Key

Yes, but depends on if the person is honest about it. Telling someone that it is an honorary degree doesn't make it the same. So, really, it is up to how the person presents or represents it, doesn't it? And in this day and age, an earned credential doesn't always present any more of an advantage than an honorary one unless it involves medicine, unfortunately. Anyone can claim expertise or knowledge of something if they are well read, until it comes to prove in practice. Trying to get something due to the sacrifice and service of others that one has not done themselves is "stolen valor".

Brutal and wonderful at the same time. Intriguing.

Yeah, Mark, I couldn't view it, either.

I see your view and concede that it may be true in a way. Or one might also view it as, a good will offering was made to the church, and another honor was bestowed upon by the church because of it. Having to pass a test was merely semantics. If I remember correctly, one could keep retaking the test until one passes as long as the original payment was made. So, you were pretty much guaranteed one anyway.

Rather unfair to me, as First Contact was mainly a Next Generation vehicle, so the original Star Trek characters were never the main focus of the story. If they had been, we would have had more development of their view and thus more screen time to enjoy.

Wonderfully done!

I haven't changed my password, but that's good to know. Thanks.

I view on my tabletop computer, and it only recently started doing this. I'm not too tech savvy to do the funky shortcut doohicky creating thing. But thanks for the input. At least now I know it wasn't just me.

Umm...why do I have to log in twice to view the forum? I click to the sign in button at the top of the forum page, fill in username and password and press enter, then another sign in screen pops up and I have to do it again.

My parents were raised Catholic. Sometime after they were married, (my dad was 20, and mom was about 16), they converted to Mormonism. I was never told the why of this. At some point my father was told by an elder, (don't really know what they were called in the hierarchy of their church), that he was to give up smoking and stop drinking Coca-Cola if he was to advance. Well, he was willing to stop smoking, but not the cola part. LOL Said he walked out of their assembly right then. He had said it was the part of them telling him what he could or could not do with something as simple as drinking soda that didn't sit well with him. They stopped going to any churches or assemblies after that. My mother continued to explore her mind a bit over the years via school and eventually computers. She has lately settled on the idea she is deist. Since my family stopped going when I was an infant, (the last of three), I would tag along to some Christian church/Sunday school with neighborhood friends growing up. There have been great blocks of time since where I would stop going, then feel like something would be missing and go back again. But never did I feel like I completely belonged, nor agreed with everything they would teach or try to moralize. I always had an open mind, greatly to the tolerance and acceptance of my parents. So, when I discovered the ULC during the demise of my first marriage, it opened doors enormously. I have always had an eager and intrigued head for psychological and religious subjects, always seeking to learn. I can't help but feel they really are merged, science and religion, without conflict somehow. Just not sure of the path there.

That is certainly one way to look at it. Most tend to see "skeptics" as debunkers or bullheaded non-believers, in my experience. They do have that right, but it also misrepresents the word to me. I think along the lines as you just expressed. Skeptics are just truth seekers, or theory testers, if you will.

Long winding blackened river Wheels revolve too slow Why is it called rush hour?

Hot breath, blowing fierce. Look up to see no dragon. Damn! Summer is here!

While I saw at the time the value in furthering my education and obtaining a beyond an Associates Degree, I also didn't want to be selfish in allowing my folks to have to take out a second mortgage to pay for it. I felt they paid and gave me so much already. Life has also taught me more than I knew then. So, while I regret not getting a "real" higher degree, I don't the toll it would have taken upon others, and upon myself.

Cool. Happy Birthday to Murph! I gift to you an item I have held and cherished for quite a while now. I present you my Unsanctioned Championship Belt!

The air is taken from me with no words to adequately describe the sadness I feel for this news. I greatly respected his contributions on this forum, and regret I never knew him outside of it. Peace be with you Atwater.

When you consider the remarkable feat that there was meticulous care taken in the construction of the stories and their spin-offs so as to avoid any conflicting history or details, yes, some readers do take the work seriously out of respect for all the serious work that went in there.

Ah, but collateral damage is the same for both and accepted, as well, to fulfill their agenda. Meaning, they either don't care or allow innocents to be harmed and/or killed by their act, as long as they eliminate their target. (Even if they don't achieve their goal, the method is accepted.)

He probably didn't understand the question. Trolls have limited capacity to rationalize.

Yep. Deep thinkers, aren't we? LOL

Pay the good will offering, read the material, then pass the test. Isn't that the accomplishment the degrees acknowledge, if nothing else?

That is a good comparison!

Now it shows up. (Using PC version most of the time, too.) Thanks.

Same could be said of the religious spectrum.

True. Fascist and Communist are often viewed as the same by those who oppose both, however. So any distinction between them may be lost, especially by the current generation, who in my interactions with them seem still clueless about WWII, as well. So sad.