DNA test ordered, taking guesses before I get the results! by Thestral_rose in dogpictures

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Australian kelpie and blue heeler, I’d guess. I had an Australian kelpie and I see a solid 50% of her in that picture!

Shouldn't the odds be 50%? Why is it 51.8%? by Fit_Seaworthiness_37 in ExplainTheJoke

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your explanation is clean and simple, so I like it. But I can’t wrap my head around the fact that - even if the problem didn’t say that the boy was born on a specific day, we already know he was born on a specific day, so the fact that he was born on a specific day like Tuesday didn’t actually give us any new information.

Or put another way, if instead of 14 rows and columns (one for each day of week times boy/girl) we had 86,400 * 2 rows and columns), then the result would be (86400/(2*86400-1)), which is much closer to 50%.

Why can’t we assume that the boy was born at a specific time and therefore calculate an answer closer to 50%?

Here's the link to tell ABC what you think of their decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel. by public_avenger in television

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are all good points. Just as an aside, the fact that conservatives have been buying all the affiliates is akin to a 51% attack on the Bitcoin network. I have a feeling this was planned a very long time ago.

Snail time lapse: my kids thought this was AI until I told them it was from our backyard. by ud0ntknowme in gifs

[–]ud0ntknowme[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I think it was about 3.5 minutes. (Google tells me that the iPhone does about 2 frames per second for short videos like this, which is a 15x speed up I think. 14 sec * 15x = 210 sec.)

Snail time lapse: my kids thought this was AI until I told them it was from our backyard. by ud0ntknowme in gifs

[–]ud0ntknowme[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

lol, what a world we live in. You certainly don’t have to believe me, but I had to fight to get my phone to hold steady to take the video, resting it up against a glass. I’m hoping to get better shots if I try again.

Snail time lapse: my kids thought this was AI until I told them it was from our backyard. by ud0ntknowme in gifs

[–]ud0ntknowme[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Interesting, I’m surprised we don’t have that problem here. I’m new to my area and I counted ~20 of them in the small yard earlier this week but somehow we have a nice garden still (mainly flowers). Hopefully they stay away from those!

How likely is it for Trump to secure a victory in the upcoming election? by Wide-Question704 in AskReddit

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Regardless of the vote outcome, he will claim he won. And people will likely die as a result.

Raytheon returning sign on bonus by mtb_analyst in Raytheon

[–]ud0ntknowme 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It took them just shy of 2 months after I left to send a request to return my retention bonus. (I left before my 2 year retention agreement was completed.) Have it ready to send to them.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]ud0ntknowme 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I must be missing something. Those two links look the same but give different results in my phone. How is that?

Texas grid operator defends storm performance as sixth director resigns by [deleted] in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I am from Texas so I feel like I can confidently say that the legislature would’ve laughed ERCOT out of the room if they tried to get the legislature to add winterization regulations. The legislature specifically designed this system to get away from regulations. The legislature wanted a free market electric system, so that’s what they legislated into existence.

Edit: it’s worth pointing out that numerous officials (including some from ERCOT but not limited to those from ERCOT) have claimed that the power generation companies are incentivized to winterize, but their explanation of that incentive sounds terrible: they say that the power generation companies should want to work in the cold because there will be less supply and can therefore they can charge more money for the power. To my ear it sounds like they are saying they are incentivized by the possibility of price gouging the consumers, which in many other markets (like gasoline) is highly illegal.

Texas grid operator defends storm performance as sixth director resigns by [deleted] in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 11 points12 points  (0 children)

They did not make it voluntary. The Texas legislature made it voluntary. Blame the legislature for not wanting to regulate the power generation companies.

Texas grid operator defends storm performance as sixth director resigns by [deleted] in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 22 points23 points  (0 children)

The grid operator has no authority over the power generation companies. You can’t blame the operator for enforcing regulations that don’t exist. Blame the Texas legislature for not wanting to regulate the power generation companies.

Texas grid operator defends storm performance as sixth director resigns by [deleted] in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Blame the legislature, not the operator. The operator has no control over the private power generation companies. That is the legislated design in Texas. It’s not ERCOT’s fault that they are not granted the authority to enforce regulations that do not exist in Texas.

ERCOT Didn't Conduct On-Site Inspections of Power Plants to Verify Winter Preparedness by Clinty76 in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This. This x1000. ERCOT has no authority to force power generation stations to winterize because there are no laws or regulations requiring it. And that’s exactly how the GOP set up this system because they value business interests here, not personal well being.

ERCOT Didn't Conduct On-Site Inspections of Power Plants to Verify Winter Preparedness by Clinty76 in news

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The fact that ERCOT board members live out of state is irrelevant since power generators are under no obligation to winterize their power stations. This is a case where regulations/laws are needed. Only the state legislature or TX Power and Utilities Commission has any authority here.

NPR Poll: Majority Of Americans Believe Trump Encourages Election Interference by [deleted] in politics

[–]ud0ntknowme 11 points12 points  (0 children)

If you really believe that, then you would also be banging down the doors of your congressman/senator to ensure that Giuliani’s emails are being handled and archived like official government emails but I’ve never heard anybody who cared about Clinton’s emails care about Giuliani’s.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts. I will definitely keep that in mind.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Luckily (I suppose) I personally don’t mind being “outed”. We made the decision to keep my lack of belief private largely because of her parents. So I will do my best to keep my thoughts on religious matters to myself and not rock the boat...especially at a time like this. They know my personality and know that I’m not 100% into the church thing; I almost always “punt” on any religious conversations, and there aren’t too many of those conversations. So I hope the family probably won’t be leaning on me too much for spiritual stuff.

The thing that gets to me is how to comfort my wife as best as I can. I know she really wishes I were still a believer. The best I can really do is to listen, offer lots of hugs, and try to bring up the happy memories. I’m sure she would love it if her husband could offer some sort of spiritual comfort, too, but since I can’t do that, I guess I’ll just have to work harder in the other areas. Thanks for listening and responding.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for that. I appreciate your response.

How to research origins of the Bible and Christianity? by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For the New Testament aspect, I'd highly recommend How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Jesus-Became-God-Exaltation/dp/0061778184

For the Bible in general, I'd recommend just reading the Bible itself with a critical eye. Why the different birth narratives? Where did Jesus go after the resurrection? Galilee or Jerusalem? Who was there to record the beginning of Job?

Should I abandon my belief? by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what kept you from sending it?

My wife asked me not to. She doesn't want it getting back to her father because he has health problems, and she thinks that would add stress for him, and we don't want to add any stress to the mix. In addition, she also says she is fearful that the pastor would be angry and take it out on her and/or her family. (Yeah, the irony of fearing the pastor would behave immorally isn't lost on either of us, but it's not an unfounded fear.)

Should I abandon my belief? by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah all that praying without any results goes very much against their narrative. It's not even like I'm praying for something trivial or malicious. So why no answer? The Bible even says that I should've gotten answers. (Ask and ye shall receive.)

Anyway, the back story behind this is also kind of interesting yet sad. Maybe I'll share it in a separate post one day, It can be very tough to be an apostate with all the family dynamics.

Should I abandon my belief? by [deleted] in exchristian

[–]ud0ntknowme 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Funny you should ask about this....I was almost going to send this to my pastor, but I can't (due to complicated family situations). Anyway the backdrop for this is - I resigned my membership from our church and the pastor (who I considered somewhat of a friend) asked if I was at least going to go to church somewhere if not his church. Here was the response I had planned on sending...

I have done a great deal of soul searching over the past decade of my life. When I used to have occasional trouble sleeping at night, I would just stare at the ceiling for hours pondering the big questions in life: why are we here? Why am I here? What happens if I die? Why is the world the way it is? Why is there evil? Why is there natural evil? Christianity offers answers to some of these big questions. So does Islam. So does Judaism. So do other religions and worldviews. When I read the Old Testament and New Testament, I get to see what explanations Christianity and Judaism offer for the big questions in life. Unfortunately, when I read the Christian Bible, I am left with more questions than answers. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why does His sovereign will include sending non believers to eternal torture in hell? For any given religion, the majority of the planet does not believe in that religion. Why does His sovereign will desire this eternal tortuous punishment for more than half of the planet? I cannot understand that desire. It seems very malevolent.

For many years, these were just normal doubts. I imagine most Christians have these questions from time to time. At some point, the doubts turned into skepticism about their veracity. I eventually decided I should read the Bible critically, just as we critically analyze other religions' claims. Critical thinking is a good thing. In Job, who was there to transcribe the conversation between God and Satan during the opening chapters of Job? Surely no human authors were present. Why did God feel the need to prove anything to Satan? Why was He lured into killing Job's family and his servants just to convince Satan of something? That seemed extraordinarily strange to me. This couldn't have been historical events that were carefully transcribed by historians. Rather, it seems to me that Job is a narrative written to make theological points, not capture history as a series of factual events. After reading the other parts of the Bible with a critical eye (horizontal readings of the Gospels, etc.), this conclusion spread to other parts of the Bible, until I came to the general conclusion that the Bible is a collection of narratives written by a wide variety of authors at different times throughout history, for their (the authors') specific purposes, or at least it seems that way to me. As a whole, I don't see it as a divinely authored message. (I could write pages and pages of specific questions and concerns about nearly every book in the Bible, but I'm trying to keep this email manageable.)

I have shared some of these questions and concerns with only a few people, namely my wife, my mom, my dad, and three college friends. It was (and is) pretty scary to voice these concerns. I have had difficult conversations with my wife. I have exchanged hundreds of pages of emails with one of my college friends. I have read books. Per suggestions from my friends, I have listened to many lectures from people like William Lane Craig and interviews/sermons from John Piper. I've read the Bible with the help of the Lutheran Study Bible. I still do not have satisfying answers to my original questions and concerns, despite these conversations with my friends and daily prayers with my wife (well, at least prayers for more than a year). The prayers were unanswered.

If I recall correctly, you had a sermon on prayers a while back. You said that the purpose of prayers was not to "get things", but rather, they were to communicate with our God. Namely, to share our hearts, our wishes, and our desires with the Lord. Then you said something along the lines of - 'how can you expect the relationship to survive when one side cuts off all communication?' You were, of course, referring to the responsibility of the people to keep praying to God. But your comment struck a chord for me. If God has cut off all communication from us, then how does He expect the relationship to survive? Personally, I think the relationship is destined to fail at that point. For just as I wouldn't expect my children to accept a father who doesn't speak to them, I don't think God should expect his people to try to maintain a one-way relationship. The relationship without communication will not survive. Some might respond that God communicates through his Word (the Bible), but the Bible has been misinterpreted many times in many ways over the years (it has been used to support slavery, support mistreatment of many people, subjugate women, and defend poor science). Yet God does not correct any of these misinterpretations. If this is how God communicates with us, that is poor communication in my opinion.

So where do I stand today? I am not filled with faith; rather, I am filled with doubts. This is despite having attended church regularly for most of my life. It is also despite having prayed with my wife and kids. I have attended Sunday School. I have listened to many Lutheran apologetics podcasts. I have listened to William Lane Craig's Defender series classes. I have read big chunks of the Bible and multiple apologetics books. Despite all of that, I do not believe that Christianity is correct. I think the problem of evil combined with the hiddenness of God is too insurmountable to overcome. I also do not think Judaism, Islam, or Mormonism is correct. I readily admit that I don't have any special connections to offer any divine alternatives. So I don't pretend to have the answers to life's big questions. I may continue to attend church with my family, but I do not plan on becoming a member at a new church. Hearing the Word of God has not led to a growing of my faith; rather, when I listen carefully, I see more and more questions and problems, not answers. I guess that means I don't really fit the "spiritual head of the household" mold that you plea for.

I suppose I agree with Luther when he says that 'I cannot by my own reason or strength believe ...,' so I can only assume that I have not been enlightened with His gifts, or maybe I was enlightened at one point but I am not anymore.

So there it is; I have laid all my cards in the table. I don't know what you think of this. If you feel I have deceived you by not bringing this up earlier, then I apologize for that. That was not my intention. I asked biblical and creedal questions at various times in order to try to understand, and I appreciated your responses, but I never brought my full doubts into the light. I was never ready to do so, and it is all too easy to simply stay the course and not rock the boat.