Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

atlasobscura.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 313 posts

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#271

Post by Sabacak »

AStonesThrow wrote: post #70
egypturnash wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article really neglects to explain what an eruv is and why you would want it. Wikipedia's much more helpful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv Basically if you are an observant Jew then you are forbidden from doing work on Saturdays. There are some extremely specific rules about what "work" is. One kind of forbidden work is taking things outside of your house; the eruv symbolically turns most of the city into "h…

[flagged]

Fuck off with your antisemitic triple parentheses bullshit

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#272

Post by noworriesnate »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #182
focusgroup0 wrote: post #127

[flagged]

This sounds roughly like the sorts of criticisms Jesus would make of the ‘legalism’ of the Pharisees, by which I mean an excessive emphasis on external acts - going through the motions - to appear to obey the law while neglecting its spiritual purpose. A good example is where the Pharisees criticize Jesus for working on the Sabbath when he heals a man. Another is where the Pharisees bring an adulteress to Jesus, and…

No fault divorce if it’s initiated by the man was instituted by Moses in the Old Testament. There was no loophole involved.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#273

Post by AStonesThrow »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #240
AStonesThrow wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is a conversation to have with your confessor not with strangers in public. Or maybe you should draw a comic about it? addition for people coming later: this was a response to an antisemitic screed that the other user has since removed through editing.

[flagged]

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#274

Post by RankingMember »

asenchi wrote: post #267
RankingMember wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If God is truly good and omniscient, why would he intentionally create imperfect beings with the capacity for evil and then judge them for being imperfect? It's hard to see this story as one of some being of pure goodness instead of, rather, a character more akin to Jigsaw, trapping his creations in paradoxical or impossible situations for some unknown pleasure. Maybe we just have drastically different ideas of what…

God, who is referred to as love, created beings in his image to tend to his creation, and to be in a love relationship with him. He himself created out of a loving relationship (read up on his triune nature). Rather than make them automatons that simply do his will he wanted them to love him of their own will the same he loves them. You can understand his first command as "do this because you love me and trust that I…

> Rather than make them automatons that simply do his will he wanted them to love him of their own will the same he loves them. You can understand his first command as "do this because you love me and trust that I have your best interest in mind".

So he doesn't want automatons, but he does want unquestioning loyalty and trust? Is this not simply a distinction without a difference?

If someone we knew in our lives behaved like this with their children, we'd rightfully question what trauma occurred to make them this way. To create and then cast away those he created who did not act as he wished is the behavior of a control freak, not a loving god.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#275

Post by UltraSane »

bwestergard wrote: post #244
UltraSane wrote: post #72

I love how Orthodox Jews can't change any of their laws BUT they can and do change the definition of words to such an extent it accomplishes the same thing, such as changing eruv from meaning wall to wire.

Interpretation of a law can be very subtle without being merely a ruse to "find loopholes". The development of the religious law around eruvim strikes me as a series of common sense adaptations that took place to preserve an ideal in the face of changing historical circumstances.

Going from a solid wall providing actual privacy and access control to a completely pointless wire is NOT "common sense adaptation". It is negating the law while pretending you are still adhering to it.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#276

Post by Loudergood »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #212

couldn't they hook up some kind of low voltage or resistance check to confirm continuity. instead of a visual inspection. and This is pretty crazy loop hole.

Makes me curious to what the upper limit is.

Could they just do the entire island?

What keeps them from going around the entire planet?

Following that you could go beyond that and the loop would get shorter and cover more of the planet.

Theoretically you could then securely store it inside a safe and cover 99.9999* of the Earth.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#277

Post by david-gpu »

asenchi wrote: post #261
david-gpu wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, no. He didn't give us any option. God is all-powerful and all-knowing, so he made us knowing that we would break his rules and thus knowing that he would later punish us for eternity for breaking them. The notion of free will is in complete contradiction with an all-knowing all-powerful agent that sets things in motion. And the fact that God still punishes us even though we never had a choice is proof that it's n…

Except the God of the Bible picked all three. That is what makes it the greatest story ever told. :)

If you can't or won't see the contradiction, at least I hope you can enjoy the story, because that is all it can be.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#278

Post by asenchi »

david-gpu wrote: post #277
asenchi wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the God of the Bible picked all three. That is what makes it the greatest story ever told. :)

If you can't or won't see the contradiction, at least I hope you can enjoy the story, because that is all it can be.

If you can’t or won’t see the truth in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ I pray that it is revealed to you and you have life changing faith. Either way, be blessed in your day and week.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#279

Post by PessimalDecimal »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #104

Why not make a tiny 10cm wire at the north pole to do the entire planet? And bless the oceans for unlimited holy water. Anyone who goes to the beach is baptised.

In some sense, the existing wire is already that. But your question raises a great point: how was it established that Manhattan is actually on the _inside_ of this wire and not on the outside? Not very non-Euclidean to assume one way or the other.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#280

Post by PessimalDecimal »

gadders wrote: post #198
WJW wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An omniscient God can't be outwitted by stuff in the small print. If there's a loophole in the small print, God put it there on purpose. If anything, He would be delighted that some of his followers read the holy books closely enough to find some of the easter eggs that He put in there. The whole idea of "the spirit vs the letter of the law" is a secular one that came up as a result of imperfect human lawmakers. But…

I see. Thanks for the explanation. Does that mean the old testament is taken literally as well?

Isn't it interpreted literally to an extreme degree? For example, the injunction to not boil a kid in its mother's milk [1] has had a bunch of corollaries added going to extreme lengths to ensure this doesn't accidentally happen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_meat_in_Jewish_law#Ra...

Post reply on HN