How to succeed on X

 So tonight I was looking at an X-post that gave you what to ask grok to learn how to increase your feedback.  I will try to use these things in telling you what I learned.  

1- Humor is good, but you need more personal stories, to hit'em in the feels...

(on the bright side, I had to learn how to stick a gif on a post to do this...)

2- I need to do more threads, less one shots.  But... but that's what my blog is for, isn't it?

3- I need more posts with pics or memes (see the method to the above madness now?).

4- I need to up my weekend activity, and post more about trending stuff.  Hey, listen, I'm 63 years old, for me Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are trending.

"Pretty spry for 90, guy!"

5- Everybody scrolls by, nods, leaves.  After 2 hours, the algo buries them.  I guess I need a billboard to get attention or something...

6- The groups I frequent don't have a high growth "signal".  Maybe I should bill myself as "Hakeen Jeffries's white half-brother."  

"Don't I have enough problems with the mariachi thing, ese?"

7- Posts need 10%+ non-follower interaction through trends (which we just discussed) and hashtags.  I just want to say, a month or two back, there was a X-driven "stop hashtags" deal going on.  Now I need them.  So...

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But hidden beneath all the other suggestions, is the main two things: 1) Spend 7 hours each day posting stuff, and 2), another 8 thinking about what to post.  Oh, and another 3 hunting down pictures, memes, and gifs to go with them so I can turn one short, sweet, rational thought into a thread.  

I dinna think itsa gonna happen, paisano...

A dog story

 Well, not really, but this post has a lot of doggie elements to it.  But first...

Last night it was me and the grandboys for a few minutes.  Their dad had put all the stuff on the couch for them to be able to play playstation ( or whatever game setup it is) so Isaiah could pack it in the duffel while he took a shower.  Somehow, Isaiah forgot to pack, of all things, the controllers!  So KC ran back to get them, and Laurie was out.  First off, I told them, "If your dad comes back and says the controllers were on the couch, Isaiah is the poop head; if (as Isaiah claimed) they weren't, your dad is the poophead." To which Grayson replied, "I am the poophead!"  Isaiah and I looked at eachother and said, well okay then.  Moments later, I opened their happy meal toys- "li'l" Shaggy and Daphne from Scooby-Doo, with fright masks.  They decided to play school with them.  "We will be studying biology," Isaiah announced.  Then he asked his "pupils" this question:

"What is the square root of a tree?"

I later said, "You don't know what biology is, do you?"  Isaiah said no, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Now some doggie pictures.  From Wednesday:

The look at the new door paint job I promised last time

The river is very anemic now...

KC had come over Thursday night, and had bought himself a new outfit, with hat, shades, shirt, and shorts.  Along with a 10% ABV "hard lemonade" that tasted more like apple juice + everclear, and so when I finally decided to get a pic of the outfit, it looked more like I took a picture through his eyes and not my camera:

On the subject of dogs, you might remember on my last music post, I mentioned AJR's A Dog Song.  The next week, I never did an M10 because Laurie was on vacay and I spent the time with her.  So this week, the chart had some extreme moves, and one of them was that A Dog Song debuted at #2- a thing that has ever happened only once before (and I swore I would never do again), and this time with an asterix beside it...

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This morning was Misty's vet appointment- she has to get a shot for her Addisons Disease once a month.  So instead of a walk, we went to the bark park.  She has a "schedule" she keeps at the dog park, and first on the list is to tear across the length of it at what I assume to be top speed.  I noted today, it takes her about 3 seconds to cover the distance, so when we got home, I google earthed the length of the dog park (133 feet) and asked AI to figure her speed based on my 3-second estimate (because it's far too early to math).  And the answer I got was that Misty hits 30.23 MPH. So if you wonder why we go everywhere on her leash, there's your answer.

She's also known since yesterday that this morning was "shot in the butt" day- and was she ready!  She LOVES the car ride.  My plan was to show you the "exotic dancing" she does when we go to head for the car on video, but...

...of course she didn't do it this time.  Just standard running around.  Misty's the poop head!

Wednesday Bible Study: Hell part 1

 

A couple weeks ago, we looked at the almost-heaven set up of the Millenium.  Now, I want to sart looking at the other side of the coin.

I know there are a few statements that will come with this, starting with, "Is there really such a place as Hell?" Well, Jesus in the Gospels talked about it more than He did of Heaven- at least 70 times He referred to "Gehenna", "the Outer Darkness", and other names for the same thing.  Another is, "Is there really a Devil?"  Not only did Jesus quote Scripture TO Satan, but think on this- almost every religion has some form of ultimate evil.  Iblis in Islam, Ahriman in Zoroastrianism, Mara in Buddhism, the Rakshasas in Hinduism.  If you believe in God, you believe in a Satan.  Of course, "our" Satan is described throughout the Bible, with his 'origin story' being told in Ezekiel 28:12-19.

Perhaps the most problematic question is, "How can a loving God condemn people to Hell, or even make such a place?"  Here's your answer.  If you believe that there is a Devil, Satan, you know what he has done through the ages.  From the first murder of Abel, to the monstrous genocides of men like Tamerlane, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, to the rapes performed on little children by pedophiles, every one of these things had a beginning in the imaginings of Satan.  So you say to yourself, "This is a beast that warrants a punishment beyond time, a pain beyond comprehension."  Now here is the thing- every being on earth is given a choice by a loving God who won't force the choice on anyone- choose him, or follow Satan.  And if you choose to follow Satan, You follow him where he goes.  Yes, the staggering punishment is meant for the beast that brought us into every sin- But you followed him there.

So very quickly, we have established there is a Hell, there is a Satan, and why a Loving God made both.  Wait a minute, "why he made BOTH?"  Yes, because of LOVE.

Do you love a robot?  A being that has no choice but to do what you want it to?  (Perhaps an "inflatable sex partner" would be a better analogy, but...)  Wouldn't you rather have someone to love who chooses to love you back?  Of course you would, if you're not a sociopath.  SO WOULD GOD.  So every being He ever made was given that choice.  And the grandest being He ever made, made the wrong choice...

Eze 28:12  “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 

Eze 28:13  You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 

Eze 28:14  You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 

Eze 28:15  You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. 

...and now, the potential for everyone to make the wrong choice was there.  Remember, I said, "potential."  No one forced Adam to sin...

Gen 3:5  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

Gen 3:6  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 

If Adam and Eve had made the right choice, they (and prospectively, we) would have been immortal, unable to age or die, always pleasing to Our Lord.  But another thing to remember- Adam WAS all those things.  He was, quite simply, the best of us.  If he fell, we would have also, eventually.

So why make us so weak?  God is like us in that He wants to be WANTED, He wants to be NEEDED.  Look again at the passage from Ezekiel.  Lucifer (the devil's name at first) was created PERFECT.  Perfection became a reason, in his mind, NOT to need God.  We were made weak so Christ could show his strength IN us.  Lack of perfection should have driven us TO God...  but thanks to Satan's lies, we sought perfection (look at Genesis 3:5 again) instead.

God doesn't mind if we're weak.  He minds that He is NEEDED.

A few Pictures more

 Because everybody likes posts they don't have to work at after a hard days work, here are some pictures:

Bright Saturday Morning

Hmm... an event incoming...

It's the Grote truck!  That means it's the annual car show.

Milkweeds busting open

The Breakfast Club

Lots of people out

The Swamp is completely dessicated

Misty senses varmintage

River is Waaaay down

Just as the cranes like it

Misty missed the critter, I missed the shot

"And you all can miss me..."

Found a tennis ball way up on the cricket field

Misty looking for what just went splash

I will note here that Grote had the music turned up so loud, a quarter mile away through trees and buildings, I kept looking for the car with its bass up too high going past.

Then a small sample of Sunday pics...

Painting our buildings... I'll show you the finished results later.

Almost another three feet the river went down

No, this isn't what they've been throwing on the WNBA courts- just a slightly damaged doggie toy

Pictures

 I would have had some yesterday but my batteries were both dead, and the charger was having a maladjustment of some sort.  Yesterday, you say?  Why weren't you at work?  Well, I was- for a quarter-day.  You see, my part of the job was on a week from Monday ( and that working most of the week solo!), and the sewers had much of next week wrapped up.  Oh, and, we just lost our second big customer in about 6 months.  Why?  It's like this:  When we were an independant company, we searched and worked on innovations.  Innovations keep you growing.  But once we got bought out by the big bucks, the Biden economy and the bottom dollar pared things down to the point that the innovators were gone, replaced by the ones valiantly trying just to maintain the status quo.  Specific to this instance, we were making boat covers (because that's what we do) for a client of which the attachment mechanisms were causing scratches on the boat.  Instead of changing the system to another type (and all the re-design that would entail), we kept trying- and failing- to build the system better.  The customer got tired of design not taking the hint, so they ordered one last stock-up order and said, "See ya later."

So after 1st break, I was chatting with the boss, where he told me the bad news, lamented that, "When you hit a downturn, what you need to do is focus on innovation to keep customers, and if the downturn persists, then downsize", which our big bosses don't do.  They own enough other companies in our genre that they basically tell everyone, "sink or swim", without so much as providing swim trunks.

Okay, rant over, pictures up.

At least it's another Bright Blue Day...

Mrs Cardinal, one of many who greeted us this morning

My attempt to snap Una Paloma Blanca

Good morning, Big Guy

Nothing says 'severe drought' like cracks in a stone path

Colors coming in

Setting up for cricket day, from the south ridge.  The fans were coming across the PFW bridge when we got there.

I would have had a better shot at the flock, but my camera's auto shut-off kicked in just as they went overhead.

Misty valiantly looking for froggies, but no luck

Ducks in the foreground, geese in the back

Sharing her dip with a slime coated beer bottle

This guy really chewed us out!

Wednesday Bible study: The state of theology survey

 

This is going to be an unconventional "Bible study"; I was just looking at a survey by Ligonier Ministries on what supposed Christians believe about their faith.  The answers- and the lack of understanding OF that faith- were shocking.

- "Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God."  64% of evangelicals believe this is true.

So the first passage these people missed:

Psa 51:4  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 

And another:

Rom 3:9  What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 

Rom 3:10  as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 

Rom 3:11  no one understands; no one seeks for God. 

Rom 3:12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 

- "Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature."  53%.  So say most liberals. But...

Rom 7:18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 

Rom 7:19  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 

- "The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being." 53% again.

This ain't Star Wars, people.  

Joh 14:16  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 

Joh 14:17  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

A force isn't a "him".

- "There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit."

Well, they got one right- 98% agree.  But this one draws us 2 conclusions.  One, who are the one percent that disagree, and why?  Two, a minimum of 52% claim they believe God is in 3 PERSONS, but don't believe the Spirit IS a person...  Kinda sets in doubt whether they really consider what they believe at all.

- "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam."

At least this fallacy isn't a majority- but at 47%, it might as well be.

Joh 14:5  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 

Joh 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Gal 1:8  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 

Gal 1:9  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 

- "The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe." 100% said they agree with this- but somewhere between 47-64% of them are either lying or have no idea what is in the Bible.

Mat 12:36  I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 

Mat 12:37  for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

- "God loves all people the same way."  94% go along with this warm fuzzy thought.  But once again:

Psa 147:10  His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 

Psa 147:11  but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. 

Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 

Rom 9:15  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 

Rom 9:16  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 

Rom 9:17  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 

Rom 9:18  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 

- "God created marriage to be between one man and one woman." This is a direct quote from Genesis 2, yet 35% find a reason to disagree with it.

Now maybe you see why I do what I do, and why I tell you to READ your Bible! You cannot do faith by, "I don' need no steenking directions, I'll figure it out!"  I know some of you might tell me, "It isn't as complicated as you're making it.  Doesn't the Bible also say:

Mic 6:8  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 

To which I say, yes exactly.  But walking WITH your God means you have to go the same way HE is- He's NOT going to follow YOU.  Justice means HIS just verdict- and that means it's HIS way.  And yes, it's great to be kind- but how kind are you being when your acceptance or approval allows someone you love to go to Hell?