Oh please, common sense will tell you Hawking is right. What would provide humanity with better odds, to live on one planet or on two planets? All it takes is a biological epidemic, out-of-control nanotechnology, nuclear holocaust, or major asteroid strike and one planet ceases to have life. Yes, we've managed so far, but two is always better than one at beating any future odds.
Posts by Seeker
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7This is the way the world ends
by bboyneko inlondon (reuters) - the human race is likely to be wiped out by a doomsday virus before this millennium is out unless it starts to colonize space, top british scientist stephen hawking warned on tuesday.
hawking's comments came as the united states teetered on the brink of panic over possible germ warfare after anthrax-laced letters were delivered in the capital washington and the states of new york, nevada and florida.
"i don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years unless we spread into space.
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The Number of the Beast
by Yerusalyim inthis is my 616th post!
did you know that some divurgent texts of rev 13:18 state that the number of the beast is 616?
did you know that ceasar nero's name, in the greek form, spelled with hebrew letters adds up (numerically) to 666, and that the latin form of nero's name in hebrew letters add up to 616?
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Seeker
As I've seen elsewhere on the Net:
666 - The number of the beast
668 - The neighbor of the beast -
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Rudy Knighted *sniff*
by Esmeralda inthis got me all choaked up.... : http://www.cnn.com/2001/world/europe/10/15/gen.guiliani.knighthood/index.html.
titles to be given to the commissioners of police and nyfd too.... *sniff*.
essie
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Seeker
Rudy made a name for himself as the District Attorney who took on the mob in the city. He came into office with that reputation, and during a time of recession that hampered the previous administration. He wanted to clean up New York, the city bought the idea, elected him, and then there was an historic drop in crime. Some attributed this to Rudy, some noticed it was happening all over the country. Regardless, the city rebounded big time, and went from being a place tourists avoided to being the #1 tourist destination in the country. Money poured in from the tax base as Wall Street went wild and the real estate market soared.
Adolf HItler could get re-elected under those circumstances.
What crownboy said is right. The Rudy you see now is not the Rudy New Yorkers have seen all along, and especially not the Rudy seen by non-white NYers. One magainze article stated it best when they said that Rudy has the gift of taking a crisis situation and making it calm, and taking a calm situation and adding crisis. When things are quiet, we see the petty Rudy, the scolding Rudy. When things are in crisis, we see the fatherly Rudy, the strong Rudy.
Truly, he is a good man to have around in moments like this. It's the rest of the time when he can be a bit much. Just to give you an idea of how NYers really feel, a recent poll had something like 80% of NYers wishing Rudy could stay in office longer. But a similar percentage said they would NOT be in favor of adjusting the law that would allow Rudy to stay in office! A little bit of a love-hate reaction there, for they know that once the crisis is over we'd be back to the scolding Rudy again.
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76
CNN mentions Jehovah's Witnesses Today
by ARoarer ini have been watching the news on cnn and happened to notice the news flashing across the bottom mentioning the state of ohio banning door to door work and jehovah's witnesses!
has anyone seen this?
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Seeker
Seeker, nobody's rights are being violated.
Yet. I'm thinking two moves ahead.
They can still canvass. They just have to register first. So maybe it wont protect us from Anthrax or terrorists. But it can protect children from pedophiles. Don't you agree?
No. I've never heard of a pedophile going from door-to-door to announce themselves as such. Most pedophiles attack family members or children of neighbors and friends. With such an ID arrangement, salespersons and JWs will have to register, but pedophiles will not, for they don't go door-to-door.
Yes, yes, I know, there are many pedophiles among JWs. This may help prevent them from going door-to-door once they are convicted (rarely happens), served their time, and returned to the congregation. Assuming the local community decides to go beyond the court-ordered punishment and say that the pedophile may not register. Entirely possible this will happen, of course, in which case some good will come of this. But that's the only possible good outcome I can see from this measure.
I take that back. There are crooks that go door-to-door to offer home repairs and then rip off their customers. I suppose this method could help prevent crooks from going door to door too.
So yes, I can see some good, but not the slightest bit against terrorism, which was where I originally jumped into the conversation.
Finally, as I said originally, I don't think this system would be abused immediately. But I strongly suspect it would be abused eventually. Unless we as a society are convinced that so much good will be done by this measure, I am not willing to give up a civil right too easily. We'll see what the Supreme Court decides. Traditionally, they would throw this out immediately. In recent years they have changed, and are much less supportive of individual rights.
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76
CNN mentions Jehovah's Witnesses Today
by ARoarer ini have been watching the news on cnn and happened to notice the news flashing across the bottom mentioning the state of ohio banning door to door work and jehovah's witnesses!
has anyone seen this?
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Seeker
Bridgette,
You make many excellent points, and I can't really argue against any of them. It is a balancing act needed, and in some cases compromises are necessary. I've often used the example of being searched at the airports. Technically this is unconstitutional, as it is an "unreasonable search" as we are assumed to be guilty until proven otherwise. Yet I do not argue against this custom as I demand less privacy for myself in public than I do in my own home. And it does help us fly safer.
I suspect you and I think very much alike in this area. Thanks for responding.
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76
CNN mentions Jehovah's Witnesses Today
by ARoarer ini have been watching the news on cnn and happened to notice the news flashing across the bottom mentioning the state of ohio banning door to door work and jehovah's witnesses!
has anyone seen this?
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Seeker
For those who wonder what the big deal is about registering and wearing a card, the civil rights come into it when local boards decide to withold permission based on personal prejudice. For precedent of a similar type of situation, consider how blacks in the southern U.S. were prevented from voting by the issuing of all sorts of "requirements" designed to prevent them from qualifying. That is the danger inherent in needing "permission" to do something that is a right. One can find that right taken away.
Speaking with strangers, going from your house to your neighbor's house, is perfectly normal. It is only in Westernized societies, with increasing urbanization, that it even began to be seen as odd, or a bother, or even a threat. You can make very good arguments that there are increased threats in today's society, but it is the above concerns that the Supreme Court takes into consideration when deciding such matters. As exJWs, we may be very annoyed by JWs invading our privacy. The Supreme Court will (I hope, at least) take much more into consideration before removing a right from society.
Remember, once you grant a power to a government, it is very hard to get it back, and it almost inevitably winds up being used in unexpected ways in the future.
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Okay - This is A little Confusing
by pettygrudger inwhat does one make of all these current recent events w/the jw's?
i must admit, i'm a little nervous.
since i was a child it was reinforced that there would be these situations against jw's (slowing of the preaching work, restrictions on their ability to preach), as well as the ever well known belief that eventually god will have found all his "true followers" out of this system of things, and the new "dubs" enlisting would dwindle (which is happening if you look at the stats).
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Seeker
as well as the ever well known belief that eventually God will have found all his "true followers" out of this system of things
Not possible. Every day, thousands of people are born around the world. Every day, thousands of people become adults. Every day, thousands of people exist who have never heard of JWs. Every day, potential "true followers" are born, live, and die. This will never end, and thus for the JW belief to be true there would have to come a day when Jehovah says, "Well, I have to end it sometime, and although there are a whole bunch of new babies just being born today it's too bad for them, isn't it?"
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76
CNN mentions Jehovah's Witnesses Today
by ARoarer ini have been watching the news on cnn and happened to notice the news flashing across the bottom mentioning the state of ohio banning door to door work and jehovah's witnesses!
has anyone seen this?
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Seeker
I dunno, I can't see this being relevant to the current security situation. Not that this story is, for it involves a 3-year-old rule that the Supreme Court is only now examining.
I can't imagine a terrorist being so stupid as to go door-to-door to distribute poison-laced literature. Besides being a very inefficient method (nobody is home, as JWs will tell you), it provides an eyewitness at every single door. Any terrorist trying this would be caught so fast his head would spin.
No, I don't like to see talk about new rules to make us more "secure." Something like this won't fight terrorism, but will take away a right people have to distribute their ideas. I hate this personally, but I don't allow my personal view to restrict the rights of others, or else one day their personal views may restrict a right I care about.
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45
Persuasion: Did we forget what we learned as JWs?
by larc inas jws we learned a lot about persuasion and how to get people to accept our ideas.
we had role plays on over coming objections.
we were taught how to anticipate typical questions and respond to them.
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Seeker
HS,
Your observations are accurate: there are several of us who try hard not to resort to insults. In my case, it is a learned skill. :) I used to get much more caught up in the give-and-take that goes on in online forums, during my early H2O days. I eventually tired of it, and determined not to do it any more. With a few notable exceptions since, I have kept to this and I believe it is a better approach.
As for my story, I posted it long ago on H2O and see no need to go into it again. Those who are interested can read my much-too-long explanation from H2O, as captured by Osarsif on his excellent site:
http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/index2.htm
Just scroll down looking for the "Seeker" section and you will see a series of posts under the heading "Why I will leave." Feel free to read my story there.
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45
Persuasion: Did we forget what we learned as JWs?
by larc inas jws we learned a lot about persuasion and how to get people to accept our ideas.
we had role plays on over coming objections.
we were taught how to anticipate typical questions and respond to them.
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Seeker
As JWs, we weren't witnessing online, but in person. We act differently when communicating face-to-face than when we communicate online. It isn't unique to JW boards either. You could have an online forum about knitting and the same phenomenon will occur: sniping, arguing, insults, etc. Put those same people together in a restaurant for lunch and they will get along fine.
We haven't forgotten what we learned as JWs, we are just in a new environment that inevitably leads to more fighting than in person. Something about the anonymity, and other sociological factors.