Posts by zagor

11

Independent Thinking: Is it Wrong?

by cameo-d in

jw
friends

just for a moment imagine that we had visitors from outer space and they said they were here representing god.

suppose they gave a good expalantion, saying that they are showing themselves because we are on the verge of annhiliation with wars, genocide, and toxic poisoning.. suppose their remedy for the situation was a new teaching which was basically some metaphysical-type platitudes.. and the first thing that has to go is individuality.

they would use more esoterical language.

zagor

Would you ever go for any teaching that required "unity of thought"?
Do you really think that independent thinking and individuality is what's causing all the problems in the world?

No what is causing problems is people's inability to accept possibility that not everyone thinks like them and sees the world with different eyes.

Unity can be another label for uniformity where you have to adhere to the code of those around you or else. Real unity can only come from free people who out of their free will freely CHOSE to follow certain line because for instance, experience had shown that it will bring optimum returns not because if you don't another option is for you to wait execution, for that is what things like Armageddon really are.

20

GB's Attitude Toward Suffering of "Foreign" Brothers

by compound complex in

regarding alternative service.

ray franz received letters from branch committee members that displayed thoughtfulness and breadth of viewpoint that were in sharp contrast to the rigidity and narrowness of several members of the governing body:.

what was the effect of all this?

zagor

I don’t think they have any sense how much that destroys a young man’s life, how many times some of them almost lost their lives whilst upholding ways of watchtower, being sent to hell and roasted alive, beaten while not being allowed to defend themselves, threatened to have their throat cut by other prisoners etc, Then years later still waking up with nightmares and seeing death and destruction all around you. Then when you finally become “normal” for the rest of your life you have to keep explaining why you went to prison and why you have a “criminal record” even if you are not longer a witness. Every time you have to enter another western country you have to go through the same drill all over again and explain it all. And for what? For some crazy idea that they keep changing their minds about. FUCK YOU WATCHTOWER!!!

54

Global Warming lie -don't be brainwashed 2008 Australia's Coldest winter???

by Witness 007 in

that's right folks the world is in for global warming...you'll be dog paddling to work in ten years however.....remember the graph in "that" documentary showing temps.

well not this year temps.

are going down with melbourne australia {and many other countries} recording the "coldest winter in ten years.".

zagor

I suggested, it is a lead up to planetary allingment.

I hope you're not referring to what I think you are :), well in that case I have to tell you that forces of gravity from various planets are so negligible that there is no practical reason why we should even consider it even if all of the planets align as if on a stick. The only other possibility would be that there is, as yet, undiscovered force between planets which at this stage seems highly unlikely. Earth core's dynamics are anything but stable that is true and polar reversal can happen in next 1000 years. There is evidence of that happening before. On the other hand, one of my old physics professors used to argue that it is not reversing at all but that continents actually shift over time which then accounts for different records of ancient magnetic alignment in rocks… The thing is we have not seen one in recorded history, to my knowledge anyway. Nor do we know what effect, if any, would that have on global climate.

54

Global Warming lie -don't be brainwashed 2008 Australia's Coldest winter???

by Witness 007 in

that's right folks the world is in for global warming...you'll be dog paddling to work in ten years however.....remember the graph in "that" documentary showing temps.

well not this year temps.

are going down with melbourne australia {and many other countries} recording the "coldest winter in ten years.".

zagor

The sea probably emits more gas in one day, than we did in the last 1000 years! Think about, volcanoes errupting so furiously they blocked out the sun for a few years. Now thats pollution! In the course of geologic time we are not even a blink. We have some impact but it is negligble in the scheme of things. I don't know if I'm the new age sucker or the people that get fed their propaganda.

That is an interesting argument, were it not for the fact that those other phenomenon are natural and have been happening for the length of earth’s history. And over all are balanced out by other mechanism in nature making this plant’s climate rather stable over long periods of time. So the question now is,

1. Do we have tangible evidence that sea water is evaporating more than it had in the past?
2. And do we have tangible evidence that volcanic activity has increased over the last 100 year? (I think dubs would love you if you could prove this second one)

The truth is volcanoes tend to erupt ash high into the Stratosphere that hence act as blocking mechanism for Sun’s short-wave radiation, rather than the other way around. Hence, you often have cooler years after a major eruption. Take for example Santorini eruption (cc 1630 BCE) was followed by a short period of summer cooling that then affected crops. We know that by the tree rings from that period being unusually thin. Note by the same token during the winter the ash in stratosphere acted as a shield so usually that meant milder winters, since long-wave radiation could not escape into space that easily.
The same pattern you could observe in eruptions closer to our time like 1991 Pinatubo eruption.
So if none of these and other natural phenomenon can satisfactorily explain global rise in temperature then you have to search for what is else happening. And no I completely disagree that this is now part of political campaign or any other propaganda. Scientists have been pointing to the fact that carbon is warming our climate for quite some time, it is only that public is waking up to the fact NOW.

Way back in 1896 Swedish physicist, Svante Arrhenius warned us that increase of Carbon can in fact increase global temperatures.
In 1930’s Guy Callendar a British researcher monitoring temperature data from various parts of the world noticed that over time temperatures were going up. After that a number of other people noticed that not everything was so care-free. So no this is not something someone concocted to increase his business turnover.

Of course, people will try to make a buck out of everything; in fact one of the ways to stop global warming is to encourage businesses to look at environment friendly alternatives. Up until recently very few of them paid much of attention. It was only when public finally became aware what was indeed going on that “climate” shifted (no pun intended) and of course now businesses are scrabbling for their position, because of estimated “green” dollar being worth several trillion dollars. That of course does not nullify the fact that climate is changing rapidly, it only testify to the extent of human need to make money no matter what is going on.

54

Global Warming lie -don't be brainwashed 2008 Australia's Coldest winter???

by Witness 007 in

that's right folks the world is in for global warming...you'll be dog paddling to work in ten years however.....remember the graph in "that" documentary showing temps.

well not this year temps.

are going down with melbourne australia {and many other countries} recording the "coldest winter in ten years.".

zagor

lol, thank you Chris

14

Africa

by zagor in

jw
friends

mix religion with chronic lack of information and what do you get?

exploitation of mind, soul and body.

this is one of the resources-richest continents and yet people there live in an extreme poverty.

zagor

I agree with you S, which just goes to show we cannot take our way of doing things as a blueprint and impose it on other people. Bush thought as much that democracy will bring peace to Iraq. Not everyone flourishes under democracy. Reminds me of this caw I saw as a kid someone keep all her life inside the barn, one day she somehow got loose and ran out almost killing a child and kept running through the field as if struck by madness. It took people some two hours to get her back. People are like that too, sudden introduction of anything "good" can be just as destructive and shit they've been stuck with before. What we are seeing in Africa are remnants of colonization (mainly by Britain) and of course, these people are now pissed, what did we expect? Unlike us they have long-term memory and are reminded of it everywhere they look. It is only through gradual education and availability of the same information people have in the west that they will be able eventually, I hope, to turn things around. Mind you there are some good businesses who invest money into Africa, few people here have probably heard of Rolex Award that awards innovative idea for new businesses across the globe but many times it ends up in Africa.

54

Global Warming lie -don't be brainwashed 2008 Australia's Coldest winter???

by Witness 007 in

that's right folks the world is in for global warming...you'll be dog paddling to work in ten years however.....remember the graph in "that" documentary showing temps.

well not this year temps.

are going down with melbourne australia {and many other countries} recording the "coldest winter in ten years.".

zagor

Sorry to burst your bubble W007 but it is way more complex than that. Global warming doesn't mean everyone is going to get sub-Saharan temperatures; rather it is interplay of very complex mechanisms in nature. What we do know however is that Carbon is one of gases that blocks long-wave radiation from the Earth back to space, along with water vapour and others. Thereby trapping it and dislodging a very sensitive irradiative balance.

What you are referring to is effect explained by simple convection of hot and cold air. While important it has effect mainly on surface, what global warming is dealing with is a phenomenon that threatens to radically reshape upper atmosphere that will have long term effect on what his happening down here. Well think of forgetting even just a small wrench inside the gearbox of your car and then hoping it will not hit the gears, what are the chances of that? Troposphere (aka breathable atmosphere) is hardly 8 km high (certainly no more than 17 km) where you already hit Tropopause, after that it rapidly diminishes in density so for all practical purposes we can think of only 8 km into which we are pumping stuff for the last, what?, 100 years if not more. Do you honestly think it has absolutely no effect? We are pumping back stuff that took literally MILLIONS of years to deposit and we've burned it up like a cigarette in a centaury.

We ought to be either blind or have some other ulterior motives why we don't want to face up to the consequences of our own action.

But I think I sort of can sense what the problem ex members of any cult like witnesses can have, it resonates too close for comfort with what they’ve been listening there all along. Well only on surface, perhaps. For one thing, cults are experts in riding prevailing, already existing waves of world events to lure people into their nest; it is not that they are experts in knowing what is going to happen. So I think you have to raise above that and think like a citizen of this planet and not as an ex member of some idiotic cult.

Here is a short summery of what is going on, but if you like to know more I’d suggest for beginning you at least read some introductory book on geophysics.

37

Should I try internet dating? Does it work?

by Witness 007 in

soon i will be seperated and although i will have a break from women i thought about dating web-sites......i don't know how else to do it..

zagor

LOL Devilsnok, well I'll agree with you I might have been too harsh there myself. But at the time I've had impression he needed a jolt, something to wake him up. But I hope he took it as a friendly advice from someone who has been through shit of marriage break up.

Like I said, I believe he is a good person. But I hope he takes my advice and gets involved into something that will challenge him like martial arts or alike which will help him to toughen up and enjoy being in his own skin. That was the main point I was trying to put across. But otherwise I like his posts and when I’m back in Aussie I hope to treat him with a Foster's or two ;)

14

Africa

by zagor in

jw
friends

mix religion with chronic lack of information and what do you get?

exploitation of mind, soul and body.

this is one of the resources-richest continents and yet people there live in an extreme poverty.

zagor

You guys are funny I give you that. No one said UN is not doing its bit. What is sucking the blood out of Africa are collaborative efforts of various businesses while their governments are standing silent. There is a strange feeling that someone has interest in “divide and conquer” policy across the continent. What I find rather amusing is how the weapons end up in Africa legally in the first place, and it has been happening for decades now. One would be almost moved to believe in the plot behind the movie “The Lord of War” to simplify it. When there was a war in former Yugoslavia western nations have largely succeeded in putting the embargo on import of weapons (interestingly on those who were defending themselves against Serb invasion, Croatia and Bosnia) but at the same time latest weaponry is being allowed to end up in places in Africa it clearly should not have. Of course, it is too big a continent which is harder to police, right? There is so much to be said about that too but I’ll skip.
Anyway, I’m not expecting you to agree on it, though it is good to pause and see what is happening, for if we don’t next generation in west will be faced with hundreds of millions of refugees knocking at our doors, just to mention one thing.

I agree with you that they need a better management. What is happening now is that years of exploitation have allowed monsters such as Mugabe to rise to power, and stay there. But I think we sometimes tend to have a very short memory and forget the whole history behind it and why it ended up the way it did. But what pisses me off the most is the role of religion in stupefying people and keeping them that way while their world is falling apart. That was pretty much the point I was trying to put across with this topic and not to go deeper into politics. But since you have already gone there I had to comment.

14

Africa

by zagor in

jw
friends

mix religion with chronic lack of information and what do you get?

exploitation of mind, soul and body.

this is one of the resources-richest continents and yet people there live in an extreme poverty.

zagor

That would be a very interesting argument LR were it not for the fact that for some reason reminds me of this elder once telling me "you know, organization cannot possibly be responsible for YOU not being able to find your place within it and just be happy"