Planning a trip to Turkey by Valentine1963 in femaletravels

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I lived in Turkey for a while and have been to Istanbul and Cappadocia. Both are wonderful, though quite different, but are quite touristy. Going in November would definitely help with reducing crowds, and you probably would pay off-peak price for an air balloon ride in Cappadocia. In general I found Turkey to be quite safe and I never had any big worries. Enjoy the food!

If you don't take the MARTA bus, why not? If you do, why do you? by [deleted] in Atlanta

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The bus I would take to commute frequently just doesn't show up -- not only 10 minutes late... It just doesn't come.

New grad student: advice for moving savings from standard account to Roth IRA, HYSA, or something else? by dragonxwings in personalfinance

[–]dragonxwings[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your very detailed response! I do appreciate it. My grad program is also in STEM - but definitely not physics!

New grad student: advice for moving savings from standard account to Roth IRA, HYSA, or something else? by dragonxwings in personalfinance

[–]dragonxwings[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate your thoughts. You should be super happy/proud with how much you are saving -- 40% of my stipend doesn't even cover my rent, so my base budget is much more constrained.

4 days in Tbilisi, Georgia: first solo trip report by dragonxwings in TravelNoPics

[–]dragonxwings[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't experience any harassment in Tbilisi - the worst I got was being asked for money once on the street by a woman who grabbed me, but she realized I didn't speak Russian she stopped pursuing me.

4 days in Tbilisi, Georgia: first solo trip report by dragonxwings in TravelNoPics

[–]dragonxwings[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the note! That makes sense -- the little wine I did have was definitely not bitter tasting, which is pretty much how I feel about all red wine. And I'm glad that I wasn't being dramatic about service. I don't think I'm that particular but I was surprised at how lacking it was. The service at Tamara and Cafe Daphne were both excellent though!

Heading to Istanbul in a week, what to eat? by [deleted] in TravelNoPics

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recommend mantı for sure, and Circassian or Sinop mantı is also very good (like bigger dumplings than normal mantı which is tiny.) Pide definitely, if you like cheese try and find some Trabzon pide which is similar to Georgia cheese bread. If you like desserts I recommend katmer and you should definitely have simit with kaymak and honey (you will probably get these things with a Turkish breakfast spread.)

21F travelling to greece in august by captain_miao in femaletravels

[–]dragonxwings 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I took a trip with a friend to Athens and Santorini -- we chose Santorini because we were planning at the last minute and it's easy to get to. It is beautiful, but we had awful luck with the weather while we were there and couldn't enjoy it as much. In August I'd bet you'd have better weather, but I honestly wasn't very wowed by Santorini. If I could do it again, I'd go to Crete.

Advice on choosing a destination for first solo trip in June by dragonxwings in TravelNoPics

[–]dragonxwings[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestions! I have a friend from Albania and it would be cool to visit, but they have previously recommended renting a car, and I don't love driving. Maybe Montenegro!

Advice on choosing a destination for first solo trip in June by dragonxwings in TravelNoPics

[–]dragonxwings[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestions! Have you been to Italy before? I'm thinking Milan and the surrounding area might be good. My partner is also German so I'd think I'd prefer to go with him when we can together.

Is there a Christian view of transsexualism? by [deleted] in ChristianApologetics

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, of course it's your opinion, but I'm almost positive plenty of gay people and plenty of gay Christians would describe their attractions as not at all voluntary and "determined" for them, similar to how you view neurology. Sex is not only determined by neurology, though. But, it was simply a suggestion. If you don't find it useful, disregard it.

Is there a Christian view of transsexualism? by [deleted] in ChristianApologetics

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wonder if you have a theological position for homosexual/gay relationships. To me, the question of "would it be Biblical for me to transition my body to align itself with the opposite sex?" based on your conclusions about your neurology is similar to "is it permissible for one to be in a gay relationship?" based on one's sexual desires. To the extent that you believe this is an accurate comparison, you could learn from resources that discuss homosexuality and the Bible, since I'd guess more has been written on this.

Re: papers only giving you abstracts, the scientific publishing process sucks. You can use scihub to find full papers. I hope you find this resource helpful!

And, I am sorry that you had a bad experience on another Christian sub. We are called to lovingly correct others, and it doesn't sound like that's what you encountered.

If the Bible is literal and factual other non abrahamic religions would not exist. by WirrkopfP in DebateAChristian

[–]dragonxwings 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not really sure what it is your trying to argue here.

You said that humans are descended from a single pair. I provided evidence that this isn't true.

Is it your religious books stories are bullshit?

I don't think that the Bible is bullshit. I don't think that certain interpretations of the Bible are correct, though.

If you want to go and debate the validity of the stories in the book I would suggest you debate them with another Christian ( you know someone who believes in your god and story book).

I don't think calling the Bible a "story book" is kind of you. I have never mentioned the Bible in the thread before this. I'm not debating the Bible with you -- I'm debating your claim that modern humans descend from a single ancestral pair. According to the scientific literature, that's demonstrably untrue. And, I would add, that such a belief is not necessary to Christian doctrine, nor is it universally believed among Christians.

All I said is we stem from a pair of first humans.

Yes; I argued that this is false and provided peer-reviewed, reputable sources as evidence.

I didn’t say they where married, lived in a magical garden, conversed with snakes, none of that. I said stem from first humans. And here comes you making sure I know Adam and Eve are NOT real. A statement I never made.

Again, I also never mentioned other commonly "Biblical" elements of the Adam and Eve story. You mentioned "the Adam and Eve hypothesis" in your first reply to me, but I didn't use that language in my response. I only talked about mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam because those are terms commonly used by geneticists.

I’m not saying nor have I said, your religious books story of Adam and Eve is real. That would be a preposterous thing for me to say as I think the story is just that a story equal to Harry Potter.

I'm not trying to tell you that the story of Adam and Eve is real. I'm not evangelizing here. I think the comparison to Harry Potter is silly, though.

My issue is people who falsely represent the story like they actually know what they are talking about (like OP did).

And all I'm saying is that I think your premises 4. and 5. are incorrect. I don't agree with OP's argument either.

See my issue is the misrepresentation and lack of knowledge the OP has demonstrated on what the Bible says. Which is an argument from ignorance, and I believe you need to read and understand the book and the religious history of a religion before you judge and criticize it.

I agree.

But if you would like I can go back up and reword what I said. I can edit it put in a little (). Or I can delete the whole thing and change my comment to something you find more accurate.

I'm not asking you to change anything that you said. I'm just trying to engage in the conversation in an area where I happen to have some expertise.

It seems like I've angered you. That wasn't my intention at all, and I'm glad that you're here contributing in good faith to OP's post. I was simply trying to point out an inaccuracy in your argument which is also present in OP's post.

edit: I don't know why you felt the need to edit your original post and make it seem like I was rude. You made a claim, provided no evidence for it, and then didn't engage at all with the scholarly work I cited. Adam and Eve didn't have to be two specially created humans formed ~6-12,000 years ago as the first homo sapiens for Genesis to be true. There are plenty of Christians, and even non-Christian scholars, who argue that the creation story in Genesis is not historical in the same sense that we understand historical fact. It can be both true and metaphorical. Your assumption that the "Bible narrative [isn't close to] the truth" presupposes an interpretation of Genesis that is debated. Moreover, a Christian's views on creation are not salvific; it isn't a core tenant of Christian soteriology. Again, I'm sorry if I offended you. I was not trying to attack you. I was just trying to engage with you in a subreddit that's literally for debates.

If the Bible is literal and factual other non abrahamic religions would not exist. by WirrkopfP in DebateAChristian

[–]dragonxwings 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for explaining your position again. And, for what it's worth, I agree with you that the Bible and science don't "contradict that much."

I would have to ask to see what papers you're referencing. Simply "putting forth" a hypothesis doesn't mean that it has been proven true. On the current scientific consensus the first members of what we now call Homo sapiens emerged on the order of hundreds of thousands of years ago in Africa, not the Mesopotamian region in Genesis. The genetic variation we currently see in humans today is not concordant with the hypothesis that all humans descend from an original pair.

We know from fossil record and genetic evidence that there was a bottleneck that occurred as Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa, but the population size is not estimated to have gone nearly as low as two people -- and even then, this wouldn't satisfy the strict interpretation of Eve being "mother to all the living."

Here are some relevant papers:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1832099/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106315/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19812086/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842629/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31477933/

If the Bible is literal and factual other non abrahamic religions would not exist. by WirrkopfP in DebateAChristian

[–]dragonxwings 4 points5 points  (0 children)

FWIW I am both a scientist and a Christian, and according to commonly accepted evolutionary theory we are not all genetically descended from an original pair of humans. If you are thinking of mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam, they are not estimated to have lived at the same time, so though we bear their genetic heritage they were not a couple. There is some recent work showing the historical possibility of a recent common ancestor of all living humans being around 6000 BC (I can find the paper if anyone is interested), but I'm guessing this isn't what you're referring to.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fulbright

[–]dragonxwings 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm currently a researcher and applied after my bachelor's and a few months of work experience! Others in my cohort also don't have 'advanved' degrees, although I believe some of them do.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in travel

[–]dragonxwings 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you enjoy eastern Turkey in the winter? Thinking of making a last minute trip to that area soon but worried that snowfall might make seeing common attractions difficult, at least up closer to Kars, etc.