SydBarrett

Joined

• started 16 topics
• posted 321 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by SydBarrett

• 
  2

  Tech board question to Simon.

  by SydBarrett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i look at "latest" on my phone (iphone safari) browser, i don't see things in the same order as when i visit on my laptop.

  even if i swipe down to refresh phone browser it still doesnt match up.

  i'm just curious what's going on from a technical standpoint.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  When i look at "latest" on my phone (iPhone safari) browser, I don't see things in the same order as when I visit on my laptop. Even if I swipe down to refresh phone browser it still doesnt match up. I'm just curious what's going on from a technical standpoint.
  
• 
  12

  Sonthetic human embryo—Imagine that!

  by Fisherman in

  1. social
  2. current

  i read a news article that scientists have made from stem cells a human embryo.

  poor soul..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "Poor soul."

  
  

  What do you mean?
  
• 
  10

  City! City! City!

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  won the premiership.. won the fa cup.. won the champions league.. that's the treble baby.

  so amazing after we spent 44 years without anything.

  no more "noisy neighbours".. now let's do it again, back-to-back, and achieve new heights - more consecutive premierships than anyone has every done before would be enough..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "Won the Premiership.

  Won the FA Cup.

  Won the Champions League."
  

  
  What does this mean? Does soccer not have a single winner take all championship at the end of the season like The Super Bowl or NBA championship? Or is is more like golf or tennis where there are numerous tournaments of varying prestige?
  
• 
  17

  Witnesses were Anti vaccine till 1950!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "brother mcmillan wrote "faith on the march" about his wonderful life at bethel.

  he wrote of an incident in 1943 where a group of witnesses in jail for refusing military service were against getting vaccinated and he came to the rescue visiting them and telling them it was ok. the reason for this was "the golden age" magazine in the 1920's describes vaccines as puss filled poison...so they were following their watchtower training..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "but still against it in the 80s."
  
  Cite? I and everyone I know were fully vaccinated as children in the 70's before starting school. I never remember hearing anything anti vaccine in the 80's even stated as someone's personal opinion. Probably 1/2 to 3/4 of the elders in my congregation were family members including the PO, so i'm sure i'd remember if that had still been the thinking.
  
• 
  137

  I find it interesting that after the cult people still hold on to religion....

  by BeaverEater in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  im not an atheist, makes no mathematical sense, nor does the buy(more) bull(shit) god make any logical sense... maybe a deist on my best day, in the end you cannot get something from nothing, paradox if you ask me... but in reality i just dont care.

  while in, and moving out of the cult, its like a roller coaster, emotionally, yet, for me, over time, i just take it one day at a time, and if appeasing some special deity is required, well i guess i failed.

  lol.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "He still died for me and all those people"

  
  

  How does sacrificing himself to himself to "redeem" humanity from himself make any sense? Also, being dead for a 3 day weekend compared to eternity isn't all that impressive...
  

  
  

  
  
• 
  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "but why should all the US citizens who disagree with free (at the point of delivery) healthcare be forced to pay for it via their tax dollars?

  Doesn't sound fair to me."
  
  "I'm rich. I wont need social security when I retire, why should i be forced to pay for it with my tax dollars? Doesn't seem fair to me. "
  
  "I don't have kids. Why should I be forced to fund schools with my tax dollars, doesn't seem fair to me."
  
  "I'm against US foreign policy. Why should I be forced to help pay the military budget with my tax dollars? Doesn't seem fair to me."
  
  "I don't drive. Why should I be forced to pay for the highway infrastructure with my tax dollars? Doesn't seem fair to me."
  
  "I'm illiterate. Why should I be forced to fund public libraries with my tax dollars? Doesn't seem fair to me."
  
  "I don't like the people from the 3rd world country the US gives aid to. Why should I be forced to fund it with my tax dollars? Doesn't seem fair to me"
  
  
  
• 
  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  "Interesting. Also note the USA was a ( small d) democratic country with supposed no class distinctions. We have no nobility, castes, etc."
  
  That may be what we liked to put in the marketing material, but we have and always had class distinctions. It's slightly more fluid than other places, but it exists.
  
• 
  11

  US North East filled with Smoke Hazardous breathing warnings!

  by Fisherman in

  1. social
  2. current

  if you live in the northeastern part of the us, the air is filled with smoke.

  it is hard to breathe and the burning smell irritates your eyes and breathing.

  it is coming from forrest fires thousands of acres in canada.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  SydBarrett

  I'm surprised the anti-vax nutters around here aren't claiming the fires are caused by vaccinated people spontaneously bursting into flame.
• 
  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’?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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.
    
• 
  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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