I want to get into Stellaris but everytime I start I realize I’ll have to play 1000 hours before I understand the basics and close the game.

Lol this is exactly where my mind went

It’s great! It only makes 4-6 servings of rice at a time but I prefer that because it means there’s less leftovers

Someone gifted me a Le Creuset rice cooker. I use it at least once but often twice a week. At $200+ it’s truly something I never would have bought myself.

It’s free/libre, open source and has accurate doppler radar and forecasts. It’s one of those get what you pay for deals except he doesn’t sell your data.

Wx is available for free on fdroid. You’re welcome.

It’s going to result in the wholesale exportation of white collar jobs overseas. It’s already underway.

Are you saying my Dad deserves to die because he was driving a car and/or because he drives for a living?

Years ago somebody threw a brick off an overpass and shattered my Dad’s windshield while he was on the highway. He drives for a living so he was able to maintain control but it could have easily killed him and others.

“His” main critique is against evolutionary theology which is common amongst reformers and Christian critics. “God was seen this way. Then it changed and he was seen this way. OT God is angry. NT God is compassionate etc” This is not a new idea and has been held by the Orthodox church since it’s inception and has been codified for the last 1200-1300 years. The Orthodox view everything consistently through a Christological lens which is why their view of sotieriology etc is so different than what you will get from Protestants or even Roman Catholics.

Fr. Stephen De Youngs book is just a readily consumable encapsulation of ancient arguments, historical findings (such as the Rosetta stones) with his own analyses and contributions. Would you be better off reading the church fathers and primary sources yourself? Possibly but you’d also need to know ancient Greek and Hebrew.

Christians and academics love to argue and I’m not surprised to see that people are critical of the book. I don’t think there is any religious commentary that hasn’t received criticism.

At any rate I encourage you to look at Orthodox theology more generally. You will find a logical consistency and depth of analysis that the secular world usually says is lacking in the Christian worldview.

I recommend you read “Religion of the Apostles” by Stephen De Young. He explains the common misconceptions of the early Israelite beliefs. The “Gods” are lesser divine beings that were meant to protect the 70 tribes after the Tower of Babel fell. The deities rebelled against God and led the nations astray and were worshipped. The tribe of Israel worshipped the God of “Most high” which is the one true God above all divine beings. So they aren’t henotheistic because there is only one God. The term “Gods” was used because they were divine beings but they were created whereas God the Father is not. Everything proceeds from him.

A great podcast that explains evil and suffering is “Whole Counsel of God” with the same guy. In short, suffering is unavoidable because man falls from Eden after sinning and the consequence of sin is death. Making death the consequence is a mercy because man can become sanctified during his life and through death re-enter the kingdom of God. Consequently suffering draws people closer to God than anything else.

I’m not a theologian and wrote this on my phone but that’s my quick recap. The book is way more thorough of course.

Uncertainty and risk are ever present and bringing a child into adverse circumstances is scary. I don’t have any silver bullets to address the multitude of problems you listed. I do know, however, that if we treat every human life as precious, in utero and out, child and adult, that we will live in a better world. If we live in the truthful acknowledgment of the sanctity of life then we will have to forge a better future for the children that are deserving of their chance in life no matter what hardship awaits them. Our judgment is imperfect and shouldn’t dictate whether anyone, particularly an innocent, dies.

One does not preclude the other. Human life is sacred from conception to death.

I know someone with 11 kids and 3 grandkids. He only just received a raise to ~50k which is more than he’s made in his entire adult life. I know many people in similar situations including my own family. While it may be a struggle, children can be raised when household income is at or below poverty level. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Money (or lack there of) will never justify killing a child.

At a bare minimum there is adoption. Thousands of couples can’t conceive and would love to adopt.

If you think Christianity fits this description then you have a poor understanding of Christianity.

ITT: A collectively poor understanding of Christian theology

Even if I don’t agree with you on all of what you said I agree with most of it. Sound reasoning and all that. The autism/aspergers ‘excuse’ is definitely hard to accept given his history.

Regardless, someone like him simply shouldn’t be at the positions he has held if the open source community is to gain progress.

I’m conflicted here. The fact that he’s a weirdo is kind of irrelevant imo. He’s philosophically uncompromising and unmoved by social pressure. The only thing separating him from most tech CEOs is that he lacks an organization investing millions into his health, image, publicity etc Most big time executives are degenerates but no one cares because they are good at what they do. I think he’s good at making software free even if he’s a socially inept [insert criticism here] in his personal life. Additionally I’m saying this as someone who disagrees with him on basically every other issue he takes a stand on.

Yeah. I’m not a big “celebrity” person but he’s had a net positive impact to the world and devoted his life to his cause. I have a signed copy of his hacking book from a seminar in college. I hope he comes out on the other side. I have a lot of respect for him despite his eccentric statements.

In this specific example, my question is why pay farmers to not grow crops instead of encouraging them to create a surplus and just paying them the difference in the price drop?

The farmers are getting paid to do nothing ergo if you stop compensating them for doing nothing they will grow crops instead to make up for the difference. The government is whole reason this scenario is messed up in the first place.

The government paying farmers not to grow something isn’t capitalism. If anything it’s central planning.