Isabella

“I was told I’d stop aging and I’d be a teenager forever. I didn’t think I’d ever earn money for myself, have a bank account, own a home, fall in love, get married.”

The author at age 11 in a 1988 school photo. “I was expecting the world to end in five years maximum,” she says.
My teacher, having asked everyone who got 10 out of 10 right on the spelling test to put their hand up, went on to ask who got 9 out of 10. She proceeded from there, down to 4 out of 10. I put my hand up. I actually got 1 out of 10, but didn’t want to admit I didn’t study for the test. She wouldn’t have understood why.
I was 9 years old and I wasn’t going to grow up. I didn’t need to learn to spell because I’d never need a job. It was 1986, my family were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the JW governing body was confidently predicting that Armageddon would arrive by the mid-1990s. Everyone who survived that would live forever in Paradise on earth. We were promised this at each of the thrice-weekly meetings we attended. In Paradise, we’d build log cabins, make friends with wild animals and spend our time picking fruit with other Jehovah’s Witnesses. This was all lovingly illustrated for us in the Jehovah’s Witness literature.
I tried to suppress the panic I felt whenever I perused the pictures. To me, it looked boring ― because it was going to last forever. I had many opportunities to consider forever, sitting on a plastic chair under fluorescent lights, during the interminable Jehovah’s Witness meetings. Forever meant that eventually, the whole world would be so familiar to me that there would be no wonders left. One day I would have had every possible conversation with every single person still alive on the planet. It gave me a feeling like vertigo. So I told myself to trust what I was learning because if everyone else wanted to live forever, it would surely somehow be marvelous, and a more-than-ample reward for all the activities we missed out on in the present-day world.
There were plenty of those. No Christmas, no birthdays, no Easter. Technically, Jehovah’s Witnesses were allowed televisions, but we were warned frequently about “worldly influences” and my parents had elected not to have one. Higher education was frowned upon ― it was considered selfish not to use all your available time and energy trying to convert nonbelievers, so as to save their lives during Armageddon. Many young JWs left school as soon as legally allowed, took low-paying jobs, and spent all of their spare time and energy evangelizing, or “storing up treasures in heaven.” I banked on Armageddon coming quickly enough to save me from having to become a window cleaner. I was keen for it to arrive before I turned 16. This, the JW literature assured me, was almost certain.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bdsm-bondage-dominant-submissive-model_n_6019919ac5b653f644d7ade2

I remember a young brother who was really into hip/hop. His mother was in my book study that I was conducting and she wanted me to work with him. I knew he was skeptical of having me do my "elder thing" on him, so I didn't. I went to the first door, stood there, prayed a second and then after about a minute, he said "Aren't you gonna knock?" I said "Why? The angels are involved in the preaching work, right? So they need to do their part too. If someone comes, we'll talk, if not, then I guess it's not their time. Remember? "The reapers are angels". He said "You are one weird elder." (w/a grin)
Later I said I was just messing w/him, but only half-way messing.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the organization that publishes Bible and Bible-based materials in over 1,000 languages, made history in translation when it released the first complete sign language Bible in the world.
The app that it designed — the JW Sign Language — is downloadable for free, according to Dean Jacek, national spokesperson of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The app also contains portions of the Bible in 90 other sign language translations, he added.
Described by several members of the deaf community as the “best gift during the pandemic,” the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures contains videos of all the 66 books in American Sign Language (ASL).
 


Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1388913/jehovahs-witnesses-release-worlds-1st-complete-sign-language-bible#ixzz6kuOxkSrX
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Los testigo de Jehová en México ascienden a casi un millón, ante la pandemia adaptan su misión evangelizadora para evitar contagios. Son reconocidos por su labor permanente de puerta en puerta en los domicilios para predicar la Biblia, no obstente, cambiaron su dinámica evangelizadora y ahora realizan llamadas telefónicas al azar a través de un call center y reparten  cartas “con mensajes de aliento” por debajo de las puertas.
También suspendieron las congregaciones, donde se reunían más de 150 personas, mínimo dos veces por semana; ahora son a través de Zoom.
En palabras de Josué Zañudo, representante de la Sección de Información de la Congregación Cristiana de los Testigos de Jehová en México: “Nuestra predicación, que antes hacíamos en los domicilios, ahora la ejercemos mediante llamadas telefónicas y con cartas a través de un mensaje breve, pero a la vez animador, para entregar a nuestros vecinos y así no hay ningún riesgo (…) Hemos sentido que, sobre todo en estos tiempos de pandemia, la gente sí agradece las llamadas, las cartas; algunos han perdido seres queridos y las palabras de la Biblia les han caído muy reconfortantes”.
https://www.paradavisual.com/mexico-call-center-de-testigos-de-jehova/

Un joven de 28 años apareció sin vida en su departamento de Puerto Rico y todo apunta a que se trató de un suicidio. Familiares de la víctima aseguran que el muchacho padecía una persecución por parte de Testigos de Jehová, culto del cual participaba pero que luego decidió apartarse. 
https://misionesonline.net/2021/01/21/un-joven-de-puerto-rico-se-quito-la-vida-y-familiares-responsabilizan-a-una-iglesia-por-discriminarlo-y-hostigarlo/

Un joven de 28 años apareció sin vida en su departamento de Puerto Rico y todo apunta a que se trató de un suicidio. Familiares de la víctima aseguran que el muchacho padecía una persecución por parte de Testigos de Jehová, culto del cual participaba pero que luego decidió apartarse. 
https://misionesonline.net/2021/01/21/un-joven-de-puerto-rico-se-quito-la-vida-y-familiares-responsabilizan-a-una-iglesia-por-discriminarlo-y-hostigarlo/

It was an Apple, but with extremely limited memory. Just one byte and then everything crashed.

Armando Manzanero: muere el cantautor mexicano por covid-19
El cantautor mexicano Armando Manzanero falleció este lunes a los 85 años, pocos días después de haber sido hospitalizado en Ciudad de México tras contraer coronavirus.
Manzanero deja tras de sí un legado inolvidable en la historia de la música en español, un sinfín de discos vendidos e innumerables reconocimientos, como el Premio Grammy honorífico en 2014.
El autor de clásicos de la balada romántica latinoamericana, como "Somos novios", "Voy a apagar la luz", "Contigo aprendí", "Esta tarde vi llover" y "No", fue hospitalizado la semana pasada en Ciudad de México tras dar positivo en covid-19 e intubado unos días después.
"Con mucho dolor lamento la muerte del maestro Armando Manzanero, uno de los más grandes compositores de México, sus canciones son parte definitiva de la educación sentimental de los mexicanos", escribió en Twitter la secretaria de Cultura de México, Alejandra Frausto.
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-55468664

Arrested in December 2020, 20-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Ruslan Artykmuradov is awaiting trial in Turkmenabat's Pre-Trial Detention Prison for refusing compulsory military service. He offered to do an alternative civilian service, but Turkmenistan does not offer this, despite repeated United Nations calls. Artykmuradov has already served a one-year jail term on the same charges. If convicted, he will become the 25th conscientious objector known to have been jailed since 2018.
Police arrested 20-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to military service Ruslan Artykmuradov on 15 December 2020. They transferred him on 18 December to the Pre-Trial Detention Prison in Turkmenabat in the eastern Lebap Region, where he remains awaiting trial for refusing compulsory military service. No trial date has yet been set. He has already served a one-year jail term on the same charges.

Prosecutors opened the second criminal case against Artykmuradov in December 2020 after the Military Conscription Office rejected his request to do an alternative civilian service (which does not exist in Turkmenistan). Turkmenistan has rejected repeated United Nations calls to introduce such a service (see below).
If convicted, Artykmuradov would become the 25th conscientious objector to military service known to have been convicted and jailed since January 2018. All of them are Jehovah's Witnesses (see below).
If he is convicted at his expected trial, Artykmuradov would become the fifth conscientious objector (all of them Jehovah's Witnesses) to be convicted twice of the same "crime" since jailings of conscientious objectors resumed in 2018. Such second convictions may be increasing (see below).
Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and do not undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law..
Including Bahtiyar Amirjanovich Atahanov (born 17 June 2000), who has been serving a jail term since July 2019, eight Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are serving jail terms of between one and four years. All eight are imprisoned in Seydi Labour Camp in the eastern Lebap Region. Three of them are serving second sentences (see full list below).
Turkmenistan has ignored repeated international calls, for example by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, to introduce a genuine civilian alternative to compulsory military service, to stop prosecuting and punishing conscientious objectors, and to compensate those it has punished.
Read more: https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2628

Seeing that a lot of peeps here are from around the world, just wanna know how you guys are holding up? I was always on lurk mode because I am busy, so I was bored today.
For me I am busy with virtual classes now, which are dreadful. The brothers and sisters are doing fine, as well as family. Some of our friends and the people we preach too are doing good.
With the vaccines out there is a lot of fear in the black and latino communities, even outside of it. 2 of my professors are against it, but like all others, they say it is personal choice.
Anyways.... How about you guys?
The pandemic is taking a toll on some peeps directly and indirectly. 
To my Latinos and Latinas
Viendo que mucha gente aquí es de todo el mundo, ¿solo quieren saber cómo les está yendo?  Siempre estuve al acecho porque estoy ocupado, así que hoy estaba aburrido.
Para mí ahora estoy ocupado con clases virtuales, que son espantosas.  Los hermanos y hermanas están bien, al igual que la familia.  Algunos de nuestros amigos y las personas a las que predicamos también lo están haciendo bien.
Con las Covid-19 vaccine, hay mucho miedo en las comunidades black y Latin communities, fuera de ellas.  2 de mis profesores están en contra, pero como todos los demás, dicen que es una elección personal.
 De todos modos .... ¿Qué hay de ustedes?

Publisher BMG has plunged itself into a copyright lawsuit with elements that are so bizarre it's hard to fathom what the company was thinking of. According to the complaint, BMG illegally used a song owned by religious group Watchtower in a for-profit Christmas album, featuring songs from other faiths, which are set to be sung in cathedrals. Needless to say, Jehovah's Witnesses are outraged.
Music publisher BMG is best known on these pages for its aggressive copyright infringement action against ISP Cox Communications in the United States.
After filing a lawsuit accusing the ISP of doing little to prevent its customers from pirating music time and again, the case went through a tortuous process that eventually led to a “substantial settlement.”
Given the nature of its business and a history of picking over the intricacies of copyright law, it was a surprise to see BMG named as a defendant in a US copyright lawsuit this week. Unusually, however, it’s not simply the copyright aspect of this case that makes it so unusual and interesting.
Singer Aled Jones Releases Album in November
Last month, Welsh singer Aled Jones, who shot to fame as a youngster in the 1980s, teamed up with BMG to release a new album titled ‘Blessings’. The album aims to be religiously inclusive by bundling songs associated with Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and Quakers. But trying to appeal to everyone can have its pitfalls, especially where religion is concerned.
The problem lies in a song on the album called “Listen, Obey and Be Blessed”, a work owned by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah’s Witness religious group. The appearance of this song on a commercial album immediately raised alarm bells among the religion’s followers who, through their teachings and knowledge of their faith, knew this track shouldn’t have been used in this manner.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/jehovahs-witnesses-file-copyright-lawsuit-in-response-to-blundering-christmas-album-201225/

Publisher BMG has plunged itself into a copyright lawsuit with elements that are so bizarre it's hard to fathom what the company was thinking of. According to the complaint, BMG illegally used a song owned by religious group Watchtower in a for-profit Christmas album, featuring songs from other faiths, which are set to be sung in cathedrals. Needless to say, Jehovah's Witnesses are outraged.
Music publisher BMG is best known on these pages for its aggressive copyright infringement action against ISP Cox Communications in the United States.
After filing a lawsuit accusing the ISP of doing little to prevent its customers from pirating music time and again, the case went through a tortuous process that eventually led to a “substantial settlement.”
Given the nature of its business and a history of picking over the intricacies of copyright law, it was a surprise to see BMG named as a defendant in a US copyright lawsuit this week. Unusually, however, it’s not simply the copyright aspect of this case that makes it so unusual and interesting.
Singer Aled Jones Releases Album in November
Last month, Welsh singer Aled Jones, who shot to fame as a youngster in the 1980s, teamed up with BMG to release a new album titled ‘Blessings’. The album aims to be religiously inclusive by bundling songs associated with Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and Quakers. But trying to appeal to everyone can have its pitfalls, especially where religion is concerned.
The problem lies in a song on the album called “Listen, Obey and Be Blessed”, a work owned by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah’s Witness religious group. The appearance of this song on a commercial album immediately raised alarm bells among the religion’s followers who, through their teachings and knowledge of their faith, knew this track shouldn’t have been used in this manner.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/jehovahs-witnesses-file-copyright-lawsuit-in-response-to-blundering-christmas-album-201225/

The rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus has been blamed for the introduction of strict tier four mixing rules for millions of people, harsher restrictions on mixing at Christmas in England, Scotland and Wales, and other countries placing the UK on a travel ban.
So how has it gone from being non-existent to the most common form of the virus in parts of England in a matter of months?
The government's advisers on new infections have "moderate" confidence that it is more able to transmit than other variants.
All the work is at an early stage, contains huge uncertainties and a long list of unanswered questions.
As I've written before, viruses mutate all the time and it's vital to keep a laser focus on whether the virus' behaviour is changing.
Why is this variant causing concern?
Three things are coming together that mean it is attracting attention:
It is rapidly replacing other versions of the virus It has mutations that affect part of the virus likely to be important Some of those mutations have already been shown in the lab to increase the ability of the virus to infect cells All of these come together to build a case for a virus that can spread more easily.
However, we do not have absolute certainty. New strains can become more common simply by being in the right place at the right time - such as London, which had only tier two restrictions until recently.
But already the justification for tier four restrictions is in part to reduce the spread of the variant.
"Laboratory experiments are required, but do you want to wait weeks or months [to see the results and take action to limit the spread]? Probably not in these circumstances," Prof Nick Loman, from the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, told me.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55388846

My grandchildren are coming over in a few minutes, so just finished a snowman.
A few people have already stopped to take a picture of it.
 

Grab your metal detector!
For several months gold and silver jewelry, ornaments, and golden nuggets have started washing up on the shore of a small Venezuelan fishing village that had been devastated by the country’s economic crisis and COVID-19.
Yolman Lares was the first to find treasure on the beach in Guaca in September when he found a gold medallion with an image of the Virgin Mary.
“I began to shake, I cried from joy,” Lares, 25, told The New York Times. “It was the first time something special has happened to me.”
Read more: https://nypost.com/2020/12/12/mysterious-gold-jewelry-washes-up-on-venezuelan-beach/

The release of 28 Witnesses follows the freeing of 20 Pentecostal and evangelical Christians who had been imprisoned for their faith.
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In Eritrea, members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses group who had been serving long prison sentences were set free on Friday (Dec. 4), a surprising development for the east African country, where freedom of religion or belief is severely suppressed.
The denomination announced that two women and 26 men had been freed after spending between five and 26 years each in prison. The group, as well as another 24 Witnesses who are still in prison, had been incarcerated for their faith.
“Several of those jailed are male Witnesses who are conscientious objectors to military service. However, the majority — including women and the elderly — are imprisoned for their religious activity or for undisclosed reasons,” said the denomination in a statement.
Jehovah’s Witnesses activities are banned or restricted in several countries, including China, Russia, Singapore and many Muslim-majority countries. In the case of Eritrea, the constitution guarantees the right to the freedom of religion or belief — a possible reason why the jailed Witnesses have never been formally charged or sentenced — but this freedom has never been granted in practice.
Read more: https://religionnews.com/2020/12/10/jehovahs-witnesses-released-in-eritrea-a-rare-move-toward-religious-toleration/

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.


2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.


3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.


4. A dog's parents never visit.


5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.


6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day.


7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.


8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.

9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, If I died, would you get
another dog??


10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.


11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a
pervert.


12. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think
it's interesting..


13. Dogs like to ride in the back of a pickup truck.


And last, but not least:


14. If a dog leaves, it won't take half of your stuff.
 

Football legend Diego Maradona, one of the greatest players of all time, has died at the age of 60.
The former Argentina attacking midfielder and manager suffered a heart attack at his Buenos Aires home.
He had successful surgery on a brain blood clot earlier in November and was to be treated for alcohol dependency.
Maradona was captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, scoring the famous 'Hand of God' goal against England in the quarter-finals.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/54810392

There's almost no liquidity in Nicaragua proper:
https://localcryptos.com/Bitcoin/Nicaragua
If you are patient enough, you can publish and buy advert to be settled over a local Nicaragua payment method (bank, cash in person, deposit, whatever). What you can also do, is to buy/sell over Western Union (or another international fiat channel):
https://localcryptos.com/Bitcoin/Western_Union
There is a large number of traders across the globe willing to do that. In fact, Transferwise is much cheaper and faster for that purpose, but you will first need to open an account with them online:
https://localcryptos.com/Bitcoin/TransferWise
If it is you the publisher or the advert, you can charge a market maker fee of typically 3-5%. If you respond as a market taker to an advert, you will have to pay the maker fee to the counterparty.
In fact, you can buy internationally and then resell locally to create local Nicaragua liquidity, which is now sorely lacking because almost nobody seems to be bothered to do it.