MegaDude

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Posts by MegaDude

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  23

  PROCESS: I don't belong in this world....yet.

  by freedomlover in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have been reading a book my hubby recommended to me- man's search for meaning - by viktor frankl.

  very good book.

  he is a survivor of nazi concentration camps and it's not just another grisly tale of horrors of cc life.

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  MegaDude

  Great book. One I recommend to others.
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  6

  Better DVD out there than "The God Who Wasn't There (2005)"?

  by Xander in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a well-advertised dvd covering the argument that jesus did not exist.

  linkage.

  now, i've certainly done a lot of on- and off- line research on the topic, and 99% of this is repetition to me.

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  MegaDude

  He doesn't really provide any facts to back up his statements, does take things out of context, mis-attributes quotes, basically picks off people in passing to ask questions of faith, etc.

  I concur with your comments about the film. However, the ending was so powerful I have to say I was really moved by watching it. The maker of the film had been emotionally tortured for years by the belief he had possibly committed the unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit and might burn in hell for an eternity. To see him at the end of the film stand in the very church where he was indoctrinated and renounce that belief was powerful.
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  27

  Are you far too trusting in other people?

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm afraid i am.

  it is in my nature to expect everyone to act in the best interests of everyone else.

  i never expect that others will intentionally cause harm to another in a willfull and malisious act.

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  MegaDude

  Else,

  What compelled you to tell that story to that person?
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  8

  To hell and back? Or how to defeat disappointment.

  by serendipity in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  of all the dirt you've learned about jws, and mistreatment and epiphanies experienced, what was the biggest or most painful disappointment?

  what did you do to cope with it?

  and how long did it take to come to an acceptance of the situation?

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  MegaDude

  They have problems. But I didn't want to criticize them to my daughter.)

  I don't understand that at all. To each their own, though.
• 
  13

  the film: United 93

  by MegaDude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  good film.

  what i really respect about it is it is no hollywood version of what happened on that day.

  there is sparse use of music to try to pump up your emotions.

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  MegaDude

  http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/22/911.flight.93/

  Flight 93 hijacker: 'Shall we finish it off?'

  9/11 report reveals who was at controls before crash

  
  Friday, July 23, 2004 Posted: 5:57 AM EDT (0957 GMT) The passenger revolt began at 9:57 a.m., nearly 30 minutes after the four terrorists aboard launched their takeover of the Boeing 757 loaded with more than 11,000 gallons of jet fuel.

  As passengers charged the cockpit door, terrorist hijacker Ziad Jarrah began rolling the plane to the left and right, "attempting to knock the passengers off balance," the 9/11 commission report said. Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door.

  By 9:59 a.m., Jarrah changed tactics and "pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault."

  "The [flight] recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts and breaking glass and plates. At 10:00:03 a.m., Jarrah stabilized the airplane," the report says.

  "Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, 'Is that it? Shall we finish it off?' A hijacker responded, 'No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.' "

  Jarrah resumed pitching the plane up and down.

  "In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die," a passenger is heard saying.

  "Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, 'Roll it!' " the report says.

  By 10:01 a.m., Jarrah stopped his violent maneuvers and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!"

  According to the report, he then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?"

  "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down," the other responded.

  The passengers continued with their assault, trying to break through the cockpit door. At 10:02 a.m. and 23 seconds, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!"

  "The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them," the report concludes.

  "The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting, 'Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.'

  "With the sounds of the passenger counter-attack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C."

  Struggle in the cockpit

  The report says Jarrah intended to fly the plane into the White House or the U.S. Capitol. "He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93," the report says.

  The battle aboard the plane was burned into history by the story of one passenger, Todd Beamer, who used an onboard phone to call the FBI. At the end of his call, the operator overhead him say to other passengers, "Let's roll."

  He and other passengers had learned of the attacks in New York and Washington after placing calls to loved ones.

  In the weeks and months after the attacks, there were reports that officials believed passengers had overtaken the plane, forcing it to crash in the field in Pennsylvania. However, last year, officials began backing away from that theory.

  Thursday's report gives no indication that passengers ever broke through the cockpit door, but it makes clear that passengers' actions thwarted the plans of the terrorists.

  The report also gives harrowing details of the moments just before and after the plane was hijacked.

  The plane, which had left Newark, New Jersey, for Los Angeles, California, at 8:42 a.m. carrying 37 passengers and seven crew members, received a warning from United flight dispatcher Ed Ballinger at 9:24 a.m.: "Beware any cockpit intrusion -- two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center."

  The message was sent by Ballinger to several aircraft to alert them of potential terrorists.

  Two minutes later, at 9:26 a.m., pilot Jason Dahl appeared to be puzzled by the message and responded, "Ed, confirm latest mssg plz -- Jason."

  "The hijackers attacked at 9:28," the report says. "While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. Eleven seconds into the descent, the FAA's air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions from the aircraft.

  "During the first broadcast, the captain or first officer could be heard declaring 'Mayday' amid the sounds of a physical struggle in the cockpit. The second transmission, 35 seconds later, indicated that the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting: 'Hey get out of here -- get out of here -- get out of here.' "

  At 9:32 a.m., the report says, a hijacker "made or attempted to make the following announcement to the passengers of Flight 93: 'Ladies and gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So, sit.' "

  The report also says a woman, most likely a flight attendant, was being held captive in the cockpit. "She struggled with one of the hijackers who killed or otherwise silenced her," it says.

  The report says at least 10 passengers and two crew members contacted family, friends or others on the ground. They reported the hijackers were wearing red bandanas, forced passengers to the back of the plane and claimed a bomb was aboard, according to the report.

  Flight 93 was the only hijacked plane that day with four hijackers aboard. All other flights had five hijackers.

  The report says a man who was denied entry and detained in Florida a month before the attacks possibly was supposed to have been the fifth hijacker aboard Flight 93.

  "The operative likely intended to round out the team for this flight, Mohamed al Kahtani, had been refused entry by a suspicious immigration inspector at Florida's Orlando International Airport in August," the report says.

  Al Kahtani is currently being held at the detainee center at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• 
  13

  the film: United 93

  by MegaDude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  good film.

  what i really respect about it is it is no hollywood version of what happened on that day.

  there is sparse use of music to try to pump up your emotions.

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  MegaDude

  The focus of the film is not half-baked conspiracy theories but the people involved in the actual attack.
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  7

  Couldn't Happen to a More Deserving Fellow

  by SixofNine in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  well, almost.. .

  the picture is fantasy, of course, but the indictment is real.

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  MegaDude

  Hopefully Rove and Cheney's plans don't involve getting us into a war with Iran before the fall elections as an election strategy but I wouldn't be surprised.
• 
  97

  What's the best way to let someone down gently?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm so used to getting dumped myself, now the situation is reversed i'm not sure what to say.

  i don't want to do the chicken shit thing and ignore her.

  i think she is a vulnerable girl.

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  MegaDude

  Tell her you're going to join the JW cult and you can only be with a JW.
• 
  7

  Couldn't Happen to a More Deserving Fellow

  by SixofNine in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  well, almost.. .

  the picture is fantasy, of course, but the indictment is real.

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  MegaDude

  Hey, Mark,

  Now see what I was talking about?
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  49

  Your favourite film of all time?

  by Spectrum in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  mindless fun part (ii) .

  .

  mine is - west side story followed in second place by the very first star wars.

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  MegaDude

  The Shawshank Redemption.

  There are a number parallels between this film and exiting the JW experience. Andy's being thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit resonated strongly with me being raised in a prison-like cult I would never have chosen to join. The domineering attitude of the warden is much like the governing body: control is everything. The conditioning Morgan Freeman calls "being institutionalized" is the same experience for many JWs. They can't imagine life on the outside of the JW religious prison. In the book by Stephen King, Andy had broken through to his escape route years before he actually left but hadn't summoned up the courage to try it.

  I especially like the powerful soliloquy at the end where Red makes the choice to break his institutionalized way of thinking and goes for his new life.

  "I find these days I'm so excited I can hardly sit still or hold a single thought in my head. I would imagine it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.

  I hope I can make it across the border.

  I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

  I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

  I hope."