Or planets that aren't close enough to earth-normal are given to other intelligences to explore. Humans wouldn't make good explorers of Jupiter, for example.
The whole idea of themed planets or themed races largely turned me off of reading SF, and one of the reasons I won't go near StarWars with a 10 foot pole.
Trying to define an entire race or culture or planet with a 3 word phrase is asinine. Doing that for every race or culture or planet in a galaxy just makes me cringe. I can't read or watch it.
"Spaceballs."One word says it all.
As in "Spaceballs! Oh sh*t, there goes the planet."
Try the surface of Venus. Same weather, same lighting, same air pressure all over the place. As far as vacation spots go, it's the hottest outside the surface of the sun.
What is this "if, if, if" stuff? There was no "if" in the condoning of slavery in the bible, and its' persistence today.
You have also not addressed the questions in my second set of statements. I'll repeat it:
So, someone wants to rape you, you're just going to stand there and take it? Ditto if it's someone else, you're just going to stand there and do nothing? Someone's beating your kids, you're going to do nothing? If you don't stand up to anything, you stand for nothing.
That sort of "faith" is as useless as seeing a cold, hungry person by the roadside and saying "I'll pray for you." (you know who said that, right?) I doubt any god would have use for such a "faithful warrior."
Also, there is no contemporaneous proof that there was a "jesus, the king of the jews, crucified, raised from the dead on the third day."
Okay, try nested view. Works for me (they may have removed threaded view in an update).
You're not providing any proof of your other claims - and what ever happened to "once saved, always saved?"
However, I did renounce Christianity because attitudes of intolerance like yours forced me to really examine what I believed, and to stop trying to explain away the contradictions.
The only thing you are proof of is that you cannot provide a single piece of evidence that your god exists, and you never will be able to. "sola fide, sola scriptura, sola gratia" pretty much demands that there be no proof, otherwise you would not be required to accept it on faith, same as you have no proof that the bible is the word of god, you accept it on faith. There is no objective proof. The bible (and christianity) are one huge tautology.
Most pastors and priests would look at my (updated) birth certificate and let me marry a man, and refuse to let me marry a woman. As for the original, unmodified one, that would take a court order to get (and there's no indication on the updated one as to what's changed - you can't tell it's been modified).
As for the whole "sin" bit, I have yet to see objective proof of the existence of the god of the christian bible. Why should I take your god solely on faith, when there are so many to choose from? Why should I choose any of them, given that there's no compelling physical evidence?
Also, what determines male and female? The genes, as expressed, give rise to transsexualism. XY body, XX brain. Remember, the body will be cast away as of no import, so what's left except the mind housed in that brain? Besides, there is no male and female in heaven according to Jesus (or have you not read the bible)?
Also, obviously I've discussed it with specialists, and it's no longer classified as a mental problem per se - but the stresses imposed by the mismatch are capable of causing untoward stress, not just with living with it, but the reaction from people such as yourself. So, you're part of the problem:-)
It must be in one of those open source components, since Slashdot is not listing the actual component name.
Too busy trying to get a first post to bother reading the first line in the first link?
The Portable SDK for UPnP Devices libupnp library contains multiple buffer overflow vulnerabilities. Devices that use libupnp may also accept UPnP queries over the WAN interface, therefore exposing the vulnerabilities to the internet.
Except that the summary made it clear that he was not the person who posted the data, nor the one who made copies and distributed them without checking the contents.
Agreed, it's stupid. Cap and trade wouldn't work for any other resource - "So what if I'm dumping toxic waste into your water supply. I have bought toxic waste credits."
Look at the website of any major media outside the US. Lots of coverage. BBC, CTV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, the Guardian... or download their apps.
Also, the first sentence of the summary, "With the Paris Climate Conference apparently ending in failure" is total BS. The summit is only 1/3 through, has 8 days left to go, and is making progress. But of course anyone listening to US media wouldn't know that. Same as the rest of the world knew Saddam wasn't making centrifuges when Colin Powell was lying in the UN.
Nobody bothered with GEVs because of their obvious problems - one of them being that they are going to have the equivalent of "head crashes" from vibration it high speeds. Earth tremors, frakking, rock slides... air bearing skis cannot self-center as well as coils, nor can they react as fast. Plus, the less air, the less air resistance, meaning boost stations can be further apart and use less energy. Also allows for higher speeds, which translates into more carrying capacity per unit of time. The proposed hyperloops are not much different from today's subways, which have strategic air shafts to shunt the air that builds up ahead of the train to the outside. Almost the same complexity as a vacuum system, but nowhere near the same advantage wrt top speeds and energy usage.
Again, slavery he referred to was a different type of slavery. Still to own as slaves were recently owned, yes it would be wrong. It would be wrong to fight against them [slave owners] as well. Not a Christian's place to do so. There is no physical fight against anything human that is allowed of Christians. Those times were different still.
There are millions of slaves world-wide today. Just search for "human trafficking." More to the point:
There is no physical fight against anything human that is allowed of Christians.
Are you serious? So, someone wants to rape you, you're just going to stand there and take it? Ditto if it's someone else, you're just going to stand there and do nothing? Someone's beating your kids, you're going to do nothing? If you don't stand up to anything, you stand for nothing. Keep hiding your light under that bushel...
Fortunately I have no such limitations. I've defended others rights, including those who hate me for what I am. Turns out it's a good way to win over haters:-)
Lawyers have to say what lawyers have to say - when the facts are against you, pound on the law. When the law is against you, pound on the facts. When both are against you, pound on the desk.
I would think that a CEO who quickly doubles profitability and increases customer satisfaction is worth more than a run-of-the-mill CEO.
The people Paul was referring to were actual slaves. People are not "things to be owned." If you really believed that they were made in God's image, don't you think it would be wrong for someone less than God to own them? Weren't they also put here to have dominion over the earth? Were they not given free will as well? Or are they, being slaves, not free, and as such also free from sin since it is the owners who command them?
Also, for any man to "give ourselves to Him" sounds really gay. I thought you guys were against that sort of thing.:-)
As an employee, whether for pay w/money, or in bondage, we are to be loyal to our masters/bosses/employer/etc. There is nothing wrong w/that.
"I vas chust followink orders", the last refuge of the cowardly scoundrel who doesn't have the guts to stand up against evil. No employer can make me do that which I do not want to do, or believe is wrong. Loyalty is a two-way street. I expect any boss not to put me into a predicament where I have to decide between being "loyal to the company" or following my conscience. Any boss that does that is not being loyal to me, has in fact betrayed my trust, so they can go and sit on it and rotate. (haven't heard that expression in ages:-)
Second, I have seen no evidence that God exists. Even the bible says that there is no evidence because you have to take it on faith.
I tried the whole fundie evangelical born-again christian thing for a decade. Finally came to my senses when I realized that (1) the bible is full of contradictions, (2) parts of the gospels, paul's writings, and the apocalypse were added long after the writers were dead, (3) I now do things because they are right, not because I'm following some dead rule book, (4) the definition of sin is extremely arbitrary. For example, even Paul was cool with slavery. And how many genocidal wars are in the bible, commanded by god? And the stealing of women from other tribes and taking them from defeated enemies, raping them, and they become their wives? Really? Or some kids making fun of a prophet's bald head, so god sends a bear to rip them asunder? There's no justification for any of that. And that's even before looking at the hypocrisy in the churches.
And you haven't answered my last question, You did not answer who, as a male-to-female transsexual, you believe I would be allowed to marry. The word is silent on this issue.
If it were me, I would. That's just a personal preference though, as it would make getting through life much easier. If you want to be constantly questioned though, and feel you're up to answering those questions, it's certainly your call.
Transitioning was one of the best things I ever did. I would never go back. As for being constantly questioned, who's questioning me? Not my neighbors, not my friends, not the tellers at the bank or the clerks at the grocery store - to the contrary, they think I'm pretty neat to stand up for what I am. After I was outed publicly a few years ago, I made it a point to be open and up front about it - this way I don't have to worry about who knows and who doesn't. It's not like I have anything to be ashamed of, at least not in my book:-)
The "instructions left for us" are incompatible with who and what I am. Plus, I do not see any concrete evidence that there are any "instructions left for us." So I'm just going to lead a good life, be kind to those around me, and do the right thing to the best of my ability. To put it into a biblical context, remember the parable of the two brothers? One said he'd go and tend the fields, but didn't. The other said he wouldn't, but did. I don't need instructions to know what is right or wrong. I don't need to "base each and every step taken, on the Word, doing it because that's what the Word says to do". Especially when that Word justifies slavery.
Where did anyone say that sex == gender? Not me, that's for sure.
As for "playing along", that's not how it works.
Most of the time, sex and gender align. Sometimes they don't. And, since we're supposed to care more about what a person is like than how they look (and you're not interacting with the way someone's body looks, but with the person inside that body), why not change the body to match if possible? We give near-sighted people glasses, we replace the lenses of cataract patients, we give people who have lost a limb an artificial one, we place teeth with fakes, we pull the large intestine out and let people poop in a bag, we replace hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, we fix broken bones, etc. We don't do this for the benefit of the body, but of the person inhabiting that body. That's why we pull the plug when someone is brain dead.
The part of your body that determines who and what you are is only your brain. Replace any other part, and you're still you. And if your brain says you're a woman, and you can't replace that part of the brain that says it, why not reduce the incongruity by adjusting the body accordingly? After all, the only part that's really not expendable, and defines who you are, is your brain.
Slashdot Mirror
No, consciousness is an emergent by-product of organic brains.
Or planets that aren't close enough to earth-normal are given to other intelligences to explore. Humans wouldn't make good explorers of Jupiter, for example.
Advanced civilizations that still have royal families.
Hives?
The whole idea of themed planets or themed races largely turned me off of reading SF, and one of the reasons I won't go near StarWars with a 10 foot pole.
Trying to define an entire race or culture or planet with a 3 word phrase is asinine. Doing that for every race or culture or planet in a galaxy just makes me cringe. I can't read or watch it.
"Spaceballs."One word says it all.
As in "Spaceballs! Oh sh*t, there goes the planet."
Try the surface of Venus. Same weather, same lighting, same air pressure all over the place. As far as vacation spots go, it's the hottest outside the surface of the sun.
No, it's just "tardy".
the Republicans will never let us have it.
They'd say it is cheaper and more effective to use a gun, 'cuz with a gun you can better defend yourself from tumors.
I read your blog, and it looks like they got it okay - it's scary, but you did it. Congratulations.
What is this "if, if, if" stuff? There was no "if" in the condoning of slavery in the bible, and its' persistence today.
You have also not addressed the questions in my second set of statements. I'll repeat it:
So, someone wants to rape you, you're just going to stand there and take it? Ditto if it's someone else, you're just going to stand there and do nothing? Someone's beating your kids, you're going to do nothing? If you don't stand up to anything, you stand for nothing.
That sort of "faith" is as useless as seeing a cold, hungry person by the roadside and saying "I'll pray for you." (you know who said that, right?) I doubt any god would have use for such a "faithful warrior."
Also, there is no contemporaneous proof that there was a "jesus, the king of the jews, crucified, raised from the dead on the third day."
Okay, try nested view. Works for me (they may have removed threaded view in an update).
You're not providing any proof of your other claims - and what ever happened to "once saved, always saved?"
However, I did renounce Christianity because attitudes of intolerance like yours forced me to really examine what I believed, and to stop trying to explain away the contradictions.
The only thing you are proof of is that you cannot provide a single piece of evidence that your god exists, and you never will be able to. "sola fide, sola scriptura, sola gratia" pretty much demands that there be no proof, otherwise you would not be required to accept it on faith, same as you have no proof that the bible is the word of god, you accept it on faith. There is no objective proof. The bible (and christianity) are one huge tautology.
Most pastors and priests would look at my (updated) birth certificate and let me marry a man, and refuse to let me marry a woman. As for the original, unmodified one, that would take a court order to get (and there's no indication on the updated one as to what's changed - you can't tell it's been modified).
As for the whole "sin" bit, I have yet to see objective proof of the existence of the god of the christian bible. Why should I take your god solely on faith, when there are so many to choose from? Why should I choose any of them, given that there's no compelling physical evidence?
Also, what determines male and female? The genes, as expressed, give rise to transsexualism. XY body, XX brain. Remember, the body will be cast away as of no import, so what's left except the mind housed in that brain? Besides, there is no male and female in heaven according to Jesus (or have you not read the bible)?
Prove that it's a mismatch of the body and not a mental problem. Considering that they have either XY or XX it sounds to me like the body isn't wrong.
Already been proven:
Also, obviously I've discussed it with specialists, and it's no longer classified as a mental problem per se - but the stresses imposed by the mismatch are capable of causing untoward stress, not just with living with it, but the reaction from people such as yourself. So, you're part of the problem :-)
It must be in one of those open source components, since Slashdot is not listing the actual component name.
Too busy trying to get a first post to bother reading the first line in the first link?
The Portable SDK for UPnP Devices libupnp library contains multiple buffer overflow vulnerabilities. Devices that use libupnp may also accept UPnP queries over the WAN interface, therefore exposing the vulnerabilities to the internet.
Except that the summary made it clear that he was not the person who posted the data, nor the one who made copies and distributed them without checking the contents.
Agreed, it's stupid. Cap and trade wouldn't work for any other resource - "So what if I'm dumping toxic waste into your water supply. I have bought toxic waste credits."
Is Matt Ridley an expert?
Only at the Wall Street Journal.
Look at the website of any major media outside the US. Lots of coverage. BBC, CTV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, the Guardian ... or download their apps.
Also, the first sentence of the summary, "With the Paris Climate Conference apparently ending in failure" is total BS. The summit is only 1/3 through, has 8 days left to go, and is making progress. But of course anyone listening to US media wouldn't know that. Same as the rest of the world knew Saddam wasn't making centrifuges when Colin Powell was lying in the UN.
Nobody bothered with GEVs because of their obvious problems - one of them being that they are going to have the equivalent of "head crashes" from vibration it high speeds. Earth tremors, frakking, rock slides ... air bearing skis cannot self-center as well as coils, nor can they react as fast. Plus, the less air, the less air resistance, meaning boost stations can be further apart and use less energy. Also allows for higher speeds, which translates into more carrying capacity per unit of time. The proposed hyperloops are not much different from today's subways, which have strategic air shafts to shunt the air that builds up ahead of the train to the outside. Almost the same complexity as a vacuum system, but nowhere near the same advantage wrt top speeds and energy usage.
The last I looked, skyscrapers and ships didn't have feelings. Tsk tsk.
Again, slavery he referred to was a different type of slavery. Still to own as slaves were recently owned, yes it would be wrong. It would be wrong to fight against them [slave owners] as well. Not a Christian's place to do so. There is no physical fight against anything human that is allowed of Christians. Those times were different still.
There are millions of slaves world-wide today. Just search for "human trafficking." More to the point:
There is no physical fight against anything human that is allowed of Christians.
Are you serious? So, someone wants to rape you, you're just going to stand there and take it? Ditto if it's someone else, you're just going to stand there and do nothing? Someone's beating your kids, you're going to do nothing? If you don't stand up to anything, you stand for nothing. Keep hiding your light under that bushel ...
Fortunately I have no such limitations. I've defended others rights, including those who hate me for what I am. Turns out it's a good way to win over haters :-)
Still haven't answered my question - as a transsexual, whom may I marry without "sinning"?
Lawyers have to say what lawyers have to say - when the facts are against you, pound on the law. When the law is against you, pound on the facts. When both are against you, pound on the desk.
I would think that a CEO who quickly doubles profitability and increases customer satisfaction is worth more than a run-of-the-mill CEO.
The people Paul was referring to were actual slaves. People are not "things to be owned." If you really believed that they were made in God's image, don't you think it would be wrong for someone less than God to own them? Weren't they also put here to have dominion over the earth? Were they not given free will as well? Or are they, being slaves, not free, and as such also free from sin since it is the owners who command them?
Also, for any man to "give ourselves to Him" sounds really gay. I thought you guys were against that sort of thing. :-)
As an employee, whether for pay w/money, or in bondage, we are to be loyal to our masters/bosses/employer/etc. There is nothing wrong w/that.
"I vas chust followink orders", the last refuge of the cowardly scoundrel who doesn't have the guts to stand up against evil. No employer can make me do that which I do not want to do, or believe is wrong. Loyalty is a two-way street. I expect any boss not to put me into a predicament where I have to decide between being "loyal to the company" or following my conscience. Any boss that does that is not being loyal to me, has in fact betrayed my trust, so they can go and sit on it and rotate. (haven't heard that expression in ages :-)
First, switch to threaded view ...
Second, I have seen no evidence that God exists. Even the bible says that there is no evidence because you have to take it on faith.
I tried the whole fundie evangelical born-again christian thing for a decade. Finally came to my senses when I realized that (1) the bible is full of contradictions, (2) parts of the gospels, paul's writings, and the apocalypse were added long after the writers were dead, (3) I now do things because they are right, not because I'm following some dead rule book, (4) the definition of sin is extremely arbitrary. For example, even Paul was cool with slavery. And how many genocidal wars are in the bible, commanded by god? And the stealing of women from other tribes and taking them from defeated enemies, raping them, and they become their wives? Really? Or some kids making fun of a prophet's bald head, so god sends a bear to rip them asunder? There's no justification for any of that. And that's even before looking at the hypocrisy in the churches.
And you haven't answered my last question, You did not answer who, as a male-to-female transsexual, you believe I would be allowed to marry. The word is silent on this issue.
If it were me, I would. That's just a personal preference though, as it would make getting through life much easier. If you want to be constantly questioned though, and feel you're up to answering those questions, it's certainly your call.
Transitioning was one of the best things I ever did. I would never go back. As for being constantly questioned, who's questioning me? Not my neighbors, not my friends, not the tellers at the bank or the clerks at the grocery store - to the contrary, they think I'm pretty neat to stand up for what I am. After I was outed publicly a few years ago, I made it a point to be open and up front about it - this way I don't have to worry about who knows and who doesn't. It's not like I have anything to be ashamed of, at least not in my book :-)
The "instructions left for us" are incompatible with who and what I am. Plus, I do not see any concrete evidence that there are any "instructions left for us." So I'm just going to lead a good life, be kind to those around me, and do the right thing to the best of my ability. To put it into a biblical context, remember the parable of the two brothers? One said he'd go and tend the fields, but didn't. The other said he wouldn't, but did. I don't need instructions to know what is right or wrong. I don't need to "base each and every step taken, on the Word, doing it because that's what the Word says to do". Especially when that Word justifies slavery.
Where did anyone say that sex == gender? Not me, that's for sure.
As for "playing along", that's not how it works.
Most of the time, sex and gender align. Sometimes they don't. And, since we're supposed to care more about what a person is like than how they look (and you're not interacting with the way someone's body looks, but with the person inside that body), why not change the body to match if possible? We give near-sighted people glasses, we replace the lenses of cataract patients, we give people who have lost a limb an artificial one, we place teeth with fakes, we pull the large intestine out and let people poop in a bag, we replace hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, we fix broken bones, etc. We don't do this for the benefit of the body, but of the person inhabiting that body. That's why we pull the plug when someone is brain dead.
The part of your body that determines who and what you are is only your brain. Replace any other part, and you're still you. And if your brain says you're a woman, and you can't replace that part of the brain that says it, why not reduce the incongruity by adjusting the body accordingly? After all, the only part that's really not expendable, and defines who you are, is your brain.