SydBarrett

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Posts by SydBarrett

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  7

  Have you ever heard of a 'self-licking ice cream cone'?

  by jwleaks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from an article appearing in this week's edition of the last days newsletter:.

  licking at an ice cream cone during our spiritual feasts - the watchtower magazine, june 1, 1953. .

  have you ever heard of ‘a self-licking ice cream cone’?.

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  SydBarrett

  • How many will be munching a sandwich, sipping soda water or licking at an ice-cream cone during our spiritual feasts?w53 7/1 pp. 397-399 - The Watchtower—1953
    
    Wow. Those were the days of week long assemblies from 9am - 9pm outdoors in the summertime. God forbid someone have something cold to drink or an ice cream.
    
    My dad once told me about the misery of being 9 years old and sitting in the blazing heat at Yankee stadium all day and half the evening for a week. By the time you made it out of the stadium, onto the subway and to wherever you were rooming, it was extremely late. Then wake up early and do it all again. I don't see how they didn't have a revolt on their hands.
    
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  100

  American Healthcare: How your system works

  by Diogenesister in

  1. social
  2. current

  canada has universal healthcare.

  the consensus is that america never will.

  can anyone explain why, please?

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  SydBarrett

  "beef about having to "pay for other people"🤨the way Americans constantly bang on about. Why is that?"
  
  Ronald Reagan. At least partially:
  
  "As Ronald Reagan and other politicians ginned up anti-government and anti-poor resentment in the 1970s and ’80s, the welfare queen stood in for the idea that black people were too lazy to work, instead relying on public benefits to get by, paid for by the rest of us upstanding citizens. She was promiscuous, having as many children as possible in order to beef up her benefit take. It was always a myth—white people have always made up the majority of those receiving government checks, and if anything, benefits are too miserly, not too lavish. But it was a potent stereotype, which helped fuel a crackdown on the poor and a huge reduction in their benefits, and it remains powerful today."
  
  I'm not claiming that no one abuses the system, but a variation of the 'welfare queen' always seems to get trotted out by the right. Giving people some 'other' group to look down on is an old tactic. You'll still hear a variation of "those people on food stamps get to sit at home and eat steak and lobster while i'm at work".
  
  Or you'll always hear, "40 something percent of working Americans don't pay taxes". It's true that 40 something percent dont pay income tax. (you can't pay an income tax on an income that's barely there). But they they still pay payroll taxes to help fund medicare and social security. They pay sales tax on every purchase, including food. They pay property and registration taxes if they own a car which helps fund the roads we collectively use.
  
  No one wants to pay for a freeloader. I get that. I don't either. But a complicated issue has been simplified via half-truths into an 'us vs them' thing.
  
  "American politics, where, thanks to TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.
  Which one are you in this country? It’s practically a law of life that you have to be one or the other. If you aren’t one or the other, you might as well be a doughnut.

  If some of you still haven’t decided, I’ll make it easy for you.

  If you want to take my guns away from me, and you’re all for murdering fetuses, and love it when homosexuals marry each other, and want to give them kitchen appliances at their showers, and you’re for the poor, you’re a liberal.

  If you are against those perversions and for the rich, you’re a conservative.

  What could be simpler?" - Kurt Vonnegut
  
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  100

  American Healthcare: How your system works

  by Diogenesister in

  1. social
  2. current

  canada has universal healthcare.

  the consensus is that america never will.

  can anyone explain why, please?

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  SydBarrett

  "Plus, for the 40+ years I worked, I paid all or part of my health insurance cost of premiums, plus still had to pay a deductible and co-pay (usually 10%). Now that I'm over 65 yo, I qualify for the federally provided Medicare health insurance (which covers elderly & disabled). But I still am required to pay some costs out-of-pocket. Last year that amount was $4000. Plus, often we must appeal to get procedures that the insurance company originally denies."
  
  
  Damn. That sounds absolutely terrible. It's a shame we don't have two posters in this very thread giving examples of living in a country that doesn't have that nonsense and how pleased they are with it...
  
  
  
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  57

  Is Bible chronology true?

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to jw interpretation of bible chronology, the earliest human, adam, came into existence some 6,048 years ago compared to scientific dating of human fossils believed to be much older.

  since jesus validated the creation of adam and eve as historical people and jc’s own lineage is traced all the way back to adam, bible chronology is certified as true and there must be something wrong with scientific dating.

  what proves scientific dating as accurate that humans are much older than what bible chronology says?.

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  SydBarrett

  "That is the stupidest thing I ever heard."

  
  

  And yet its arguably not even the stupidest thing he's said this month.
  
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  57

  Is Bible chronology true?

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to jw interpretation of bible chronology, the earliest human, adam, came into existence some 6,048 years ago compared to scientific dating of human fossils believed to be much older.

  since jesus validated the creation of adam and eve as historical people and jc’s own lineage is traced all the way back to adam, bible chronology is certified as true and there must be something wrong with scientific dating.

  what proves scientific dating as accurate that humans are much older than what bible chronology says?.

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  SydBarrett

  "Fallacy: shifting the burden of proof"
  
  You're the one making the ridiculous claim that Adam and Eve were real people, Jesus was descended from them and humans are only 6000 years old. The burden of proof is on you to provide evidence to show it's true, not the other way around.
  
  
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  3

  Benefits of Getting Life Insurance for High BMI Adults In The UK

  by MountviewFs in

  1. forum
  2. links

  in order to find the most suitable life insurance for a person who falls outside of the preferred category, numerous health questions must be asked.

  customers may be turned down if they do not respond honestly or omit information.

  therefore, in order for their broker to obtain the lowest price for which they actually qualify, people need to be careful to provide information regarding their health to ensure that the application has accurate information..

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  SydBarrett

  Shouldn't that read "Benefits to the beneficiaries of high BMI Adults who get life insurance"?
  
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  2

  Calling DD Data Dog

  by Fisherman in

  1. social
  2. humour

  how about you dd?

  start a topic, make a comment, do something.

  miss your posts here.

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  SydBarrett

  Dumb and Dumber part 3.
  
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  21

  Remember...Remember...The Sixth of November?

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  some big announcement or reveal is coming from the borg november 6th, according to the exjw reddit.. https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/13xljaa/secret_boxes_to_be_opened_only_in_november_6th/.

  what do you guys think it could be?.

  my guess is a study companion to go with their new jesus series, they really need to rebrand at this point..

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  SydBarrett

  "They want it kept “confidential” to increase the “wow factor”."
  
  Yeah. The November opening date leads me to believe it'll be some new tract to use for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.
  
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  14

  What Is Your Favorite Graphic Depicting the WT Experience?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's mine: .

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  SydBarrett

  
  
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  78

  Top AI inventor Geoffrey Hinton reluctantly concluded that AI will probably humanity fairly soon

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  geoffrey hinton, major inventor of artificial intelligence: .

  “if you take the existential risk seriously, as i now do—i used to think it was way off, but now i think it’s serious, and fairly close—it might be quite sensible to just stop developing these things any further, but i think it’s completely naïve to think that would happen.

  there’s no way to make that happen.

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  SydBarrett

  "Wonder if A.I. is 'The great Filter'(or the evolutionary leap almost no species is able to navigate successfully) the Fermi Paradox posits?"

  
  

  I'd guess Virtual Reality is the great filter in a sense. They are all out there, but plugging into your own personal fantasy kingdom is way too enticing and every intelligent species goes that route before developing interstellar travel.