Hortensia

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Posts by Hortensia

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  11

  We Played Along With Our Own Oppression

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in communist east germany (gdr) writers were provided with a 'helper' - often a stasi agent - who would 'assist' the work through to publication.. poet and novelist gunter kunert described how this led to a sort of self-censorship.

  it reminded me very much of the way jws can be trained to accept outrageous restrictions while imagining they are making free choices.. -----------------------------------------------------------------.

  "as authors we were always trying to be ahead of the censor, to second-guess his instinct as to what was 'in' and what was 'off'.

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  Hortensia

  "we got so used to this second opinion lurking in our own heads that we considered it our own."

  True!

  I gew up a JW, I was used to being watched by god, the angels, jesus, the devil, the demons, the world AND the congregation. I had to have an explanation for everything, justify every move to all these watchers. That conversation in my head, justifying everything I did, went on for a long time after I left the wtbts. I was so used to being watched and judged, I just carried on doing it to myself when I left.
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  97

  I like you more if you are literratte

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .

  if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .

  if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .

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  Hortensia

  Well, this became funny pretty fast. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are important. But being unsure about them shouldn't keep anyone from expressing himself or make anyone feel insecure. It can be learned, and a little feedback won't kill anyone.

  I remember once a student told me he couldn't listen to my lesson because I misused lie and lay. I've never misused them since then and I appreciated the little correction.
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  51

  this site sucks

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you all spend all your time bickering about religion and doctrine and god and evolution and atheists, not to mention all the discussion about athiests too.

  you are totally ignoring an important subject.

  we haven't had one fucking decent discussion of dr. who in at least a year!!!.

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  Hortensia

  Narcissistic supply, I don't know whether you're referring to this thread or JWN. Either way, dude, don't you get the concept of a fluff thread?

  As far as companions go, I liked Rose best until I saw the Donna Noble episode "Turn Left." What a good job of acting in that episode. I liked River Song, too. Will be interesting to see where it all goes next.

  Thanks Chickpea!
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  16

  What kind of books do you like to read?

  by tornapart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was younger i enjoyed reading thrillers.

  i've always enjoyed reading history books, particularly of my own country.

  these days i enjoy reading books from the best seller list.

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  Hortensia

  Mysteries, sicence fiction, kid's books, science written for the layperson, linguistics. I like history books like those by Barbara Tuchman, Thomas Cahill although he tends to rant a bit now and then. Right now I'm reading How to Think About Weird Things, Something from Nothing, A World Lit Only by Fire and some old mysteries by Arthur W. Upfield.

  BTW, my sister sent me an ereader, and I have to admit it's convenient. I have seven books on it right now, so convenient to only carry one small reader the size of a book than to drag around seven real books!
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  97

  I like you more if you are literratte

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .

  if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .

  if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .

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  Hortensia

  Mind Blown -- I'm devastated!

  Short, fat, wrinkly old Hortensia
• 
  51

  this site sucks

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you all spend all your time bickering about religion and doctrine and god and evolution and atheists, not to mention all the discussion about athiests too.

  you are totally ignoring an important subject.

  we haven't had one fucking decent discussion of dr. who in at least a year!!!.

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  Hortensia

  It's on netflix. Start with season 1 of the new version -- Christopher Eccleston played Dr. Who. He was quite good, BTW. Then just watch all of them in order. The confusing thing can be the Christmas specials. Netflix has them in order now, but sometimes they change things and then it just gets lost.

  Then, the last two seasons are available inexpensively on amazon.com for streaming.
• 
  64

  Is JWN an unforgiving place

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  over many years i have looked at jwn.

  in fact barely a day goes by without my fix.. .

  it is a site of contradictions.. .

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  Hortensia

  I must not be reading the same threads the rest of you are reading. I can't think of any mean-spirited stuff, or at least not much. Do you want everyone kissing everyone else's ass, lots of pretend good will and no argument?

  I suppose you'll call that mean-spirited. I prefer the rough-and-tumble of the discussions here to false harmony. I like to be challenged, I learn a lot and I'm not so married to my own opinion that I feel threatened when people disagree with me.
• 
  51

  this site sucks

  by Hortensia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you all spend all your time bickering about religion and doctrine and god and evolution and atheists, not to mention all the discussion about athiests too.

  you are totally ignoring an important subject.

  we haven't had one fucking decent discussion of dr. who in at least a year!!!.

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  Hortensia

  Yes, Nov. 23 I think. It's amazing that 50 years have passed since then -- one of those events where we all remember where we were. So shocking, esp. since I was a JW and thought it meant the world was coming to an end. We were all pretty het up in those days about Armageddon. Now I'm an old lady, and armageddon never did come.

  There's no one left in that family except Caroline Schlossberg and her children. Mother, father, brother all dead.

  This is a fluff thread, not meant to be so serious.
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  6

  How to use a Bible - among other things.........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. humour

  when this guy calls his boss to tell him hes running a little late, he witnesses a car accident and begins the best play-by-play commentary youll ever hear.. http://95rockfm.com/best-voicemail-giving-play-by-play-of-car-accident/.

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  Hortensia

  doorstop, fire-starter, compost (pages only, not the cover), use several as weights to hold down the plastic over your garden this winter, papier-mache, booster seat (those great big "family bibles"), emergency tp, insulation (soak them in boric acid first and let them dry to make them fire-proof), gosh there are thousands of uses for bibles. Just don't try to live by the ancient myths written inside.
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  97

  I like you more if you are literratte

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .

  if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .

  if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .

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  Hortensia

  nauseous = noxious = poisonous

  The correct word is nauseated - but I think 99.999% of English-speaking people say nauseous when they mean nauseated.

  Sort of like saying "momentarily" when they mean "shortly."

  OK enough from me -- I once complained about someone's grammar and spelled it grammer. Whooo boy did I hear about that!

  BTW, I read the BBC news everyday. It's amazing how many mistakes there are in word usage and grammar. You'd think they would know better!

  (If I were a really good writer, I'd quit using those exclamation marks!)