darkspilver

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Posts by darkspilver

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  4

  Fun with Google Trends

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in case you don't know, google trends is a fantastic tool - it lets you look at search terms over time and view trends.

  it can, for instance, tell you if interest in something is growing or diminishing based on how many people are searching for it.. of course it can't tell if the searches are for negative or positive information .... here's some results for jw related terms:.

  https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2fm%2f0dtdq,jw.org,watchtower.

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  darkspilver

  They seem to have had a boost in the last 5 years as they embraced the Internet but it looks like things are now starting to wane.

  That's the number of searchs for using the google search engine (not actual website visits)
  

  Therefore it probably just shows that people are getting much more savvy with their internet use and learning how to do a direct type in for the website they want, rather than typing it into google first, then clicking a link. Or maybe now people are much more used to using a bookmark too.
  

  Of course that now means that dubs are much less likely to see 'other' sites as they're not searching in the first place, they're going direct - which was likely the goal of the GB by going with an easy and very short domain name.
  

  Oh, and of course, the increased use of the QR code.
  
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  13

  From Bob Hope Theater to JW Assembly Hall

  by Hecce in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a remembrance of the woodland hills, ca assembly hall.

  i am enclosing a partial copy of a wikipedia article covering the purchase and subsequent sale of the facility by the jw.

  i am enclosing the link and please pay attention to the bold portion of the document.. the theater project was backed by entertainers bob hope and art linkletter, along with cy warner.. the 2865-seat facility opened july 6, 1964 with the sound of music.

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  darkspilver

  Firstly, don't worry, the Bob Hope Theatre, located just a stones throw from his birth place - in Eltham, London - is still around
  

  http://www.bobhopetheatre.co.uk

  Anyway, back to the OP....
  

  http://boulevardwoodlandhills.com

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/152620/woodland-hills-assembly-hall-woodland-hills-ca?page=2#/2789465

  
  

  
  
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  50

  London K.H.'s - Which Ones Will Be Sold Off?

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective january 1st 2017.

  (i've only highlighted a couple) in all probability, their own k.h.

  is/has been sold.

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  darkspilver

  Why don't you do a search and bring us back the results.

  Ah, but what makes you think that I haven't?.... and they're listed in my previous post above?....

  Actually I suspect that there is very little room for movement vis-a-vis K.H.s/congregations within the metropolitan areas of the UK as a whole
  

  Therefore IMHO The Searchers OP was unhelpful and just leads to giving 'false hope' - and is why I called The Searcher out on it

  So, what is gonna happen??
  

  I think the rural areas of the UK are too thinly populated to move move congregations to new K.H.s to allow a K.H. to be sold - remember that Brits have a very restricted view of distances - they just are not that used to travelling long distances.

  Therefore, as explained above, with no real room for movement in the metropolitan areas......

  That leaves the suburbs and smaller mid-sized towns - which I do think could be ripe for sell-offs -that's what we're already seeing - for example Brighton/Hove:

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6521299230785536/hove-kh-sell-off

  So, in conclusion, don't look to London as suggested by The Searcher - look at the mid-sized towns that are currently home to three or four congregations in two or even three K.H.'s - that's were the combining, joining, sharing and.... sell-offs will come from.

  
  

  BUT, remember this is just conjecture - I'm still waiting for the following link: "According to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective January 1st 2017."
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  4

  India 2016 Convention Highlights

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  looks like india just got the revised (silver) new world translation..... https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6023413583839232/no-more-printing-wt-awake-my-country-shit-just-got-real.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-qhmxgva0.

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  darkspilver

  Looks like India just got the Revised (silver) New World Translation....
  

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6023413583839232/no-more-printing-wt-awake-my-country-shit-just-got-real

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0-qhmxGVA0

  
  
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  9

  J.W.'s Interfaith Hypocrisy

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  w02 10/15 p. 27 questions from readers - "would it be a form of interfaith to purchase a building from another religious group and convert it into a kingdom hall?

  "generally, jehovah’s witnesses avoid such dealings with other religions.

  except when cash clarifies their thinking!.

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  darkspilver

  Mephis

  
  

  Temple Farm most likely derives from the Hanningfield Temple Manor, which was land once owned by the Knights Templar. I'm not sure that really counts.

  haha, yeah, thought I'd just throw that one in.....
  

  
  http://www.knight-templar.org.uk/
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  7

  Latest News on Oetzi

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  i vaguely remember when the 5,000 year old mummy was first discovered in sept 1991. i was twelve.

  he was quickly given the name 'oetzi' because he was found in the oetztaler alps.. my granddad had a book about it and after he died, i took his book home with me.. apparently, some scientists believe that oetzi died from an arrow shot and a blow to the head.. interesting.. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3795815/25-years-europe-s-oldest-human-mummy-alps-scientists-say-amazed-learning-5-300-year-old-corpse.html .

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  darkspilver

  LoveUniHateExams

  I vaguely remember when the 5,000 year old mummy was first discovered in Sept 1991. I was twelve. He was quickly given the name 'Oetzi' because he was found in the Oetztaler alps.

  Maybe you remember the Awake! cover articles?

  Awake! 8 May 1995, pages 1 to 9

  The Mummy That Came in From the Cold

  At first sight it might have seemed like the scene of a crime. A dried-out corpse lay facedown, half trapped in the ice. An accidental death? A revenge killing? Or simply another mountain-climbing victim? In any case, what was he doing there in the silence of the Tirolean Alps 10,500 feet above sea level? Who was he? And how did he die?

  ... [see scan of original below] ...
  

  Link to scans
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
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  9

  J.W.'s Interfaith Hypocrisy

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  w02 10/15 p. 27 questions from readers - "would it be a form of interfaith to purchase a building from another religious group and convert it into a kingdom hall?

  "generally, jehovah’s witnesses avoid such dealings with other religions.

  except when cash clarifies their thinking!.

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  darkspilver

  The original Brooklyn Tabernacle, Hicks Street, Brooklyn, New York

  Proclaimers Book, Chapter 5, page 59

  
  n 1908, therefore, several representatives of the Watch Tower Society, including its legal counsel, Joseph F. Rutherford, were sent to New York City. Their objective? To secure property that C. T. Russell had located on an earlier trip. They purchased the old “Plymouth Bethel,” located at 13-17 Hicks Street, Brooklyn. It had served as a mission structure for the nearby Plymouth Congregational Church, where Henry Ward Beecher once served as pastor. The Society’s representatives also purchased Beecher’s former residence, a four-story brownstone at 124 Columbia Heights, a few blocks away

  The original London Tabernacle, Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, London

  Yearbook 1973, pages 95-96

  
  Notwithstanding the mounting financial burden on the Society, in March 1911 it was deemed necessary to move into larger branch quarters in London, so the Society took over a property at 36 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, London W. This had a meeting hall large enough to accommodate the growing number of believers in the London area. Formerly known as the Craven Hill Congregational Chapel, the premises were renamed London Tabernacle. It had a large gallery seating almost as many as the ground floor—in all, nearly twelve hundred.
  

  The new Britain Bethel, Ship Road, Chelmsford, Essex

  Temple Farm
  
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  9

  J.W.'s Interfaith Hypocrisy

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  w02 10/15 p. 27 questions from readers - "would it be a form of interfaith to purchase a building from another religious group and convert it into a kingdom hall?

  "generally, jehovah’s witnesses avoid such dealings with other religions.

  except when cash clarifies their thinking!.

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  darkspilver

  Watchtower 15 March 1999, pages 24 and 25
  

  Building on Pagan Foundations

  ... [see scan of original below] ...
  

  In a letter to a missionary bound for pagan Britain in 601 C.E., Gregory gave this direction: “The temples of the idols in the said country ought not to be broken; but the idols alone which be in them . . . If the said temples be well built, it is needful that they be altered from the worshipping of devils into the service of the true God.” Gregory’s idea was that if pagan peoples saw their former temples unspoiled, they might be more inclined to continue frequenting them. Whereas pagans used “to kill many oxen in sacrifice to the devils,” wrote the pope, it was now hoped that “they no more sacrifice animals to the devil but kill them to the refreshing of themselves to the praise of God.”

  ... [see scan of original below] ...

  Link to scans
  

  
  

  
  
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  50

  London K.H.'s - Which Ones Will Be Sold Off?

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective january 1st 2017.

  (i've only highlighted a couple) in all probability, their own k.h.

  is/has been sold.

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  darkspilver

  @Searcher thank you for the heads up on the situation in London.
  

  hmmm The Searcher rested their case on the ease of closing single use K.H.'s within the London metropolitan area - which is extremely valid reasoning.....

  yes, with a higher density of population and generally better public transport - it would be generally fairly easy to move a single congregation and sell-off their K.H....

  yes, they could even just merge congregations - 3-into-2 - and sell-off the now disused K.H....

  yes, I can very easily see this happening....

  but, the problem was that out of the 35 K.H.'s that The Searcher listed - they were used by an average of 3.5 congregations each!!....

  therefore, I listed four K.H.s that I believed were single use (though they're more in the suburbs) - these are the ones that are much more likely to be sell-off AND NOT REPLACED.

  @darkspilver - your comments are annoying.
  

  In line with The Searcher's OP, I'm interested in seeing a list of single use K.H.s within the London metropolitan
  area in anticipation of a 'sell-off', sorry if that's annoying
  
  
  
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  4

  So When Do You Think The Watchtower Sign Will Come Down in Brooklyn?

  by Wild_Thing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think we should have a street party in brooklyn when it happens!

  it would be a "tearing down of the berlin wall" type of celebration!

  i would totally fly to new york for that!

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  darkspilver

  Well, it was a 'Squibb' sign before WT took over the building

  It's a classic New York style sign - I reckon the new owners will just replace it with a new name in the same style.
  

  Link
  

  

  The sign for Kentile Floors, on Ninth Street in Gowanus, harks back to a time when Brooklyn was synonymous with industry — and probably asbestos.
  
  

  The Eagle Clothing sign, visible from Second Avenue in Gowanus, is another example of classic sign — one that reminds our editor’s dad of suits he once purchased.
  

  
  

  This “. R” sign in Red Hook, at the intersection of Delavan and Richard streets, is our favorite. It once said “E.J. Trum,” for a paper product manufacturer. A furniture store took its place and tried to tear down the letters — but the R and one of the periods remain.