Posts by redvip2000

17

The beauty in being mortal

by HiddenPimo in

i am only speaking from my personal point of view and not to encroach on anyone else's belief system:.

one of the main points of attraction to the jw life was the 'panda paradise', once i woke up, i began to think about the future and it made me realize that jw's have little or no regard for life and the way they treat others even in those who are jw's.. e.g.

no blood, shunning, theocratic warfare, no real charity work for those in need, etc.... if we live forever on earth we would get bored, we would take relationships for granted and possible want to actually die.. what makes anything valuable is the not the beauty of it but the rarity of it or the limited amount of it.. time is not only limited but all of our hourglasses are opaque leaving the amount of sand remaining a guess at best, and this is what moves us to appreciate life and ever little thing it gives us.. there is a beautiful and poignant song by jason isbell 'if we were vampires' and it perfectly describes the beauty one can find in ones mortality and how it moves us to love & care deeper than if we were immortal.. the 2nd verse goes .

redvip2000

Just my two cents:

I tend to disagree. It's almost like the traditional situation of the person who wins the lottery and then says they will work because otherwise they will sit home bored.

The only reason why you would be bored is because you are not seeking new interests. There is a tremendous amount of things that you are not doing, simply because you are not sure you like them as you never tried them.

I know without a doubt that I will die without doing one fraction of the things I wanted to do, and without going to many places I wanted to go. Life is just not long enough to accomplish everything.

Also, the amount of things that there are to do, are not static. There are hobbies and other things to do, that didn't exist 50 or 100 years ago, and so even if you are now 1 million years old, and have done everything possible on your bucket list, changes are there are now thousands of new things waiting for you.

There is nothing beautiful about being mortal, this is just yet another thing we tell ourselves in order to make our current condition more palatable.

144

If You Criticize A Person of Color Are You A Racist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

seriously, it’s getting to a point that you can’t make a negative comment about someone without being charged as a racist, homophobe or sexist!

if you criticize a female, you are obviously sexist.

if you criticize someone who happens to be gay, you must hate homosexuals.

redvip2000

?? Really ?
These 4 congresswomen are NOT foreigners my friend. They are American citizens ! So yes, it's racist, prejudice rhetoric. And yes, it's also outrageous, stupid, and very exaggerated on Trump's part.

You need to check the definition of racism. The thing is, if you start calling everything racism,then the word starts being diluted into nonsense.

Again this is not racism. Racism is a general disposition of disliking or hating a group of people based on their race. This is not the same as disliking or criticizing someone that happens to be from another race.

If you know Trump, you know that he would say exactly the same thing if someone from a white European country criticized him. He would also tell this person to go back to his country. It is not racism.

4

The tale of two worlds

by redvip2000 in

jw
friends

i saw this picture today, not sure you saw it as well, but couldn't resist sharing.

it basically shows the existing fence between usa and mexico.

apparently someone installed some see-saws on the fence so that children on both sides can play together.

redvip2000

Those who refuse to enter the country legally are already far less likely to change for the better or contribute to society.

I'm not sure if that's really true. There are many illegals that come here and become productive member of society...others don't. Many enter illegally and then work their way to become legal as well. Again many don't.

The greater point is that we need to create an incentive for legal immigration and not for illegal immigration. Reward the ones that follow process and be tough on those who don't. It's the only way forward.

39

Does It Bother You That Amazon’s Alexa Can Hear What You Re Doing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

there really is no privacy if you own alexa.

there is a report of alexa hearing a couple having sex.

.

redvip2000

does Alexa listen in apart from when the name is commanded?

You're not getting it. It needs to listen at all times so it recognizes when you issue the vocal keyword. How else would it know you said it? If i'm not listening to you, why I know if you tell me a keyword?

Once it detects the keyword, it records your voice snippet and sends it to Amazon to fetch a response. That voice snippet is likely stored and probably associated with your email, which could then be used to build a profile of your interests. That data is worth money.

Also I like how all of you are terrified about Amazon Echos, but ignore the copious amount of data that is collected from you with every text, voice call, and online activity. And who cares? Unless you live like a hermit, this is the price to pay in a modern society with all the conveniences.

Luckily, nobody gives a shit about your family discussions, the complaints about your spouse, or the minutiae of your life. At best, they simply want to gather some data on what you want to buy, so they can sell it to other companies.

144

If You Criticize A Person of Color Are You A Racist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

seriously, it’s getting to a point that you can’t make a negative comment about someone without being charged as a racist, homophobe or sexist!

if you criticize a female, you are obviously sexist.

if you criticize someone who happens to be gay, you must hate homosexuals.

redvip2000

This really happened. Not fake news, it's reality. Sick racism. If it's not racist, I don't know what is

Aren't there other words to qualify stupid things other than racism? This is NOT racism. If a person tells a foreigner that he should go back to his country, you can perhaps say it's outrageous, exaggerated, stupid.

But this is not the same as saying that you hate everybody that is of the same race as that person, which IS racism.

In other words, if i tell someone: "If you don't like it here, then just go back to country A", this is not the same as saying "I hate everybody that is part of your ethnicity or comes from your country"

39

Does It Bother You That Amazon’s Alexa Can Hear What You Re Doing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

there really is no privacy if you own alexa.

there is a report of alexa hearing a couple having sex.

.

redvip2000

That is the whole point. It needs to "hear" everything you say in order to know if it should respond. This is done out of convenience, so that you don't actually have to walk over and press a button before speak into it. Instead, you can just speak to it from across the room.

Now, "hearing" is no the same as recording. If you mean it's recording everything you say on a permanent basis, then it's a different story, though, I don't think there is any evidence of this. Aside, of course from recording after you wake the device with the key word, in which case of course it records.

4

The tale of two worlds

by redvip2000 in

jw
friends

i saw this picture today, not sure you saw it as well, but couldn't resist sharing.

it basically shows the existing fence between usa and mexico.

apparently someone installed some see-saws on the fence so that children on both sides can play together.

redvip2000

I saw this picture today, not sure you saw it as well, but couldn't resist sharing. It basically shows the existing fence between USA and Mexico. Apparently someone installed some see-saws on the fence so that children on both sides can play together.

I was struck at how this picture in such a small space captures some many differences between these two places. Nobody needs to explain which side is which. One side is orderly, clean, where the people are well dressed. The other side is run-down, dirty, with litter everywhere, stray dogs, folks with minimal clothing, dirty. It's easy to understand the appeal of trying to get over that fence.

144

If You Criticize A Person of Color Are You A Racist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

seriously, it’s getting to a point that you can’t make a negative comment about someone without being charged as a racist, homophobe or sexist!

if you criticize a female, you are obviously sexist.

if you criticize someone who happens to be gay, you must hate homosexuals.

redvip2000

Coming into the discussion a bit late, but I would agree that we are at a point that if you say something negative about someone in a minority, you are immediately called a racist, and that is not what racism is.

When it comes to Trump, i personally don't think he is a racist. If you are from New York, then you know how Trump's history at "punching" back, twice as hard if you criticize him, regardless of who you are

True to his "baffoonery", he just doesn't care how his comments will be perceived. His mouth is quicker than his brain.

99% of everybody else on the planet would probably think twice about saying some of the things he says, lest it be perceived to be racist even if you are not. He does not have that built-in governor.

31

Disaster Preparedness Training - WTF is that?

by wannabefree in

i'm making plans for next weekend and my wife says she's not available saturday.

"is there an assembly?

" i asked.. no, disaster preparedness course (or something like that) at the kingdom hall.. is this new?

redvip2000

One Witness was so appreciative of the help that when she received payment from her insurance company to cover the repairs to her house, she immediately donated the money to the relief fund so that it could help others in need

This bit was strategically placed in the article to make a point. I wonder though, on what happens if a Jdub has their house rebuilt and then still decides to keep the insurance money.

I suspect they pressure you, or remind you somehow in order to coerce you to pay. It just doesn't fit with the Org's model to help people without having a return.

15

Surviving Idiots

by Terry in

jw
friends

surviving idiots.

there is in every species a "best" at surviving.. .

99.99 % of every species which has ever existed has perished.. .

redvip2000

I live in Texas and I know the border towns are in chaos with more illegals in custody than border patrol officers.

Interestingly enough, i have not heard AOC or any of the other illegal alien apologists explain how exactly we should enforce immigration law or what should be the policy for allowing (or not) people in to the country.

None of them seem to be saying you should let everybody in without control either, so what exactly do they want done? Saying that these folks are just trying escape poverty or violence is nothing new. Well...of course they are. Why else would they come here?

Likewise if a homeless person is breaking in to your home to eat something and take a nap, he is doing that because he is hungry and sleepy. So why don't you let them in? I'll tell you why...because you realize that you have limited resources, and also because you really don't know who this person really is. Why is this so hard to understand?