freddo

Joined

• started 77 topics
• posted 3,022 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by freddo

• 
  22

  22 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/22-fascinating-maps-that-show-how-americans-speak-english-differently-across-the-us/ss-bbwqtug?li=bbnb7kz&ocid=iehp .

  everyone knows americans don't agree on pronunciations.. that's great, because regional accents and dialects are a major part of why american english is so interesting.. josh katz, a former ph.d. student of statistics at north carolina state university, published a group of awesome visualizations of professor bert vaux and scott golder's linguistic survey, which looked at differences in american dialects (via detsl on /r/linguistics).. his results were first published on the abstract, the nc state university research blog.

  the complete set of katz's maps, updated with the results from more than 350,000 new survey responses, are compiled in the new book "speaking american," publishing october 25 from houghton mifflin harcourt.. katz gave business insider permission to publish some of the coolest maps from his collection..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  Yup. That is a trolley. Just maybe a Shopping trolley.
• 
  47

  CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so that was a "shocker".

  i was not able to attend the meeting.

  i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  @slimboyfat

  Brilliant! Keep 'em coming.
• 
  20

  Brother with a beard on jw.org!

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, slight exaggeration: specifically, an official recording of the july 25th, 2016 midweek meeting in german sign language downloaded from stream.jw.org, (log-in required), includes a brother with a beard giving one of the talks:.

  .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  Here in the UK some congs are ok with them, others aren't. Ours was ok. We have had Elders and MS's with beards from time to time, one actually appointed with a beard. I am talking before the latest article over the past 30 years or so.

  But in our circuit about half the congs were ok for appointed men to have beards and half weren't. When I arranged public talks in the days of pre email letters were exchanged and some stated no beards, other stated well trimmed beards were acceptable.

  I did hear that as a result of the new article that a nearby die-hard body of elders who wouldn't appoint any man with a beard as MS or Elder had changed their stance as recently as this summer due to the article.

  Not allowed on the circuit assembly platform, but about ten years ago we did have the sound operator who would come on and adjust the microphones for everyone being allowed a full beard.
• 
  17

  Young Ones Leaving

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the congregation that i grew up in there were about 30 children under 16 (myself included).

  as time went on they one by one slipped away from the meetings and most never got baptized.

  of those 30 children only myself and two other girls stayed and got baptized.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  But pre-2011 there was something of substance to come back to. No gurning Lett; no ARC; no huge Bethel layoffs and money grabbing; no overlapping generations. And there was still the diminishing possibility that the real "generation of 1914" might last until say 2014.

  All gone.

  In my area we've had one long time DF come back after 20 years. He is - and has been - in and out of mental health in-patient facilities all that time and his aging mother has been desperate for him to "come back". He's back and living with Mummy at the age of 40.

  That is the quality of the borg's version of Luke 15 ...
• 
  31

  Welcome to all the Newbies in the last six months

  by smiddy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think all of us on this forum would like to welcome all the newbies that have joined in the last six months or so ,if i`m not mistaken there seems to be an influx lately.. elders , ms ,and sisters.

  speak up and make a comment , are you happy you came here ?.

  we`d love to here from you.. smiddy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  Good call smiddy.

  I'm happy they've come here. It's so encouraging. Keep on coming.
• 
  11

  Secrecy?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  were any of you shocked by the secrecy in the org?

  i remember hearing that elders have to turn in their "flock" books if they resign, get deleted, etc, i didn't even know they had their own books and i was an ms. is the bible not enough?

  i remember i asked one of the elders if i could see my publisher record, they refused to show me!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  If you want to look at lots of secret stuff including excerpts from elders books, Branch guidelines, letters to CO's etc. look on the Australian Royal Commission website. Look under case study no. 29 of the Royal Commisson child abuse enquiry under exhibits and read the submitted documents.

  A gold mine of info.
• 
  34

  Ridiculous ways you kept your "time going" in service?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i used to go out early mornings with 2 pioneer elders, we would drive 20 miles out of the territory (a big no-no) to look for hikers to preach to lol of course there were never any hikers.

  then off to starbucks for another hour lol easy way to count 2-4 hours.

  i am chuckling as i write this, what a joke!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  redvip2000

  Yup, I was that elder. Especially when I was secretary and the CO was a-visitin'.

  I remember one family where they had four kids and two of them were desperately ill. I mean in hospital for weeks at a time - parents visiting and staying overnight miles away and their "hours were low". (Gasp! Horror!)

  To my shame I remember hounding them for their reports one month "to get the records in order" for the upcoming CO visit and I didn't want them "going irregular".

  The mother who was (still is) a quiet, dignified lady who never said much answered the phone to me and said "Oh Freddo is this what it's all about? Numbers on a piece of paper?"

  I was confused and said "Sorry I don't follow ... "

  She said (and this is the only time in twenty five years of friendship I ever heard any sarcasm or sharpness in her voice) "Just put me down for 200 hours of hospital visits looking after my children!" And she put the phone down.

  Good for her!
• 
  36

  “Sing Out Joyfully” to Jehovah

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  borg link warning: “sing out joyfully” to jehovah.

  non-borg pdf mirror: “sing out joyfully” to jehovah.

  .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  "Kiss my bum lest god be angry ... "
• 
  25

  Don't touch ark of covenant

  by Chook in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i raised an issue with a co once about an elders qualifications, he visited my house and in no uncertain terms said don't touch ark of covenant ( referring to elder as ark ) , i was gob smacked then he said to wife and i that if we pursued such an avenue we could be grieving gods holy spirit.

  so ther you go elder are on par with god ..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  If the JW fairytale were even true none of us would get to the end of "the 1,000 year reign" let alone live forever. We're bound to upset the capricious YHWH and get zapped before long.

  E.g. (On a bible study with a resurrected pirate - namely Edward Teach aka Blackbeard)

  You: "Well if you want a beard Mr. Teach it must be well groomed and trimmed."

  Mr. Teach (aka Blackbeard): "Well Ooh Arrrr me Hearty!"

  YHWH: "NO BEARDS!!! I'VE CHANGED MY MIND (AGAIN) !!!!!" (Sends lightening bolt to Zap you)

  Blackbeard (looking at pile of ash that was you): "Well shiver me timbers!"
• 
  34

  Nicolas King: JW celebrity and example of hypocrisy

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  nicolas king frequently sings with the watchtower chorus and had a supporting role in the dvd released at the 2014 convention.

  (he's on the bottom row, second from the right.).

  but he also is a jazz singer, traveling constantly performing at concerts, casinos, charity events, even a brief appearance on the tonight show.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  freddo

  Good call neat blue dog.

  The leaders of this cult and the way they talk out of both sides of their mouths makes me want to puke!