Posts by JeffT

55

Alec Baldwin Shot a Woman Dead

by Simon in

so alec baldwin shot a woman dead on set and seriously injured another man.. what do we put this down as?

a tragic accident?

maybe ... except that implies no one was to blame.. the more you find out, the more it seems that this was due to negligence and lack of attention to safety.

JeffT

I grew up around guns. My father was an avid outdoorsman, if it wasn't hunting season the only thing that kept us off the range some days was fishing.

I learned at a very young that there was no such thing as an unloaded gun, and you never ever pointed a gun at something unless you wanted to shoot it. To this day I can not touch a gun without checking the chamber, and even if I just checked it, the muzzle is always pointed at the ground.

The question here is: were these people attacking Mr. Baldwin? If yes then he can claim self-defense. If he was holding a gun that discharged and killed some one, he should be charged with negligent homicide. There may be some defense to that, I don't know what it would be.

22

Dune (1984) - er, yeah, lol

by LoveUniHateExams in

so, i saw dune (1984) yesterday.

i knew it wasn't gonna be great, but deary me.

i'm not gonna lie - this film is not good, in fact it's laughably bad in places.. first, i'd like to know the thought process that went behind choosing david lynch to write/direct.

JeffT

Just ran across this: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/dune-better-in-hebrew

Worth reading as a look at the linguistics of the books/movies. Interesting minor point -- he says that David Lynch didn't read the book before he made the movie. That would explain a lot.

22

Dune (1984) - er, yeah, lol

by LoveUniHateExams in

so, i saw dune (1984) yesterday.

i knew it wasn't gonna be great, but deary me.

i'm not gonna lie - this film is not good, in fact it's laughably bad in places.. first, i'd like to know the thought process that went behind choosing david lynch to write/direct.

JeffT

Turning a book like Dune into a movie is a difficult project. It is too easy to end up with either a bunch of people sitting around talking, or the point of the book gets lost in gunfire and explosions (for example Starship Troopers). Rarely you see movies that are better than the book.

I'll put Shawshank Redemption in that category. I may take some heat for this but I think Kevin Costner's The Postman is better than the book.

I did not like either of the two Dune movies. I'll see this one when its on HBO.

Edited to add: the Islamic influences are obvious in the books. Paul is terrified that a Jihad in his name will sweep the whole universe.

15

How did you feel after writing a Disassociation letter?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i might do it one day.

.

JeffT

I think people should leave the Watchtower on whatever terms suit them (the people leaving not the WTBS).

Wife and I DA'd almost a year after we stopped JW related activity. Both of us were converts, I had no JW relatives, wife only had two and we didn't see them very often. Both of us wanted to be on record as leaving because we didn't believe in what they taught, nor did we accept them as having any authority in our lives.

We told them we knew they would make an announcement. They could say we'd left, if we found out they'd said anything else we'd take legal action (and I had a lawyer if we needed him). We also attached about thirty pages of research telling them why we would not accept their authority on anything.

It felt good.

18

Superman and Captain America

by punkofnice in

i see that marvel are introducing a gay captain america as dc announce the son of superman is bi-sexual.. whereas i don't give a hoot about a person's use of their genitalia as long as it is consensual and not with kids, i'm finding all this 'inclusivity' becoming a bit boring.. are dc and marvel just virtue signalling in the hopes of selling comics and not being set on fire by the antifa frauds?

?.

JeffT

For a discussion of super-hero sexuality I provide the following. I don't think this will make it into any of the movies.

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex

20

Do Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the Bible properly?

by Vanderhoven7 in

do jehovah's witnesses interpret the bible properly?.

jehovah's witnesses see the bible as an organizational book which only the faithful and discreet slave (currently 8 men headquartered in warwick new york) can interpret properly.

the faithful slave was first appointed in brooklyn in 1919 and given the exclusive right and ability to understand and teach the bible properly.

JeffT

I had never heard the term "hermeneutics" -- the theory and methodology of Biblical interpretation, and "exegesis" -- critical interpretation and explanation until I left the JW's.

There is a simple explanation why JW's don't talk about these words: they don't do that. The Watchtower has no consistent, logical and rational approach to interpreting the Bible. They ignore such factors as who was writing a particular book, the intended audience, and the relevant history and issues current at the time the book was written. For the Watchtower, all Bible verses are equal.

Sample chapters of my novel now available

by JeffT in

jw
friends

my latest novel, “armageddon’s disciples” is now available in both print and kindle versions.

a brief description:.

“when three “disciples” of the word of god foundation discover seventeen-year-old alice lahti dead in their meeting hall, detective ed franklin quickly finds a tangled web of toxic relationships, sexual abuse, blackmail, murder, and bizarre failed prophecies.

JeffT

My latest novel, “Armageddon’s Disciples” is now available in both print and Kindle versions. A brief description:

“When three “Disciples” of the Word of God Foundation discover seventeen-year-old Alice Lahti dead in their meeting hall, detective Ed Franklin quickly finds a tangled web of toxic relationships, sexual abuse, blackmail, murder, and bizarre failed prophecies. Unable to penetrate the Disciples’ closed world, Ed recruits his neighbor, Keith Thornton, a former member, to guide him.

Already “Cast-out” for heresy and facing shunning by family and friends, Keith has nothing left to lose. His wife has left him because he no longer believes in The Word. By helping the police investigation, Keith marks himself as a “Forsaker”, one who has deliberately turned his back on The Lord. Keith hopes his assistance will provide meaning to the havoc the religion created in his life.

As stories of sexual abuse and the body count rises, investigators struggle to unravel the secret world of Armageddon’s Disciples.”

Links to purchase a copy.

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HDT9DJB

Paperback http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HG4W38G

Hardcover http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HG4TXZ4

I will also be putting more information up on my new website: https://www.jeffthomasbooks.net/

All three allow you to preview the book, just click on the cover where it says “look inside.” The first (Kindle) link has the largest sample.

3

My latest novel is now available on Amazon, I think you might like it.

by JeffT in

jw
friends

my latest novel, “armageddon’s disciples” is now available in both print and kindle versions.

a brief description:.

“when three “disciples” of the word of god foundation discover seventeen-year-old alice lahti dead in their meeting hall, detective ed franklin quickly finds a tangled web of toxic relationships, sexual abuse, blackmail, murder, and bizarre failed prophecies.

JeffT

My latest novel, “Armageddon’s Disciples” is now available in both print and Kindle versions. A brief description:

“When three “Disciples” of the Word of God Foundation discover seventeen-year-old Alice Lahti dead in their meeting hall, detective Ed Franklin quickly finds a tangled web of toxic relationships, sexual abuse, blackmail, murder, and bizarre failed prophecies. Unable to penetrate the Disciples’ closed world, Ed recruits his neighbor, Keith Thornton, a former member, to guide him.

Already “Cast-out” for heresy and facing shunning by family and friends, Keith has nothing left to lose. His wife has left him because he no longer believes in The Word. By helping the police investigation, Keith marks himself as a “Forsaker”, one who has deliberately turned his back on The Lord. Keith hopes his assistance will provide meaning to the havoc the religion created in his life.

As stories of sexual abuse and the body count rises, investigators struggle to unravel the secret world of Armageddon’s Disciples.”

Links to purchase a copy.

Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HDT9DJB

Paperback http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HG4W38G

Hardcover http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HG4TXZ4

More information up on my new website: https://www.jeffthomasbooks.net/

10

Earthquake in Victoria Australia

by smiddy3 in

i ,along with many other victorians in australia,experienced my first earthquake this morning about 9:15 am.. it was recorded as a 5.9 magnitude.and an after shock of 4.0 magnitude.. i was having a lay in bed due to the fact my wife had a bad night due to her health problems which affected my sleep as well.. and i thought geeeze she`s making a lot of racket coming up the passage to the bedroom with her walker and then the bed started shaking like crazy .

i thought my computer`s going to hit the deck along with the printer as other things started to fall over.. our house sits on concrete stumps and the thought went through me that the house could collapse ,but thankfully there was no structural damage that i could find.. apparently it was felt far and wide covering most of victoria / nsw and even tasmania.. anybody else here had a similar experience ?.

JeffT

I also live on the U S West coast (Seattle area). We get lots of quakes, little ones that rattle the dishes and once in a while a larger one. Biggest I've been through here was about 7.0. I was at work in a hundred year old building, on fill near the harbor. It gave us a good shake, and the facade of the building across the street fell off and landed on the road.

It left all of us rattled for a couple days.

29

If you think Watchtower is disappearing any time soon…

by Reservations in

you are sadly mistaken.. i hear people say it on here all the time, and dare i say his name *cough* lloyd evans *cough* has said it a number of times, that watchtower is running scared and watchtower is in decline….. we need to put in perspective the decrease from the 2020 report.

if we calculate a yearly -0.6 decrease over a 10 year period from 2020 figures it leaves us the grand total number of witnesses of:.

by 2030: - 7,933,479. by 2040: - 7,471,357. by 2050: - 7,036,154. i agree that this is a significant decrease, but let’s not kid ourselves, the wt organisation will still be alive and well even with an annual 0.6% loss.

JeffT

I have thought for some time that if the Watchtower disappeared tomorrow, its followers would just go find something else to follow. I imagine there are bus loads of COs, Branch overseas and the like who would be happy to pick up the slack.

Incidentely , I find it unlikely the child abuse lawsuits will wipe out the WTBS. The lawsuits total up to millions with an "m." The WTBS's assets are in the billions with a "b." Most large businesses regard such things as a cost of doing business, I'm sure the Watchtower is cynical enough to think the same way.