Posts by kaik

40

Are speeding tickets issused in your area???

by James Mixon in

jw
friends

i haven't seen anyone stopped for speeding on our freeways in some time.. wth it's dangerous out there, i'm driving 69-72 mph and someone pass me at 80-85 mph.. here in southern ca it,s crazy.

the speed limits are 65-70 mph.

i'am nervous as hell when i'am on the.

kaik

European countries have higher speed limits than the USA. Some states in USA have terrible, slow moving drivers that you see signs posted for minimum speed limit (Florida, South Carolina). There are people who literally drive 35m on left shoulder and blocking traffic. I take Interstate every day for work, and the demographics for slow moving drivers are generally well known. In rush hour, the traffic is literally bumper to bumper and I drive 12 miles for one hour in some cases.

If anyone complains about the speed, he or she should try German's autobahn with extremely high speed. I did not have a speeding ticket for 20 years, but if the speed limit is 55 to 65 on interstate I will be driving it. There is no reason except if there is weather problem or a visibility issue to drive below the speed limit. The worst drivers in USA in experience - Seattle, Florida, and Maryland. Nothing worse than driving between Seattle and Tacoma, and everyone is driving 40mph. Florida with elderly population is a chapter of its own. Even local roads have posted minimum speed limit, because people are literally matching there the speed of bicycle.

150

Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai in

jw
friends

time to take a break from debating religion.

take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

kaik

My tulips already bloomed out. I have still one brand that still bloom, but the major pink, red, yellow are already gone. I cut several of them and had them on my vase. I also pinch flowers from camellia, and I put them into bowl of water and they float there for a several days. I am waiting for irises and blue bells to bloom out, they are already budded, but so far they had not opened the flowers. Next week, we should have close to 80F weather, but yesterday we had sudden low morning temperature just around 40F. My hydrangeas suffered from the sudden cold and I hope they will come back. I also have forget-me-not in full bloom, and some flowers that look like pink crocosmia. One thing I noticed this week was the amount of bees and yellow jackets had on my backyard. I am still waiting for my bumble bees. They have a nest under my shed. They chew through old wood there and they are nesting there for years, but so far, I have not seen them yet out.

150

Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai in

jw
friends

time to take a break from debating religion.

take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

kaik

Bleeding hearts do not like warm, subtropical weather. I have them in the shaded part of the yard, which only receives a sun at the sunset. They go back year after year. I had also a white colored bleeding hearts, but they stopped to appear after a several growing seasons. Bleeding hearts are poisonous, but there is a myth that they have healing properties. While ago there was a woman who had serious poisoning from them because someone recommend it as a herbal remedy.

150

Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai in

jw
friends

time to take a break from debating religion.

take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

kaik

So, I spent a couple hours to mulch my flowerbed; I use cedar barks as I had bad experience with other types of the mulch in the past. So far, rodeos do not bloom yet, but I think they will open up their flowers in 10 days. We had near frost temperature last two days, and some leaves look burned by it, but the date-time high was close to 70F today, so I hope all will be ok. What is interesting that my bleeding hearts and pink phlox started to bloom early, while forget-me not, lily of the valley, and astilbe did not. They usually bloom in May.I planted some calla lilies, they are hit or miss, some year they will bloom, and some year I do not even know I have them in the flowerbed. I am on the northern edge of the climatic zone, and they do only well on sunny side of the house, and shield from the cold air.

150

Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai in

jw
friends

time to take a break from debating religion.

take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

kaik

We had here in USA warm December, and real winter did not arrive until middle of January. I had only one snow storm and March was seasonally warm/cold. However, April is cold and I think there will be a lot of damage on plants if we do not get warm. It is already warmer in the Czech Republic than here in my part of USA.

I have bunch of camellias. Three of them were ordered from camellia society and I think they are East Asia origin (Korea or Japan). I have one camellia that the origin is from Turkey/Iran and it is deep red. I will take picture shot of it over the weekend. I never get the chance to enjoy camellia much because squirrels love to eat the buds. I usually have only a few left on top of the shrub. So far, I have not lost camellia and I also had one transplanted around the yard. The hardest shrub to grow is gardenia, and I will not replace them anymore. I had entire row of them for years, but last year I lost every shrub.

Last year I planted lilac so I am curious on the flowers and fragrance. I have also anise tree, but it never bloomed for me. My ideal garden would be Provence French with gardenia, lavender, hydrangea, but the climate is not the same. I also have a lot of clematis, but they do not grow as thick as they do in the Czech Republic. My grandmother had entire courtyard of her farmhouse covered with clematis, but I am happy that my plant climbs two to three feet.

52

What does the rise of Donald Trump tell us about the USA?

by fulltimestudent in

i thank one of my former lecturers for drawing my attention to this overview.. after some 100 years, living out its "manifest destiny" dream, as the hegemon of the world, what has this 'dream' done to/for the usa?

the approaching presidential election provides an opportunity to examine this question.. and what of all the appendage organisations (like the wts) that rode across the world on the hegemon's coattails?.

the answer may be here: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism.

kaik

FTS

Many Americans do admire Putin. They love how he dealt with opposition, suppression of gay rights, wars against ISIS, that he is anti-European and anti-catholic. They associates his dictatorial tendencies with strong leadership (regardless that he made Russia less relevant and poorer), and they think man like Putin in White House will return old glory of USA as was during the Cold War.

52

What does the rise of Donald Trump tell us about the USA?

by fulltimestudent in

i thank one of my former lecturers for drawing my attention to this overview.. after some 100 years, living out its "manifest destiny" dream, as the hegemon of the world, what has this 'dream' done to/for the usa?

the approaching presidential election provides an opportunity to examine this question.. and what of all the appendage organisations (like the wts) that rode across the world on the hegemon's coattails?.

the answer may be here: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism.

kaik

Trump rides on disconnect of the population with an Obama presidency, while utilizing large part of conservative voters who do not affiliate with right-wing evangelical extremists. Many, if not the majority of Americans live have lower per capita in 2016 than they had it in 2008. Actually adjusted for inflation, it fell to 1996 level. This only shows the depth of the recession, but also terrible performance under GWB.

Population that stands behind Trump is made of the population, which has experienced an overall decline of their living standard. Of course, Trump will not be able to do anything about it, but people do not care, and believe that he will do something. It is just mass delusional hysteria that there is someone who can turn thing around for them. Many Democrats felt the same to Obama. I see Obama as just another politician, I had not expected much and did not get disappointed.

Trump's external policies are totally foolish and will spell a disaster for the American security and interest. He treats his election as a TV game show. What USA needs is a leader with vision, unlike many Trump supporters want him to be a strong man like Putin in Russia.

14

Feeling Betrayed?

by stuckinarut2 in

this is the way many of us feel no doubt: feeling like we have been betrayed by a faith that has hidden so much from its believers, and covered up some serious past and present teachings and practices.. and yet, we are the ones treated with disdain, contempt or suspicion due to fading from activity!.

simply amazing that we have had to make a conscious decision to stand up for what is right and not be a part of the organisation for genuine and sincere reasons.

and yet they slander us, malign us and make us look like the ones with the problem!.

kaik

I am not sure if I feel betrayed or deceived or both. WT had ruined my family life, my childhood, and happiness. My biological father left us and moved to life with his mom where he soon died from a cancer. My siblings did not talk to me for years, got children that I do not know. They certainly broke my trust, and deceived me for 20 years. WT faith is built on deceit, lies, brainwashing and mental abuse, and terrible organizational self-worship.

33

Disturbing/Puzzling Skit at JW Function Last Night Plus Odd Choice of Music

by Cadellin in

so i attended a fairly large jw gathering last night with my active, elder husband.

it was a good-by party for a former special pioneer couple who have been demoted to reg pios and have now moved to a larger city to find work.

anyway, there was music and skits.

kaik

Sad is that these children will never see the promised paradise. I was a child back going for the first time to school when my JW aunt told me that I would not have to worry because Armageddon will arrive before the school will start. I am now in middle age group, my aunt is long dead, and two generations had been born since 1975.

20

A Sincere Question Regarding Macroevolution

by jacobm in

jw
friends

i have a sincere question related to macroevolution:.

microevolution happens on a small scale (within a single population), while macroevolution happens on a scale that transcends the boundaries of a single species.

despite their differences, evolution at both of these levels relies on the same, established mechanisms of evolutionary change:.

kaik

Macroevolution can be observed over a long period of time, but much longer than humanity can record its knowledge. Microevolution was already observed in various diseases caused by bacteria and virus. Syphilis, HIV and other pathogens have been observed to change over the small period of time. Macroevolution from Ice Age, had changed many large species in time of 12000 years. You will not recognize majority of cultivated products from apples to prunes to hops from the original plants that existed just 7000 years ago.