Terry

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Posts by Terry

• 
  60

  Do You Think Trump Should Be Impeached?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some democrats are zealously pushing the impeachment route to get rid of trump.

  even if you don’t like him, do you support impeachment proceedings?.

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  Terry

  IF the pro-Trump electorate saw an impeachment trial on the agenda it would motivate them to appear at the polls.
  The idea is to suppress pro-Trump voters and that is best achieved
  by waving no red flags so close to an election.
  
  "The Opposition" is just rattling their sabers Kabuki style.
• 
  8

  Failed Predictions - If at first you don't succeed - keep on sucking till you do

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses aren't the only group whose forecasts, predictions, scare-stories, and data jumbling go awry.take a look:https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions.

  what's interesting in the above article is that it is eerily familiar to jw'swho debunk false teachings.

  the reprinted news-clippings have strong impactand lend gravitas to the argument.what argument?there's a huge difference between science and bullshit because scienceis supposed to test its hypotheses.well - failure is a pretty good test.. 1967: dire famine forecast by 1975.

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  Terry

  "Science" has old light as well.
  Penumbra.
• 
  8

  Failed Predictions - If at first you don't succeed - keep on sucking till you do

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses aren't the only group whose forecasts, predictions, scare-stories, and data jumbling go awry.take a look:https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions.

  what's interesting in the above article is that it is eerily familiar to jw'swho debunk false teachings.

  the reprinted news-clippings have strong impactand lend gravitas to the argument.what argument?there's a huge difference between science and bullshit because scienceis supposed to test its hypotheses.well - failure is a pretty good test.. 1967: dire famine forecast by 1975.

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  Terry

  Jehovah's Witnesses aren't the only group whose forecasts, predictions, scare-stories, and data jumbling go awry.
  
  Take a look:
  https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions

  What's interesting in the above article is that it is eerily familiar to JW's
  who debunk false teachings. The reprinted news-clippings have strong impact
  and lend gravitas to the argument.
  What argument?
  There's a huge difference between Science and bullshit because Science
  is supposed to TEST its hypotheses.
  Well - FAILURE is a pretty good test.
  

  1. 1967: Dire Famine Forecast By 1975
  2. 1969: Everyone Will Disappear In a Cloud Of Blue Steam By 1989 (1969)
  3. 1970: Ice Age By 2000
  4. 1970: America Subject to Water Rationing By 1974 and Food Rationing By 1980
  5. 1971: New Ice Age Coming By 2020 or 2030
  6. 1972: New Ice Age By 2070
  7. 1974: Space Satellites Show New Ice Age Coming Fast
  8. 1974: Another Ice Age?
  9. 1974: Ozone Depletion a ‘Great Peril to Life
  10. 1976: Scientific Consensus Planet Cooling, Famines imminent
  11. 1980: Acid Rain Kills Life In Lakes
  12. 1978: No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend
  13. 1988: Regional Droughts (that never happened) in 1990s
  14. 1988: Temperatures in DC Will Hit Record Highs
  15. 1988: Maldive Islands will Be Underwater by 2018 (they’re not)
  16. 1989: Rising Sea Levels will Obliterate Nations if Nothing Done by 2000
  17. 1989: New York City’s West Side Highway Underwater by 2019 (it’s not)
  18. 2000: Children Won’t Know what Snow Is
  19. 2002: Famine In 10 Years If We Don’t Give Up Eating Fish, Meat, and Dairy
  20. 2004: Britain will Be Siberia by 2024
  21. 2008: Arctic will Be Ice Free by 2018
  22. 2008: Climate Genius Al Gore Predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013
  23. 2009: Climate Genius Prince Charles Says we Have 96 Months to Save World
  24. 2009: UK Prime Minister Says 50 Days to ‘Save The Planet From Catastrophe’
  25. 2009: Climate Genius Al Gore Moves 2013 Prediction of Ice-Free Arctic to 2014
  26. 2013: Arctic Ice-Free by 2015
  27. 2014: Only 500 Days Before ‘Climate Chaos’
  28. 1968: Overpopulation Will Spread Worldwide
  29. 1970: World Will Use Up All its Natural Resources
  30. 1966: Oil Gone in Ten Years
  31. 1972: Oil Depleted in 20 Years
  32. 1977: Department of Energy Says Oil will Peak in 90s
  33. 1980: Peak Oil In 2000
  34. 1996: Peak Oil in 2020
  35. 2002: Peak Oil in 2010
  36. 2006: Super Hurricanes!
  37. 2005 : Manhattan Underwater by 2015
  38. 1970: Urban Citizens Will Require Gas Masks by 1985
  39. 1970: Nitrogen buildup Will Make All Land Unusable
  40. 1970: Decaying Pollution Will Kill all the Fish
  41. 1970s: Killer Bees!
      ________
      
      Are these honest errors?
      Or just a conspiracy to sell news stories with dire emotional impact?
      
      Whichever way you decide -- frightening large populations with doom works like a charm.
• 
  13

  Looking for Podcast recommendations.

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a postman so i get 4 to 5 hours every day with my headphones on and i'm really chewing through some stuff.

  i'm after science (evolutionary biology and anthropology especially), history of religion and comedy.

  old sci-fi audio books are also a favourite.

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  Terry

  
  
  My son, Jason, has a Podcast so successful it has run 14 years now.
  
  
  
  A staggering variety of topics awaits the curious ear ...
• 
  19

  Creation literally

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i am very open to receiving thoughts that will help me develop this study:.

  https://jwstudies.com/creation_literally.pdf .

  doug.

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  Terry

  Jordan Peterson has perhaps the most interesting survey I've ever witnessed. He brings a different set of cognitive tools to his discussion and analysis.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdrLQ7DpiWs&t=24s
• 
  17

  Every year, on the anniversary of Nine-Eleven ...

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  “get out of here—this is my father’s funeral; you don’t belong here; you are a liar!”.

  the woman’s face reflected terrible pain—the worst pain possible, to the point of breakdown.

  a thousand unanswered questions washed from her eyes by the flow of many tears.

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  Terry

  With borders so porous that Alien invasion may have already begun
• 
  17

  Every year, on the anniversary of Nine-Eleven ...

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  “get out of here—this is my father’s funeral; you don’t belong here; you are a liar!”.

  the woman’s face reflected terrible pain—the worst pain possible, to the point of breakdown.

  a thousand unanswered questions washed from her eyes by the flow of many tears.

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  Terry

  https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/world/middleeast/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-dead.html

  Here's the guy who was the only source of totally B.S. information
  about weapons of mass destruction. His motive was to take over
  leadership of Iraq himself.
  
  
  
• 
  17

  Every year, on the anniversary of Nine-Eleven ...

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  “get out of here—this is my father’s funeral; you don’t belong here; you are a liar!”.

  the woman’s face reflected terrible pain—the worst pain possible, to the point of breakdown.

  a thousand unanswered questions washed from her eyes by the flow of many tears.

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  Terry

  In 1941 Pearl Harbor became the galvanizing moment which rallied
  strong feelings toward payback and the U.S. entered WWII.
  Sixty years later, on Nine-Eleven, the 'best' we could come up with was to go after a non-related entity and we've been stuck ever since.
  At least WWII ended.
  I think at last count the U.S. is in about eight wars in foreign lands.
  It's difficult to pry myself away from the notion that warfare very seldom
  restores sanity after chaos but seems to make enough people "feel better" that the cycle never ends.
  I was alive during the Korean "war" and the Vietnam imbroglio. That last one split American into pieces and we've never recovered.
  Is there a lesson here to be learned? Actually, I don't think so.
• 
  17

  Every year, on the anniversary of Nine-Eleven ...

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  “get out of here—this is my father’s funeral; you don’t belong here; you are a liar!”.

  the woman’s face reflected terrible pain—the worst pain possible, to the point of breakdown.

  a thousand unanswered questions washed from her eyes by the flow of many tears.

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  Terry

  
  
  

  ________________

  PORTRAIT of a MAN FALLING

  
  
  

  “Get out of here—this is my father’s funeral; you don’t belong here; you are a liar!”

  ________________

  The woman’s face reflected terrible pain—the worst pain possible, to the point of breakdown.
  A thousand unanswered questions washed from her eyes by the flow of many tears.
  She was bent forward slightly—not from physical infirmity—but the burden of suffering; a suffering shared by her family.

  A stranger was now speaking to her and in his trembling hand she caught sight of the photograph.
  There was pleading in his voice, a quiet voice, and something in his eyes meant her no harm . . . so she dropped her gaze . . . and immediately collapsed.

  
  

  (Elsewhere) The Editor and his staff listened quietly and nodded hesitating.

  “I don’t know who this is, but it’s pretty clear he was somebody.”

  Faces around him simply stared back at him. His people wanted to listen, wanted to be convinced. Yet, at the same time, they didn’t want to do the wrong thing in the wrong way at this—the worst of all possible wrong times.
  Somebody--a photographer-- had spoken these words:

  “A carpenter reaches for his hammer without thinking. I’m a photographer—I reached for my camera and started taking pictures . . . that’s all it was . . . that’s all.”
  Once again, referring to THAT photograph.
  ***

  Outside the office, a bustle of activity bespoke controlled chaos. Like an anthill stomped upon, a flurry of busy randomness had seized everyone in an invisible panic.
  

  “I’d like to know. But—it’s not my call. I don’t know what I’m asking, but maybe you all do.
  WHO is the man in this photograph? Somebody needs to get on this.”

  ____What Happened___

  The clear morning sky gave bright promise to the optimism of a perfect day. It was the kind of day even the most jaded urban sophisticate could glance at sideways and give up a begrudging smile of approval.

  Traffic zipped or stalled to the pattern of signal lights along the avenues. Horns honked as shoe leather patted concrete sidewalks in a pattern of big city syncopation. Commuters and panhandlers danced through the motions of survival at both ends of a Darwinian paradise of tall, tall buildings and crisp fall air.

  It is 9:41 a.m.

  The photographer snatched his camera up and took off at a brisk jog exactly to the spot where he suddenly froze. “The carpenter reached for his hammer without thinking about it,”
  He is Richard Drew and he would later explain to the others, “The carpenter reaches for his hammer without thinking about it,” just as he pointed his camera upward toward the object which had caught his professional eye in the viewfinder, as he began snapping instinctively. There was no right or wrong about it—he snapped and his lens followed as it covered almost fifteen hundred feet of vertical space, top to bottom in a blink, snap, blink, snap, blink of an eye.

  _____

  A theologian was asked to comment in the aftermath and he reluctantly agreed.

  The photograph laid out in front of him seemed to be all stripes of black, gray and white with a random speck near the top. Rev. Doctor Thompson adjusted his glasses and drew in a slow, deep breath as if bracing himself for the worst. It took a few moments, like a strong drink swallowed too fast, burning on the way down until. . .he removed his glasses again and pinched the top of his nose as his eyes tightly squinted. The next day, newspapers reprinted his comment.

  "Perhaps the most powerful image of despair at the beginning of the twenty-first century is not found in art, or literature, or even popular music. It is found in a single photograph."

  ______

  Next day, on page 7 of the New York Times, the world stared at Drew’s photo. Reaction volleyed back immediately like the image in Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream—an excruciating wail of anger, pain and denial sweeping back upon the ‘monsters’ who would publish such an image!

  ______

  Official quote from the New York Medical Examiner’s office:

  "A 'jumper' is somebody who goes to the office in the morning knowing that they will commit suicide. These people were forced out by the smoke and flames or blown out."

  ______

  Only one man seemed driven to ask the questions nobody else dared to ask. In his curiosity and determination, he questioned the wrong people—showing them the terrible photograph.
  After all, he was guessing—and guessing means getting it wrong as easily as getting it right. If the unknown was too great a burden for him to bear, so too was it an unthinkable abomination—a blasphemy for the Hernandez family at their father’s funeral. It was a sin to commit suicide and it would send their beloved Norberto to the fires of hell! The daughter lashed out with her bitter words and sent reporter Peter Cheney back out into the street, stunned at the damage his questions had wrought.

  Cheney’s quest lurched forward. Another possibility arose: Jonathan Briley. Was he the falling object in the cursed picture? If so, he’d be memorialized forever suspended upside down in mid-air, one improbable knee bent, as the slim healthy man plummeted at maximum velocity toward infinity below. Briley’s brother, Timothy identified him by his clothes and shoes, as well as a ridiculous orange undershirt barely visible as the white shirt ballooned out in the updraft of the awful fall—he remembered his brother wearing it that morning.

  His grief-stricken sister told the reporter, "When I first looked at the picture ... and I saw it was a man—tall, slim—I said, 'If I didn't know any better, that could be Jonathan.”’

  Approximately 200 people fell or jumped that day. None was deemed a “jumper,” but a victim of blunt force trauma in a murderous attack on the World Trade Center.

  The Hernandez family was again contacted and their minds put at ease—not a minute too soon. Norberto’s daughters had been torn apart by embittered consciences stricken by devout Catholic teaching. At last they could accept he had simply been one victim—a martyr to be sure—among the 2,996 which perished inside.

  Of all the unspeakable horror of that day of infamy, the photograph—a portrait of a man falling—became the focal point of unacceptable remembrance.

  Why?

  None could or would accept the small measure of “choice” implied in this man’s demise. The only possible way the human mind could categorize the event was in terms of murder—not elective suicide.

  Few persons could wrap their mind around the idea of “postponement” of the inevitable, in those few incredible minutes out in the open air—free of smoke and terrible flames—the illogical logic of not wanting to be incinerated in choking blackness and screams. . . Yet—it is so remarkably beautiful to come away with a powerful sense of defiance and freedom in that last act—refusal to accept a death chosen for them by brutal sadists on a feckless and twisted Jihad.

  To jump and sail free in an impossible escape on the wings of God’s angels—or the simple purchase of five seconds more of precious life—who are we to judge this man or the 200 others and affix blame or assign moral verdicts?

  In that moment of 9:41 a.m. September 11, 2001—there is an eternal portrait of a man falling. He who may have greater courage than any human has ever shown. 1,500 feet of flight on a most beautiful day with its morning sun bright and clear, and a casual breeze softly caressing his flight in a transcendent prayer of human dignity.

  FREEDOM at any cost.

  
  

  
  
  (This essay of mine was inspired by the documentary: 9/11 The Falling Man)
  
  
  
  

  
  
• 
  9

  What did Charles Taze Russell and the Bible Students believe?

  by Pallbearer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that present-day jehovah's witnesses believe that 144,000 are to go to heaven and rule alongside jesus, and that the survivors of armageddon along with those who will be resurrected are to live on earth with the prospect of living here forever.. questions:.

  > what did pastor russell and the bible students originally believe about the earth?.

  > did they believe that the earth would always exist and that it would become a paradise?.

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  Terry

  Better to go to the source, eh?
  http://www.pastor-russell.com/