Posts by Resistance is Futile

About five years ago I lived downtown in a major city in the US. I've always been a night person, so I would often find myself bored after my roommate, who was decidedly not a night person, went to sleep. To pass the time, I used to go for long walks and spend the time thinking.

I spent four years like that, walking alone at night, and never once had a reason to feel afraid. I always used to joke with my roommate that even the drug dealers in the city were polite. But all of that changed in just a few minutes of one evening.

It was a Wednesday, somewhere between one and two in the morning, and I was walking near a police patrolled park quite a ways from my apartment. It was a quiet night, even for a week night, with very little traffic and almost no one on foot. The park, as it was most nights, was completely empty.

I turned down a short side street in order to loop back to my apartment when I first noticed him. At the far end of the street, on my side, was the silhouette of a man, dancing. It was a strange dance, similar to a waltz, but he finished each "box" with an odd forward stride. I guess you could say he was dance-walking, headed straight for me.

Deciding he was probably drunk, I stepped as close as I could to the road to give him the majority of the sidewalk to pass me by. The closer he got, the more I realized how gracefully he was moving. He was very tall and lanky, and wearing an old suit. He danced closer still, until I could make out his face. His eyes were open wide and wild, head tilted back slightly, looking off at the sky. His mouth was formed in a painfully wide cartoon of a smile. Between the eyes and the smile, I decided to cross the street before he danced any closer.

I took my eyes off of him to cross the empty street. As I reached the other side, I glanced back... and then stopped dead in my tracks. He had stopped dancing and was standing with one foot in the street, perfectly parallel to me. He was facing me but still looking skyward. Smile still wide on his lips.

I was completely and utterly unnerved by this. I started walking again, but kept my eyes on the man. He didn't move. Once I had put about half a block between us, I turned away from him for a moment to watch the sidewalk in front of me. The street and sidewalk ahead of me were completely empty. Still unnerved, I looked back to where he had been standing to find him gone. For the briefest of moments I felt relieved, until I noticed him. He had crossed the street, and was now slightly crouched down. I couldn't tell for sure due to the distance and the shadows, but I was certain he was facing me. I had looked away from him for no more than 10 seconds, so it was clear that he had moved fast.

I was so shocked that I stood there for some time, staring at him. And then he started moving toward me again. He took giant, exaggerated tip toed steps, as if he were a cartoon character sneaking up on someone. Except he was moving very, very quickly.

I'd like to say at this point I ran away or pulled out my pepper spray or my cellphone or anything at all, but I didn't. I just stood there, completely frozen as the smiling man crept toward me.

And then he stopped again, about a car length away from me. Still smiling his smile, still looking to the sky.

When I finally found my voice, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. What I meant to ask was, "What do you want?!" in an angry, commanding tone. What came out was a whimper: "Whaaat…?"

Regardless of whether or not humans can smell fear, they can certainly hear it. I heard it in my own voice, and that only made me more afraid. But he didn't react to it at all. He just stood there, smiling.

And then, after what felt like forever, he turned around, very slowly, and started dance-walking away. Just like that. Not wanting to turn my back to him again, I just watched him go, until he was far enough away to almost be out of sight. And then I realized something. He wasn't moving away anymore, nor was he dancing. I watched in horror as the distant shape of him grew larger and larger. He was coming back my way. And this time he was running.

I ran as well

I ran until I was off of the side road and back onto a better lit road with sparse traffic. Looking behind me then, he was nowhere to be found. The rest of the way home, I kept glancing over my shoulder, always expecting to see his stupid smile, but he was never there.

I lived in that city for six months after that night, and I never went out for another walk. There was something about his face that always haunted me. He didn't look drunk, he didn't look high. He looked completely and utterly insane. And that's a very, very scary thing to see.

Was it a ghost or simply a deranged insomniac? To this day I'm not quite sure.

28

Great Music

by Berengaria in

it appears that many of the best music threads have been purged.

i can't imagine the formula that would eliminate such wonderousness while preserving "involuntary muscular contractions", but so it is.. the first offering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2vh8jwyqa.

Resistance is Futile

Nice touch with the Mad Season.

Here's something I've been listening to lately. The female singer is also the lone guitarist in the band. She absolutely rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV9Lpma_1L0

Old school metal. Sabbath's first song off their first album, what a way to start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yR5XhCIeg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsLkL8DTHeg

138

god-of-the-gaps. Should we or shouldn't we fiil in the gaps with God?

by KateWild in

science imo does not have all the answers.

when i discover gaps in science, it's easy for me, as a temporary measure to fill in the gaps with god.

i do this until i have learnt something new.. what about you?

Resistance is Futile

I haven't had time to read all the pages in this thread yet.

To the original poster I would say that it seems like it would be the height of arrogance to assume that anything I can't comprehend (gaps in my knowledge) must therefore have a supernatural explanation. I'm fine accepting that there are things I don't know. Our ignorance of particular phenomenon in this world shouldn't be seen as evidence for a deity.

48

a list of good movies/tv shows to get a JW to think

by nonjwspouse in

ones that have themes that come uncomfortabllly close to the cult dynamic.. i already got him to watch the obsolete man on twilight zone.

he sauggested watching some old tz again tonight so i wioll pick where is everybody, and escape clause.. i have heard oters say the movie truman show was a good movie as is the matrix ( though i detest violence).

any more suggestions for my personal handy dandy list?.

Resistance is Futile

Some favorites have already been mentioned. You'll want to be careful and not try and get him to watch these movies back to back. Intersperse other movies that are more lighthearted. If he asks why you want to watch a particular older movie just say that a friend or coworker was talking about the movie and it sounded interesting. My list would be:

1. Truman Show

2. The Village

4. Stepford Wives

5. 1984 (There is a decent film version) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four_(film)

6. Equilibrium

20

People have a right to preserve their culture race and identity!!!

by Joliette in

one of the biggest things that bothered me as a jehovahs witness was the whole 'we are the world' bullcrap that they used to teach, and that culture, color, and race didnt matter.

as far as i'm concerned thats a bunch of bs.

people have a right to preserve who they, where they came from, and they have a right to be represented.

Resistance is Futile

*gets popcorn*

28

Syria limited strike and consquences

by d in

what do you think would be the result if we go the u.s goes thorough striking syria?

i fear that it will drag the u.s into a vietnam like situation and this will hurt our economy..

Resistance is Futile

Expect something similar to how the US and Allies helped overthrough Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

I think the one big difference is that there was broad support from other nations for action in Libya. Syrian intervention is looking a lot like US unilateralism. In Libya there was a UN resolution as well as NATO support.

We also have Iran threatening to strike US and Israeli targets if the US hits Syria.

"The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria, officials said, amid an expanding array of reprisal threats across the region

Israel has so far been the focus of concerns about retaliation from Iran and its Lebanese militant ally Hezbollah. The commander-in-chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps said last week that an attack on Syria would lead to the "destruction of Israel."

The State Department issued a new alert on Thursday warning against nonessential travel to Iraq and citing terrorist activity "at levels unseen since 2008." Earlier this year, an alert said that violence against Americans had decreased. That reassurance was dropped from the most recent alert.

The Iranian message, intercepted in recent days, came from Qasem Soleimani, the head of Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force, and went to Iranian-supported Shiite militia groups in Iraq, according to U.S. officials".

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893004579057271019210230.html

28

Syria limited strike and consquences

by d in

what do you think would be the result if we go the u.s goes thorough striking syria?

i fear that it will drag the u.s into a vietnam like situation and this will hurt our economy..

Resistance is Futile

I really should find out who is getting most of the oil exports from Iraq, but I have the impression that most of it is going to China.

About 13% goes to China.

http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=IZ

The big question is where would Iraq's oil have been going if the UN lifted sanctions on Iraq exports and the US never invaded in 2003? Admittedly I don't exactly know how that would have played out, but I suspect Saddam would have been a little less friendly to the economic interests of the US than the current Iraqi government.

War is good for the American economy.

I have to disagree. You could say that war is extremely financially beneficial for certain industries, but who gets stuck footing the bill? The American taxpayer gets stuck holding the bag while war profiteers laugh all the way to the bank.

28

Syria limited strike and consquences

by d in

what do you think would be the result if we go the u.s goes thorough striking syria?

i fear that it will drag the u.s into a vietnam like situation and this will hurt our economy..

Resistance is Futile

What do you think would be the result if the U.S goes through with striking Syria? [edit]

It would be the first step into the quicksand that would drag us into a sectarian battle in a Muslim country. The thought of getting embroiled in this conflict has been literally turning my stomach.

Let's not kid ourselves, in the big picture, intervention into this war is about the US maintaining power and influence in an oil-rich region of the world.

It won't be Vietnam because they will never commit ground troops

I really wish I could believe that. Secretary of State John Kerry said he couldn't promise there would be no ground invasion, and of course he can't promise something like that. At least Senators McCain and Graham were honest about their goals of a regime change in Syria. I really wish someone could explain how you bring about regime change without troops on the ground. Maybe our CIA could funnel massive amounts of US taxpayer money and weapons to the opposition. That worked out real great when we supported the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, or Saddam Hussein and his military in the Iran-Iraq War.

Once the US strikes Assad's military we will not allow him to remain in power. Assad is an ally of Iran. Removing Assad and facilitating a puppet regime in Syria that will not align with Iran is the clear strategic goal of the US in this destabilized region of the Middle East. It's pretty clear how the US would like to shape the Middle East so that it's friendly to our national interests of having access to the region's oil. How that would actually play out, is an absolute nightmare.

You thought we had a debt problem already, wait till we get sucked into another Middle East war. Perhaps we can just stop funding public education to counter the increase in military spending and the funneling of US taxpayer money into rebuilding a Middle East government. An uneducated citizenry also makes it much easier to sell the idea of war to, so it would be a win-win.

I still believe the unedited Wolfowitz Doctrine provides a brutally honest appraisement of the US government and Western powers interest in the Middle East which still holds true to this day.

"In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, our overall objective is to remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfowitz_Doctrine

“Right now we are denying that we want to overthrow the regime, but the fact is when you are bombing targets, government targets in Syria, and there are rebels trying to overthrow the government, you are, whether you say it or not, trying to overthrow the government. But you're only doing it a little bit,” said Cato analyst Benjamin Friedman.

http://www.voanews.com/content/us-military-leaders-lay-out-goals-for-syria-attack/1743665.html

It's important to hear what our military leaders were previously saying about getting involved in the Syrian Civil War. Now that there's a massive push by our government to intervene, I wouldn't be surprised if those same generals change their tune or simply say nothing. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more"

But the four-star Army general warned: “It is not enough to simply alter the balance of military power without careful consideration of what is necessary in order to preserve a functioning state. We must anticipate and be prepared for the unintended consequences of our action. Should the regime’s institutions collapse in the absence of a viable opposition, we could inadvertently empower extremists or unleash the very chemical weapons we seek to control.”

The use of such force is “no less than an act of war,” he said, and would come at a time of growing fiscal restraint on the Pentagon.

“Some options may not be feasible in time or cost without compromising our security elsewhere,” he said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/martin-dempsey-syria-options-costly-risky-94588.html

I might have to go make my own peace beads like tinker. No War! No War! No War!

43

JW Mission = Find all checker floors in WT publications

by bytheirworks in

your mission... should you choose to accept it, will be to find all checker floors in the watchtower publications, especially those involving worship.. .

if you can upload them here, great.

i don't know to upload a pic from my computer on this site.

Resistance is Futile

Illuminati cartoons?

I don't get it. Why would the Illuminati insert checkered floors into cartoons?