James Thomas Rook Jr.

.. or even third, fourth, and fifth and sixth chances ..... except in Russian Roulette.

I remember with great fondness "Ol' Tripleclick", God rest his soul ....

What a Competitor!

....

Don't drink wart juice?

That reminds me of the story of the Grasshopper, and the Ant.

Springtime came, and food was abundant.

The Ant spent all summer and fall working industriously digging tunnels and caverns and bringing back food to store there.  He worked all day, everyday ... so that when Winter came, he would not starve, but would have plenty to eat, and filled his underground storehouses with plenty of good food for the Winter.

But all summer long the Grasshopper just sat under a tree, and walked around, playing his violin ... not doing anything to prepare for Winter ... and was warned by the Ant that he better get hoppin' or he would starve to death ... but the Grasshopper ignored him, and continued to play music, and lay about, napping and eating grass.

And then the Snow came, and killed all the grass, and covered the ground .... and the Grasshopper hitchhiked on a Bus to Florida, and someone stepped on the Ant.

.

2 hours ago, Queen Esther said:

But what means exactly  "koff" ??  I not find that word.... 

*koff* is a word that you use in the middle of telling a joke, a sound like a single cough to clear your throat .. to give the reader a hint that what you are telling is INTENDED to be a joke.  Usually accompanied by holding your closed fist, thumb and forefinger close to your mouth, so you cough down the hole into the palm of your hand, as a visual clue, also.  Also to show that you are perhaps not being serious, although the stated joke may be somewhat Machiavellian. Sort of like an "Achtung!".

The joke was that I could COUNT on my wife, she being a Math Teacher, which she is.  A "play on words".

1 hour ago, Nicole said:

@James Thomas Rook Jr. is it true? 

Other than the play on words about "Math" and "count", the rest is quite true!

YAY!

( which is short for "Hooray!", or as the English would say "..very good." )

 

When I was a boy, National Geographic Magazine had advertisements for Zippo Lighters ... and would show one that had stopped a bullet sometime during World War II. I always wanted to buy one ... for that reason ... many years ago.

 

Three years ago I remarried at age 67, and it has been WONDERFUL!

Susan has a Masters Degree in Mathematics Education,

and I LIKE having a gal I can ...*koff* ... count on !

Well, they are ALWAYS open to suggestions .... but, it's risky!

I find this logic flawed in it's entirety.

It is like saying that since prostitutes all wear shoes, that EVERYONE that wears shoes are prostitutes.

EXAMPLE:  The U.S. Electoral College was SPECIFICALLY designed to insure that the majority of the people voting would NOT decide the Presidency, as the sovereign power of the English Crown devolved to the united STATES ... not the people .. who are NOT sovereigns.

If the majority was to rule... no States other than New York, California, Ohio and Florida would count ... and everybody else would BE IRRELEVANT.

Robert Reich is a liberal agenda driven theorist that is eloquent, but divorced from reality .... and wrong.

OK ... what is "between the lines"?

----->                                            <------

I think the best comment was "That is why you should NOT major in Liberal Arts".

There is INFINITE variety among people.

Dave Thomas founded "WENDY'S" hamburgers restaurant ... and he never graduated from HIGH SCHOOL.

Several years before he died, he got an equivalent G.E.D.

I knew a registered Architect with a Masters Degree, who could not keep a job doing ANYTHING.

INFINITE VARIETY !

BUT ... it's better to have a gun and not need it ... than need a gun, and not have it.

19 hours ago, Nicole said:

And again these pants and dress shirt? 

That's pretty much how I dress every day ... except for meetings, when I dress up like a Penguin, ( see profile photo) except I have old Levis, and a dark blue long sleeve blue shirt, and muddy sports shoes (what is the generic name for those things .... we USED to call them "tennis shoes" ...).

As much as the Society disparages military thinking ... it seems we are headed towards military uniforms ... WITH JW.ORG INSIGNIA.

The Governing Body is constantly experimenting with new ideas for proper dress!

.....

Interesting ... I like the idea that when there are NEW things,

someone runs it up a flagpole to SEE WHO SALUTES IT!

( in this case ... almost EVERYBODY! )

Of all the suffering that is common to the human

race .... I hope the worst I have to suffer is hair loss.

On 8/3/2017 at 0:24 PM, TrueTomHarley said:

To tell you the truth, he or she or it is so flabby it is hard to tell.

I have secured a photo of The Librarian taking a break from the cart witnessing work ... and I agree, TTH.

TTH:

I also recycle old jokes and material.

I  tell the old jokes to newer generations ( about 40 years ), and they think I am SO CLEVER .. but all I am doing is recycling.  I do not disabuse them of their opinions ... I need all the help I can get.

" "The Ransom of Red Chief" is a 1910 short story by O. Henry first published in The Saturday Evening Post. It follows two men who kidnap and attempt to ransom a wealthy Alabaman's son; eventually, the men are driven crazy by the boy's spoiled and hyperactive behavior, and end up having to pay the boy's father to take him back.

The story and its main idea have become a part of popular culture, with many children's television programs using a version of the story as one of their episodes. The tale is a light-hearted example of the ultimate in "poetic justice" and fortuitous intervention for the public good: the crooks had intended to use the ransom money to fund an even larger and much more elaborate scam that would likely have caused widespread monetary damage to the local populace, and so having their plans "foiled in their infancy" by Red Chief's shrewd father saves countless other honest folks from financial ruin. It has also been often used as a classic example of two ultimate comic ironies—a supposed "hostage" actually liking his abductors and enjoying being captured, and his captors getting their just deserts by having the tables turned on them, and being compelled to pay to be rid of him."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief

TTH:

IN PRINCIPLE ... how would YOU like it if you saved up your money, and worked hard for years to afford a down payment on a car, and financed the rest of the balance through the Rochester, NY Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Co, on Monroe Avenue, and just as you had it about half paid off,  you got a letter from the Bank saying your LOAN HAD BEEN FORGIVEN ?

Pretty neat, eh!

BUT .. they mention that you have NO CHOICE in the matter ... and that you are expected to make EQUIVALENT PAYMENTS for the rest of YOUR LIFE.

AND ... you have NO RIGHT to sell your property anymore ... because it is now THEIR property, and they can sell it anytime they want without compensating you in any way. 

AND KEEP ALL THE MONEY

I am very fond of certain Congregations that were very kind to me .... and before I married Susan,  I had often thought of leaving my estate to them ... but under the current arrangement that is COMPLETELY out of the question ... as it is NOW subject to confiscation. 

I try to be a man if IDEAS, and not people, and this to me is THEFT. 

Even worse ... it is ALSO involuntary perpetual enslavement similar to the IRS.

I suspect Susan will live about 28 years after I am dead, and I will ask her to bequeath whatever stuff is left over after she dies to the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which paid the bills for my first wife, until she died.

There are INFINITE reasons ... all personal to each individual ... why this usurpation and theft might be objectionable .... and all which can be easily disregarded if we are just sheep to be sheared.

Perhaps I should be thankful that we are not being killed and eaten, figuratively speaking.

Of course, that only happens to OTHER Brothers, so it does not affect us.

(That was biting satire ... for those in Rio Linda...)

Perhaps they want to sell their Kingdom Hall to build a

different one ... for any NUMBER of reasons.

It USED to not be centrally controlled and done against their wishes.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

( ... waves arms erratically ... )

"Are you KIDDING,  Michelle?

WE are not going to ride in cars that small ... we just want everybody ELSE to ride in cars that small .... "

3 hours ago, Tracey Anne Smith said:

I was thinking that maybe best not to put any news or pictures of anything or anyone in Russia  before or after the ban. Please remember thst country is very good at digging for secrets which could cause our brother/sisters lasting harm. Best Russian news in any other country/congregation

Oh, I think the Russians are heartier people as a whole than we are here in the West, where political correctness is the new term for what we USED to call cowardice.

ESPECIALLY the Sisters !

Then, of course ..... there is the OTHER side of the door  ...

 

I always give advice that will work .... I don't often mention the consequences.

I would like to EXPERIMENT with $10 MILLION DOLLARS, just to SEE if I would be happier. 

I strongly suspect that with $10 MILLION DOLLARS, I would not have to worry about my medical costs, or the cost of dog food for my seven dogs. .... or listening to engine sounds, and every time I hear scraping metal or a "clunk", wondering if I am going to be stranded with no way to get home.

There is no shame in being poor ... but I would NOT be inclined to brag about it.

... and the people that want free money from me ... THAT would never happen!

I know how to say NO, and be rude about it, if necessary.

I WOULD find jobs for them to do to EARN some money.

I am retired now, and there is ONE thing that every person or company I have EVER worked for had in common..

THEY WERE NOT POOR.