Posts by Juan Viejo2

90

Several Sites Are Down

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

in case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

at this moment i do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (secureserver.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement.

" i do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all i've been told is that there is a claim and that i have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.. i have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

Juan Viejo2

Most quotes (if shown as quotes) are protected under fair use. I am very careful about quoting and use of graphics (most are public domain or CCC), so at this point I have no idea what the actual copyright complaint refers to. It may be something one of my secular clients put on their website. I just don't know. I am getting no help at all from my hosting company and they have the power to turn me back on. Looks like I will have to move after five years of excellent service and a great relationship. I won't put up with this more than once.

JV

90

Several Sites Are Down

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

in case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

at this moment i do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (secureserver.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement.

" i do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all i've been told is that there is a claim and that i have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.. i have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

Juan Viejo2

In case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

At this moment I do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (SecureServer.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement." I do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all I've been told is that there is a claim and that I have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.

I have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

The last time this happened I got an email and instructions to call someone in support services. They told me that a series of articles on one of my sites was supposedly quoting too much directly from the Watchtower magazines. Although I felt that what my contibutor had written and my own understanding of fair use made those posts protected under the law. However, since the articles were widely available elsewhere I took them down. Since then, I have been more careful about the amount of quoted text (and the format of that text) to avoid a repeat.

So I have no idea if the "copyright infringement" is on one of my JW discussion sites or maybe something that one of my secular clients may have put up on their personal site.

Here are the sites that are usually of interest to members of this forum that are affected:

Ex-JW.com

InsidetheWatchtower.com

WatchtowerWatch.com

ExJWsLosAngeles.org

JWSurvey.org (Cedars' site)

RichardEKelly.com

NancyJSage.com

There might be a couple more involved, but they are very low traffic. I also have several secular and private/personal websites that are affected.

My apologies to Cedars, Dick Kelly, Cynthia Hampton, and Nancy Sage for the disruption of service. Again, I had absolutely no warning this time - the hosting company just acted on the complaint and took the server down without giving me any warning.

I can only imagine who is behind this attack, but I will keep everyone informed as soon as I have more information.

JV

19

New year, new outlook

by MsD in

jw
friends

hi guys, i'm new here.

been a lurker for a long time.

my back story is that i've been studying on and off with jw since 2003. i know it may seem strange but i guess is possible.

Juan Viejo2

MsD -

Don't just read and study the Bible. Study ABOUT the Bible. You'll find that exercise to be far more interesting and rewarding. Here are some suggestions:

Read books written by Bart Ehrman, Randel Helms, and other qualified university level Bible scholars who break down the details of the New Testament to define what is "historic" and what is "traditional." Most of the New Testament (if not all) is based on oral traditions and books written at least 100 years after the last of the apostles and all actual witnesses to any events were gone.

Another great book (you should find this the library) is [Isaac] "Asimov's Guide to the Bible." Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer of science fiction, fantasy, popular short stories and historic texts. Even as a child he was interested in the history of his people (he was Jewish) and researched everything he could about them. He interviewed Jewish historians, rabbis, Talmudic experts, and other specialists in middle-eastern history. In this book he takes a dispassionate point of view (if someone born Jewish could ever be "dispassionate") and looks at the hard facts of pre-Christian era Israel and Judah. Right from the very beginning you realize that much of what you have been led to believe about the Bible is either not true, or has been so distorted by tradition and "false history." There are some amazing revelation about where the real Garden of Eden would have been (Iraq? not likely) and the source of the very name "Israel." Did David and Solomon actually exist? What about Moses and Aaron?

Whether you buy any or all of what these historians write about, that is up to you. But when you are done, I guarantee that you will have a better appreciation for what the Bible really is.

Then read "The Magic of Reality" by Richard Dawkins. A very enjoyable and easy read, it gives you an entirely new perspective on life, science and history.

You will realize that the Watchtower doesn't have a clue. They are printing magazines and books that have no more value than "Alice in Wonderland" or "Grimm's Fairy Tales."

I'm glad you are making the transition from someone who is "searching for the truth about the Bible" to someone who is "finding the truth."

JV

95

An interesting article on scientific explanations of near-death / out-of-body experiences

by cedars in

jw
friends

i've been doing quite a bit of research into books recently, and i've noticed that the book "proof of heaven" is selling very strongly at the moment.

it's currently no.1 in the new york times bestseller list for nonfiction paperbacks.. the book is by a qualified neurosurgeon who converted to religious faith after going into a coma and having what he later described as an experience of heaven, which he elaborates on in great detail in the book.

he argues that the experience must have been supernatural, because his cerebral cortex was "offline" for the duration of his vision.. .

Juan Viejo2

I didn't see anyone reference this earlier (sorry if I missed it), but Dr. Oliver Sacks is a very credible physician. The book and movie "Awakenings" was an autobiographical story about his early career. I still consider him to be very enlightened and open to new ideas. I think he is on to something...

JV

34

1AM UK 21.12.2012... world not ended here

by BroMac in

jw
friends

err well unless i'm the only one left .

Juan Viejo2

Do you all realize that it is now the 22nd on the western side of the International Dateline? Has anyone checked with the Aussies to find out if they are still with us? Does this mean that North Korea is no longer a threat to the civilized world.

Just asking...

JV

27

Confidential Document Email Hijacked!

by Atlantis in

dear friends:.we are under attack by email hijacking and someone is using our email address to send out spam.

it has to be because of the confidential documents that were going out in the emails.

i will have to discontinue the emails and go back to posting the documents on jwn..this is an example of just how badly somone wants to keep these documents out of the public eye.

Juan Viejo2

One last thing:

As much as I dislike some of the methods used by the Watchtower, I don't believe that spammy attachment sent out on Atlantis' email came from them. That attachment is typical of a spammer operation. Here's how they work:

1. They contract with a mass-media sales organization to advertise for them. They get paid a certain amount for so many measured clicks. They then buy a list of hijacked email addresses and send out thousands of spam mails.

2. The client pays them some ridiculously low amount for each click back (1/4 of a US penny is common). However, because so many will open the mail (because it comes from a trusted friend) and the mail has been sent by the thousands, the result can be quite lucrative for the spammer.

3. By the way: They don't even have to actually hijack your email account. They can use a system called "masking" that allows them to overlay a throwaway mail box with an innocent party's mail address. But the results are the same.

4. If they get a lot of clickbacks, then they sell that email address to some other spammer to use for their own nefarious uses. The first email may just be a link to a spammy webpage. The next might be a virus. Remember that innocent looking web pages can have viruses tucked away in the graphics or other links on the page.

5. Hotmail and AOL mail boxes do not have the latest in spam protection and can easily be hacked. Once they are hacked, they are useless and should never be used again.

JV

27

Confidential Document Email Hijacked!

by Atlantis in

dear friends:.we are under attack by email hijacking and someone is using our email address to send out spam.

it has to be because of the confidential documents that were going out in the emails.

i will have to discontinue the emails and go back to posting the documents on jwn..this is an example of just how badly somone wants to keep these documents out of the public eye.

Juan Viejo2

Please note:

I strongly suggest that any of you who are still using older mail systems like Hotmail, MSN.com mail, (even Live Mail) and AOL mail move to Gmail or Yahoo! mail. Gmail is a lot more secure, but Yahoo! is a good substitute if you have prejudices against Gmail. All are free.

Hijackers have figured out how to crack your AOL and Hotmail accounts. I have managed to get all of my friends and family to stop using those old accounts. Even I, someone who thinks of himself as a bit of an expert, had my Hotmail accounts all hijacked. Mine was actually taken over by someone spreading a virus. You can imagine how I felt when my ex-wife wrote me and asked me why I tried to destroy her computer after all these years by sending her a virus. I finally told everyone on my list to simply delete any emails from me that were sent from my old Hotmail box.

Three of my closest friends have had their AOL mail boxes hijacked the same way. I've managed to get all of them to switch over to Gmail and have had no further problems.

I have no monetary interest in Google. I have nothing against AOL or Microsoft, but the fact is that their mail systems are obsolete and under-protected.

Sorry, Simon, if I have violated any forum rules, but I feel that these facts must be known for everyone's protection.

JV

27

Confidential Document Email Hijacked!

by Atlantis in

dear friends:.we are under attack by email hijacking and someone is using our email address to send out spam.

it has to be because of the confidential documents that were going out in the emails.

i will have to discontinue the emails and go back to posting the documents on jwn..this is an example of just how badly somone wants to keep these documents out of the public eye.

Juan Viejo2

atlantis: sent you a message...

JV

34

1AM UK 21.12.2012... world not ended here

by BroMac in

jw
friends

err well unless i'm the only one left .

Juan Viejo2

Here is part of one of the episodes:

[Please note: They can be and are profane!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD53pm2mTlg

You get the gist of the story...

JV

34

1AM UK 21.12.2012... world not ended here

by BroMac in

jw
friends

err well unless i'm the only one left .

Juan Viejo2

Tonight I watched a fairly recent episode of "Penn & Teller's B###s##t" on cable TV about the Mayan calendar. For those of you not familiar with their cable TV show, just let me say that they take zero prisoners and give no quarter to idiots.

During the show they interviewed several "experts" on the coming end of the world event that should be happening any minute. I live in Oregon where it rains a lot this time of the year and I noticed that at 12 midnight it did seem to pick up a little. But within a few minutes it had stopped completely. I am typing this at 1:45 AM on my computer, so we are already nearly two hours into doomsday and the power hasn't even gone off. Of course, there are 22 hours left in my day...

Back to Penn & Teller:

One "expert" ran a website, another had written a whole series of books about this day of doom, and another couple (also claiming to be experts) were on a field trip to Mexico to personally investigate a Mayan pyramid/temple. They were all clueless. They all managed to involve UFOs (and their drivers), dowsing, and numerology (one fellow kept climbing the steps of the pyramid trying to come up with a clue). ""Thirty-five steps. That must mean something!"

After watching that show, I felt more informed and knowledgeable about the subject. I can assure everyone that I will sleep tight tonight and will likely live long enough to open my Christmas presents on Tuesday.

That particular P&T show was followed by another in their series that focused on multi-level marketing. I kept thinking about something I read many years ago about one of the founders of Amway and how he happened to come up with his business plan. Originally he and his partner wanted to come up with new versions of products that everyone needed and used (soap, shoe polish, etc.) and then put their own private brand on them. When they approached store owners hardly any showed interest. After all they already had the name brands on the shelves. The story I heard mentioned that one of the founders had seen Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on doors and selling books and magazines. Fuller Brush and Hoover vacuum cleaner salesmen also went door to door. Jehovah's Witnesses were different - they did the work for nothing, only a promise of a future [heavenly] reward, and yet they were enthusiastic. They were not just selling a product, they were recruiting new members who would join them in selling more magazines. And thus Amway and its recruiting program was born.

I wish I had copies of those two shows that I could play for all of the JWs who visit my websites. Here you are, brothers and sisters, just like the crazies expecting the world to end on a particular day based on a stone calendar - except you believed in the end coming based on an ancient Egyptian pyramid and a dream of a bipolar ancient Babylonian King who destroyed a temple 20 years too late. And you are part of a multi-level scheme that doesn't make you a dime and only costs you money you can't afford.

Good on P&T. They also believe in magic, just like Sparlock...

JV