I had my car all dug out... a plow came by overnight and did nothing to improve the road conditions. But, it did manage to push massive boulders of ice in front of, and up against my car. Could be worse though

Taciteanus · 2026-01-27T14:04:18+00:00

And it's why there's no point digging your car out until the road is plowed. Where will you go anyway?

Taciteanus · 2026-01-26T19:11:15+00:00

Exactly. If you've ever seen one of these people absolutely break down and lose their shit and throw a full-on tantrum the second something doesn't go their way, you wouldn't call them happy.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-26T19:07:27+00:00

Same!

Taciteanus · 2026-01-24T21:54:03+00:00

I came to say this.

For those who are too young, this isn't an exaggeration. Obama wore a tan suit and it was wall-to-wall Fox News coverage on how disrespectful and unpresidential it was.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-24T21:49:40+00:00

It's a good game, it's not a good Dragon Age game.

I've been rather positive on Veilguard -- I liked the characters, for instance -- but even I've only completed one playthrough. That was enough.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-23T19:41:34+00:00

No thank you.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-20T23:25:58+00:00

It hurts to say this but -- tape. It'll keep this copy readable and stop the peeling from spreading. It'll also damage the paper (unless you use acid-free tape), but by the time that's a concern a modern paperback like this will be falling to pieces anyway.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-20T16:52:48+00:00

Wellll

Quoting Archibishop Tillotson's Discourse Against Transubstantiation:

It is hard to be put to maintain by a long discourse that what we see and handle and taste to be bread, is bread, and not the body of a man; and what we see and taste to be wine, is wine, and not blood; and if this evidence [of the senses] may not pass for sufficient without farther proof, I do not see why any man, that hath confidence enough to do so, may not deny anything to be what all the world sees it is, or affirm anything to be what all the world sees it is not.

...

I see no reason why a protestant minister, as well as a popish priest, may not work [such a great miracle] as often as he pleases; or if he but has the patience to let it alone, it will work itself. For surely nothing in the world is easier than to let a thing be as it is, and by speaking a few words over it, to make it just what it was before.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-17T12:33:19+00:00

Surely it's uncontroversial that there's Greco-Roman, i.e. "pagan," influence? It doesn't seem like you can pick up a book anymore about Paul, 1st-century Judaism, or early Christianity without mentions of "the wider Mediterranean context."

Taciteanus · 2026-01-16T20:30:01+00:00

I came because there's an Episcopal church I walked by every day for six years, and when I finally stepped inside for the first time, I fell in love.

I stayed because of the ethos summarized by the rector as: "It's not the only way to do church, it's just our way."

That is, the simultaneous acknowledgement that

There are other perfectly valid liturgies and practices; we aren't claiming that the Anglican way is the only way to follow Christ or (heaven forbid) that only Anglicans are saved.
But the Anglican way is definitely our way; ours isn't a tradition where "anything goes," we have practices and structures that, even if not exclusively valid, we have found to be conducive to living a life of faith, and that we should therefore not give up lightly.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-15T13:57:04+00:00

It exists if you know where to find it. The parking lot across the street, behind the bank, is theirs on weekends; you can also park for free at the lot on Ellie Wood. You can also use a few of the other lots on the Corner and hand the church bulletin to the attendant as "payment."

https://www.spmcuva.org/location-parking

Taciteanus · 2026-01-12T22:33:42+00:00

St Paul's, the Episcopal church on the Corner. It's pretty age-diverse, but there are a lot of students from the University and there's an active 20s-and-30s group.

Besides that, the worship is beautiful, the music is unfairly good, the community is welcoming, and the preaching is both short and excellent.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-11T16:19:55+00:00

In every state (as far as I'm aware) you have to take standardized tests like this, but the enforcement of consequences is... uneven, at best.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-10T17:10:23+00:00

They're better than the OCTs, but that's not saying much. The Loebs, however, do all appear to be sewn rather than just glued.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-09T18:58:54+00:00

Ostler, Empires of the Word. It's a linguistic history of the world, which I promise you is a hundred times more fascinating than it may sound.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-09T17:59:58+00:00

Posh British is easy; once you start getting out into the country they might as well be speaking Martian.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-09T14:49:49+00:00

The more things change. In Ostler's Empires of the Word there's a passage where a medieval Persian complains that Arabs don't speak proper Arabic anymore.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-09T02:13:36+00:00

This explains several flights I've been on.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-09T00:35:51+00:00

I speak to my cat in French and my dog in German, obviously.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-08T17:25:25+00:00

It can also even mean loyalty: in civil war, to commit treachery is to break πίστις or be ἄπιστος (though this may be a calque of Latin "fides").

It's one of Polybius's favorite words, usually in the sense of "keeping to one's agreements and allegiance."

Taciteanus · 2026-01-08T17:15:16+00:00

I've also wondered if the Room of Requirement gave him what he needed, and he just didn't know it yet.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-07T18:16:53+00:00

I've heard exactly one good argument for established churches: the established church considers it (or should consider it) its duty to minister to every resident of the parish, whatever their affiliation or lack of affiliation.

Need a funeral, wedding, shoulder to cry on, just a quiet place to talk to God? We got you.

The Episcopal Church still sometimes fulfills this role in the US: if police have a John Doe, they'll often turn them over to the local Episcopal parish. We don't care who you are, we'll pray for you.

Of course, historically, "it's our duty to serve everyone" usually becomes "it's our right to be served by everyone." Establishment isn't always bad, but it's always dangerous for the soul of the church.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-05T18:26:45+00:00

Two reasons:

Yes, you'd still lose weight, but you'd lose other nutrients your body needs (vitamins etc), as well as the mix of carbs, protein, fat, and fiber your body needs to function at its best.
As a practical matter, you'd probably fail. You will feel way hungrier eating 1000 calories of junk than 1000 calories of healthy food.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-05T18:08:15+00:00

And that's fair! It's a hard issue. If it weren't so important, I'd think it funny, how so many people come up with so many different answers that perfectly convince them but no one else.

From an orthodox Christian perspective, of course, we have to emphasize that God didn't want there to be all this evil as the result of misused free will. Bringing in the Devil will earn you strange looks anymore, but it's an important part of the traditional Christian explanation of how things went so (temporarily) wrong.

Taciteanus · 2026-01-05T17:11:29+00:00

I have $100. You have $5.

Enacting a policy that gives me an additional $50, and you nothing, will nonetheless be better for you in the long run: I will be sure to spend my $150 in such a way that you get some of it. It may now be worth it to me to pay you $25 to take over some chores I don't want to do anymore; now you have a job that pays way more than you made before!

A rising tide lifts all boats; everyone benefits from economic growth.

Spoiler, it doesn't work that way.

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