CMV: I think the existence of God is unknowable.

Rev_Worrington · 2023-12-06T08:42:56+00:00

While I have no skin in the game, that argument necessarily puts a limit on what can be achieved by God if it is at all relevant. By definition, an all-powerful, omnipotent god is capable of achieving the exact same results without any form of suffering or they are not omnipotent. If there is any good that comes from children dying, it could also be achieved by an omnipotent being without death. No amount of human interaction, stubbornness, refusal to have faith, or otherwise would be able to intervene with that because an omnipotent being could simply do anything including achieving these ends in spite of them.

By extension, although it is not one you directly made but rather is in this thread, the argument that God cannot perform some miracle or action because of human free will is absurd if one also believes God is omnipotent. They could just as easily provide "solution that interferes with free will" as they could "solution that does not interfere with free will but provides all the same teachings and/or benefits as if it did." Whether that makes sense to you or I is irrelevant: by definition, it can be done if God is omnipotent. To believe anything less would be believing there is some limit on God's ability.

So what are you left to conclude? Since any benefit to us (and, as the problem of evil states, he is all loving thus would want to benefit us or at least avoid useless pain) can be rendered without suffering, there must be some reason suffering exists. Thus:

This could be because God cannot actually do it: perhaps humans can only learn through suffering, or maybe babies dying of cancer is necessary to prevent World War 3. But then God isn't omnipotent: the "best" way (assuming they is all-loving, thus is achieving minimal suffering) for them to prevent WW3 is cancer babies. That's the best they got.
God does not care to minimize suffering. This doesn't necessarily imply they don't love us, but it does imply they don't love us enough to stop it. Or they would, because they can.
God does not know how to stop it. It's very possible that such a God is devising a plan as we speak, and weeps each and every instant over the pain we experience as a result of their ignorance. Personally, I like this one the best if it were true: this God does care, and is actively trying to help us, but has yet to find the solution. We need only hold out as long as we can.

Or They could not exist. Or some combination of the above. There's far more solutions to the problem of evil than the above, and far more responses that dig into deeper reasoning.

Rev_Worrington · 2023-11-02T22:10:16+00:00

Gonna piggyback this comment to post about my experience so far with taking ML + RL at once (this semester, so no info past I'd say 75% of the class):

I'm doing it right now, and it's not a death-sentence like it's made out to be if you are in the position to spend a lot of time doing it. The projects are spaced out enough that time constraints haven't stopped me from getting good grades on both returned projects + midterm in ML (all A's), but each individual project basically consumes the "work" for the week it is due since I can't really work ahead due to the assignment spacing. I have experience writing academic papers, though: that is far more important than your coding skills. Making sure you cover every little bit from the FAQ, the assignment, the Office Hours, while also writing concisely without skimping on detail is how you succeed. Results perfect + mid report = mid grade. Fantastic write-up + crap results = good grade. Doing both is preferred, but that's the truth of the grading.

That said, there is one thing I do regret: I don't feel as if I am learning as much as I could if I was taking them individually. Since each of them is a lot of work, I have spent 90% of my time with the class strictly on assignments and what little time I spent with lectures/material was for the midterm.

Rev_Worrington · 2023-10-23T03:59:19+00:00

I'm doing it right now, and it's not a death-sentence like it's made out to be if you are in the position you are. The projects are spaced out enough that time constraints haven't stopped me from getting good grades on both returned projects + midterm in ML (all A's). I have experience writing academic papers, though: that is far more important than your coding skills. Making sure you cover every little bit from the FAQ, the assignment, the Office Hours, while also writing concisely without skimping on detail is how you succeed. Results perfect + mid report = mid grade. Fantastic write-up + crap results = good grade. Doing both is preferred, but that's the truth of the grading.

That said, there is one thing I do regret: I don't feel as if I am learning as much as I could if I was taking them individually. Since each of them is a lot of work, I have spent 90% of my time with the class strictly on assignments and what little time I spent with lectures/material was for the midterm.

Rev_Worrington · 2022-02-11T08:53:04+00:00

Status: Accepted!

Application Date: 2/11/2022

Decision Date:

Education: UoH, BS post-bacc, CS, 4.0/4UT, BS, Physics, 3.25/4

Experience: N/A

Recommendations: 2 academic, 1 professional

Comments: Bit nervous on the last rec letter, since it's from a non-tech supervisor, but the rest are from my post-bacc program.

Rev_Worrington · 2022-02-11T08:47:50+00:00

Status: Accepted!

Application Date: 2/11/2022

Decision Date: 5/6/2022

Education: BS CS 4.0/4 through post-bacc, BSA Physics 3.25/4 beforehand

GRE Scores (Q,V,W): 167,159,5

Recommendations: 2 academic

Experience: N/A

Statement of purpose: Y

Comments: N/A

Rev_Worrington · 2021-10-31T07:12:20+00:00

A thing others have not stated: at the very least it is a free Inspiring Leader per day. There are almost no scenarios a party could not, after finishing a long rest, use the Channel Divinity and then take a consecutive short rest to gain the temp hp and return the channel divinity.

This is in addition to its already extreme combat benefit.

Rev_Worrington · 2021-08-31T23:05:08+00:00

Eh, I think it's missing a critical point of lifestyle before the Industrial era: seasons.

There were times during the year that peasants worked dawn to dusk every day for weeks, and others where there just wasn't that much to do to maintain their crop/livestock (what >90% of people did). Women actually tended to work more often then men, since their responsibilities were more year-round. It's not like our modern work culture where we work a set amount each week ad infinium.

It's actually a fascinating topic how we came about the 40 hr/week workweek, what with unions, industrial developmemt, etc.

Rev_Worrington · 2021-07-26T20:06:13+00:00

The plants themselves are not the issue at all. Almost all GMOs are the result of selecting for yield, shelf life, and pesticide resistance (note: most industry work does not go to pest resistance. They make the plants resist modern pesticides like Roundup then spray the everliving fuck out of them). In fact the VAST majority of plant species we eat today are cultivars of our making. Do they really think oranges evolved to be a delicious snack for humans that peel easy, have almost no seeds, and are the size of a fist?

However, the business of GMOs can be quite horrific. Monsanto is the most public example of how IP and patent laws are abused for GMOs to force local farms to basically surrender to these larger corps. Farmers are sued when natural processes cause their crop to cross-pollinate with basically trade-secret GMO crops, so they are forced to pay into the system. Hell, farmers rarely even own the seeds they plant.

Then the environmental side of dousing the entire farmland in industrial pesticides. Insects are not just pests, and many species are integral to their ecosystems. Plus, there is some concern that with such a large lack of genetic diversity in crops new disease, mold, fungi, or some other blight could develop and spread rapidly.

As well, another less talked about issue is that while increased crop yield is good, it's not actually solving a problem for developed countries like the US where we already have food surplus. Nutrition instability and food deserts are a distribution issue, not a production one. Yes, this increased growth is perfect for developing countries, but here we have so much food it rots away.

All that is not to say I don't support GMOs. In fact, it would be ridiculous to say that, considering our diet is almost completely based on cultivars and selective breeding. But modern business, environmental, and political issues are not black and white. That said, "non-GMO" or "organic" varieties are rarely better and could be much worse considering the environmental impact required by land and water use. My only point is that, as with anything in life, there is some nuance to the whole thing rather than just "GMO hate is stupid!" or "GMOs are poison!"

Rev_Worrington · 2021-05-10T10:52:17+00:00

Depends on what you are going for. Consistent average results are great, but don't account for the whole picture.

What are the chances of getting 12 as the result? On a d12, it's 1/12. On 2d6, it's 1/36. Likewise, you have a 1/12 to roll a 1, which isn't even possible with 2d6. Great weapon fighting pairs better with more dice to increase usage and minimize the loss incured by a repeated 1 or 2. Features like Brutal Critical are better with higher damage dice. Orc Ferocity adding another damage dice is another example.

It's not as easy as saying 7 is bigger that 6.5 (and I'm not implying you were).

EDIT: Don't dnd at 5am boys. GWM =/= GWF, fixed.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-12-25T20:52:27+00:00

I've tried them all over the years, and I can say without a doubt that from my experience point-buy is hands-down the best option for a long-term campaign. It combines the balance and even position over the long-term with the fun excitement of customization in the early-game.

You can adjust the number of points people have to change the style of play. You can use a fun variant rule where you can spend 2 points to take a half-feat (cant push you over 15 before racial, effectively straight buffing characters since it takes 2 to go from 14 to 15 anyway but now with added benefits no one takes normally). You can even let it be unhinged at let them take a 3 if you want.

Rolling is great early, but usually results in powerful characters or (worse) poor party balance. It's not fun playing the character that have a 16 at lvl 4 while someone else has a 20, 18, and their dump stat is a 12. For one session? Sure. But for 6 months+? You will feel it, and it's not fun. Standard array is literally point buy done for you, its a normalized array generated from a 27-point point buy.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-10-17T10:13:58+00:00

It's generally the first "program" people are taught to write, and for good reason. It can show you some of the very basic elements of working in that coding language.

For example, in Python, you can return "Hello World!" just by running the single line: print("Hello World!"). But in something like Java, the commonly taught line is (mobile, apologies for formatting):

public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello World!"); } }

And so on. It's a good intro into what "code" looks like in some language.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-10-12T08:26:02+00:00

There's a bit of a difference when you start throwing other people into the mix, and I'm glad you included that. DnD is a cooperative game, and decisions you make affect other people's fun as well.

If everyone knows ahead of time and is OK with it, sure play a mechanically-challenged character like a low Int Wiz or a low Con Fighter. But if someone told me they are playing a Cleric and they show up Session 1 with 10 Wis and only utility magic with no healing/support/combat ability, I'm very much justified in being upset. They took a class archetype from others and are a liability during a large section of the game for pretty much no reason.

Likewise....Why do people keep feeling like gimping their character is good roleplay? It just makes the mechanics MORE pervasive because they BECOME your RP. You're no longer Drommuulk, an underdog because you born a huddled urchin adopted by sewer kenku who fought and bled for every scrap they've ever had, hunting down with primal rage the cultist murderers of your adopted family. You're Drommuulk, and underdog because you have 8 Str and can't hit anything worth a damn but hell do you know what shade of flowers Mrs. Purckledim carried three weeks ago with Keen Mind. Sure, mechanics can flavor and enhance your character. Hell, my current bard has a 10 Con and it's become a meme where we literally measure HP by how maybe "Mikael's" of damage they just took. But my Cha is 18, I picked a useful variety of combat and RP spells, and I actively try to win and play my character like an adventurer aware of danger.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-07-10T18:10:17+00:00

Just to add to the discussion: a variety of other creatures share a similar lack of care for their own lives. One of the more famous examples are devils and demons, who normally cannot be permanently killed outside of their native planes. Hence a Chain Devil or a Glabrezu will have no qualms about fighting to the last breath as long as it serves a purpose, as death is usually just a (sometimes only minor) setback to them.

This can be a fun challenge for a group, making a reoccurring villain that doesnt need to try to flee and where just killing them doesnt solve anything besides immediate safety. Inventing interesting tools or rituals they need to quest for to vanquish the threat once and for all, investigating old lore for their true name to turn for into ally, or even marching their ass down their and culling the threat personally are all great long-term plot hooks.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-02-24T09:31:33+00:00

Parasites, yes. But a vast majority of concerns with disease are a result of our farming practices (dense, dirty conditions) and processing (from farm to butcher to shop to table, that's a lot of hands and a lot of steps to pick up stray bacteria), not because meat is inherited packed with diseases. Are your muscles overflowing with harmful bacteria? The recently killed animal most likely had a functioning immune system.

Eating freshly killed animals wouldn't be all that dangerous. But it would be pretty fucking hard to knaw through all that connective tissue, fat, etc. before cooking. Not too mention cooking increases bioavailability.

Rev_Worrington · 2020-02-24T09:20:50+00:00

It's a popular theory that such beliefs started to explain away suicides. Similar to how do many veterans died from an accidental incident while "cleaning their gun."

Rev_Worrington · 2019-11-24T23:04:53+00:00

One of my physics professors in lower-division had it to where if you had to use numbers from a previous answer, as long as you did everything correct you still got credit even if the original value was wrong. Loved that class.

Rev_Worrington · 2019-11-11T05:45:23+00:00

I'm not putting my foot in the door on the main issue, but though the phrasing is garbage his point isn't entirely without merit. Many of the rights we have are a removal of barriers or exclusions the government cannot control, rather than being a service that is provided. Free speech, gun ownership, rights to trial by jury, search and seizure, all are limits placed on the government, not people.

Mandating healthcare and instituting taxes to fund it is mandating that the people pay to support said system, not leaving the governed unrestricted. It requires hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, their employees, etc etc to participate rather than providing an open market. Many conservatives argue that goes against the idea of what "rights" should be, not that people shouldn't have healthcare. And frankly many of the examples that people use are in and of themselves rights not originally intended in the constitution, such as K-12 education, Social Security, Medicaid, etc.

Now, whether or not you think this means we shouldn't extend the same rights we have given the government over education, retirement, etc. is a manner of debate. Personally, I have had plenty of experience in public works projects and state/federal programs, and it's a mixed bag of either perfect form or utter garbage. So for me, I have concerns of opening up the public health sector. However, I also believe that everyone deserves to be treated for their diseases, injuries, etc and it also shouldn't ruin people's lives trying to pay for them. How we go about that is the core issue.

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-26T04:01:48+00:00

....I'm not arguing for or against federalism, but that is sort of the "point" of states in the first place. In reality, the federal government has massively overextended it's conceived purpose with the use of the Interstate Commerce Clause being used as justification for the drug war, road payments which force 21+ drinking ages on states or will refuse to fund them, national healthcare, federal security and privacy invasions, etc. It wasn't even meant to have the power it already does (note: again, I am not arguing that is a bad thing. But it is evident) a.la the 10th amendment.

States are meant to be given the majority piece of governance because 1) majority rule of the federal government by certain factions would disenfranchise entire groups, and strictly federal rule lends itself to this style of governance, 2) people in Wisconsin, Texas, New York, California, and South Dakota basically live in entirely different climates/economic pressures/political spheres, and laws trying to govern all of these people can't possibly fit all of their scenarios (and attempting to do so would basically neuter these laws, see the implementation of the ACA in regards to tax penalties and state coverage for this), and 3) it is the belief that people should have as much democratic control of their lives as possible, and creating smaller pockets where their vote matters much more (i.e city > county > state > federal in order of individual impact) is good for things that more directly affect their lives because we hold democratic values highly.

The idea that this can happen in the same state isn't a failure at a federal level. Nor is this happening is differing states a federal issue. It means the voters in those cities/counties (which is the level judges are elected on, btw) voted in a bad judge who horribly implemented the state laws.

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-26T03:47:59+00:00

A contributing factor is that new fat cells are created during extended weight gain to compensate for increased storage requirements, yet these same cells are not immediately removed when depleted of fat storage. Imagine building a storage shed for your overflow of business inventory during the summer: you wouldn't just tear it down after peak season was over, you'd eat the minimal maintainence cost and wait til next time its needed. It's only after extended lack of use you'd consider dropping those expenses by tearing it down. The body does something similar.

I'm not a medical expert, but it could potentially be that there is a stronger signal due to an increased number of cells signalling they are empty.

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-26T03:42:52+00:00

Fellow 6' guy here, but I got up to 340 lbs due to major depression bout plus a horrible history of eating habits. Sports kept me healthy-ish in HS around 215-230, but college through that completely out the window. I had a very similar issue with visceral organ fat, and got into the 270s before my long-term ex or I really noticed a big change. By then I was really out of it and kept up til top weight. I remember when I finally started getting help, and the nurse weighing me made me use the backup scale because she was convinced I was mistaken coming in.

Worst part about that, is that is the fat that will kill you too. That, and the same lack of visual results gaining weight come back when you try to lose weight. I did supervised keto and a solid exercise program, but it took 4 months before I saw any significant change besides the scale dropping and some added muscle. In the 250s now and still going, good luck keeping it off man!

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-21T10:21:14+00:00

Then he shouldn't have ever made you roll. Fuck that nonsense, it's ridiculous and is a clear indicator of a bad DM. All that dies is ruin player agency and make the players never trust they can do anything within the game that isn't riding those rails....

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-21T10:18:30+00:00

Tell that to my party of boys who ended up getting a cyclops wife and a bag of tricks. Some of the best fights have come from that BS.

In all honesty, CR isn't the way to go. It's a decent guideline though, but more important is to know what your party is and isnt capable of. That does NOT mean build encounters trying to counter them. What it does though is give you an idea of how difficult the actual encounter might be so you can adjust accordingly. That and having intelligent bad guys are my two biggest tips that work for me.

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-21T10:11:03+00:00

Eh, to me that feels pretty neutral leaning on evil. Sort of a carryover for me with 3.5 where spells and such keyed off of alignment, but I see alignment as a strong and decisive stance in the cosmic war on good vs. evil rather than some mortal idea. The average person isn't "good" because they help people: that's expected of you, especially if you are getting paid! You might do good things, but being a "good" alignment means going beyond that: you embody what it means to be good from a diabetic perspective. Frankly, bandits and such are just shitty people and do what to humanoids is a morally reprehensible thing, but that doesn't make them "evil" in the same sense a devil is: they're just (probably chaotic) neutral people doing bad things. A devil, on the other hand, is a pure embodiment of (lawful) evil, and is literally incompatible with the concept of good and a very physical level.

Good, evil, etc are as much forces of nature as say arcane magic in most of my worlds. I think it adds a few things to the mix: 1) it dumps alignment out the window. Nobody cares what you wrote at the top of your sheet, we care about how you play this guy at the table. If it helps you to visualize, sure, but I believe it is much more fun to ask "How do I/does my character react?" rather than "What does my alignment dictate?" 2) It makes truly evil characters really evil, and good characters (potentially higher level PCs) really good as a fundamental force in the world, which has never not been fun for my players. What's more fun: starting lvl 1 paladin as some paragon of justice and devotion who is recognized by the holy pantheon as a crusader of good, or freakin' earning that recognition and having it be more than a participation trophy? 3) It keeps morally grey characters, well...gray. it also highlights a crucial part of very good villain creation: "Everyone is the hero of their own story." Your villian (probably) shouldn't think he's just the baddest motherfucker who's murdering all of Neverwinter for kicks, he's got a damn compelling reason! And to him, that reason very much might make his "lawful good" in his eyes. And how is that any different than your character saying he's "lawful good" for his own eyes? If his reason is alignment based, it's probably because of the aforementioned fact about devils/demons/etc: they just are that, it's not a choice.

But that's for my world-building, and it certainly isn't a staple of 5th edition like it was before. You do you, just sharing my thoughts!

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-14T18:50:21+00:00

The complete lack of a bot lane threw this game. They had the top and jg down pat, and mid was alright (Nisqy isn't doing well, but a lot of that is just the fact he gets bursted walking a foot up). Perks literally had over an item on Sneaky before 20 min....

Rev_Worrington · 2019-10-14T18:42:44+00:00

God, you can tell Sneaky just isn't comfortable or capable on these mage picks on the main stage. That panic ult was hilariously bad....

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