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We were too poor for potatoes. Besides, what’s the fun of things that make flames and go BOOM! unless you can (somewhat safely) shoot each other with them?

Back in my day, all we had to play with was paper towel tubes, ping pong balls, duct tape, hairspray and a lighter. Wonder what these do-gooders would think about the toys we came up with?!?!?!

Personally, I like FWD sports cars and AWD sports cars.
These people mentioned in this article are prolly used to such cars and then have the same problem I do with RWD (but I am learning). I wrecked a Ford GT by stomping on the gas pedal. Went around and around in circles before slamming into a wall.

I have a couple of Porsches, a handful of high-end Japanese production cars (my favorite one is my modified MR2 that has a top speed of ~180 and enormous acceralation and superb handling), a souped up MINI, and quite a few American “muscle cars” in my garage. And also a few built-just-for racing cars. Got a Maserati race car the other day.

Not to be bragging or anything, but I’ve got a little over 2mil in my car account to buy and play with my cars.

So I guess you could say I’m a big fan of high performance cars.

I pray for these little babies. And I also pray that God will show the doctors a way to ensure survival of 6 or even 8 babies conceived at a time in the future .... cause God knows when I get married I’m slipping fertility drugs into my wife’s food. I think a litter at a time (with follow up litters) would be very cool.

anybody know what it takes to call a Constitutional Convention?

Oh, one last thing since when I posted to you I had totally forgotten the context of this thread:

JW’s are VERY dogmatic on the use of “Jehovah” as God’s name. I actually had a long-time JW ask me, knowing that I was out of “The Truth” (that is what they call the JW org) who I prayed to. I told her Yahweh. Her response was, “then your praying to the wrong God!”

I kid you not.

Well, the point I was making was that Jesus, or I believe it is technically Y'shua, was printed in greek and therefore we have the vowels to guide us in the pronunciation of it.

The name of Jesus itself did not contain the full Tetragrammaton, therefore it does not help much in discovering the true pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.

Now, as to why "Y" has been turned into "J", I don't know. That is out of my league. For example, this quandry does not end there. Hallelujah is pronounced "Yah", and of course means "Praise Yah", which is biblically a name that I think David used first (Yud Heh ... the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton). But then some will say it means "Praise Jah" .... which is, of course, not how it is pronounced in the word. So, you got me on why the J or Y is used. But hey, whats dos it all matter? If He is omniscient and merciful, then I would have to say He hears you no matter what you use and isn't going to hold it against you for pronuncing a J like a J or a Y like a Y. I hope anyway :-)

Thank you. And my father would prolly agree with you at times :-)

I’m not totally for sure, but it might be that ancient aramaic/greek had vowels whereas ancient hebrew had none. Therefore, Yud Heh Vav Heh or YHVH (someone correct me if wrong) could be pronounced many different ways and with varying amounts of syllables due to the unknown vowels and amount of those unknown vowels. Therefore, the closest that most people agree on the pronunciation is Yahweh.

Your right. I am sorry. I have lost much to this organization and wish nothing more then to see them exposed for what they are. And you, from my own rage, got caught in the crossfire. I am truly sorry.

Of course you won't. I'm a JDub apostate. ...and proud of it!

Nice people? Sure.

Nice org? Well, read some accounts on the web. The man whose wife died because they refused an organ transplant (org's rules) and 6 months later Jehovah gave the org "new light" on organ transplants.

Or the kids who go bat-shit crazy because they can't keep the org's rules, and figure they are going to die in Armageddon (which is any minute now) which will result in their permament death (eternal unconsciousness) so they do every damn thing that will give them a cheap thrill and damn the consequences.

Or the couple in our congregation who didn't have work on their teeth done because Armageddon was coming too soon ...this was in the 70s! (the failed 1975 prediction).

Or the people relegated to minimum wage jobs because college was "frowned on" or "discouraged" or whatever weasel words you and the org want to use.

Or the elderly that don't have any money because of the org's other failed predictions. Like the man who spent what money he had and moved to Belize "to help out where the need [door-to-door witnessing] is greater". Great plan, since the org had said repeatedly in the 70s and 80s that the generation of 1914 would not die out before the "End" came. So the org predicted 1994 as the max (average upper lifespan = 80 + 1914). So he could see that he had the money to live until then.

Of course, 1995 came and "new light" from Jehovah said it was *not* a literal generation, and the org then proceeded to blame a mysterious third party in "Jehovah's organization" for "speculating" about the end time (quote: "some in Jehovah's organization have speculated at times about the End Time..."). Even though it really was the org that had convinced everyone, and it was NOT EVER, NEVER printed as "speculation", but rather as FACT from God Himself.

So now that man is broke and too old to work.

BTW, that man is my father.

Your memory of the rules and regulations is either dimmed from the time apart, are you a shill. I wouldn't be surprised if you were part of a team at WT headquarters trying to combat the overwhelming amount of negative articles on the web about them. After all, didn't even Abraham 'bend the truth' a little for a greater cause?

Artemis, you are flat out wrong on many of the things you said:

21. Artemis, you are wrong. There was a flap, whether real or imaginary, going around JW circles in the early 80s. Apparently, a bunch of JDubs went to a John Denver concert, he knew they were there, asked them to stand, and then started to play the national anthem. Whether real or imaginary, this shows the mindset on this issue.

23. This depends on wht turns out to be rural versus city congregations. Rural tends to be much more fundy.

24. Technically true, but “suggestions” made by the org have the same weight as “suggestions” in the bible (because the org is “God’s Sole Channel of Communication”). You most likely will be considered “weak” and semi-shunned.

26. See #24

44. Again, see #24.

47. Never heard this one, buit wouldn’t doubt it in a more fundy congregation.

49. Artemis, what you say is absolutely positively not true. See www.silentlambs.org .... then again, maybe the org has had “new light” from Jehovah since the Catholics have had problems with pedophiles. They usually get “new light” when a member of Satan’s churches (saracasm) starts to have legal problems in an area. This is why the Watchtower and Awake are now given away (with an expected donation) instead of charged a quarter each. I think it was Billy Grahm’ org that started coming under fire from a state for not collecting sales tax. The JDub org filed a friend of the court brief when it went to th supreme court. Billy Grahm, or whoever it was, lost, and Voila! “New light” from Jehovah says donations are the way to go.

50. Many JDubs consider the annual convention their “vacation”. But not a requirement to forgoe vacations in general.

51. No, that is absolutely true. A sports car is considered “flashy display of one’s means” and not practical for door-to-door work. A two door compact is just not practical for door-to-door work. Going out in “service” is a consideration in buying a car, Artemis.

54. Artemis is right.

57. My mom started wondering about the org when a “sister” in our congregation asked her privately if Jehovah was OK with the fact that she (the “sister”) had oral sex with her husband. While not a “list” exists, oral prolly still falls under sodomy. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

58. What Artemis says is true. Their version of “confession”. They judge whether your repentant or not.

60. Artemis, where are you posting from?!?!? The Watchtower headquarters in brooklyn?!?!??! Apostate material is STRICTLY forbidden!

63. Who knows? It wouldn’t surprise me in a more fundy congregation.

66. Most don’t. Crap, just drive around and see for yourself.

71. Hmm.... EVERYONE must submit to the elders. Unless the elder is “weak in the faith”; then again he will get bounced from being an elder if so :-)

79 & 80. While what Artemis says is true, they dont live/think that way. For example, the overwhelming fear of Satan and demons can invade your home from used furniture from like garage sales (heard this one from my bro-in-law elder, and he is in one of the more “liberal” city congregations). They seem to gloss over scriptures like “He who is in you is greater then he in the world” .... or however that scripture goes.

88. Equal in the sense He “corrected” the scales. But they do not belive He was God. Rather, most likely Michael the Archangel. And He was not raised bodily {sigh}.

95. Artemis, must be “new light” you are speaking of. There was a big flap in my area when an elder worked on the A/C of a church (he was in the A/C business).

While what you are saying is alot of admittedly gray areas, and the printed materials might not be direct about it, as the son of an elder who became a missionary for them, I can tell you alot of the “do’s and don’ts” come down verbally from headquarters. But your reply to #60 just shocks the hell out of me. That one is in no way a “gray area”. Also, “generally frowned upon” and “suggested” mean the same thing: requirements. You will be thought of as “weak”. You may have “shepherding calls” from the elders. You will be semi-shunned (not “officially”, mind you) so that others don’t get your cooties.

How can they not be requirements when the average JDub thinks the org speaks for the Almighty himself?!?!?!

As someone who was born and raised a JW, and who is now a born again Christian, let me say: “RUN LIKE F%#!NG HELL!”

If she is starting to doubt them, good, but if she was born in it, then it will take a good 10 years or so until she is mentally free from it. Trust me on that... I know how long it took me. And until she is free, she will be just waiting to die in Armageddon, which could happen at any minute now, because “they” say so.

Of course, the Lord can work wonders. I’ve made much more progress in two years then I did the previous 10. And that is, and was, all Him. The Real Him.

Perhaps she is starting to doubt. Perhaps you can help her that way. But until you have dealt with a mind control cult personally, you simply don’t know what you are getting yourself into. Pray, and pray hard. And let His will be done.

I never said Sony would not allow porn on blu-ray.... I said blu-ray burning companies that are financed by Sony, or a subsidary of Sony, will not burn porn onto blu-ray for the "adult" porn companies. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9008579

1. I'll accept it's too speculatory.

2. per disc of a few nickels or dimes? That adds up awfully quickly. A few million here and a few million there, and before you know it, we are talking real money.

3. No, it's not the trade group... it is any Sony financed Blu Ray producer. Sony themselves will not burn the discs with pr0n, and they will not let anybody they are financially linked to burn them either.

What?!? I've got 106 inches at 720p!!! What about me?

I dont agree with the notion that Blu-ray will win. Two reasons, with a possible third:

1) The name. The consumer is being hit with 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, LCD, plasma, DLP, OLED, front-projection, rear projection, dolby surround, dolby surround II, digital audio, component, HDMI, etc, etc. In all of this, "Blu-Ray
" or "HD-DVD". Average consumer can already relate to terms "DVD" and the term "HD" added to it, therefore a point in favor of it.

2) My understanding is that average DVD manufacturing can be modified to make HD-DVD, hence per-unit costs will be lower then blu-ray who I understand have to completely have new rigs to burn the discs in mass quantities.

3) Possible problem: Sony will NOT allow companies financed by, or linked to, Sony to put out porn (no pun intended) on the blu-ray. Has to be done by independent companies, with which porn's greed margin, see #2. Not to mention they are tied up with legit movies.

One last thing. If you have to make a choice of one or the other, it might help to know what kind of console, if any, you had before. I hav the original xbox, and i think Halo and Halo2 are actually more fun on the 360 due to the better controller (addition of bumper buttons). However, the nintendo gamecube's discs will work with the wii and the controllers will plug into it as well.

And now for my "street" cred: Halo on Legendary ("hold me!") and Halo 2 on Heroic. Forza moto is also my interest. Gears of War in 10.5 hours, now on to the medium level (cant remember name of level).

35 years old .... jeez, I would be embarrased if it wasn't for the fact that I head a tech company and all these games I play I am usually playing with employees. And we still have Quake 3 lan parties on the compnay's lan and workstations :-)

BTW, Ladies, I am available ;-)

I have xbox 360 and the wii. The wii sucks for first person shooters, the 360 does it great ...especially gears of war, which while technically is not a first person, still kicks massive ace and i would put up there with Halo 1 in well-designed gameplay.

The wii is a blast for family fun goofy games. I played the darn thing for two hours the first night I had it with the included wii sports, and was sore for two days from the jumping around. And being able to download classics like Super Mario is cool.

Xbox live is just awesome. No matter if sony gets their act together on the cell processor or not for the graphics handling, Xbox live stomps ace. All aces are pwned! by MS in the online arena.

Now for resolution. I have a 1024/768 DLP projector onto a 16x9 106" screen. I had to make a Wii wireless "sensor bar" since the included one has about 6 feet of cord to the main console. Bad mistake on nintendo's part. However, with a half-ace soldering gun, a half ace understanding of electronics, and a stubborn ace attitude (and 6 bucks worth of infrared LED's), I am now operational whle playing 10-15 feet from the screen.

However, the wii will not put out anything above 480p, and you need the optional s-video connection for that (comes standard with composite). But this doesnt really matter much, because of the "cutesy" factor of the games that are a blast with the wii. The xbox will put out 1080p as of the october firmware update, but my projector will only support 720p. But not to worry, even that surpasses the graphics off my dual core media center box with the latest generation graphics card (albeit one of the cheaper latest gens) doing Half-Life 2: Lost Coast or F.E.A.R.

Sound-wise, the Wii only does Dolby Surround. Xbox does glorious 5.1 digital.

Long and short: for high def late teen / adult games, xbox 360. for kids and goofy games that WILL get you and them addicted (not to mention LOTS of exercise), the Wii is the way to go.

I would definitely recommend both.