james_woods

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Posts by james_woods

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  8

  skepticism/ignorance are you one

  by skyman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the thread about the matorian fragment has reminded me that i need to study with an open mind and not post on a thread with a concussion already established i got lucky today because i almost did just that on the thread matorian fragment.

  we need to be opened minded, remember skepticism is a mask for the ignorant, we need to be skeptical which means to know topic we are skeptical about, we need to study with an open mind always and be willing to be wrong.

  i see so many here on this board that hide behind skepticism without knowledge and that is true ignorance.

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  james_woods

  I agree with TD...the healthy kind of skeptism is how we discovered that the Earth moves around the sun, that the universe is expanding, and that DNA is a double helix.

  The lack of such skeptism is what makes people soak in Radium Water to cure their joints, invest in pyramid schemes long past the critical loss point, and join religions like the WTB&TS.

  We had a little UFO scare years ago (while I was a witless) around Mustang, Oklahoma. Finally, the report comes out on the local TV station: A lady has called the news department. She says "I am not going to tell you who I am. However, I just caught my 12 year old son tonight in his football pads all wrapped in aluminum foil and he had a red light on one side of his helmet and a green light on the other. So I guess you can quit looking for the alien."

  James
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  50

  What do the British think of Camilla Parker Bowles?

  by unbeliever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw on the news this morning that the queen has invited camilla to a westminster abbey service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the queen's coronation.

  from what i heard this is a major deal.

  i know 2 people that are from england.

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  james_woods

  Well, to be truthful --- this got discussed among the young sales guys there in our London office on the Monday after. One of them explained to this Texas Yank that an English member of the Royal Family does a special sort of logic unavailble to you or I on these type of decisions.

  It works like this -

  NOW: Princess Di: young, widely regarded as one of the worlds most beautiful women, popular, mother of your kids...

  Now, lets see: Camilla - married, older, not widely regarded..., not really popular, could very well end up costing you the throne...

  So - um Di, Camilla, Di, Camilla

  OK then - Camilla!

  In the engineering part of my company this classic little story still has the title "The Prince Charles Decision". It is used to belittle any engineering plan which turns out badly. You just had to hear a native Englishmen in Sales Engineering tell it!

  James
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  50

  What do the British think of Camilla Parker Bowles?

  by unbeliever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw on the news this morning that the queen has invited camilla to a westminster abbey service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the queen's coronation.

  from what i heard this is a major deal.

  i know 2 people that are from england.

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  james_woods

  Post 100 for me, and I go find this weird old thread to waste it on!

  Anyway, I wanted to tell a Princess Di story. It just so happens that I was flying to London on business on the Saturday night of her accident. They did not announce it on the plane. I found out because I shared a booth on the train from Heathrow into town with an American couple who had come in on another flight; they saw it on the TV news. The news was still spotty and we kind of speculated that maybe she or the boyfriend was actually driving the car...

  Anyway, when we got in (Charing Cross station if I remember right) I got one of those black cabs and this driver slowly drove around that big circle in front of the palace. There were thousands of people there - the place was covered in flowers and the crowd was so orderly it was unreal. There was just total silence.

  I had all day Sunday by myself before going out to find our local office on Monday. It was just about the weirdest business travel day of my entire life - the place was like a freeze frame on a DVD player. On Monday, about everybody at our office (including our U.S. based CEO) was just sitting around the canteen and watching the news. Then we were off on Tuesday to Cologne, Germany on our customer visit.

  My British partner on the call, Ken Rowe, and I get a cab at the Cologne airport. It is, ominously, a great big Mercedes sedan. The driver pulls down into the connecting tunnel, accelerating to at least 140KPH. Ken and I kind of share a look - and we make a nervouse laugh. (Great, here we are in the back seat of a big fast black Mercedes doing about a ton down through a tunnel!) The excellent lady driver delivers us safely to the Ford plant and all is well.

  On the thread subject, I think the loss of the Princess was a great one. If Camilla can possibly create some sense of order and happiness in that weird realm - I say more power to her.

  James
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  6

  A Message for Dave/Seven006

  by wanderlustguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had this all typed out in a pm but after i thought about it, it's more fun to piss the guy off by saying crap like this in public...if you guys have never read his topics, you are missing out!.

  dave,.

  i'm sure you have plenty of messages, etc, but here's one more.

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  james_woods

  Great news to hear from you, Dave...

  Mine is black, too - 1996 Targa (last of the aircooled kind).

  Take care, YF James.
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  31

  Get a four door car...or else!

  by Dune in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm considering buying a car this year.

  i'm getting a really good offer for a 1994 ford mustang cobra for about $7500 (its been modified :-d ).

  and a black viper that a guy has been trying to sell me for weeks.

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  james_woods

  CAR THREAD!!! - i am sorry but I can't help myself:

  James - currently

  1995 Corvette ZR1 #401 out of 448 built that last year - black on black and under a car cover in my garage.

  2004 Corvette Z06 - black on black; backup ride.

  1996 Porsche Carrera Targa - black on black; daily driver.

  1999 Mazda Miata; old lady's wheels.

  When I was an unwilling Witless, I had first a 2 door hardtop Corvair Monza 4 speed. It was replaced with a 1969 Porsche 911T - and yes, I was given a little talking to on each.

  The girls in the old cong. liked them, though>>>
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  6

  A Message for Dave/Seven006

  by wanderlustguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had this all typed out in a pm but after i thought about it, it's more fun to piss the guy off by saying crap like this in public...if you guys have never read his topics, you are missing out!.

  dave,.

  i'm sure you have plenty of messages, etc, but here's one more.

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  james_woods

  When the bad news came a few days back, I looked up 006 posts and read through the whole Bethel thing. I certainly hope this fine gentlemen is still able to see the outstanding display of well-wishers and friends that have put these messages here.

  BTW; does anyone know what color that Porsche was?

  Best wishes, James
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  59

  Christians - Do you believe the flood occurred?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a bible believer, i accepted the flood.

  the frozen mammoths and seashells on mountaintops were "evidence", but the only needed proof was simply that the bible said so.

  as a christian, do you believe the flood story?.

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  james_woods

  I believe the rainbow is caused by a diffraction of light in the atmosphere under unusual meteorolgical conditions.

  I do NOT believe that the Mississippi River was dredged out by Paul Bunyan and his great Blue Ox.

  I also do NOT believe that you have to insist on scientific absurdities in order to (believe/not believe) in God or Christianity. Both have survived a great history of learning and enlightenment...after all, even the society is pretty hard pressed to tell us how they made the leap from 24 hours to 7000 years for the creative day.

  And, don't even get me started on flying saucer aliens building the pyramids.

  Your respectful but skeptical friend,

  James.
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  59

  Christians - Do you believe the flood occurred?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a bible believer, i accepted the flood.

  the frozen mammoths and seashells on mountaintops were "evidence", but the only needed proof was simply that the bible said so.

  as a christian, do you believe the flood story?.

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  james_woods

  Hi SeatleNiceGuy -

  I got that story from a very interesting book on the history of time chronology (beginning of time / end of time) by author Martin Gorst. The title is "AEONS - the search for the beginning of time". The ISBN is 1-84115-118-1 . It is published (2001,2002) by Fourth Estate - division of HarperCollins. Gorst is credited as author/director of a number of science programs for Discovery Channel.

  Address is 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB. They also show www.4thestate.co.uk -

  Note that this is also where I found that history about James Ussher and his date of October 22, 4004BC for creation of Adam. I put that story up on the thread a few days ago about Jesus birth 1/2 BC. This book is not really interested primarily in debunking the flood myth, but is mostly about how science and philosophy has had to adapt from the primitive Hebrew chronologies (including creative 24 hour days) and move forward to more credible timelines.

  It does, however include the 17th and 18th century failed efforts to find a strata of human remains from the flood, and the efforts to explain how there could possibly be enough water to cover all land. One prevailing theory of the time was that the earth was totally featureless - no mountains or valleys at all until after the flood. Otherwise the science of the day thought there was only about 1/8th enough water everywhere to do the job.

  It might be of interest to note that the great scientist Lord Kelvin insisted for all his life that the sun was "only" about 50 million years because he had no idea of nuclear fusion as its source of energy. He thought that the suns heat came from its gravitational attraction and calculated his date from that basis.

  So, the picture develops of ever-improving dating methods and processes; extending to subnuclear physics (decay of proton, etc) all the way to modern cosmology (big bang, expansion of universe, etc.).

  May I just also mention (as I am sure others have already) that reality should reveal that practically no species can be maintained with a starting breeding stock of only two individuals. Witness (sic) the California Condor or the Whooping Crane.

  Your friend, James
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  59

  Christians - Do you believe the flood occurred?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a bible believer, i accepted the flood.

  the frozen mammoths and seashells on mountaintops were "evidence", but the only needed proof was simply that the bible said so.

  as a christian, do you believe the flood story?.

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  james_woods

  The first Jesuit missionary priests to China (circa 1650) were just about laughed out of town because of their "bible" chronology - the Chinese had historical records showing their great civilization going way back before the accepted date for the flood.

  For example, their first emperor, Fu Hsi, was recorded to have begun his rule in 2952 B.C. which is about 600 years before the Hebrew date for the flood. The European churchmen arrogantly proclaimed that all Chinese records must have therefore been forged to make China look more ancient and powerful than it really was. So, the Chinese Jesuits began a search through the Chinese history for recorded instances of Solar Eclipse...these could really be verified by astronomy and validate or disprove the Chinese records.

  By 1729 they had found 26 provable solar eclipses that according to astonomical calculation fell on the exact day and time indicated by the Chinese authors. The earliest of these dated back to 2155 B.C., or only 250 or so years after the Hebrew date of the flood.

  This evidence, and other scientific facts, slowly caused it to become evident that the traditional Hebrew-based dates from the OT had to be at least "symbolic" if not just plain wrong. This formed the basis for the 17th century move to "natural philosophy". As the British Royal Society proclaimed by their motto "Nullius in Verba" - (take nobodys word for it)...
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  35

  Adam and Eve

  by GramblingMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  .

  can someone direct me to scriptures in the bible that show that adam and eve will not be ressurrected.

  i ask because my wife, who is a jw insists that this is bible base, yet she cannot provide me any scriptures.

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  james_woods

  Maybe I should get into the safer waters of this thread rather than that dangerous flood and creation stuff...

  A Question: I seem to remember back in the 60's a change in understanding over this-- either they decided Adam could MAYBE come back where they did not before or the reverse thereof...

  I also remember many oldtimers getting pretty much up in the air over this change; maybe as much as they should have been over the generation, the UN, or 75.

  Does anybody remember the real details of this?