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How Many Gods?

Correct me if I'm wrong but Jews and Muslims insist there is just one God. Christians, too, most of the time - other than that whole Trinity thing. I seem to recall that Christians used to kill each other for insisting that the Trinity is One vs Three.

The Greeks and Romans had a bunch of gods and goddesses. Ditto the Vikings. Hindus have a even more. And we haven't even touched upon the religions of Africa, North and South America, Australia. Nor the Baha'i, Buddhists, and others.

If you are a Christian, Muslim or Jew, you presumably believe that it wasn't always the case that there was only one god. Since why else would God have to insist that people have no other gods before him?

Note he didn't say there are no other gods. He didn't even say you can't have other gods. You just can't have any before him.

Which raises the question: what happened to those other gods? Are they still around? Did the True God kill them?
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Anyone ever use StockX for buying shoes?

I saw commercials for StockX. It seems to act like a stock exchange for buying and selling shoes.

I don't collect shoes, but there are some I'd like to have, to wear.

If anyone here has used it to buy shoes:
1) Are the descriptions (esp re: condition) accurate?

2) If it's a site for collectors, would I be a dick for buying a pair to wear and, presumably, ruin them? Or would I be helping them by reducing inventory and helping increase prices of the remaining pairs?

Thanks!

Surgeon dies in Israeli custody.

Someone explain to me again how this is just.


Transfer Portal Deadline Winners (IOWA, Maryland) & Losers (Minnesota). Approx. 2,000 entered the Portal!

If Tony Perkins was worth $400,000 on the open market, imagine what Owen, Josh Dix and Payton would have commanded. Hat tip to Fran for keeping these 3 important pieces.

Here are some excerpts from the linked story that says Iowa is winner at the portal deadline:

Outside of a few stragglers who waited until the last minute to get their paperwork filed, the college basketball transfer portal is finally, mercifully closed. That sound you just heard is college basketball coaches throughout the country exhaling. No more worrying or fretting about some last-second departures. The NCAA's new updated rule forces graduate transfers to hit the transfer portal by May 1, even if they are going through the NBA Draft process.

The tally of total transfers from the 2024 cycle will be finalized in the coming days, but it's flirting with 2,000 total names.

Let's dive into the winners and losers from the transfer portal deadline. Which programs kept key players and which programs lost key stars? We'll sort through all the additions later. This exercise is focused solely on retention. A few teams were able to keep some studs out of the portal. A few others were not so lucky.

Winner: Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa
was not immune to the transfer portal. Patrick McCaffery left for Butler. Second-leading scorer Tony Perkins bounced for Mizzou. Rotation guard Dasonte Bowen jetted off to St. Bonaventure.

But it could have been so much worse.

Iowa survived the transfer portal deadline without Josh Dix, Owen Freeman or Payton Sandfort tossing their names into the fray. Sandfort is currently going through the NBA Draft process. The 6-foot-7, 215-pound wing is one of the top pure snipers in the country, period, and heavy-hitters were strongly interested. Fellow NBA Draft prospects like Coleman Hawkins, Trevon Brazile and Cam Christie entered the transfer portal in the final hour to keep their options open. Sandfort did not. If he plays college basketball next season, it'll be at Iowa. That's enormous for Fran McCaffery.

Keeping Josh Dix and Owen Freeman out of the portal is just as significant. Dix is a midrange assassin who can get to his spots against anybody. The polished three-level scorer would've had a huge market, but he's primed for a usage rate bump without Perkins in the mix. The Big Ten didn't have many impactful freshmen, but Freeman was a major outlier. The 6-foot-10 center averaged 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 assists per game on his way to earning co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Iowa didn't have any semblance of rim protection until Freeman steamrolled his way into the starting lineup.

Iowa has plenty of hoops to jump through. It's still in the thick of it for UMass transfer Matt Cross to fill the frontcourt forward. It's still waiting to see Sandfort's feedback from the NBA personnel, but at least it knows Dix and Freeman are officially locked in for an important 2024-25 campaign.



Winner: Maryland Terrapins

Even after a highly disappointing, 16-17 season, Maryland has managed to keep both Julian Reese and DeShawn Harris-Smith out of the transfer portal.

That's enormous for Kevin Willard as he looks to get back on track.

There were rumblings around Reese potentially cashing in on a glitzy payday, but Maryland kept him locked in. Harris-Smith could've easily dipped for a fresh start after a freshman season that did not go to plan, both personally and from a team perspective. He's also sticking around.

Replacing Jahmir Young would've been hard enough. Being forced to replace an All-Big Ten point guard, an All-Big Ten big man and a top-30 freshman from the 2023 class would've been brutal.

Maryland avoided that worst-case scenario.


Loser: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Ben Johnson
helped Minnesota jump from No. 216 on KenPom after Year 2 to a respectable No. 76 after Year 3. The Gophers made tangible progress, and Tom Izzo remarked that Minnesota would be near the top of the Big Ten standings in 2024-25 if it kept its corps together.

That has not happened.

Starting point guard Elijah Hawkins transferred to Texas Tech in the final hour after initially announcing he was returning to the Twin Cities. Intimidating big man Pharrel Payne is off to Texas A&M. Rotation wing Joshua Ola-Joseph transferred to Cal. Isaiah Ihnen is going to Liberty, and Braeden Carrington is still in the transfer portal.

To make matters worse, prized freshman Cam Christie entered the transfer portal on Wednesday. Christie is going through the NBA Draft process, and the portal is on the back-burner for now. If that changes, Christie will be heavily recruited by anybody and everybody. The 6-foot-6 wing is a complete deadeye from downtown.

It's a grueling runout for Johnson. Instead of loads of continuity and potentially a Big Ten contender, Minnesota is forced to retool.


2 Questions for Christian Creationists

1. If God created life on Earth, why did he create a world in which 99% of the species that have ever lived on this planet have gone extinct?

2. If God created man from the dirt 6,000 years ago, why did he create man with vestigial parts like wisdom teeth, tonsils, and the appendix?

Serious questions. Not intending to be demeaning. Just curious if there are any good rationales for either of those two questions.

Thanks.
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Why do some people stink so bad?

Was on a plane yesterday and this guy got on and sat a row back and across the aisle from me.

When he walked by you could smell him, then when he lifted his arms to put his bag up, it was unbearable. Every time he moved it sent a wave of stink out like rays from the sun.

How the hell does someone smell that bad? And who smells that bad and doesn’t try to do something about it? Wouldn’t you at least wonder, “It seems like I’m the only one with rank BO…interesting!”

Do they simply not smell it?
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