Also, it seems - just as I predicted some time ago - the slackwave is hitting the non-post-Soviet Eastern European countries with some delay: Czech Rep. -1%, Hungary 0%, Poland 0%, Romania -1%, Slovakia -2%.
This may indicate what is going on in countries with very few immigrants from Africa or Asia, where the Witnoids have been around for 10+ years. Fewer and fewer people are buying the Truth. (Same applies to Western Europe, but I'd say immigrants improve the stats in those countries).
Pole
Posts by Pole
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12NEW 2005 Worldwide Service Report
by Joker10 injehovah's witness grew some more this year.
6,613,829 peak publishers, or 100,000 more than last year.
the average number was 6,390,016. interesting to note is that in countries where they are banned or restricted, the growth was 9.2%.
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Pole
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12
NEW 2005 Worldwide Service Report
by Joker10 injehovah's witness grew some more this year.
6,613,829 peak publishers, or 100,000 more than last year.
the average number was 6,390,016. interesting to note is that in countries where they are banned or restricted, the growth was 9.2%.
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Pole
All these individual stats for countries (if they are credible) are simply misleading. Example: Despite the peak number of pioneers this year, Poland has 0% growth and, traditionally, one of the lowest hours/publisher ratio (only 119 per publisher per year on average). So the optimistic figure you've focused on actualy tells a very depressing story about the rest of the publishers.
BTW, I'm not sure at all, but isn't the first report where they give the decimal point value to make the overall 1.3% growth look better than the rounded down 1%?
Cheerio,
Pole -
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Pole
One of the stupidest threads ever. LOL! Big news better with booze!
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21
Did you ever 'Google' yourself?
by Legolas ini'm not on it, but my husband is!...
(his business picture)
try it and if anything funny comes up show us!
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Pole
Yes - around 200-250 genuine hits.
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89
How the Internet Means 'The End' for Apostates and Opposers of the Society
by slimboyfat inthe received wisdom is that the internet has dramatically damaged the ability of the watchtower society to gain and retain followers.
there was a very eloquent article to that effect written some time ago by a commentator who attempted to buttress his argument with reference to the postmodern condition and the breakdown of metanarratives in todays secular society, nay, even the come-back for enlightenment notions of truth.
in the 1970/80s there were major challenges to the watchtowers theology (great crowd in heaven) and chronology (1914) in norway, alberta canada, dublin ireland and in the newyork bethel itself: but the damage caused by those involved in the dissent was limited because knowledge was dispersed merely through personal contact and minimal use of obscure publications that seldom met the eyes of witnesses innocent of the watchtowers doctrinal and chronological vacillations in any case.
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Pole
Slimboy is doing the mental gymnastics again trying to prove that "Apostates" have got it all wrong. Even those apostates who think they are out thanks to the Internet are dead wrong. LOL...
It's interesting that especially young people have developed this "googling" instinct which gets activated when you're doubts about almost anything. The need to google is becoming one the basic human instincts these days.
Obviously it isn't the case in 'developing' countries yet, which is where the WTS have the biggest growth, but it's only a matter of time.
Of course we can't overestimate the role of the net. But it's obvious that the unrestrained flow of information is reshaping the modern world. Think of those countries which are trying to be totalitarian and developed at the same time (Iran, China, etc.). 25 years ago a special radio station (Free Europe) was necessary if you wanted to get across some propaganda-free news to countries like Poland. Of course the communist authorities tried to "jam" it. These days you either allow people to have access to Internet technology and learn to deal with the consequences or you're out of business.
Reminds me of the Iranian men my age I met in 2000 when I visited that country. We talked about their women not being allowed to uncover their hair in public and the free German porn they got on the net. Kind of similar to the current policy on information control the WTS is trying to maintain.
They have one pathetic website with strip comics feturing Je-Ho paradise and they're trying to compete with "apostate sites". Of course the only way they can do it is by exploring legal side-issues (c.f. quotes.ca).
Of course the brain-dead won't google "Jehovah's Witnesses UN" even when Google introduces brain-implanted search toolbars. But who cares about such morons? Most of the bright witnesses will happily find their way to apostate sites like JWD. ANd that's what counts.
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17
Getting Deinstitutionalised
by Satanus inpeople cry about the general breakdown of society.
i think that what is really happening is that institutions are being broken down.
for examples: marriage, family, traditional family roles, churches, traditional 'morals'.
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Pole
Good post.
We gotta fight da SYSTEM brothers punks!
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JW split in Romania
by PopeOfEruke indoes anyone have the factual information concerning the jw's in romania?
i believe there were many witnesses serving under ban in romania for years and years while the communists were in power.
then in 1989 when the country revolted against ceausescu and communism was overthrown, the ban on the witnesses was lifted and they could now worship freely.
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Pole
It's funny to observe how cults claim unique exclusiveness, by using the concept of "trueness".
Fundamental christians call themselves the True Religion. Jehovah's Witnesses call themselves the True Christians. The Romanian brothers call themselves the True Jehovah's Witnesses. What's next? "The True Reformed Jehovah's Witnesses"?
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24
Astounding proof of the existence of God!
by AlmostAtheist inperry marshall has done what no one else could do -- he has proven that god exists!
he points out that dna is a language -- a message -- and messages always originate with a mind!
of course, it's so simple.
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Pole
Qcmbr,
Agreed, although I'm not sure if it's only the quantity of information that makes the difference. I guess it's a qualitative problem as well (inherent ambiguity of human language vs. monosemous nature of artificial languages).
BTW, when you say:
::DNA passes on information that is not random but is constructed to be read exactly.
you seem to suggest some intentionality. My question is: where did things go so miserably wrong then? If you think for a while about how inexactly DNA may contort "the information" with all the consequences that follow, the theory of Intelligent Design should have a better-suited name. Like, the Theory of Not-So-Intelligent Design.
Ah, wait, is this where Adam and Eve step in? ;-)
But even if we assume this is an explanation at all, what if we consider a scenario in which human DNA is passed perfectly. Thanks to the perfect passing of the DNA, the bone of the skull is hard engouh to protect our brains from damages caused by a bough breaking off a tree and falling on our head. But why doesn't it protect us from a heavy piece of rock falling off the cliff?
And while our respiratory system is so marveluosly "designed" the question remains: Why did the Supreme Designer mix it with the digestive system? Why do we choke to death on a chicken bone while singing thanking prayers to Jehovah for providing the food? (Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation of using my favourite example)LOL.
Cheers,
Pole -
24
Astounding proof of the existence of God!
by AlmostAtheist inperry marshall has done what no one else could do -- he has proven that god exists!
he points out that dna is a language -- a message -- and messages always originate with a mind!
of course, it's so simple.
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Pole
Qcmbr,
::In many ways DNA is a far better (and more compact) language than human language in terms of passing on information.
Hold on, right there. You're getting carried away dude! ;-) Your comparison between natural human langauges and computational languages is based largely on a metaphor. The comparison between human language and DNA is an even more far-fetched metaphor. DNA far better in terms of passing information than human language? What sort of information? You have a very mechanistic view of human lanugage. Have you been reading too much of Shanon's information theory? (I admit it's very useful in practical terms, but not so much in a theory of language). I have never seen a piece of lingusitic irony satisfactorily modelled in terms of bits of information.
As a frustrated computational linguist I can tell you human language is a computational joke. In computational terms (since you've started using this analogy) it's a total, miserable, ultimate, fathomless f**ck up. I don't think we can blur the disctintion between artificial and natural languages so easily.
AlmostAtheist
::That message is obvious: "When I say 'Don't eat of the tree', I mean it, damn it!"
LMAO
Pole -
24
Astounding proof of the existence of God!
by AlmostAtheist inperry marshall has done what no one else could do -- he has proven that god exists!
he points out that dna is a language -- a message -- and messages always originate with a mind!
of course, it's so simple.
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Pole
My old question to Perry would be: "What is the biotic message that God encoded in viruses?". And how about mosquitos carrying malaria?
Pole