Posts by MegaDude

15

Where the hell is Matt?

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

feel good video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnf_p281uu4.

.

Well that was a hard phone call to make

by SixofNine in

jw
friends

it makes me wonder how i would have handled it if i was a witness?

would i have called?

she's a woman of particular faith; and it's too late for a conversion, and she gets a ticket to the new system anyway, so what a convenient excuse to do nothing.

Moving again... What do you think of these places?

by Bryan in

jw
friends

well, we thought we'd be here for at least 2 years.

last week my wife was told that her office will close jan. 31st!

this is actually kinda' normal for bechtel.

MegaDude

I live in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Good things:

There is a good group of ex-JWs here.

No state income tax in Texas.

Very affordable housing.

Bad things:

Air quality is very foul in the summer months. Headache inducing.

Traffic

No scenic beauty here.

23

What happened to AlanF

by toreador in

jw
friends

anybody heard from him lately?

i havent seen a post from him in a long time.. tor.

Alan F. now tours the country entering various beer drinking contests. He won the Guinness Cup several years ago, and is the gold medal winner of the Chimay Olympics three times in a row. He is now considering moving to Belgium and becoming a beer-making monk.

24

Online Dating etiquette

by serendipity in

i ran across this info and thought it would be good to share since there are some here who are using online dating sites like match and plentyoffish.

i've been a bit surprised by some of the men emailing me, demonstrating that this info is not common knowledge.

(i'm not suggesting that men alone are guilty.

MegaDude

Ok. I admit it. This isn't really me.

13

"Apocalypto" Ain't religion great?

by Gregor in

jw
friends

haven't seen the movie but i understand it grapically depicts human sacrifice.

i believe the movie attributes the practice of cutting out the victims heart atop a mayan pyramid by a mayan high priest.

if i remember my history, the mayans didn't do this, it was the aztecs.

MegaDude

The human sacrifices helped cause the demise of the Mayan culture according to one theory.

The people were getting sick so they kept up sacrificing their victims. Then they would throw the bodies into a certain natural well or cenote. These wells are fresh water systems that go for miles and they are all interconnected. The more they sacrificed and disposed of bodies, the more they polluted their natural fresh water source and the sicker the people got.

I saw Apocalypto and thought it was a pretty good "chase" movie. However, the scene of the human sacrifices was done brilliantly. Especially how the priests and Mayan elite at the top of the pyramid are shown as babbling, debased, almost insane. I imagine they would be, constantly surrounded by all that violence of slaughtering hapless victims and paranoia about evil gods wanting to harm them.

16

Socially Stunted?...you betcha.

by Lumptard in

jw
friends

my apologies if this has been done to death, but i was just curious how many of you feel that you have been socially crippled as a result of your association with the jws?

granted, this probably affects people who were raised as jws more than those who chose for themselves, but i just wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience...also, how did you work through it if you were able to?

MegaDude

Good words indeed, Morocco.

1

Shopping sabbatical

by MegaDude in

jw
friends

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_us/shopping_sabbatical.

could you go a year without buying anything new?

some people take this a little too far!

MegaDude

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_us/shopping_sabbatical

Could you go a year without buying anything new? Some people take this a little too far!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAN FRANCISCO - It began, as grand ideas often do, over a dinner — risotto, artisan cheese and wine. What would it be like, 10 environmentally conscious friends wondered as they discussed the state of the planet, to go a year without buying anything new?

Twelve months later, the results from their experiment in anti-consumption for 2006 are in: Staying 100 percent true to the goal proved both harder and easier than those who signed on expected.

And while broken vacuum cleaners and malfunctioning cell phones posed challenges, some of the group's original members say the self-imposed shopping sabbatical was so liberating that they've resolved to do it for another year.

"It started in a lighthearted way, but it is very serious," said John Perry, 42, a father of two who works for a Silicon Valley technology company. "It is about being aware of the excesses of consumer culture and the fact we are drawing down our resources and making people miserable around the world."

The pledge they half-jokingly named The Compact, after the Mayflower pilgrims, spread to other cities through the Internet and an appearance on the "Today" show.

As it turned out, The Compact was modest as far as economic boycotts go. Several cities in the United States and Europe have communities of "freegans," people whose contempt for consumerism is so complete they eat food foraged from Dumpsters whenever possible, train hop and sleep in abandoned buildings on principle.

The San Francisco group, by contrast, exempted food, essential toiletries like toothpaste and shampoo, underwear and other purchases that fell under the categories of health and safety from their pledge.

But perhaps because its members included middle-class professionals who could afford to shop recreationally, their cause caught on. Nearly 3,000 people have joined a user group Perry set up on Yahoo so participants could swap goods and tips.

Besides thrift stores and garage sales, participants found a wealth of free or previously owned merchandise in online classifieds and sites where people post stuff they want to get rid of, such as http://www.freecycle.org and http://www.garbagescout.com.

After going through an initial period of retail withdrawal, discovering just how easy it was to score pretty much anything with a little time and effort was an eye-opener, according to participants.

Rachel Kesel, 26, who works as a dog walker, said she was astonished by how often the items she needed simply materialized — the friend who offered a bicycle seat when hers was stolen, the Apple store employees who fixed her laptop at no cost.

Similarly fortuitous timing happened often enough that group members came up with a name for it — "Compact Karma."

After postponing purchases such as a new wind breaker and a different stud for her pierced tongue — she couldn't bring herself to buy a used one — Kesel broke down only twice.

Once was when she was planning a trip to Israel and couldn't find a used guidebook that reflected current political realities. The other was after her commuter coffee cup suffered a fatal crack.

"I really found a lot of times there were things I thought I needed that I don't need that much," she said.

The pledge provided unexpected dividends as well, such as the joy of getting reacquainted with the local library and paying down credit cards. Gone, too, was the hangover of buyer's remorse.

Perry got satisfaction out of finding he had a knack for fixing things and how often manufacturers were willing to send replacement parts and manuals for products that had long since outlived their warranties.

"One of the byproducts of The Compact has been I have a completely different relationship with the things in my life. I appreciate the stuff I have more," he said. "I don't think I need to buy another pair of shoes until I'm entering Leisure World."

Over the holidays, Compact members gave homemade gifts or charitable donations in a recipients name instead of engaging in the usual Grinch-making shopping crush. Kate Boyd, 45, a set designer and high school drama teacher, visited a new downtown shopping mall and felt like she had just stepped off a flying saucer.

"It was all stuff that had nothing to do with me, yet for so many people that's how they spend their weekends," she said. "It's entertainment and it is the opposite of where I've been for a year."

Now that they know they can do it, Boyd, Kesel and Perry are ready to extend the pledge into 2007. But first, they plan to give themselves a one-day reprieve to stock up on essentials — windshield wipers, bicycle brakes and tongue studs.

184

UPDATE!: THEY ALL ADMITTED EGGING US -Elders now know, heads are rolling!!

by Lady Liberty in

jw
friends

oh.... how the saga goes on!!

i swear we could write a novel about our life exiting the watchtower!!

ok..many of you read what happened..our house was egged and so was my sisters car that was parked here, and "frosty" was attacked!!

MegaDude

Call your local news channel and tell them the story.

The thing JWs hate most? Bad publicity.

199

Otherwise Engaged...

by LittleToe in

just a little breaking news:.

after several years of a great friendship with diane (previously posted as xena) things have started to really come together recently and i've succumbed to making an honest woman of her (or at least as honest as it's possible to make her.

last night (xmas day) i popped the question and she agreed to marry me (i wonder if she knows what she's let herself in for!!!)..

MegaDude

Cheers for Ross and Diane!

Do Simon and Ang get a marriage fee for all the people they've brought together?