• Christmas in St Mary’s (with a twist at the end)

    Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, and there is perhaps no better place to experience the magic of the season than at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church. With its stunning architecture and rich history, this beautiful space offers a truly special and meaningful way to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

    One of the highlights of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the music. The cathedral’s choir is known for their beautiful voices and their ability to bring the festive carols to life. The church also features a grand organ, which adds a sense of grandeur and majesty to the service. Whether you’re a fan of traditional carols or more modern hymns, you’re sure to be moved by the beautiful music at St Mary’s Cathedral.

    Another highlight of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the sense of history and tradition. The cathedral dates back to the 19th century and is known for its stunning Gothic architecture. The service itself is filled with rich traditions, such as the lighting of the Advent wreath and the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible. These traditions help to create a sense of awe and wonder that is so fitting for the holiday season.

    But perhaps the most special aspect of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the sense of community and togetherness. As people from all walks of life come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus, there is a feeling of unity and love that is truly special. Whether you’re a lifelong member of the cathedral or a newcomer to the community, you’ll feel welcome and included in the celebration.

    In short, Christmas services at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church are a truly special and meaningful way to celebrate the holiday season. With their beautiful music, rich traditions, and sense of community, these services offer a chance to experience the magic and wonder of Christmas in a truly special and meaningful way.

    If you’ve made it through this blog post this far and you have a slight sense that there’s something odd about it the you’d be correct. The post above, not in italics wasn’t written by me. It was written by a machine – specifically the ChatGPT bot that has recently been released to the world. You tell  it what you want it to write and it does it.

    This one was generated by the prompt, “Write a blog post about how wonderful Christmas services are at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church”.

    Now, it doesn’t sound quite like me and it isn’t the most exciting writing there is. Perhaps it is even slightly stilted. But it is a fairly convincing attempt at the problem I gave it to do.

    This technology is going to make all things new. Academia in particular is going to have to change very quickly in the way it assesses students.

    This is disruptive technology. It can be used to do funny things – I could just have easily got it to write the above post in the voice of Donald Trump.

    Thus: “Let me tell you, folks, this place is amazing. The music is absolutely incredible, with the choir singing all of your favorite carols in the most beautiful way. And the organ! Wow, what a sound. It’s truly something to behold…”

    But this isn’t just entertainment. It is something completely and utterly new. Nothing you ever read again comes with a guarantee that it was written by a human being.

    The world is changed. As someone once sent with a telegraph key, “What hath God wrought”?

11 responses to “Blogroll”

  1. Tim Avatar

    (Yeah, I’ve given up on wittering. Transpires Q, in which I wrote that thing, was too CPU-intensive for the poor wee colo-server to cope with when bots came knocking, so it had to go; it’s all-but a dead language now anyway…)

  2. kelvin Avatar

    There are easier ways to host a blog, Tim…

  3. Coxy Avatar
    Coxy

    Mental. On my ‘to do’ list for today was to write a ‘back blogging’ post…

    Very strange!

  4. kelvin Avatar

    Think of it as the Holy Spirit, Nick.

    Or alternatively think of it as synchronicity as many of the rest of us might do.

    Glad you are coming back.

  5. FrPaulB Avatar
    FrPaulB

    David Campbell’s blog has long since moved to here:
    http://limpingtowardsthesunrise.wordpress.com/

    1. kelvin Avatar

      So it does. Thanks, I’ve updated the link.

      I usually read Fr David’s blog in google reader. What an exotic layout it has in real life!

  6. David Campbell Avatar

    My dears, I can only wish I were as exotic in real life!

  7. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Hope Nick starts blogging again too! He did a post reviewing The Dark Knight once, which is more down-wit’-da-kidz than highfalutin’ praepostorial theatre reviews 😉 (that said, do hope you do The Habit of Art! :-))

  8. John McLuckie Avatar
    John McLuckie

    Thanks Kelvin, I’ll have a look at the rss thing – it’s all a bit new to me still!
    J

    1. kelvin Avatar

      Thanks John – you’ve already got a nicely behaving rss feed for your content but I can’t find one for comments.

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