Duncan

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Posts by Duncan

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  123

  What's your favourite line out of a song?

  by lfcviking in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's a couple of mine;.

  "eleanor rigby, waits at the window wearing a face she keeps in a jar by the door" eleanor rigby - thebeatles.. "there's a hole in my soul, you can see it im my face it's a real big place" feel - robbie williams.

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  Duncan

  "man in a coonskin hat in a pigpen

  wants eleven dollar bills, you only got ten"

  Bob Dylan - Homesick Subterranean blues

  Duncan (of a certain age)
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  23

  AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WHO....?

  by Duncan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, heres how this works: .

  either reply to mine, or make up your own new ones.. .

  * am i the only guy in the world who * .. .

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  Duncan

  Hey Jaguarbass,

  like I said in an earlier reply, I guess all the things I put were all very British, which might not chime with all the US posters.

  Just doing my bit to pull this board's cultural centre-of-gravity a few inches East across the Atlantic.

  ( But the idea is pretty universal.)

  Duncan.
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  23

  AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WHO....?

  by Duncan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, heres how this works: .

  either reply to mine, or make up your own new ones.. .

  * am i the only guy in the world who * .. .

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  Duncan

  Hi Mrs Jones,

  Can a gal play this game too?

  Of course!

  Guys, gals - and not just Brits!
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  23

  AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WHO....?

  by Duncan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, heres how this works: .

  either reply to mine, or make up your own new ones.. .

  * am i the only guy in the world who * .. .

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  Duncan

  Hello IP,

  it's all pretty much British stuff, I must admit.

  Am I the only guy in the UK who....
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  23

  AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WHO....?

  by Duncan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, heres how this works: .

  either reply to mine, or make up your own new ones.. .

  * am i the only guy in the world who * .. .

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  Duncan

  Okay, here’s how this works:

  Either reply to mine, or make up your own new ones.

  * AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WHO… * .

  …thought that the original studio cut of Bladerunner was better than the "Director’s Cut" ?

  …actually thinks Edwina Currie is attractive?

  …thinks, despite appearances, that David Beckham is actually an extremely shrewd, intelligent man, who’ll end up in politics?

  …prefers to drink Stella out of tins, rather than bottles?

  …thinks the M25 is a bloody good thing?

  … thinks "Little Britain" is a lazy, repetitious, five (at most) idea, not-terribly-funny show that has been stretched outrageously over 2 series?
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  10

  Blimey....

  by hillary_step in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i was going to title this thread, 'musicians who do not need 'autotune'' but decided against it.

  you want a musical experience that makes an atheist start questioning - listen to this :.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxf_vmr74hs.

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  Duncan

  Yes, excellent stuff alright.

  Glad to hear from you, Step-ole-pal, how're you tonight?
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  26

  The elders were there to help make sure Margaret would die

  by Gopher in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  another watchtower hospital liaison committee comes through and "protects" one of their members from possibly/probably extending their life via a blood transfusion.. click here to read the original story online.. .

  jehovahs accused over gran's death.

  jul 20 2007. .

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  Duncan

  Don't you love that quote:

  We would never pressure anybody to go against their Bible-trained conscience

  You couldn't top this could you?

  It sounds so reasonable, so reassuring to the uniformed public: that these are responsible, caring people, who would never cause harm.

  And yet, that sentence is pretty much devoid of any actual meaning.

  Did anyone actually accuse them of pressuring people to go AGAINST their "bible trained conscience" ? Of course not. The "bible-trained-conscience" is a figment, it's just dub-code for "obeying orders". OF COURSE they're not going to pressure people to go against THAT.

  So what could that statement possibly mean?

  Nothing at all, it's semantically void. It's just a wholly cynical exercise in crafting a meaningless but reassuring sound bite.

  Utterly disgusting.

  Duncan.
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  23

  What If Artificial Intelligence Never comes?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=18867.

  i wonder....... speaking hypothetically, suppose that science is never able to create artificial .

  intelligence.

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  Duncan

  Hi Metatron

  I've always thought that we have nothing to fear from Artificial Intelligence, if ever they manage to create it.

  The real worry for me is if that they end up creating a silicon-based copy of us - and we get Artificial Stupidity.

  Then we're all in trouble.

  Duncan.
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  49

  Would there be a backlash if the Blood Ban was lifted?

  by Gill in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  would there be a backlash from current jws if the blood transfusion ban was lifted and made completely a conscience matter?.

  i suspect, that only those who had lost a close relative would be bothered.

  the others would just be relieved that they didn't have to worry about this traumatic issue anymore and they would carry on as ususal.. so, what is it, except for fear of legal action, that is stopping the ban being lifted?

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  Duncan

  Would there be a backlash?

  I suspect it’s because the GB don’t know the answer to that question that they’re so utterly paralysed with indecision about it.

  The argument could easily be made that, from the faithful rank-and-file they’d have nothing to fear. The Watchtower has had enough of a history of failed prophecies, doctrinal flip-flops and plain nonsensical teachings that it’s had to live down, and none of this has ever seemed to cause them any problem whatever. At any point in time, whatever the latest fiasco has been, they publish new light and the current generation of sheep just eats it up, and thrills to the latest “wonderful articles”. And, of course, anybody who does make a fuss, or draws attention to the foolishness/contradiction/mendacity of it all are managed out of the organisation by one means or another. The remaining faithful simply regard those as “harvest siftings” as Garybuss said. It seems to be a perfect, stable and self-correcting system.

  And yet.

  There would certainly be a backlash in the wider world. The press, some agressive churches, critical observers, all of us old apostates, indeed anyone the society lumps in together as “opposers” - surely would have a field day. How could there not be a firestorm of publicity over such an emotive matter? All those children dead through the years? For what? You’ve CHANGED YOUR MIND? The furore would spill over from internet discussion boards into the regular press and TV schedules. This would be a matter of public interest (for five minutes or so, at least). Jay Leno would even do a routine about it.

  This is probably what the society fears: whether its damage-control systems, which have worked so well in the past, could cope with anything on quite this scale.

  Consider this: Most people who know anything about Jehovah’s Witnesses know maybe 3 things. And probably in this order:

  (1) They wake you up on Sunday trying to sell their magazines. This affects everyone.

  (2) They don’t have Christmas or birthdays. You’ll know this if there’s a JW at your child’s school, or there’s someone who works at your office – it’s a personal acquaintance issue, so there’s a lesser number of people than (1).

  (3) They don’t have blood transfusions. You’ll only be aware of this in a second-hand sense - only from newspapers or TV stories you’ve come across in the past.

  A turn-about on the blood issue ( and no matter how the Society tried to dress it up as a “clarification” or making it a “conscience matter” “no real change” etc. etc it would be seen and reported as an about-face) would automatically catapult number 3 there straight up to the number 1 spot. No question, it would be a smash hit in publicity terms. It would be the one thing people would ask at the doors: “aren’t you the people who used to think….”

  And, in the curious way that the human mind works, I suspect there would be tons more hatred, disgust and loathing directed at a sect that USED TO let its kids die, BUT NOW HAS CHANGED ITS MIND, than if they just left things as they are. Mad as it may be, people do give some grudging respect for consistency.

  So that’s the dilemma, the GB would see their authority come under attack, not from within, but from without. They have always been able to cope with that kind of opposition before – they’re past masters at defying the “world” after all, but the scale of this might be enough to overwhelm their defences.

  Like I said, they’re currently paralysed with indecision.

  But what would break the spell, what would make them move in double quick time as Choosing Life said, is some serious loss of revenue via lawsuits or some such.

  They always react quickly to that.
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  53

  I got married yesterday!

  by Gadget in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been posting on here for four years now, and so much has changed in my life.

  everything seemed to be going wrong then, but time has done wonders and things are real good now.

  lots of people on the board helped and supported me through that, as well as new non-witness friends that i made.

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  Duncan

  Hey Gadget!

  Congratulations to you and your lovely bride.

  Best wishes for the future.

  Duncan

  (we met at Mike Hoopers bbq couple of years ago)