Jacob | SectorLive ATC

Building SectorLive, an ATC game for iPad & desktop, plus a plugin for X-Plane & MSFS. Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

I'm voting Winchester Model 1894 but the Remington is a close second... this is where ranked choice voting makes sense. Really the only one I was like why even put this on as an option is the Colt. Great gun, but Idaho's gun should be a rifle.

Now if they had put a AR on there, winner without question (but that is just because I would enjoy the North End losing their minds)

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Lately, my son has been wanting to use AI more and more to make things—which is awesome, except I noticed he was starting to skip the actual planning and imagination part. He just wanted to push a button and let the computer do all the work for him. 
I’m 100% in favor of using AI. I use it every day to help write, build, and create. I have zero issue with that. I just believe you still need to be involved in the creation process.
So tonight for Family Home Evening, I set our kids’ 3D printer in the middle of the floor—unplugged—and told it: "Make me a brand-new toy right now. Go." 

My kids laughed and said, "Dad, it’s not going to do anything! Nobody designed anything or told it what to do!" 

That led into the whole point of tonight's lesson: We are the Architects. Tools are the Helpers. 

Before God ever formed the earth physically, He created it spiritually first (Moses 3:5). He made the blueprint. And when Nephi needed to build a ship, the Lord didn't just poof a finished boat onto the beach—He showed Nephi where to find ore so he could make tools and build it with his own hands (1 Nephi 17). 

So I challenged my kids tonight to use their imagination first and do what they can do on their own—sketch the drawing, write what they can of the story in their mind, or dream up the crazy character they want printed—and then use AI as a tool to help them bring it to life. 

I know we have a Father in Heaven who loves to create, and because we are His children, He put that exact same desire inside each of us. He has given us incredible tools in our day to be more creative than ever—but a tool is meant to be a helper, not a crutch. That deep joy of creation—the "it was good" feeling—only comes when we put our own heart, mind, and effort into the work first.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

"Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see." D&C 5:24

That last line has been on my mind: "I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see."

AI has been both a blessing and a curse for me lately. It's helped me build faster than I ever could, but honestly, I don't know if my business will survive the next 5 years because of it. So I've been looking at other routes, side projects and backups.

I've been praying about it for months. Little by little the ideas have been coming together, and the more they come together, the more I feel they're right.

It reminds me of when my wife and I moved to Long Beach early in our marriage. We had no idea why, but when we visited we felt this huge urge to move there, even though we were flat broke. We handed it over to the Lord, and within a few months we had an apartment right on Ocean Blvd and a calling in a ward that I know was His will.

In Long Beach there's a hill called Signal Hill. From the top you can see for miles in every direction. Absolutely beautiful.

That's the kind of view the Lord grants when we humble ourselves. I don't know every twist and turn ahead, or the exact roads and traffic I'll hit along the way. But I know I finally have a vision of where I'm going, and the blessings and options are clear as day.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

One second left to tie it and then winning it in OT... that was the best game I've watched this season. #TusksUp https://t.co/9bBT8GeXh5

[Utah Mammoth @utahmammoth]

DANGLES BY COOLS AGAIN

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Daily testimony: After a really stressful day I went to the temple and did initiatories. It reminded me of all the blessings we're given and promised. Then the Lord gave me a little gift... the celestial room all to myself for a solid 10 minutes. Just sat in silence and felt the peace I desperately needed. The temple really is a refuge from the storm.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Big one on the ATC game yesterday... flights between LA and Vegas now actually fly the whole thing gate to gate. SID, up through LA Center, down the STAR, approach, land. Before this they'd just kind of disappear at 50 miles out and a different plane would spawn on the other end (which looked about as dumb as it sounds). Planes headed off the map to Phoenix or Denver also stay with LA Center now until they actually leave its airspace. Starting to feel like a real sector, that's for sure.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

As a work driver, I use Antigravity a lot. As a personal driver almost never anymore and it’s simply because at this point I’m looking for agents not chats.

Gemini spark is a joke of a product that isn’t helpful or agentic at all. Nano Banana has fallen way behind ChatGPT, and I’m not interested in AI video or google AI music so, other than the occasional one off question I almost never turn to Gemini.

Grokbot is my daily driver now simply because it is actually useful and acts like an assistant rather than a chat.

Once Google figures that out I bet they can get a lot of users to switch because their models have reached top status finally and their data is unbeatable, their UX is what is unusable.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

The part that I love about this... for at least 98-99% of my tasks, Gemini, Claude and Chatgpt models are about as good as I need them. Which means now I don't need to worry as much about which model is better then the other, just which one do I still have usage available on still. Now if only Grok can catch up and then I will have everything I need.

[Sundar Pichai @sundarpichai]

I did say we'd be releasing our models periodically...introducing Gemini 4 Carbon, our next frontier model.

Following Argon's release just two weeks ago, Carbon shows the pace at which we’re pushing the frontier, it ranks #1 on the recently updated v5.0 of @ArtificialAnlys Intelligence Index at 59. It also leads across key cybersecurity evaluations scoring 88.2% on SEC-bench Pro for finding vulnerabilities, 54.8% on ExploitGym for exploitation, and 71.0% on CWE-bench for patching.

We’re seeing significant improvements in long-horizon tasks even compared to Argon, and we’ve strengthened frontier safeguards.

As we did with Argon, we’re going to roll it out gradually + responsibly. Some trusted cyber defenders will get access starting this week. We'll be expanding it to more partners through our Fairwind Program, ahead of wider availability soon, so hang tight!

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

This is why we need AI.... absolutely perfection.

[MOM @mom_agency_]

Someone turned the AI CEO drama into a Spanish soap opera!

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Spent the last few nights adding airports to my ATC game. Up to 48 now across SoCal, Santa Barbara and Vegas. The 19 newest ones pull real Flightradar24 schedules so the traffic actually feels right, which is honestly my favorite part so far. Still a long ways to go to get LA, Oakland, Salt Lake and Albuquerque Center in... but getting there.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

@wespreadjam Sure I'll bite, audit

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Been working on this ATC project for a while now. Hoping to release it before Christmas if all goes according to plan. So far so good. Will be an iPad, Desktop game (Steam release is the current plan) for those of us who love ATC and also a plugin for X-Plane and MSFS for us sim pilots to fill our skies. Message me if you want to be a tester of the iPad ATC app. Online and local play will be available. Will be looking for X-plane testers here soon too.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

@pri61684 @Beatman1 And as much as we hate to admit it, it is that production timeline and cost and inflexibility that is driving studios to use AI in their animation process. Studios can now probably half the time and cut costs substantially while getting the same product.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

On a side note as well, I had a mission experience where we got a call from a sister in a ward we covered. She asked us if we could come over and bless their home. She was a single sister with a couple kids. When we got there the house felt very off and different. She was very scared and shaken.

She tells us her teenage son had an ouija board and had been using it trying to communicate with the dead. She and her family had felt a dark presence in her house since he used it.

Me and my companion had no idea what to do, we looking in our white bible and nothing on casting out spirits so we proceeded to give each of them a blessing, then ended by blessing the home.

We called the stake president afterwards and explained what had happened and wanted to know if he wanted us to do anything else. He said he would be over shortly and thanked us for our help and explained that there is a priesthood ordinance specifically to cast out devils and that hopefully we would never have to use it.

The next Sunday the family was there, we shook their hands and they thanked us again for the blessing and that was the last it was spoken of.

It was such a strange feeling, never felt it before of since. It’s hard to explain. Maybe it’s because as missionaries we are protected, so the “evil” feeling didn’t hit, but it felt like… I guess it would be like if you were being watched and you knew you were being watched by someone who creeped you out? It’s hard to explain but it’s a feeling I never want to feel again that’s for sure.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

The horror genre is yet another thing that Hollywood has corrupted over the years. I write for fun (maybe one day I’ll actually publish some) and horror is one of my favorite genres to write in, but you have to understand why the genre exists in the first place.

Horror was (and is for some good authors and directors who get it) a method to tell hard, often morally challenging stories, in a way that actually leaves an impact.

Take for example the original story of Frankenstein is actually supposed to warn the population about factories and the Industrial Revolution. It was the authors way to warn people about being taken advantage of (the monster) the growth without thinking of the cost (the doctor), innovation without ethics, machines replacing humanity (sounds like today’s debate). Telling the story in the horror genre allowed the author to tell a hard story in a way that to this day leaves an impact.

Another great example is the movie Talk to Me that is an absolute masterclass on substance abuse and addiction. I cannot think of a better way to tell and warn people away from a life many people find themselves trapped in then this movie (but be warned it is super super super intense.) The director used the medium of Horror and the storyline of possession not to bring evil into your home but to warn of the real world evil and problems that come from those suffering from addiction.

Now do stories like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Jigsaw have a moral story… no they do not. They are there to freak people out and scare you. There are movies and books with evil spirits and possession and death and gore that their sole reason for existence is to scare you and drive the spirit away.

So while I would say 95% of modern horror movies fall under this umbrella, not all books or movies do.

Look at interviews of the authors or directors on why they wrote the story. Find the ones who understand the actual purpose of the genre.

Horror has its place when done right for the right reason

Also, one should not consume this genre regularly in my opinion. Just like we wouldn’t dedicate more than a lesson or two on Satan in church through a year, we shouldn’t consume this genre regularly either (same really goes for a lot of negative things). The Lord has beaten him and can rescue and restore anyone, that message is far more powerful and uplifting.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

I hoping prices come back down but I’ve been hoping that for years. The problem is the dang resell market more than anything. People buy tickets or season passes and then turn around and double the face value. Utah Mammoths are super family focused so their prices have stayed relatively sane, but Kings or Stars (my other teams of choice) yikes. And I was looking for fun at Vegas tickets… you can tell the markets where they don’t care about affordability.

It just sucks because people can’t get into the sport because it costs so much to see it live and then it’s a hodgepodge of networks that carry the games and it’s a different network every other game. It’s exhausting

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

@NathanGraviteh Utah is a cup contender this year for sure. The fact that they also kept McDavid contained basically the whole game is huge too. The Keller, Cooley line is dangerous for sure.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

Has anyone heard any rumors if Google is going to come out with their own grokbot, muse, dots competitor? I use Hermes, Grokbot and Dots daily for work. Google already is where I live personally and I trust them far more than Meta but their Spark in Gemini sucks...

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

@utahmammoth are just destroying the blackhawks, at this point the game is can we keep it a shutout.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

I also think we’ve built an economy where it has become way too hard to raise a family. I don’t like that so many families feel like they have no option except two full-time incomes just to afford a house, food and kids. I’m not saying every family needs to have one parent stay home. I’m saying I wish families actually had the choice.

How we fix all of that? I don’t know.

I certainly don’t think the federal government has all the answers. Personally I’d rather see a lot more of this handled by families, churches, communities and local government. I’m much more comfortable with a city or county program where the people running it actually live around the people they are helping and can be held accountable when something isn’t working.

But I also recognize that if I’m going to say government isn’t the answer, then I better be willing to do something myself.

I can’t say churches should take care of people and then not help.

I can’t say communities should step up and then not step up.

I can’t say fathers need to be fathers and then not teach my own son what that actually means.

And I definitely can’t say I care about an unborn child and then stop caring about him and his mother the second he is born.

I don’t know what the perfect answer to all of this looks like.

What I do know is that I can’t imagine intentionally ending the life of a baby except in the kinds of extreme circumstances the Church talks about. And even in those circumstances, I understand why the Church tells us this is a serious decision that should be approached prayerfully instead of treating the exception like an automatic green light.

I look at my own kids and I just can’t get there.

I think about Christ and the way He loved children and I can’t get there.

I think about that flight instructor crying over the son he never got to raise and I can’t get there.

And if there is uncertainty about exactly when that little developing body becomes a child of God, I’m going to come down on the side of protecting it.

That’s a huge part of why I’m voting no on Prop 1.

But I also think voting no is the easy part.

The harder part is actually building the kind of families, wards and communities where a scared woman who decides to keep her baby knows she isn’t going to have to do it alone.

[Jacob | SectorLive ATC @JacobBuildsATC]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Prop 1 here in Idaho and figured I’d write out why I’m voting no.

Obviously the Church has come out against it, and since most of the people who follow me are members of the Church I’m not going to spend a bunch of time explaining the Church’s position on abortion. But there is one part of the policy that I think is really important to this discussion.

The Handbook gives three possible exceptions for abortion: rape or incest, when the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or when severe fetal defects will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.

But then it says:

“Abortion is a most serious matter. Even in these circumstances, members should approach a decision with prayerful deliberation.”

I think that gets lost sometimes.

Even in the extreme cases where the Church says abortion may be justified, the answer still isn’t automatically “yes, get an abortion.” It is still something incredibly serious that should be taken to the Lord.

That is a long ways away from where Prop 1 takes us, and it goes much further than I’m comfortable with.

I’ve also thought a lot about the argument over when exactly a baby in the womb becomes a child.

And my answer is: I have no idea.

I don’t think any of us do.

We don’t know exactly when a spirit enters the body. As far as I know, that hasn’t been revealed.

But for me that uncertainty makes me more cautious about abortion, not less.

If I don’t know when that tiny developing baby becomes a child in the eternal sense, then I’m going to assume it is one and protect it.

Maybe I get to the other side someday and find out that a spirit doesn’t enter the body until much later in pregnancy. Fine. I would much rather find out that I was protecting something before I needed to than find out that I was okay ending the life of a child of God because I had decided the line was somewhere else.

Especially when I look at how Christ talked about and treated children.

Children are not some side issue in the plan of salvation. They are right at the center of it. Families are right at the center of it.

And I just can’t square that with where we have gotten culturally on abortion.

There was actually an experience years ago that really changed how I thought about all of this.

I was flying with one of my flight instructors and he was having an off day. Eventually he broke down crying and told me about his unborn son who had been aborted.

He told me that he had a recurring nightmare where his son would ask him why he didn’t want him and why he didn’t raise him.

That has stuck with me for years.

I don’t know all of the circumstances around the abortion and I’m not going to pretend I do. I’m also not saying every father who has been involved in an abortion feels the way he did.

But I watched this man cry over a son he would never get to raise.

And it made me realize how little we talk about fathers in all of this.

How many fathers wanted their child and had no real say in whether that child was born?

How many went along with an abortion and regretted it later?

I don’t know. I’m not going to make up a statistic.

But I know that man existed. I saw what it did to him.

I also think those of us who oppose abortion have to be careful that we don’t make this as simple as “don’t have an abortion” and then move on with our lives.

If we really believe that baby is a child of God, then we better be willing to help the mother carrying that child too.

We should be doing a much better job helping single moms. We should be doing a much better job holding fathers accountable. Men shouldn’t get to create a child and then disappear and leave the woman to figure everything out.

And honestly that opens a whole other can of worms for me about how far we’ve moved away from the Family Proclamation.

Marriage should mean something.

Fatherhood should mean something.

Motherhood should mean something.