Terry

Joined

• started 1,986 topics
• posted 18,437 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Terry

• 
  21

  RESPONSIBILITY vs. "moral" Responsibility (What is the distinction and what is the difference?)

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is not intended to be a highbrow discussion!.

  you ( ought ) to pay me back that $100.

  .. bank loan.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  I would have liked a bit more participation in this topic, but--alas--no.
• 
  5

  DO BIRDS-OF-A-FEATHER really "Flock together"?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my grandfather insisted "birds of a feather flock together" and thought it was some kind of genius rule-of-thumb for understanding life.then i began noticing at school, at parties, in neighborhoods, people who looked the same hung out together and excluded others.then, i became a jw.

  they only hang out with jw's.

  the world was further divided into sheep and goats.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  I think there once was an 'evolutionary' imperative passed on as a trait to create a sense of territoriality. (This land is our land.)
  It is certainly expressed more harshly in some folks than others. This is where nature and nurture dovetail.
  I know it isn't simply bad manners.
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Coco,

  When I first started doing essays in school, I drove the teachers nuts by injecting every possible sesquipedalian artifact of my vocabulary studies into each sentence. Luckily, my instructors' humility gave them a frame of mind to tolerate such hubris.

  There was only one lady, my surrogate mom, who encouraged me to communicate with others on THEIR level and not yours. This was a nice way of telling me I was being a Narcissist :)
  
  Using a fluffy vocabulary word in place of an ordinary one is like trying to read Mandarin instructions on how to program your VCR. (How is that for a stale example?:)

  I used to purposely read books way over my head which forced me to keep a dictionary handy. I had lists galore stuffed in pockets, on small cards and scraps of paper.

  Edgar Allen Poe had quite a sensitive awareness of the texture and resonance, assonance, and dissonance of his word choices. His sentences and that of Ray Bradbury greatly informed my youth's developing tastes.
• 
  20

  Words omitted from a Watchtower article

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a short time ago i sought information regarding a quotation in the watchtower of april 1, 2010, which did not identify the exact source of the quotation from professor oskar skarsaune.

  my interest was heightened because words had been omitted from the source.. the wts provided a copy of the original 29-page article, which is in norwegian.. here is my very unofficial personal translation of the passage from professor skarsaune's article that the watchtower is quoting.

  firstly i provide the text as it appears in the watchtower magazine, highlighting where the text has been omitted.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Thank you, Doug. My grandmother, who had been raised Catholic, use to tell me about sins of omission and sins of commission. The policy of selective support narratives (partial quoting of sources) is an unusual hybrid sin, isn't it :)

  The most evident demonstration of a scholastic inferiority complex by the Watchtower's elite core of 'channelers' is their quote mining.
  It is habit (a bad one) developed before the age of the internet which I would compare to the Catholic Church's use of Latin in the Mass.
  
  Now that anything can be investigated by an armchair sleuth, the curtain is pulled back and the light of day floods in.
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Good advice!

  Any suggestions?
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  When somebody posts something critical of me, the first thing I do is click on their name and see Topics they have started to get a feel for what is important to them. Then, if I have the time and inclination, I'll read their handling of topics and comments.
  I've satisfied myself of certain things in regard to GodZoo.
  GodZoo is not a hater. I feel like what he says comes from genuine feelings and evaluations. He has an unfettered manner of expression. So be it.
  Is he tactful, courteous, friendly, kind, and self-aware? I cannot judge.
  I don't mind reading his animadversions in the spirit of egalitarian comity.
  
  
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  I had an Uncle named John Baker who drove an old Chevy pickup truck for work as a bricklayer. That old truck had seen better days; sort of like the man who drove it. His wife, my Aunt Florence, hated the way she looked sitting in that old, battered vehicle. So, she gave her husband an earful each and every time she found herself in the seat next him.
  He'd always agree with her and reply simply, "Okay, sugar baby. Whatever you say, sugar baby. . . "
  My cousin Debbie and I rode in the back of that truck on top of Uncle John's toolbox. It was probably extremely dangerous for two kids to do that--but--those were different times back in the 50's. Our sense of danger was simply different. We never had a mishap and my Uncle John probably never went over 15 mph anyway.
  So one day I was 15 years old and it was my first real job working as a bricklayer's assistant, starting my day at the crack of sunrise, not knowing what manual labor was all about.
  Well, my education in the hot Texas sun for 16 hours a day soon clued me in! I got sunburned and my sunburn got sunburned. I also sustained a bilateral, inguinal hernia, but I made it through 6 day-in-a-row job and got paid $10 in cash for my efforts.
  My Uncle's hand was like the bark of a dead tree as it held the wrinkled ten dollar bill out for me to accept.
  "Is that enough? You didn't really have much to do." His pale blue eyes were sincere and he was genuinely concerned that I not feel slighted.
  I remembered what my grandmother told me about him. He had worked through the Great Depression for a dollar a day to keep food on the table and never complained once about it. So, I nodded and thanked him. We had not discussed my rate of pay before hand. He was the most honest person I'd ever known--straight arrow, god-fearing, and loyal to the core.
  
  Lesson learned. We all have different values about things. I recalibrated my sense of personal worth. The sunburn, hernia, long hours and exhaustion did not entitle me to a bag of money from a man who had known nothing in life but strenuous labor.
  _____
  So, this is the part I wanted to get around to telling . . .

  I heard my Uncle John arguing one day. This is a man who never raised his voice (except to call his dogs). He was mild-tempered and humble, so it was a bit of a shock. His neighbor was standing nose to nose with Uncle John and the two of them were two kettles at a boil.
  Well, my Aunt Florence came flying out of her house and about knocked the screen door off its hinges as she made her way over to the two surly characters squaring off in her front yard. She broke it up with a few well-chosen words of scolding and the world grew quiet.
  ___
  "What was that all about?" I asked my Aunt a day or two later.

  She gave a grunt which was half-amused and half-indignant.

  "Mister Draper (the neighbor) had said something insulting about Chevy trucks. He's a Ford kind of guy. John Baker would not abide such language. That's all. They'd have likely killed each other trying to convince one another of something that doesn't amount to bucket of spit."
  That was another moment of education for me.
  John Baker loved his wife and daughter and his Chevy truck. Florence could get away with saying bad things about it for that reason. But nobody else had such privileges of complaint!

  _____

  People can have very intense feelings about inanimate objects. There is no arguing with them unless you're ready for war.

  I'm still a Conscientious Objector at heart, I guess. I came by it honestly.
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Wonderful, Terry, but what about your drawing deeply from the writer's inkwell, as pen goes to parchment?
  

  I was born in an analog world, for sure. So many things I've written are now gone forever because the digital world had not come.
  I haven't picked up a pen or pencil in years except to notate a Tip for a meal.

  Do I miss the hand-written page?

  I confess to not knowing how I feel. I tend to want to leave what is behind behind.

  I found an old story I wrote the other day. I liked it. There it was on paper. I stared at it like something of a paleontologist's specimen.

  You see, I changed over from cursive to printing my words about the time I went into prison. It was a transitional psychological transformation, I suppose. I became less myself and more literal.
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Acer? lol, they make the worse products in the entire IT industry. Throwaway junk.

  Acer has made its share of junk, to be sure. But, Consumer Reports gave it top marks and they are a testing lab I trust. Plus, I watched about a dozen reviews from various sources on YouTube.
  
  I super happy with the performance so far, having spent a good solid eight hours doing everything I can think of.
• 
  34

  My old computer is dead: long live my new CHROMEBOOK

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had my previous toshiba laptop plugged into the wall five days ago when a sudden electric storm drove a jagged bolt of electricity earthward and fried my hard drive.

  i posted my sad status on facebook.

  guess who saw it?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  Punishment for installing Windows 10. . .

  Ha-ha, I love the punishment!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNgvfM1X6wU