u/Striking-Speaker8686

I know the line that's towed with regard to the Bible's authority, which I do not despute. But I have a hard time wrapping my head around what to read and whag specifically is authoritative. So as far as I'm aware, the Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery in the 40s revealed to us multiple coexisting, distinct Biblical traditions pertaining to the Old Testament. Which have reverberations upon the New Testament, which quotes from the Old Testament. However, there are a ton of apocryphal texts and pseudepigrapha. Even the Masoretic texts and Septuagint themselves have variants and differing canons.

These canons do have meaningful differences between each other. If I want to learn the truth of those periods of history through the Bible I have no idea what to read. Is there a specific Septuagint that's more authoritative which I should read before the New Testament? What about apocrypha? However, I know the Septuagint, being written in Greek, has interpretatio graeca and thus uses terms such as Hades, Kyrios, stuff that is pagan. From which pespective, you'd think it's better to read the Masoretic, however the Septuagint agrees better with Jesus' quotes and with OT quotes in the New Testament overall which may or not have to do with the fact the New Testament was written in Greek. I just don't know how to wrap my head around what to read and where the truth is or isn't.

I'm an economics novice. Maybe even that's generous, i know absolutely nothing whatsoever about how money works or how the economy works. In the US, the shape of our economic model is a constant topic of debate, and while I do definitely need a good primer on that, I suppose I want to ask directly about this specific "tax the rich" thing. Obviously, every American who earns an income is taxed, to varying degrees. America is viewed as the epitome of capitalism, however it's not as though there are no socialist policies or programs (or are they even socialist?), such as public schooling, SNAP/EBT benefits, public roads, libraries, fountains, parks, etc. We believe in water as a basic human right, which apparently is up for debate now and some people in positions to change this think otherwise, but we do have some services and whatnot that we socialize. But there're broad debates about whether we should be doing more with our taxes toward healthcare, Universal basic income, university, etc. What I want to know is, the portion of this debate that centers around the rate at which billionaires are taxed, it supposedly would cap the economy quite a bit if we taxed them more, and they'd be less willing to create jobs, innovations, advancements, and opportunity in America than if we leave them be, I don't really know what's right or wrong.

Is there a way to tax them at a higher right, or everyone, without incurring a huge hit to the livablity of American wages (which is already pretty weak right now according to many). I'm at a point where I have a hard time both believing that it's fair or okay for billionaires to pay a very small proportion of what they effectively earn in taxes just due to technicalities pertaining to loans, investments, assets, etc but also have a hard time believing the idea that if they were just taxed more and we used more tax money on social services that the economy would do just fine growth wise. But again, I don't know enough to know which one makes more sense

I know this must be an annoying question but I did peruse the sub a bit and didnt see too many recent iterations. Basically, maybe 6 months ago now I was looking into career changes as I was really unhappy with my work as a software engineer. I didnt want to just be some asshat who thinks this is his new nest to perch in, and I had and have a ton of respect for the people who work in it, it was just a direction I wanted to explore. So I did a bit of digging, started studying Ignition University and truing out Ignition software. I was enjoying the field insofar as my foray went, but as it often happens, I got absolutely swamped woth work and all sorts of other life stuff which caused me to put sesrching for alternate career paths on pause for awhile. Anyway, I'm back in that exploration phase now, working with Ingition again, learning again. I study every day when I have time away from work. I know I'm probably not the greatest PLC programmer in the world right now, but I was wondering if getting into the field is viable at the moment, or if demand is just too low/AI too good/bar for entry/lower level work is way higher, which seem to be the case everywhere

I always hear all these attacks on Islam and apart from just the blatant racist stereotypes (terrorist, whatever nonsense), 99% of them are not attacks on Islam but attacks on Muhammad. He was a person who owned slaves, who destroyed much and killed many people through warring, who consummated with a child and married his teen daughters off to his cousins who were in their 40s and beyond. He was a human, he was complex, it was a different era, and he did a great deed by bringing Islam to most of humanity, but he also did a lot of stuff that we know now were very bad, even if he maybe didnt know they were bad back then.

I think that if we just condemn Muhammad whenever people bring these things up, most of the attacks on Islam would then cool down. These people aren't against Allah, they are against revering today a man whose actions are not justifiable today, as moral relativism is increasingly being rejected as a framework. If people now are going to say Christopher Columbus was a bad person for what he did, we can say Muhammad was a bad person without denouncing Allah. I don't know why we don't just do that. We can just say this (you can reword it however you want, I am not a great writer and my English isnt the best): "Muhammad was a person whose function in Islamic history was to use his massive influence to spread the truth of Allah as far and wide as he was able, because of this he was significant and ultimately a net positive to thw world, but we do not condone all the actions he took in his life as he was human and therefore was inherently a flawed being"

I always hear all these attacks on Islam and apart from just the blatant racist stereotypes (terrorist, whatever nonsense), 99% of them are not attacks on Islam but attacks on Muhammad. He was a person who owned slaves, who destroyed much and killed many people through warring, who consummated with a child and married his teen daughters off to his cousins who were in their 40s and beyond. He was a human, he was complex, it was a different era, and he did a great deed by bringing Islam to most of humanity, but he also did a lot of stuff that we know now were very bad, even if he maybe didnt know they were bad back then.

I think that if we just condemn Muhammad whenever people bring these things up, most of the attacks on Islam would then cool down. These people aren't against Allah, they are against revering today a man whose actions are not justifiable today, as moral relativism is increasingly being rejected as a framework. If people now are going to say Christopher Columbus was a bad person for what he did, we can say Muhammad was a bad person without denouncing Allah. I don't know why we don't just do that. We can just say this (you can reword it however you want, I am not a great writer and my English isnt the best): "Muhammad was a person whose function in Islamic history was to use his massive influence to spread the truth of Allah as far and wide as he was able, because of this he was significant and ultimately a net positive to thw world, but we do not condone all the actions he took in his life as he was human and therefore was inherently a flawed being"

As an actual character I think he's a cut above probably most of the ones in this series, but as a Hero I have to say I am extremely disappointed by him. In my opinion he had even more potential than Bakugo or anyone besides All Might and Deku in my opinion. Even moreso than Mirio. He should be able to use his fire powers for flight and immense power like Endeavor, but his firepower output isn't capped like Endeavor's because he can use the cold nearer his body to withstand higher heats. And vice versa with ice. You can think of all sorts of ways he can become a hellstorm and practically impossible to fight against. Yet by the end, he's pretty much stagnated. I don't think end of final War arc Shoto is all that much stronger than he was when he started using his fire powers way back in season 2 or 3, whereas Bakugo, who was already stronger than him by the time they fought in season 2, is like several tkmes stronger by the end and probably the nearest a non-OfA/AfO user has ever come to prime All Might in terms of power.

It's just such a disappointment. He should be way stronger than Endeavor, but he's just not going to get there. Now, originally this post was just about Shoto. Who is very strong, no doubt, but just nowhere near as much so as he could be, and I thought he should've had a bigger impact and not been surpassed by Bakugo. But then a second ago I remembered one other guy who really angers me

Kaminari Denki, this guy was pathetically weak and a cowardly bitch the entire series. Electricity is a really strong power in almost every power/magic system you can think of, but in this one, he's a random bum who's one of the weakest heroes. He's down there with Ashido, Sugar Rush, Earphone Jack, Tailman, Hagakute, animal whisperer guy, Frog Girl, and Mineta. The absolute bums who were always the fodder of 1A. He does NOTHING the entire series. And for the life of me I can't figure out why. You have a guy like Tapeman who massively exceeds the potential of how ordinary his Quirk seems, he doesn't have tons of power but he's a way more effective hero than you'd expect, whereas there's this guy with an extremely high potential Quirk who's weaker than a freaking Pikachu.

I know the vast majority of OP fans love the anime, and the anime community overall has it as one of the very best animes ever made. However, I personally have nothing but utter hatred for it. The animation quality was always terrible, in my opinion, along with obviously the pacing. It has a great soundtrack and perfect voice actors, which make it inextricable from the manga, but I always thought the animatuon was bad, whether it was early OP which pales in comparison to contemporary or even earlier animation such as Cowboy Bebop, Akira, NGE, etc or even the newer arcs which while they have some amazing moments, most of the episodes are absolute garbage.

Everyone remembers those awesome Luffy vs Kaido, Zoro vs King, Roger vs WB, etc scenes from Wano which just blow your mind, but if you were actually watching Wano weekly as I was when it was coming out, you knew it was insufferable on the whole. Even animation wise - the colors were pretty, and again, some moments looked just amazing unabashedly, but many times it was poorly drawn with crappy effects and just made up for with flashy bright colors.

The contrast and art direction were not always of a premium quality, even if the budget was high and the actual animators and artists working on it were very talented. It was to the point where I'd check the director before each next episode, and if it wasn't Megumi Ishitani, I'd check out. And for good reason, the vast majority of the time when an episode was good through and through, it was her work that made it so. But even she couldn't save every episode she worked on, there were just too many garbage episodes and scenes.

Now we come to the movies. I never watched any of them besides Strong World (and Film Red when it came out as I thought it had new canon stuff about Shanks and crew that I needed to catch - turns out it was a pretty bad movie where Oda also gave them fake stuff about Shanks and crew to work with besides the Figarland thing), as I heard the rest weren't great. That movie was a lot of fun and the animation looked great, but that was to be expected as it was a movie, right? But I just now watched the Hosoda movie and it's just depressing. His art style looks *so* fucking good with One Piece. It's like I'm seeing the OP anime the way it was always meant to be - the fit is uncannily perfect. Wacky, off kilter, but with its own specific beauty to it. I think when you get into OP enough you forget how weird Oda's art style is to most people, but something as stylized as this movie's art direction works so well to capture and elevate that for the medium. And he was doing this in the early 2000s, too. Maybe it wouldn't have fit the entire time but I can't help but wonder how arcs like Enies Lobby or Marineford would've been even more amazing with incredible art direction and better pacing. Or like Water 7. Tbh the entire Water 7 saga, maybe even starting from the Foxy arc as that seems to be pretty similar to the Baron Omatsuri story, would've been fantastic with this director making them. And instead we have to wait probably over a decade before we get a Wit remake of the Water 7 saga (if they even reach there before getting axed, which I'm hoping they don't but there's a decent chance it happens). I wish this series got the love it deserved from the start, because it is the best manga ever written

Whenever I see destructions of Mesopotamian stuff or grave robberies in Egypt and whatnot I always get really sad. There's something about the idea of a people working so hard to preserve parts of themselves and their world, and being successful for thousands of years, and then having that success stamped out and trampled upon by a few extremists, that just breaks my heart. I err on the side of assuming these extremists are not supported by the masses, but then I don't know the cultural/societal mores of the societies they're in. I'm aware that in Egypt, for instance, ancient Egyptian "stuff" is a source of a ton of revenue for the country and attracts many visitors every year. But is there an actual pride for that, a desire maybe even to connect with that past and the existing lineage from those people, or is it more like a bunch of misguided aliens dropped the pyramids off and we can use them as a way to grow the economy. I also imagine the average Egyptian may not be thinking anout that sort of thing all the time as the one truth is that life is hard wherever on Earth you are.

As may be apparent, I'm not a Christian or Muslim, it may be that for those who are, there's an implicit understanding that those ancient people with their false gods were misguided and that it's necessary not to revere, praise, or look upon their heresies with positive sentiment, so as to save as many people as can be saved.

I can imagine how if I did believe that my faith was the only way to salvation and that those who do not accept it are damned, I would want to turn fervent eyes away from those things. But I just don't know how the people think, and am wondering. I'd like to think if I was from Egypt I'd have an immense pride for my peoples' wondrous history and achievements, same with if I were Iraqi or Persian or whatnot. But I can't know, because I'm not, and I know if I were, I'd think a different way.

I have seen some Middle Eastern countries get flak for not universally touting certain faiths, thus potentially making some things harder on those who want to save the masses or think it's to humanity's benefit for everyone to be a Jewish or a Christian or a Muslim or Buddhist, Zoroastrian, whatever, so the perception of these older faiths and monuments is interesting to me.

For me

1. GTA IV

2. GTA V

3. GTA III

4. GTA Vice City

I haven't played any others so I dkn't know how good they are, but these 4 games were some of my favorites ever

When I wanted to try out OpenClaw I started out by just asking it for plans and tips snd skme basic stuff like that every now and then. Over time, when I'd add a CRON task or something I noticed my daily driver API keys were getting maxed out constantly, and very quick, even when I switched them. I was topping up almost everyday, even moreso than when I was just using AIs for coding. I stopped using them and still it just burns through tokens. How do you guys kitigate this? Do I need thousands of dollars pumped into whatever AI I use ss my daily driver?

I just finished reading Vinland Saga and, without spoiling anything, I was pretty unhappy with the way it wound down and ended for quite a few reasons. It made me think about endings of animes in general. I probably haven't been satisfied with a single show's ending that went on longer than maybe 12 episodes or something. I was never the biggest fan of FMAB compared to most people, but what I can say for certain is that though the ending didnt blow me away or anything, it was very solid and tied things up in a great way. That's more than can be said for tons of different shows. Besides that, Monster and Code Geass probably the only other longer series I've seen or read in these two mediums that I thought had a great ending (AoT ending was okay but it did feel like it was sort of ripping off the Code Geass ending). The serialized format I think doesn't lend itself very well to super deeply thought out, interesting endings. You can so easily write yourself into corners or find it hard to get to where you'd want to, because the time you have to properly plan and architect out the space between significant plot points early on in the story and the ending is very compressed. You just get rushed into weak endings. Or are made to end bad for other reasons.

For instance I am 100% convinced that JJK's writer was going to end the manga in a very different way but was shoehorned into what he ended up writing by higherups (ironic given what stuff happens in the story). Anyway I just wanted to say a word of appreciation for FMAB, Monster, Code Geass ajd any other show that has a good ending. Whether it's amazing or the show as a whole just blows me away or not, the fact of getting to tell a story which ends in a good way seems so rare in this medium and I want to see more of that because I keep getting burned by years and years of investment into shows that end weak. I think endings are the niggest issue with anime and manga and I want to watch more shows that do them the right way

I tried Shadow of the Colossus once, about 20 years ago now. Was at my friend's house, he had it on PS2. I don't rememebr much other than that I didnt like the way it controlled. As I'm going back to older games now, I'm finding that communities around them have optimized and amazingly improved the experiences of them now. To the point where you can have a better experience with many classic games now than you could have on original hardware decades ago.

I know rhere was a PS4 remake a few years ago, which I've heard mixed things about. I know the PS2 was a console we haven't 100% ctacked yet but has there been any mass optimization or improvement to the experience of this game? I don't have a PS2, PS4, or PS5 (had to sell mine) right now

Prior to the October 7th incident, I didnt know much of anything about Israel and I didnt pay much attention to them. I was turning 18 around then and hadn't had much of an interest in international affairs before then. In the few years since, though, that's entirely changed. Now I'm noticing each day such incredibly bizarre behavior toward Israel from politicians around the world. There are so many developed countries' politicians who have Israel flags in their homes or offices, even take up for Israel over their own nations. It is unsettling to me. You might say it's because they're Christians from Christian nations. Ok, but they're not making pilgrimages to Christian sites, they are putting on a little hats and touching a big stone Wall or even kissing it. And they come away with a love for Israel more profound even than what they possess for their homes, and they defend Israel to their very last breath, and they receive tons of funding from Israel. It's unilateral and bipartisan in practically every Western country on Earth. And I just don't get it. What happens when they touch down there? So few dissidents makes no sense to me.

When you take a gander at lists of the best shows ever made, there's some variation in order but for the most part the consensus is that the very top tier consists of the Wire, the Sopranos, and Breaking Bad. Some will throw Better Call Saul, Oz, and Mad Men in there, too. But on occasion, you will see some say the Shield is the best of them all. Now, the Shield is an old, gross looking show that is extremely long, which means nobody's seen it and more importantly nobody is going to go out of their way to actually watch and verify this. And when you do bother to check the critical consensus, well, they line up with that narrative. Extremely high ratings across the board, critics raved about it from early on.

When you actually watch the show, though, it's a different story. If you're accustomed to and have watched much of the canon of incredible shows besides this one, you're going to have to lower your standards for the Shield. It's got a great pilot episode, true, particularly in its final scenes, but mostly this show is a cop procedural. It's grimier and more fucked up than the typical one of those, regularly dealing with crimes of a more visceral variety, and with some plot threads that carry into future episodes and seasons (unlike many of the more episodic shows of its era), but the kind of writing and production value you expect from top shows, just isn't there. The main character is praised often for being the archetype upon whom future TV antiheroes were based, but my problem with this framing is that it's not like the Shield pioneered the concept, not even in the medium of TV it was just something not *as* common in popular network shows of the time as it'd come to be. Maybe thanks to him, in significant measure. But does that signify greatness in a vacuum? People praise the show for "holding up", but it didn't come out 50 years ago, it was on air until like 2007.

If you take the show in a vacuum, the first 4 seasons are like a 7/10 maybe, it takes until season 5 to hit its stride and become truly great (even then, a bit overrated), but to reach that point you are sitting through a TON of what is effectively filler content, with characters who aren't all that interesting or entertaining to spend time with, the filmmaking isn't anything that noteworthy either. If you want to be a stickler there are tons of smaller criticisms you can make about the way events transpire - cops turn off cameras all the time and generally do tons of things there's no way you can suspend disbelief they'd get away with to the degree that they do, plot points that you'd think lead somewhere disappear altogether and leave you scratching your head, twists are contrived, there're Deus Ex Machinas, but the overarching point is that there's nothing about the writing that keeps you above water even through the stupiditiy of some of the things that happen. Lost for instance was really stupid and terrible in a ton of ways, but it had some of the most unforgettable moments in TV, peppered throughout its entire 6 season run. The Shield, apart from the pilot, has very few noteworthy moments in its first 3 or 4 seasons. That's just not the mark of an all time great show. If you've seen cop shows thie inspired, or even some that came before or were contemporaneous with it (Homicide Life on the Street, which came before it, was a way better show, as was Oz), chances are you won't be that impressed, and I just really think the hype around this show needs to be severely curbed.

I'm 25 and American. I don't have any dreams or aspirations (and by this age it wouldn't matter if I did anyway). I don't want to start a family or live some extravagant life. I just want the stress to go away. I'm sick of climbing the ladder at work, worrying about money or whatever all the time. I hate it. If I can, I don't want to drive ever again either because there's always a stress whenever you drive. Just literally want to make enough to make rent and be able to eat, and just subsist.

But the problem is, every city where it's possible to commute reliably without a car seems way too expensive to live in with the kinds of work I can get, whereas everywhere where it may be possible to survive financially I'd need a car. I just don't know what to do. Is it that crazy to want to just work a job and not be homeless and not need a car to get anywhere? I'm not interested in anything else. I don't need tons of extra money for travelling or big expenses like tons of furniture or a TV or whatever. I want to live life 100% on autopilot if I can. Wake up, get on public transport (or walk to work), do whatever mindless job for 8 hours, go home. Rinse, repeat. Foe the next 40 years or whatever and then I can just die in peace. But the way it so right now, I'm constantly anxious at all times, I'm worried how I'm going to pay for this or that, and I even had to move back in with my parents because I didn't have enough money with the job I got after college. I don't know what to do right now

I was one of the few who didnt watch this show when everyone was watching it during the pandemic. Now, years removed, I heard about the premise of like a mystery and disappeared treasure and whatnot and it sounds kind of like a type of vibe I'd enjoy, but I saw that it has 4 seasons now? I thought it was a one season and done type of show. Netflix when they get hit shows do tend to churn out a bunch of seasons which never live up to the hit first season, so I was wondering if this is one of those too. I remember watching the second season of Wednesday, Thirteen Reasons Why, Umbrella Academy, etc and being frustrated with those shows doing it.

Now that Hades 2 has been out for awhile and is finished in its entirety, I was wondering what is the most damage builds you can do? Semi serious (as in, I am genuinely curious what the literal highest damage you can legitimately achieve in a run is) but I don't just want to hear what people's favorite builds are, I want to know what builds either average the most damage, can do the most damage, etc. In Hades 1 for instance there are tons of fun builds and I'm sure you might technically be able to stacj more than these, but from what I've seen Cluster Rockets or a beefy Beowulf do the most damage. Maybe Arthur sword or Hestia gun if you stack enough crit stuff can do the singular biggest damage numbers