Darth Fluffy

If they were common, they should be; perhaps a separate facility.

NP Comic for Saturday, Apr 26, 2025 If Prince Cinder-Elliot is attracted to female Cinder-Tedd in the last panel, I'd assume he's hetero.

Shame, you missed one of the best episodes, in my opinion the best. A Starfleet antagonist wants to disassemble Data to better understand how he works. They hold a hearing on the Enterprise to determine if Data is alive. They conclude that he is, that he represents a potential new form of life. Similarly, the Borg, though biologically based, function as a culture through their extensive cybernetics. Can a machine be alive? It is possible that becoming more machine based is the next stage of evolution. Are we then still alive? What of the immortals in EGS? Are they alive? Are the fully biological? All the time? It appears that they can be biological, and oddly can mate with humans, but some Pandora sequences suggest this is not a constant. I'm not sure if sophont relates. How smart does life have to be to be life? Bacteria are alive, right? Granted, a hand crank device is not alive, so where to draw the line is vague. It doesn't seem like we're there yet. if Skynet starts hunting us, I think the issue becomes academic. 'Is a virus alive?' is another sticky wicket.

Would you have voted against Data at his trial?

How living vs nonliving Kevin the wonder stick is is debatable. Arthur called him 'life I've created'. He does not seem to have a physical metabolism, but he seems to embody a self aware AI, sometimes even aware of events outside his specific field of training. So he 'sleeps' for an interminable length of time, then activates when needed, levitates, speaks, and hears without evident mechanisms, and processes information and retains memories. Seems evident that within the EGS universe mythos, he is powered by magic (whatever that really means).

NP Comic for Thursday, Apr 24, 2025 - Now with Popcorn!

"OK, I got the wyrm, now let's go fishing!"

The point of the severance was to not be under the leadership of the crown. This implies that either they more rejoined than stayed, or that the Anglican Communion has it's own distance from the Anglican Church. However, religion of any stripe is full of anomalies and contradictions, so it really should not be surprising.

Reviewing the comic, I just noticed that Voltaire grew spikes out of his neck in the last panel. Channeling his dragon nature, I think? Curly hair might be more appropriate, because he's just a dick.

I suspect the first statement is very dependent on the second; I heard it years ago, the source may have been before the split. But yeah, if they are no longer counted as 'Anglican', I doubt they would be 'most numerous'. I learned something similar about Episcopalians. I attended a funeral, I believe last year, at an Episcopal church, and then returned for a visit. One of the people I talked to gave me a thumb nail history. The Episcopalian Church exists because during the American Revolution, any ties to England were seen in a negative light. So they broke away. Wiki on the subject. Churches in India established by Thomas. This is weirder than you might think. So is Thomas. He is known mostly for two events in the Gospels, both of which involve doubting; "I'll believe when I see proof." There is a whiff of negativity associated with him due to this within the Christian religious community. But the quote ascribed to Jesus about Thomas is, "Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile." In other words, he apparently saw Thomas as an honest man (and incidentally, per the narrative, was willing to provide the needed evidence). I take this to be a broad approval of anyone with a skeptical, yet honest approach (as opposed to the mountains of religious bullshit that is often spread around.) Job also talks about this at length; it is the central theme in his struggle with his three 'friends'.

I've heard that India has a lot of Roman Catholics. Whenever they have anything, they have a lot of it. They have a significant Christian segment of their population. The RCs are the most abundant Christians. Heard this bunch of stuff from a Pakistani woman who keeps abreast of these things. I've also heard (elsewhere) that there are more Anglicans in India than in Great Britain (going back to, 'whenever they have anything, they have a lot of it). They also have an indigenous Indian church credited to the Apostle Thomas, AKA 'doubting Thomas'. When the British invaded India, they were surprised to find there were already Christians there. They are also the main remaining location of Zoroastrianism; the proponents fled from Persia to India centuries ago. Of course, all dwarfed by the Hindu segment of their society.

The GM's closing comment is priceless.

That would be an interesting twist if the fairy godmother attends.

We'll have nun of this talk about being flat.

I think there's been four in my lifetime. I seem to recall one passing away when I was young, then the German guy took over in maybe the '80s, then Francis, so 4 so far and one pending. I wonder if Cardinal Secolla will be made Pope?