James Thomas Rook Jr.

Trees have that.

The reason it is referred to a "dead reckoning", is that often ... you were killed doing it.

Not necessarily ... I used to be a pretty good detective, and I can see a few loose ends that need to be tied up and resolved before your statement would be correct. I think your judgement is premature or possibly wrong for any number of legitimate reasons. Some based in fact, some based in human perceptions. My considered opinion is that he is just wrong ... but I may not know everything there is to know. According to best available (AVAILABLE !!) evidence, I am correct, or, with the full expectation that every word I speak will be (and should be) challenged emphatically ... I would have not made the statements. As Marvin Webster sez: "Y'all think about it!"

I really GREAT movie is the 2000 "Longitude", by the A&E Channel, which explains the development of how, for the first time, it was possible to determine accurate Longitude, for open ocean navigation. I have the movie, and the book it was based on, also a magnificent read. Latitude was able to be determined for thousands of years with just a plumb bob line, and a protractor, looking at the sun or stars, but " This movie follows John Harrison's (Sir Michael Gambon's) quest to find the key to determining longitude. In the eighteenth century, the problem of measuring longitude confounded scientists, sailors and politicians. In 1707, unable to determine their exact location through a thick fog, two thousand men of the British fleet perished by accidentally running into the rocks off of the Scilly Islands. As a result of this tragedy, in 1714, British Parliament passed the Act of Longitude to offer an enormous cash prize to the person who could solve the problem of longitude. A carpenter by trade, Harrison believed that the solution lied in finding a way to measure time accurately, going against many of the scientists of the day, who felt that the mystery would be solved through celestial navigation. Harrison designs and creates four increasingly refined timekeepers. This work takes him through thirty years of struggle and determination (not only his, but his family's, friends', and allies' as well) to solve what was referred to as the "greatest scientific problem of the time." Along the way, he faces the animosity and interference of many of the celestial navigation proponents. —PetrinaC <cubit@aol.com> " ...only the second time in history, a carpenter stunned the world, and made it better.

If you are interested, I have the complete series of "Master and Commander" books on "audio tape", actually in MP3 format. I think it is 22 books.. I could send them to you on an SD card, if you like.... The movie was really good, also, and might fit on the card.

So .... what do you actually do for excitement?

That is not what the Watchtower Lawyer told the courts, or what is stated in the 1997 letter to all Elders, on page 3 ... of my last post that had a .jpg of the blue envelope.

"Where can you find security in this world?" As I sit here typing my phone sits beside me, with the message "Tornado warning - TAKE COVER NOW !!" I am listening to WBT radio on the internet, and there is a tornado 7 miles from where I sit, one is over Charlotte, and one is about 20 miles North of Charlotte, and South of me in South Carolina there is tornadoe(s), massive lightning setting fires to buildings, and buildings have been destroyed, and people are trapped in their cars with trees and live electrical wires on top. People are advised not to get onto Interstate 85 as there is no place to hide if the Tornadoes pass over the freeways I didn't think about it too much, as there is a LOT of space, and I take up very little I consider the expectation of "security" an unreasonable fantasy, leading to unnecessary anxiety, fear, and poor mental health. "STUFF HAPPENS" ...get used to it PS: If there is a war going on, best not to all huddle in a room packed with people ... The bad guys might splash gasoline on the doors, and set the thing on fire. PPS: If you don't hear from me again, you will know what happened.

yikes!

TTH: I am just repeating what I learned from the internet, but one of those sources was watching the Australian Royal Commission Hearings No. 29, and 52, which emphasized that CSA reports were sent to N.Y. in "special" blue envelopes. I have read about that in several disparate sources, and seen video recordings, and read court transcripts, which all indicated that CSA reporting was done in "special" blue envelopes. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I don't think so ... No one ever mentioned that they were used for "normal" submissions, always referring to then as "special" blue envelopes, or merely as "blue envelopes". I listen very carefully, making mental pictures as I listen, or read, and I have a lifetime of experience creating documents (drawings, specifications, reports, and other engineering documents ..) so details are important.to me ... making me a pest in normal human conversations. People tend to resent being cross examined for details and minutia, which is necessary to build a sharp mental picture. Perhaps you could ask your Congregation Secretary? Here is a representative example of "blue envelope" references. This one from "The Atlantic", by Douglas Quenqua, April 3, 2019, referring to a Watchtower Lawyer referred to CSA reporting as "blue envelopes". UPDATE: I found the original letter to Congregations about the "special blue envelopes", so here it is, directly from "the horse's mouth", so to speak. The "Special Blue" envelope is called for on Page 3 of the letter to all bodies of Elders. (pdf file attached). SPECIAL BLUE ENVELOPES .pdf ======================================================

....since this is an open forum, and many do NOT have the slightest clue what you are talking about, how about a hint? ... and I don't think thunder has any steel, and why would one want to steel ones' own thunder, whatever that means?

I for one, have cut my contributions back to about 1/3 of what I normally intend to contribute. My wife and her mother left the Catholic Church forever because the priests could not stay zippered ... and I am sure many here on this forum, such as yourself, have already voted with their feet.

You are wrong, TTH. The blue envelopes were ONLY for CSA reporting. Isabella is correct. "Normal" disfellowshipping reporting to central control is done on a standard form. If you have some references to the contrary, please provide them, and I will beg your humble pardon.... when they are checked out.

Looking at the photos, it seems they have removed the three diving boards mounted to the roof parapet. (Old Timers will understand the joke ....)

Works fine posted here. ...... seems to have been in the wrong Que.

Very, very sad. His radio show has been on for 31 years now, and he transformed AM radio, I have been listening to him since 1988, quasi religiously ... and it always bothered me that he was a cigar aficionado. He is the "Paladin" of Talk Radio ... and it was equally distressing to me when I learned Richard Boone, who played Paladin, in the TV series "Have Gun-Will Travel" was also a heavy off screen smoker, and died of esophageal cancer.

I can see that this would be a good thing ... after all, we are a global family and should take care of each other. I just hate to see it done by confiscation of local congregations' hard earned assets, with absolutely no financial accounting for the massive amount of monies that will, as far as we will be able to tell ... just.....disappear. To us here at the bottom, it will all be a "military secret", and to even ask about it will be viewed as reprehensible. This has been tried many dozens of times in secular societies all over the world, from the old Soviet Union, to Cuba, to the many communist countries all over , the most recent classic failure being Venezuela.... and the result has always been the same. Yes.... they were successful in equalizing everything ... very soon everyone was living at the same level of poverty, and the mountains of money confiscated always seemed to mysteriously disappear. No one will ever ask our opinions, or give an accounting for these massive money transfers, or even audit the process. At least not that the Brotherhood at the bottom will ever be able to see. The only thing they will be able to do ... is vote with their wallets .... .... and their feet.

More to the point ... what am I supposed to do now, when my favorite Chinese Buffet has a small army of undocumented Chinese waitresses?

.... probably the random synapse discharges from the neurons of a dying mind.

If someone stops buying your stuff ... sell to somebody else. This should not reduce production ... it only increases the marketing costs to new customers. Of course with SOME items, the ONLY people that buy those products are Americans. I am thinking of "Novelty Shop" photorealistic rubber or plastic imitation dog poop, and imitation vomit.

I am not interested in survival at any cost ... it did not bother me one wit the 4-1/2 billion years before I was born ... and after I am dead, I strongly suspect I will not be upset about that for longer than about four minutes. I have found that those who serve God as a mechanism to try and live forever have TOTALLY missed the point of why we should serve God. A coward dies a thousand deaths, the valiant only once.

Even Jesus stayed on the "old leaky boat", until it was time for the launch of the "new boat".

There is a 26% chance everything will turn out just fine. Also, this is texas!.wmv

Resolutions that are non binding, are useless, and have no value. That is why they make LAWS. ...there is a difference.

I understand these principles better than you do, Witness It is clear to me that in Jesus' time on Earth, the system of theology practiced by the Jews he fulfilled without exception, until it was God's time to change it, The Jewish System had the EXACT same problems we do today in Christian Congregational arrangement. Such are the limitations of we poor souls, made of DNA, and dust. We are just big ugly bags of mostly water, but the fact of the matter is ... that is the best we are capable of.as humans, of which I have a realistic expectation of little or nothing. If you know a global Christian Congregational Arrangement that does NOT have these common problems,, and still has a core of pure Truth, let me know, and when verified, I will abandon what I have and switch to what you have discovered. Until then, your opinions as expressed are irrelevant hyperbole, and I will wait in expectation, content that loyalty to God, common sense, and Truth (where I find it), will be enough to "make do".