Carborendum

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Everything posted by Carborendum

  1. This is essentially the same as frivolous lawsuits. Too many people are willing to settle to avoid court costs. That then incentivizes people to sue even more. This got put on steriods by patent trolls. It is also the reason why we shouldn't have government funded welfare. And it is the logic behind why the US has a policy of not paying off terrorists (at least that's the official story).
  2. Here's how I see it. It's a question of unmet potential. Ever heard of the masterpieces that are never written because a potential Beethoven or Bach or Mozart never learned music? All of us have an upper level of where our original nature can take us. But if we strive for anything less, that is what our eternal nature will end up being. What we strive for in life will dictate what we may accomplish spiritually. And what we accomplish spiritually will dictate what we will feel comfortable with (which Kingdom) in eternity. There is therefore the sorrow over lost potential, regardless of what we eventually feel comfortable with.
  3. Your blasphemy is duly noted. I will inform your bishop about it. Hahahahahahah. No wonder. The Bible tells us different: Ezekiel 16:49-50 sounds nice.
  4. His claim is part myth and part fact. Vaccines as we've known them take a dead or weakened virus which both allow the body to remain strong enough to fight the virus and to develop anti-bodies for it. Some viruses are not easy to deaden or weaken while still allowing the body to build antibodies. So, for such viruses, an alternative was developed. This new "method" doesn't use this tactic. It uses an m-RNA technology that has been around for something like 10 years. It was developed specifically for a pandemic such as this. And this is the first "vaccine" of this type to ever be used. So, it doesn't satisfy the classic definition of a vaccine as we've known it. But what else would one call this? It is an "agent" which stimulates immune response in the Human body to help fight off a virus. Since this is brand new, no one came up with any other name for it. So, why not call it a vaccine?
  5. The irony may be lost here. But the movement did exactly what everyone wanted to have happen. And then they are surprised that it did so. Any worthy institution is designed to separate people. They are designed to make people stand out from the crowd. While the mindset may or may not be elitist, the result is that it will hopefully generate a reason to think someone is better than others. I say "better", but I'd use other words. Accomplished Capable Educated Inspiring The very idea of "inclusive" sounds great simply because it sounds so egalitarian. And we're all for egalitarian. But when we mistake equality of opportunity for equality of result, then the only way for that to be accomplished is to make sure that no one accomplishes anything. That way NO one stands out. And when no one stands out the social organization fails to do anything meaningful except to say "we included everyone."
  6. Little known fact about Checkov: In Wrath of Kahn, he immediately recognizes Kahn when the latter removes his mask. But in the episode Space Seed (where they discovered the Botany Bay) Checkov never saw Kahn. He didn't even join the series until long after that episode. So, unless he spent a whole lot of time looking through old logs, there would have been no reason to recognize Khan -- especially after many decades of aging had worked on Khan's face.
  7. Where on earth is your Trek knowledge!?!? That twern't no red shirt. That was Checkov. Starting around 1:23
  8. HOLD THE PHONE!!! THE WORLD IS DEFINITELY COMING TO AN END. I just sat down with a bowl of rice and kim chee, and... well... it didn't taste good. Why of all the curses I could have to bear!! Why this one!?!?!? Wars and rumors of wars... check. Sin on the level of Sodom and Gummorah... check. Let me look out the window... yup there are the swarm of giant locusts coming to consume all my crops and even all our flesh. Okay, okay, there was one cricket that chirped a little loudly. But for KIM CHEE's SAKE!!! I'll just wait until tonight to see if the moon has turned to blood. But it is a sliver of a crescent tonight. Maybe I won't be able to tell. But is not the redness of the kim chee sufficient to satisfy that prophecy. I say "Yea!" and again I say, "yea, verily." Wo be unto the world that is filled with flat flavorless kim chee. What? You say it is the after affects of COVID? Whew! That's a relief. Here I thought that the end of the world was happening because of plagues hitting the earth like it has never seen before. Glad to hear that isn't the case.
  9. In principle, if that is the way they're handling it, then I would have no objection either. But with today's transgenders being accepted into athletics, how is this going to be enforced in the future? I admit that this concern is not just about scouting. But that's the whole point. It is a national/societal issue that we should all be concerned about. The effect on scouting is just one head of that hydra.
  10. I first noticed this in 1998. I saw it gaining a lot of steam around 2007 or 2008 (can't remember exactly which year). So, this is not "all of a sudden". It's been growing steadily. And with everyone on social media, and the social media giants encouraging the condemnation of Israel and shutting down all condemnation of Palestinians (calling it hate speech) we certainly hear more of it and are led to believe it is the majority opinion. But even today, I believe there are more of us than there are of them. We just seemingly have no power on the public communication network.
  11. I was thinking that there is a concern over society as a whole. I think divorce is an apt metaphor. A husband who sees how his ex is sleeping around with boyfriend after boyfriend when the children are staying at her house is a concern to the father of these children. As a homeschooler, I'm still shocked at some of the antics we hear about in public school. That is because these children being raised in public school will be the population of adults that my children will have to work with and associate with on a daily basis. As a child of God, we worry about what will happen to all of God's children as they are being raised with false doctrines and false beliefs. How are we supposed to spread the gospel as we have been commanded when they are all being raised to believe perversions as unassailable truths? So, yes, we can feel quite a bit of outrage over horrific things happening to the children who will be the future adults of this civilization. Girls entering boy scouts? How do campouts work? Yeah, no danger of anything happening there. Abortions anyone? We may as well say that Planned Parenthood is none of our business. And if that is the case, why do we care about crimes being committed in some far portion of the country that doesn't affect us in any way? I obey all traffic rules. So, why should I care if someone in California speeds 20 mph over in a residential zone. It doesn't affect me.
  12. Nope. Haven't changed my position. They have the right to refuse service to me. If they hadn't given me the cash that I was due, that would have been a breach of contract. But I did eventually get my money. The rest of it was simply "highly unpleasant noise". I've spent some time thinking about the will of the managers vs the will of the employee. "WE" reserve the right... Who is that? Any employee? The manager? The company as a whole? There is an argument to be made that the local office or the company-wide policy has such freedom, but individuals must abide by those policies or they could be fired. There is also an argument that could be made that any employee reserves the right to not serve any customer. Then the employee must square with the employer. One big thing that stands out to me is that people don't change because of complaints. Maybe these individuals will learn their lesson if I complained to management. But maybe they may be further agitated by such action. Maybe nothing changes. So, what good would my complaint do? It may have taken me a little longer. It may have required a few extra hoops to jump through. But I got what I wanted from the business in the end. So, why do I need to bother with something like this? I realize that black people have had it a lot harder (as far as racism) than I ever have. I've long held that everyone has difficulties. And we all do our best to just work through it all as if the world is not going to change. We just have to go through the extra hoops that are required of us as individuals. While it would be ideal for us to be able to change the world. But we don't do that through complaining about things. That is accomplished through the gospel. The approach of complaining about it is to try changing the behavior by exerting power over the individual. Christ seeks to change a person's heart and then that person changes their behavior. There is a point where it becomes oppressive. But I don't think my little experience reaches that point. Is it ideal? Or course not. But all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable.
  13. So, now my whole family has had COVID, including my 9 yo and 12 yo. My 9 yo only had it for one day. My 12 yo has it, feels better, then has it again then feels better... This has been going on for nearly two weeks. My oldest is still feeling worn out and dizzy. He spends most of his time sleeping, eating, bathroom runs, working online, repeat. My wife just has a lingering cough now. All-in-all, just a flu bug. But it had everyone in a very strong and healthy family bed-ridden for a while. Someone in our ward had a stroke. Someone in our previous family had a stroke. A colleague of mine had two strokes. Pretty intense stuff. We stayed home from church for two weeks now. I forgot to ask the first week if we could administer our own sacrament. I asked the second week. The bishop was ok with it. We'll see if we need to for week three. They said 10 days. But we don't know if that means from testing, from first symptoms or no symptoms for 10 days... We have to get some clarification.
  14. Excellent question. Here's the answer. https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/roof-koreans-civilians-defended-koreatown-racist-violence-la-riots-1992/
  15. I noticed the omissions as well. But the videos show what the videos show. And there is a racist element of it.
  16. Well, we could start by accepting that we're ALL ignorant. That would include YOU. But unfortunately, no one does that. We all have our own dogmas that we will not let go of. The only questions are: What are we basing those dogmas on? And what if we're wrong? I'm basing my dogmas on the words of prophets (both living and dead). I know the prophets are true based on my relationship with my Heavenly Father. So I then confirm what I hear from them through prayer. When I am wrong (and I have been told this through prayer many times) I try to reassess my beliefs to align with the Lord. And if, after all this effort, I find out at the judgement bar of God that, I have been wrong, I can answer with a clear conscience that I always did my best to check in and ask. I did my best to always be open to reassessing my assumptions. And as proof of my sincerity, I have changed my mind on many beliefs after learning otherwise. And I've always done my best to listen to the wisdom of the Lord, rather than the learning of man. So, in reality, if you truly believe you have met God, then: 1) You're right. It would not go over so well here. 2) Consider how that will go over when you stand before Him in judgement. Did you truly open yourself to correction if you were wrong? Do you listen to Him more than your own wisdom and man-made (or woman-made) assumptions? Then at the end, He will judge the answers to those questions. I tend to believe the He will make some allowance for simple Human ignorance. But some part of it will also be about judging our fundamental being. Do we have the faith and humility to hear Him above all the noise of our own preconceived notions and worldly deception? If so, there is hope for us even if we got it wrong from time to time.
  17. I wish I could feel "I'm perfect just the way I am". Instead, I tend to realize every day that I have flaws. Some of them quite ponderous. But I lean on the Lord to eventually help me overcome them. I guess some people think that homosexuality isn't something to be "overcome". They just accept it as part of being "perfect".
  18. If I do that, then I'm no better than all those who engage in cancel culture. I refuse to be that vindictive. Over the past several years I've made it clear that my position on racism in America is that today's kids have no clue what racism actually is. We've been so coddled by PC culture come cancel culture, that we mock the suffering and progress of these past decades. I refuse to forget the progress. Take a wild guess. Who has been randomly attacking Asians in every report we've heard of in the past month? And the other lady at the membership desk was the same.
  19. I'd like to share an experience about "commercial racism". DESCRIPTION: We know about violent racism. We also know about stereotypes. We know about ethnic jokes. And we know about those individuals who, well... bless their hearts... just don't know how racist they sound when they say or do certain things. COMMERCIAL RACISM is what I'm calling those things that people do in commerce/business/employment, etc based on race. While I've experienced this before, there was always some shame in it. They always hid it in such a way that there was a small (sometimes tiny) level of plausible deniability. Yesterday, I came across blatant, open, admitted commercial racism. I have a Sam's Club membership. As such I have a credit card that provides a lot of cash back. Every April/May I cash in (that's the cycle I'm in). I went to the club to get a few things. I went to a checkout line that had the "open" sign on. I began to unload when the checkout lady (let's call her Shayna) said that she was closed. She was just standing there doing nothing. Just waiting for... something. Then as I moved away another woman came with her cart and began to unload. Shayna began to help her unload and started checking her stuff. I waited in another line and checked my stuff out there. I asked about cashback. They said that I could cash out at the membership desk. Once all loaded up in the car, I went to the membership desk and asked for my cashback. The lady there said that she couldn't do it at the membership desk. I told her what the checkout lady said. She told me that I'd been misinformed. I needed to go back to the checkout area and speak to someone in a green vest (one of the supervisors). I found that Shayna had a green vest. So, I began waiting at her line. When she was all out of customers, I asked her about he cashback. She said that she was not going to help me. Then she proceeded to wave someone else forward to unload. I asked her why she told me she was closed earlier. She said, "I don't want to serve you people. You're the reason we've got COVID." "I'm actually Korean, not Chinese." (in some half-effort to appeal to her). "Same difference." She then began to ignore me and got the next person to unload. Just then I noticed that another green vest came by. I spoke with him. He said that it is taken care of at the membership desk. I rebutted. He took me there personally. The lady then looked at me with some disgust and went through the motions. I got all my money. She didn't need any instruction from the green vest. She knew exactly how to do it. After it was all done, she walked briskly away from me and began a conversation with another worker until I left. As I was far away, I noticed she came right back her station again. No customer. Just the lack of "me".
  20. The man who praised God every time he won an award and believe he was saved by Christ. Then he died of a drug overdose right after finding out he was HIV positive.
  21. JJ, I don't know if you intended this, but the take-away from such an experience is that 1) We all have disabilities of some sort. B) It would probably be better if we all just did our best to deal with it as much as possible. Finally) We should be very discriminating when we decide with whom to share our difficulties. Yet the tone of your post seemed to try to argue that we SHOULD be open with whom we share our difficulties. Did I misread you?
  22. Death has no sting? Yes, it does. But it is temporary. The grave has no victory? Yes, it does. But it is only temporary. Paul's words are talking about eternal consequences, not temporary sorrow. Humans are all about the immediate, not the eternal. That is why we feel sorrow in spite of the end realization of all our promised blessings. That is also why we tend to sacrifice an eternal good for a temporal good.
  23. You mean like this? http://www.lanet.lv/users/judrups/Humor/chemelem.html NOTE: The website title says "Women". But the "Man: a Chemical Analysis" follows at the bottom.