Thanks Penelope, I'm glad there's still discussion to be had here! I'm 33, married at 19 into an abusive excuse for a marriage neither based on love nor lust, but rather fear and mental exhaustion. The first years of separation from my first husband were incredibly intense, learning to stand on my o...

Well I've made it just exactly this far, and have happily read through the discussion for part 1. It feels old now, so I suppose I should just keep reading. I can't see the fun in that so I'm going to participate on an old thread anyway. I don't find Jean Louise to be remarkably immature, in fact I ...

Fantastic! I dig absorbing and fast. Maybe I'll just start with Scalizi, check out Hamilton, and work my way back around to Stephenson. I got stuck in a non-fiction phase for the better part of a decade, and then I didn't read anything at all for a few years so it's great to have something of a star...

I haven't read much sci-fi, so my palate for it is certainly underdeveloped. "Pushed out" is a good descriptor for what I felt throughout much of the story, though I can't say it was the passive prose that did it. It was more likely the page after page after page of dry manual. It is possi...

Looking for Stephenson readers to tell me which of his works I should read next, if I so choose to take that great leap of time to do so. I rather enjoyed "Seveneves." I could've done without the great technical details but they were easy enough to skim over and added an air of believabili...

It's only been five years or so since I was here.... HI! Consider this message an intent to participate. I've got to visit the library tonight (and I'm pretty sure I owe them a fair deal of money) or else dust off and charge my kindle. I've rather needed some decent discussion in my life lately. Tha...

"Do you feel the chill. Let Grandma stand on the bus, it might save us the 'difficulty' of denying her treatment later." ~Stahrwe.

Interesting. How you feel about abortion? Better yet, how do you feel about government funded abortion?

If any of this were true, I would say that Jesus did not have to die. I would say that god could've found another way in all of his inifinte power to save his creation.

If god provides you with mental and emotional support it is only because you have created him to do so.

Please remember the eternal nature of god if/when you reply to me over in that "is the bible true" thread.

Before you go trying to say that god wouldn't ever tell any one to kill ...allow me to remind you of the following: Anyone arrogant enought to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the lord your god must be put to death. Deut 17:12 You should not let a sorceress live. Ex 22...