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Looks like someone has already started the party before the due date 😂🤣

I met a man on door to door on a Monday afternoon. He seemed nice and has a belief in God. I wanted to go back on him so I tried at different times on different days for months but it was always his wife I had in. I preached to her when I met her and she listened well and she agreed with many scriptural points in raised. Then after about 4 months of trying every week, I found the man in! It was an evening on a Friday and he’d just got back in from work. He said “Would you mind calling back tomorrow at 12pm?” I said “sure.” I kept my appointment and he was in! He said “come on in.” He said that his wife had told him about every time I called when he wasn’t at home and he felt bad for keep missing me, so he was super pleased that I called when he was in. It turns out he is a born-again Christian and became one in his twenties. He had a few bibles open on his table when I went in and he tries to spend a bit of time that he has when he’s not working. He’s also dyslexic so he says he was able to get better at reading because of reading the Bible regularly. I just listened to what he was going through. A lot in his family is going through illness at the moment, including his wife. I mentioned that I would keep him in his prayers. That first visit, I spent three hours there. We exchanged numbers and arranged another day at a specific time. One of the issues he raised was the blood issue. I mentioned about recent clarifications on use of your own blood during medical procedures and I also added “I think you’d benefit greatly by seeing bloodless surgery in real time, rather than me talking about it. It’s really eye opening when you see it yourself.” So the next visit, I took the blood alternatives DVD and we watched it all together at his home. He would pause and ask questions on certain procedures and he added “This is phenomenal. I was quite ignorant about blood, but seeing this is amazing and how doctors are specialising in surgeries like this. It’s opened my eyes. Is there a chance I could write out my own DPA that I could use if I had to go into hospital?” I explained that he could write his wishes on what procedures he wanted on paper, sign it and date it and to keep it on his person. That way, doctors have to view that as a legally binding document. That was another 4 hours with him. On the next visit, I invited him to my house. We spent time talking about his religious background, talking about what hopes there are for the future and the divine name. He left his religion due to mainly the hypocrisy he could see compared to where the Bible was point in to. I got the website on my TV and we read scriptures from the NWT that spoke about those who had the earthly and heavenly hope. When I read scriptures in Romans 2, he said “Do you know, this is my favourite book of the Bible? And yet all the times I’ve read it, I’ve never seen that about what it really means to be a Jew. That is phenomenal.” I highlighted that the divine name is preserved in this translation and we watched the video of Geoffrey Jackson explaining the reasons why and the history behind how translators of the past took that name out. He said “What gives people the right to take his name out when he wanted people to remember it according to Exodus 3?” I agreed with him. We arranged that the next time we get together, we’ll have a look at the history of the organisation and how Jehovah has used them through the years. That was another 5 hours we spent together. Today, he came round and we watched Part 1 of the history of the organisation from Russell to Rutherford. He loved the title “Bible Students,” he said that really captured where they were getting their teachings from. He was shocked at the long sentences Judge Rutherford and his associates had when “The Finished Mystery” was published. Many times, he was ahead of where the video was concluded that “some of those Bible students were worshipping the creature and not the Creator” when Russell died. I commended him for seeing that. He was amazed that Russell had been writing about the year 1914 40 years before it happened as a time of anarchy! He wasn’t offended by the brothers finding out that the trinity, hellfire and the immortality of the soul were false teachings. He agreed! He said “You’ve got to go where the Bible is taking you.” He was also impressed with the Photo Drama of Creation. He asked a few questions about the year 1914 and how the brothers got to that date, which I said we could look at for the next visit. We also agreed to watch Part 2 of the history on the next visit. That was another 5 hours together. He said to me “Tom, I’ve had interactions with witnesses in the past and didn’t think much of them but I remember the first time you called at my door and I could see something different in you. I can see your light shining for Jesus. The knowledge you have of the scriptures is unbelievable, and do you know what impressed me too? You let your yes mean yes. You came at the times I asked for and honoured. That really impressed me because you make the time to visit me and that makes me make time for you. You’ve been able to open my eyes to things that are new to me and I’m able to process them, thing’s I’d never seen in the Bible more. I’ve told people at work about you and they’ve said ‘so are you going to become a JW now?’ I said to them ‘well, you can’t be dismissive of these people. It’s blatant ignorance if you do.’ You’re a real friend to me.” I pray for him and his family every night to help them endure but also to open their heart to the truth even more.This has all happened without even starting in the book yet! I said that the all credit goes to Jehovah and the training through his organisation that have helped me see the truth. But, why does Jehovah use me? He could use anyone, why me? I’m just pleased that he can see the value in the truth through how I’m able to preach and teach. One thing it teaches me though is that persistence pays off. Any good we see in a person, keep going back. Even when they aren’t there, keep going. Only stop going when they tell you to stop. For as long as they want to talk, stay. If it’s 5 minutes or 5 hours, stay as long as they want to talk. I thank the angels for directing me to him and for Jesus for helping me reflect the Father to people and becoming real friends to the people I preach too.

I have an idea,what if we bring the choloates here,online 🤗

I don’t know yet. Give me a couple of days to figure this out.

Yes, the transition to renewables is upending the old calculations. Now a lot of it is not about generation but the distribution networks and battery storage capacity. Here in Australia, the government has mandated that Distribution Network Service Providers and their electricity retailers offer 3 hrs of free electricity (24kWh total) between 11:00-14:00, to soak up some of the excess solar/wind being produced atm. I believe Australia has the largest uptake of rooftop solar in the world, at roughly 1 in 3 households. Guess gone a bit off topic here. But when I decided to install solar/batteries, it was in part because I was thinking of the future re: grid reliability during the GT

Yes, does depend time of year and your latitude. Mid-winter I see up to a ~70% drop on rainy overcast days, but in summer only ~40%, at same latitude as Austin Tx in Nth hemisphere.

Grand Canyon — roughly 15 people still need to be accounted for. 1 death reported.

Philippines — 🔴 33 dead, 8.8 million affected The official toll has increased to 33 dead, 19 injured and three missing from the combined effects of the southwest monsoon and tropical cyclones Luis, Maymay and Neneng. The number affected has climbed to approximately 8.8 million people — 2.5 million families. Tropical Depression Pilandok is expected to strengthen the southwest monsoon and bring additional rain. Status: major ongoing disaster; further flooding possible.

Bring where?

I have very small solar panels -1kw. When it is cloudy it produces only 10% energy. Daily,now, when it is sunny I have 4.3khw

ED: Busy weekend for Space watchers: Watch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's launch NASA broadcast the event live on August 30. Here is the lift off highlights:

I think that new homes are required to have solar panels, so I wonder if all of the new construction is factored into the existing power grid.

Even on the cloudiest of rainy days, you still produce solar, but at reduced level. On those sorts of days my solar output can drop up to ~70%. Can't speak for other countries, but you're not loading the grid with extra draw if for some reason your solar/battery system failed. Your dwelling has already been factored into the grid load by design, whether you're using it or not. You'll only experience blackouts if the grid generation output is degraded for some reason and overall load exceeds generation capacity.

It was dated August 31, 2025. You are right, we may have received it Monday morning. It still seems likely we may hear something tomorrow, at least I hope so.

Wasn’t that a Sunday? Seems odd to put it out then

I have always wondered if it could rain long enough in a big enough area that no one in that area could get solar power, so then they draw from the grid and it can't handle the extra load, leading to a total blackout in that area.

Last year we received the announcement on August 31. I hope we get an announcement tomorrow.

More disasters to come with this Super El Nino. More droughts...poor farming...less food...one thing effects another. Waiting for more power outages as the electrical demand for energy on the grid becomes higher. That's why I got a little solar battery bank. Free energy from the sun!

That's okay, thanks for playing, I love having hands with my brothers and sisters. Just a quick funny story: a few years ago I happened to bring a chess board and my pieces to a get together that the friends were having from an old congregation. There was a brother there who had been bragging to quite a few of the friends that he had been part of a chess club when he was younger and no one could beat him. He even said that he had been told by the president of the club that he could be a FIDE rated player and that he should play in tournaments. A few sisters approached me at this get together and asked me to PLEASE teach this brother a lesson 😂😂. Apparently he had beat quite a few Brothers and sisters over the years and was known as a chess "legend" among the friends. Honestly, I didn't even want to play him because I know his whole family, my dad is best friends with his brother. But he quite literally swaggered up to the table and proceeded to tell me that he was sorry for what he was about to do to me 😳 Two of the sisters, (both elderly), looked at me as if to say..."SEE??" Yeah it wasn't pretty. 😄 His openings were okay, but his middle game was completely terrible. He had won a lot of games based on the strength of his openings, which were actually decent. I think after about seven or eight games he started turning very red...by that point we had quite a crowd around our table because, as I said, he was a bit of a legend around the area. I'm not even that good, but he lacked the ability to see the board long-term and he started losing quite quickly after the third or fourth game. Those sisters were close by, and I'm ashamed to admit that they were heckling him nearly the entire time he was playing...I think that's why he started getting redder and redder, but he certainly wasn't used to losing. I lose quite often at bullet games, it's almost second nature to me at this point. But he was definitely not used to losing, and it hurt his pride. He didn't even talk to me for nearly a year after that, he avoided me at every meeting I showed up to at my old Hall. But I never knew he played chess, no one had ever told me until we were having that get together and I mentioned that I was going to bring my chess board. I guess those sisters hounded him for quite a while afterwards, I ended up going to another get together a couple years later and brought my chess board. He avoided me and the table where I was sitting like I had the plague...but again, I fully realize I'm not even that good. Anyways, my point is that I enjoy the game...it's a distraction for me. I'm okay at it, but there's always room for improvement.

CapybaraPRMS 😉 also: im complete booty at chess. I strugggle with the low ranked chess dot com bots i think they are like 250 elo 😅😅😅

It is. There's 5 days break though.

News is coming out of the Grand Canyon (USA) of another significant flash flood, this time tearing through Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area Saturday afternoon, August 29. More than 60 people have already been evacuated by helicopter, while the National Park Service is working to account for hikers and campers who may have been caught in the canyon when the water came through. Officials initially said more than 20 people could be missing or unaccounted for, although that number was being revised downward Sunday as more people were located. So far, no injuries have been reported. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/significant-flash-flooding-closes-phantom-ranch-and-north-kaibab-trail.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com