雅威的烤面包机

I'll be going to China this Sunday, and I have a few questions and would be thankful for answers or websites that could help.

Where is the best place to exchange currency? Should I do it at the airport, or should I wait until I can get to a bank when I arrive in Beijing? Which would have better rates/fees?

When I eat at a restaurant, should I leave a tip?

I've been doing some self-study Chinese for about a year, so my reading and writing are pretty good. Unfortunately, my speaking and listening are still pretty bad. Since I'll be staying in the major cities, should I be able to get by with English and not-so-great Chinese? (We'll have a translator, but we also have some free time to wonder around a bit where this may come into play)

I've noticed at many Chinese run establishments in the United States use traditional characters over simplified. Why is that? Is it that the owners are from areas that still use traditional characters (Taiwan, Hong Kong), or that the traditional characters are more appealing, or some other reason?

I was at a Catholic wedding recently and there was a statue of a saint. It was a woman holding a cup, holding what looked like a bundle of wheat in her other hand, wearing a cloak, and possibly a very small crown or tiara (although it might have been a halo and that was the only way they could depict it on the statue).

What is the origin of the Atman, and why is it present within living things?

Why is life instilled with an Atman, or is the Atman just an aspect of life itself?

Why must an individual perform to his/her Dharma to better the Atman if it will just rejoin the samsara when the universe is reborn?

What's the difference between lacking a belief in the existence of gods and believing there are no gods that exist? I've seen many atheists, when faced with the latter, get defensive and vehemently state that the way atheism works is the former.

Is there any real difference between the two? To take the religious aspect out of it, it would be like arguing over which is correct: "I don't think I want cake," or, "I think I don't want cake." Is there a significant difference, or are some atheists just trying to be difficult for the sake of being difficult?

I've read that the verses in the Bible that are against homosexuality are simply mistranslations. Often, there are English examples given, usually from the King James Version. However, prior to English translations of the Bible, Italian poet and politician Dante Alighieri had written into "Inferno" that sodomites were in the third ring of the seventh circle- those who were violent against nature. While Dante shows them in a decent light, they are in the Inferno nonetheless. If the verses regarding homosexuality were mistranslated in English, how did an Italian of the first decades of the fourteenth century, working only with the original languages and Latin, obtain the idea that homosexuality was a sin to be punished in Hell?

I keep hearing that Jesus had to be born of a virgin so that he didn't inherit the sinful nature of mankind (apparently sin is a sexually transmitted disease).

If that was the case, why didn't Yahweh just use mud to create another perfect human? There would be no chance of sin sneaking in, plus it'd be an even bigger miracle. You see a lot of women who get pregnant after claiming to be virgins, but how many people have been seen created from dirt? It would be more time efficient, also. Right away, God would have had a full-grown man ready to save instead of having to wait for a nine month incubation period and another thirty years for him to get his act together. So why Mary? Why not another human made from dirt?

If the Genesis story were true, we should all have the same DNA. Eve was made from Adam's rib, and the only genetic information given to her as a result was Adam's. According to the Bible, we are all descended from these first two people, meaning there would be no genetic variation except for a handful of mutations which would not account for the amount of variation we see in humans today (especially in 6,000-10,000 years).

Have I stumbled upon a way to make Young Earth Creationism falsifiable?

While I suppose a finite punishment for finite crimes would make sense, what's the point of infinite torture and separation from Yahweh?

The punishment system in the real world is so that criminals not only pay for their crimes, but they are taken away from society so they no longer pose a threat.

If Yahweh separates the sinners from the rest of the bunch for eternity, what threat do the former sinners pose to the souls in Heaven?

Lamarckian evolution is the (incorrect) idea that an organism passes on characteristics it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring. Say a normal cat has kittens. The kittens are normal. Now cut the tail off of the cat. Lamarckian evolution proposes that all further kittens will be born without tails.

A few examples of Lamarckian evolution in the Bible:

Genesis 3:14 He cursed the serpent to crawl on its belly, and the serpent did as well as all of its offspring.

Genesis 3:16 He cursed Eve to a painful childbirth, meaning he made her an upright modern human (being bipedal is what causes painful childbirth because the pelvis narrows to bear the weight of our bodies. Also, our brain size makes for a larger skull to fit through the birth canal). So, Eve had a painful childbirth and now every woman after her does.

Genesis 30:37-39 If sheep and goats look at striped rods while mating, their offspring will have stripes.

I'm speaking legally, here in the United States. Are there laws in your state that keep you from practicing your religion (or not practicing any religion) freely? Do you know of any cases where people were ruled against because of religious beliefs? Were you not hired or fired due to religious discrimination? etc.

I'm doing a report on freedom of religion/freedom from religion. I'm not asking you to do the report for me. What I am asking for is a wider range of materials that I can use. You guys may bring up something I completely forgot about or had no knowledge of to begin with. I would appreciate your help.

It may not be Jewish, but it's the same deity.

And saying that the rapture hasn't happened in the past 1300 years isn't an acceptable answer.

What was that like? Did God/Jesus burrow into Mary's tummy like we've seen in so many B movies?

Was it a quantum leap on a massive scale?

Was Jesus a clone of Mary since God doesn't have any DNA (since he's not a physical being and all)?

And finish up with some bloody Marys so I won't remember my sins?

Religion is the only area of life that I can think of that this applies to and the only area that such requirements are to be respected and not criticized. In no other instances of which I am aware is personal experience without evidence enough to convince others of existence or happening.

Homosexuality, zoophilia, necrophilia....all within the last half hour.

Seems a little lopsided.

...what's the point of having a holy book?

Was death possible? Did they have to keep eating from the Tree of Life in order to stay alive? Could someone simply choose to stop eating from that tree and eventually die? If they did so, what would happen to them?

I've heard from some places that the jovial (gaseous) planets could be considered failed stars. If this is so, could their rings be considered failed planets? Is the way that the moons of the jovial planets are formed comparable to the way our solar system was formed?