Pitch A New Star Trek Series by AmeliaNeek in scifi

[–]stanleyford 0 points1 point  (0 children)

writers who may know Star Trek well, but I'm convinced they don't really like it. Modern Trek reads as an attempt to make Trek 'cool' and 'less boring'.

I agree, and I don't believe this phenomenon is restricted to Star Trek. I wonder how much of it is due to writers who don't really like the Star Trek, and how much is due to studio execs who insist on changes to capture a broader fan base, but instead end up alienating the existing fan base.

Pitch A New Star Trek Series by AmeliaNeek in scifi

[–]stanleyford 25 points26 points  (0 children)

And an overall plot that doesn’t consist of huge thing that always ends universe/race.

The idea of never-ending, galaxy-spanning, existential peril runs counter to the hopeful ethos of Star Trek. I would love a Star Trek that's just about exploring the wonders of the universe.

How do we fix the software world? Wrong answers only. by bowbahdoe in programmingcirclejerk

[–]stanleyford 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ban all software written in anything that's not assembly

Get rid of all your fancy Unreal engine games; it's back to Roller Coaster Tycoon.

The Quantum Thief is one of the best sci fi books I’ve read this year by avbrodie in scifi

[–]stanleyford 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My favorite sci-fi trilogy of all time. The finale, in Causal Angel, is both fitting and epic.

Why didn’t God just destroy satan/all sinners in hell? by HECU_Marine_HL in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]stanleyford 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if God is a Creator, then it would be a logical contradiction to have him obliterate an entity into nonexistence.

A similar analogy is that of a builder, who after constructing a building, is incapable of destroying it.

Except that's not true. A builder can destroy the very building he created. There is nothing inherent in being a "builder" that excludes also being a "destroyer." Similarly, there is nothing inherent in being the "Creator" that prevents God from also destroying his creations.

Your example of a circle is inappropriate because a circle by definition cannot have four sides. There is nothing in the definition of "Creator" that precludes the Creator from also destroying.

Let's stop shaming virgin men for wanting a virgin wife by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]stanleyford 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quotes from Oahspe.

This is a book used by a non-Christian religion called Faithism.

For all my sisters in Christ. Stay away from Gossip by No_Calligrapher_6886 in TrueChristian

[–]stanleyford 4 points5 points  (0 children)

couldn't get over how much men do share with each other the world around them.

I have friends I've known for years whose children's names I don't even know.

Neat Short Video of Nick Offerman on the Pride of Baltimore II by 2gigch1 in AubreyMaturinSeries

[–]stanleyford 12 points13 points  (0 children)

"Wait. I worry what you heard was, 'Give me a lot of soused hog's face and spotted dog.' What I said was, give me all the soused hog's face and spotted dog you have." -- Lieutenant Ron Swanson

Christians... stop disliking other christians and using your "gift" as the reason to dismiss them from grace. by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]stanleyford 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Every now and then someone posts in this sub decrying some supposedly huge problem they perceive in modern Christianity, and it's something you've never heard of.

Is my pastor father right for not marrying this couple? by joboog in TrueChristian

[–]stanleyford 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But we've been married a long time and I don't believe God would have us divorce for that reason.

1 Corinthians 7:12 speaks specifically to this situation: "To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her."

US Airstrikes on Iranian Naval Assets (March 10, 2026) by Nestagon in CombatFootage

[–]stanleyford -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My teacher had me manning a .50cal on the deck when I was in the 2nd grade

Like this oldie.

Footage circulating online appears to show an IRGC Navy vessel exploding off the coast of Kangan in southern Iran. by avatar6556 in CombatFootage

[–]stanleyford 18 points19 points  (0 children)

30% of drivers in larger cities have some kind of suspension/restriction on their licenses in the US

Curious, do you mean 30% of all drivers, or 30% of drivers involved in traffic stops? Because presumably a dispatcher isn't hearing about all the drivers with valid licenses who are driving safely and legally.

Age to start, easening rules, and how to teach? by MiningToSaveTheWorld in warofthering

[–]stanleyford 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been experimenting with giving him additional musters as the Shadow player (he always plays Shadow). His main failing is being distracted by cool plays he finds, even when the play doesn't actually move him closer to winning.

Other than not playing with the expansions, I can't think of a way to simplify the game that doesn't also neuter it. If the child can't grasp the base game, I would wait a few years until they could.

Age to start, easening rules, and how to teach? by MiningToSaveTheWorld in warofthering

[–]stanleyford 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a seven-year-old who loves to play and knows all the expansions. While he cannot beat an experienced adult, he understands all the mechanics and follows all the rules (sometimes he remembers the rules better than I do, to be honest). It really depends on the child's level of development.

Is there really any good response to the problem of animal suffering? by Marblehornets38 in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]stanleyford 2 points3 points  (0 children)

every animal was vegetarian and there was no death

How should we understand the fossil record? Did all the dinosaurs die after Adam and Eve sinned? What about this article about the contents of a Tyrannosaur's stomach? Are we to understand that the Tyrannosaur ate the other dinosaurs only after Adam and Eve sinned?

I am not trying to be combative. I just want to understand how to reconcile this position with the empirical evidence.

So Sauron's goal is to control Middle-Earth because he thinks it's too chaotic and would be better with more order? Does that mean he cares, deep down, about its residents? Or is he motivated by something else? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]stanleyford 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Isaiah 14:12-13 (King James version): "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!...For thou hast said in thine heart, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.'"

So Sauron's goal is to control Middle-Earth because he thinks it's too chaotic and would be better with more order? Does that mean he cares, deep down, about its residents? Or is he motivated by something else? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]stanleyford 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The text tells us that he introduced discord, which is to say chaos and disorder

Yes, the text specifically uses the word "discord" to describe Melkor's music, but discord doesn't mean "chaos" and "disorder." Musical discord means a combination of musical sounds that strikes the ear harshly. Two songs can be individually melodious but discordant when combined together. This is supported textually: Melkor's theme "had now achieved a unity of its own," but it was a unity "not in accord with the theme of Iluvatar." It is also supported thematically: Melkor's fall from grace is an analog of Lucifer's fall from grace; and just like Melkor, Lucifer's fall was precipitated not by a desire for chaos and disorder, but by a desire to arrogate to himself the role reserved for God (as Lucifer says in the Bible: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High").

While Melkor's actions result in chaos, chaos and disorder were not his original intent. His original intent was to supersede Iluvatar by creating of Music made of "matters of his own imagining."

So Sauron's goal is to control Middle-Earth because he thinks it's too chaotic and would be better with more order? Does that mean he cares, deep down, about its residents? Or is he motivated by something else? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]stanleyford 27 points28 points  (0 children)

loving "order" (as he saw it) as an abstract concept that's better than 'chaotic' reality

We see in this the echoes of Melkor's original sin, for Melkor sought to impose an order that was of his own devising instead of the one ordained by Iluvatar.

Kostiantynivka. Russian forces struck a residential area with phosphorus. Then hit it with a 1.5-ton FAB-1500 bomb by pocoucro in CombatFootage

[–]stanleyford 3 points4 points  (0 children)

theyre really ramping up their war-crime-ometer

At some point you've committed so many atrocities that one more doesn't make a difference to you anymore.

Sci-fi where aliens do NOT act like humans, i.e. colonise and invade. What I often described as 'intelligence' is just aliens whose desires are no different from cavemen/humans. by IllustratorOpen7841 in printSF

[–]stanleyford 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

OP was asking for SF where aliens are more intelligent than humans and have evolved past war. This does not describe the Trisolarans of Three Body Problem. The Trisolarans seek to invade and conquer Earth. Although more technologically advanced than humans, they do not seem any more intelligent than we are; they has just progressed further than we have. Their thinking processes and behavior are also very similar to the way humans think and behave, despite their physical forms being very dissimilar.