http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1530
Here are some one liners...
Death by Boiling and the Vanity of Hate-Crimes -- King Henry the 8th wants poisoning to be made a crime of treason for personal reasons. I talk about the vanity of hate crimes when the days of the KKK are long past.
The Evil Saturday Flood -- 100,000 people in the Netherlands are wiped out. I talk about weather prediction and the New York snow storm of the century that never was.
The Lutheran Confession: By Faith Alone... -- Oh boy. Grab your hats. Here we go! Martin Luther submits a document to the Emperor that will become the foundation of the Lutheran Church. Then I pick one part of it and somewhat contradict it. Not entirely but frankly, most people are not technically minded so they won't notice. They'll think I dumped all over him when I didn't. Corrections welcome.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time -- They end up in the year 1530. Video games. I used to program them.
Death by Boiling and the Vanity of Hate-Crimes
Murder and attempted murder were once considered the same thing and thus judgement was simple and severe. Since that time, distinctions have been made. Normal murder is where someone actually dies and is punished by drawing, quartering and hanging. This year an additional distinction is made in English Law. If a person of sound mind murders another by way of poison, the punishment shall be death by boiling. It's a slow death and reflects the distaste that King Henry the 8th has of such a devious means of killing. He equates it with treason. In other words, he takes it personally. [1] [2]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
In the modern day the law demands a punishment that reflects the disapproval of society. Use of crack cocaine is punished more severely than powdered cocaine. Drunkenness by alcohol is punished differently than by marijuana. Your attitude counts too. Murder in the heat of passion is different from a carefully planned murder. However, a hate crime is judged on the assumption that if you show any evil intent then you are totally evil... like a radio with the volume off or full blast. No in-between. People have called me names, threatened me, but I never sensed that they hated me for my race or religion. They just wanted to get my goat. (FYI, I kept my goat.) My father suffered real racism. What I experience is the normal friction of society. I don't flatter myself that I suffer what my father did many years ago. In comparison, this is a cake walk. [3] [4]
In the modern day the law demands a punishment that reflects the disapproval of society. Use of crack cocaine is punished more severely than powdered cocaine. Drunkenness by alcohol is punished differently than by marijuana. Your attitude counts too. Murder in the heat of passion is different from a carefully planned murder. However, a hate crime is judged on the assumption that if you show any evil intent then you are totally evil... like a radio with the volume off or full blast. No in-between. People have called me names, threatened me, but I never sensed that they hated me for my race or religion. They just wanted to get my goat. (FYI, I kept my goat.) My father suffered real racism. What I experience is the normal friction of society. I don't flatter myself that I suffer what my father did many years ago. In comparison, this is a cake walk. [3] [4]
The Evil Saturday Flood
A massive flood carries away 18 villages and 100,000 people in the Netherlands. The St. Felix Day Flood or the Evil Saturday Flood left the town of Reimerswaal (Rye mer swal) as an island, mostly intact but useless. With the surrounding farmland gone, it became impossible to sustain the town and all attempts to reclaim the land are eventually abandoned. The work of centuries has been swept away. [5] [6]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
This wasn't the work of global warming or global cooling. It was just weather. Weather is chaotic and sometimes it's really, really bad. That is why we send up satellites and consult Doppler radar. But our best efforts can be thwarted by chance. Weather models predicted that New York City should have had the biggest snow storm in a century. The Mayor shut down the city. At the last moment the storm changed direction and they got almost nothing. I saw the coverage in New York. It was embarrassing to watch reporters with yard sticks measuring snow next to lamp posts... probably left there by snowplows. The news coverage switched to Boston where they normally get more snow. Weather is chaotic. Pay attention to the reports but don't bet the bank on them. [7] [8]
This wasn't the work of global warming or global cooling. It was just weather. Weather is chaotic and sometimes it's really, really bad. That is why we send up satellites and consult Doppler radar. But our best efforts can be thwarted by chance. Weather models predicted that New York City should have had the biggest snow storm in a century. The Mayor shut down the city. At the last moment the storm changed direction and they got almost nothing. I saw the coverage in New York. It was embarrassing to watch reporters with yard sticks measuring snow next to lamp posts... probably left there by snowplows. The news coverage switched to Boston where they normally get more snow. Weather is chaotic. Pay attention to the reports but don't bet the bank on them. [7] [8]
The Lutheran Confession: By Faith Alone...
The Holy Roman Emperor is still trying to settle this religious issue between the Catholics and the Lutherans so that he can get back to beating the stuffing out of the Ottoman Turks who were recently pounding at the gates of Vienna... too close for comfort. He calls for a gathering at Augsburg, but the Protestants are suspicious. Last year a meeting like this went south in a second. Instead of showing up, Martin Luther and several others submit a confession or statement of beliefs which will become an integral part of the future Lutheran Church. One major statement is that faith alone is the foundation by which a Christian attains salvation. This is in contrast to the Catholic belief that an infusion of good deeds, the sacraments and especially the Eucharist become part of ones body and mind and brings one to salvation over time. (Hope I got all of that right. Corrections are welcome.) [9] [10]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
These fundamental beliefs are tough to explain in a paragraph so please consult your local religious authority. Don't listen to what some guy on the Internet says. Now... the guy from the Internet says that if faith is the foundation of Christianity then how do you explain, "Faith without works is dead" from James 2:14-26. Luther seems to be saying that faith is the most important part of that pair. Do I agree with this? Well... certainly God's grace is sufficient for salvation. I'm counting on it, actually, because at this point, I've piled up so many sins that good works alone aren't going to cut it. Grace means: "a gift, freely given and undeserved." That means I didn't earn it. God is just giving it to me. Maybe I should ask politely but ultimately, the final decision is up to God. From a Jewish perspective it seems unfair to require faith in God for salvation. After all... if you don't believe in God, who is commanding you to do so? If you already believe in God, then what need is there for a commandment telling you to do so? I don't know the answer but I believe in God.[11] [12]
These fundamental beliefs are tough to explain in a paragraph so please consult your local religious authority. Don't listen to what some guy on the Internet says. Now... the guy from the Internet says that if faith is the foundation of Christianity then how do you explain, "Faith without works is dead" from James 2:14-26. Luther seems to be saying that faith is the most important part of that pair. Do I agree with this? Well... certainly God's grace is sufficient for salvation. I'm counting on it, actually, because at this point, I've piled up so many sins that good works alone aren't going to cut it. Grace means: "a gift, freely given and undeserved." That means I didn't earn it. God is just giving it to me. Maybe I should ask politely but ultimately, the final decision is up to God. From a Jewish perspective it seems unfair to require faith in God for salvation. After all... if you don't believe in God, who is commanding you to do so? If you already believe in God, then what need is there for a commandment telling you to do so? I don't know the answer but I believe in God.[11] [12]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are sent back to the year 1530! [13]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I'm speechless mostly because they renamed this game several times, tweaking the graphics and releasing it as a new game... and the public loved it! I used to program video games and I've done conversions from the arcade versions but I never did anything like this. I'd like to say that we had standards back then, but I can't without laughing.[14]
I'm speechless mostly because they renamed this game several times, tweaking the graphics and releasing it as a new game... and the public loved it! I used to program video games and I've done conversions from the arcade versions but I never did anything like this. I'd like to say that we had standards back then, but I can't without laughing.[14]
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