zaque1213

It appears you have given a perfect illustration of the comment you are replying to.

I'd be interested to see stats on how often people skip over the ads during a podcast. I admit I do occasionally, but most of the time when I'm listening to a podcast I'm simultaneously doing something - like driving, exercising, mowing the lawn - that makes it inconvenient open my phone, navigate to to the app, and press the skip button a few times. Coupled with the fact that the adds are generally not too long, I don't find it to be too intrusive to the episode.

I think their statement about Dawkins’ apparently having never opened a Bible was in regard to his theological understanding, not historical.

Having read Dawkins, my primary critique of him overall is that he regularly demonstrates a willful ignorance as to what religious people actually believe. He’s content to attack straw men and not the propositional truth claims at the heart of religious belief.

Author advises business person not to make others the butt of a joke, then makes fun of all business persons for not being funny and not understanding what a good metaphor is.

Mark Bittman was the second biggest influencer of the way I prepare food. The first was a college roommate, who literally improvised everything he cooked, as far as ingredients and proportions go, and it tasted amazing every time. It opened my eyes to how subjective cooking can be.

I tried Blue Apron once. So boring.

I broker professional liability insurance for design professionals (architects and engineers), which means I don't much fit in on HN, but I enjoy the content anyway.

Most would call what I do boring, and some of it is. I do enjoy working with our clients, most of whom are easy going, like to shoot the shit and talk about the interesting designs and projects they are working on. Some of them have worked on some incredibly large projects in Houston and Dallas. I also enjoy digging into their contracts and offering non-legal advise to help them mitigate their risk.

Is it fulfilling? A little bit, but I realized that if I allow work to be my biggest defining factor, I'd probably be frustrated most of the time. I like my team, and others in my office, and I get paid very well for my market. I'm not overworked and have time to do other things that interest me. I spend a ton of time with my wife, and have a great community of friends.

My life as a whole is fulfilled. My job contributes to that, but I count it a small factor.

I like the idea of carpooling and would be happy to if / when I find someone who works near me. We moved recently and I don't know the neighbors well enough yet to ask.

I drive a fairly fuel efficient car. Only fill up every week and a half. That's pretty good I think in my situation.

I'd be happy if Houston made it easier not to drive! Maybe I'll try to find activists working toward that end.

You may be correct.If we felt that renting was the best option for us we would rent. But it's not necessarily the best option when you are trying to start a family. Also in our situation we are currently paying less on a house note than we were when we rented.

Hey another Houstonian! My thoughts exactly.

Driving is a choice, and provided that drivers pay all the costs associated with making that choice, there’s little reason to object to that.

I mean, kind of. I'm not sure where the author lives, but in Houston, I don't have much of a choice. I already pay tolls and taxes, gas prices and my car note. I live as close to work as is affordable, and still have to drive. There's no bus route from my apartment and I'm not about to ride my bike on I-10. I ask this next question in seriousness, because I'd love to change my habits without moving to a more expensive city with good public transportation: what are my options here? I'd rather not be "disinsentivized" from doing something I have no choice but to do.

I think it was Jessica Yellin on NPR's On Point who said something about Washington being way more like VEEP than House of Cards. Comforting somehow.

There are some theories, such as those laid out by Francis Fukuyama in the Origins of Political Order, which postulate that homo sapiens are optimized to form functioning societies of about 120 units. However, certain features have evolved in our species, such as the ability to speak AND write, and form mythologies and stories, which allows our ability to form political societies to exponentially increase. Who's to say we won't keep evolving to find ways to cooperate in ways that were impossible before?

I propose we base truth on whatever epistemological grounding that allows one to assert the truth claim of relative truth.

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

Recently on my phone I tried to copy and paste a picture from Facebook to my messaging app. Instead of copying the picture, it copied a text message that read "picture of dog and three people." I'm sure this is nothing new, but I'd never seen it before and thought it was interesting.

A few years ago I was in my room late at night. Everyone else was asleep in the house. The AC unit in that part of the house was really loud. At one point, the noise began to sound like ambient chords resonating in a cathedral. It continued for almost 30 minutes. To this day, I can't explain it. My only guess is that my mind was taking the white noise of the AC and mixing it up somehow, allowing me to hear music. I wish I had a more scientific explanation.

Improv. I've been taking classes at a local improv theater in Houston and it has been the most enjoyment I've gotten out of an activity in many years. For two hours a week I am encouraged to say, do, be anything that comes into my head, and react to situations without the filters I have to abide by at work and at home. I'm almost done with Level 1, and have our "graduation show" next weekend. After that comes level 2 and a few more advanced topics and methods.

Web App Development and Computer Science. I don't plan on making it a career but I started learning to program a few years ago after reading The Innovators by Walter Isaacson and it turned into a healthy addiction. Right now I'm throwing together a video library, actually for my improv theater, with Django to search for videos by improv troupe. I'm also doing Harvard's online CS50 course because I want to dive a little deeper into the science of it all.

This is why I've enjoyed my time taking improv classes. I'm with a group of other complete beginners and failure is encouraged. It has a beginning and end, and whatever happens will only happen once ever. I go home with a sense of completion and accomplishment, but I don't have the feeling of having to show anyone else for validation.

Not according to the loss runs I see at the insurance firm I work for.

This is fantastic! I'm looking forward to following this projects progress. I lived in Dallas for a while and loved the way the city integrates green space into the urban landscape. I'm not surprised that Dallas would be the city to take on a project of this scope.

I'm curious, is there any evidence that nanodegrees and other moocs are pulling would-be students from traditional forms of higher ed?

Agreed, I've admitted in another comment that this was an inexact term. I'm not a happiness expert, so I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks for raising my apparent contradiction. What I meant to say, perhaps not very well, is that _no_ partner is capable of proving true, lasting happiness, which I now realize is an unexact term. However close one can come to that happiness, though, is a consequence of ones own resolve to seek the highest good of the other. In my marriage, the more loved, safe, happy, secure, etc, my wife is, the happier I am free to be. And my wife strives for the same. We are satisfied in the others satisfaction, and therefore don't depend on the other for satisfaction.

Interesting conclusion. I agree that we need to let go of the notion that there is someone "perfect" for us. That person doesn't exist. True, lasting happiness in marriage is possible. Joy in marriage occurs when we seek the highest good of the other through unselfish sacrifice and compromise, and the other does the same toward us. That isn't easy, and could take years of discipline and failure. I've seen couples that I knew were heading for divorce grasp this and are now the happiest people I know. Of course, sometimes divorce is inevitable, but I think some could be avoided if each recommitted themselves to the higher good of the other.

> Now what you have to handle when you start doing mathematics as an older child or as an adult is accepting this state of being stuck.

I left High School with a terrible taste in my mouth for math, which is partly why I dropped my STEM major for a liberal arts degree. Now in my late twenties, I am about to start taking math courses at a local community college. I think the hours I've put in debugging code has given me an enjoyment of being stuck for hours or days on end. Hopefully this will help me experience a renewed enjoyment of mathematics.

Yes indeed. Chose my apartment because it's a five minute drive from work and in Houston that is damn near impossible to find. I'd let the apartment owner kick me in the face every time I walked in my room if that's what it took not to return to my old commute.

I agree with you. The apartment I recently moved into made it clear up front that hey had an exclusive cable and wireless provider. But the cost of the service is bundled into my rent. It's a great apartment in a great location and still cheaper than other apartments around so I decided I didn't care that much about choosing my own provider. It's not ideal and I thinks it's a shady practice, but I'm willing to live with it for a year or two.

This happened to my grandfather. The scammer told him I was accused of manslaughter in Oklahoma and was being held for questioning. The scammer was my "lawyer" and my grandfather needed to post my bail. He saw through the scam but was worried enough to check with my dad to see I had travelled to Oklahoma recently. At that point my mother and father were quite concerned. 30 minutes later I finally answered the phone and confirmed that I was not in Oklahoma. I was in class.

Either we're totally in control of ourselves, or we have no control at all.

Maybe I missed it, but it seems the author of the article makes no distinction between natural and moral inability. Jonathan Edwards, in his work Freedom of the Will, puts forth the idea that a man chained to a chair is not morally unable to get up from the chair, but he is naturally unable.

The author mentions that a day laborer with no belief in free will are perhaps more likely to show up to work late. I don't necessarily doubt that's true, but they still bear moral responsibility. Unless he broke his leg on the way to work or something like that, there is no natural inability to be on time.

In the same vein, if an otherwise gentle and courteous person develops a brain condition that causes anger violent behavior, that is owing to a natural inability, not a moral one.

The term "free will" is simply wrong. And it's not like "sunrise," which is likewise wrong but for everyday purposes the error is harmless.

I agree with you. Again, Edwards would state that our will is determined by our mind. We will to do whatever our mind finds most desirable at any given moment. The laborer who is consistently late to work desires an extra few moments on his couch at home more than the virtue of fulfilling his commitment to his boss. But in the absence of any natural inability, he bears moral responsibility for that choice.

You mentioned Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul is assuming a natural inability to do the right thing, which it seems to me he also assumes to be a moral inability. I suppose the question to be answered here is whether the desires of our mind are captive to natural forces, such as cause and effect, or whether have complete agency over our minds. Or both.