Duncan
JoinedPosts by Duncan
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5
The Da Vinci Code meets Silence of the Lambs
by JeffT inmy latest writing effort is done.
i'm going to start searching for an agent tomorrow.
i'm hoping this one will be easier to explain.
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Duncan
Jeff
You haven't had that many replies, and that's a shame because I think this is pretty good.
I enjoyed it for its classic, downbeat, private-eye urban-crime kind of vibe. I would definitely like to read more. Do you have a plot sketched out already, or are you just seeing where it goes?
Anyway, keep at it.
regards
Duncan.
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62
What silly things have you been counselled on or simply been told off for?
by 3Mozzies inso what silly things have you been counselled on or simply been told off for?.
back in my early 20's, i had a pair of comfy old jeans that started to tear in about 3 places on the leg.
it was the fashion at the time so not only did they feel great to wear, they also looked 'in', not that i cared for that, but it was a bonus .
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Duncan
This is a repeat of an old post of mine, but it definitely counts as a ridiculous thing to be counselled on:
RIDICULOUS TEENAGER COUNSELLED AT ASSEMBLY
The ridiculous teenager is me. This story takes me back to 1969, when I was 15 years old. We were attending the International Assembly at Wembley Stadium, near London, the only time, I think, that Wembley was ever used for an assembly.
If you’ve ever read any of the stories I posted on JWD over the years, you’ll know that I was never one of those kids growing up in the truth who always “had doubts about it ” or was unhappy and miserable with the religion, just waiting for the chance to get out. I really, really believed in it all, with a passion.
The summer of 1969 saw me, I would guess, at the most zealous, “spiritual” and devout phase of my Witness-career. In fact, smug and self-righteous are much better words. Within 6 months of that assembly I would be baptised, sx months after that I would be a regular pioneer, having left school at the earliest opportunity, causing a minor furore in the process. (What persecution! How near we must be to the End!)
For this particular assembly I got into the habit of sitting away from my family and friends, so that I could “concentrate properly”, “really pay attention” and not miss a thing at Jehovah’s rich spiritual banquet. A great deal of it also, was I wanted people – the brothers and sisters – to see me , how devout and faithful I was, paying rapt attention, looking up all the scriptures and nodding along with the speaker.
Oh, yes. Nodding along, this was important. I was a big nodder at the time. Nodding was crucial to show everyone how much I appreciated the rich diet of timely truths we were being offered. Nodding, and occasionally looking around at others, almost inviting them to nod along too. “Such prophecy! How upbuilding! What marvellous teachings!”
In my imagination I pictured myself as cutting quite a dash among the brothers. “Do you see that young brother over there? What a fine example he is! We should all strive to be like him! Just look how he handles his bible! See how he nods!”
Nodding especially came into its own when applauding. You’ll all know how many opportunities there are per day for applauding at assemblies, twenty, maybe thirty? I was big on nodding and applauding. Nodding and applauding and looking around. What a fine Witness I was!
I even had (and now we’re getting to the point of this story) my own special style of applauding. I mean, I hadn’t worked this out beforehand or anything, it just came naturally to me. Rather than just clapping hands in the way any other person might, I employed an exaggerated, very slow, deliberate pounding of the hands together. I rather thought this showed how “heartfelt” my appreciation was. I would sit there nodding, banging my palms together, once maybe every 2 or 3 seconds, each time bringing my hands together from a wide arc, starting from the kind of position a goal-keeper adopts when facing a penalty. This was truly Theocratic clapping!
Remember, an awful lot of this was not just because I was so devout – there was also a large Pharisee element to all of this, the objective of being noticed; being seen to be so spiritual. You can imagine, then, how thrilled I was when, returning to my seat after a lunch-time break, one of the attendants came up to me and asked if he could have a word.
At the time, I kind-of had a fantasy that the brothers had some sort of scouting system in operation at assemblies where they would look for fine young brothers to invite to Bethel or Gilead or something. “This is it!” I thought, “ I’ve been discovered!”
The brother was somewhat nervous and hesitant. Looking back on this now, I can picture him as a youth, not very much older than I was, being put up to this task by his Attendant Supervisor.
“Thing is, brother, “ he began, “well - would you mind terribly - er, … that is … would it be possible, do you think, uhm…. Look, could you just clap properly?”
Utterly crestfallen, I managed “Yes, of course.”
Dumbfounded and subdued, I sat quietly through the rest of that session in my seat. But at the next break, moved away to another part of the stadium. I never went back, or even near, that section again. I spent the next 4 days avoiding that area.
I’ll admit, it did pretty much cure me of my self-righteous nodding and looking around phase. So, thanks for that, brother, whoever you were.
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101
A riddle my brother gave me today
by bohm ina man has 2 children.
he tells you one is a boy born on a tuesday.
what is the probability the other is a boy to?.
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Duncan
Hi bohm and everyone
This is actually, in maths circles, a very famous and fairly old riddle. My son (currently doing a Master's in Maths at Cambridge) e-mailed this riddle to me earlier this year. It's not just a maths problem - it's also involves semantics.
Wikipedia has an excellent article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_or_Girl_paradox
It's a fairly long and difficult article to plough through - and I'm not even going to attempt to summarise it - but take a look if you're interested in why the answer is not necessarily just 50%.
Duncan.
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7
Humerous new book re JW's about to be published.
by TheEndIsNigh ini'd really appreciate a few minutes of your time to have a look at my forthcoming book called : the end is nigh...again (but this time we really mean it.).
unlike many books about this subject it isn't dry or serious.
i've kept it light and aim to laugh at the craziness of that unlikely faith.
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Duncan
Douglas,
I liked it a lot. I loved the energy, the character of the writing, I felt I was listening directly to the author's voice, and I got the feeling that this is a chap I would enjoy meeting. Several of the lines made me laugh. I think it's great.
BUT! It certainly does need an edit, though. As some others have said, some overly long sentences there -and a bit of muddle every now and again, and one or two misspellings/wrong word choices.
But well done! I have seen this kind of thing done once or twice before, but not as good as this.
Best wishes with the project.
Duncan.
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1
UK Election Breaking News: Ringo Won the Bingo
by Duncan inwell, i stayed up half the night watching the results come in.. helpfully, the bbc website had published an election party pack, with fun and games to keep the jaded viewers interested.
one of the games was election night bingo.. you know the kind of thing: four bingo cards with studio-pundit type phrases on them, to keep you alert and check them off as they were used.
"keys to number ten" "portillo moment" "three-way marginal" and so on and so on.. couldn't get anyone else in the house interested in playing.
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Duncan
Well, I stayed up half the night watching the results come in.
Helpfully, the BBC website had published an Election Party Pack, with fun and games to keep the jaded viewers interested. One of the games was Election Night Bingo.
You know the kind of thing: Four bingo cards with studio-pundit type phrases on them, to keep you alert and check them off as they were used. "Keys to Number Ten" "Portillo Moment" "Three-Way Marginal" and so on and so on.
Couldn't get anyone else in the house interested in playing. So, saddo that I am, I sat in front of my tv set, playing all four myself.
I had to call them something, and just for a moment considered labelling the cards 1,2,3 and 4. But, on a whim, wrote John Paul George and Ringo instead.
Well, despite an early strong showing from Paul, the night ended up with a victory for Ringo.
This pleased me for two reasons:
First, it is a clear and decisive result, no recounts, no murky back-room deal to secure the winning spot.
Secondly, I was tickled by the sing-song appropriateness of my result. I hadn't even thought of it until just now when my son got up and asked who won the election.
"Nobody knows yet. But Ringo won the Bingo"
How we laughed.
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38
Brother Ted, Theocratic Economics and Card Run-outs
by Duncan indear all,.
i nearly met up with brother ted f. the other day.
i say nearly, because i arrived round my mothers house just a few minutes after he left.
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6
Movie - The Island
by Mickey mouse injust watching it now and realising why it freaked me out 3 years ago just like the truman show did.
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Apostanoodle London Wed 4th November 2009
by sweet pea ini'm coming back to the uk and will be in town for the 4th november (unfortunately besty and the podlets won't be coming with me) but i would love to meet up with y'all.
especially as i missed the last one.
so, who's up for wagamama's, covent garden, on wednesday 4th november 2009.
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