Orion

Or is it only possible in living ones?

Sorcerer, mage, witch, warlock, shaman, wizard... these are all pretty generic terms, but from what I've stumbled across from looking up various mythological creatures, there are a lot of different, specialized types of magic across various cultures.

Veneficus (Rome), who poisoned and cursed people

Solomonari (Romania), who rode dragons and controlled the weather

Kitsune-tsukai (Japan), who took foxes as familiars and used the kitsune for various things

Onmyoudo (Japan), who... it's actually pretty complicated, they did a bit of everything

Tempestarii (Europe in general), who controlled weather 

Do any of you know of other types of magic users that have appeared in folklore and mythology? Not specific people, but categories?

Thanks.

When are there enough differences that something is considered to be a different species rather than a different breed or cultivar?

Grey wolves and red wolves are different species, but a dachshund and a Neapolitan Mastiff are only different breeds.

Dogs and wolves are capable of interbreeding as well, so it can't be once they become different enough that they can't reproduce with one another.

At what point is the line into a new species crossed?

My mother is in the final stages of heart failure. She was going to get an LVAD, but one of the medicines they would use during the surgery is something she has a bad reaction to (I'm afraid I don't know all the details about that), but the hospital denied her.

She's also just barely above what our local hospital acknowledges as acceptable BMI for them to give a heart transplant. But it is sort of hard to exercise to lose weight when your heart is in the process of quitting.

We're trying to go to other hospitals (which also happen to do more heart transplants per year than the 4 or 6 ours does), but they need to meet her before they agree, and are more than a state away.

This wouldn't normally be a problem (apart from even car rides exhausting her heart), but my step-father had to quit his job because his employers didn't like the amount of time he had to take off for my mother's frequent trips to the emergency room, and they denied him unemployment benefits. We're living off of disabilities' pay at the moment, and if our insurance won't cover the cost of places to stay for the visit, we simply can't afford to go.

Do you know which charities we could apply for to help? For the transplant itself there is one that will pay to fly her to the hospital since we're so far away, but there's still so much else that needs to be payed for, and our insurance is being extremely unhelpful.

My 3DS stopped turning on, so I've bought a 2DS XL; obviously, I want to transfer my memory, but the only advice I've been able to find on how to do so has told me to do a system transfer... but that requires my 3DS to actually work.

Can I borrow a friend's 3DS, but my SD card in it, and then transfer? Do I just need to do it through a computer, from SD card to micro SD card? What am I supposed to do? I don't want to lose all my progress in my games...

I'm building a gaming computer--unfortunately, I'm also just one step away from being computer-illiterate. Through long and difficult struggle I *think* that I've figured out the best parts for my needs... except for the motherboard and the chassis.

I've no intentions to do any overclocking.

The parts I've decided on so far are listed here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/B6fT9W

There's a few things I also don't understand when it comes to finding a motherboard, relating to the CPU and RAM. The Intel i5-7500 processor says that it supports two-channel DDR4/DDR3L; does this mean that it wouldn't accept the DDR3 RAM I was hoping to get? If the CPU supports that and I get a motherboard that only supports DDR3, will that cause problems? Do I even need DDR4/DDR3L, or are those just overkill? Is this even something I should be worrying about?

I know I want an ATX motherboard with a LGA1151 socket, but picking out a motherboard seems more complicated than choosing the other parts has been. Can you help me pick one out?

(help with the chassis would be appreciated, as well).

Thank you for any aid you can provide.

They don't literally mean literally, not anymore than someone saying "it's raining cats and dogs" is saying that the sky is filled with falling furry mammals. Metaphors aren't supposed to be taken literally; just because literally is part of the metaphor doesn't mean it stops being a metaphor.

They're just literally using literally metaphorically.

We've had this dog for a long time, and she's getting old--and has tumors and hip dysplasia, which generally speaking are pretty bad for dog longevity. We've decided to get a new dog BEFORE our current one dies, to avoid Replacement Goldfish Syndrome.

When we got the dog from the shelter, he was described as being much less active than what we ended up with, who seems to have had all his bodily fluids replaced with caffeine. Two people in our family suffer from heart failure, 3 (including one of the above) from crippling migraines, and the only person who's mostly healthy is gone most of the day. And our new dog is much more active than our older dog, and twice her size (she also doesn't "get" playing--she just wants to get petted, eat, and sleep). No one is able to give our new dog as much playing as he wants (although we do play with him, take him for walks, etc... I think he has all he *needs*, but definitely not all he wants. And he's very loud about telling us that).

So I had an idea, but I need another opinion on it in case I'm missing something. Would getting a third dog--one about the same size as this one, and one who actually likes to play--be a good idea? Dogs normally play with each other, so they'd bleed off a lot of energy with one another, wouldn't they?

We all know that nuclear explosions aren't necessary to make a mushroom cloud, but what is the smallest size of a blast that you'd need to create one? How tiny of a mushroom cloud can there be?

In short, is it possible to have a portable mushroom-cloud creating weapon a la Mass Effect or Borderlands?

I know y'all'll (you all will), y'all's (you all's), I'd've (I would have), and a few others, but I don't know of a word consisting of four or more contracted into one.

I've recently been advised that I need to get a VPN to keep myself safe online (which is the first time I've ever heard this). I spend a lot of time using public wifi in hospitals, airports, and hotels; is a VPN important enough that I should start shelling out money for one?

Looking through some anti-malware advice I see a lot of different (free) programs that the writer of the column suggests using together, which look rather specific in what they're supposed to do.

However, when looking specifically for the best (free) anti-malware and anti-virus protection, the suggestions were overwhelmingly about just a small number of programs that, as far as I can tell, are broader in scope (in this case I've gone with Malwarebytes and Avast).

Are the numerous smaller programs necessary to keep my computer safe?

Nothing showed up on the tv screen when I plugged the console in (although I could hear it just fine). After searching through other people's problems, it looks like I need to lower the resolution on the console.

Unfortunately, this requires going to the system settings... which requires a gamepad. Without seeing the order of symbols on the tv screen, I cannot synchronize the gamepad. I can't fix either problem because solving either of them requires that the other be solved already.

Should I just wait until I can go to the house of someone with a better tv, or is there a way to work around this?

If you had a small, completely empty box, and then shoved a *lot* of neutrons in it without any protons or electrons, what would an amount of neutrons so thick that we could see it it look like?

Hi.

When I'm online I occasionally (for no reason that I can tell) get tabs opening to two of the following:

http://spi.spdyhost.net/scn/rew.php?id=sct300

http://spo.spdyhost.net/scn/rew.php?id=sct300

http://spi.spdyhost.net/scn/rew.php?id=sct160

http://spo.spdyhost.net/scn/rew.php?id=sct160

I'm running an antivirus software, but so far it hasn't found anything. I tried looking for other people who have the same problem, but I only found one site mentioning it and it didn't tell me what to do. Could you please tell me what this is, and what I'm supposed to do to fix it?

I'm not certain if this is useful, but I have Windows Vista Ultimate, and my processor is Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz 3.00GHz

I'm using Mozilla Firefox 29 as of yesterday, but the problem began a bit before that.

Thank you.

So, Cleverbot apparently collects information from all of its conversations with people and uses the experience from all those chats when it makes decisions on what to say.

The information from all of us online who talk with it.

Just how ridiculously huge is the number of people who get onto Cleverbot just to type in nonsensical replies to see what the AI will spew back? It has to make up a pretty significant amount of its conversations. So, if its using the BS human replies from those conversations to define how it should behave in the future...

Doesn't that mean we've driven that machine hopelessly mad?

A question from an American.

... Actually, are dog biscuits called that because they're biscuits for dogs in the U.S. sense, or the British sense? That might make my first question completely unnecessary.

I've noticed that Christianity seems to follow certain parts of the Bible, but then ignore other parts. I'm pretty certain that a lot of you have had these thrown in your face before, but I've never gotten a satisfactory answer as to why.

If you don't do it because they aren't moral, then why do you follow the book that espouses doing these acts? The Bible states that God is the same throughout all of eternity, unchanging, so the Bible--His Word--is unchanging as well. And whatever God says is good, is good--that's why he could tell the Israelites to murder all their neighbors and rape their women.

If you don't do it the worst parts are in the Old Testament, Jesus states many times that the Old Testament must still be followed.

If you don't do it because they're illegal, then aren't you a shallow follower of your God? I believe it is said somewhere that the law of God is higher than the law of man.

If you argue that the verses must be taken in context, and we must consider the author's intent and the changing times--then isn't that just shaping the Bible for your own ends? If part of it is hogwash and the rest is perfectly fine, then it isn't all that holy, is it--humans aren't meant to be editing the Word of God, after all. And doesn't that mean that parts of it that some try to project have a less solid stance (like anti-homosexuality), since they come from a book where its own followers don't follow the laws written out within it?

On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on that day, shall be put to death. You shall not even light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. (Exodus 35:2-3)

If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

"If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her." Deuteronomy 22:28-29

"Suppose a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. In such cases, the father and mother must take the son before the leaders of the town. They must declare: 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a worthless drunkard.' Then all the men of the town must stone him to death. In this way, you will cleanse this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid." (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

"If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst." (Deuteronomy 13:7-12)

All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9)

A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27)

Women should listen and learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. (1 Timothy 2:11-15)

As in all the churches of the holy ones, women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church. (1 Corinthians 14:33-35)

But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye – even if it is your good eye – causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand – even if it is your stronger hand – causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (Matthew 5:28-30)

Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. (Luke 16:18)