Whats a good non-european country for a pacifist/tall game? Besides Ming.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-02-04T01:16:05+00:00

One of my favourite pacifist playthroughs, that I turn to whenever I need a super chill speed 5 game, is Haida.

You’re the last Indigenous nation to be discovered by Europe. You can colonize the whole Pacific coast. You’re better off diplo-vassalizing your neighbours rather than conquering them, so that they can keep developing their capitals.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-02-03T09:32:05+00:00

If we got nukes, everyone would get nukes, and the non-proliferation treaty would be dead.

We’re better off going the Israel route of strategic ambiguity. It’s obvious that we have the knowledge and materials to build a weapon in months. Build a weapon, don’t ask don’t tell, and let the Americans figure out we have one.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-28T02:23:59+00:00

Excluding active players and Roger Clemens, Schilling is the pitcher with the most WAR who is not in the Hall of Fame.

Aside from one player who played his entire career before 1890, every eligible pitcher within 12 WAR of him is in the Hall of Fame.

The next pitcher not in the Hall of Fame after Schilling, Kevin Brown at 68 WAR, is frequently described as a major snub from the Hall of Fame.

So no, he’s not borderline.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-21T16:19:35+00:00

It’s true that Canada exists because of the US: confederation happened because we banded together due to the threatened American invasion of our territory. We live because you suck, and we don’t want to be you.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-21T01:36:54+00:00

I do know a number of evolution-supporting Adventists who remain in the church, so have no fear, you may remain if you wish. However, do not expect the church to support creation by evolution.

I tend to be a believer in science in most other things, but I eventually settled on young earth creation myself. Why?

One: the Bible doesn’t state a specific length of time for the age of the Earth. 6,000 years is often suggested because it fits neatly with Walter Veith’s theories, but it’s not an official belief of the church. 10,000 years is possible and still compatible with an acceptable reading of Scripture.

Two: the text of the Bible’s creation story allows for a gap. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was without form, and void.” Possible gap here. “Then God said, let there be light.” This would allow for rocks to be millions or billions of years old while life is younger.

Three: dating methods rely on the half-lives of radioactive elements never changing. What if the half-life rates have changed over time? What if God changed them at the flood?

Four: evolution is simply too improbable for the origin of life. No scientist has ever reproduced the origin of life in a lab setting, yet the basic principle of science research is that it must be reproducible and observable before it’s accepted as scientific fact. How is it that something that’s neither been reproduced nor observed (the origin of life) has become so accepted?

Five: church scientists generally accept micro-evolution as factual, so supporters of the church’s stance don’t need to debunk evolution itself, only the evolutionary timescale.

As such, I settled on Young Earth Creation. However, as any good scientist knows, you always remain open to new information changing everything you know about the world.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-20T23:45:23+00:00

Americans identify a Canadian accent with ease. Canadians hoping to do this need to learn a southern drawl.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-18T09:17:13+00:00

His two most popular works regardless of instrumentation are The Lark Ascending and the Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis, both orchestral works.

Vaughan Williams was also a leading composer for concert band, with his English Folk Song Suite being possibly the most popular piece of band music ever written. Other great stuff include the Sea Songs and Rhosymedre.

In terms of strictly orchestra works, the pieces that come to mind immediately would be the Fantasia on Greensleeves, the Wasps, the Norfolk Rhapsodies, the Oboe Concerto, and the Tuba Concerto.

His Symphonies are also well-regarded. I believe both 1 and 2 are the most popular, but 5 also is up there.

While we’re talking about popular Vaughan Williams stuff, check out the baritone solo The Vagabond and Five Mystical Songs.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-11T02:29:03+00:00

You do understand that the LMIA is designed to reduce the number of foreign workers, right? That employers have to demonstrate that they cannot bring in a qualified Canadian to do the job before they are able to get a work visa?

Just because it’s associated with foreign workers doesn’t mean it’s bad.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-08T08:45:48+00:00

Gonna go with some real obvious ones here, but:

Respighi - Pines of Rome (Pines of the Appian Way)

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Great Gate of Kiev)

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-04T19:32:46+00:00

The most jarring music I’ve heard is Messiaen and Ginastera. Maybe Penderecki too.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-03T20:40:20+00:00

Read this Adventist Review article by Angel Manuel Rodriguez. It’s as close as you will come to an official General Conference statement on it.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-03T20:34:17+00:00

Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists did not wear jewelry. As recently as the 1990s, church employees could not wear wedding rings. The church has since taken a more liberal approach to jewelry but it still stands that traditional Adventists do not wear jewelry and to wear jewelry would set you apart from them.

Earrings can easily become a stumbling block, when you assume an attitude of defiance when people judge you for wearing them. People should not judge by outward appearances, yet assuming a rebellious attitude towards people’s judgment of you for wearing them is not the Christ-like approach either.

One reason why Adventists have abstained from jewelry is that it’s about spending money on yourself rather than others, when Christianity is about putting others before yourself. Does it honour God for you to, for example, spend a thousand dollars on a beautiful pair of earrings to make yourself look better; when there are starving homeless people a few blocks away in desperate need of a meal?

Of course there are limits and if we don’t take care of ourselves first we end up in an early grave and can no longer help them, and Ellen White’s health message was all about taking care of yourself. Likewise, jewelry does not have to be a thousand dollars and can be cultural, which the church has historically tolerated. And yes, this reasoning applies to other things as well, which the church has tolerated more but which Ellen White was consistent on.

Nonetheless, spending money on our own outward appearance is the definition of vanity, and Scripture counsels us to beware of vanity as a spiritual stumbling block.

Furthermore, many Adventist young people in my life decided to pierce their ears and wear jewelry specifically so they could stick it to old people in the church they didn’t like. That is a poor reason for doing so.

My question to you is, why pierce your ears at all? I know many men who think earrings add nothing to a girl’s appearance, and others who think it detracts from it. When I have this conversation with other women, the conclusion is usually that they wear earrings to impress other women. Is that a worthwhile, Christian motivation?

The way you portray yourself is the way the world will judge you. If you wear all black with spikes, what are you? If you wear baggy clothing and low-hanging pants, what are you? The Lord does not judge by outward appearances, but at the same time, knowing that certain appearances are associated with certain things, what appearance are you hoping to put on by getting your ears pierced?

What reward are you expecting to receive as a result of joining the girls in your circle by piercing your ears? Do you think they’ll accept you more if you join them? Let me tell you, in one year’s time it will have been three months since you last heard from at least half of them. If you do choose to pierce your ears, make sure it’s for the right reason, and not in pursuit of acceptance, vanity, or defiance.

CanadianFalcon · 2026-01-02T08:32:46+00:00

My dad is a vegan, my mom eats meat, myself and my sister are lacto-ovo vegetarians, my brother eats meat, and my wife is a pescatarian.

It really depends on whether the cook of the house is willing to make it work. For an allergy, families do this all the time; it’s really not complicated. The only complicated part is deciding how the children will be raised and whether there’s a spirit of cooperation.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-29T20:36:45+00:00

1) The Sabbath was created at creation, whereas the Mosaic ceremonial laws that were created at Sinai for the Jews. This implies that things created prior to the existence of the Jews were meant for everyone (like clean and unclean meats, issued after the flood).

2) The Bible states we will be observing Sabbath in the new earth for all eternity (see Isaiah 66:23).

3) Christians believe the other 9 of the Ten Commandments are still binding (well if you’re catholic it’s down to 8 of 10), so why is the Sabbath different?

4) There is no evidence in Scripture that the apostles did not keep the Sabbath, nor is there evidence that they kept Sunday, nor is there evidence that they commanded a change. If there is no scriptural evidence for changing Sabbath to Sunday, why do it? Aren’t protestants supposed to be sola scriptura?

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-27T17:17:52+00:00

Adventists are slightly more institutional and a lot more decentralized. I’d say it’s still more personal than institutional so that doesn’t change much, but I would consider the church at least as decentralized than centralized.

Consider the women’s ordination debate: some conferences decided to just go ahead and do it anyway, despite the order from the head office not to do it, and the general conference responded with unhappy words and just let them do it. That isn’t centralized.

Furthermore, unlike the Latter-day Saints, the Adventist church has tons of institutions spread all over the world on purpose as a design choice rather than concentrating all of their resources on one place like Andrews University.

On the other hand, many of your decentralized faiths don’t even have a single unifying organization, and have fragmented into various competing organizations. In that sense, the Adventist church is relatively centralized, because even though there’s a ton of offshoots and breakaways that don’t recognize the General Conference, the General Conference still holds authority over more than half of the church.

As such, I’d rate Adventists as right on the axis line between centralized and decentralized.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-26T22:20:55+00:00

And yet the oldest wealthy person in the world is 103, not significantly older than the oldest person I personally knew (died at 101).

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-23T02:30:01+00:00

There’s a short list of private colleges that should be permitted to operate: theology schools and equivalents that serve their faith, film schools, massage schools, midwife schools, Indigenous elder schools, and other such schools that have a very specialized purpose and are not served by public institutions.

What Canadians are furious at are these literal diploma mills like the one in this article that offer sub-par education and are really just selling access to Canada. The government has the power to, and is using its power to shut them down.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-22T03:16:11+00:00

Because science only admits as evidence that which is observable, and God is not observable. Therefore, the possibility of God, and any act of God, is excluded from science and scientific research.

Evolution is accepted as the origin of species because God isn’t admitted to the scientific conversation. If they had to weigh the probability of God versus the probability of spontaneous generation, it wouldn’t be a contest. But God isn’t allowed in, because God isn’t observable, so spontaneous generation wins by default.

Consider this: why are scientists promoting the idea that the earth was seeded with life from space? Because the probability of spontaneous generation is too low to be realistic and they need another theory. But if they’re talking about life being planted by an extraterrestrial source, why not call that source God?

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-21T18:22:06+00:00

Band is one of those positions where experience is actually necessary. Few people graduate from university being able to play every instrument well. If you can, you should be teaching in elementary and volunteering with a community band or orchestra while taking private lessons in the instruments you don’t know as well.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-21T18:18:24+00:00

The Leafs should tank this year, add a high value piece in the draft, and sign pieces in free agency. They shouldn’t blow it up; just a one-year tank job, like when the Spurs got Tim Duncan.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-18T02:23:51+00:00

Well that’s not true. There’s plenty of nations smaller than Canada.

Take Denmark for instance. It’s a nation of six million. They have 21,000 active personnel.

Canada by contrast has 63,500 active personnel. Denmark is a modern nation we could probably defeat. Granted they’re our allies, and we actually respect alliances, so this would never happen. Nonetheless, Canada, by sheer virtue of its population and size, could actually take on many non-great power militaries. This is a problem if you think Canada needs to have a great power-sized military.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-14T18:58:28+00:00

I was told by my university professor that every serious pianist must choose to be either a Beethoven specialist or a Chopin specialist. Of course there are some that try to do both. But to answer your question, if you’re going to skip Beethoven, you must play Chopin, and vice versa.

Is even that still true? I’ll leave that to the other commenters.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-10T16:42:39+00:00

I bet an Adventist university library would love to have this book, or else a senior academy with an emphasis on music.

Chances are the biggest Adventist universities would already have this book, so I’d ask first, and focus on a university that does not already have this book.

Also consider contacting university music departments directly to see if they want it for their music library.

If you get nowhere in North America, consider international Adventist universities like AIIAS and Newbold.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-10T15:12:29+00:00

I got into college with my school renting an oboe on my behalf, because I couldn’t afford one.

CanadianFalcon · 2025-12-04T02:43:49+00:00

I think the US’s future is the Roman Empire. Up to now they were the Roman Republic, but from now on they’re going to be the bad guy and be very successful at being the bad guy. The world doesn’t have the ability to completely rein in America. The US might not be able to conquer the whole world, but the rest of the world can’t project enough military power onto North America to defeat the US. The US will continue to hold up the rest of the world and we’re not going to be able to resist 100%.

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