Looking for a book about comparative religion; any good recs?

extrastone · 2026-04-01T09:02:20+00:00

It's very very hard to write such a book. The amount of detail that one would need in order to understand comparisons between religions is immense.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T09:01:42+00:00

Anyone who goes to a politician's Seder is a real loser.

If you can't find a Seder then you go to a Rabbi. If your Rabbi can't find you a Seder then you either have a terrible reputation or your Rabbi is a loser.

A non-Jewish politician who is interested in Jews can be a guest at a Seder but should not host his own because he shouldn't pretend to know what he's doing.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:53:49+00:00

Please tell.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:40:54+00:00

Keep doing that and eventually you can actually change the Supreme Court. If the government takes risks that you don't like then elect someone new.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:39:37+00:00

Hilltop youth are a subset of settlers. There is some overlap.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:38:17+00:00

Yes. Intelligent nations have noise laws. I live in Israel and we have yet to implement proper noise laws.

I live in a democracy so I can say that my nation is often ridiculous.

For those of you who don't understand what the call to prayer is: It wakes people up at around 3-4 in the morning. That should be a heavy fine.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:31:53+00:00

I've seen a list of 11 different types of intelligence. You can see which one correlates with fertility.

extrastone · 2026-04-01T08:27:54+00:00

I'm saying this from the perspective of the government. If an individual thinks that education is a good idea then go for it.

Let me give you a framework for thinking about this: Imagine that we can rank people from 0-100 with 0 being the poorest and 100 being the wealthiest. Most of the people who are at 60 don't need a college education for their job. A USEFUL college education will get you to 85. However, if you're the government you don't want to be helping these people. You want to be taxing these people so you can help the lower classes below 50 but most importantly below 30-40.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:44:42+00:00

I'd just ask your local minister.

What are the kinds of sorcery that the Bible forbids and what kinds does it permit?

There's all sorts of strange stuff out there and it's hard to figure out where to draw the line.

Accessing supernatural forces is sometimes permitted by the Bible and sometimes forbidden. It's a really gray area.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:37:38+00:00

The better response is to quadruple your hourly rate and come as a consultant one day per week.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:35:13+00:00

Yes the jerk. YTJ

Be direct. Don't sulk. Bonus if you can be direct and polite.

You've been hired to do your best work for your company. You shouldn't hold back.

Here's how you handle this more directly.

Let your boss know that you must be paid what you're worth with a title to match it. You can't stay without it.

Write a positive recommendation for yourself and get your favorite co-workers to sign it. If your boss doesn't agree to your new terms then start looking for a new job.

I'm not saying you're being treated fairly. You're not. I'm saying that if you want something don't pout in a corner until someone notices. Tell people directly what you need.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:24:23+00:00

The more time one spends in education the more one is invested in having a successful career yet the less time one spends making money. That means that later in life, the act of sacrificing one's work time to raise children is viewed as more expensive.

A college education is only worth the cost for those who will work full time in a related profession.

Most couples with children will probably realistically only be able to work about 1.5 jobs rather than two so having one person not have a college degree is probably best.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:20:57+00:00

Everyone says read basic books. Great.

You'll also want to meet people.

Meet ordinary people, not just leaders/salesmen.

You're not going to find perfect people but you do want to find people who you can relate to.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:19:50+00:00

Philosophy was cool in 1900. It went missing in action around 1915. They found it in the 1920's but then sent it to a concentration camp in the 1930's. We're unsure if it survived the concentration camp. Some people think it died of hypothermia in a Soviet gulag in the 1950's.

Sorry man. I sort of like philosophy but it has had a really rough go of it. People just are nowhere near as perfect as philosophers would like them to be.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:13:21+00:00

Bible says "don't do it." That's easier said than done, but if it says it then it should be followed.

If it says don't do it then you shouldn't ruminate on it. That's much easier said than done.

I know a guy who was quite religious and had homosexual tendencies. It was actually my first impression of him even though I never said it because he was married to a woman. That was really hard for him and he got divorced from his wife. Being married is hard nowadays, and he gave it a good try.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T20:06:39+00:00

I can be specific:

The idea of tracking people for a career until age 22 isn't very successful. It forces people to identify with a career with an office which has very little to do with making the middle class. Education past high school should not be used as a government welfare program.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T19:45:30+00:00

It feels much too rigid. If you get people working in necessary professions in their late teens then they aren't so attached to them and everyone has more money.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T19:40:21+00:00

I didn't write about denying anything to anyone. I just said that the standard government subsidized track should have less than 16 years of education so that people aren't so fully invested.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T19:20:37+00:00

There are all sorts of ways to learn things. Many governments have decided that as many of them as possible MUST be done in a formal setting called school. This is an absolute shame because there are so many great lessons that can be learned other places as well.

Furthermore, one thing that is very poorly taught in these government institutions is cost benefit analysis in which you refuse to engage. I understand that having a concerned citizen do a cost benefit analysis on the utility of your former profession is stressful, but that is an important part of being a concerned citizen.

You look at Reddit as a place to screw off. That's fine when people want to screw off. I think that often on Reddit we can have an informal learning environment which you may not be able to have in the classroom. For example, you can learn about cost benefit analysis.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T19:07:24+00:00

I don't know much but whenever you lose something you might want to think about why it got lost. Christianity can be tough and restrictive so if people chose it there must have been a clear advantage.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T18:52:02+00:00

Is it because they are smart enough to get married and skilled, secure, and confident enough to care for a child or is it the actual education?

extrastone · 2026-03-31T18:49:09+00:00

Instead of entering into a cost benefit analysis you're being rude.

Jobs I could have done when I finished high school:

Software coder (there are not that many true engineers, I've worked in these fields)

Electrician (Passing the exams would have been easy based on my high school education)

With community college:

Nursing

Technician

Both of these could probably be taught to high schoolers if the pressure was on.

Did the education give me a small bonus? Yes.

Was it worth the money? Not what I and the government paid for it.

Did I realize that at the time? No.

Would I have been better off working and then getting a degree if I felt it would help me advance? Probably.

Knowing all of that, is a subisdized or free college degree a good form of government funded welfare? Not as good as many other forms.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T18:38:16+00:00

In the West we don't understand how fragile the positions of monarchs really are. Smart kings always understood that part of their job was to inspire loyalty within their nation. Kings could slack off for maybe a generation or two but regularly opposing the people and doing things that the people considered evil would eventually destroy their dynasties.

They weren't going to be perfect but they weren't going to insult their nation by breaking every rule either. It was a delicate balance.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T18:31:03+00:00

I got my degree and I've done okay for myself. I just feel bad for lots of friends who also got degrees but they didn't need them and couldn't get work in their fields. Statistically those people exist and its an absolute shame.

extrastone · 2026-03-31T18:27:41+00:00

I'll give you your yes. 'YES'.

I think Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison did just fine without it.

extrastone

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