ForumGarden

I had always taken that as a reflection that they're a closed community.

LarsMac;1530272 wrote:

They ae not pacifists in the strictest sense, perhaps, but they have long objected to taking part in the warfare.


I had always taken that as a reflection that they're a closed community.

spot;1530280 wrote: I had always taken that as a reflection that they're a closed community.And they're chickensh!t.

Ahso!;1530289 wrote: And they're chickensh!t.


Not in the slightest. I would also refuse to "serve" in any armed force because I believe armed forces enable governments and salesmen to further their own interests at the expense of their foreign victims. Societal adulation of the resulting Warrior cult, and the tribal nationalism which accompanies it, is both laughable and embarrassing.

spot;1530293 wrote: Not in the slightest. I would also refuse to "serve" in any armed force because I believe armed forces enable governments and salesmen to further their own interests at the expense of their foreign victims. Societal adulation of the resulting Warrior cult, and the tribal nationalism which accompanies it, is both laughable and embarrassing.Your reasons and theirs are not the same. Religious cults require both a warrior's mentality (spiritual warfare) and tribalism.

Hmmmm.....the word "cult" . I've been a part of both the Catholic church and the Jw's and to be honest, the Catholic church is (if you want to call it as a cult) is far more cultish than the Jw's. And I've known many of both religions. Jw's live within the world but not part of it. but when you think about it. if you thought a particular area of society wasn't to your taste you'd seperate yourself from it as well. And they put up with a lot. It's a form of bullying really to suggest a label and sum a person. religion. race with one word. And then say that's the whole story. I don't know. If I was to choose I'd much prefer a human who has the tendency to reject harming others and gains nothing from it than follow somone who who has an agenda to protect.

All religions are cults.

Ahso!;1530302 wrote: Your reasons and theirs are not the same. Religious cults require both a warrior's mentality (spiritual warfare) and tribalism.


Do you believe in the fundimental right of freedom of religion? Freedom of identity and freedom of self?

magentaflame;1530312 wrote: Do you believe in the fundimental right of freedom of religion? Freedom of identity and freedom of self?Whether I do or don't doesn't mean religions aren't cults.

Actually....here's another example. Say someone blew the Jw head office in America. The reaction to that would be ...great we're being persecuted again.But Jw's all over the world would rebuild it. Ever wondered why nobody has ever ventured to blow up the vatican? That would be a whole new level of tribalism unseen in our lifetime. It would put fundamentilist muslims to shame. lol

It's all absurd. but that's our planet for ya. lol

magentaflame;1530310 wrote: Hmmmm.....the word "cult" . I've been a part of both the Catholic church and the Jw's and to be honest, the Catholic church is (if you want to call it as a cult) is far more cultish than the Jw's. And I've known many of both religions. Jw's live within the world but not part of it. but when you think about it. if you thought a particular area of society wasn't to your taste you'd seperate yourself from it as well. And they put up with a lot. It's a form of bullying really to suggest a label and sum a person. religion. race with one word. And then say that's the whole story. I don't know. If I was to choose I'd much prefer a human who has the tendency to reject harming others and gains nothing from it than follow somone who who has an agenda to protect.


You know, if it weren't for the staggering extent of sexual abuse which goes hand in hand with religious leadership in both Roman and JW congregations, I'd be a bit less critical of their reason for existence.

I have no doubt there's nothing cowardly about the refusal to accept military conscription, or even transfusions, but there's a fundamental idiocy about believing in any external spiritual authority which has to be obeyed. That's just hocus pocus mind control on the part of the elders, and if the Russians choose to persecute that then I've no objection at all.

I set out from Bristol 20 hours ago to get to Penzance by train, and I'm now just approaching Exeter which is meant to be a one hour leg. Nobody in this country could organize a piss-up in a brewery, all we have is employment for the sake of employment and very few people actually doing any useful work - certainly not if they have anything to do with the railways.

We had a strong wind, apparently. Some fool left a tree too close to an overhead line. A bunch more fools took hours too long to correct the initial error. No trains leaving Bristol got any passengers at all into Cornwall for the whole of yesterday, I'm told.

What I want is a matter transporter gate at every bus-stop in the country, and I want it this year, and I want it cheaper than the current misbegotten public transport system which operates in failure mode far too often. Nobody in Victorian England would have tolerated this degree of incompetence.

In the US, soldiers of the past would go to war and die for God and Country. Today it's different for the most part. Today it's a team-styled chant of 'USA! USA! USA!'

Not that any of that should be surprising because our military indoctrination masters began to note decades ago the decline of religion and so they began to mix sports with the religion as a failsafe. Since the 80's they've gone pedal to the medal with gender as well. So many of today's superheroes, dogooders, and villains in movies and books are female. That has been their response to feminism.

spot;1530324 wrote: I set out from Bristol 20 hours ago to get to Penzance by train, and I'm now just approaching Exeter which is meant to be a one hour leg. Nobody in this country could organize a piss-up in a brewery, all we have is employment for the sake of employment and very few people actually doing any useful work - certainly not if they have anything to do with the railways.

We had a strong wind, apparently. Some fool left a tree too close to an overhead line. A bunch more fools took hours too long to correct the initial error. No trains leaving Bristol got any passengers at all into Cornwall for the whole of yesterday, I'm told.

What I want is a matter transporter gate at every bus-stop in the country, and I want it this year, and I want it cheaper than the current misbegotten public transport system which operates in failure mode far too often. Nobody in Victorian England would have tolerated this degree of incompetence.


I assumed no trains were getting past the coast at Dawlish, I assume winds were too high to allow trains onto the bridge crossing the Tamar? what was the reason for nothing to be running in Cornwall at all? Why couldn't they run buses out of Plymouth to Saltash and run the train from there?

I will add, it has been bloody rough! The wind has been relentless and the rain at times was biblical. The thunder and lightning was so close this morning it tripped all my electrics and caused a whole cafe of people to jump out of their skins.

spot;1530324 wrote: I set out from Bristol 20 hours ago to get to Penzance by train, and I'm now just approaching Exeter which is meant to be a one hour leg. Nobody in this country could organize a piss-up in a brewery, all we have is employment for the sake of employment and very few people actually doing any useful work - certainly not if they have anything to do with the railways.

We had a strong wind, apparently. Some fool left a tree too close to an overhead line. A bunch more fools took hours too long to correct the initial error. No trains leaving Bristol got any passengers at all into Cornwall for the whole of yesterday, I'm told.

What I want is a matter transporter gate at every bus-stop in the country, and I want it this year, and I want it cheaper than the current misbegotten public transport system which operates in failure mode far too often. Nobody in Victorian England would have tolerated this degree of incompetence.


Ha, in last twelve months we've had all trains stop because it's too hot, meaning the tracks were buckling.

We had trains stop because the tracks were too slippery during and after rain....I kid you not.

My suggestion, the reason being, we've been making our train wheels and tracks from chinese steel. (but apparently I'm not allowed to say that)

Well, we have been having blizzard conditions for the last week, and the only highway across the state is being regularly shutdown due to either Avalanches, or Avalanch Mitigation activities by the DOT.

Meanwhile, another part of the State is reporting Drought conditions due to the lack of precipitation.

Good thing Trump has assured us that Climate Change is a hoax.

Betty Boop;1530333 wrote: what was the reason for nothing to be running in Cornwall at all?


Among other things, the county lost signalling yesterday because of the storm so nothing could move West of Plymouth.

The BBC has a news item about a lying scoundrel called "Conservative MP and former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson", whoever that might be.

Claim: UK fishermen were "throwing back a million tonnes of fish dead" every year because of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), according to Conservative MP Owen Paterson.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51415240




So, here we go. Numbers. UK government statistics, the latest I can find, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fish ... -published

UK vessels landed 724 thousand tonnes of sea fish into the UK and abroad during 2017.

(and UK fleet landings abroad rose to 290 thousand tonnes so therefore, out of interest but irrelevantly, UK fleet landings in the UK amounted to 434 thousand tonnes).

100000/1724%? I think that's right?

So, of all the fish caught by UK fishermen, 58% are thrown back into the sea dead before the ship docks, being "unwanted or undersized"?

Absolute utter claptrap, Mr Patterson. Go and boil your head, you're a disgrace to your calling.

By all means show me an alternative improved source for the size of the UK fleet's catch, someone.

Using a knife and fork on finger food

Nieves Barragán Mohacho, Sabor, London

“If this irritates me, it’s only because I want guests to enjoy the food. For example, if they try to eat pan con tomate with a knife and fork, we say: ‘No, just get it in your hands and get into it,’ and they love it. Peeling prawns is the same. You don’t get extremely messy and who cares? You can wash your hands.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/f ... nrage-them






opps.

I must agree with Sr Mohacho.

I cooked up a nice meal of Southern Fried Chicken and Corn on the Cob, a while back.

They asked for FORKS!!!!

You don't eat Fried Chicken with a FORK!!!

You don't eat Corn on the Cob with a FORK!

I'll never invite those people to dinner again!

Hilary Mantel has just put out the third of her Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, eight years after the second.

I do like this bit of a review: According to the Standard's Melanie McDonagh, Mantel's "remarkable" achievement is to have turned "one of the biggest bastards in English history... into a living, sympathetic, almost admirable, human being".

I saw the mini-series based on her book.

I think I will get the book for my kindle, to read on my flight back home next week.

spot;1530864 wrote: Hilary Mantel has just put out the third of her Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, eight years after the second.

I do like this bit of a review: According to the Standard's Melanie McDonagh, Mantel's "remarkable" achievement is to have turned "one of the biggest bastards in English history... into a living, sympathetic, almost admirable, human being".


I hated the first book, had to read it for Uni. I won't be reading any others.

Betty Boop;1530893 wrote: I hated the first book, had to read it for Uni. I won't be reading any others.


What? No pictures?

spot;1530864 wrote: Hilary Mantel has just put out the third of her Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, eight years after the second.

I do like this bit of a review: According to the Standard's Melanie McDonagh, Mantel's "remarkable" achievement is to have turned "one of the biggest bastards in English history... into a living, sympathetic, almost admirable, human being".


Something about "Sympathy for the Devil" comes to mind. Though I am certain that history has seen much bigger bastards that the good Mr Cromwell. Even in Jolly Ol' England.

spot;1530902 wrote: What? No pictures?


That terrible joke is worthy of an infraction.

It wouldn't be my first.

I was banned twice, if I remember. While admin.

spot;1530864 wrote: Hilary Mantel has just put out the third of her Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, eight years after the second.

I do like this bit of a review: According to the Standard's Melanie McDonagh, Mantel's "remarkable" achievement is to have turned "one of the biggest bastards in English history... into a living, sympathetic, almost admirable, human being".


This from today's Guardian -

Mantel has hardly been alone in bringing new literary complexity to historical fiction. Yet she has done something singular. She gives us not just circumstantial accuracy (the clothes, the food, the manners) but fastidious narrative exactitude. Almost every named character is someone that we know existed, exactly in that time and place. Every episode fits the historical record. Academic historians may not like her take on Sir Thomas More – a cold fanatic in Wolf Hall – but they dispute with her as with a fellow expert. She has freed the historical novel from any condescension, but she has also set a stern precedent. It seems an impossible act to follow.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/ ... al-fiction

I am almost ashamed to admit that apart from the first Wolf Hall book, most of those authors mentioned I haven't read.

Oh come on be serious. Sieg Heil, Puma.

How could they do that.

LarsMac;1530673 wrote:

You don't eat Corn on the Cob with a FORK!


How is that even possible?

spot;1531204 wrote: Oh come on be serious. Sieg Heil, Puma.

How could they do that.




That took me a second to see...g heil.

If anyone ever wondered whether boxing can induce brain injury, I strongly recommend Billy Joe Saunders has boxing licence suspended after domestic abuse 'advice' video

In the video, Saunders uses a punch bag to explain how to react if "your old woman is giving you mouth" and showing how to "hit her on the chin".

He later apologised, saying he would "never condone domestic violence".

[...] Saunders added: "I didn't mean for anyone to get upset about it. There are people dying all around the world with coronavirus and I was just trying to take the heat off that a little bit. It clearly hasn't done, my sense of humour is not everyone's cup of tea."




That's what boxing does to you, kids. Just say no.

So, trying to shop online to follow the new stay at home/shelter in place plan the state is pushing.

Toilet paper - In store only.

Disinfectant - In store only

----- WTF?

LarsMac;1531766 wrote: So, trying to shop online to follow the new stay at home/shelter in place plan the state is pushing.

Toilet paper - In store only.

Disinfectant - In store only

----- WTF?


Perhaps you have mistakenly believed decision-makers are rational intelligent people?

spot;1531767 wrote: Perhaps you have mistakenly believed decision-makers are rational intelligent people?


Nope. I know better.

Went to pick up a prescription for daughter today at the local hospital. Got to the door, and, they had a logjam just inside the door where they ask you if you have been in contact with sick people, or have a cough or headache. So everybody is jammed up waiting to get their temperature checked.

Then, of course, once inside, guess what door you have to use to get back out.

Yup, right past, or through the crowd of people coming in, waiting to get the questions.

I'm not one to demean foreign heads of state but if Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro meets the same end as Mussolini, whom he resembles more and more, I shall be neither surprised nor shocked.

And here's why staying at home on lockdown is a dangerous occupation...

Alastair Brown, a plastic surgeon at Ulster hospital in Belfast, noted that injuries relating to power tools, lawnmowers and even bicycle maintenance were among those being dealt with, adding that treating individuals for such injuries – which has included amputations – is putting pressure on the healthcare service.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... tes-latest

spot;1531767 wrote: perhaps you have mistakenly believed decision-makers are rational intelligent people?




Note...Hey! I made the smilies work!

I predict a friends cull on facebook, the bashing of the Chinese is getting scary now.

Betty Boop;1531925 wrote: I predict a friends cull on facebook, the bashing of the Chinese is getting scary now.


I do hope the bashers are at least vegan, they'd be somewhat hypocritical otherwise.

spot;1531926 wrote: I do hope the bashers are at least vegan, they'd be somewhat hypocritical otherwise.


not one of them is, what they are is closet racists. Examples are

'when this is all over make sure you only buy British, we're the only trustworthy ones'

'Made in Italy clothing brand caused the outbreak in Lombardy region due to them using cheap Chinese manufacturing in Wuhan and encouraging the Chinese to live in the Northern Italy area they all went home for celebrations in Jan and brought it back here' (That was a claim from an American who says his sister lives in Rome - so it's ok for an american to move to Rome but not for the Chinese to reside in Italy??)

'Nothing from China ever works any way - Buy British'



and loads of crap just like that

Watch animal abandonment go up again given the news this morning.

I'm quite happy to be isolated from all the idiots out there right now.

Betty Boop;1531925 wrote: I predict a friends cull on facebook, the bashing of the Chinese is getting scary now.


I've already removed a couple of former work colleagueswho continually to Share posts which are known fakes. Even when pointed out that they're fake & dangerous, they justify it by refering to 1 genuine piece in the article - keep hydrated, but then go one to Share the post that also says to add a few drops of bleach to the water to kill the virus. Sharing such dangerous crap is bad enough, but continuing to share it after it's been pointed out & referred to Snopes and/or Hoax Slayer is not acceptable.

Betty Boop;1531927 wrote: and loads of crap just like that


Some fools just shouldn't sign up for social media accounts, why else do you think I have none.

Here's a prime example, compounded by holding a public appointment.

A Derbyshire councillor has apologised for saying the prime minister “completely deserves this after his admission to an intensive care unit.

Sheila Oakes, the mayor of Heanor, had the whip withdrawn by the Amber Valley Labour group after making the comments in response to a Facebook post about the news. While she is no longer a Labour councillor, she can sit as an independent politician.

Underneath a post asking people to say a “little prayer for Boris Johnson on Monday night, Oakes wrote: “Sorry, he completely deserves this and he is one of the worst PMs we’ve ever had.

On Tuesday, she told the BBC she was sorry “for upsetting people and saying it.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... oronavirus




Others have refused to retire from public life after this sort of idiocy. Every one of them was wrong not to. That prat in Slough or Swindon springs to mind.

Talk about witless!

I'm sad that Tim Brooke Taylor has died. The Goodies were a staple in our house growing up.

I found this in my favourite hymn book, I quite like the simplicity and focus in just four verses. Written before 1856 by William Bullock, a British naval officer under Pellew at Algiers and subsequently a Canadian churchman, and printed in Wesley's Collection of 1876 where it is headed "In time of Pestilence".

In grief and fear, to thee, O Lord,

We now for succour fly,

Thine awful judgments are abroad,

O shield us, lest we die!

The fell disease on every side

Walks forth with tainted breath;

And pestilence, with rapid stride,

Bestrews the land with death.

O look with pity on the scene

Of sadness and of dread,

And let thine angel stand between

The living find the dead!

With contrite hearts to thee, our King

We turn, who oft have strayed;

Accept the sacrifice we bring,

And let the plague be stayed.

Betty Boop;1531928 wrote: Watch animal abandonment go up again given the news this morning.

I'm quite happy to be isolated from all the idiots out there right now.


Adoptions of animals went up here. All the local pounds are empty. it's when everyone goes back to work again, that's when we'll see the numbers go up.

As a hint of how America has been Disneyfied, Americans are celebrating May the Fourth Be With You Day.

Fifty years ago the Kent State University killing happened. America still hasn't even admitted that an order to fire was given, even though there's an audio tape of it. Most Americans don't know of the killings at all, much less that the day was the turning point in their post-war history.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... larization is a British newspaper. Perhaps people have seen a commemoration in an American paper for comparison, but I haven't.