Link Round Up: Laughing in Church; Trumps Bomber Flex; Designer Embryos
Three Things from Andrew Kooman and a poem by A. A. Kostas
Thanks for spending some time this weekend with Things I Wrote Down.
I’ve been enjoying the new A/B test feature with Substack, a platform that continues to deliver. The new feature allows creators with audiences of a certain size to test headlines that perform best. So, if you see some variety or are opening my emails more, maybe that’s why.
In a world where people are using AI to crate apps in a single day, or are planning to fly to Mars, I like the joys of simple things. Here’s to incremental improvements!
Laugh more in church
I used to get in trouble for it. I can remember the stern looks of the choir ladies when I laughed in church. But now I get paid to make people chuckle in the pews.
My new duet is now available on Skit Guys. I adapted it from an article that my readers here on Substack read first, and really responded to. The Holy Spirit is Greater than AI struck a chord. And I brought the story into my Train Up A Child Series of content, fun skits that help us remember what we believe.
In the short play, Timmy has a homework assignment to research Artificial Intelligence and shares with his mom, Janet, about the power of AI. The kitchen-table conversation becomes a teachable moment for Janet and Timmy to talk about the things of the Spirit that AI will never be able to do.
If you haven’t read the original article I wrote, you can check it out here. And, RIP pew-enforced severity!
Flexing the B-2 with Putin
It was quite a moment to witness. Trump met Putin in Alaska. We’ll see what happens. My prayer, all politics aside, is that people stop dying.
Why was it a flex of power?
The same bombers were recently deployed to snuff the nuclear sites in Iran and effectively put a stop to its nuclear bomb-creating efforts. Quite the power move!
Stop the eugenics
This was just gross. But it’s good we’re having the conversation. A writer went viral this week for her article in the New York Times about tweaking the genetics of babies to ensure children don’t have ailments. Embryo screening is becoming more common and affordable. Does this sound creepy to anyone else?
So many people responded. The comments are worth reading. There’s so much wrong with this thinking, in my view. But let’s start with the soul. Genetics aren’t destiny, especially for the soul. And Siddiqui misses the mark by ignoring that, from the outset.
Poem
Each week I share a poem with my link round up, and I've been enjoying sharing entrants to my recent poetry contest.
Here's a great poem that made the long list of the First Ever TIWD Poetry Contest, from A.A. Kostas.
on this odyssey I am witness
sleeping with my ear on her spine
lulled by the double arrhythmia
the loud slow thump chased by
the frantic new pump
a dolphin and her calf, seeking
the way out from dark waters
lying with splayed fingers atop the womb
palming the temporary home, escape pod
jettisoned from dimensions unknown
the portal from which life emerges
my face resting on unstarred depths
your eyes blinking through shadows
breathing down the nape of the mothervessel
whispers of your voice on my lips
when we kiss she breathes your spirit
into me, and my lungs humidify
with the density of your being
I will call out you of the darkness, and
I will call you by my name
About A.A. Kostas
A. A. Kostas is a Canadian-Australian poet, writer, and lawyer, currently based in Singapore. Most recently, his writing has been published or is forthcoming in New Verse Review, Ekstasis/Inkwell, Vessels of Light, The Clayjar Review, The Rialto Books Review, After Dinner Conversation, and Calla Press Journal.
You can follow him on Substack:
Thanks Andrew for sharing my poem, very cool of you!