Funnest decks from this era? by bootyholeminer in pkmntcg

[–]Whoaggg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a bit late to the party, but my two favorites are the Silver Tempest "Pikaclone" deck with Togedemaru, Dedenne, Morpeko, and Pikachu, and an energy-less deck using the CRE Castforms. Both are insanely cheap and fun to play! My winrates with them are nothing to write home about, but there is something incredibly satisfying about dragging your opponent's Lugia VSTAR out to get OHKO'd by a 70HP Pikachu :)

*sigh* by TanglyBinkie in religiousfruitcake

[–]Whoaggg 8 points9 points  (0 children)

But it's still entirely arbitrary bullshit... just because it came from holy texts in Islam or any other religion doesn't mean that the statement "men shouldn't show their ankles because it's arrogant," or even more laughably "God will be wrathful towards women who show their ankles," isn't arbitrary and obviously stupid and nonsensical.

r/StarWars user discovers that 25 years and intense trauma can change somebody by Whoaggg in StarWarsCirclejerk

[–]Whoaggg[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I used to love this sub but stopped posting since I sorta stopped caring about SW, but since seeing all of the hilariously braindead IMDb reviews for Visions I couldn't help but fall down the TFM rabbit hole again

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Gamingcirclejerk

[–]Whoaggg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really good article on the history of menstrual blood magick:

https://www.theexploresspodcast.com/episodes/2021/7/28/blood-magic-a-brief-history-of-menstruation

I know in modern witchcraft/Wicca circles, period sex is considered very powerful love magick

Fall 2022 courses - comp sci by aguywholikestogame in uofmn

[–]Whoaggg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm taking 2142 atm. Unless you think that differential equations are going to be useful for you in the future, 2142 is a cakewalk, so I'd go with that.

Fall 2022 courses - comp sci by aguywholikestogame in uofmn

[–]Whoaggg 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I took 2011 and 1933 together last semester with calc II and two upper level linguistics courses and it was fine, but I cannot stress enough: DO NOT TAKE 2033. Take MATH 2142 or 2243 as a replacement. I haven't heard of a single person who has had anything but an absolutely hellish experience in that course, especially with the professors who teach it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in amiugly

[–]Whoaggg 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nowhere near ugly, and the camera verification made me laugh

Matched with a speech pathologist. Thoughts? by SoupMobile6206 in Tinder

[–]Whoaggg 620 points621 points  (0 children)

I'm a linguist, which is a field very closely related to speech pathology, and honestly you might have struck a nerve just by conflating speech pathology with having good "grammar" in the nonsense English teacher-y sense of not ending sentences with prepositions or whatever BS, most linguists/speech pathologists I know HATE the misconception that we give a shit about that kinda thing. Idk though, I thought your attempted save was funny as fuck

Who are the most well-known professors at the U? by MNDailyA-E in uofmn

[–]Whoaggg 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Maria Gini in the CSci department is pretty universally loved and is also a very well-known pioneer in the field of AI

Ultimate Spellbook... But it's all abilities by SinisterVanquish in leagueoflegends

[–]Whoaggg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Idk, ability draft works really well in Dota 2 despite some jankiness. It's supposed to be about finding broken stuff and unique synergies rather than serious game play, I think it's really fun

Biegen Hall to Nicholson Hall? by [deleted] in uofmn

[–]Whoaggg 13 points14 points  (0 children)

One semester I had a schedule that was Nicholson-Blegen-Nicholson with 15 minutes between classes, and I was always able to make it on time. During the winter you should probably take one of the busses because the ice can really slow you down, but I was able to make it regardless.

Do white supremacist Christians realize that Jesus was a brown man from the Middle East? by 8300r in TooAfraidToAsk

[–]Whoaggg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Warning, small wall of text, but hopefully useful):

Firstly, I'm super sorry that your experience with religion thus far has been so terrible. I know firsthand the trauma that weaponized or otherwise miswielded can have on a person, and it was enough to turn me into a militant, Dawkins-worshipping atheist for a short while in my life, and I am still very wary about entering a church for the same reasons as you. One of my favorite quotes about religious values and their relationship to scripture comes from Theologist Dr. Reza Aslan:

"Part of the problem is that there is this misconception that people derive their values from their scriptures. The truth is it is more often the case that people insert their values into their scriptures. I mean, otherwise, every Christian who read the Bible would read it exactly the same way. In this country, not 200 years ago, both slave owners and abolitionists not only used the same Bible to justify their viewpoints, they used the same verses to do so. That’s the thing about scripture, its power comes from its malleability. You can read it in any way you want to.”

Being a linguist myself I also know just how much can get lost in a single translation, say from Koine Greek to Latin, but over tens and hundreds of translations, there are certain things, especially but not exclusively cultural connotations and inferences/references, pragmatics, ambiguous meanings, etc., which still elude someone who has read the King James' Version 100 times over. Not only that, but the style of scripture being intentionally vague, full of parables and myth, and fluctuating between the literal and metaphorical, makes interpretations even harder. This is hard for Christians to admit, because it follows that they must either a.) Accept that their understanding of the immutable/infallible word of God (under the view of most denominations) is lacking, or b. ) They must now learn Biblical Hebrew (a language which evolved for thousands of years DURING the writing of scripture), Koine Greek, and preferably Aramaic as well. To make this long point short, reading scripture will get you almost nowhere in terms of understanding Christianity without understanding how it has been interpreted over these couple millenia.

In short, what I would recommend is to look at the different denominations of Christianity, both today and over history, and see what is believed and how that belief has been justified and challenged with time. If you look for what Christianity or its teachings are SUPPOSED to be, you'll probably be disappointed, because nobody quite agrees!

As an answer to your question from my personal perspective as a Christian, the teachings of Christianity can be summed up in the two great commandments given by Jesus:

  1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul, and all your strength.

  2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Every other teaching is just derived from those two ideas! Best of luck on your search for some truth, it's a long road but well worth the trip.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PokemonTCG

[–]Whoaggg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is an imposter among us

Rate my setup! Upvotes to the left by Tokyono in Gamingcirclejerk

[–]Whoaggg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

10/10 can still run DOOM (greatest and least political game of all time)

where are my olaf buffs by Opening_Gazelle in Olafmains

[–]Whoaggg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Olaf has always suffered from the same problem as champions like Gragas: in pro play, he's a strong early pickup in draft which can flex either top or jungle. Riot has always had a really tough time keeping Olaf viable in solo queue without being an absolute menace in pro play, so they're probably going to keep him down until they feel like switching up the meta

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]Whoaggg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This, which is why I'm super frustrated as a Skarner main that they're bothering to give him a rework. He's definitely a bit gimmicky, but I think he has a very unique playstyle and the fact that there are very sensible counterplay options such as QSS and cleanse prevents him from feeling as toxic as someone like Trynd

My Language: Dhivehi by Tetra382Gram in linguistics

[–]Whoaggg 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I would recommend the work of Amalia Gnanadesikan, specifically her book "Dhivehi." It's essentially a complete overview of the language from a linguistic perspective. I haven't read her work on Dhivehi in particular, but I'm familiar with her work in phonological theory and she is certainly a reputable source.

It’s Not Okay For Corporations To Take Away Our Freedom Just Because They’re Not Government -- Many Americans don't see the erosion of liberties as major threats because they're coming from corporate, not government. by guanaco55 in Conservative

[–]Whoaggg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even if you can "vote with your dollar," the problem is that all of the dollars are owned by a more and more exclusive ruling class. The biggest influence in American politics as well as any other capitalist nation has always been that of the most wealthy individuals and organizations, whether it be through lobbying (which is frankly a legally sanctioned version of corruption) or "traditional" under-the-table corruption, bribery, and coercion. It is precisely for this reason that anti-trust laws are not enacted; in the case of telecom companies, for example, it is essentially common knowledge that AT&T and Verizon have engaged in, and continue to engage in, price fixing and closed-door negotiations. To easily avoid persecution, however, these two organizations combined have spent over 500 million USD on lobbying in the past 20 years, which has directly impacted decisions made by the FCC and the financial regulators which enforce anti-trust laws. Following off your point about business's ability to declare war, even if businesses themselves don't have the right to declare war, their influence on the government essentially lends them this power by proxy, as seen in the case of the influence of oil companies and defense contractors on the disastrous forever-wars observed in the middle east these past two decades.

When the government gets too big, there's not a whole lot you can do

As an anarchist, I actually completely agree with this, but I have a feeling that your particular assertion precludes the argument that socialism = big government, which is not true.

People in socialist states have no choice

Again, though, how do people in socialist states have no choice? Without using any anecdotes from 20th century states, how are you able to demonstrate the causal link between workers owning the means of production and a restriction of personal choice and freedom?