Posts by SnakesInTheTower

44

What steps did you take to stop your association with the congregation?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

when i finally knew that the wts didn't have the truth,i decided to take steps to slow down and become an inactive member.

( i still have my whole family in.......so..... i prefer to remain inactive).

i took these small steps :.

SnakesInTheTower

willyloman..

Your fade had a lot in common with my fade. I have had doubts going back pre-1995 Generation change. Had ups and downs, eventually appointed as an elder... went to MTS.... knew it was a bunch of BS about halfway through that class...stuck it out for another 4 years. One particular local elder in the congo (not where I had been assigned but where I moved after leaving the assignment) hated me for years ...opposed my initial recommendation, delayed my reappointment for 10 months.... tried unsuccessfully to delay it again....4 years later he finally "proved" I was "unreasonable" (aka, I didnt do what he said...he runs the show even though his son is the PO). At first I gave a verbal resignation but then changed my mind and decided to make them look like fools in front of the CO and forced them to remove me. This accomplished two things. 1) Got me off the elder treadmill and 2) kept the next congo from being able to look at me as an elder for 3 years, and even then I would have to be an MS first. They knew me and wanted me to be an elder in their congo....their interest in me fizzled like a wet firecracker once they got the letter saying I had been removed not resigned.

What did I do? As soon as I was told in the meeting with the CO that I was no longer an elder, the plan unfolded...

1. The Sunday of the CO visit was my last meeting with my old congregation.

2. I had my publisher card sent to a nearby congo....but in another state and another circuit.

3. I didnt show up for about a month. A friend of mine that was an elder called me and I started attending Sunday and Thursday for about a month.

4. Skipped all booked studies and field service (easy since no one knew where they wanted to assign me...large congregation) but turned in phantom time for the first 8 months I was at the new place..just enough to call it "informal witnessing" without raising red flags..started decreasing the quantity each month...stopped reporting before the new service year so as to not generate a new Publisher Card for the file.

5. Purposely chose a large (over 150 publisher) congregation so I could get lost easier (even though I was a white in a majority black congo).

6. Started missing more and more Thursdays. Started leaving after the Public Talk on Sunday...then started missing Sunday. (made easier when the congo had to meet in another KH for about 6 weeks during a remodel...I didn't go at all then...no one missed me.)

7. Went to one last meeting in Sept 2007 (to see how the remodel went)....left after the Talk and decided as I walked out to my car that I had attended my last meeting at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. I have not been back since...not even for a Memorial.

My fade worked because I not only changed congos, but changed circuits. Thankfully none of my previous CO's were moved to the other circuit as had happened in the past. I live in one territory that I havent attended since 1991. My card is at another. I got a couple of calls but then nothing. Now I only have to worry about an occasional call from former friends who are elders in my town. This year will probably be the defining moment. Miss one Memorial, might be a phase... miss two in a row...must be apostate...lol. I think purps hit it on the head... moving away from this region will work wonders....

Snakes ()

55

60 MB Broadband (cable) Internet...do we really need it that fast?

by SnakesInTheTower in

through work, i received a copy of a news release from the local cable company.

that cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual.

(kinda like the illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).. my question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast?

SnakesInTheTower

alright... I am convinced...

but still broke...so I will have to settle for my 1MB service. Hell, I need to get off now and go do some homework...its online, so the temptation is always a click away...lol

Snakes ()

28

Thankful Not To Be An Elder Anymore ( KM)

by metatron in

jw
friends

i count my blessings.

i picked up a kingdom ministry for february and saw, once again, the mindless horror that the organization has evolved into.

there's the grade school reading level.

SnakesInTheTower

I was thinking about this too when I seen the recent PDF of the Kingdumb Misery.

The last year I was an elder, I was getting increasingly bored. An inactive JW and I had lunch the other day...he commented on how I never could sit still during the meetings. I was always up and either standing in the back of the KH, walking around in the lobby or outside, or in the library browsing.

I laugh thinking how the Borg CO's used to call the Reasoning book a "mini-Bible encylopedia." Funny, my college history teacher just yesterday said that secular encylopedias are often quite inaccurate and are often written by grad students who are given a theme and a $500 and told to write 1,000 words about the subject. I think that is what happened with the Reasoning (aka "encyclopedia") book...minus the $500 of course.

I think back to my MTS classes.... at first it was all shiny and new and exciting... but not too long into the 8 week course I realized how repetitive and monotonous it was. And this was the best and brightest of the dubs?...the "cream of the crop"? I knew it wasn't cream of the crop because they let me in! LOL

I think this dumbing down phenomenon is amplified, but not limited to, the Witnesses. It is symptomatic of the larger world around us, at least in the United States. Our educational system is becoming a laughingstock compared to other countries. Why is it a 5 year old in India learns the national language (Hindi), their native language if different (Tamil in the case of the 5 year old daughter of my ex-fiancee), and English...... while 5 year olds in the United States are barely learning English and then not properly? Kids coming into college cannot handle even basic math right out of high school?

Dont get me started about the dumbing down at the KingdumbHell..... it leads me to rants and raves about education in general..lol...just glad I don't have to do it anymore...

Snakes ()

55

60 MB Broadband (cable) Internet...do we really need it that fast?

by SnakesInTheTower in

through work, i received a copy of a news release from the local cable company.

that cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual.

(kinda like the illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).. my question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast?

SnakesInTheTower

lelolia..

TS1000 was the first computer I ever had...remember the ads that said "first computer under $200"? I think I bought mine with paper route money at the grocery store for about $50. I see them on eBay starting at $20 going to $100 now.

Here's my TS story of frustration (BTS brought it to my mind):

I remember I typed in column after column for 3 or 4 pages of computer code from some computer magazine with a cool game or something (do you remember the "checksum" program used to debug with a number at the end of each line to see if you did it right?)..... and then the 16K expansion pack wiggled and the whole thing went buh bye before I had a chance to save it to cassette?. arghhh.

I remember they said there was no sound on the TS1000...but I found a loooong program in some magazine that let you put in code numbers for different musical notes.... and then when you ran it ... it played the music through the speakers of the casette player. What do you think was the first song I put in there (hmmmm.... what would be the nearest sheet music in a dub house?..... thats right...some tinny version of Kingdom Melodies)... but it was cool nonetheless.

ahhh the good ol days...

My first exposure to computers were Trash 80s (Radio Shack TRS-80) at the mall... I used to go drive the guys at the store nuts when I was a kid...programming the display to do really naughty things... (first key an unsuspecting customer pressed made the screen go blank.,....each successive key caused it to type out a word, phrase, or sentence I had predetemined..... usally involving curse words..... and the only way to get it to stop was to reboot...LOL...yeah they didnt know what to do with me.... I was playing in Fortran, Basic, a bit of machine code, C (I think it was C)......now I dont program at all except for tiny bits in Access...(.I dont know SQL hardly at all.) I should have went to college waaay back then...but you know..the whole dub thing...

good times...

Snakes ()

55

60 MB Broadband (cable) Internet...do we really need it that fast?

by SnakesInTheTower in

through work, i received a copy of a news release from the local cable company.

that cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual.

(kinda like the illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).. my question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast?

SnakesInTheTower

stilla:

I remember when I got 4 x 32 EDO RAM -everyone was envious - that is snail pace now

How about 1K of onboard memory on the old TS1000 with a 16K memory expansion pack... I had one of these:

Snakes ()

55

60 MB Broadband (cable) Internet...do we really need it that fast?

by SnakesInTheTower in

through work, i received a copy of a news release from the local cable company.

that cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual.

(kinda like the illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).. my question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast?

SnakesInTheTower

I'm still running at 100 MB download on a broadband (through AT&T Uverse)... i dont need any more than that.. i download a lot of files for school and some music... some youtube.. but overall I dont need that much speed...

I remember eons ago that the whole internet fiber network was considered severely "overbuilt" and that we would never use all of that bandwidth.... now it appears that it wont be enough...

S'Loon:

I say nay. All you need is a 300 baud acoustic coupler.

you crack me up

Snakes ()

55

60 MB Broadband (cable) Internet...do we really need it that fast?

by SnakesInTheTower in

through work, i received a copy of a news release from the local cable company.

that cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual.

(kinda like the illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).. my question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast?

SnakesInTheTower

Through work, I received a copy of a news release from the local cable company. That cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual. (kinda like the Illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).

My question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast? (60MB is download speed..but even upload will be 5MB). I haven't heard a cost on this yet but should soon (behind the scenes I am hearing $130 bundled/$140 standalone)....it is faster than telco Verizon's 50MB service... I guess if you are trying to live stream HD video at 6-10MB/sec you would need it..but us mere mortals dont...

anyone remember back in the late 80s or early 90s when we got on to the local BB or Compuserve or Prodigy server at 300 baud (dial up now is 56,000)..no world wide anything....and thought that was just the greatest thing?

Snakes ()

******************************copy of text of news release*************************************************

Charter Launches Fastest Residential Internet Service

St. Louis the first to experience 60 Mbps speed,

20 Mbps coming soon nationwide

St. Louis , Missouri , January 29, 2009 – Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) today announced the launch of 60 Mbps Internet service, the fastest residential service available from any multiple system cable and telecom provider. The initial deployment of Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 is in the St. Louis metropolitan area, with additional markets to follow. Nationwide, the Company will soon boost Charter High- Speed® Internet Max from 16 Mbps to 20 Mbps.

“Not only are we delivering the fastest speed today, but our infrastructure has the capacity to support even higher speeds as demand and usage grow,” said Ted Schremp, Charter’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Charter’s ability to provide increasingly greater bandwidth is critical to our customers’ use and enjoyment of the Internet and delivers greater value. It also highlights our growing superiority over DSL service.”

Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 not only enables a customer to download a 4 gigabyte movie approximately 40 times faster than with DSL, but also enables users to multitask more effectively. Users can access multiple stream sources simultaneously to download music, watch a movie trailer, catch up on e-mail or surf the Internet on one screen. With 20 Mbps speed, a 2.5 minute movie trailer downloads in just 4 seconds. It takes several minutes with dial-up and DSL.

“Speed and reliability are what consumers value most, and we offer the fastest and most reliable 1 speed,” said Marwan Fawaz, Charter’s Chief Technology Officer. “In addition to select Ultra60 deployments, we’re increasing our 16 Mbps service to 20 Mbps nationwide so our customers can take greater advantage of rapidly growing interactive applications available on the Internet and to help telecommuting workers become even more productive.” The upgrade to 20 Mbps will be automatic for Charter High-Speed Internet Max customers at no additional cost.

As with all Charter high-speed services, Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 is ultra safe with Charter Security Suite™ for PC protection, which has the fastest response to new virus threats and best virus detection, at no additional cost. Charter offers additional value-added enhancements including wireless home networking.

Charter is using DOCSIS 3.0 technology for Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 launches, which also serves as the foundation to offer even faster connections in the future.

16

Homemade potato soup!

by crapola in

jw
friends

i'm making potato soup for my daughter and her family, they've all been sick.

anyway, what are some of your favorite comfort foods that make you feel so much better or seem so good on a cold day?.

SnakesInTheTower

come on come on...POST the recipe....

I was thinking of making homemade bread (never did it before)... or homemade chocolate chip cookies...

Its all snow outside..dont much feel like going out but getting cabin fever...

Snakes ()

29

CO's and DO's for the Midwest.

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

however you define the geographic midwest.

the only do of consequence i had was illingworth.

also f bartell.

SnakesInTheTower

Manera goes waaaaay back in the midwest... I think he told me back in the 60s.

He was one of my MTS instructors. I know he gone off the road shortlya after. I think he is dead now.

Snakes ()

29

CO's and DO's for the Midwest.

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

however you define the geographic midwest.

the only do of consequence i had was illingworth.

also f bartell.

SnakesInTheTower

COs: Don Friend, (?) Dixon, Harley Breneman, Mel Branam, Albert Cobble, Lester Bailey, Michael Emilio, Daniel Walke, Ron Keniston. Don't know who the new guy is. I am sure I am missing someone from my ancient history.

DO's: Robert (Yukon Bob) Hartman, J.C. Howard, Samuel Herd, Wally Goff, ...there are more recent ones I cannot remember for some reason.

Snakes ()