Anony Mous, I stopped driving a car many years ago, due to safety reasons (driving often made me too worried that I would get into an accidents, and I had some accidents from driving and I didn't want anymore). Regarding the foods I eat, I have moved increasingly to healthy plant-based diets, in an effort to have a longer life than what otherwise likely be the case. I am striving to live to past 100 years old (aiming for 120 years though knowing I very probably won't reach that age). I take multiple nutritional supplement. I also never smoked anything and only rarely drank alcohol. Now I don't drink alcohol at at (it tastes nasty to me every time I tried it anyway, except when fruit juice was included in it.) Since I started getting flu shots (free of charge at my place of work) I haven't had any flu or cold symptoms. I think my wearing masks, and social distancing, is also protecting me from catching the cold (such as on public transportation), though I probably will catch the cold eventually - but when I do catch it the viral load will likely be much lower than in the past. If the viral load is load, then cold will likely be less severe than if the load wasn't low. I have noticed that even prior to Covid-19 a number of people in some Asian countries wore masks in public. I think that is a smart move and now it is my custom also.
Disillusioned JW
JoinedPosts by Disillusioned JW
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Oregon to go permanent on face masks. More will flood out of the communist state.
by mickbobcat inthe liberal idiots and useful fools who follow are going and going and going.
now they are trying to make masks permanent.
at some point people are going to revolt.
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Disillusioned JW
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Why some are religious or not?
by Vidqun intime article: several years before pope francis became pope of the catholic church in 2013, psychologists began to debunk the idea that being more educated meant a person was less likely to be religious.
instead, a new social psychology theoryone that had little to do with education levelarose.
according to dual process theory, people are either deliberative or intuitive when they make decisions.
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Disillusioned JW
pistolepete, I've haven't paid even a penny for my Covid-19 vaccine doses, other than perhaps indirectly in income taxes (and even that is unlikely considering the current tax structure in the USA). In the USA the Covid-19 vaccines are administered at no charge to the public - the federal government is the one paying for them. The government (starting with the prior president's administration and continuing into the government of the current president's administration) said the reason is keep the cost down for the government and to get the vaccines to the people quicker.
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Oregon to go permanent on face masks. More will flood out of the communist state.
by mickbobcat inthe liberal idiots and useful fools who follow are going and going and going.
now they are trying to make masks permanent.
at some point people are going to revolt.
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Disillusioned JW
I know Oregon very well; it is not a communist state. I love that state. You are correct though in saying the state has now decided to make the indoor mask mandate permanent (in the sense of 'for the foreseeable future'). I voluntarily wear a mask at all times when outside of my home, except when eating and drinking. Even if Covid-19 eventually no longer becomes a problem, I intend to wear a mask for years when around other people (even if no law requires me to do so or urges me to do so), in order to reduce the likelihood of me catching an infectious disease of any kind.
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Why some are religious or not?
by Vidqun intime article: several years before pope francis became pope of the catholic church in 2013, psychologists began to debunk the idea that being more educated meant a person was less likely to be religious.
instead, a new social psychology theoryone that had little to do with education levelarose.
according to dual process theory, people are either deliberative or intuitive when they make decisions.
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Disillusioned JW
I agree that if a person (at least in the USA, I don't know in regards to other countries) gets a health problem after being vaccinated with a Covid-19 vaccine, that person has no legal recourse against the manufacturer of the vaccine. That is because the USA federal government (since 2020) has decreed that those manufacturers can't be sued in regards to those vaccines. That is something which disturbs me. -
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Science news articles supporting biological evolution, including by discoveries of fossils
by Disillusioned JW in"a billion-year-old fossil of an organism, exquisitely preserved in the scottish highlands, reveals features of multicellularity nearly 400 million years before the biological trait emerged in the first animals, according to a new report in the journal current biology by an international team of researchers, including boston college paleobotanist paul k. strother.." see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/528947 and https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/billion-year-old-fossil-reveals-missing-link-evolution-animals for details.. the first article listed above says the following.. "the microfossil, discovered at loch torridon, contains two distinct cell types and could be the earliest example of complex multicellularity ever recorded, according to the researchers.
the fossil offers new insight into the transition of single celled organisms to complex, multicellular animals.
modern single-celled holozoa include the most basal living animals and the fossil discovered shows an organism which lies somewhere between single cell and multicellular animals, or metazoa.".
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Disillusioned JW
"Australopithecus sediba Comfortably Walked on Two Legs, But Could Climb Like Ape" - see http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/australopithecus-sediba-locomotion-10301.html . The article says in the part the following.
"The discovery also shows that like humans, Australopithecus sediba had only five lumbar vertebrae."
'The authors concluded that Australopithecus sediba is a transitional form of ancient human relative and its spine is clearly intermediate in shape between those of modern humans (and Neanderthals) and great apes.
“Issa walked somewhat like a human, but could climb like an ape,” Professor Berger said.'
See also https://theconversation.com/fossil-spine-suggests-ancient-human-relative-walked-like-us-but-climbed-like-an-ape-172966 . The scientist who is the lead author of the science journal article article (at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.27.445933v1.abstract ) about the new fossil find for the species says the following.
"To approach A. sediba’s evolutionary relationship to other hominins, character-based analyses of the whole body are needed, and we’re getting more and more of A. sediba every year. Given what this and other research has shown, I think it’s a candidate for a close relative of the genus Homo. Hopefully Issa’s skull was not destroyed by miners: recovering that and other body parts from both her and Karabo will go a long way in resolving the debate."
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Why some are religious or not?
by Vidqun intime article: several years before pope francis became pope of the catholic church in 2013, psychologists began to debunk the idea that being more educated meant a person was less likely to be religious.
instead, a new social psychology theoryone that had little to do with education levelarose.
according to dual process theory, people are either deliberative or intuitive when they make decisions.
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Disillusioned JW
Vidqun, while searching for news articles about science in the USA a moment ago I found an article which supports to some degree your concerns about Covid-19 vaccines causing blood clots (though it says the blood clots are rare). It pertains to the AstraZeneca vaccines and possibly to the Johnson & Johnson vaccines, since those vaccines use an adenovirus as a helper virus. It does not pertain to the Pfizer vaccines and Moderna vaccines since they don't use a helper virus. The vaccine I had was the Moderna one and I chose it because I thought it was the safest, including in regards to risk of getting blood clots. A person from the Human Resources department at my place of work told me that hardly any of the workers in our company took the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (or any one-dose vaccine). The AstraZeneca vaccine is not approved for use in the USA, but it is allowed to be exported from the USA (see https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-august-6-2021#:~:text=The%20AstraZeneca%20vaccine%20is%20not,be%20exported%20for%20use. ). That means nearly all of the workers at my place of work had either the Pfizer vaccine of the Moderna vaccine, and when I asked some co-workers which one they took, they either said Pfizer or Moderna, with only a couple or so saying Johnson & Johnson. I notice you said that J&J and Pfizer were the vaccines offered in your part of the world. The article I read is from the New York Times and thus I probably can't post a link to it, though I see nothing in its content which I think can be construed as liberal. I am not sure if I am allowed to state the title of the article on this site, but the article is dated Dec. 2, 2021. The NYT article has a link to a science journal article about the findings at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl8213 . -
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I have come to the conclusion that a lot of JWs don't care if the end is near.
by mickbobcat ini was in the cult for years about 40. fourth gen born in cult member or for me ex cult member.
i have seen so many cult members who don't seem to really care if the end is near or not.
they are much more concerned with the idea that this is their social network and they need and or want it just the way it is.
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Disillusioned JW
The prior two posts remind me that back in the 1990s and/or 1980s I asked why does the WT Society keep on building more more buildings for their headquarters, since they teach that the great tribulation is very near? I accepted the explanations I was given by fellow JWs but now I wish I hadn't. I probably would have gotten better grades in high school and college and better jobs after college (or at least had more time for doing things I like) if I hadn't put so much time in pursuing "kingdom interests". By time in pursuing "kingdom interests" I mean studying for Kingdom Hall meetings and also reading WT literature/articles that isn't/aren't used at meetings, attending Kingdom Hall meetings, preparing for field service, conducting meetings for field service, participating in field service (including as a pioneer), and accepting only jobs which don't require work on Saturdays.
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I have come to the conclusion that a lot of JWs don't care if the end is near.
by mickbobcat ini was in the cult for years about 40. fourth gen born in cult member or for me ex cult member.
i have seen so many cult members who don't seem to really care if the end is near or not.
they are much more concerned with the idea that this is their social network and they need and or want it just the way it is.
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Disillusioned JW
Regarding the statement of "The young born in jws today under the age of 18 can't wait till they turn 18 to leave the religion." I hope that is true. Is there any evidence of that available to those who no longer attend JW congregational meetings?
Are there any JWs (whether baptized or not) in the age range of 20-30 years old who were raised in the religion since their infancy? If so, about how many of them are there compared to other age groups?
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I have come to the conclusion that a lot of JWs don't care if the end is near.
by mickbobcat ini was in the cult for years about 40. fourth gen born in cult member or for me ex cult member.
i have seen so many cult members who don't seem to really care if the end is near or not.
they are much more concerned with the idea that this is their social network and they need and or want it just the way it is.
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Disillusioned JW
Abraham1, though the Covid-19 vaccines might not work well for new strains of Covid-19, regarding all vaccines do you really believe that "vaccination serves no useful purpose other than a mental satisfaction"? My doctor (as part of my physical), after pulling up my vaccination records from a database, told me to get the shingles vaccine. She urged me to do it soon, instead of waiting a few years. [Even before my doctor told me to get it, I had already decided to get, though I was in no hurry to get it. My prior doctor, now retired, when I saw him three years ago also said I should get the shingles vaccination.]
My high school biology textbook (copyright 1977) says how the first vaccine was discovered, namely the first one for small pox (developed by Dr. Edward Jenner way back in 1796) and that the vaccine was a success! The textbook also mentioned the success of the rabies vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur way back in 1885! The textbook also mentions polio vaccines and typhoid vaccines, and it says regarding those vaccines that "they cause antibody production and create immunity." I have thus known for decades that a number of vaccines work. The science says many vaccines work and I believe in science. Do you really believe the following vaccines don't work: small pox, polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, Hepatitis A and B, and rabies? Do you really believe that none of the available vaccines listed at https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/diseases work?
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Why some are religious or not?
by Vidqun intime article: several years before pope francis became pope of the catholic church in 2013, psychologists began to debunk the idea that being more educated meant a person was less likely to be religious.
instead, a new social psychology theoryone that had little to do with education levelarose.
according to dual process theory, people are either deliberative or intuitive when they make decisions.
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Disillusioned JW
Vidqun, about 87% of the work force of my employer's staff of about 500 people (including temps) are now fully vaccinated for Covid-19. None of those people appear to have been harmed from the vaccines, other than some of them briefly having soreness and related symptoms at the injection site. Our employer paid (in the form of a store gift card) the employees to get the vaccine and they still offer to pay (in the form of a store gift card) those who are currently unvaccinated for Covid-19 if get vaccinated. Now the employer has Safeway pharmacists give the Covid-19 vaccines at the job site (even at the same sitting that flu shots are given), and for at least 3 years Safeway pharmacists also have been giving flu shot vaccines at the job site. If the conspiracy claims of the Covid-19 vaccines being very dangerous are true, then I and others at work would have noticed it in the work place. But, I have not heard any talk at all by my coworkers saying the Covid-19 vaccines they received have harmed their health.