Posts by Pete Zahut

13

Anyone have your local cong. give out papers to say what you can afford to give the cult?

by mickbobcat in

back in the late 80s i can remember my local cong.

pass around a paper that had a place for head of house hold name and how much they can afford to give every month for one year.

but i remember the elders said they needed to know what they can bank on to know what they can afford to borrow to remodel ect.

Pete Zahut

Luke 14:28
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Yes...we had to do that back in the day. As per usual they trotted out the scripture above as a way to make it all seem as if God was involved in whatever they wanted the money for.

There's a scripture for every occasion if you're creative enough.

Many congregation members feather spat over this.

Diogenesister: Feather Spat (past tense of spitting feathers) means they were very agitated or took exception so much to the point that all that came out of their mouths was the spitting and sputtering sounds one would make if they were trying to rid themselves of feathers stuck in their mouths or stuck to their wet lips.

"He was so mad he was spitting feathers ( also cotton or wood chips)"

7

I remembered something I had forgotten a long time ago.

by mickbobcat in

when i was about 17 there was a elders son i used to hang out with.

he was 16 but close to my age.

his family was a kool aid drinking cult followers.

Pete Zahut

This is odd on and infuriating on so many levels. Not only was he ok doing this to a little child, he was ok doing so in a car full of people and he was ok telling you about it. Why would he think you'd be someone he could tell? This tells me that this person hasn't got a normal conscience or sense of shame. Hopefully he was exaggerating or hopefully for the children he's encountered since then, this was an isolated incident, but I doubt it was.

I find it disturbing that given your lack of action, you were even able to relate this story publicly. Even at 17, (especially as a JW) I'd have been compelled to tell someone what he did. Who knows what irreparable damage he's done to other little ones since then. I can be understanding about this to a point but mostly, I don't know why you'd bring this up if you were going to make excuses for him or weren't going to do anything about it. I'm not sure if you really comprehend what a big of a deal this is in terms of what his history might have been, his position as a JW, what he may have covered up or have done to other children himself.

I like Simon's idea, find him and tell him what you remember. If it were me, I'd tell him that the JW child abuse scandal has brought this memory back to you and you aren't sure where to go with it . Tell him you want to get further clarification on the matter and want to know what's going on with him. At the very least, if he has in fact continued on this way, he'd get the message that someone knows and is watching.

If I found out anyone did something like this to my child or one of my little granddaughters, I'd end up in prison for manslaughter.

10

Earthquake in Victoria Australia

by smiddy3 in

i ,along with many other victorians in australia,experienced my first earthquake this morning about 9:15 am.. it was recorded as a 5.9 magnitude.and an after shock of 4.0 magnitude.. i was having a lay in bed due to the fact my wife had a bad night due to her health problems which affected my sleep as well.. and i thought geeeze she`s making a lot of racket coming up the passage to the bedroom with her walker and then the bed started shaking like crazy .

i thought my computer`s going to hit the deck along with the printer as other things started to fall over.. our house sits on concrete stumps and the thought went through me that the house could collapse ,but thankfully there was no structural damage that i could find.. apparently it was felt far and wide covering most of victoria / nsw and even tasmania.. anybody else here had a similar experience ?.

Pete Zahut

PZ: another strategy is to build a strong house and insulate it from the shaking earth by having it float on anti friction pads. many houses were left intact by the quake in Japan, only to be carried out to see in one piece

I recently retired after 30+ years working as a Development Inspector for a major west coast U.S. city. There were/are two such buildings in my jurisdiction ( concrete, steel & glass, 8 stories ea.) . The foundations sit on huge steel rollers (steel logs) that run the width of the building. The entire foundation and rollers were enclosed within a concrete "moat-like" structure that surrounded the foundation, that in the event of an earthquake, would allow the building to roll forward and back or slide side to side the "rollers" within the moat, in the event of an earthquake. The worst earthquake we had thus far since they were built (6.8). I was curious to see how the rollers would work but the buildings never even bugged however the other seismic dampers did help in terms of making them earthquake resistant and they were able to withstand any serious damage. Perhaps the rollers would have been activated if the other seismic dampers had not controlled the sway so well.

metal straps are great on all joints in a wooden house. wood splits and nails pull out.

Typically they're lag bolted in place so I haven't seen this happen from an earthquake, thus far.

10

Earthquake in Victoria Australia

by smiddy3 in

i ,along with many other victorians in australia,experienced my first earthquake this morning about 9:15 am.. it was recorded as a 5.9 magnitude.and an after shock of 4.0 magnitude.. i was having a lay in bed due to the fact my wife had a bad night due to her health problems which affected my sleep as well.. and i thought geeeze she`s making a lot of racket coming up the passage to the bedroom with her walker and then the bed started shaking like crazy .

i thought my computer`s going to hit the deck along with the printer as other things started to fall over.. our house sits on concrete stumps and the thought went through me that the house could collapse ,but thankfully there was no structural damage that i could find.. apparently it was felt far and wide covering most of victoria / nsw and even tasmania.. anybody else here had a similar experience ?.

Pete Zahut

Yes quite a few times. ( U.S west coast) Once while driving over a bridge over a river which made it difficult to steer. Thought I had a flat tire until I realized the bridge was twisting and rolling.

7.2 was the strongest one. It’s amazing how much a house can flex without damage. Mine is newish and is bolted to the foundation and has metal earthquake straps that were poured into the concrete and attached to the frame of the house. I ran downstairs during one earthquake and could see the walls on either side of the staircase , flexing. The kitchen cabinets flung open and the lights were swaying but there was no damage. Not even a crack.

Unlike hurricanes etc, you have no warning with earthquakes and they leave you feeling a bit “ rattled” for a day or so. All you can do is be prepared and hope one doesn’t hit and if it does, it isn’t too bad.

We are told to have extra food and water etc on hand in our homes and in our vehicles in case we get stuck somewhere if one of the many bridges / overpasses goes down. Most of them have been recently retro-fitted or had seismic upgrades, so fingers crossed. 🤞🏻

Glad to hear you’re ok.

11

Norm Macdonald 1959-2021

by neat blue dog in

any other fans of norm macdonald here?

i think this is the only time where i actually felt a celebrity death.

what a loss.

Pete Zahut

I don't know this guy at all, but after watching him for just 5 mins I can tell that's one of his jokes!

When I heard him tell the story it was in an interview and the topic came up spontaneously in the conversation and he indicated that it actually happened. Not that it matters but he came off as a bit creepy at the time, the way he told it...seemed proud of himself. The interviewer asked him is he was worried that his friend would catch him and he said no, because all he had to do was listen for the the mower to shut off.

11

Norm Macdonald 1959-2021

by neat blue dog in

any other fans of norm macdonald here?

i think this is the only time where i actually felt a celebrity death.

what a loss.

Pete Zahut

His comedy definitely came from an obscure way of seeing things. He was known to be quite quirky, didn't drive, was a compulsive gambler who lost all of his money 3 times and had all sorts of hang ups.

I used to think he was an interesting guy until I heard him tell a story about how he had slept with his best friends wife while his friend was outside mowing the lawn. He figured as long as he could hear the lawn mower running he, would be safe.

I didn't like him as much after hearing that story.

23

Anyone have an obvious gay or lesbian in the congregation?

by mickbobcat in

when i was a kid we had a kh with a basement and this guy joe winestien lived in it.

he has passed away i believe.

he was about 24 and used to hang around the young boys.

Pete Zahut

There was a very flamboyant/eccentric effeminate skinny (kinda' creepy) older man in our Congregation who was a wealthy hairdresser and was married to an elderly non JW woman. He admitted that he was attracted to both men and women and unbelievably was somehow DF'd several times for carrying on with both sexes. The last time I knew of, he was in his high 70's and was involved in a car accident in the wee hours of the morning while drinking and driving and his young female passenger ( a bar-maid) was injured and he had a stroke. He recovered but eventually he died of old age and l understand he left a lot of his money to different collection of young single brothers he had befriended over the years.

There was a boy in our Hall who was an elders son and he was a sweet kid but was more like a girl than a boy and stayed that way as he grew up. In his late teens, much to everyones surprise, he got engaged to a very nice heavyset girl at the Hall and his father was over the moon about it. When he told us about the engagement, he said "Yes...he is a Man after all !!"

They couple got married. He with his dyed blonde hair and she in an enormous white wedding dress. We wondered who would carry the bouquet. Unbelievably, they soon had a son but not surprisingly, they ended up getting divorced a few years later. Over the years he was shunned by his family. He eventually married another man and he is a very nice person but is still unbelievably effeminate, so much that you have to wonder if he's mentally "all there". He and his gay husband and his former wife (who remained single) and their now grown son (who is also gay) are all on good terms and seem to be doing well. Decades later, the Elder father passed away so now his mother and the rest of his family are back in contact with he and his gay family members. They seem to be making things work.

You can't make this stuff up.

8

Just changed out the summer quilts.

by GrreatTeacher in

jw
friends

i just washed all my summer quilts and put them away for the season.

i brought out the thicker and heavier winter quilts and put them on the beds.. i love patchwork quilts and have a couple of heirloom ones actually made out of the scraps of old family clothes.

my mom can point to a fabric and say," oh, that was a dress of mine when i was little," or, "that was my mother's apron.".

Pete Zahut

Summer aint' over till I say it's over !

13

Empty hands

by Gorb in

jw
friends

.

Pete Zahut

I wonder if Jehovah would accept some fresh eggs, a chicken or some home grown vegetables?

25

I have never been to Las Vegas.

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i would like to visit las vegas one day.

if you have a choice, would you want to live there?

low humidity sounds good to me.

Pete Zahut

I have family in Vegas and they like it well enough and I wouldn't hate living there. There are some nice residential areas just outside of the main downtown area. The strip is a bit much in terms of being gaudy and overwhelming with lights and glitz. With Covid, the hotels/casios were offering expensive hotel rooms/meals for drastically reduced prices so the low rent ghetto out of town visitors came there on the rampage bringing all their behavioral problems with them, while the more normal tourists had the sense to stay away. There are things to do other than gambling (rollercoasters, stage shows, water slides, sightseeing in and outside of town etc)

They are having serious water shortages this year and with "global warming" they expect it to get worse. The Colorado river is fed from snow runoff from the Rocky Mountains and powers the Hoover Dam and feeds Lake Mead which is the water reservoir Vegas uses. It is currently at 36% of it's capacity and they don't expect it will ever get completely full again because of the lack of snow in the rockies. Water restrictions are in effect.