The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIII

[Borachio]

It's bonkers, to my way of thinking.

Believing, and expecting, the Bible to be inerrant would be a bit like me expecting a London A to Z to be inerrant. Then on finding something on the ground that disagreed with the A to Z, I suppose I'd be meant to insist the ground was in error, and not that the book was out of date, or printed by someone fallible.

 

[Arakhor]

Indeed, but that's apparently what many hardline creationists believe.

In related news, the KJV was first published yesterday in 1611. It takes a really 'dedicated' person to form a movement seemingly devoted to the idea that the Authorised Version is the only accurate version of the Bible and thus descends directly from God.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I honestly don't understand. You surely know approximately what time people will be back home. (Though why they don't allow you a key I don't know. Perhaps you've a tendency to lose them. Isn't there one kept hidden outside for emergencies? Most people have one.) So, in summer (or winter even) I'd be happy enough walking a dog for 8 hours a day (or even longer, and I bet the dog would be only too happy), and time my return for when someone's there.

Apart from a few things, they just go out any time in the day and I never know when they will be back.

I only ever used a key twice and I always brought it back. My younger brother is the one always losing the keys given to him, mostly losing them when he's drunk. He's lost them so many times that my parents thought of changing the locks on the house.

 

[Borachio]

Why don't you get a copy of the front door key cut? Who'd be any the wiser? You'd only need to use it when you were sure no one was in.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I don't know how to make copies of keys.

 

[Borachio]

You do! Surely. You just take it to a cobbler's shop (usually, though there are others) displaying a sign saying "keys cut here". It costs about £1.50.

Mind you, you do have to get your hands on an original at some stage, for a few hours. Are you sure there isn't one hidden outside?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

You do! Surely. You just take it to a cobbler's shop (usually, though there are others) displaying a sign saying "keys cut here". It costs about £1.50.

I won't be able to do that. I can't even order food at a place that sells fast food.

Mind you, you do have to get your hands on an original at some stage, for a few hours. Are you sure there isn't one hidden outside?

The only time one is left outside is if my younger brother is out drinking and he will come home late.

 

[Ajidica]

I won't be able to do that. I can't even order food at a place that sells fast food.

May we enquire as to why?

 

[Borachio]

I won't be able to do that. I can't even order food at a place that sells fast food.

I used to be like that. When I was younger. I actually remember what it was like. One particular time I had to take some empty wine bottles, to get the refunds, in a French shop when I didn't speak any French. It was excruciatingly embarrassing.

You could pretend to be foreign. Just present yourself at the cobblers with a key in your outstretched hand and a five pound note in the other. With a bit of a smile, you could well get away with saying nothing.

Or you could pretend to have a sore throat, by wearing a scarf wrapped tightly round your neck.

Or something.

How about a written note: "Please copy this key for me"?

 

[Dachs]

He's a historian. Draw your own conclusions!

"Listen well. Everything I tell you is a lie. Every question I ask is a trick. You will find no truth in me. Though you believe nothing else, you may rest your faith on this."
-Vergere, to Jacen Solo, Traitor

 

[Borachio]

But that's an elementary paradox, provided you allow it to be self-referential, that is. And if you don't explicitly exclude self-reference, most people would assume it.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I never took philosophy at school. I went with science and history (but I gave up on that when it ended up being just about Nazis for three years), and they were the ones who went for RE, philosophy and ethics.

RE?

(That response was really meant for another question, but I didn't bother to get the quote)

But are you really saying you can't afford 1,5 bloody pounds?

 

[Borachio]

RE = Religious Education.

I don't think the money is the problem. But going into a shop and negotiating the service might be.

But Chukchi, you've mentioned before that you try to buy Christmas presents for members of your family. How do you manage that?

 

[Quackers]

Husky should just gtfo out of his comfort zone and get uncomfortable. Thats the only way he'll have the confidance to live his life.

Am I right Mr B?

 

[Borachio]

Oooh. I don't know, at all. In principle, I suppose so, yes. But sometimes little sure steps are best as well.

 

[shadowplay]

Are any nations known to have high levels of poverty but relatively low levels of crime? Or do the two pretty much always go hand in hand?

 

[Borachio]

Um. I'd guess it depends on how you define crime.

If it's the normal way of reported crime, as in a Western country, then I'd not expect to see much more "crime" in a poor country, simply because it's less likely to be reported.

On the other hand, the very poorest nation, Democratic Republic of Congo, has a very high level of social disorder because it's been in a state of civil war for the last twenty years or more. High rates of murder and rape and so forth.

I don't know how you might go about answering that question in a sensible way.

Here's the bottom 20:
1. Congo (Democratic Republic of the)
2. Niger
3. Burundi
4. Mozambique
5. Chad
6. Liberia
7. Burkina Faso
8. Sierra Leone
9. Central African Republic
10. Guinea
11. Eritrea
12. Guinea-Bissau
13. Mali
14. Ethiopia
15. Zimbabwe
16. Afghanistan
17. Malawi
18. Côte d'lvoire
19. Sudan
20. Gambia


Which of those look like they might have low crime rates?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't recall any specific examples, but I remember that the crime rate is correlated not the absolute level of poverty but with the inequality between the rich and poor. Countries where everyone is poor have much lower crime than countries where the majority is poor but a privileged minority is obscenely rich.

 

[Cutlass]

Are any nations known to have high levels of poverty but relatively low levels of crime? Or do the two pretty much always go hand in hand?

Up to a point they go hand in hand. But there is a lot of other factors in play as well. So it's a long way from being a 1 variable problem.

 

[Phrossack]

Bizarre Phrossack request: Are there any good English-to-Plattdüütsch online translators? Failing that, German-to-Plattdüütsch will work. Plautdietsch doesn't count.