My brother is a CO. He's 46 years old. He was an elder for almost 20 years, and he was a regular pioneer for about 10 years before they appointmented him CO. In the last two years before he was appointed, he served as a temporary CO to fill in for people from time to time. When his son graduated from high school, he went off to Bethel for a couple of years. Now he's engaged to be married but is also pioneering full time. Ah, such a spiritual family! He owned his own home and had a regular job. I had to admire him for going down to 30 hours a week at work so he could pioneer. He's pretty sincere, but I also happen to think he's a self-righteous bastard. He's hard and cold, too. I don't envy the poor brothers in his circuit. Anyway, my brother has a cushy set-up, especially for a first-time appointment. His assignment is a large southern city. He doesn't have to travel outside the city, so he has a duplex where he lives year round (I don't know whether the Society owns it or the local circuit--it's not attached to a KH) that the local brothers remodeled before he moved in (new carpet, etc.). It's large and quite nice. He's also got his brand new car, which gets replaced every three years. Health insurance, two weeks of vacation--it's just like a real job, except for the pay. The thing is, though, that every week the local brothers give him quite a bit of cash. I think he's a lot better off financially than he was when he was working and making a house payment. He's doing so well, in fact, that he and his wife are going to the Bahamas for their vacation--all paid for by the local brothers' contributions. What a racket, eh? He's a lot happier now because he was getting to hate his job and it was physically taxing. He couldn't had done it until old age, but he can do this job until he drops dead, and he probably will. But if he wants to "retire," he'll probably have it made because his circuit is in a pretty afluent city and he's making connections with lots of rich brothers. I don't think he has anything to worry about. Plus, because he worked so many years, he has a lot paid into social security (assuming it's still solvent by the time he gets old).
jukief
JoinedPosts by jukief
-
51
Are Circuit Overseers Stuck in Their Jobs?
by metatron induring a recent c.o.
visit, the latest itinerant from the society seemed a bit subdued as he talked about the difficulties.
of his employment.
-
-
-
27
Mozilla Firefox Browser version 0.9
by Yizuman inhas anyone tried this browser yet?
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ .
i love it and the only thing this browser doesn't see on this forum when posting is using the smilies when creating or replying a topic, only msie can see it.
-
-
jukief
Using it now on my PC laptop. I also use it on my iBook.
I'm the editor of a daily electronic newsletter that deals with the Windows/computer industry. The author, Paul Thurrott, has been telling people for years to use something other than IE; he recommends Mozilla or Opera. Here's an article we published today:
Browser Wars II? Alternative Browser Downloads Surge in Wake of IE Exploits
The long-stagnant Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) might command about 95 percent of the Web browser market but a recent spate of security vulnerabilities seems to be finally helping IE's competitors make some inroads into the market. Even the usually staid United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has taken the unusual step of advising users to switch to a different browser because of IE's many attacks (see the URL below). The result has been a bonanza for safer browser alternatives such as Mozilla and Opera.
The Mozilla Foundation reports that daily downloads of its Mozilla browser suite and Firefox Web browser have doubled since US-CERT's recommendation; on the day of the US-CERT announcement, the foundation says that users downloaded the products more than 200,000 times. "More people seem to have reached their threshold level of frustration dealing with problems with IE and Windows and have found the Mozilla software a good solution to solving those problems," Chris Hofmann, The Mozilla Foundation's director of engineering, said. "US-CERT's recommendation is just a reflection of the trend we have seen for quite some time."
Experts point to several obvious problems with IE. First, the browser is so widely used that it's a natural attack point. Second, IE is integrated directly into the Windows OS, a curious and ultimately damaging decision that made a previously secure Windows NT-based system vulnerable to new types of attacks. Third, IE technologies such as ActiveX have proven to be highly insecure, and many IE attacks exploit ActiveX-related vulnerabilities. Microsoft will address the latter concern in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) but the company has no plans to provide this functionality in other Windows versions or to completely decouple the browser from its OSs.The Mozilla Foundation and Opera Software say that they have solutions for the first problem. If the current download rates continue, the browser alternatives might soon be nibbling away at IE's massive market share. If that happens, Web designers will have to take those browsers into account more often when they design Web sites. And because Mozilla and Opera adhere more closely to Web standards than IE does, that situation could eventually lead to dramatic changes on the Web in general. Perhaps future IE versions would also be more standards-compliant as a result, which would make the process of developing Web sites much easier because developers could simply target one standard. Today, IE's market share causes Web developers to target IE's nonstandard technical idiosyncrasies first.
-
9
Weird Meeting
by iiz2cool inon the way home from work today i stopped at a local grocery store to pick up a few things.
when i got into the store i saw an elder?
from my first hall in there talking to a couple of women i assumed were sisters?.
-
-
jukief
I think you should have yelled BOO really loud and watched him jump.
-
7
German CO Called In For Two-Month Training!
by GermanXJW inmember "m.bibleres" at http://www.infolink-forum.de//messages/771/7968.html?dienstagden6juli20042155#post88578 has informed the board that german co have been called in in groups of 25 for some training that should last several weeks.
his source tells that there will be a tougher dealing with the elders concering sharing internal data with the public.. we wonder if this is in germany only because of stagnation or a worldwide approach.
does anybody heared of similar rumours?
-
-
jukief
My brother is a CO in Texas, and he just got back from 9 weeks of "training" in Brooklyn.
-
145
Invitation To Americans To Find Fault With The British..
by Englishman in.
i thought we ought to even things up a little... go for it!.
no obscenities please.
-
-
jukief
They're way too witty and charming.
-
21
Will Mickey Hooper get His Mini Cooper?
by Englishman inher ladyship and myself have been really getting excited at the prospect of getting one of the new shape mini coopers around now.. .
a few weeks back, hl's pal came to stay with us and let us drive her mini around.
oh wow, what fun.
-
-
jukief
Mike, Rob and Rella are trying to buy a car, and they can't believe the prices in England--not just for new cars but also for used cars. They've looked at the litte mini Mercedes coupes (I don't know the model). Our friend in Scotland had one. It was deceptively roomy inside and gets great mileage. R&R are interested in one of those, but they've also found that you usually have to order a new car and wait a bit for one. I guess that's one of the things you can say about the US of A--we have cars in abundance, no waiting necessary. Most of them get lousy gas mileage, though. :-( Good luck with the hunt. Hope you find something you like. Too bad about the mini Cooper, though. I wanted one of those. Well, that or a Smart Car. :-)
-
63
AlanF, and other "tree falling makes a sound" realist
by jst2laws inhttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/73007/3.ashx
you seemed to agree with my objection that sound is a matter of perception of energy waves, and that it is only our perception that makes it "sound".
but then you went on to say we should "avoid useless definitions that really tell us nothing", and then said "it's existence is independent of whether anyone or anything receives "a particular auditory impression".
-
-
jukief
Alan's in New York visiting his brother for another week, so I doubt he'll see your post, Steve.
-
69
My Brother Begged Me To Come Back To Jehovah & His Organization!!!
by minimus ini recieved a 7 page "note" from my brother and his wife pleading with me to come back to jehovah god and his organization.
he said the devil was after me and my family and that the results will be disastrous unless i come back to "jehovah's protective custody".
also, it was strongly implied that unless my family went back to meetings and went out in field service, most jws, including family members would not attend my daughter's wedding and reception.my wife, daughter and i have been overtaken by the devil, according to him.
-
-
jukief
Well, Minimus, at least your brother cares enough about you to make an attempt to "save" you. My asshole brother, who was just becoming an elder when I quit the dubs in 1984 and is now a CO, never made any attempt to "help" me. He just started shunning me because I "left Jehovah" (in other words, I stopped going to meetings). I think the fact that your brother is trying to "help" you, no matter how misguided, is kind of touching. He must care about you so some extent! It takes a lot of effort to write a seven-page letter! :-) It's been many years now since my JW brother and sister started shunning me. It was very painful at first, but as the years have passed it's gotten to the point where it doesn't bother me a bit. I rarely think about them. I think it's *their* loss that they don't get to have fun with my apostate sister and me and our parents (who have never taken sides). It's odd, but the two JW siblings aren't close at all, while my non-JW sister and I are really close.
-
9
The old "Philia" mailing list....
by Country Girl inanyone remember the old philia mailing list for xjw's?
that was back in the days before the www, when the internet didn't have graphics, and you had to subscribe to mailing lists by sending a request to the particular server and requesting to subscribe.
you then only got text response from all members of the mailing list.
-
-
jukief
I was one of the founders. :-) Country girl, I think I know who you are! Julie
-
5
The Norwegian Express..
by Englishman ini've been hovlanded!
yup.
norm arrived a couple of days ago, ostensibly to do a quick recce of the planned barbie accommodation for himself and kent steinhaug.
-
-
jukief
Damn! I am SO jealous! Tell Norm not to drink all the Hobgobblin and to save some for me! I plan to be back there this fall. Big hugs to you guys. Wish I were there!