person101x

I was a lapsed Catholic / agnostic CS major in college. Met a crazy chaplain priest who would show up at lots of university events and got to know students, and who was very good at explaining the Catholic faith and the Scriptures.

At the same time, I took two humanities electives by accident: a philosophy course, which taught me what atheism brought to its conclusion results in (thank you Nietzche), and a Hebrew scriptures course, which taught me that the scriptures are essentially a story about the nature of God's relationship with humans.

My math courses were also very convicting. Kurt Godel and his proof for the existence of God, and his incompleteness theorem. I couldn't shake the experience, upon learning about Bertrand Russell's failed endeavor, that there must be a foundation for the mathematical reality we know deeper than humans can perceive.

I ended up in seminary and studied philosophy and theology, and finally made my way back to software engineering. 12 years later my life is still full of purpose and growth due to the faith I found then.

Once upon a time there was an ethos that employers, which were at that time called lords, had a duty and responsibility for the good of their employees, who were called serfs or peasants, and vice versa.

While nobody is advocating a return to that particular social structure, would it not be out of the realm of possibility for a similar ethos to be cultivated among leaders and employers?

If you're looking for personal value out of attending funerals, there's good evidence for psychological benefits to doing so. Grieving is hard. Humans are evolved to process negative emotions through complex rituals. Funerals are one of the most important rituals because death is extraordinarily traumatic and universal to all humans.

Funerals aren't about saying goodbye to corpses. They're collective, complex rituals that aid the grieving process.

For me it boils down to this: the Catholic Church exists as a body of members who are all sinners- laymen and women, priests, bishops, cardinals, and the pope included. The clergy are simply functionaries within the church who serve very important roles, but are not sinless, perfect humans by any stretch of the imagination.

The way of life the Church offers along with its teachings, are what you might be able to consider the "good bits".

The "bad bits" are the members, who are sometimes clergy, who sin against God and against their neighbor.

Fair enough. Thanks for the correction.

> I'm sorry but I can't see how the first sentence supports the second in any meaningful way. It's easy and pointless to shit on religion and I'm not doing that here, but "evidence" is something other than common stories.

> Could there be an afterlife? Sure, it's possible, but there's not yet any significant evidence for one.

First off, you can discount "common stories" all you want, but even science operates on "common stories", i.e. we use a "common" method, record our observations, and make educated guesses about what those observations imply, and share our results. When we begin to come to a "common" consensus, we say the stories line up and that therefore we've likely hit upon some truth.

It's so easy to find the evidence I didn't think I'd have to mention them. Off the top of my head, we can observe the numerous accounts of near-death experiences across cultures and religions which share striking commonalities.

Then you can also point to paranormal phenomena also universal across cultures and religions.

Another line of thought would be to read some Plato, particularly the Phaedo which gives several very convincing arguments for the immortality of the soul.

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10 year fountain pen user. Nobody seems to have mentioned what are, in my opinion, the most compelling and practical reasons for fountain pen usage: their ergonomics.

Fountain pens are supposed to be held lightly, so much so that someone should be able to pull it right out of your hand without friction (apparently schoolteachers once did this to test students' proper grip). Additionally, because of the water-based ink and capillary action of the pen, very little pressure is needed to mark the paper. Fountain pens are also able to be held at a greater angle than most other pens allowing a grip where the pen lightly rests on the back of the hand. This provides the ability to write for long periods without fatigue.

This is in contrast with ballpoints which require a significant amount of pressure to mark and which also cannot mark at the greater angle required which would allow the pen to rest comfortably on the back of the hand. This leads to all kinds of awkward hand positions that people learn to write with (a teacher or student will be able to attest to the numerous hideous and painful hand contortions some students employ) and more rapid hand fatigue because of the pressure required. It is not uncommon for carpal tunnel syndrome to develop in writers of ballpoints, and for doctors to subsequently recommend the switch to fountain pens. I also find that it is considerably more difficult to produce good handwriting using a ballpoint rather than a fountain pen. The hand positioning and technique really makes all the difference.

The economy isn't a zero-sum game. Everyone wins in the long-term when we help each other succeed.

Caring parents aren't in an impossible situation. The problem is that we have given up on the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. Corporations have, intentionally or not, contributed heavily to the destruction of our villages, physical and online. I think with just five sets of parents sharing a similar worldview, it would very practical for them to curate enough good educational content for all their kids. Having four other families on the same program in their own community will reinforce to the kids that the parents aren't antagonists, but that this is what their mini-"society" just does regularly, and so mitigate resentment.

You may be interested in the Light Phone which uses an e-ink screen. I've been thinking of getting one myself, but can't quite pull the trigger.

Cancel Linux! Anyone?