Okay Paul, perhaps I am jumping to conclusions. If you are genuine, then I offer my genuine apologies.
shepherdless
JoinedPosts by shepherdless
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12
Today was an odd day.
by paul from cleveland inexperienced a series of odd coincidences today.
this morning i noticed a friend had "liked" a picture i had posted on facebook.
i hadn't spoken with him for a while so i texted him that we should get together to 'catch up' some time soon.
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Today was an odd day.
by paul from cleveland inexperienced a series of odd coincidences today.
this morning i noticed a friend had "liked" a picture i had posted on facebook.
i hadn't spoken with him for a while so i texted him that we should get together to 'catch up' some time soon.
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shepherdless
Wow Paul, that is one heck of a set of coincidences.
But it doesn't stop there. I have found a whole heap more! A few days ago, someone called John Aquila posted a very interesting story as well. John's story has a very similar word count to yours. He also often began paragraphs with "Then..." Also (just like you) he began one paragraph with "Anyhow...". There is an uncanny similarity in the way both you and John divide up stories into paragraphs. Also the occasional use of FULL CAPS for emphasis. I could go on.
If it wasn't for the different use of colors and square brackets, and your remarkably different stories, I would think that you and John were one and the same.
So many coincidences! -
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Would I lie to you?
by slimboyfat ingiven recent posts on the forum and discussion, maybe we could play this game: would i lie to you?
in the uk we have this tv programme where minor celebrities tell weird or embarrassing stories about themselves and the rest of the participants have to guess if it is a true story or made up.
when the others have voted then the person reveals if the story is true or false.
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shepherdless
In relation to my own two stories, 2 is a complete fabrication.
in relation to 1, I did flour the story to throw people off the scent.
Firstly, my active JW wife has indeed viewed all the proceedings. She knows the proceedings better than me. I have no idea how she came to investigate that. My guess was that it came from someone at KH, but I just don't know. That was just a surmise or dubious extrapolation on my part.
Secondly, my second para is completely true, except it happened months ago, and:
(A) I don't know whether or not the old lady has internet access. I just threw that in, given a recent post by John Aquila.
(B) As bizarre as it might seem, I don't detect an internal struggle in my wife. In fact, I do not understand how someone who knows what she knows is still in the "truth", but she is rock solid.
So overall, by many people's standards, my first post was true.
Anyway, that was fun! Perhaps a good workout for people's b.s. detector as well.
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Would I lie to you?
by slimboyfat ingiven recent posts on the forum and discussion, maybe we could play this game: would i lie to you?
in the uk we have this tv programme where minor celebrities tell weird or embarrassing stories about themselves and the rest of the participants have to guess if it is a true story or made up.
when the others have voted then the person reveals if the story is true or false.
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shepherdless
My guesses:
Anders: I would have picked 2 as more real. (I see you say both are true.)
LoveUni: I picked 2 as I knew enough about running to know 1 was impossible .
Nicolaou: 1. Is very plausible. 2. is not the way people typically react. Hence I guess 1.
PeteZ: I would have picked 3 and 4. I guess I got one right.
greatteacher: I guessed 2 because I couldn't understand how your husband's boss got to the other side of the door after locking it. I obviously read too much into that.
sbf: 1 is quite plausible. 2 is not quite right.
Bonsai: 2, or wouldn't post.
TMS: 1. Language not quite right (too theatrical) for 2. Also I can't see a panel of 3 reversing a decision.
TMS again: 1, as 2 is not the way people generally behave in that situation.
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59
Would I lie to you?
by slimboyfat ingiven recent posts on the forum and discussion, maybe we could play this game: would i lie to you?
in the uk we have this tv programme where minor celebrities tell weird or embarrassing stories about themselves and the rest of the participants have to guess if it is a true story or made up.
when the others have voted then the person reveals if the story is true or false.
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shepherdless
I will take up sbf's challenge.
**************
Story 1:
I can not believe it. I have hope for the downfall of the borg.
I have read here that those that are still in the borg don't talk about the Australian Royal Commission. Well that is not the case in my wife's congregation. Not only that, my wife actually has viewed all the proceedings. I don't know the details of what they discuss when they go out on field service, but I suspect that there they talk more openly.
Linked to the discussions they have, there is an elderly sister in my wife's congregation, that lives not far from us, that my wife sometimes picks up and drives to meetings. Through her life living in a number of Australian congregations following her husband around (now deceased). She told my wife that Jehovah is simply not "with" some of those congregations. This is a lady in her 80's that does not have access to the internet, and webstes such as these. Her words have had an effect on how my wife views Watchtower. Unfortunately her faith has not been broken yet, but I can detect an internal struggle.
Story 2:
Our local Kingdom Hall is set on a slip road to an arterial highway. There is a Pentecostal Church further up the slip road, but otherwise the area is taken up by light industry (small factories, warehouses etc). The nearest residential plots are a street back. I guess when it came to build a Kingdom Hall, it was cheap land.
Recently, a friend of mine in the commercial real estate business has been asked to provide some advice on that kingdom hall. In particular, advice on its potential as commercial real estate. My friend explained it is worth virtually nothing as a meeting hall as there are plenty of those around and they don't generate much income. It has no value as a retail outlet either, given its location. However, its location as a warehouse and storage facility is huge, especially given the existing carpark and fairly secure fencing around it. It is set on a large block of land.
I gather someone is probing the market. My friend did not say who. At the moment two congregations operate from that Kingdom Hall, but the numbers that attend my wife's have dropped to around 30 to 40. I can see them combining the congregations with others nearby. There are 2 that are within 20 mins drive, and it would make sense for them to rationalise. Or at least it would make sense if Watchtower is nothing more than a publishing and real estate business.
*********
There you go. One of those stories is true. The other is completely false.
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26
Michio Kaku: can universes form from "nothing" ?
by Brokeback Watchtower inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlchmi0cc00
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shepherdless
I woke up this morning with a feeling I wrote something silly on this thread, last night. I deserve the mockery.
Anyway, OneEyedJoe makes the point I was trying to make.
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Michio Kaku: can universes form from "nothing" ?
by Brokeback Watchtower inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlchmi0cc00
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shepherdless
That was not a very good explanation. In fact, if you did not have a basic understanding of quantum mechanics, you would probably think this guy is talking a load of crap.
I won't try to explain his bubbles and multiverses for the moment. Another day, perhaps.
I felt listening to it, I could explain it better, even though this guy probably knows way more than I do.
I will give it a brief go. Quantum mechanics predicts that completely empty space is unstable and via statistics and probability, lumps of energy and mass will coagulate within that space. As a result of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, that will result in more space and time, which will in turn result in more matter and energy. This is the mis-named "big bang" which is really just a big expansion.
What I like is that in this respect, quantum mechanics is such a complete answer to the first 3 of Thomas Aquinas's "proof" of the existence of God (or Jehovah).
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shepherdless
Mary was somewhat apprehensive about the legal aspects but felt that in this situation Bible principles should carry more weight than the requirement that she protect the privacy of the medical records. Surely the sister would not want to become resentful and try to retaliate by making trouble for her, she reasoned. So when Mary analyzed all the facts available to her, she decided conscientiously that this was a time to "speak," not to "keep quiet."
Great posts Gentledawn. I will have to get a copy of Watchtower, September 1, 1987.
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News report video - Greek JW's With Trolley Carts Greet Refugees,
by BluesBrother incheck it out ..the dubs are shown about 1 min 45 secs into the video.. notice the witness' fib in the written report ?
paragraph starting "i asked them.....".
i leave you to comment.... http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/europe/2015/12/tired-cold-refugees-wait-head-unknown-151225082744366.html.
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shepherdless
Others bring bottled water, food, medical care, shelter.
These so called Christians just bring their crappy magazines.
By the way, the video focuses on two signs put up by the witnesses. The first one is in Arabic and says (loose translation): "Here you will find material setting out God's promises for the future." The second sign is written in Farsi, and I don't know what it says.
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BCG matrix - jw.org production model
by Gorbatchov intoday i read some old mba stuff on my bookshelf.
one of it is about the bcg matrix.. the matrix indicates the state of an business (merely production).
if you place the jw.org in the bcg matrix, the result will be "dogs", sometimes more friendly called "pets".. a business in the category "dogs / pets" is to be sold off / liquidated soon.. that's what we see at this moment by the wtbts / jw.org.
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shepherdless
I have been thinking about this a lot. Publisher numbers aren't growing, but they are holding steady. There may be an avalanche of child abuse claims coming, but judging from the way Watchtower is handling it, they seem to have their head in the sand. And yet they are laying off staff, stopping construction and begging for money.
My theory is essentially that the business model is broken, and Watchtower has not found a new one yet. The way I see it there are three time periods:
(1) Beginning to 1990
(2) 1990 to mid 2000's
(3) Mid 2000's to the present.
In brief and crude summary:
(1) Beginning to 1990:
The business model up to 1990 is explained in the following link:
http://www.freeminds.org/history/money.htm
Essentially, thanks to free labor in production, free labor in distribution, a large captive market, economies of scale, and tax free status, they were able to make large profits even though they only received a small amount for each magazine. $1,780,000 per week in the early 1980's according to the above article.
(2) 1990 to mid 2000's:
In January 1990, the US Supreme Court handed down the decision, California Board of Equalization vs. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. This had a significant effect on the business model, as explained in the following link:
http://www.freeminds.org/history/launder.htm
Essentially, Watchtower became more dependent on donations, but the donations were still for practical purposes linked to magazine placement, book and CD sales etc. So the Watchtower's income was perhaps less certain, but it was still essentially a publishing house.
(3) Mid 2000's to the present:
Since the mid 2000's more and more people obtain their information over the internet. All media business have suffered. Print media in particular has been devastated. Magazine sales have plummeted. Print media have often responded by shortening their newspapers and magazines, not to save paper, but (according to someone I knew in the industry) because market research people were tending to spend less time reading print media and lengthy publications were suffering the most. Watchtower has also shortened its magazines, but about a decade later than other print media.One of the common tactics print media has tried to survive is by morphing into internet media. That is what Watchtower appears to be trying to do. However, other internet media generates income through advertising. Watchtower can't do that.
It seems to me, Watchtower is in a bind. Watchtower can't stop the expensive printing presses, because it needs handouts for the ministry. Going door-to-door (itself an outdated sales model) won't work with showing a publication on a tablet. And if the publishers can't hand magazines out, because people no longer read magazines, then Watchtower receives less "donations" for the magazines.
So my theory is that Watchtower's major source of income has dropped off dramatically in the last few years, and there is no prospect at the moment of that reversing.