I admit to being over 55.
Bill.
Bungi Bill
JoinedPosts by Bungi Bill
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47
2012 report analysis - countries with reduced publisher figures
by cedars ini've just started munching through the figures for 2012 in the new 2013 yearbook, now available on jw.org.. i thought you might be interested to see which countries saw "negative growth" over 2012.. these are as follows.... .
*sudan is so dramatically reduced because south sudan is now independent and the society has adjusted the publisher figures accordingly.. .
countries added.
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Bungi Bill
jgnat,
When you list the GDP of the "Wealthy and Internet Savvy" group of countries, presumably you are referring to the average , andper capita GDP of that group? According to the most recent estimates, Ukraine's per capita GDP for the year 2011 was USD$7200 - considerably different from the figure of $36 396 that you quote (unless their economy grew by some unbelievable amount in the last 12 months!)
Bill.
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CS Monitor. Religion in New England...the future of Religion. Some Jehovah's Witnesses become Seventh Day Adventists.?
by Balaamsass ingd2-status-2 spaceid=95400273 loc=logo noad qyz cms_none_avail,,98.139.32.249;;logo;95400273;2;who's filling america's church pewsin puritan new england, protestant and catholic churches are declining while evangelical and pentecostal groups are rising.
why the nation's most secular region may hint at the future of religion.by g. jeffrey macdonald | christian science monitor sun, dec 23, 2012 .
start article more from yog-5u on a snowy 20-degree day in december, the visitors shiver as they move among vestiges of a long-closed pizza hut on this city's struggling main street.
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Bungi Bill
They say "any port in a storm" - but that would have to be a hurricane!
Bill.
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59
Born in, Convert or 1975er?
by Think About It indoes a person's involvement in the jw religion usually fall into one of these 3 categories?.
a) born in.
b) convert.
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Bungi Bill
None of those three categories describes my background.
I would class myself as "raised in" rather than "born in", given that my parents weren't JWs when I was born. In fact, they never did become JWs: - I was introduced to it at eleven years of age, by a grandmother who had commenced a "Bible Study" with the witnesses several years before.
Furthermore, the term "convert" is hardly relevant in my case, as I was not a church member prior to my involvement with the witnesses.
Also, my grandmother began "studying" with the JWs about the same time as the All Scriptures Inspired book was released, which specifically warned against any speculation regarding the 6000th anniversary of human creation. I don't therefore class myself as a 1975er, either.
Sorry to disagree!
Bill.
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18
We're on the eve of Destruction!
by PYRAMIDSCHEME init's all over tommorow!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exh7h9lk5hy .
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Bungi Bill
7:30 ESDT on 22 December down in this part of the world, and everything so far looks much the same as it did yesterday.
So much so, that I might even take a peek outside the bomb shelter that we built in anticipation of this event!
Bill.
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76
Dec.21st and the countdown to the Mayan Apocalypse
by designs indecember 21 marks the winter solstice and the end of a cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun.. 1.will we see a few who want to join the celestial parade ala those who wanted to hop on a comet a few years ago.. 2.should koolaid and vodka be banned dec. 20th.. 3.will the wt.
come out with an article making fun of those who 'falsely predict the end of the world' .
i'll take bets on #3.
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Bungi Bill
This side of the International Dateline, it is already well into the morning of Saturday, 22 December:
-which has so far passed without incident!
Bill.
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72
Which of the 5 weekly meetings did you hate the most?
by RULES & REGULATIONS init was always stressed that the five weekly meetings were like the fingers on your hand.
each one was just as important as the next.
which of the meetings were the most boring,bothersome and difficult to listen to?
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Bungi Bill
That's simple:
-the whole bloody lot!
Bill.
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Bungi Bill
JV
This side of the International Dateline, nothing much has changed (yet!) that I can see:
- and we are already now well into the morning of Saturday, 22 December.
I am writing this, of course, from deep down inside the bomb shelter that we built just in case the Mayans had it right!
Bill.
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38
A Nut or Criminals Will Always Find A Way To Kill Or Hurt Someone If They Want To
by minimus infor the record, i don't think a person should be able to use "assault weapons" or "machine guns" or "rocket launchers".
i do think guns should be allowed.
but certainly not everyone is "qualified" to use a firearm.. even if you legally, rightfully can have a weapon, it doesn't mean that a "kook" wouldn't steal it and use it in a nefarious way.. i am convinced that you could take licenses away from drinkers and they still could get behind the wheel and wreak havoc.. you could ban switchblades and gun silencers and people will still find a way to quickly slice you up or muffle a sound.. you could ban or try to curtail cough medicines and people will still find a way to get high.. we cannot, government cannot---control what people will do.
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Bungi Bill
bohm,
Nugget does make a valid point, to quote "However, what you can do is make it harder for them to cause harm." (In the same manner , if a burglar really wants to get into your house, he will - no matter what you do. That fact, though, does not mean we despairingly throw our hands up in the air and leave our homes unlocked. We can and do implement measures to make it harder for a would be thief - even if it only serves to make him move on to easier pickings!)
There will always be violence, guns or no guns. However, the contribution firearms have made has been to make violence more deadly - which is why they were introduced in the first place. (The destruction one person armed with an AK-47 is capable of carrying out is out of all proportion to what that same individual could do if he were armed with nothing more than a chunk of rock or a length of timber!)
We can, though - as nugget says - make it harder for disturbed individuals to get hold of a firearm;
-such measures as requiring guns to be kept locked in secure containers, or vetting of firearms owners for mental instability, criminal records etc. (Down in this part of the world, that is what we have to do -and speaking for myself, a licensed firearm owner, I have never had a problem with that).
Bill.
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Why Isn't the USA the Safest Country in the World With All the Guns
by RubaDub inwe have 9 guns for every 10 people in this country.
since more guns = better protection, i keep asking myself why there is so much gun violence here ???.
i don't see such violence in canada, australia, europe, japan and other so-called "advanced" countries.. what is wrong with us here.
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Bungi Bill
The map displayed by jgnat (Post 18632), showing the rate of firearm caused homocides by country is interesting.
One of the countries with the highest rates of firearm caused homocides is Papua New Guinea (which comes as no surprise to anybody who has lived there, as I have!)
You talk about gun control, in PNG it is extremely difficult to legally own a firearm. Their gun control laws are amongst the most stringent in the world. Yet, as the statistics confirm - and anybody who has lived there would know - it has one of the highest rates of firearms related deaths in the world.
In that country, the "raskols" (i.e. The Pidgin term for criminals) have little difficulty getting their hands on firearms:
- they either make themselves a dangerous but effective 12 gauge shotgun out of a length of 0.75 inch waterpipe, and using as a firing mechanism a piece of bicycle tube propelling a coomercially made bolt.
- otherwise, an M-16 assault rifle or an older FN-100 self loading rifle is not too difficult to acquire from a corrupt police officer (which is most of them) or a cash-hungry soldier in the Defence Force.
Proof, if it were needed, that harsher gun control laws in themselves are not guaranteed to improve matters.
My experience, anyway,
Bill.