Leaderboard

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

Technology...yesterday, after Service, I can’t find my phone. I did the necessary search. Then, “Go find my phone”. As it ends up, I’m 9-10 miles from my phone. (It went home in the brothers car I was in for the morning) and, my iPod was 10 miles in the other direction.(Home!) I’d have never imagined such would be possible, even 10 years ago. I’ll get my phone at the meeting tonight!

I can't believe that soon I will have been on this forum for 4 years!!

Well the the point is that you can message several people at once. SMS can do that but it's not always reliable (I often get people telling me that they didn't get my message when I sent a bulk SMS). Also, once you have established a group, several people can reply and communicate with each other - this can be useful for a pioneer group or a party invite. Or if you stay in touch with people abroad. We often get updates for the ministry group or traffic problems etc. Once you start using it you never get back to the old method. I agree, if you only have to text one person, fair enough.

I agree; I'm not talking about one case or two but many, most cases. It's deliberate in my opinion to make a point. I think it's demeaning to men's authority over women as Jehovah meant, for one thing. It's upholding the beliefs of women's lib..et Everything's upside down in Satan's system.. if you agree with me that in many sitcoms children are portrayed as rude, disobedient and insolent and know more than their parents do, then that's my point..this is the way the producers of these shows want it..

Tortuga, Greg and Hope; I'm sorry that you seemed to totally miss the point I was making. I don't believe women are weaker mentally. They are just as qualified than many men and even more so than some. There are mothers that are better parents than the fathers. In many walks of life women are just as qualified, intelligent and morally superior than many men. They deserve whatever honor and credit is given them. What I am saying is, IMO it seems to be a Point in television to put women on a higher level in Most shows . These are not real people, characters; they are actors; male actors and female actors. Among them are men and women of varying talents, skills, intelligence and ability. So the fact that the women actors, are in most cases in my own experience, to be selected to have the lead, the most prominent position on the show, authority over many men actors that may obviously be just as suitable for the role, is saying something to me. This is just My observation and I'm sorry that it was not understood to mean what I intended..😞

In my business I often deal with managers of different areas and women are slightly better organisers in my experience.

I agree with Tortuga and Hope, but at the same time, I do think there's a difference between realistically portraying gender parity and just showing blatant tokenism. I mean, realistically, yeah there are women in high positions, so, no, I don't mind seeing a female boss if it fits the plot or if they don't make a big fuss over "LOOK AT THIS WOMAN BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING HERE HUH!"

I've worked for a lot of women, it doesn't bother me to have a woman for a boss. They were smart, articulate, organized and well qualified for the job...

Kavanaugh!

It is almost impossible for me (in my location) to receive SMS or MMS messages. If I do get them it is hours late. WhatsApp comes through every time. I do not use it at present in our congregation. The others seem to work well with their current choices. I just try to remind them, if they want to contact me sens a "normal" person to person text message or call me on my landline. They never remember. I get an unreadable group text and my phone continues to try to open it (5 times). Then I get all the group replies which are unreadable and my phone continues to try to download them (5 times). In years gone by, I used to pay for every text and this scenario above used to cost me a couple of dollars every time.

There is a year old thread on this. If I remember right, they unknowingly drank some hallucinogenic tea. An accident with very dire consequences. They took their clothes off because one of the side effects was that they felt like they were burning up from the heat. Moral of this story: Never put a gift tea in your mouth.

One feature that I particularly like about WhatsApp, and that, personally, makes me prefer it to SMS's is I can see when the other person has received my message and also when they've read it. One grey tick when the message has left my device; two grey ticks when the other person's device has received it; two blue ticks when the message has been opened. This can be altered in the privacy settings, but most people leave it this way.

One of my American friends told me they don't use it in the US and I am their only contact on WhatsApp 😂 @Brandon I am using Telegram with my husband and he tried to persuade our Chinese congregation to move over but nobody did. The power WhatsApp has will surely be abused at one point. And I don't entirely believe that they use encryption either although they say so. At the moment it is still very useful. But I feel come the GT we want our old dumb phones back 😁

It's like a group text except you aren't limited to how many can be in the group. so I think it's similar to using a forum or chat room to ask if someone is available to go out and then PM them to set it up. My attempt to use WhatsApp has not been well received yet, however last night a brother posted a message in the group I had created, he asked if anyone was going out early today. I responded and we had a great morning...

This is bizarre. I don't know all the ends and outs of it but it shows the demons are active. They had extraordinary strength. Interesting . People are always ready to think we are odd anyways. https://www.yahoo.com/news/naked-jehovah-witnesses-apos-kidnapped-142444718.html?soc_src=newsroom&soc_trk=com.apple.UIKit.activity.Message&.tsrc=newsroom

JW.org: 977 JW tv: 260 Online WT library: 578

Yes, WhatsApp is extremely popular in Europe and India. In my opinion it has a lot of advantages over SMS. First of all, it's free. You can send thousands of messages and they won't cost you anything (except if you pay for data, but even then WhatsApp messages are very small). You can send a message to a group and every group member will receive it. We have groups for elders, elders and MSs, pioneers, every preaching group... even the moderators here communicate by means of a WhatsApp group. Groups can be created ad hoc and then removed easily when they are no longer necesary. For example, we're preparing a picnic. Create a WhatsApp group with all those participating so that you can discuss where, when, what will everybody bring, who will go in whose car... After the picnic, we share our pics on the group. Then we remove it. Whatsapp allows you to send voice messages, pictures, videos, contacts, documents or your location. If you want to meet someone, just send them your location and they can open it in their favorite GPS software. Besides, you know when the other person read the message. Communication is immediate, even when you are in different corners of the world. A problem with WhatsApp is when you are bombed with feel good cat pictures or forty messages just to say Good Morning. But we have strict rules about that in the "official" groups for elders, MSs and so.

My Brother/Brother Peter cut a dead limb off a tree this morning and this 'burl guy' appeared: I immediately saw this face: He's wearing one of these hats with the ear flaps:

USCIRF has recognized as a prisoner of conscience one of the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses https://www.jw-russia.org/news/18092718-481.html On September 26, 2018, Christina Arriaga, deputy chairman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom ( USCIRF ), announced the inclusion of Dennis Christensen, who has been imprisoned for more than a year and a half in a Russian prison for her faith, on the list of "Religious prisoners of conscience" .

Same here. I never mind seeing a woman in a top position. Apart from the headship arrangement in the congregation and in the family, there is no reason that a woman cannot be in charge of any given situation or job. Jehovah gave us brains and ability just like he gave to men.

Lets see... Canada, UK, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Romania, India and NZ use it. The USA?.... not so much...

We use WhatsApp in our service group to notice each other when out in service. "Who will take numbers 212, 216, 232?", "We are on Adams Street, will be there in 5 mins.", "I'll send you my notes on that street I worked on.", ""File attached"" I'm also invited to a group of brothers from the local congregations that are planning street witnessing. I'm invited to a group of brothers and sisters that plans service at the lit carts. For us, it's a really good tool in planning our service. Sendt fra min ONEPLUS A5000 med Tapatalk

I get so tired of watching movies, TV series, et. where the CEO, Police Chief, department Head of hospitals, head Detective, Political positions, just Boss in general, are all women. The men in every category are subordinate to Her..so disrespectful and irritating.. And children in other kinds of shows are so rude and disrespectful of parents.. When I think back about my own children now, they were being grounded all the time but how wonderful they were in comparison to what we see today..they never even as much as talked back to us, or said the word 'no'... Bible prophecy and signs of the times..

This is most likely thanks to the fairly new Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard, which is slowly rolling out to all android phones, and is sometimes referred to as "SMS 2.0" It is an international upgrade to the basic SMS ("text messaging") standard which has gone unchanged over the last 20 years. RCS will essentially take all the features we love about internet-based messaging apps such as typing indicators, delivery and read receipts, availability/online status indicators, group messaging, etc and roll them in to the cellular-based texting service of smartphones (and won't require an internet connection to make use of). Not only will you get the best of all worlds (high quality messaging + no app to download nor account needed to setup + no cellular data plan required) but it will also be fully backwards compatible with basic SMS; whenever possible you'll get the new experience but when one or both phones do not support RCS, it simply reverts back to traditional SMS. Android (via Google) has been working with carriers for several years now to formulate a standard which they could all agree on, and almost two years ago now, they were able to finalize the specification, so we should be seeing most new android phones supporting it (starting with Samsung). Apple has yet to make any mention about whether the iPhone will one day support RCS (at the moment iPhones support basic SMS, MMS, and the apple-proprietary iMessage service which requires the use of the internet to send messages, but can still fall back to SMS when/if an iPhone temporarily loses its internet connection). But just as the first iPhone did not support MMS until after that messaging standard had gained wider popularity, it stands to reason that, if RCS reaches a critical threshold in number of users and number of carriers which support it (currently around 50 carriers around the world do), then apple is likely to work to add support for it into iOS eventually.

It's a very long article with a lot of ifs and buts, but the bottom line is, it is happening, even if it's just the beginning and we know man is not going to be able to reverse it. https://www.watoday.com.au/environment/climate-change/across-the-arctic-lakes-are-leaking-dangerous-greenhouse-gases-20180926-p5065f.html Set against the austere peaks of the Western Brooks Range, the lake, (Esieh Lake) about 20 football fields in size, looked as if it was boiling. Its waters hissed, bubbled and popped as a powerful greenhouse gas escaped from the lake bed. Some bubbles grew as big as grapefruit, visibly lifting the water's surface several inches and carrying up bits of mud from below. This was methane. As the permafrost thaws across the fast-warming Arctic, it releases carbon dioxide, the top planet-warming greenhouse gas, from the soil into the air. Sometimes, that thaw spurs the growth of lakes in the soft, sunken ground, and these deep-thawing bodies of water tend to unleash the harder-hitting methane gas. If the warming Arctic releases more planet-warming methane, that could lead to ... more warming. Scientists call this a feedback loop. "These lakes speed up permafrost thaw," Walter Anthony said. "It's an acceleration." From a scientific perspective, the fact that these lakes are emitting methane rather than carbon dioxide does have an admittedly limited upside. Methane hits the atmosphere hard and fast and then mostly dissipates after a decade or two - far different from carbon dioxide, which is less potent but lingers for centuries or even millennia. So while methane impedes climate progress and amps up the planet's immediate temperature, it does not leave the same long-term legacy.

Simple man - Lynyrd Skynryd

w95 2/1 p. 31 QFR: "The Bible indicates that the ancient Philistines migrated from Caphtor to the southwestern coast of Canaan. (Jeremiah 47:4) Where was Caphtor? The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979) notes: “Although the evidence does not permit a definitive solution, current scholarship points to the island of Crete (or perhaps Crete plus the Aegean Isles, which culturally belong together) as by far the most probable site.”—Volume 1, page 610 "In line with this, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures reads at Amos 9:7: “‘Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to me, O sons of Israel?’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘Did I not bring Israel itself up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Crete, and Syria out of Kir?’” "It is not known when this ancient sea people migrated from Crete to the section of Canaan that came to be called Philistia, the southwestern coastline between Joppa and Gaza. They seem to have already been in this region of low coastal plains in the days of Abraham and Isaac."—Genesis 20:1, 2; 21:32-34; 26:1-18.

Friday, September 28 Not that we are the masters over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, for it is by your faith that you are standing.—2 Cor. 1:24. Paul set a fine example of respecting his brothers’ right of free will to make decisions. Today, when giving counsel on matters involving personal choice, the elders should follow that pattern. They are happy to share Bible-based information with others in the flock. Still, the elders are careful to allow individual brothers and sisters to make their own decisions. That is logical because those individuals will bear the responsibility for the results. Here is an important lesson: We can show helpful interest in others and call attention to Scriptural principles or counsel. Still, others have a right and responsibility to make their own decisions. When they do this wisely, they benefit. Clearly, we should avoid any tendency to think that we are authorized to make decisions for other brothers and sisters. w17.03 2:11

Hmmm... I suppose. But these programs are not documentaries, they're just stories, right? How things *could* be under different circumstances? If we wanted to see mainly men in charge of women at work or in politics, we could just watch the news, watch old movies/sitcoms or go to our jobs... I've never considered the fact that a woman may be in charge is demeaning to a man. I also don't see women in charge in the same light as disobedient, insolent children (which I detest), but we all have our own perspectives.

No I did not .. I know what you mean by TV and other examples you give. (I do expect Satan to attack headship arrangement in whatever capacity he can , undermine , sow doubts etc) I was just simply sharing my business experience.

Well it's been a little while since I last played with Signal (which is often considered the 'gold standard' in security for end-user messaging apps), but Telegram is cloud-based so it has some more conveniences than Signal such as be able to use your Telegram account on a computer or tablet even if your phone is disconnected from the internet or the battery dies. And Telegram does this while still being more secure and privacy focused than WhatsApp. WhatsApp does not function if your phone's battery dies: While you can access your WA conversations from a computer, if your phone loses its internet connection, your computer is immediately logged out/disconnected from the WA servers. From what I remember, Signal had the same issue (someone feel free to correct me if this is no longer the case with Signal). By contrast, you can download Telegram to any and all devices (apple, android, and more) as well as computers using either their native clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux or using a web app (which runs inside the browser on your computer)---and all* your conversations immediately appear (similar to an email inbox in the cloud, which is what 99% of us are using for our e-mail accounts right now). *I'll add that there is one kind of special Telegram conversation that does not sync between all your devices (and this is purposefully by design) is a Telegram feature called "secret chat." When you start one of these with one of your Telegram contacts (and it's only available for one-on-one chats, not groups) then the recipient must first accept the invitation from just one of their Telegram devices, and when they do, that conversation is not synced to your Telegram account (is not stored in the cloud) but instead is end-to-end encrypted, with an additional layer of security, so that you can be sure that only you and the other party will ever see whatever you now decide to type. You can even set a self destruct timer on messages (I use this with my mother when we need to share a password with the other for an account we share, such as Netflix). And as an added security feature, if the recipient takes a screenshot (which would be undesirable in a secure chat where you want for there to be no record of anything left over) you receive a notification they did took the screenshot. (note, apple does not allow app developers to prevent a user from taking a screenshot, but Telegram added this ability so at least you know if/when the other party has made a digital copy of your secret chat). Oh and I should also mention that while all three of the messaging apps we're discussing here require new users to use their phone number to create their account, Telegram is the only one that allows you to send messages to other Telegram users without actually sharing your phone number with them. This is an optional features which allows you to create a sort of nickname for yourself on Telegram which you can share with people you want to start a chat with without them having your actual phone number. In my opinion this feature puts all the other phone-number-based messaging apps at a big disadvantage compared to Telegram, since there may be times you'd like to chat with someone new but are not sure you want to share your personal contact details with yet.

Yeah, I noticed that. I'm not entirely hopeful for success on my end... but I'll put it out there, anyway...

Yes we had a long discussion on this roughly a year ago, much of the news report was blown completely out of proportion...

Makes me think of the America's Got talent show when Susan Boyle walked out on stage and everyone laughed at her because of her appearance, and then she opened her mouth and began to sing....

Sorry, I can't stop laughing... it's horrible ! Do you have source on the tea ? ^^ I want to share this story.

Thank you for my error, bro Morris spoke at our "Be Strong" Assembly

Well explained - thank you Got it

And how exactly useful is this in the area where group overseer needs to notify others in the group about , cleaning, FS arrangements etc.. Do I need to send video or mp3 song to remind that tomorrow is a public holiday and the group meets instead of 9am ...but 9.30Am Good social stuff but when it comes to congregational arrangements it's overkill.

I deactivated my face book account, and I will activate it if I want to see how my friends are doing for some hours... But, I easily get bored by it, so I prefer Instagram and it's true that sometimes I get jealous of what others have got and done, esp when I was in depressed mood... At that time, I just unistalled the app.

Our cong has LINE group... It has much more cuteness than WhatsApp... like cute emoji, cute theme, etc But, for professional work and quick communication, I do prefer WhatsApp, It is more effective than LINE... And, plus I can see if the person is online or not

Here in Italy, practically everyone uses WhatsApp! There's no limit to the length of messages you can send. You can also use bold, italic, strikethrough and extrawide text and endless smileys. You can send photos, videos (even those that are too large to send via normal email), documents, links... You can make voice calls and video calls. And if you have unlimited wi-fi (as we do), then all this is totally free! Personally, I use WhatsApp to stay in touch with relatives in Australia and friends in Italy, Venezuela, USA, Canada, Ghana, Spain and Slovenia. It's amazing! On a congregation level we have two WhatsApp groups: The congregation group and each service group. The elders remind us of congregation or service group arrangements for field service, or of any changes due to weather or other circumstances. They also inform us of other congregation activies. When we have assemblies or conventions they use WhatsApp to make sure everyone has transport or accomodation. Recently, before the CO's visit, our service overseer used it to complete the appointments for field service. Each member of the group is free to post anything of interest - experiences, photos, videos. Sometimes someone will use it to find a companion for field service. One brother visited the new World Headquarters and then shared his photos with us all. Often brothers will post photos from field service. In winter, we often share photos of how each family is snowed in!! We have a lot of fun! I must add that our congregation is in the mountains in a sparsely populated area and we're all spread out in many little villages. The families tend to be rather isolated from each other. For example, my husband and I are the only witnesses in our village. So our use of WhatsApp actually contributes in a way to our unity.

Eh?

I would love to have a whatsapp group chat with everyone here that would be great

I can do it, however you must have already got videos. Not allowed to share with those not approved of already. I already have separated the 2018 RC into individual parts, burned as 1 dvd per day. Each major part such as a multipart symposium is one video file. PM me with your elder's phone number that invited you to download videos.

Approaching (hopefully) the last bits of the visa progress... Got an appointment for my visa interview scheduled. Need to go through a full medical before which I am nervous over considering my medical history. Applying for an immigrant visa is not for the poor, the whole process medical included must have cost $1,200-1,400 so far!

Back when rock-n-roll was sophisticated and simple at the same time. Something for everyone, depending on your tastes. It was a very creative time musically.

A nearly 4-foot-tall, two-horned altar from the site of Tell es-Safi (Gath of the Philistines) suggests the origins of the Philistines are to be sought in the Aegean world... Where Did the Philistines Come From? (Biblical Archaeology Society)

I like to share other peoples joy and I like them to share my joy. My wife and I recently had a very enjoyable vacation for our anniversary, some friends then had us over for dinner and asked us to bring our vacation pictures. We enjoyed reliving the vacation with them and they shared our joy, there weren't any bad feelings because we were able to do something that they couldn't do. However I don't share any pictures of it on social media because it feels one -sided, like I'm bragging instead of sharing although I don't think other people are bragging when they share their pictures. Everyone is different.