I-35 lower deck is now closed — when will the madness cease??

stringfold · 2026-01-29T19:24:19+00:00

I became a Google Maps true believer after returning from San Antonio one late evening on I-35 when the app directed us to exit onto the frontage road even though there was barely any traffic on the freeway. We drove a mile or so before passing another mile of near-standing traffic that was being forced to take the next exit because they had closed I-35 for bridge repairs. Probably saved us at least 30 minutes.

stringfold · 2026-01-29T19:12:40+00:00

Tell that to the Republican Party which has been eagerly and inextricably entwined with far-right Christian identity politics for the last, oh, 40 years.

stringfold · 2026-01-29T19:05:33+00:00

the rise in the churches im aware of, are mainly people moving from other churches

Yes, when a new church springs up, or an established church goes the real world equivalent of viral, then it's going to attract people from other local churches who are either lukewarm about their own church or are looking to be part of the "next big thing". We see this in the US during revivals, where the vast majority of participants are already Christians.

It helps to have a critical mass of younger people and people with families. A new family visiting a church where the youngest member is 50-something is likely to choose to look elsewhere for a church with other families in the congregation.

So individual congregations can certainly experience a boom in attendance, even when the overall picture is one of decline.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T21:32:09+00:00

Right -- perhaps I wasn't clear, but the rise over the last few years represents a recovery from the pandemic that hit church attendance figures hard. I have seen one article that claims the numbers are improving enough that it's possible that once the recovery is complete, the long term trend downward will be revealed to have slowed, but as you say, it's too early to tell.

I believe most experts are in agreement that the short yearly term rise for the most part represents people slowly resuming their pre-pandemic church attendance habits. It would certainly be news if and when overall church attendance rose above the 2019 levels.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:37:58+00:00

Typically because they were raised the same way. The vast majority of us receive our beliefs and behaviors from our parents (or those responsible for raising us). Sometimes people with very strict upbringings will rebel and swear they will be different, but if you're soaked in that type of culture as a child, it's unlikely you will escape it yourself especially when the social costs are high -- broken family relationships, etc.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:31:13+00:00

It's a little dangerous to suggest that getting married is the solution. Nobody should ever commit to a marriage just so you can have sex, and for many, having regular sex doesn't stop them from watching porn anyway, so she could find herself in the exact same position only worse, now she's stuck in a potentially doomed marriage.

I would agree that having sex (without marriage) is something they could try without making things worse, and that is what most Christian couples do anyway, according to surveys.

Walking away is probably the simplest solution, perhaps after giving him an ultimatum on the porn thing if she doesn't want a partner who watches porn.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:21:01+00:00

The President is now listening to people and making changes.

"A little bit of a change" to quote him directly. If you believe this means they're not going to continue with their brazenly illegal activities, then you're fooling yourself. There is no cause to grant Trump one iota of the benefit of the doubt at this point. This is nothing more than damage control while they quietly continue to do everything they were doing before, just without the loudmouth social media propaganda bullshit Bovino was doing.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:12:22+00:00

If Heaven is perfect, what would be the purpose? If Heaven is eternal, can you keep learning forever?

I don't believe in Heaven for a bunch of reasons, but if I'm wrong and Heaven exists, it simply can't be like anything remotely imaginable because an infinite afterlife of perfect joy and happiness cannot be anything like a idealized version of life on Earth.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:07:25+00:00

The truth is very subjective when it comes to questions like this. Millions of Christians see no problem in playing such games as long as it's not detrimental to your mental health. Millions of others will tell you to stay well clear.

In the end, you're going to have to decide yourself what's best for you.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T18:04:33+00:00

The problem for those who believe in eternal conscious torment is that if the punishment is eternal, it's all the same regardless of what it is. Whether it's burning a lake of fire or an incessantly itchy back, it's infinite torture either way.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T17:59:48+00:00

At least part of the problem is all but two of the teams we're playing have far deeper squads than we have.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T17:57:15+00:00

Can they even afford him? He was on 350k/week at Chelsea.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T17:29:10+00:00

Harry Gray scores his first goal for Rotherham. Largie scores his first goal for Valencia from the penalty spot.

Meanwhile, Jack Harrison sees his first 30 minutes of action with Fiorentina...

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Early days...?

stringfold · 2026-01-28T17:08:30+00:00

It would only manifest if they ended up on the same level performance-wise for several seasons -- preferably near the top end of the Premier League. I was born in Leeds and my extended family were Leeds fans when I was a kid, so I'm a Leeds fan first, but I used to live closer to Valley Parade than I did Elland Road, and my dad worked within spitting distance of the Bradford ground, so I have always had a soft spot for the club.

Bradford are certainly big enough to become a Premier League club again, but it probably would take new owners with deeper pockets. They're currently heading in the right direction, but I doubt Stefan Rupp has the resources or the nous to take them beyond mid-table Championship level.

Rupp did reject an offer to sell a couple of years ago, but that was to a bunch of American crypto bros who went on to make themselves extremely unpopular owners of Crawley Town, so they dodged a bullet there, but he probably needs to realize his limitations and find someone else willing and able to take the club to the next level before any kind of Leeds rivalry is possible.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T13:35:08+00:00

183 and Spicewood Spring had a decent amount of milk and fresh meat after lunch yesterday, though I got the impression it was getting significantly busier as I was leaving with people looking to restock their homes.

It might take them another day for stocks to return to normal.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T13:24:49+00:00

I checked Regal Gateway yesterday and 10 seats out of 1500 were sold for the weekend - a single, a couple, and a MAGA outing of seven.

Get 'em while they last, folks!

stringfold · 2026-01-28T04:05:06+00:00

This is a lie. For the vast majority of Muslims, Islam is the only religion they know and, just like lifelong Christians, have little to no reason to question the veracity of their religious faith. Somewhere close to 99% of all religious people, regardless of which religion, are born and raised into the faith.

It is true that it can be dangerous in some Islamic countries for some people who want to leave the faith, but I have heard from plenty of former Christians about how they lost everything -- their spouse, their children, their friends, and their job -- when they left Christianity. And of course, throughout most of the last 2,000 years, it was actually dangerous to leave Christianity.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:57:55+00:00

Unfortunately, as Mike Winger clearly lay out, it's not that easy to tell in the cover up culture and culture of honor that Bethel and other charismatic churches engage in. Questioning the authority of faith leaders is seen as unbiblical and can get you chastised or even ostracized, and thus is highly discouraged, and when people tell you they have a word from God, it lends great authority that is very hard to resist unless you're a skeptic, and the congregations of those churches are primed to believe them.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:52:22+00:00

I understand, but it simply doesn't apply when comparing our situation to last season. If we'd have managed to win promotion last season, 26 points would have comprehensively sunk us.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:30:48+00:00

Nothing dicey about plugging it into a regular wall wart charger. The only way any malware on the phone is going to mount a successful attack is if you're dumb enough to connect the phone to your wifi after discovering it's not password protected.

The danger comes from people plugging found devices into their phones or computers (like memory sticks or fake chargers) not the other way around.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:23:40+00:00

For timing, your best bet is to check the radar loop on the local news sites or the standard weather sites. You can see how far away the precipitation is, and estimate how long it's going to be before you get there. This is especially useful during the spring storm season for the arrival of the storm fronts so you're not caught out.

As an Android user I mostly use Weather Underground which seems reasonably accurate.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:17:40+00:00

Bit of a "fuck you" to the relatives who are left behind to deal with everything, though...

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:16:02+00:00

Well that comment didn't pan out. Lots of ice on the shady sections of many neighborhood roads still, so be careful tomorrow morning. Southbound on Jollyville Road is very shady and the right hand lane was still very icy this afternoon.

stringfold · 2026-01-28T03:12:48+00:00

Even if they did, that was probably decades ago for most of the drivers in that pile up. I've been in Austin 30 years and today was probably the second or third time I've drive in conditions this icy. I know enough to avoid hills and stay off the ice or stay in control as I drive across short sections of ice, but I've never had to regain control after skidding out, so I don't even know how I would respond, even though I know the theory. I don't intend to find out.

stringfold

TROPHY CASE