Odd Lots
- Stumbled on this by accident: A YouTube group that offers audio book summaries/reviews, doing their thing on my x64 assembly book. Short listen (2:40), and not a bad summary for such a short clip.
- And while we’re talking YouTube, here’s a podcast interview with me now on YouTube, during which I talk about all kinds of things with Jim Lawless.
- I recently discovered British classical composer Doreen Carwithen 1922-2003, and on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, allow me to suggest the third movement of her Suffolk Suite, composed in 1964. Although nominally a tune for Morris dancers, Suffolk Suite III has a decidedly Irish air about it. It’s on YouTube, as are the other movements of the suite if you’re interested.
- Carol and I attend St. Patrick’s parish here in Scottsdale, and every Friday during Lent they have a fish fry in the parish hall. The fish was excellent, and I allowed myself to eat the fries that came with it, carbs though they be. (Once a week won’t kill me.) One of the parish volunteers wore a green T-shirt with “Pat on the back” printed in front, and an old portrait of St. Patrick himself reproduced (in white) on the back. Clever enough for a giggle or two. Again, the food was great and we sat at a table with friends, talking about all sorts of things.
- Michael Covington sent me a link to an article by Stephen Wolfram in which he explains what ChatGPT is doing and how it works. It’s not cutting-edge, having been published in early 2023, but it’s a good place to start if you want to know what’s inside the concept of large language models (LLMs).
Posted in: None Of The Above.
"
Searching for Carwithen on Pandora brought up Al Hirt and “Java” ….
Carol and I attend St. Patrick’s parish here in Scottsdale…
I thought you had left the Roman Church. ISTR reading that you felt the Church’s dogmas caused your mother unnecessary worries and suffering.
Did you change your position?
Actually, never mind, it’s not my business. I apologize for the intrusion.
No apology necessary. The RC Church of my youth was a little more hellfire’n’damnation than most, by my poor mother’s bad luck (the reasons there mostly involve the preferences of the order of priests that ran our parish) but that Church is mostly gone now. Our current parish is by far the most welcoming and affirming parish we have ever attended. I still have quibbles–and I probably always will–but the quibbles are getting less significant as the years go by. I was unchurched for quite a few years, yes. Little by little, the upsides have crept up and passed by the downsides, and I have mostly made peace with congregational worship.
There were other issues behind my mother’s religious unhappiness, but I don’t discuss those in public.
I really enjoyed the Stray Pointers Podcast interview on YouTube.