timwhatley's recent activity

  1. Comment on ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Rings of Power’ facing epic headaches in ~tv

    timwhatley
    Link Parent
    Have you considered... simply pirating it?

    Have you considered... simply pirating it?

    15 votes

  2. Comment on American teachers are burning out on the job in ~life

    timwhatley
    Link Parent
    Also worth mentioning: We are NOT PAID during the summer! I literally do not collect a paycheck; I have to work a part-time, second job, and I have a master's degree. It is not in any sense of the...

    For sure, people should not think that teachers get a "free" vacation.

    Also worth mentioning: We are NOT PAID during the summer! I literally do not collect a paycheck; I have to work a part-time, second job, and I have a master's degree. It is not in any sense of the word a vacation for me.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Where do you find community? in ~talk

    timwhatley
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    I find community with my coworkers; I find community at my church; I find community with my friends where I live; I find community with my friends online. Earlier in my life, I neglected all but...

    I find community with my coworkers; I find community at my church; I find community with my friends where I live; I find community with my friends online. Earlier in my life, I neglected all but the latter, but I've found as I've grown older how much more important a "real life" community is. We're social creatures by nature. There's something missing in digital relationships, and there's something sacred about connecting analog. I'm not sure the former could ever fully capture the feeling and potential of the latter. Consequently, I've also found that I'm spending less and less time online.

    16 votes

  4. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    timwhatley
    Link
    I am reading In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and Cosmos by Carl Sagan. The former is unbelievably cozy so far, and if the prose continues in quality over the next seven volumes then I...

    I am reading In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and Cosmos by Carl Sagan. The former is unbelievably cozy so far, and if the prose continues in quality over the next seven volumes then I anticipate this becoming my favorite novel of all time. I've neglected Proust for far too long. The latter is incredibly informative, especially since I haven't had any formalized scientific education since before I was an undergraduate -- and I'm in graduate school now, so it's been quite some time. In any case, I strongly recommend both, albeit for very different reasons. If you want a challenging, lengthy, and literary read, choose Proust. If you want an introductory survey on the history of science, choose Sagan.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    timwhatley
    Link
    Currently reading Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Prof Bart D. Ehrman. Very interesting read! As a disclaimer, Ehrman is not a Christian, nor am I, but he's...

    Currently reading Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Prof Bart D. Ehrman. Very interesting read! As a disclaimer, Ehrman is not a Christian, nor am I, but he's probably the most famous academic biblical scholar working today by virtue of the fact that his works are primarily targeted toward the general (non-scholarly) population.

    The book is a primer on the field of textual criticism. Essentially, it describes the history of New Testament manuscripts, emphasizing how it was copied by hand mostly by non-professional scribes for the first few hundred years of its history. Ehrman shares the scholarly consensus that various early scribes altered New Testament manuscripts both intentionally and unintentionally, for various reasons -- most surprisingly to me, one such non-original addition is the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" story from Luke -- and he shares how scholars today have tried to reconstruct, as best as possible, the "original" texts from the original manuscripts (which have been lost to time).

    It's a very in-depth, very informative, surprisingly gripping read, so I recommend it for anyone even vaguely interested in academic biblical studies, religious history, or religion in general.

    8 votes