Posts by TheSilence

9

Good books

by Freedom rocks in

jw
friends

can any one recommend any good books to read that have come out in the last few years?

i haven't read a good book in a long time and i'd like to get into reading again.

i'm not into autobiographies or sports books.

The wife told me I think too much...

by James Mixon in

jw
friends

please tell me how not to think too much and get a good night sleep.

when i was a jw i didn't think too much because i knew everything, but now my mind works overtime.

how in the hell can i shut it down and stop the anxiety???

I read that you can’t sleep because you’re used to having all the answers and now you don’t. So it sounds like you need to find a way to accept that you don’t have all the answers. Once you do that thinking about what the answers might be is an enjoyable pass time and mental exercise rather than an anxiety inducing obsession that needs to conclude in absolute certainty that you hold the key to the puzzle of life. :)

45

What products have you bought that exceed your expectations?

by skeeter1 in

well?.

TheSilence

A powerall Its easy to keep in the car to charge any and all devices and despite how small it is and my concern that it wouldn't actually work, when my battery was dead coming out of work at 3 am it successfully jumped my car. When my nieces and nephews are all playing minecraft together on their iPod touches they can sit together and keep their devices charged rather than being tied to separate wall sockets it's a very handy device for us

http://www.thepowerall.com

54

I have a TASK for you to perform. Come on--it will be FUN!

by Terry in

jw
friends

look up in the right-hand corner of this page.. find where it says welcome (name).. did you locate that?.

now click on your name and observe the new page loading takes you to a top blue bar with a menu.. it should read:.

active topics search members topics started .

TheSilence

All of my longest started topics were werewolf games. I can't link them, they were all deleted for some reason. :)

30

Funeral for an atheist

by Stealth in

jw
friends

99% of all funerals that i have attended have been the wt version, where they preach about the resurrection into paradise and say little about the person who passed other than they were loyal to jah.

the other 1% catholic for grandparents.. now that i consider myself an atheist, i got to wondering what do atheists plan for when they die?.

if you are a non-believer what are your plans for when you die?

TheSilence

My name is Jackie. Aaron Freeman wrote what I posted. ;)

i find parts of it as comforting as anything I've heard at any other sermon.

30

Funeral for an atheist

by Stealth in

jw
friends

99% of all funerals that i have attended have been the wt version, where they preach about the resurrection into paradise and say little about the person who passed other than they were loyal to jah.

the other 1% catholic for grandparents.. now that i consider myself an atheist, i got to wondering what do atheists plan for when they die?.

if you are a non-believer what are your plans for when you die?

TheSilence

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.

-Aaron Freeman.

53

How did your family react when you made it known that you did not want to be a JW anymore?

by Yondaime in

please share your experiences..

TheSilence

I was 13. I was disowned. My dad didn't speak to me for months despite living in the same small house with him, mom, 2 brothers and a sister. We have a barely workable once every few years stilted contact kind of a relationship these days. Thank god I was never baptised or it wouldn't even be that. I feel sorry for him. He has missed out on a lot.

95

Michael Brown verdict discussion policy - take II

by Simon in

i had originally thought that making the rules clear about what was and wasn't going to be allowed when discussing the michael brown verdict that we'd be able to avoid some of the unpleasantness that surrounded the subsequent trayvon martin trial discussions.. michael brown verdict discussion policy.

i had hoped that once the evidence came out there would not be as many people promoting opinions that contradicted it.

unfortunately, that appears to have been naive of me.

TheSilence

My apologies for typos. I hate typing on my phone.

95

Michael Brown verdict discussion policy - take II

by Simon in

i had originally thought that making the rules clear about what was and wasn't going to be allowed when discussing the michael brown verdict that we'd be able to avoid some of the unpleasantness that surrounded the subsequent trayvon martin trial discussions.. michael brown verdict discussion policy.

i had hoped that once the evidence came out there would not be as many people promoting opinions that contradicted it.

unfortunately, that appears to have been naive of me.

TheSilence

I am so tired of the "shoplifting shouldn't end in death" argument.

When my niece was 17 and I had her and the other kids at an amusement park I let her go off on her own and she was caught shoplifting. My niece is hi-racial, self identifies as black, and is considered black by others on sight. Here's what didn't happen:

She didn't strong arm the store clerk when confronted.

she he didn't walk down the middle of the road afterwards drawing attention to herself.

When end the authorities approached her she did not argue or physically assault them, she did as she was told.

She did not attempt to take anyone's gun.

She did not run away.

She he did not charge the authorities.

She did not die.

See ee how that works?

here's what else didn't happen:

when end they came to get me I didn't defend or make excuses for her actions.

I didn't tell her she was caught because of racial profiling.

I didn't try to make it about anything other than what it was: her commuting a crime, getting caught, and having to face consequences.

Heres what hat did happen:

I told her how disappointed I was.

When she cried and said how stupid she was I wouldn't even let her have that excuse. I told her it would be easier to accept if she was really stupid but that I knew just how smart she was and how low she had dropped her standards and personal morals to do what she had done.

I made her call her parents herself and tell them what she had done.

This year, her first year of college, in the aftermath of all this she called me to thank me for not letting her fall back on excuses, for holding her accountable for her own actions. Those are her words, not mine. She attributes being where she is after that incident to being made aware that she has personal responsibility for the path in her life. I could not be more proud of the path she has chosen.

So, please, do not trot out the "shoplifting should not lead to death" argument. Michael had choices. He chose his own path.

164

Was justice served fairly in the Micheal Brown tragedy, whats your opinion ?

by Finkelstein in

the michael brown tragedy has garnered a lot of attention in the media recently highlighted.

by the recent county court decision to not indict the lone officer who did the shooting which caused the death of micheal brown.. .. now after more information of the event has been released openly to the public, we can evaluate upon are self.

in are own opinion toward was the law handed out in this particular event proportionately fair or to a professional standard ?.

TheSilence

I would like to sign up for this job:

In this job I will put my life on the line to protect and serve those in my community.

In the course of this job I must wonder every time someone reaches where I cannot clearly see if they are pulling a gun to take my life.

When I see someone putting themselves in danger and others by walking in the middle of the road I must first approach respectfully. I cannot have a bad day where I am cranky. Divorce, breakup, death in the family, trouble with a kid at home... don't ever let it bring my demeanor to be less than ideal because if I do then it justifies someone going for my gun. Actually, nevermind. It does not matter if I respond ideally for it will automatically be assumed that I was one of the "asshole" cops who just acts a bully no matter what.

Once I have ideally addressed the walking in the middle of the road if I notice that the people in question match the description of someone who just participated in a strong arm robbery I must decide what to do. Call and wait for backup... robbers possibly get away, possibly participate in another crime, possibly hurt someone seriously this time... I am villified by the public and the media for not doing my job to serve and protect. Decide to address it immediately knowing I have called for backup and it's on the way... possibly the situation will escalate and I am villified by the public and the media. Well, if I'm going to be villified by the public and the media anyway I may as well err on the side of public safety since I am sworn to protect law abiding citizens.

So... say something to the gentleman on the street again... again remembering to be respectful... no thoughts of anything negative... don't let your concern for the fact that this person has already used force in a robbery cause enough concern to deter you from being perfectly courteous.

Wait! WTF! I'm being attacked! Hit by someone signifigantly larger than myself. Wrestling over my gun. Now before I do anything take the time to stop, even though the person attacking me is not going to stop and give me time to think, but stop and take the time to think anyway... am I sure his intent is to use the gun on me before I decide to fire it? I mean, not just sure... really really sure? I mean it isn't *currently* turned directly at me. So let me stop and think... am I absolutely certain, without any doubt, that he means to use the gun on me? Yes, that's a reasonable expectation of the public to have of me at this moment, to have this conversation with myself in my head at this particular moment.

So, okay, I've decided... even if I'm not 100% sure, I'm at least sure enough, or maybe scared enough, to fire the gun. Okay, now he's running away. He's pissed off. He has already used physical violence against a store owner and myself... should I risk letting him get away to continue doing this to others? I mean, I know I called for back up so maybe I should just let him go until they get here so he has time to force his way into some innocent person's home and threatens them with physical violence while we do a manhunt door to door. And once we figure out where he is, *if* we figure out where he is, we have a hostage situation on our hands. No, I know it will be frowned upon that I didn't wait for backup but I really think I should try to get him to stop now.

Out of the car. Pull my gun. Order him to stop. Not just him. Both of them. Remember it's 2 on 1 now. I might not be able to shoot as well as at the range considering I've just suffered blows to the head, I've never been in a situation of high enough stress to fire, and I'm trying to worry about 2 people not just 1... so how close do I let him get before I start firing? I know he's not going to stop and give me time to figure it out... but I'm going to stop and do the calculations in my head anyway... how close is far enough that I have enough time to defend myself in a not so great, able to shoot straight frame of mind but yet close enough that the public will decide that I had reason to fear for my life? Screw that, I already fear for my life. I would rather be indicted than dead and I shouldn't be indicted because at this point I do honestly and reasonably fear for my life if he gets my gun.

So I take the shot. More than one. I see one hit him and stop firing. He still comes at me. Apparently at this point I'm just supposed to shrug and say, well, it didn't work the first time and I don't want it to look like I went into overkill so I'm just going to give up at this point. But, again, I'd rather be indicted for a crime I'm not committing than be dead so I take the shots again. I shoot until he stops. I do not shoot into his back once he is down because I have now eliminated the threat and despite the fact that I have just been attacked and hit in the head, despite the fact that I have fired my weapon in the line of duty for the first time ever, despite the fact that I have killed a man for the first time ever, despite the fact that I know his friend is somewhere around, despite the fact that I know I will be villified in the public and the media at this point because I've seen it a thousand times before, despite the fact that I will be accused of having acted in anger, despite all of that I am still thinking clearly enough to know that once the threat is eliminated it is my job to stop. I know that I will be accused of not doing my job right in this situation no matter what I do, but I am still going to stop now that the threat is eliminated because it is the right thing to do.

Now there is a public outcry and media outcry for me to pay for every bad cop that ever existed, to pay for the wrongs others have committed in the name of racism. It doesn't matter that I am not racist. It doesn't matter that I didn't do this because the guy was black. The public and media are going to cry for me to be crucified in the name of everyone else who has committed a racist act. The hypocrisy of saying "don't judge my by my skin just because other black people are criminals doesn't mean that I am" while judging me for the uniform I wear and the others who have not done right by it before rather than on the content of my character and the merits of the evidence in this case.... that hypocrisy does not matter. The call will go out for my head.

There will be protests. That I can accept. What I cannot accept is the looting and burning of the place I am sworn to protect. What I cannot accept is a bounty put on my head and the heads of my family.

But, yeah... completely reasonable. Sign me up.