Thanks Oculos - sorry I missed your PM. I've replied!
Cedars
Posts by cedars
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73DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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73
DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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cedars
I've actually gone back and redone all my calculations based on the very latest figures I could find.
Here are my calculations to show the reduction in magazine printing since 2005 (for anyone interested)....
Cedars
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73
DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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cedars
Further to my last post, I've been pondering my calculation for magazine printing and I realize that I made a glaring oversight.
Clearly the "study edition" of the Watchtower DOES NOT have a circulation of 42 million, since it is intended solely for JWs. Therefore, let's assume that there are currently 8 million publishers, and each one receives TWO study editions each month - one in their native language, the other in English Simplified. This would give the Study Edition a rather generous circulation of 16 million.
If we re-run the above calculation on that basis, I estimate that the Society is currently printing 1.844 Billion magazine pages per month (including the Awake!)
(32 pages *16 million circulation = 512 million monthly printing for Study Edition)
(16 pages *42,182,000 circulation = 674,912,000 monthly printing for Public Edition)
512,000,000 + 674,912,000 = 1,186,912,000 monthly printing for Watchtower
1,186,912,000 Watchtower pages + 656,672,000 Awake pages = 1,843,584,000 printed magazine pages per month
So that's a notable reduction of 1.228 BILLION printed magazine pages per month - a 40% drop since 2005.
Again, if there's any holes in my calculations, let me know.
Cedars
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20
The Objectors have Taken Over
by Marvin Shilmer inthe objectors have taken over.
today i published a new article underscoring how far removed current watchtower leadership is from yesteryears leaders.
what got a person disfellowshipped by watchtower in 1981 is embraced by its current top leadership.
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cedars
Wow, another great find Marvin!
Cedars
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44
Website with known apostates listed
by besty inhilarious - made my day.
who could forget senior pu?.
https://sites.google.com/site/silence1492/facebook-youtube.
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cedars
Why does this thread remind me of this guy?
Cedars
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14
Disney's The Lone Ranger - This movie is awful - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
by Las Malvinas son Argentinas ini never really liked the 'pirates' movies that much, so i don't know how i was talked into this one.
it's a shame because johnny depp is much better than these quirky roles he is now assigned to play.
just hope he puts a few million of this payday in his kid's college fund.
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cedars
I've been similarly disappointed with a number of so-called "blockbuster" films recently. The Amazing Spiderman is just one example of a big budget film where half an hour through my wife and I were looking at eachother and had totally lost all interest. It amazes me that so much money is thrown at these films, but nobody bothers to fix the problems that are glaringly obvious to cinema-goers.
Incidentally there is a series on YouTube called "Everything Wrong With..." on the "CinemaSins" channel. I find their ruthless dissection of many of the most well-known films quite amusing, not to mention spot-on. Probably this Lone Ranger film will wind up on there at some point.
Cedars
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73
DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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cedars
Eldenno
The consolidation is a smart move simply because it enables them to do more with less costs.
Smart? Undoubtedly. In harmony with the aspirations of an evangelical organization that seeks to reach the "entire inhabited earth" with its message? Not at all. Whereas once the opening of new branches was trumpeted as evidence of God's blessing of "wondrous expansion," now the branches are quietly closing one-by-one apparently necessitated by the need for reduction in overheads. The excuse? Bethel personnel need to spend more time out in field service.
Also there is no reduction in printing. It is true that the magazines contain less pages since january 2013 but at the same time they started to print them in more and more languages.
Actually, I've run the numbers and there IS a reduction in magazine printing. Admittedly it wasn't as considerable as I had expected since the Society claims circulation of both Watchtower and Awake has increased dramatically since 2005, but despite this increased circulation there has still been a reduction in printed magazine pages per month.
2005 was the year the Society announced the first reduction in magazine pages, so let's use that as our starting point...
THEN Watchtower had circulation of 26 million, so that meant 1.664 billion printed pages per month. (2 x 32) * 26,000,000 = 1.664 billion
THEN Awake had circulation of 22 million, so that meant 1.4 billion printed pages per month. (2 x 32) * 22,000,000 = 1.408 billion
COMBINED 3.072 billion printed magazine pages per month in 2005
NOW Watchtower has circulation of 42,182,000, which means 2,024,736,000 printed pages per month. (32 + 16) * 42,182,000 = 2,024,736,000
NOW Awake has circulation of 41,042,000, which means 656,672,000 printed pages per month. 16 * 41,042,000 = 656,672,000
COMBINED 2.681 billion printed magazine pages per month in 2013
That's a decrease in printed magazine pages of 390,592,000 per month.
I'm no mathematician, so if I've tripped up somewhere in my figures (as has been known to happen), please let me know. However, despite my surprise at the increased circulation, it's noteworthy that the Society is still doing less magazine printing than it was doing 8 years ago.
Again, you have to ask - is this in harmony with the faithful and discreet slave's aspirations to be providing spiritual food at the proper time? Either we were receiving too much food in 2005, or we aren't receiving enough in 2013. Which is it?
They may print less thicker magazines but on the other hand their New World Translation is now printed in well over 115 languages
Though the printing of bible translations is commendable, you cannot compare bible printing with magazine printing. Magazines are required by publishers on a monthly basis. Unless the publisher is extremely clumsy, usually he or she only requires a new Bible every few years.
On the 28th of august 2012 this new website did go live. They introduced and promote a new brand and logo and make readers aware of the online content that is offered.
What does that have to do with the topic of this thread? And since you raised the subject, what do you think about the fact that the FAQs on JW.org are so misleading?
As you and any other can see they used more and more every year for "caring for special pioneers, missionaries and traveling overseers in their field service assignements."
Yes, it is noteworthy that spending on personnel has increased dramatically in recent years - but we have no way of knowing the causes behind this, or how much of the increased spending is through organizational expansion or through necessity (i.e. increased cost of living).
Cedars
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44
Website with known apostates listed
by besty inhilarious - made my day.
who could forget senior pu?.
https://sites.google.com/site/silence1492/facebook-youtube.
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cedars
These lists always make me chuckle. This one is hardly the most comprehensive I've ever seen, and lists several names two or even three times over. I assume the number of times the name is repeated indicates how apostate the person is?!
Cedars
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73
DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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cedars
Eldenno
all the operational costs are covered by voluntary donations
I understand your point, but the truth is that (unless we get to see a copy of the Society's accounts) we have absolutely no way of knowing just how well donations are keeping pace with all Watchtower's operational costs, including printing literature and maintaining facilities. The recent organizational downsizing ("consolidation" of branches, reduction in magazine printing) would indicate that there is a shortfall somewhere along the line, and the Society is having to adapt accordingly.
Cedars
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73
DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?
by cedars inhi folks.
i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.
it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.
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cedars
bohm
So where do they go? Investment by all accounts right?
While Watchtower is known to invest in hedge funds to grow its wealth, it's worth noting the amount of money it is commiting to spending each year on its operational costs.
According to the 2013 Yearbook, $184 million was spent in 2012 on "caring for special pioneers, missionaries and traveling overseers in their field service assignements." When you consider that $804million averages out at just over $89 million per year across the nine years since the sell-offs began, there's every reason to believe that the influx of money is a necessity for Watchtower rather than a bonus.
Cedars
