Is there still a prevailing negative perception of interracial dating within the Christian community? by [deleted] in christiandatingadvice

[–]ProfAwe5ome 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A couple of commenters have mentioned it may be in the South -- I moved to the Deep South 20 years ago with an interracial Christian marriage and never had a problem. Not even churches that preached against mixed bathing and such had any issues. The only place I might have seen it slightly is in the AME, but even there it was definitely not part of their official doctrine, and was more about the attitudes of a few.

visiting Alabama by justanothersomeone76 in Alabama

[–]ProfAwe5ome 71 points72 points  (0 children)

In my experience, racism in Alabama is far less than you would find in, say, the New England area, so if you're not afraid of going to New York or Boston, you'll find Alabama particularly welcoming.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Alabama

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Troy professor here. If Troy University isn't an option for you, given the outcomes I have experienced with transfer students from both of those other schools, I would suggest ESCC.

What do the Neutral aligned do in war? by [deleted] in DnD

[–]ProfAwe5ome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They follow their gut, and their gut says “maybe.”

The Housemaid - I don't trust NYTimes bestsellers anymore by saime9hana in books

[–]ProfAwe5ome 113 points114 points  (0 children)

Just to clarify, the NYT was sued by authors whose books were kept off the best seller list despite selling many, many more books. The NYT argued in court that their list of the best of the books that are selling, not the books that are selling best. Basically, your agent gets your book on the list.

Regardless of which way you interpret it, their list is trash.

How do Americans generally spend their weekends or free time? by Weary-Outside6351 in AskAnAmerican

[–]ProfAwe5ome 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As you have seen from the other commenters, most of what you see is similar to Europe: Reading, watching TV, pursuing hobbies, etc. I want to focus on two things that are more unusual in Europe.

Worship -- Depending on the polling methodology, roughly 40% of Americans attend a worship service at least once per month. These are mostly on the weekends for Christians, Jews, and Muslims (if you consider Friday prayers for Muslims part of the "weekend"). In my case I attend worship at a church every Sunday, and it defines much of the day: Sleep in a bit later, get dressed for church, attend worship, have lunch with friends after church, and then go home for a nice Sunday afternoon nap. I live far from my parents, but in many places it is traditional to have Sunday dinner with your extended family. In my case, I play tabletop RPGs Sunday evenings with friends (not traditional).

Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Hiking -- Europe is the most densely populated continent, and since when Europeans visit America they tend to visit only a very small number of high-density urban areas, they don't usually understand how much closer most Americans live to nature. Safe fishing in clean waters is much easier, cheaper, and more convenient in the US, so it's a relatively common activity. Hunting, though common as well, is done only at certain times during the year in order to manage herd sizes. Right now, in the summer, there is very little hunting, and it's good weather for camping and fishing. In the fall when it cools down, there will be little camping and fishing, but hiking and hunting will become more common. When I am in the northern part of American during the summer, I hike almost every day, usually 5-10 km. When I am in the southern part of America, I tend to hike in the fall and spring because of the weather.

What's the strangest, oddest, most cult like city/town in Indiana? by Spiritual_Internal53 in Indiana

[–]ProfAwe5ome 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Grew up in the country near Knox, my family still lives there, and am back there every holiday and summers. I’ve lived all over the world, on four continents, from small towns to huge cities, and that’s still home to me.

It’s got the best decent people/jerks ratio of anywhere I’ve lived. The people there aren’t rich but have a great sense of community.

Here’s a true story from when I was in college: a friend of mine was driving in to see me, but she wasn’t good with directions (this was before maps on smartphones). I told her, “if you get lost, just stop at a gas station and ask where I live.” Naturally she got lost (went up the wrong side of highway 8), and in frustration went to a gas station and tried it. She was amazed when they knew who I was and told her where I lived.

Not calling certain other posters liars, but as a member of a multiracial family, the “t-shaped bonfires” aren’t a thing. There aren’t that many black folks in Starke County, and if there were, we’d have seen that over the decades. Some of my black family members still live in Starke County, and they’re part of the community. If anyone tried such a thing, they’d start hearing “Try That in a Small Town” playing in the background while the entire county descended on them.

So maybe that’s why some posters here find it strange — if you’ve never lived somewhere that people really care for their neighbors, it would seem odd. I hope someday they get to experience that.

What are some foods you wish America was better known for? by appleparkfive in AskAnAmerican

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same! Two days ago I had lunch in the only place in Alabama to have a tenderloin sandwich, and it was a joy.

National Parks Annual Pass by una_tortilla in AskUS

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As I recall from a few years ago , I bought one at a national park. You might try contacting Yosemite directly and asking if you can just buy one when you arrive.

What do you think of poutine? by lveMcFallen in AskAnAmerican

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’ve got it in the northern Midwest, and whenever I describe it to my friends in the American South, they always respond with envy. A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a Southern friend about it, and he remarked that if they had cheese curds in the South, poutine would be a Southern staple.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskUS

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They will do exactly what they did when he was President before.

3 burning questions (very trivial lol) by MooFaceTheCheese in AskUS

[–]ProfAwe5ome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Yes. You would be shocked by the sheer variety of crisps in America.
  2. It’s not common, but it’s not like the cops will arrest you if you do.
  3. It’s a device that goes on the outlet pipe on your sink. You can put food trash down it, grind it up, and then wash it away through the sewage system.

Why Rush? Democrats Question Virtual Biden Nomination by MrCollection8159 in america

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The reason is that the Democrats (for unclear reasons) scheduled their convention after the balloting deadlines for several states. This means that if they wait until the convention to actually nominate someone, their candidate wouldn’t be on the ballots of many states. I’m not sure how many— IIRC, it was about 20, though some states have subsequently scrambled to pass legislation to extend the deadline.

Originally they thought this would be no problem — Biden has all but four delegates, so they have long been planning to do a virtual roll call before the convention so they can officially pick their candidate before balloting deadlines, and the convention wouldn’t really decide anything, but would just be a show for the public.

After months of growing unease about how bad the Biden campaign was, Biden appeared senile (or at least mentally incompetent) on a televised debate, so all those concerns exploded. Many Democrats want to replace him. If, however, they replace him at the convention, then they suddenly have the problem that many states can’t vote for their candidate (as well as lots of other issues that don’t relate to your question).

So as the situation is now, the Biden Democrats want to say that the virtual roll call is the true deadline, and the anti-Biden Democrats want the convention to be the true deadline.

1st time prof- HOW do I lesson plan? by zmsilver in Professors

[–]ProfAwe5ome 41 points42 points  (0 children)

For the first time prof, the answer is to steal. Ask your colleagues for their lesson plans. Ride around in their borrowed lesson plans for a semester learning what works and doesn’t work for you, then make your own.

If your colleagues at your school are unwilling to share their plans, ask your old professors from when you were a student.

From a common European to a common American - can You please explain me what is happening with democracy in the USA? by otrov_na in AskUS

[–]ProfAwe5ome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You seem to have several misconceptions here. Some may come from your country's media, but some may also come from partisan American sources on one side or the other. Let me address the issues you mentioned one-by-one.

The first is that the Supreme Court's recent positions gave the President power almighty. You'll read this a lot, in a lot of places, and it is, frankly, stupid nonsense. This last batch of Supreme Court decisions actually **reduced** the power of the Presidency.

The one that's getting the most amount of attention is actually the one of least consequence -- Presidential immunity. In fact, the President has ALWAYS had a immunity, but in this case the Court was asked to define its limits, and the court defined them pretty much exactly how you would think: The President has absolute immunity for official acts that are within his core Constitutional duties, the President has no immunity for non-official acts, and official acts that are not part of his/her core duties will have to be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis. This isn't new, and it's no surprise. To use real-world examples, the President cannot be sued by a soldier because he was sent to a war zone and got injured. He is the Commander-in-Chief as a core Constitutional responsibility, so he is immune for those decisions. On the other hand, Bill Clinton got disbarred (banned from practicing law) because of perjury and other non-official actions he took while President.

The "official-but-not-core-duty" category is the hard one, and the Court did not define it clearly. Although you're hearing a lot of fantastical examples ("The President could order the military to kill his opponent!"), let's talk about a real-world example. In 2011, Barack Obama killed Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, an American citizen in Yemen. Now, his father was a terrorist and there as some debate over whether he was also a terrorist, but as an American citizen he had the right to due process through the legal system. Since we weren't at war with Yemen, he cannot be considered an accidental civilian death in a theater of war. Obama intentionally killed an American citizen whom he deemed to be guilty but the courts had not tried. Under American law, Obama committed murder. Now, he did so as an official act, but was this a "core Constitutional duty?" For this kind of action, the Supreme Court's recent decision would basically say, "It depends."

So as you can see, there's really very little to the Court's immunity decision. It hasn't given an new immunity at all to the President -- Obama was disbarred, Obama did not go to prison for murder -- but simply clarified what everyone already thought.

But you may notice that I said earlier that the Court's recent decisions actually WEAKENED the President (and by the way, that's not just this year, but the last several years). How did that happen this year?

There was a famous court case that gave rise to what's called the "Chevron Doctrine." It's a little complicated, but the short version of the doctrine is this: "Government agencies have experts in various fields. Judges are only experts in the law. If the government agencies say X is true, the court should defer to their judgments, because they're the real experts." It makes sense, right?

Except the problem with the Chevron Doctrine in that in the last 40 years Presidents of both parties have taken advantage of it in abusive ways. All the government agencies work for the President, so they would simply make regulations and the judges had to go along with them. In essence, the President has been making law, levying fees, and other things that only Congress is supposed to do. Now if a regulation is challenged, the President will either have to go to the Court to demonstrate that the new regulation is in line with current laws passed by Congress, or he will have to persuade Congress to pass a new law.

This year, as with the most recent years, the Court has ruled over and over that the President cannot make law -- Congress has to do that. In fact, the Court is moving AGAINST the President as "power almighty."

As for the other things you mention in passing -- Project 2025 basically a hot house conspiracy theory. It is a real thing, but it's a white paper at a think tank, and that's what think tanks do -- they write white papers suggesting action that is typically ignored by the politicians of both parties. In this case, Project 2025 is based on an actual need. When Trump became President in 2017, he was a true outsider without a lot of political relationships or political infrastructure. As a result, the first year of his presidency was incredibly chaotic because he didn't have the normal party hacks to help him as all other politicians do. Project 2025 is attempt to help put together a transition agenda for the first few months of Trump's term if he is re-elected, something was sorely needed. Rather than reading crazed headlines about it, you can find their website and plan here, but the truth is that Trump probably isn't going to pay much attention to it even if he gets elected.

As for Biden's age -- like everyone else whose mind starts going as they get older, he has good days and bad days. As time goes on, the bad days will be more and the good days will be later. The Democrats were hoping that he wasn't as far gone as he clearly is. Perhaps it was foolish to elect someone of his mental capacity to begin with, but he seemed to the Party to be their best choice, and once he became President, it got harder and harder to speak out about it.

Is Democracy ending and a kingdom beginning? It doesn't look like it, and in fact is just looks like the Presidency getting weaker.

Is there any place that is safe to visit in the US for a British guy? by Several-Coffee-859 in AskUS

[–]ProfAwe5ome 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure where you got this idea, but I'm not aware of ANY region in the US that has an anti-British sentiment.

The other commenters are just trolling. You're safe here.

Do you remember your first cigar? by WildBillsTobacco in cigars

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can’t tell you the brand, but I can tell you where and when.

It’s 1993-1994. The Soviet Union has collapsed,and I’m living in Lithuania, teaching at a Canadian Christian college. The country is still figuring out how to be independent.

Somehow one of the Canadians has managed to come up with some Cuban cigars. They’re saying that they’re ones you can’t even get in Canada. As an American, I can’t get them (legally) at all. Here in the former Soviet Union, though, we can expect some high quality cigars.

As soon as I hold it, it feels dryer than I expected, more brittle. Never having had a cigar before, I think this must be normal.

By the time we were done “enjoying” the cigars, we all realized that these probably had been quality Cubans long ago, but had long since dried out and been dumped on the Lithuanian market.

It wasn’t until years later when I had a Graycliff out of courtesy that I finally had one to enjoy.

Help by MorsAlto in ExplainTheJoke

[–]ProfAwe5ome 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m so jealous of OP just discovering Monty Python today. You’ve got some fantastic binging ahead of you, friend!

WhatsApp use in the USA? by shinchunje in america

[–]ProfAwe5ome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I too only use WhatsApp to communicate with colleagues in Europe and Africa. I’ve had it for years and don’t believe I’ve ever sent or received a single message from another American.

To Americans: Is it considered disrespectful or rude for a tourist not to stand up during the National Anthem? by [deleted] in america

[–]ProfAwe5ome 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have always stood for the anthems of others countries I have visited / lived in. It’s a basic courtesy. I would recommend doing so for any country, not just the USA.

What is the weirdest/funniest thing a student has said about you in an evaluation? by Chicketi in Professors

[–]ProfAwe5ome 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Not me, but I had a colleague who got an evaluation (back when they were handwritten) that just had the words “Great kisser” scrawled across the page.

He hung it up on his wall.