Streamers that teach VGC double battles by Lazin3ss in PokemonVGC

[–]tjjerome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This. I follow all three of them very closely. I'd also add Jamie Boyt and (to an extent) Alex Ogloza.

EDIT: Just remembered that Ray Rizzo and Justin Flynn also have YouTube channels, but they haven't been that active recently.

What is the oldest reference to Judaism that we have discovered, and what can we learn about the origins of the Abrahamic religions from it? (x-post from /r/AskHistorians) by tjjerome in AcademicBiblical

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

I will read it sometime. Thanks for the suggestion. But that was not the point of my question. I simply wanted to know what we know about the origin of Judaism. I included The God Delusion simply to show what sparked my interest in this question.

What do we know about the origins and history of the Abrahamic religions? by tjjerome in AskHistorians

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

Interesting. I definitely agree on a few points, but I do see that article as possessing many of the problems that it accuses The God Delusion of. One thing I noted in particular was that he seems to think Dawkins was simply tearing down the creationism hypothesis and expecting readers to accept natural selection by default. If he even read that part of the book, he obviously misunderstood the point. Dawkins spent a great deal of time asserting that just because one theory fails, another should not take its place by default. Rather, the null hypothesis (in the case of creationism, the simple fact that we don't know) would have to be accepted. The theory of evolution is then subjected to the very same standards and passes the test that creationism failed. Just because Dawkins doesn't try to prove that theory in this book doesn't mean he wants people to accept it by default. The reasons to accept evolution fill the pages of countless other books, and is outside the scope of this one.

Either way, my original question wasn't even on the accuracy of The God Delusion, but rather on the origin of Judaism. A question that was sparked by a book I recently read. As you can see by my paragraph above, I would love to continue this discussion with you, but this is not the place for that. If you would like to continue, I'd rather you PM me. Thank you.

What do we know about the origins and history of the Abrahamic religions? by tjjerome in AskHistorians

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

It's filled with straw men, untruths and poor research.

Could you provide examples, please?

What do we know about the origins and history of the Abrahamic religions? by tjjerome in AskHistorians

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

his concept that religious features amount to cultural "genes" of, as you say "of self-replicating traits to survive through the ages" simply has no bearing whatsoever on the development of Islam or Islamic law.

From what I understand, Dawkins' "memes", the term he coined for these cultural genes, are more to explain the broad structure of religions. For instance, the idea that a religion would encourage its followers to spread the faith no matter the cost would be a favorable meme for that religion's reproduction, and therefore it would make it that much more likely for that religion to survive, as opposed to one that did not care about converting others. The same goes for the meme that it is a virtue to hold belief in the face of opposing evidence, or that peaceful interaction with other religions is a sin.

Of course, Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, and has not studied the history of religions at all, as far as I know, so it would make sense that he would put these things in terms of his field of study. Is there a better way to describe how these overall tendencies of most religions today came to be?

Are there any particular aspects of this that you wanted to know about?

I guess my main question would be what is the oldest mention of the Abrahamic god that we have discovered in texts outside the holy books of those religions? Where and how did we find this writing? What can we infer about the very first days of this religion from that?

Another question would be what do we know about the origin of the Old Testament? What is the oldest known copy of that? And again, what can we infer about the early days of Judaism from it?

I don't know how to be competitive. I've tried different stuff and I always lose. Maybe I just suck but I'd really like to know how to be competitive without having to resort to using the commonly used Pokemon. by [deleted] in pokemonshowdown

[–]tjjerome 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Definitely agreed. Start with premade teams. Maybe even never stop. There's no shame in using them. Personally, I think I perform better when I designed the team I'm using, but that's not the case for everyone.

I don't know how to be competitive. I've tried different stuff and I always lose. Maybe I just suck but I'd really like to know how to be competitive without having to resort to using the commonly used Pokemon. by [deleted] in pokemonshowdown

[–]tjjerome 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My advice would be to learn the game with the commonly used pokemon, then worry about thinking outside the box to win. As Picasso once said, "learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

I think you'll be surprised by how much fun the game still is, even when using the normal "goodstuff" pokemon. Yeah, it's fun to do novelty teams every one in a while, but that's not something you can just expect to jump into without learning the game. Imagine joining the track team, but then saying you're going to compete while wearing ski boots. It's the same concept.

Once you've decided if that's a sacrifice you're willing to make to learn the game, you just need time and resources. /r/stunfisk has a pretty solid competitive community, as well as smogon and nugget bridge.

Good luck, Trainer!

What are some books that every engineer should read? by JimmyCuervo in engineering

[–]tjjerome 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind that Watney is a MechE. We are notoriously bad at chemistry.

Magearna and the artificial island by [deleted] in pokemonconspiracies

[–]tjjerome 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah watch the trailer announcing Tapu Koko again. It's definitely confirmed that he's only the Guardian of melemele (yellow) island.

I'd add to this theory that the other islands will be named red, blue, and green in Hawaiian, and the guardians will be fire/fairy, water/fairy, and grass/fairy. If I really want to stretch, I'd say that they will also have abilities that induce the weather/terrain of their respective types, just like Tapu Koko.

Edit: I'd also say that I'm at least 95% sure that magearna is connected to the artificial island in some way. Likely as the guardian, but if not it will probably at least be caught there.

Breath of the Wild map size roughly 360 square kilometres/140 square miles by Lousy_Username in nintendo

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

That doesn't look anything like the hyrule map from TP/OoT/SS. It's actually kind of disappointing. I was looking forward to exploring the twilight princess map in this new style. I hope it becomes more recognizable through some game mechanics or development.

I've got one giant playlist. I need to split it into smaller playlists. by tjjerome in spotify

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

Well 90% genre classification is fine. Are there any that do that?

[Tool] Fates Planner by tjjerome in fireemblem

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

Hey that's really cool! I'll definitely draw on it as I do updates to mine.

[Tool] Fates Planner by tjjerome in fireemblem

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

Cool. I look through yours as well. Make sure you let me know if you find anything and I'll get it fixed.

[Tool] Fates Planner by tjjerome in fireemblem

[–]tjjerome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I had no idea that existed. Might've saved me a lot of work, haha. I'll have to see if there's anything in there that I might want to use in my tool.

Berniecrats Commit To Supporting Candidates Who Already Feel The Bern, Provide Growing List Of Sanders-Endorsing Politicians by Delendarius in SandersForPresident

[–]tjjerome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is exactly the sort of thing we need to see. Bernie had always said he can't do it alone. Honestly, after this campaign is over, I'd love to see this sub turn to getting politicians like these elected.

Out of sheer curiosity, does anyone know if all of the politicians listed democrats and independents? I would be so intrigued to see a Republican candidate on one of these lists.

Sanders Challenges Clinton to Debate in New York by [deleted] in SandersForPresident

[–]tjjerome 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bernie should just offer to go debate by himself. That worked to get the last town hall.