moping around in a foul mood, I shall be filled with "Joy unspeakable and full of Glory" in Christ, pray that it positively glows as it overflows. And, my prayer is that He do likewise for you'uns. 
 Brothers and Sisters embrace the fullness of His Love today share by an attitude born of your renewed Heart by EXAMPLE not the freeze dried vacuous platitudes of the so called "born'd agin".
God bless, Shalom andb
* Standard American Worker.

  Okay so my guardian angel won't go on the title line. It can go here, I do know he sends angels to guard over us and that's what they do. They are sentries who protect that which belongs to our Lord. Agents of Satan know by their presence not to mess with God's kids. Mmmm... Now that is a praise to go to sleep on.. If you happen to read this before 5:45am EST pray for a safe journey as they are calling for ice in the morning, I will get to work or bust, "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise". Shalom bro's and sis's and K.O.K.O. Keep On Keepin' On my Grandma s favorite saying along with "It's a shame and a scandal". Looking forward to her cream corn at the Big Supper.

   

I recall a period of time a few years ago when I was driven to carry a sign around the OKC Metro area that said on one side, "Repent, America" and on the other side, "God's wrath is upon us!" I still have that sign in my closet. I also wore a collection of t-shirts with similar messages. I even passed out some flyers. Then over a very short period of time, random circumstances destroyed those shirts and I felt led to stop carrying the sign.

It isn't that America no longer needs to repent, but I felt like the window had closed. You see, I knew that America had violated a lot of other countries in the world. That violence is coming home. That's how I see us where we are today. Nobody wants it, but violence is decreed from Heaven for us. We need to face it as such, and not pretend God couldn't want that for America. That window of repentance was to gain some kind of reprieve, some kind of chance to reduce the the depth and prevalence of violence. Not many folks made that window. It would have required calling the troops home, and as you can see, that didn't happen.

(By the way, I have no idea how correct the way that image displays up there.)

In spite of four weeks of early risin' I still can't fall asleep at a decent hour. Pray my body clock will go to 1st shift pattern. "I'm plum tard of bein' tard".