Lewis2
2d ago
Thanks for the detailed response!
I have previously been using an old non-subscription version of AutoCAD, but I’m not sure the budget will support paying for a subscription moving forward, so I’ll need to switch to something free/cheaper. I was thinking most likely FreeCAD.
Also, I’ve never built a PC before, but the actual process doesn’t seem very difficult; rather, it seems that the difficulty is in knowing what parts to pick. Between your and others’ advice, netstack’s link, and PCPartPicker, that aspect seems to largely be covered. I’m open to either buying a prebuilt or building from parts though.
Lewis2
2d ago
My laptop was a Mac and my current desktop runs Windows 10. I have found over the years that are very few occasions when I actually need a laptop, so portability isn’t much of a worry. I’ll have to look into the Asus though.
Lewis2
2d ago
Thanks for the link! That looks extremely helpful. I also appreciate the advice on which tiers to examine.
Lewis2
2d ago
Can any of the tech nerds on this site recommend a reasonably high-powered computer? My laptop died two weeks ago, and my 10-year-old desktop just isn’t working out for me. Despite commenting on a Rationalist-diaspora forum, I’ll admit to my shame that I know almost nothing about computers, and I’ve pretty quickly become overwhelmed by the staggering number of options for each and every component part.
What I’m looking for is a machine that can ideally simultaneously handle several open Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, image files, and PDFs, one or two PowerPoint presentations, an ungodly number of open tabs spread throughout multiple windows and likely across several browsers (including several active windows that are absolute memory hogs), a CAD program, SoundCloud, and a couple of other minor programs on a rotation basis. My budget is roughly $1,500–$2,500, though I’m open to being told that I need to increase it. I basically want a machine that will handle everything I throw at it and won’t die or get completely bogged down at any point in the next 15 years.
I don’t mind buying either a desktop (in which case I’d supplement with a cheap laptop for those few occasions when I’d need one) or a laptop. In either case, I’ll be hooking up several monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse. Also, I know it’s a bad time to be buying a lot of memory, but that unfortunately can’t be helped. Finally, without any additional information, I was planning on just picking one of the recommended gaming desktops on a review site, but I’m hoping someone here can tell me if that’s a good idea or not.
Lewis2
15d ago
Those arguments may be effective to someone who is already Roman Catholic, but they’re unlikely to be persuasive to a Protestant. Your first argument is simply an argument from silence, which is typically recognized as one of the weakest forms of historical argument even by those who deploy it. You’ve bolstered the argument somewhat by citing the visions of St. Brigid and others, but most Protestants are at minimum highly skeptical of such visions, and even those who do grant them some weight would admit that the visions of a 14th century mystic aren’t the most reliable guide to historical events of the first century.
As for your second argument, it is again an argument from silence, but this time in a stronger form. If we have well-attested ancient relics of the apostles, Jesus’s grandparents, early martyrs, etc., but none of Mary, that would seem to be significant. Unfortunately for that argument, most of the relics we do possess can only be traced back to the Middle Ages, and in many cases, their provenance is suspect at best. The body of St. James, last seen c. AD 40, was found in a forest in northern Spain almost 800 years later. James the Less has two bodies—one in Jerusalem and one in Rome. Jude’s body is likewise either in Iran or Rome, depending whom you believe. The most famous relics of the seven-headed St. Anne, meanwhile, were found by Charlemagne and company in France, after having not been seen for some 750 years.
These sorts of provenance issues are a major reason Protestants rejected veneration of relics 500 years ago. John Calvin wrote an entire book on the subject, giving many examples of multi-armed, multi-headed saints.
In that context, given that many of the relics and traditions regarding the saints’ remains only date to the Middle Ages (a time when belief in the assumption of Mary was becoming extremely popular), it isn’t that surprising that her remains were never miraculously rediscovered and made objects of veneration.
Lewis2
18d ago
Are you free as a bird or free as the wind blows?
Lewis2
21d ago
Do you tell people you know IRL that you comment on this site? I have alluded to discussions here IRL a few times, but always in general terms, never giving the site name, and certainly never giving my own username.
Lewis2
21d ago
I’d also have more patience if “Englishman,” “Irishman,” and “Frenchman” were also considered offensive—especially “Irishman.” Given that the argument against “Chinaman” is that the term dates from a time when the Chinese were considered inferior, the fact that “Irishman” is still okay just highlights the hypocrisy.
Lewis2
21d ago
That is similar to the debates regarding “colored person” vs. “person of color” and “Jew” vs. “Jewish person,” where the first is often considered offensive, while the second is preferred. There was also an amusing debate in the autism world, now largely settled, on whether “autist” and “autistic person” are offensive. Advocates declared the terms demeaning, scolding anyone who didn’t say “person with autism.” The autists themselves found that view retarded and continued to use the older and simpler terms.
Lewis2
26d ago
50 pages’ worth in my copy, plus a final few pages that are directly relevant to the story (this out of a total page count of 1,463). I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from reading it, but it’s definitely extraneous to the plot.
Coming back to this discussion, I think I’ve changed my mind. A 900-page abridgment would probably only eliminate the digressions, in which case it wouldn’t be bad to read. Actually, I suppose you’d also lose the lengthy biography of the bishop at the beginning of the novel.* I enjoyed that section of the book, but its omission would lose very little of value to the plot.
*No spoiler since it’s the first 58 pages.
Lewis2
27d ago
I am given to understand that Charlie Kirk is a good example of this. Plenty of people have Kirk-like beliefs; none apparently have his combination of charisma, organizational skills, and industriousness.
Lewis2
27d ago
Seconding this. Skip the lengthy discussions on the Battle of Waterloo and the Parisian sewer system (also the argot one, though I personally found it interesting the first time I read it), but enjoy the rest of the novel intact.
Thanks for the advice! I did feel a bit silly mentioning the first set of requirements, as I would normally expect any decent computer to be able to handle them without any issues; however, my previously reliable work computer has proven unable to handle even as few as 150 tabs without crashing ever since the company forced everyone to upgrade to Windows 11.
The CAD usage is for free-lance architectural consulting, and I may be able to get some of my clients to help cover the cost of extra RAM. If not, it’s good to know that 32 GB should be enough for now.
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