Posts by darkspilver

16

Goal: To digitize all WT statistical data

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

i have the goal of digitizing all wt statistical data, as much as possible, as far back as possible.user 88jm.

i recently did 1980 and i had a friend help me with 1979 and 1978.. do we have any volunteers to help me with previous years??.

it's a lot of work, but if you know excel you can make some macros that will speed up the work..

darkspilver

Hey ILoveTTATT2

ok, hope you don't mind me jumping in - I had a test run - so konceptual99 this is what I did....

FIRST - Get the best original scan image that you can (that is also straight on the page)

I used one that was 4623 x 3600 pixels (so that's a 16Mb image saved as a 2.9Mb jpeg) - http://imgur.com/a/hMSLM

I edited to remove the horizontal lines (they confuse the OCR)

SECOND - Convert to Excel format

I used my favourite free online OCR website (your's might be different)

http://www.onlineocr.net/

Get it converted to Excel, and download in Excel

TIP: you'll find that the OCR converts a few the of commas in the numbers to full-stops - so do a global search-and-replace

Place each part of the converted chart all on to one excel sheet, with columns lined-up

THIRD: Use the Excel column autosum feature to add up each column and compare with the given totals

I think 8 out of 13 columns in my example added up as the given totals - so I assume the individual numbers are all good in those columns

About 4 columns didn't add up correctly - but they had obvious errors when a cell had no number in it or something - easy to spot and correct - once done they added up as the given total

One colum did NOT total up but was out by exactly '1,000' - a bit weird - I took a few minutes to double check the individual numbers and all seemed OK, so actually I think it is a WT mistake....

End result is something like this: http://imgur.com/a/9C6mH

Think it took about 30 minutes-all-in (I was interrupted by a phone call) but that is just converting hard-copy to electronic format which is kinda the easy bit because...

What does take the time is the country-matching from year-to-year....

9

SPAIN: Crónica Global - Jehovah's Witnesses order cases of abuse of children internally - In Spanish & English - Google Translated

by AndersonsInfo in

http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/testigos-jehova-ordenan-resolver-abusos-internamente_66270_102.html .

crónica global .

los testigos de jehová ordenan resolver los casos de abusos a niños internamente.

darkspilver

You mean inline with the below?

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/rights-child/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/rights_child/standards_child_protection_kcsc_en.pdf

Do other (non-JW) organisations in Spain currently have an equivalent to the UK's 'Child Safeguarding Policy'?

44

Update to UK “Child Safeguarding Policy”

by wifibandit in

a known poster on this site (anon) says:.

i have just received a text from an elder i've known for decades in my circuit who has some sympathy for my feelings and who is aware of the arc, the uk charity commission, etc., etc.

here it is verbatim, and my reply.

darkspilver

Yes, that's the problem here - the Policies just don't say that.....

vis-a-vis the UK Girl Guides:

How you should report concerns about a girl

To report a concern
Make a written record of your concern or a girl's disclosure, including the date, time and all relevant details of the member concerned, others involved and witnesses if there are any.
Contact your local Commissioner or the Safeguarding team at Girlguiding HQ who will inform you of the next actions to take.
Email your written record to [email protected].
If it is an emergency - and the child is at risk - inform the police or social services first, then the Safeguarding team.
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/running-your-unit/safeguarding-and-risk/concerns-about-girls/

What to do if you have a concern regarding a volunteer

To report a concern
Make a written record of your concern, including the date, time and all relevant details of the person involved, young person concerned, others involved and witnesses if there are any.
Contact your local Commissioner or the Safeguarding team at Girlguiding HQ who will inform you of the next actions to take.
Email your written record to [email protected].
If it is an emergency - and the child is at risk - inform the police or social services first, then the Safeguarding team.
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/running-your-unit/safeguarding-and-risk/concerns-about-volunteers/

9

SPAIN: Crónica Global - Jehovah's Witnesses order cases of abuse of children internally - In Spanish & English - Google Translated

by AndersonsInfo in

http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/testigos-jehova-ordenan-resolver-abusos-internamente_66270_102.html .

crónica global .

los testigos de jehová ordenan resolver los casos de abusos a niños internamente.

darkspilver

Para 11 says 'every' in italics, so that would include just 'one' witness - actually, 'zero' witness - just an allegation and that could be second or third-hand, not a 'witness' to the act

Basically appears to be same principle at the UK Girl Guides regarding reporting? - inform HQ first who tell you what to do, if child at risk inform police AND HQ:

Contact your local Commissioner or the Safeguarding team at Girlguiding HQ who will inform you of the next actions to take.
If it is an emergency - and the child is at risk - inform the police or social services first, then the Safeguarding team.
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/running-your-unit/safeguarding-and-risk/concerns-about-girls/

See Para 13 in Policy: http://imgur.com/a/rIw3E

44

Update to UK “Child Safeguarding Policy”

by wifibandit in

a known poster on this site (anon) says:.

i have just received a text from an elder i've known for decades in my circuit who has some sympathy for my feelings and who is aware of the arc, the uk charity commission, etc., etc.

here it is verbatim, and my reply.

darkspilver

And no, I have not.

Cool, thanks for having the courage to admit that.

I think the issue is that we want this 'Safeguarding Policy' to be something that was not designed to be.

9

SPAIN: Crónica Global - Jehovah's Witnesses order cases of abuse of children internally - In Spanish & English - Google Translated

by AndersonsInfo in

http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/testigos-jehova-ordenan-resolver-abusos-internamente_66270_102.html .

crónica global .

los testigos de jehová ordenan resolver los casos de abusos a niños internamente.

darkspilver

Thanks for this.

This text has been communicated to congregations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and will be effective in Spain in the near future.

How do they know that the UK's Child Safeguarding Policy will be 'effective in Spain in the near future.'

I understood from watchtowerdocuments.com that it was a UK specific document that had been used by the WT in the UK since 2011? I did not realise it had been introduced into other countries?

4

SPAIN - number of Kingdom Halls

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

please note that this post links to websites that are in spanish, if that's a problem, please do not click on the links!.

it is now just over two years since the wt send the now infamous 17 september 2014 letter regarding the programme of building kingdom halls to all congregations in spain.

(letter page one / letter page two).

darkspilver

Please note that this post links to websites that are in Spanish, if that's a problem, please do NOT click on the links!

It is now just over two years since the WT send the now infamous 17 September 2014 letter regarding the programme of building Kingdom Halls to all congregations in Spain. (letter page one / letter page two)

This week, as the WT released their annual 2017 Yearbook, it was revealed that Spain had the 21st highest increase of publishers from last year.

But, despite this increase in publishers, it is notable that in Spain the number of congregations continues it's downward spiral - from a peak two years ago during the 2014 Service Year of 1,545, down 43 to 1,502 congregations in the 2016 Service Year.

And the result of that now infamous letter - read out in all the congregations in Spain two years ago?

Out of the 705 Kingdom Halls in Spain two years ago - they are now apparently down to 650.... this still, though, places the WT as the 4th largest religion is Spain, by places of worship - in fact some 9.6% of ALL places of worship in Spain are Kingdom Halls (assumng that each Catholic Parish has just the one registered place of worship).

The Observatorio del Pluralismo Religioso en España's Data Exploitation for December 2016 has an interesting summary of the various religions in Spain - including the number of registered places of worship each one has - though it should be noted that it is unclear exactly how they've counted them (vis-a-vis multi-auditoriums and evening/weekend rented halls)

For those interested, they also provide a dataset/map that shows the location of each place of worship, by religion

14

What is Gilead's current curriculum?

by careful in

some years back alltimejeff reported on what gilead's curriculum was like from a guy who had gone thru it.

it was detailed and enlightening for those of us in the dark.

(hey, atj, are you still checking in here?).

darkspilver

I think part of the 'problem' is this new(-ish) internet TV thingy they use now, combined with the reduction in actual printed stuff. What used to be featured in print, is now perhaps primarily featured via video.

The 141st Gilead Graduation programme (about three or so hours worth of it) is the most recent one showing up on tv.jw.org - when was that held/uploaded? September/October 2016?

23

6 New Kingdom Halls Built In The US This Year

by James Jack in

on our local needs part tonight, the elder (on the local ldc), conducting the part, said he just got back from a meeting in memphis tn with members from the us branch rdc conducting the meeting.

they mentioned that only 6 new kingdom halls and 2 major re-models were completed in 2016.

"it may seem like a small accomplishment, considering under the old rbc arrangement there was some 700 projects on the average each year being done", "but, this is going 5-10 years of training to kick this new program into optima production".

darkspilver

At the meeting, The one conducting also said that "Halls that are less than 25 miles from each other only having 1 or 2 assigned, will be closely looked at as to whether they could be reassigned to another hall, and the Kingdom Hall sold off. That way dedicated funds are better utilized."

25 miles??

Interesting - if the GB directs that the same methodology is used in the UK, then I believe that EVERY Kingdom Hall that has just one (or even two congregations) currently using it, is within a 25 mile radius of another Hall being used by only one (or maybe two congregations).... With the vast majority of KHs within a much closer proximity - so this would likely effect EVERY KH/Congregation unless they're already in a KH used by three congregations....

6

upskirt voyeur a JW

by Luo bou to in

report was in nz news paper recently this guy had a camera attached to his witnessing bag so he could film up girls skirts hyperthetical can you imagine before he was caught this bro being commended for his zeal in the ministry and used as a role model for reporting a lot of hours which is considered by the elders a measure of ones spirituality .

darkspilver

Luo Bou to

have you checked to make sure they're not recycling your newspaper where you are?

though this is a country with 5 million people and 30 million sheep......