88JM

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Posts by 88JM

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  10

  All Memorial Attendance Data from 1896 to 2016

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have made a spreadsheet of the reported number in attendance to the memorial since the first report of 13 people appeared in an 1896 watchtower.. since it can be very hard to find the numbers for the early years (anything previous to 1938), i will slowly make a note of where i found the data.some of the years i had to manually add hundreds of entries, since the wt did not provide the full number.i am building on the statistics of 1988-2013 that appeared here a while ago.soon i will be starting this but for other sets of data: # of publishers, hours, etc...here is the link: link.

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  88JM

  You should be aware I've updated those spreadsheets I did up to the latest 2016 data, and also went further back to 1981:

  Yearbook Stats 1981-2016.xls

  Yearbook Stats by Field 1981-2016.xls
  

  Feel free to message me if you find any errors.
  
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  17

  the future for the borg

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  it look very possible that the borg could lose their charity status in both the uk and oz if this happens the jw will not have all the tax breaks for the buildings that they have now.and that the headquarters will have to start finding extra money.and as they have done so much cost cutting anyway these past years i think they will have to start selling kingdom halls off.

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  88JM

  matsukov - that's also how I understand it is in the UK. The Charity Commission can use it's remit as long as WTBTS are a charity. But if they lose that status then WTBTS can do whatever it wants untrammeled, so better to keep them a charity.

  Losing charity status also means the accounts would no longer be public, which gives us a bit of insight for the moment on their financial health somewhat, and how much they are siphoning to US head office.

  Having publicly appointed trustees might have quite an impact on them though. Could they stop siphoning funds and also spending on building projects until there is suitable reform?
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  10

  UK's NSPCC REJECTS 'mandatory reporting' of suspected child abuse

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  large article at the top of page 20 in today's - 6th november 2016 - sunday observer, the 'sister' newspaper in the uk of the guardian which only prints monday to saturday.. the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children - nspcc - is the uk's leading children's charity, specialising in child protection and are the only uk children's charity with statutory powers and that means they can take action to safeguard children at risk of abuse.. the headline in the web version is slightly different, but the rest of the article appears to be the same.

  nspcc rejects plan for 'mandatory reporting' of suspected child abuse.

  the government’s consultation on reporting and acting on child abuse and neglect was launched amid concerns about past abuse in some of the country’s major institutions.

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  88JM

  I read the article. For an organisation that is supposed to be championing the protection of children, their reason for not advocating reporting seems incredibly naive.

  The example they give is a child turning up at school “hungry or unkempt“ and that with mandatory reporting:

  This would trigger a child protection investigation, one that might be unnecessary if the teachers had been able to use their professional judgment and talk to the children and their parents to establish what was happening.

  Firstly, I think the track record of "leaving it to professional judgement" shows that isn't enough - people miss the signs or there are cover-ups like WTBTS.

  Secondly, speaking to the parents isn't enough either if they are the abusers or are complicit in the coverup.

  Surely if the NSPCC are not advocating for mandatory reporting then they are advocating for the status quo which leads us to where we are now with massive cover-ups and children left vulnerable?
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  31

  Edinburgh Business Trip

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm traveling to edinburgh in october.

  i'm from southern california and i was hoping i could meet some on this board that are near that area for lunch or an early dinner.

  please pm me if you would like to have a little apostate gathering there?

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  88JM

  Thanks guys - had a lovely evening and good choice on location!
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  31

  Edinburgh Business Trip

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm traveling to edinburgh in october.

  i'm from southern california and i was hoping i could meet some on this board that are near that area for lunch or an early dinner.

  please pm me if you would like to have a little apostate gathering there?

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  88JM

  Yeah I'll be around on Sunday. I'm fine with The Stable Bar.
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  31

  Edinburgh Business Trip

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm traveling to edinburgh in october.

  i'm from southern california and i was hoping i could meet some on this board that are near that area for lunch or an early dinner.

  please pm me if you would like to have a little apostate gathering there?

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  88JM

  I'll put November 6th in my diary. Are you thinking central Edinburgh or are you further out?

  I see your business is way down at Milton Bridge, which is the opposite side of Edinburgh to me - I'm not so familiar with that area.
  
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  13

  Does anyone know what this is?

  by Tameria2001 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday my sister cut her foot on a piece of metal that was sticking out of my yard.

  i've lived in my home for almost 8 years now, and well i'm guessing this thing must have worked it's way up to the surface or something, never seen this thing before.

  i started to dig it up, and the thing just kept getting bigger and bigger.

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  88JM

  Ah yes also called a "rotivator" sometimes here in the UK at least. My dad has a modern 2-stroke Honda one - we turned a lot of the soil on the rural property he owns to plant potatoes. Very hard work!
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  31

  Edinburgh Business Trip

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm traveling to edinburgh in october.

  i'm from southern california and i was hoping i could meet some on this board that are near that area for lunch or an early dinner.

  please pm me if you would like to have a little apostate gathering there?

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  88JM

  I'm in Edinburgh itself - also quite possible.
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  62

  25 YEARS of compiled yearbook statistics

  by 88JM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello again folks - as promised in my last thread here, i've been working on turning yearbook statistics into excel spreadsheets.. coincidentally, today is my 25th birthday (spare a thought for a fader).. i've now updated the spreadsheet with yearbook data all the way back to 1988 (the year i was born), therefore it now contains 25 years of statistics.. there were a lot of countries changing around and for some it was possible to create a continuation of data.

  some are a simple change of name like south-west africa to namibia.

  others, for example - in 1993 with czechoslovakia splitting into two countries (czech republic and slovakia) i have added an extra row that provides a continuation of the data, combining czech republic and slovakia back together as if they were still one country.

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  88JM

  Hi folks - sorry to bump an old thread but I hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about this project.

  I've been working on this a bit more and I can now say that I have collated 35 years of yearbook statistics, including the latest figures from 2015 in the current yearbook.

  The spreadsheets now cover from 1981 to 2015. Also thanks those of you who spotted existing errors and notified me - your corrections should be included. Please feel free to message me if you spot any more, particularly in the years now added for 1981 through to 1987.

  Download links to the Excel files are below. If you're unsure what the files are or why there are two, please see the first post in this thread.

  • Yearbook Stats 1981-2015.xls
  • Yearbook Stats by Field 1981-2015.xls

  As for the future of this project, I know many would like to see data going back to 1974/1975. That is still my original goal, though it was always clear that would take considerable time and effort, which has proven to be the case. For now, I need a bit of a break but I hope to pick this up again some time.
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  25

  Appealing a disfellowshipping - any experience

  by dozy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone had any experience of a successful appeal against a disfellowship?

  a friend of mine feels he has been dfd unjustifiably & is considering an appeal.

  he probably has something of a case - the jc was a total shambles - but i'm very dubious that he has any likelihood of success.. my only experience of a successful appeal is when elders in a neighbouring congregation were appointed by the co & overturned a df in our congregation a few years ago.

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  88JM

  I just got back from a two week holiday and found the invite to the judicial committee in the pile of post - the meeting was held while I was away two days ago!

  If they DF'ed me (which I'm guessing they did anyway) I'd love to hear what evidence it was based on because I've only told my Dad directly about my current situation and didn't say anything much to my mum.