Pole

Joined

• started 39 topics
• posted 1,515 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Pole

• 
  65

  I'm an ex-dub as of tonight.

  by Pole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just want to let you know my updated status.

  today i had another elder visit.

  last time i had a call about a month ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  No problem, kls. Piotr stands for Peter. I'm fine with my screen name too. It usually provokes people to make dirty jokes.
  
  Pole
• 
  49

  Creationist Answer Please

  by skyman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yesterday there was a post that made me think.

  i have a question for you.

  i think creationist are ruled by emotion and not by provable facts.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  skyman,
  I think I'm gonna start a thread on Thales of Miletus. I see the problem you're hinting at and I think thales was the first known philosopher to address the problem.
  Until then, I wish you a good many replies from creationists. ;-)
  Pole
• 
  65

  I'm an ex-dub as of tonight.

  by Pole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just want to let you know my updated status.

  today i had another elder visit.

  last time i had a call about a month ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  Thanks xjwms and IP_SEC.
  Matt,
  I remember when you PM'd me to send the ISO file. I was afraid to give you the server address for fear of being identified by some undercover WTS agent. Happily you've turned out to be a good-hearted apostate ;-)
  BTW, my real first name is Piotr
• 
  22

  Fun with GUIDs *** Geek Topic Advisory ***

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently i worked on a db file storage system that saved files under guid id's.

  i became curious what the odds were of the db accidentally generating a duplicate guid for two different files, so i did the math.. here is what i found:.

  number of possible 128bit guids:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  It's another name for the "normal distribution". What it means is that when you pick items randomly from a population that follows this distribution, you can expect that there will be very few extreme values and that most values will cluster around the mean. So geometrically, this distribution can be plotted as a gaussian curve (a bell-shaped line). Mathematically, the normal distribution has a few interesting features which allow us to quantify our probability judments. For instance, you can know how certain it is to obtain an item with a certain value, etc. One example of a normal distribution is people's IQ scores. There are very few people wwith high IQs and very few people with very low IQs. Some psychologists, however, claim that IQ distibution is positively or negatively skewed, depending on the sex.
  What is interesting is that this distribution is not "the only game in town". many natural phenomena follow other distibutions. For instance, frequencies of phone calls for some strange reason are best modelled by the Poisson distribution.
  This is as much as I can produce "on the spot" - you can find the mathematical details in any textbook or on the net. (start here):
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_distribution
  It's off topic, but I think you may want to have a look at some of those basic statistical concepts since they help refute the creationist fallatious argument along the lines of "I don't believe it has all occurred randomly". In fact many phenomena are not so perfectly random. They follow a certain distribution.
  Pole
• 
  22

  Fun with GUIDs *** Geek Topic Advisory ***

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently i worked on a db file storage system that saved files under guid id's.

  i became curious what the odds were of the db accidentally generating a duplicate guid for two different files, so i did the math.. here is what i found:.

  number of possible 128bit guids:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  SNG,
  I am sorry - I missed your reply.
  

  I just meant that your random number generator would obviously suffer if it tended to clump in certain areas, since a person running a brute force attack, for example, could focus in the areas where the numbers were more likely to be.

  
  
  I know, I just wanted to sound smart after you've pointed out my careless statement about compilers ;-) LOL.
  Seriously, though:

  What is a Gaussian distribution, by the way?
• 
  32

  Living a Lie.

  by jeeprube in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well i've finally done it.

  i've pulled my head out of the sand.

  please permit me to ramble a bit about myself.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  Hi jeeprube,
  Stick around. This is a great place. I left the WTS today. I can relate to a lot of what you have experienced. The little doubts, expectations of the family, my wife's initial reaction to my awakening. I believe there are some advantages of fading away especially if it's helping your wife, etc. to see through the lies. That was the case with me anyway.
  Now I'm free. I'm sick to hear once again how the WTS uses their corporate morality. They tell you you can leave anytime when you're becoming a dub. What they don't tell you is that in most cases you will have to sacrifice your family. And then they say they believe it's your fault when your family members shun you.
  But mentally healthy people without serious emotional problems can usually break free sooner or later. As I said - this site may be of great help.
  Peace,
  Pole
• 
  65

  I'm an ex-dub as of tonight.

  by Pole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just want to let you know my updated status.

  today i had another elder visit.

  last time i had a call about a month ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  misanthropic,
  Yes - it really feels great where I am now. BTW, are you fond of barbarians? ;-) (my new avatar :-)
  sassy,
  Yes I have just thought of the "closure thing". It's wonderful to imagine that from now on when I meet a camera man in the street I can give a short interview voicing my political views. LOL. But I understand your situation, and I did consider a similar option (fading + moving away) at a time.
  DY, and GGG
  At some point I felt so deeply trapped in the WTS that I wished I had been born into another family and that my mother would never have learnt "the TROOF". I have made huge progress from that point. Today I was able to talk peacefully with a WTS policeman about no longer wanting to be a witness. You can go that way too. I wouldn't worry about "friends". Their friendship is usually totally conditional. And you can always make better "worldly" friends. Family is a more tricky issue, but my plan B was if my wife, mother, and step-mother shun me, it won't change my mind about leaving anyway. Luckily plan A worked almost perfectly. Everybody can go ahead with Plan B if Plan A fails. I wholeheartedly recommend that. It's just better for your mental health in the long run. Till then, don't give up.
  thom
  Yeah, it's so good to make your own rules.
  
  Pole
• 
  65

  I'm an ex-dub as of tonight.

  by Pole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just want to let you know my updated status.

  today i had another elder visit.

  last time i had a call about a month ago.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  ignored one,
  

  I'm sure defd and Schizm are both secretly envious of you.

  
  They are both truly great thinkers. They'll arrive at the same conclusion. lol
  tetra,
  I'm not sure if writing a letter is still possible. I'm getting a phoce call confirming my df-ing later tonight.
  But guess what. I've just realized I still haven't returned the keys to the KingDumb Hall. (I used to be a ministerial servant until some two years ago when I stepped down.) So I'll have at least an excuse to contact them again.
  Pole
• 
  47

  Anyone pronouncing the wicked one righteous.........

  by defd in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  and anyone pronouncing the righteous one wicked-even both of them are something detestble to jehovah, says proverbs 17:15. amid a world that is becoming entrenched in its opposition to god, it would be wise for us to look at our own attitude and values.

  periodically, we should examine ourselves to make sure we are not gradually drifting away from jehovahs thinking and standards.

  we might for example ask ourselves: have i become more tolerant of practices that god condemns?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  "If a tree falls to the south or if to the north, in the place where the tree falls there it will prove to be."
  "Solomon" must have been a very smart man. Or is it the NWT translation?
  Pole
• 
  31

  Job celebrated Birthdays!!!

  by misspeaches in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  consider this - job, blameless and upright actually celebrated birthdays with his family.. according to the new world translation job 1:4,5 says this - .

  4 and his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

  5 and it would occur that when the banquet days had gone round the circuit, job would send and sanctify them; and he got up early in the morning and offered up burnt sacrifices according to the number of all of them; for, said job, maybe my sons have sinned and have cursed god in their heart.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pole

  Schizm,
  Where have you been, dude? I've been missing your "provoking" comments. ;-)
  Pole