(Prof)Hacking the ultimate word processor

We have very similar ideas of Techno-bliss! If you want to easily add formatting, you might explore the Markdown functionality of the app you’re using a little more. I’ve been experimenting with using Markdown plain text files and then exporting them to Rich Text Format files using Pandoc, a command-line tool that is fairly easy to use once you get it installed. The Markdown syntax itself is very easy to understand and use. For example, if you want to italicize a word, you simply put an asterisk on either side of it. You save the file with Markdown syntax as a plain text file. Then, in conversion to RTF, or whatever other file format you want, Pandoc will then transform these asterisk-bracketed strings into italic text. MultiMarkdown might also be worth exploring for similar reasons.

The program saves only to .txt files? That’s not a “word processor,” it’s a “text editor.”  And while it might work for techno-geeks who write code, it’s utterly useless for many of us in academia. With the exception of email, virtually everything I write requires formatting. And not just the basics — font, type size and spacing — but also things like footnotes, headers, and footers.

If there’s a program out there with real, robust formatting capabilities, please let us know.

This text editor is supercool. Highly recommend.

Gee, pmckechn’s comments sound very much like:
“Your kind aren’t welcomed here.  Go somewhere else.”

That’s the same argument used to describe why “coloreds” shouldn’t be concerned about the different drinking fountains, all-white communities, separate graveyards, different schools (oops – maybe I’ve hit too close to home!).  It’s the same arguments used to prevent Jews from joining country clubs.  

“Separate but equal”.  How legal is that?  How ethical is that?  How moral is that?  

As I said above to mam5mc… You do not seem to have an accurate understanding of the old law versus the new law. Not everything in the Old Testament carries over to the New. However, whether you or I agree or not, homosexuality is clearly a sinful act based on both the old and new testaments.

First, “homosexuality” is not addressed in the Bible because sexuality is a psychological disposition, and the Bible only addresses behaviors, not internal attitudes. 

Second, it is interesting that the Hebrew Bible only addresses sex between men (never sex between women), and the only reference in the Christian Bible that MIGHT address sex between women is a vague statement about “women giving up natural relations with men for unnatural ones.”  However, Paul (the author of that statement in Romans) was so rooted in the Torah that this is probably a reference to Levitical law that bans bestiality (not lesbian acts).

Third, Paul’s use of “natural” and “unnatural” appear to connote social convention, not something biologically innate in all humans.  He wrote to the Corinthians that long hair on men was “against nature” (kata phusis).

Fourth, the interest in male homosexual behavior is related to the patriarchal culture of ancient Israel and early Christianity.  That a man would “womanize” himself was unacceptable in that society.  Interesting factoid: The Egyptian army would “sodomize” the defeated enemy soldiers as an act of power. 

Fifth, the word translated as “abomination” in Leviticus (to’evah) actually refers to ritual uncleanliness.  Some scholars suggest that the word ought to be translated “icky.”

Finally, there are many items of “conventional wisdom” from the ancient world that we now understand more fully and can correct.  For many centuries parents accepted the proverb, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”  We now know that physical punishment is a very poor means of discipline.  Conventional wisdom for most of our history held that men freely chose to engage in sex with other men.  (Second interesting factoid: In matriarchal societies sex between women is strictly prohibited with sex between men is ignored.)  We now know that homosexuality is not a choice, and that knowledge requires us to reevaluate our historic stance.

None of these points are relevant if one believes that the Bible is THE WORD OF GOD.  If Messiah College takes that position, then their discrimination becomes understandable.  Whether it is ethical is another question.