Skimmer

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Posts by Skimmer

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  52

  Women are COWS!

  by JanH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when a girl reaches the age of puberty or physical maturity, her.

  body has developed in the matter of sex more than in the mind.. young folks like to be together, first in groups, later in twos.. if they have not been instructed by their parents in regard to the.

  permitted, because the female is not in physical condition to breed.. the bull seems to understand this and keeps in his own place.

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  Skimmer

  Quoting: "What a price for a girl, a virgin, to pay for a few minutes of satisfied sex emotions!"

  Perhaps those of you who are plagued with roaming ova will enjoy this joke:

  Father O'Brien was very strict in the administration of the St. Agnes School for Girls. He was understandably alarmed one day upon hearing rumors that some of his students were discussing the possibility of sexual relations before marriage. He knew that he had to act quickly to preserve the standards of modesty and abstention. So he had a very large sign placed near the entrance of the school one morning. Written on the sign in large capital letters:

  "IS AN HOUR OF SIN WORTH A LIFETIME OF GUILT?"

  The next morning he arrives and finds a message on the bottom of the sign, written in small feminine handwriting:

  "How can I get my boyfriend to last a whole hour?"
• 
  3

  How the WT Cheats Parents and Hurts Families

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there will always be good families that produce bad kids and.

  bad families that produce good kids - call it genes or reincarnation.

  nevertheless, it should be evident to all that the.

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  Skimmer

  Hello metatron, and thank you for your comments.

  You report: The "Young People Ask" book has TWO chapters on masturbation! Not one, TWO!

  This is amazing. For comparison purposes, the official catechism of the Catholic Church deals with this subject in just a couple of paragraphs with one of the comments being that those who hear of this in confession are to have compassion and understanding for person involved.

  Having not read the WTBTS book you've quoted, I can only assume that you are taking it out of context. To fill up two chapters, they must be *advocating* the practice and are providing instruction on technique, accessories, involvment with a partner, and keeping personal records. Why else would they need so much space?

  If it is indeed the case that the WTBTS is discouraging the practice and takes two chapters to do so, I can only assume that the author of those chapters is perhaps a rare example of someone being driven into psychopathy by either not masturbating at all or by an addiction to excessive masturbation. Or perhaps the author has attempted masturbation and, having failed at it, is jealous of those who enjoy it.
• 
  52

  Women are COWS!

  by JanH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when a girl reaches the age of puberty or physical maturity, her.

  body has developed in the matter of sex more than in the mind.. young folks like to be together, first in groups, later in twos.. if they have not been instructed by their parents in regard to the.

  permitted, because the female is not in physical condition to breed.. the bull seems to understand this and keeps in his own place.

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  Skimmer

  Hello JanH, and thank you for that snippet from God's True Channel.

  The excerpt: When a young, unmarried girl falls to the temptation, the price she pays is terrible: shame, sorrow, a ruined reputation, endless troubles, with the danger of being disfellowshipped from a congregation if the girl is a dedicated member.

  Let's take these prices one by one.

  1) shame

  Shame, or guilt, is just about the most unproductive emotion one can have. It monopolizes thoughts and so prevents one from planning and taking action to improve the situation. It traps a person in the unchangeable past and so removes hope for a better future. Only controlling and authoritarian groups encourage shame. No surprise here considering the source.

  2) sorrow

  Sorrow, or grief, is healthy only when it allows the person to overcome unfortunate events. To be sorrowful for an extended period means that a person might need some help in resolving their feeling about the causative events. Only a sadist would wish long sorrow or any other kind of unnecessary suffering on another. No surprise here, either.

  3) ruined reputation

  Most often, those holding a less than perfect opinion about the woman do so because they have a neurotic need to feel superior. Also, it's probable that these people had similar pre-marital or extra-marital sexual encounters themselves, but just haven't been caught, thus making them hypocrites. The whole reputation business can be just a disguise for enforcing group control. Again, we know where this came from.

  4) endless troubles

  Uh, who doesn't have what appear to be endless troubles at some point in their lives? Perhaps the troubles wouldn't be so uncomfortable if there is a familial and social support system in place to assist the mother and her child. Only greedy people who condemn charity would object. Another WTBTS hallmark.

  5) danger of being disfellowshipped

  And so be deemed worthy of death. And in the short term, to be cut off from any hope of assistance. Even if the mother was one of the worst examples of humanity, the child still deserves to have a good start on life. Yet the perverted WTBTS shunning practice will value the so called "purity of the congregation" above the very real physical and psychological needs of the mother and child.

  While I do not encourage out-of-wedlock births, I hold that every life is sacred and that every child is a gift form God regardless of the circumstances of its conception and birth. I cannot see how any Christian could do otherwise.
• 
  39

  A modest proposal: A national Do Not Call list

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to the readership:.

  there have been reports over time that each kingdom hall keeps a "do not call" list of addresses.

  these are addresses in the congregation's territory where, for one reason or another, the jws in the field service are advised not to make calls.

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  Skimmer

  Hello mustang and thank you for your comments.

  You are correct that the WTBTS could very well put up a fight against electronically submitted DNC demands. They could claim (incorrectly, in my opinion) that even a remote possibility of error or fraud would invalidate the entire effort. To slow things down further, they might also require the DNC demand paper be signed by the householder and sent to the Kingdom Halls instead of Brooklyn. This I think is the worst case.

  Yet even then, they are still set up to get a flood of DNC demands. And here is how we can do it:

  1) Volunteers organized via the Internet are assigned territory. For each Kingdom Hall in the territory, the responsible volunteer identifies the legal mailing address of the hall, the hall phone number, and perhaps some other contact information. This is sent back to the project web site for archival purposes.

  2) Each volunteer produces a mailing list covering some residential segment of the territory. There are various sources for this, some public and some commercial. The web can be used here as well and there are sites that can crank this out, at least for those residences that have a listed telephone number. The segment mailing list is then sent to the project web site.

  3) For each address in a segment, a letter is generated (by computer, of course) that includes: an envelope with the DNC address, a one page description of the DNC project (this includes the KH contact data), and a pre-paid, pre-addressed postcard. The postcard contains the DNC address in its body along with a standard DNC demand and a space for the householder signature. It is addressed to the local Kingdom Hall. All the householder has to do is sign it and drop it in the mailbox.

  4) The project web site will keep track of which territory has been processed to avoid duplication that would only be wasteful and could annoy the householders.

  Issues:

  1) Yes, this is going to cost. In the USA, the cost per package will be about US$0.70 including postage and material. It may be more in other countries. It may be less if non-profit mailing status can be obtained. The cost could slow the effort, and it might become advisable to ask for contributions. But I'm rather set against asking for money. I did enough of that in the field service.

  2) Yes, there is a greater dependence on volunteers. I'm not concerned with this as there are millions of ex-JWs out there and I'm sure at least one in a hundred would be willing to help. Also, more than a few of them feel regret leading others into the WTBTS and would see this as an opportunity for atonement.

  3) Yes, there is less opportunity for accurately tracking the response rate. I suppose we will just have to look at the annual WTBTS statistics to see how the effort is doing. Perhaps the first indication of progress will be the condemnation articles that are sure to appear in the WT.

  It is important that the one page description of the DNC effort be short, easily understandable, neutral (I would include WTBTS contact information just to be fair), accurate, and legal. I doubt if the typical householder is going to be interested in what appears to be propaganda or advertising for opposing viewpoints. A side effect is that there just might be a few who become WTBTS converts; a sort of collateral damage. But each person should be free to chose their own destiny. I just want them to be informed.
• 
  2

  Linguistic forensic analysis

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  linguistic forensic analysis is the process by which a text undergoes statistical examination to extract information that is not explicitly contained in the text.

  the analysis is often employed to determine the identity of the author of an anonymous work.

  it has been convincingly used in cases from the _federalist papers_ of the 18th century to the novel _primary colors_ of about a decade ago.. since the death of rutherford, nearly all articles and books being emitted from the orifices of the wtbts do not carry the names of the individual authors.

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  Skimmer

  Linguistic forensic analysis is the process by which a text undergoes statistical examination to extract information that is not explicitly contained in the text. The analysis is often employed to determine the identity of the author of an anonymous work. It has been convincingly used in cases from the _Federalist Papers_ of the 18th century to the novel _Primary Colors_ of about a decade ago.

  Since the death of Rutherford, nearly all articles and books being emitted from the orifices of the WTBTS do not carry the names of the individual authors. While in some cases the true authors' names have become public, it would be interesting to find out the identities of the authors of the remaining texts.

  All that is needed to do this is a source of the e-texts and the appropriate analysis software. The software is fairly easy to write and the techniques for doing so are well known.

  Think of the cool things we could do with this. We could generate a ranking of sorts to see which authors had a penchant for convoluted syntax and winding sentences (kind of like how I write), which authors have the most limited volcabulary, which authors were most dependent on borrowing phrases from other authors, which authors referenced which scriptures, which authors were more strident and which were more gentle. By connecting the author to the e-text source, we could find out which ones were more favored for wrting study articles, for writing pamplets, and for writing entire books.

  Topical word subsets could be used for further entertainment. I'll wager that once we know most of the identities, it will turn out that there are likely just one or two that write about fornication, adultery, porneia, and the like. Another two or three will show up has heavy users of FD&S, loyalty, organization, apostacy, purity, and, of course, disfellowshipping. Then there will be the group that uses Babylon the Great, Christendom, worldly, and outsiders.
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  11

  How about some NEW dates!!

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as i`ve looked into the history of the wt society it has become glaringly obvious that one of the main reason for the growth of the.

  org.

  has been it`s fixation on the end of the world.

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  Skimmer

  I am fairly sure that the WTBTS is going to continue to move away from date setting. They know that if they were to start emphasizing any new dates, then that would just stir up more attention to all of the failures of their past. And I believe that in their hearts they know that they have no kind of divine guidance and so are not going to set themselves up for making yet another false prophecy. The last thing they want is to see are articles in the mass media entitled "End-of-World Cult Sets A New Date For Armageddon" that would no doubt contain entertaining write-ups of their previous mistakes.

  So I doubt if there is much of a chance that the Gentile Times will be re-scheduled to a later date. The same goes for moving up the 6,000 years since Creation date. My suspicion is that tossing the chronological doctrinal superstructure (I thank Ray Franz for this phrase) would have started back in the second half of the1970s if it weren't for the fact that Fred Franz was still around and was so adamantly against suggestions for revisions.

  The movement away from what Russell called "time-prophecies" will be slow, sure, and mostly silent. The WTBTS would prefer not to annoy the older JWs, but most oldtimers are stuck because of family ties and are not considered the most productive in generating literature sales. The WTBTS has a chance to dump all of the moldy baggage of 607 BC, 1914 AD, and various other dates which have not yet been officially denied, and so be better able to concentrate on gaining new converts.

  Perhaps only another couple of years will go by until all new literature coming out of "God's True Channel" will have nary a mention of 607 BC or 1914 AD. And concerning the parousia of Christ, they will either have to drop it or come up with an entirely new approach that is separate from the calendar.
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  39

  A modest proposal: A national Do Not Call list

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to the readership:.

  there have been reports over time that each kingdom hall keeps a "do not call" list of addresses.

  these are addresses in the congregation's territory where, for one reason or another, the jws in the field service are advised not to make calls.

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  Skimmer

  Here's another idea for an electronic pathway into the WTBTS for the forwarding of Do Not Call demands; faxing them directly to Brooklyn via a web-to-fax gateway. Alternatively, any home compuer with a modem and some decent fax transmission software can do the job.

  The fax number for the WTBTS Office of Public Relations is 718 560-5619. Is this the same as the main fax number into the WTBTS?

  If the WTBTS prefers to handle DNC demands though Patterson, does anyone know what their fax number is?
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  39

  A modest proposal: A national Do Not Call list

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to the readership:.

  there have been reports over time that each kingdom hall keeps a "do not call" list of addresses.

  these are addresses in the congregation's territory where, for one reason or another, the jws in the field service are advised not to make calls.

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  Skimmer

  Hello stephenw20 and thank you for making the phone call.

  If the WTBTS sees that they are unable to stop a GDNCL, then they will also see that it is in their interest to receive the information via the Internet (e-mail, ftp, whatever) instead of having to process all that paper.

  On the other hand, they may chose to drag their feet on this and insist on paper just to slow down the rushing flood of requests. Also, they probably want to make it as cumbersome as possible for anyone to opt-out, the WTBTS hope being that many won't go to the bother or making a call or wrting a letter.

  There are alternatives besides e-mail, but if the WTBTS is rational, they will prefer an electronic format.

  Alternative 1: The GNDCL queues up requests and then a dump is made daily on paper. The paper is then sent to the WTBTS for them to process.

  Alternative 2: The GNDCL queues up requests and then a dump is made daily on paper. The paper is then read over the telephone to the WTBTS. If a separate phone call is made for each request, I think the WTBTS will quickly tire of all the telephone ringing.

  Alternative 3: Slowly but surely, a contact list of Kingdom Halls is built up and they (also) get paper and phone calls.

  Alternative 4: Legal notices will be regularly posted in the classifieds section of a newspaper (local to Brooklyn) with the appropriate information. (Note: most papers will accept electronic submissions.) Yes, this will add to the overall cost. But I think the WTBTS will want to avoid this because of the associated bad publicity.

  Alternative 5: Volunteers close to Brooklyn can be sent the collected information and then hand deliver it to the WTBTS, perhaps on a daily basis. The JW door wardens will quickly tire of the visits.

  Alternative 6: If the WTBTS insists on being real b*st*rds about things, then volunteers can make visits to as many Kingdom Halls as possible, carrying the paper with them. It would probably be a good thing to show up on Sunday morning to make sure someone was there. And to avoid having one's intent mistaken, the volunteer should not hesitate to make a prominent announcement of purpose and to explain that the visit was necessary only because the WTBTS was refusing to cooperate. The elders will quickly tire of the visits.
• 
  39

  A modest proposal: A national Do Not Call list

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to the readership:.

  there have been reports over time that each kingdom hall keeps a "do not call" list of addresses.

  these are addresses in the congregation's territory where, for one reason or another, the jws in the field service are advised not to make calls.

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  Skimmer

  Some technical issues:

  1) How to prevent maliciously made false entries? There might me a few miscreants who would try and sign up their entire street.

  2) A related item is the prevention of mailbombing where a miscreant writes a script to send millions of entries.

  3) What should be done if the Watchtower refuses delivery of the e-mail?

  4) Should the householder's name and/or e-mail address be sent to the Watchtower as part of the form? For that matter, should the site even ask what the householder's name is?

  5) What if their are users who do not have or are unwilling to provide an e-mail address if that is needed for the submission?

  6) Should there be an e-mailed confirmation from the site to the user? Should the user be required to reply? (This is a way to prevent certain types of spamming and abuse.)

  7) Should the site have a database of Kingdom Halls and some kind of mechanism for associating a KH address with the submitted address? Who would provide this?

  8) Should the use of the site be somehow resticted to persons of adult age? (Probably.)

  9) Is it necessary to send a long legal text with every request forwarded to the Watchtower? Wouldn't it be easier for them to process a short standardized address format?

  10) Is there any reason why we sholdn't work with the Watchower to ensure technical compatibilty and ease of processing at their end?

  11) Should there be an e-mail gateway for those who do not have web access?

  12) Should the site keep a master list and/or log files?

  And Lucky 13: Who is willing to assitst in the implementation of the project?
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  39

  A modest proposal: A national Do Not Call list

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to the readership:.

  there have been reports over time that each kingdom hall keeps a "do not call" list of addresses.

  these are addresses in the congregation's territory where, for one reason or another, the jws in the field service are advised not to make calls.

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  2. 
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  Skimmer

  Hello everybody:

  Here is the first draft of the letter template to be used by the Global Do Not Call List Project. The template is used by the GDNCL Project web site server to construct a letter using address data input by the user. A copy of the filled-in template is then e-mailed to the Watchtower.

  I need your comments on this as I can't do it all by myself. And before anyone might ask, I have no problems doing all of this in public becuase it is to be entirely legal and open.

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

  [The following is a suggested letter template to be used the GDNCL web site.]

  The Global Do Not Call List Project
  <GDNCL web site>
  <GDNCL e-mail address>
  <year>.<month>.<day>

  Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York
  25 Columbia Heights
  Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483
  USA

  Sent via e-mail to: [email protected]

  This letter is a demand for a permanent restraint against uninvited contact.

  For the the purpose of this letter, the term "Watchtower" will indicate and include the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Kingdom Services corporation, all subsidiary and affiliated corporations and organizations of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, all successor corporations and organizations of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, all Watchtower Branch Offices, all Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses, and all persons acting under the direction of or in association with any of the aforementioned groups.

  For the purposes of this letter, the term "removed address" will indicate the following street address:

  <address line one>
  <address line two>
  <country>

  For purposes of this letter, the term "householder" will indicate the person or persons residing at the removed address.

  For purposes of this letter, the term "the Project" will indicate the Global Do Not Call List Project, the forwarder of this message.

  Summary: The removed address is to be permanently removed from consideration by the Watchtower for any uninvited contact.

  This removal demand was requested by the householder at the removed address who has communicated the request to the Project. The householder has allowed the Watchtower to make a single confirmation request to the removed address via postal mail if said confirmation request is made within the next thirty days. The householder does not want any confirmation requests other than this single opportunity. The householder understands that the Watchtower is not under any obligation to make a confirmation request. The householder is not under any obligation to reply to a confirmation request. The householder may or may not modify the request for removal. Any postal mail confirmation request to the householder from the Watchtower must be clearly marked as originating from the Watchtower. The Watchtower is invited to include a pre-paid response envelope as part of the confirmation request. Confirmation requests by means other than postal mail are not welcome.

  The request for removal is in effect for an indefinite period and can only be revoked by the householder. The Watchtower is not to assume that the Watchtower will have permission to make contact even after an extended period of time.

  The request for removal is effective immediately. The householder has agreed to restrain from legal action in response to unintentional and peaceful uninvited contact by the Watchtower for a period of thirty days from the date of this letter. The intended purpose of this thirty day period is to allow the Watchtower to communicate the removal demand throughout the Watchtower and for a single opportunity for a postal mail confirmation request. After the thirty day period, the householder is free to pursue any civil or criminal complaint related to uninvited contact by the Watchtower and also to request assistance from any parties including the Project in providing documentary evidence of this formal notification.

  The terms of the request are as follows:

  1) There will be no uninvited representatives of the Watchtower on the physical property associated with the removed address. Failure to observe this request, whether by negligence, by recklessness, or by deliberate action will subject the representatives to physical arrest by the local police or by any other applicable law enforcement agency. Possible criminal charges include, but are not limited to, trespass, harassment, and interference with peaceable enjoyment.

  2) If any uninvited representatives of the Watchtower appear at the removed address, the householder expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower for failure to adequately train and supervise its representatives.

  3) If a telephone number associated with the removed address is known to the Watchtower, then the Watchtower agrees not to make uninvited calls to that number for any reason. If the Watchtower makes uninvited calls to that number, the householder expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower for failure to adequately train and supervise its agents who are responsible for the placing the telephone call. The householder also expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower under whatever telecommunication harassment prevention statutes that are available for use by the householder.

  4) If a facsimile number associated with the removed address is known to the Watchtower, then the Watchtower agrees not to send uninvited facsimile transmissions to that number for any reason. If the Watchtower send uninvited fax transmissions to that number, the householder expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower for failure to adequately train and supervise its agents who are responsible for the transmitting the facsimile(s). The householder also expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower under whatever facsimile telecommunication harassment prevention statutes that are available for use by the householder.

  5) If an e-mail address associated with the removed address is known to the Watchtower, then the Watchtower agrees not to send uninvited e-mail to that address for any reason. If the Watchtower sends uninvited e-mail to that address, the householder expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower for failure to adequately train and supervise its agents who are responsible for the sending the e-mail. The householder also expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower under whatever Internet harassment prevention statutes that are available for use by the householder.

  6) No postal mail from the Watchtower, except for the initial confirmation postal mail (if any), is allowed at the removed address. If the Watchtower sends any uninvited postal mail to the removed address, except for the initial confirmation postal mail (if any), the householder expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower for failure to adequately train and supervise its agents who are responsible for the postal mailing. The householder also expressly reserves the right to bring civil action against the Watchtower under whatever postal mail harassment prevention statutes that are available for use by the householder.

  In the simplest of terms: Do not call at the removed address. You are not welcome there. Stay away.

  Sincerely,

  The Global Do Not Call List Project

  Disclaimer: The service of the Project is expressly limited to forwarding removal requests to the Watchtower. The Project will make reasonable attempts to ensure accuracy and timeliness, but is not responsible for errors or delays caused by software failure, hardware failure, network failure, erroneous request information, and/or any cause(s) not directly controllable by the Project. The Project is willing to work in a cordial manner with the Watchtower on technical issues to improve the removal request process. If the Project is dissolved or becomes inactive, any and all removal requests forwarded through the Project remain valid. Both the offer of the Project service and any use of the Project service is void where prohibited or restricted by law. The Project is a non-profit organization. It does not charge for its request forwarding service, not does it actively solicit contributions to cover the costs of its service. The Project itself does not have any opinion on religious issues. The Project is not a legal advisor, it does not offer legal advice, and it has no opinion about the validity or usefulness of any legal action that may take place between a user and the Watchtower. Users of the Project forwarding service are encouraged to obtain qualified legal advice before engaging in any claims against the Watchtower. The Project is not affiliated with the Watchtower, nor does it claim any approval by the Watchtower. The Project is staffed entirely by volunteers and is not under the control of any organization. The Project is only interested in providing an automated, uniform forwarding service of address removal requests to the Watchtower. The Project does not suggest that any person actually use its service and has no opinion whether or not its service will be appropriate for any particular user. The Project may retain records of its use, but is not obligated to do so. The Project encourages all potential users to carefully consider the consequences of its use, and for those who choose to request a forwarding of a removal demand are most strongly encouraged to ensure that any information given to the Project is accurate and is done intentionally. The Project does not provide any other services; in particular, the Project does not provide any service for removal demand revocation. The Project will make reasonable efforts to maintain confidentiality of records of its use; the Project has no interest in releasing information except as is necessary for the operation of its forwarding service.