Posts by Mephis

22

What do Muslims Really Think - UK Documentary

by cofty in

channel 4 have commissioned a study into attitudes among british muslims.. the documentary starts in an hour from now at 10pm.

if you watch it live or on 4od please share your thoughts.. unlike many other surveys of muslim opinion, which have predominantly been done by phone or online, icm used face-to-face, in-home research to question a representative sample of 1,000 muslims across great britain.

icm also used a “control sample” to compare what british muslims thought with the rest of the british population.. at the top-line level, the survey suggests that a mainstream british muslim majority have similar values and attitudes to the wider british public on issues such as support for british institutions and a feeling of belonging to britain.. but looking deeper into the results, a chasm develops between those muslims surveyed and the wider population on attitudes to liberal values on issues such as gender equality, homosexuality and issues relating to freedom of expression.

Mephis

Er, not quite. The muted reaction from our media is because the killer himself is a Muslim, one who gave instructions through his lawyer to tell the media that the reason for the killing was because the victim had insulted Islam.

The man responsible was charged very quickly and so things are sub judice until trial begins. As happens in every criminal case - to try and allow for a fair trial whatever the circumstances.

Not sure what the Indie and Guardian, Britain's 'liberal media', reported to be honest. Don't think even the tabloids got much time to report too extensively before things moved past that initial coverage.

25

Resolutions at Kingdom Hall

by sieborg in

anyhow i got to thinking today about my days in the borg and the resolutions that would intermittently be made in the announcements for co visit expenses, sending a donation to society www fund etc.

my point is that while i was in (almost thirty two years) i never once saw anyone put up their hand to vote against a resolution that the body of elders proposed.

on a couple of occasions i heard a few hushed murmurs but i never saw one person vote against.

Mephis

In the early 80s, the congo I was in were renting out a place in one town. However, the bulk of the publishers were at the other end of the territory and wanted to relocate the rented facilities to somewhere more central. Not only votes against the resolution to move but it was quite clear the BoE resolution wasn't unanimous either.

The congregation is still named after the original town.

Would think that would be more 'guided' by CO and branch these days judging by the letters they've put out over the past few years. Would also think it much rarer for someone to feel free to express a dissenting opinion against 'the theocratic arrangement'.

18

Evolution is a Fact #35 - Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

by cofty in

genes only get copied to future generations if the bodies they help to build succeed in surviving and reproducing.

these sort of genes thrive in the gene pool and genes that build unsuccessful bodies don't.

this blindingly obvious fact is at the very core of understanding evolution by natural selection.. being born, finding food and shelter, escaping predators, fighting opponents, attracting a mate and raising the next generation - the challenges faced by living things are daunting.

Mephis

Toxoplasma gondii. Nature's way of asking whether God loves cats or just really, really hates rodents.

(For those who don't know the studies on this one, it's a parasite which effectively rewires rodent brains to not mind predators, to actively seek out the scent of predators, and all so that it can reproduce in its favoured host - felines.)

5

Russia threatens to shut down branch

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/threaten-shutdown-jw-national-headquarters/

Mephis

Some background from HuffPost recently, echoing many of the other reports I've linked on similar threads about this not just being a JW issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/armine-sahakyan/hopes-of-religious-freedo_b_9509396.html

Many people expected a flowering of faith when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991.
But it hasn’t happened, largely because the countries that emerged from the ashes of the USSR have repressed most religions, the main exceptions being Russian Orthodox Christianity and certain brands of Islam.
The repressed have included denominations of Christianity that are widespread in other countries, such as Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians.
As with other regrettable trends in the former Soviet Union, Russia has set the tone for the repression of religion.

35

Judgment handed down by Court of Appeal in legal challenge to Charity Commission inquiry opened in 2014

by OrphanCrow in

this is good news.

the wt have lost in their attempt to stop the uk charity commission's inquiry into their affairs.

however, the wt is still digging in their heels about turning documents over to the charity commission.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/court-of-appeal-gives-judgment-in-court-case-by-jehovahs-witness-charityjudgment handed down by court of appeal in legal challenge to charity commission inquiry opened in 2014.today, the court of appeal handed down its judgment regarding the commission’s statutory inquiry, opened in 2014, into the watch tower bible and tract society of britain (the leading jehovah’s witness charity in the uk).

Mephis

Not UK citizens, but complaint must involve a congregation or other registered charity (eg WBTS as registered in UK) in England or Wales.

Hope that's useful.

11

Ferris Bueller, and life after the JWS

by talesin in

ferris bueller's day off was an huge flick when i was young, and it's a many-layered story.

i was watching this vid, and realized that one reason i love this movie, is that it could be one metaphor for my life.

i took the lead, did it my way, and have had one helluva lot of fun on the journey.

Mephis

Withnail and I, and that feeling that I've come on holiday by mistake ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtB_ZfP-Ew

And this song is just pure joy for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l14kECX08NE

15

A blog post on my 65th birthday

by JeffT in

jw
friends

putting this out there for everybody.

.

http://pathologicallyintellectual.blogspot.com/.

Mephis

Happy birthday Jeff.

30

"508 Million Year Old" Exceptionally Preserved Embryos Found

by Perry in

actually, they we found over 100 years ago.

but because so many dinosaur bones have yielded soft tissue, blood cells, dna fragments etc.

, many have predicted (including myself) when all this really broke loose in 2005, that many more similar discoveries would be made simply by going back and cracking open old fossils and having a look inside.

Mephis

Butt's a shill. Melanin is the answer he studiously pretends not to know. Squid ink is melanin concentrated, Melanin is not particularly prone to decay at all.

One cool result of the ink is that it potentially opens the way to better treat skin cancers because it's allowed the very slight rate of decay in one type of melanin to be measured.

"Because melanin survives so long, an analysis of the melanin from old cancerous tissue samples could give researchers a useful tool for predicting the spread of melanoma skin cancer in humans."

http://phys.org/news/2013-06-melanin-jurassic-era-mollusk-tool-cancer.html

Crazy what can happen when science goes on.

30

"508 Million Year Old" Exceptionally Preserved Embryos Found

by Perry in

actually, they we found over 100 years ago.

but because so many dinosaur bones have yielded soft tissue, blood cells, dna fragments etc.

, many have predicted (including myself) when all this really broke loose in 2005, that many more similar discoveries would be made simply by going back and cracking open old fossils and having a look inside.

Mephis

The key word here is "preserved", presumably un-fossilized, ie. original material.

They're fossils Perry. They're in an exhibition of fossils. Exceptionally well preserved means that whichever way they were fossilised managed to, well, preserve them exceptionally well and allow them to be studied.

Creationism is really, really, really bad at science.

21

JW TV - Britain Branch Report

by Listener in

although it is titled as "britain branch report" it's not much of a report.

it only goes for just over 6 minutes and half of it is some 'wild talk' about romeo and juliette, i say wild talk because it has nothing to do with the british branch and if there was any point to it, it's lost on me.. anyway, about the only thing said that is of any importance was this (at the 2.20 mark) -.

"the governing body, very kindly, have given us permission to continue construction once we have reviewed the scope of the building so we hope to be underway very soon".

Mephis

They investigate 300 sites, a local council approaches them to present a derelict, "heavily contaminated" site (quote from their own public consultation document) and it's God doing it? Jehovah is obviously the God of toxic waste disposal judging from Chelmsford and Warwick (USA) being his preferred options then.