Posts by ball.

In the UK, there are many places where two congregations share a hall, and there is often a concensus amoung the elders to split and build a second hall. The reasons given are often the most pedantic even irrational, such as both congregations can't have the Sunday meeting at xx time.

Reasons against are never considered such as the efficiency of having one hall for two congregations, bills split between two congragations, nearness of the end of this sytem, etc.

Now I don't know if there is pressure on the body of elders from the COs etc to do this, and if so I guess the reason could be the society's wish to tie up some of their cash in property (they loan special purpose funds to the congregations who then pay it back through contributions at a preferential rate). This gets cash out of the coffers to a place which cannot so easily be accounted for, the property market, money laundering.

At a local level, I think the body of elders take on such projects enthusiastically, and I'm sure not a small part of that is because of the jostling for power within the congregations and by inter-congregational politics.

I have not been an elder, perhaps you may agree or disagree.

7

My first Christmas.....

by Gadget in

jw
friends

this was the first christmas i've ever celebrated this year.

i woke up with such a hangover, we'd been out partying on christmas eve.

i went to my friends parents house for dinner.

ball.

Reboot!! It sounds like I had a christmas NOT!!

22

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GADGET

by RAYZORBLADE in

jw
friends

well, well, well....if the celebrations never stop, we have reason for just one more:.

happy birthday gadget.

to one of the finest members of this forum, i would like to thank you for being a positive member here, as well as contributing greatly to the highly successful "secret santa" this year.. it was great!!.

ball.

have another round from me!!!!

22

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GADGET

by RAYZORBLADE in

jw
friends

well, well, well....if the celebrations never stop, we have reason for just one more:.

happy birthday gadget.

to one of the finest members of this forum, i would like to thank you for being a positive member here, as well as contributing greatly to the highly successful "secret santa" this year.. it was great!!.

ball.

Happy birthday Gadget - heres a bottle of 12% white beer, freshly served from Manchester beer festival!

23

Merry Christmas from corporate America

by William Penwell in

us companies moving more jobs to india but quietly

david zielenziger (reuters) .

new york, december 24

ball.

OK, firstly, why do you think this is just a US issue? This is happening around the world.

And secondly, I'll give you some positive spin. Why does 10% of the world believe they can hold 90% of the wealth? Developing countries are maturing. You will see a world where you have to compete with them, some of these countries are very poor, something people don't like to think about until it affects them personally. Some people around the world would do anything for a job "flipping burgers".

Merry Christmas.

33

Mad Cow Disease in Washington State

by Smyler in

hopefully not too many cows caught bse from this cow, and moreso any humans.. .

but i do think that this is kinda of a payback to the canadians.. .

we had one cow in alberta that had bse, and the us along with many other countries banned all canadian beef.

ball.

If people panic and stop buying beef it may defalte the price, although I do not think there will be too much impact from the list of other countries who have already banned US beef as the US only exports 10% of its beef, the rest is consumed internally. Here in Britain, most people carried on consuming beef, and the number of people affected by the human form of BSE, CJD remains extremely low.

However, my question is will the US government now remove this advice from it's web site:

"To reduce any risk of acquiring vCJD from food, travelers to Europe or other areas with indigenous cases of BSE may consider either avoiding beef and beef products altogether or selecting beef or beef products, such as solid pieces of muscle meat"

and will I stop getting looks of horror from American collegues when I order beef like I'm just about to willfully contract HIV for example.

28

Holidays are a hard time for some...

by Billygoat in

i really try hard every year to keep christmas in perspective.

the tree is lovely, the smells of good food are yummy, presents are great to give and receive, but i really try to remember that it is a time of celebration and family.

it is a time for me to celebrate the birth of my friend jesus christ.

ball.

I must admit that I really do not look forward to Christmas as an ex-jw. Most of my friends go away to their families and as a single person I do pretty much nothing. Perhaps a trip to the pub on Christmas day - that's about it.