I just got into JW.org’s Wi-Fi network.

[JW Insider]

I just got into JW.ORG’s Wi-Fi network. That’s because they gave me the password and I’m sitting in the lobby. In fact someone gave me a card with the code on it. All you have to do is express a need for it. Like making a donation. lol. 

[JW Insider]

Speaking of security. It’s much tighter than it was in 2019 when I was here last. There is the iron gate out front and the brother has to make a phone call with your name and appointment confirmation # to another person inside before they open it. Then you must stop for an attendant who asks you for the info again. Then a parking attendant. Then a brother at the main lobby door who only lets you in with a card key. 

I was just in Patterson to see the Bible Village “Museum” tour. It was excellent but too short. They also have a “legally establishing the good news” tour/museum and a Gilead school historical tour which now covers the other schools more extensively than before. 
 

I am back in Warwick now. Got here a bit early so I’m looking out on the lake. Very nice. I’ve worked while looking out on this lake before. But for IBM and not the WTS. IBM is at the other end of the lake. We used to handle our disaster recovery setup with them and I was sent here twice for my secular work. 

[JW Insider]

9 minutes ago, George88 said:

Does this mean you are going to share the password with your friends in the closed club?

It’s “587BCE”. Just kidding. No I covered it in the picture because I don’t think they really want it shared. 

[JW Insider]

It seems so odd to me that literally about 60% of the male commuter Bethelites have beards. And almost half the regular Bethelites I’ve seen so far. Young and old alike. Even some who appear to be only 16 years old. They are all over 18 of course but they look so much younger now that I am 66. 

[JW Insider]

The brothers and sisters who have their part in the Bible village museum try to stay in character as if they are in a convention drama even if you ask them a question. They don’t have to of course but some of them have fun with it. One sister doing basket weaving and dyeing yarn for a loom asked me where I was from. I told her New York via California and Missouri and she wasn’t sure if she had heard of such far away places. 

[JW Insider]

About two more weeks and the lake will be gorgeous with greenery all around again. The second picture is my old IBM stomping grounds. The third is back in the far corner of the lobby where my attempts at hacking are out of the limelight. 

[JW Insider]

6 minutes ago, George88 said:

Have you ever considered debating 587 with the brothers at Bethel as assertively as you do here?

lol. Why do you think I’m attracting attention to this forum through their internet network right after making a donation?

[JW Insider]

2 hours ago, George88 said:

All the brothers need to do is look to the past. Genesis 4:3-5.

I can see how some of them might start feeling "angry," but I doubt any of them would feel "dejected."

I'll go to the mid-week meeting here tonight. Last one was attended by Brother Tony Morris III, Sister Sydlik the First, Brothers Ken Cook and Bill Malenfant. Maybe I could get them all into the same committee meeting with me if I answer a question inappropriately. LOL. No chance for Morris, I guess. I would only want Sister Sydlik there because she must know what her husband really thought about the WTS explanations of Daniel's 1260, 1290, 1335 and 2300 days. And they didn't disfellowship him for questioning.

[TrueTomHarley]

9 hours ago, JW Insider said:

The brothers and sisters who have their part in the Bible village museum try to stay in character as if they are in a convention drama even if you ask them a question. They don’t have to of course but some of them have fun with it.

I’ll say! Those jerks who stoned Stephen turned their firepower on me! I barely made it back to the car in one piece.

[Anna]

7 hours ago, JW Insider said:

Tony Morris III

Please, remember to ask him!

[JW Insider]

On 4/10/2024 at 1:00 PM, JW Insider said:

I was just in Patterson to see the Bible Village “Museum” tour. It was excellent but too short. They also have a “legally establishing the good news” tour/museum and a Gilead school historical tour which now covers the other schools more extensively than before. 

The last time I was here, they were more ambiguous about taking pictures and sharing them with friends, so I literally took a picture of just about everything and I even posted a set of pictures here. But this time they give stricter unambiguous instructions about the personal and family use of pictures taken, even when you can take a still picture vs a video. And the instruction is now explicitly that they cannot be shared on any social media platform. Sorry.

The 4 "museums" at Warwick are still about the same as before. With a few updates and a few older things cut out. The Bible museum is still the best. Probably the best of its kind anywhere. There is a separate segment on the use of the Divine Name in Bible translations, and it's very good.

There are several bits of interactive equipment that were working perfectly in 2018 and 2019 but are now giving trouble. For example, touchscreens that take your input about all kinds of things, such as whether you have worked on a WTS construction project, or which book you studied in preparation for baptism [e.g., Let God Be True, What Does the Bible Really Teach, Truth that Leads to Eternal Life, Paradise ...Regained, etc.] and then it gives statistics on many of these things for everyone to see. [e.g. 68% of all visitors this week have worked on a WTS construction project, etc.]

One thing that bothered me a bit was the reduction of material in a special "Watchtower History" museum that had a lot of pre-1919 information about the persecution mostly starting with the 1917 Finished Mystery book. They changed the name and now start it mostly in 1919. And then cut out a large percentage of interesting stuff. 

Also, they have the big wall-sized "Chart of the Ages" in one of the rooms highlighting Russell's early work. And another wall-sized chart called "Bible Chronology" that Russell's early followers also used in their meeting places. Those charts have the dates on them -- even if some of those dates appear to be embarrassing today.

But now there is a new "Chart of the Ages" I have never seen before in the Patterson museum on a similar historical subject but it seems like the dates have been removed. The chart is still titled "CHART OF THE AGES" and the museum label below it says:

How was the training provided [in Russell's time]? The "Chart of the Ages" was used as the primary basis for practice talks. 

It's evidently a wall sized blow-up of a page from one of the publications, because it still has the pictures of the pyramids on it, but on the chart itself, in says in fine print (on the side):

"For Explanation see The Plan of the Ages published by Bible and Tract Soc'y, Brooklyn N.Y."

Also odd that they left out the word "Watchtower," just Bible and Tract Society. I could be wrong, but it looks like it was edited to remove the embarrassing dates that are on the large one at Warwick.

If I remember, I'll look it up unless someone here already knows if there was a "generic" chart of the ages. 

[Anna]

5 hours ago, JW Insider said:

I could be wrong, but it looks like it was edited to remove the embarrassing dates that are on the large one at Warwick.

You could be wrong, but if possible, I think we would like to rewrite some of our history...