All summer, I've been trying to wade through the first 100 pages of Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale. In between that, I've read Mike Resnick's Santiago;
<br>Ursula LeGuin's The Lathe Of Heaven;
<br>and the last 40 pages of Intelligent Thought: Science Versus The Intelligent Design Movement, ed. by John Brockman.
<br>I've also been thumbing through the Nebula Awards Showcase 2007, which mostly sucks, so far, although I really liked "Identity Theft" by Robert J. Sawyer.
<br>I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which I loved, but it was very dark.
<br>The most recent mags sitting around that I've barely looked at include the summer 2007 issue of Ms.(http://www.msmagazine.com/);
<br>Skeptic Magazine, vol.13, no.2, which I purchased for its terrific cover (http://www.skeptic.com/news_images/news_magv13n2_cover.jpg);
<br>bitch magazine
<br>(http://www.bitchmagazine.org/read.shtml);
<br>and Scientific American Reports special ed. on Child Development
<br>(http://www.sciam.com/special/toc.cfm?issueid=51&sc=singletopic)
Madame Quixote
JoinedPosts by Madame Quixote
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52
What are you reading?
by Hortensia init's rather quiet on the jwd forum tonight - probably you are all out partying, eh?
i'm wondering what's in the pile of books by your chair or bed?
i have a couple of mysteries, robert barnard's newest one and a really old arthur upfield.
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Madame Quixote
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25
Letter for my daughter as she leaves...
by Confession inmy precious chelsea,.
this friday you will be twenty years old.
this thursday we will be moving you from the home in queen creek to your dorm in phoenix.
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Madame Quixote
You are so lucky to have each other! What a lovely letter, Confession! Congratulations and best wishes, Chelsea, in all your endeavours!
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33
wedding invitation revoked
by jeanne40love ini have been associated with jw's since birth.
i raised my kids in the religion....thinking it was the only way.
recently, my daughter (who was baptized at 15 she is 24 now and has since stopped attending meetings, has been in a relationsip with a man and now has a newborn baby) was invited to a witness wedding and subsequently uninvited b/c she could possibly stumble the jw's who would be attending,since she has had a baby with a non witness and is not married.. .
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Madame Quixote
Welcome, Jeanne40love. Sorry to hear of the miserable behaviour of your family and their spiritual leaders. Onthewayout has some very interesting insights!
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12
A Bunch Of Nekkid People Promoting Climate Change Awareness
by Madame Quixote inhttp://www.swissinfo.org/eng/top_news/detail/volunteers_strip_off_to_fight_climate_change.html?sitesect=106&sid=8116840&ckey=1187592547000&ty=st
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20
Just got off the phone with my mom and I feel weak from the emotions.
by kitten whiskers innothing major happened, i have just noticed that she doesn't say she loves me anymore.
i used to find it annoying.
i always felt like she only said it to guilt me into having to say that i loved her.
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Madame Quixote
Kitten Whiskers - Your mom is probably a sick person. She doesn't believe she deserves a daughter as good as you, maybe. I wish she did not treat you that way. I noticed a few years back when I was still trying to have contact with my own family that my own sister refused to respond to my, "I love yous," and would end the conversation as quickly as possible. I have not heard "I love you" from her in years, either. It is hard to deal with this. I just stay away from all contact with them now because it is better for my own well-being. I don't know what works for you, but whatever you do, I hope you can find some peace, solace, and comfort. Hugs! You deserve to have a loving mom! Whatever she does, it is not, nor never was, about you. Her meanness is about her, and her unhappiness existed before you ever came along. She is unhappy with herself and you are some kind of scapegoat or something. I believe that is what most human meanness is about - someone being deeply unhappy in themselves, and blaming and scapegoating another.
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57
How ethical is it to sow DOUBT in the minds of sincere Jehovah's Witnesses?
by nicolaou inwe know that we can't always take the direct approach and we know that even a short, reasonable discussion is often out of the question with jw's we may love dearly so we often try to place a little doubt in their minds.
we want them to start questioning cherished beliefs.. is this fair of us?
are we placing our our own agendas ahead of their needs?
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Madame Quixote
How ethical is it to infantalize others? Just tell the truth; sometimes it falls on deaf ears anyway, but at least you give credit where it's due by offering the facts.
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Moshe visits a KH today- did he walk out or was he thrown out?
by moshe ini walked in about 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting- i sure looked like an unusual visitor wearing my best jeans a golf shirt and my yarmulke.. the first brother who approached me was an slighly built late middle age guy- he gave me a big hello and extended his hand.
i pulled out my 'end of false religion tract' and showed it to him.
"did you put this in my door?
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Madame Quixote
Next time you do this Moshe, please, please, please, film it and post it on youtube! That was great. I only wish I could actually see the backpedaling on camera, and hear the tones of voice! Beautiful!
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106
REALLY Think about it before you post
by avidbiblereader inthere is a lot of threads going back and forth both ways, almost like a battle line has been drawn between believers and atheists.
however, let's just say for the sake of argument, that all religions including the witnesses, are wrong but the bible in itself is right.. everything that it has foretold is going to happen and just as god told noah, in 7 more days i am going to make it rain, but this time he now speaks to all of us and says in just 7 more days i will wipe the earth clean of all those who have or are revolting/disagree against me.. how would you react then?
how would you live your next 7 days?
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Madame Quixote
""Avid, I think you are still moving within the JW framework for the issue" No, this was a hypothetical to get minds thinking, no one knows what the next 7 days will bring or even the next 7 minutes. It was a matter, when the END or OUR END comes, which could be any second. Are we content with our relationship God, or would we really blaspheme God and curse Him out? My thinking is so far from JW's, no one in my entire area is hated more by the Witnesses than me, after 6 1/2 years out, I am still the constant subject of gossip, slander and used as meeting parts of the former elder who it the worst apostate and even out right lies. Trust me, I dont know how you can be hated more by the witnesses, I have people literally run out of stores at just my presense in stores/restrurants, this is not an isolated or one time event. Funny thing is, I dont curse, never been in a fight, I am totally non confrontational, say hi to them in kindness, have tried to just talk to them without being rude. Funny how people can allow slander and lies to mold their thinking. Oh, well I pray that God forgives them. abr"" You say you hate them in one breath, and then say you pray forgiveness for them in the next. If God is so all-loving and all-knowing and all-powerful, then why does he allow you to hate those you claim to pray for?
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106
REALLY Think about it before you post
by avidbiblereader inthere is a lot of threads going back and forth both ways, almost like a battle line has been drawn between believers and atheists.
however, let's just say for the sake of argument, that all religions including the witnesses, are wrong but the bible in itself is right.. everything that it has foretold is going to happen and just as god told noah, in 7 more days i am going to make it rain, but this time he now speaks to all of us and says in just 7 more days i will wipe the earth clean of all those who have or are revolting/disagree against me.. how would you react then?
how would you live your next 7 days?
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Madame Quixote
"If rulers, goverments, dictators, military men of higher rank, all have the right to tell someone how to act or there are consequences, does not God reserve that same right? abr" That's because we have a social contract with the governments. We don't really have one with god, except for the imaginary ones.
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106
REALLY Think about it before you post
by avidbiblereader inthere is a lot of threads going back and forth both ways, almost like a battle line has been drawn between believers and atheists.
however, let's just say for the sake of argument, that all religions including the witnesses, are wrong but the bible in itself is right.. everything that it has foretold is going to happen and just as god told noah, in 7 more days i am going to make it rain, but this time he now speaks to all of us and says in just 7 more days i will wipe the earth clean of all those who have or are revolting/disagree against me.. how would you react then?
how would you live your next 7 days?
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Madame Quixote
ABR: "Remember, He is God and He can do whatever wants and no feat is to big, Remember, as God, He can get in direct contact with your mind and let you know personally what you/we would need to change. respectfully,abr" Then he really doesn't need any one to speak for him, does he?
