Posts by zzaphod

What is AGI, and how large is the effort to make it happen? Will humans as we know ourselves today remain the dominant species on the planet in the near future? Why did the economic meltdown occur? Can we look forward to a future of economic prosperity? What do we have to fear, and what don't we? What does the War on Terror have in common with Global Warming? What will government look like in the near future? Are we becoming slaves, and how can we be empowered like never before? What is the true struggle of the 21st Century? What are the dangers of emerging technology? "

I dunno really, either some far sighted physicist, or a nutter with a god complex.

All the best

Paul UK

13

moral support? :/

by ana_dote in

jw
friends

i know, i know...it's all part and parcel of the whole fading thing.....but..... i missed a phone call from an unknown number tonight....oddly enough, had this been a few months ago the number would have still been programmed in my phone.

the number was to the kingdom hall i used to attend over a year ago.

i have not set foot in it since probably late april, early may, of 2009. but tonight an elder called.

zzaphod

Hi Ana, I`m glad that you have decided to live the life you choose, I`m sure things will be ALOT better without the JW guilt trip.

Happiness and Peace to you (that sounds a bit hippy for me, but I realy mean it!)

All the best

Paul UK

46

Do you smoke anything?

by asilentone in

i was very disappointed in one of my friends near here.

he is df'd.

he started smoking cigs.

zzaphod

I smoke cigarettes, and I am always considerate of others, ie. not smoking in their homes, cars, or even near them. I`m quite happy to be a social missfit, always have been!

Although I am beginnig to feel that the militant anti-smokers are getting a bit tiresome, and hypocritical. They say smokers are inconsiderate (some are),, but some of them themselves are the most intolerant people I`ve met.

When they`ve finished demonising the smokers, the next will be the drinkers, then the overweight, then people who eat meat, salt, etc. etc.

It`s already happened in Europe, so I imagine it won`t be long `til it`s common place in the US. Here we call them "Banstrubators"

I smoked pot a couple of times when I was younger, but didn`t like it, was more a speed freak .

Of course, gave up all that long ago.

Regards

Paul Uk

27

Hello!

by factfinder in

jw
friends

i'm new here, this is my first post.

have been reading so many comments from you guys over the past few months and now i can finally comment too!.

it is amazing how long it took me to see that jw's are not god's organization and that their teachings do not really find support in the bible.. now i'm not really sure what i believe.

zzaphod

Welcome to the forum Factfinder

All the best

Paul UK

12

My Story - Abbreviated but still way too long

by jamesmahon in

when my mum returned after 6 weeks she had also been converted.

i am sure the twenty years younger and big boobs had nothing whatsoever to do with it and cannot think why he both could think of no other way of leaving and why if it was so bad it was alright to leave his kids in it.

she beat me so bad i found out afterwards my brothers thought she was going to kill me.

zzaphod

Hi James, I LOVED working down the pit, until the closure of our local mine where I did my apprenticeship, and having to go work at Selby, apart from everything else it was a 30 mile drive each way, not something I enjoyed on a winters morning a 5am!

Regards

Paul UK

12

My Story - Abbreviated but still way too long

by jamesmahon in

when my mum returned after 6 weeks she had also been converted.

i am sure the twenty years younger and big boobs had nothing whatsoever to do with it and cannot think why he both could think of no other way of leaving and why if it was so bad it was alright to leave his kids in it.

she beat me so bad i found out afterwards my brothers thought she was going to kill me.

zzaphod

Thanks for sharing your biog with us James, I`ll read it thouroughly asap.

Just a quick point, in the 1984 strike I was an electrician working at one of the pits in the Selby coalfield. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I`d just qualified, was not married, and was still living with my parents at the time; hence I didn`t get a penny of financial help from anyone (no strike pay, no dole etc.) - apart from my immeadiate family who kept a roof over my head, and food in my mouth, for which I will be eternally grateful.

The Witnesses still expected me to somehow carry on being a publisher, keep ferrying various members to and from meetings etc., even though I had to borrow money from my parents to put petrol in the car, and buy the damn mags every month.

After ~10 months of this, I handed in my notice to the NCB and went to work in the private sector, not long after, I also handed in my notice to the WTS by DA`ing myself, and to cap it off, I joined the territorial army, to, amongst other things, stop me from getting depressed about these massive changes that were happening in my personal life. (It worked, and I think it helped me enormously in many ways)

I view the miners strike, and the "loving care" and support I got from the "brothers and sisters" as the straw/s that broke this camels back.

Hence, I can thank Arthur Scargill, Maggie Thatcher and Yuri Andropov for partly helping me break free from the jehovah`s witnesses in some strange convoluted way.!

Life can be weird sometimes.

All the best

Paul UK

PS. 2 months after I handed in my notice, I recieved a £2 Co-op food voucher from the NUM, which I gave to a friend who was still on strike.

406

ex-jw-uk

by bigmac in

jw
friends

i'm quite new to this site, & have realised some members have a union jack symbol under their avatar.

i don't.. could we have a "show of hands" from any uk members?

i've already found several by reading older posts..

zzaphod

Wakefield, Yorkshire.

Paul Uk

7

Male female ratio's at assemblies

by Jeremy430 in

i've heard it said that the male female ratio between jehovah's witness's is 7 female to 1 male.

when you go to the assemblies or the hall, nothing could be further from the truth.

were do people come up with those numbers anyway?

zzaphod

Wow, things must have changed since the `80`s then, I`m sure I would have noticed that. Perhaps it`s that women tend to live longer, and there are lots of pensioners that get dragged to the assemblies??

Regards

Paul UK

26

Doncaster/Carcroft/Bentley in UK

by jamesmahon in

jw
friends

i must confess to 'lurking' occasionally for several years on this site - purely because i am bone idle and spend most of my day writing with work.

many of the posts are really funny, moving or both and very well written so thanks to all who contribute.. as can no doubt be seen by my inability to recognise that maybe having your own name as a username may not be the best of ideas (i don't have anything to hide but even so - it does reveal a complete lack of imagination), i have not posted to any forum before as far as i can remember.

my story is at least as 'entertaining' as some others on here and when i get the time will right it down if only as another warning for all the doubting jws that may read it.

zzaphod

LoL Wobble, us up north are always really drunk, it`s a coping mechanism doncha know. I blame the WTS myself.

All the best

Paul UK