Gollum

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Posts by Gollum

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  13

  Are strict religions more succeseful?

  by Gollum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  interesting article arguing that they are.

  http://www.slate.com/id/2118313/ .

  i think this argument makes a certain amount of sense.

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  Gollum

  Dan,
  I tend to agree. I think it's much harder for "liberal" churches to maintain that level of cohesion. On the other hand, I think a very similar phenomena occurs in other places on the liberal side. I think various secular organizations or beliefs, such as Greenpeace function very much like the churches talked about in the article. They offer a cohesion and sense of a group with shared believes that occur in groups like the dubs.
  I just don't think the dubs are offering enough in trade to many of their members. They are isolating themselves to a large extent, but seem to be activly stifling the social cohesion that should occur in a group like that.
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  13

  Are strict religions more succeseful?

  by Gollum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  interesting article arguing that they are.

  http://www.slate.com/id/2118313/ .

  i think this argument makes a certain amount of sense.

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  Gollum

  Interesting article arguing that they are.
  
  http://www.slate.com/id/2118313/
  
  I think this argument makes a certain amount of sense. I also think that the argument that the Catholic Church is choosing the "worst of all worlds" approach applies doubly to WTS.
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  63

  Evolution of Man

  by bavman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here's a question for all you who have been studying evoluition much longer than me.

  i have read in a few places that man has all but stopped evolving.

  is this what is really being taught by science and why?

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  Gollum

  It's also possible that the article you came across was referring to the idea that it looks like we are about to reach the point where we can understand, control and alter our genetic structure at will. If this becomes commonplace, then human genetic evolution starts to look like a non-factor. That is, as long as we possess and use this ability. Richard Dawkins recently made some comments about this lately in some interviews, so perhaps that's what you saw.
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  7

  Pere Ubu

  by avishai in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  influential punk/no wave band.

  big influence on r.e.m, husker du, pixies etc.

  lead singer, david thomas was a dub.

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  Gollum

  Just was looking up some stuff, and discovered Patti Smith was raised a Witness, or at least her mother was.
  
  Weird, I'm starting to think I should be a hell of a lot more talented than I am. Crap, all that weird upbringing wasted!
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  7

  Pere Ubu

  by avishai in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  influential punk/no wave band.

  big influence on r.e.m, husker du, pixies etc.

  lead singer, david thomas was a dub.

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  Gollum

  I think through at least most of his career he's been a dub. I've always sort of wanted to meet him, it's such a weird combination.
  
  Pennsylvania is one of the most intersting albums ever put out, though I have to admit I can't listen to it all in one setting.
  
  The only person I think of as being more unlikely to be a dub would be David Lynch.
  
  Here's an excerpt from an article about him, with the url for the whole thing afterwords.
  
  "Pere Ubu were determined to scorn commerce, to never be professional rock musicians and to have "projects" rather than a career. Predictably, there are regular break-ups and personnel shifts from 1977 to 1982. Some toughness leaked out of the band when Tom Herman left in the fall of 1979 after the second LP, "Dub Housing." His replacement was the '60s rock eccentric Mayo Thompson, an odd but benign dreamer. This tipped the Pere Ubu scale to the arty side, and Thomas turned into more of a whimsy figure, a punk Edward Lear fixated on birdies and fishies and posies. Then he became a fervent Jehovah's Witness. The good part is that he stayed a crank nature lover who observed it best from behind a windshield or in anxious fantasies. Besides, there was a kind of bruised innocent logic to these transformations, given the Witness fascination with impending apocalypse."
  
  www.salon.com/weekly/pereubu960916.html
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  7

  Nine Inch Nails

  by kls in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  head like a hole .

  i,d rather die then give you control.

  bow down before the one you serve .

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  Gollum

  Billygoat,
  I can relate to that. I always figured if I got married I wanted NIN "Closer" as the wedding march. Course, I also want the bridesmaids to be pole dancers, so what are the odds?
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  27

  How high will it go?

  by jt stumbler in

  1. social
  2. current

  average gas price in colorado is around 2.35/gal.

  theres talk that by this time next year it might get to 5.0/gal.

  i hear alot of talk but none of our spineless government reps never do anything about it.

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  Gollum

  Speaking of depressing scenarios, I suggest this blog. Regretablly, I tend to agree with his assesement of the future, which the blog name sums up nicely.
  
  http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/
  
  I'm guessing that this isn't showing up as a clickable URL because I'm using firefox, right? I also have the devils own time getting the formating to turn out in a legible manner.
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  12

  Should Judge George W. Greer be Impeached?

  by NewLight2 in

  1. social
  2. current

  guardian even though he should be removed as terri?s guardian .

  29. judge greer has ignored terri?s right under 765.102(5)(a) to .

  judge greer has .

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  Gollum

  Cool! Is there one I can sign to impeach Bush and Tom Delay for not abiding by the constitution in regards to the seperation of powers?
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  27

  Should I "picket" the JW assembly with my "apostate" friends or not?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every year since i da'ed myself i have two good friends that are ex-jws that beg me to come and "picket'' the jw assemblies with them.

  i have turn them down every year but i kind of think i want to do it because my reasoning is that if i picket i will finally be telling jw's and the wts that i am not afraid of them.

  i didn't realize how much "fear" the wts puts into its members until the other day when i ran into my jw sister at the supermarket and she literally left her 1/2 full shopping cart and ran out of the store without speaking to me.

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  Gollum

  I side with those who think it probably does more harm than good, though of course, if you want to, go for it. However, even when I was a dub, I thought a more effective approach for the protesters would be to keep driving past the convention site towing a boat and shouting "I'm going to the beach! What about you?". That would have done it for me.
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  59

  JW table at small airport

  by Bryan in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  as i was returning home yesterday, i noticed an elderly lady sitting at a card table next to the security line.

  immidiately, her "my book of bible stories" jumped out at me.

  her table was covered with printed propaganda.

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  Gollum

  Okay, for some reason part of my post got cut off. What I was saying that while I may strongly disagree with, and think their ideas are dangerous, I don't have the right to censor that group. I can loudly point out where they are wrong however. My reference to Republicans was made somewhat jokingly, though in all honesty I think many of the ideas are more dangerous than most JW's .