I would like to have the long extension cord franchise ....

This is the type of thing that will probably cost $20,000 a year to maintain.  It looks like it's $400,000 or so to buy.

But ... like having a baby ... if you WANT one ... there is no way to economically justify the cost and expense over time.

People DO have babies ... ANYWAY.

I used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes as a younger man, but there is NO WAY you could get me into one of these ... in the air, or on the ground. 

Can you imagine a 5 mph "fender bender" when it costs $35,000 just to do the body repair and have it re-certified by a licensed airframe mechanic?

...still .. if you have a half million dollars of disposable income, and not that attached to living .... I bet it is a LOT of fun!

I have six Ninjas in TTH's house, and a dinosaur behind his sofa.

Think how peaceful the Earth would be if only men and dogs lived forever .....

I have introduced MANY a Bible discussion about "War Heros" with men who know who Sgt. York, and Audie Murphy were, by putting August Dickmann's name in the middle, which of course they have never heard of.

If you can give the story of all three men, it gives you INCREDIBLE credibility in a conversation, and it's not "preachy".

As we learned in the Mid-week meeting, this is VERY important.

But just as important ... is "he who teaches ... learns."

...of course.

One man's fantasy and belly laugh is another man's cause for fear,  grief and tears.

August Dickmann was a  true "war hero" ... just as important to Civilization as Sgt. York in WWI, and Audie Murphy in WWII ... and infinitely more important to God.

“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once." - William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar.

I am 71 years old.  To put that in perspective .... I remember when SNL was FUNNY!

Jay .... you just made "The List".

I just looked at the YouTube video of this and it just SCREAMS being "clickbait". The man has a six day stubble goatee, and is wearing a backpack, and is not carrying anything in his hands .... I have in over 50 years never seen any JW go from door-to-door without at least  a Bible in their hands, at the door, or nowadays  some electronic tablet.  The vocabulary and syntax and sentence structure is all wrong, and NOBODY is being identified.  With evidence like this there is NO fear of being sued  for truth, in a private home with the owner or renter's permission, so there is no reason NOT to identify the people.  It may be in fact real, but that is not the way I would bet, for the reasons stated.

Many people produce "clickbait" for money ( they may get 1/2 cent per "click" , but with 50.000 clicks that adds up . In this theoretical example ....  TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS.   During the  2016 US Presidential Election Campaign  folks in the Ukraine were  producing a constant stream of absurd, outrageous political clickbait, and were getting 5 to 10 THOUSAND dollars a WEEK on 1/2 cent clicks from media advertisers, whose ads showed before the video started playing.

Clickbait is a pejorative term for web content whose main goal is to get users to click on a link to go to a certain webpage. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.^[1][2][3]

From a historical perspective, the techniques employed by clickbait authors can be considered derivative of yellow journalism, which presented little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead used eye-catching headlines that included exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.^[4][5] For sites that thrive on thousands of click-throughs to content, many authors see the use of clickbait as a means to tap into human psyche by crafting these eye-catching headlines.^[6]

Clickbait is a pejorative term for web content whose main goal is to get users to click on a link to go to a certain webpage. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.^[1][2][3]

From a historical perspective, the techniques employed by clickbait authors can be considered derivative of yellow journalism, which presented little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead used eye-catching headlines that included exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.^[4][5] For sites that thrive on thousands of click-throughs to content, many authors see the use of clickbait as a means to tap into human psyche by crafting these eye-catching headlines.^{[6] -  -  from Wikipedia}

 

 

.... soon enough .... we will all know.

Scholarly analysis of how many angels can dance on the point of a ball-point pen produce nothing useful, except scratch an itch ... and many people scratch until it bleeds, and do that until it goes cancerous.

soon enough ... perhaps too soon ... WE WILL ALL KNOW.

No matter WHAT the case is ..... knowing will NOT change it.

It is a well known fact that religious people are all mentally ill and professional apostates at the church down the street from YOUR church.

The Internet is like any other tool ... if you are good with it .... a lot of productive and wholesome things can happen, and be made.

If you are bad at it .... you can seriously injure yourself.

My left index finger is crooked because I almost cut it off with a chain saw. I put it back on and duct taped it together and eventually the bleeding stopped, and "more eventually" it healed up, but with a slight angle where I did not set the bone exactly right.

The lesson I learned is that chain saws are dangerous, and if I want to keep my fingers, I need to learn more about applied physics, chain saw operation, and FOCUS on what I am doing with a live chain saw, to the exclusion of all other things while the engine is running and the chain is spinning.

I did NOT stop using a chain saw ... or stop cutting up trees.

If you accomplish ANYTHING of real value  ... it's going to be DANGEROUS. 

That is the whole history of aviation, and hundreds of other things.

That is also the whole history of theological investigation.

But it is a job that must be done.

One thing that I stress for people that want to be happy ... is do not feel guilt or shame for what OTHER people feel that YOU should feel.

If you let them ... they will load heavy bags of psychological  sand on YOUR  backs because if they can make YOU feel guilty about something that bothers them, they are empowered.

Misery LOVES company!

We should feel guilt, responsibility and shame for what WE PERSONALLY do that is inappropriate, wrong, or evil ... not what society at large does, or our particular racial, ethnic or religious group does.

Of course, some people like to play with their dandruff, and do not cure it, because they are bored, and like to fiddle with it.

19 hours ago, Bible Speaks said:

Everyone's patience is deeply appreciated. Besides, while the elders and circuit superintendents continue to lead grazing, all of us can kill each other by giving them encouragement and showing compassion and kindness.- Gál. 6: 2; Col. 3:12.

Hmmmm....  does anybody know how this SHOULD read ... I mean ... assuming its is in fact a typo?

In the face of overwhelming catastrophic events ........ grazing, and killing the sufferers is a hard but workable solution to the suffering and hardship.

I have seen my dogs eat grass, and had to have many of them over the years "put down" ( That means executed by a veterinarian, for those in Rio Linda ....), because of not being able to afford to fix their health problems.

And what language was it translated FROM?   Who issued this notice, and on what date?

Hmmmm....  does anybody know how this SHOULD read ... I mean ... what if it's NOT a "typo", or mistranslation.

This is a KEY POINT.

Without knowing what the original ACTUALLY, REALLY stated ... WE DON'T KNOW if it's a typo, or an insert, or a plan.

The predominant language in North America is English. This "letter" is in English.

Why the translation?

Was it translated from Pubspeak to Realspeak?  Spanish to English?

WHAT!?

.

.

8 hours ago, Bible Speaks said:

Everyone's patience is deeply appreciated. Besides, while the elders and circuit superintendents continue to lead grazing, all of us can kill each other by giving them encouragement and showing compassion and kindness.- Gál. 6: 2; Col. 3:12.

what?

wHAT?

what!?

WHAT!?

Sounds like the time in Texas I found that Mexican Family who had just come over the border, eating grass on the side of the road, and I took them all to my home to my 3 acre lawn.

 

Things that make you want to go "Hmmmmmm" (?)

What is a Christian Man's MORAL responsibility to protect his own life, or that of his immediate or spiritual family?

...

There is VERY GOOD software available for $20 to convert images to pdf files, and pdf files to .jpg files, etc, as well as EDIT pdf files.

Perfect for typing in the spaces of a pdf form you have downloaded, such as an employment application, or tax return.   It will also create a Virtual Printer ... so things you are supposed to print out, but "they" do not allow you to save ... you can "print" it to a pdf file, AND SAVE THE FILE ... the same way you can print on paper.   I have been using my $20 copy constantly for about 14 years now, and LOVE IT!

www.pdfill.com

I consider it a MUST HAVE piece of software.

J.R. Ewing:

Your absurd extrapolations are sad to behold.

Normally, all prostitutes wear shoes ... but not all those that wear shoes are prostitutes.

AND .... your sad deflection to absurdity allowed you to NOT find anything wrong with Thanksgiving, even when given the complete text of the Proclamation that defined it. 

WITH THAT ASSURANCE .... I am completely assured that there is no problem with me observing the Holiday, as it was chartered.

Care to comment on my point no. 2, above?

For your convenience I am re-stating it.   ( Hrrrumph!)

" 2.) As I have posted before, with photocopies of their Passport Applications, the Past Presidents of the WTB&TS have ALL sworn allegiance to the US Constitution, and sworn to, BEFORE GOD, protect the US Constitution, against all enemies foreign and domestic, as ADULTS serving the Corporation.  ( ...and as an aside... as an adult I HAVE NOT.)"

Be a sport .... address that VERY REAL ISSUE.

THIS ... is where "the rubber meets the road.".

J.R. Ewing:

4 hours ago, J.R. Ewing said:

You go “ROOK”. Don’t take anything from liberal bible thumpers, and their attempts to take your “weapon” away. Spoken like a “true” member of the National Rifle Association.

You, continue to fight for the right to bear arms, and uphold the constitution of these United States of America that, was endowed as a right for its citizens. You keep singing that “pledge” of allegiance, loud and proud, like a Yankee doodle dandy!!!

1.)  I am not a member of the National Rifle Association ... which in all the massacres and shootings that have taken place have NEVER had ANY member be the perpetrator.... it's always people with YOUR attitude doing the murders.

2.) As I have posted before, with photocopies of their Passport Applications, the Past Presidents of the WTB&TS have ALL sworn allegiance to the US Constitution, and sworn to, BEFORE GOD, protect the US Constitution, against all enemies foreign and domestic, as ADULTS serving the Corporation.  ( ...and as an aside... as an adult I HAVE NOT.)

3.) We are endowed with rights by Jehovah God. (Even cats have retractable claws). Governments may or may not insure those rights, but they do not endow natural rights ... the MOST BASIC of which is survival against evil.

4. ) No one "sings" the US pledge of allegiance  - your lack of education betrays your perspective on everything you stated which is all wrong, distorted and because it was used to try and disparage me ... EVIL.

2 hours ago, J.R. Ewing said:

I know, you will have, a very happy, Thanksgiving.!!!

But, thank you for the "Thanksgiving" wishes .... What follows is the actual Thanksgiving day Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln.

Please review it and specifically tell me what you find so offensive about it.  I see NOTHING wrong with it. Nothing at all!

" Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State"

Please review it and specifically tell me what you find so

offensive about it.  I see NOTHING wrong with it. Nothing at all!

.

Matthew 9969:

They will not kick her out ... merely make her WANT to get out.

I hope she makes it in the Truth ... but 77% leave, so the odds are not favorable.

The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun ... is with a Good Guy with a gun.

The "second shooter" at the church appears to have been a responding neighbor with a rifle.

My guess is he hit the assassin, severed an artery, and he bled out and crashed his truck when trying to escape.  He DID stop the massacre, but too late to save the murdered and wounded parishioners. Apparently NO ONE inside the church was armed ...

The average response time for a 911 call is 14 minutes, I learned recently. 

A Good Guy's bullet travels at about a thousand feet per SECOND.