Linda Z

mchud, it's unlikely that these people would have LCM's phone number, since he was booted from twi several years ago. Even more unlikely, if you got his phone number, would be his willingness to tell you about the sexual activities that got him hauled into court and dethroned.

I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Elephants are intelligent and loyal creatures, as are dogs, so I can see how Bella and Tarra bonded. [My apologies to Tarra...I've been spelling her name wrong.] If you ever get a chance to see the PBS documentary on the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, watch it. You'll be glad you did. It's very, very moving. There are some other excellent YouTube clips on that place, but none are as good as that documentary. One thing that happens in the documentary is a reunion between two elephants, Jenny and Shirley (you gotta love these names) that had been in the same circus 22 years earlier. It was obvious how happy they were to see each other. And there's another scene where the caretaker of an elephant (can't remember where the elephant was previously, but I think it was a circus) cries tears of joy to see his elephant finally released from her shackles to freedom. Great stuff.

This is one of my favorite YouTube videos ever! If you love dogs (and slightly larger mammals), you'll love this.

LOL, now i see, now that you mention it, I do live close to a large airport. I can practically count the rivets on the bellies of the planes as they buzz over my house during landing. I'm not deaf yet, but then I'm not a little birdie. Maybe we can get them hearing aids so they'll get the he|| out of the way!

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just the thought of that realllllllly long drop!

No problem, OE. If you're near a big enough city to have a good library, maybe you could call the fine arts department and ask if they have any reference books on auction prices realized for works of art. I know there are books like that for used/antiquarian books, so I wouldn't be surprised. Might be worth asking.

George, you're such a stinker.

Thanks, RR. It never occurred to me that birds might go deaf if they live around an airport...interesting. As for the last part of your answer, when I first started thinking about this, I envisioned some sort of a shield in front of the engine, but then I realized, oh duh, that wouldn't work because it would block the air intake. Maybe they should paint all airplanes to look like giant, mean-looking hawks, ready to swoop down and devour smaller birds. Then only hawks (and maybe whatever preys on hawks) would be all they had to worry about. One more reason to be nervous about flying. Yippee!

I don't remember VPW saying it, Twinky. LCM said it often. He was big on figurative expressions. Come to think of it, I remember when he was pushing the book A Hog on Ice and Other Curious Expressions. I hadn't thought about that in years.

Perhaps, although I don't see not wanting dogs to be skewered on a huge hook (that has to be painful) and dangled into shark-infested waters as extreme at all.

As for the expression itself, I heard it long ago, before I ever got into twi. As for when LCM first used it? I know it was at least the early to mid-80s, because I heard him say it when I was on staff at HQ, and I quit in '86.

I'm asking you because you seem qualified to answer. I've been thinking ever since the US Airways flight had to ditch into the Hudson River, why hasn't someone come up with some sort of device that's mounted on these planes that would scare the birds away? Or have they, and it just isn't effective? I wonder if there's a sound, or a pitch of sound that would frighten the bejeezus out of them and make them fly the other way instead of straight into the front of a jet engine. I gather from the news reports that these occurrences are quite rare, but sheesh, if I were one of those people swimming around in the freezing cold river, I'd be wishing someone had invented such a thing. Is it simply not practical? What do you think?

Waysider asked: I would imagine the point was to bring to light a horrible practice that's taking place. George's protests to the contrary, it seems quite clear that even if this practice isn't widespread, it has happened No, we aren't the world's police force, but that doesn't mean we can't speak out against something like using live dogs for shark bait. This isn't a simple cultural difference, like eating dog meat versus eating cow meat, or having 10 wives vs. 1. I don't think anyone is trying to dictate what other cultures should allow. But I don't get the impression that dangling a living dog from a set of hooks to catch a shark is in step with the culture where this occurred, either. I'm no extreme animal rights nutcase. I eat meat. I wear leather. I happen to love dogs and can't stand to see them abused. I don't think cows should be abused up until the time they're slaughtered for food, either. Call me a softy, and I am, but it seems to me that humans, who are supposed to be intelligent beings, have a responsibility not to abuse the helpless. I happen to think I have just as much right to be offended about something like this taking place on foreign waters as if it had occurred in the US. I do believe I have a right to be appalled and say so, as does WhiteDove. Will that change anything? Probably not. But does it hurt anything for me, or for WhiteDove, to express horror at such a practice? I don't see how.

Hi OE, nice to see you here. Try using Google and word your search exactly like this: artist +"EB Stowe" -beecher I got several hits that seemed to be your artist that way. They might be ones you've already seen, but maybe not. Happy searching!

Very funny, Abi! I can so relate. I have a love-hate relationship with my snowplowers. Mine usually wait until just after I've paid some juvenile delinquent big bucks to dig me out, then they come along and rebury me!

Congratulations, you two. How many years? I'm thinking three, but you know how time flies in GSC world. Hope you can dig out of the snow and go do something fun!

My current feline roommate Molly was very skittish when I got her. She'd been in a shelter off and on for a year (between escapes), and I think before that she had been a feral cat. Her tail was broken completely off, leaving about a 2-inch stub (and she's not a manx), so I think she had a pretty rough life before coming to live in the safe lap of luxury with me. Molly will not be held, and I don't try to force her to let me hold her. She loves to come sit right up against me on the arm of my recliner and be petted and scratched, but the minute I try to get her onto my lap, she flees. She also enjoys jumping up on my bed for a cuddle or scratch (and chasing the dogs away!) I think with cats you have to sorta "let them be them." I've had Molly for several years now. Whatever makes her afraid is apparently so ingrained in her that nothing I've been able to do will change that. Who knows, maybe someday she'll just climb willingly into my lap, but if she doesn't, I can still enjoy her company, within her boundaries. There's an old saying about people owning dogs and cats owning people. I think there's some truth to it!

Rummie, I'm sorry, but I haven't seen Abi doing what you're saying she's done. She disagreed with Groucho, which she's certainly got a right to do, but I haven't seen her dictating manners to anyone. Kit, thanks for injecting some common sense (with your usual gentleness) into this discussion. I hope your knees are healing quickly and completely, btw. Dooj, I would agree if Abi were talking about the specific content of the Way Corps site. She's not. I have been on the site, and yes there are a few innies there, and there are some who have carried on as if nothing has changed, but the vast majority are ex-Corps who have gone on with life. Mostly I lurk there, seeing what old friends are up to these days. Our past might have been what connected us, but for me and for many others, judging by what they write, it's about today: kids, grandkids, careers, interests, etc. I don't want to contribute any more to the derail than that. If anyone wants to rehash the debate about the Way Corps reunion site, maybe a new thread is in order?

Indeed. http://www.greasespotcafe.com/ipb/index.php?autocom=blog If I understand how the blogs work here, you control the content of your blog, correct? I've never started one myself, but I see you have.

Leafytwiglet made some very good points that reach the heart of the matter. I'm highlighting one that I think is particularly important to remember and hasn't been discussed much in this thread: How many times have people here posted, "You helped me find my voice"? Reading material about twi is only one benefit GSC offers; it also provides a place for people to express their feelings/thoughts about twi, to ask questions and consider each others' answers, to participate in their own healing, and not just passively read about others' experiences and thoughts. To me, that's HUGE. I, for one, have gained a lot more clarity and freedom from twi-influenced misconceptions about life, myself, and many other things by discussing, not just reading. Whether Pawtucket wants to continue to provide a place for such discussion and interaction is up to him, but I am hoping with some additional delegation of the day-to-day stuff, and many good suggestions that have come forth in this thread, he'll find it in his heart to continue or someone else will carry on. It's social, yes, but it's a whole lot more besides. Although twi of today is a tiny blip on anyone's radar screen, leafy is correct: There are thousands of people still out there who have been affected by their twi experiences. Twi may be nearly gone, but it's effects certainly are not! This place, both the front page and the forums is of great value to those people who once were in twi, are still in twi, or are thinking about getting involved in twi. Not all of them have found GSC yet, but I can only hope that when they're ready, it will still be here to find. Leafy, you're not a small voice. I hear ya, and I'm glad you are here! One last comment, and this one's for Satori: I have a one-word answer to your quest for editorial autonomy--blog.

Thanks for the clarification. The only reason I commented was because I thought somewhere back in the thread it said that there was no recourse re: his recommending Scientology to a client/patient. Since he is licensed, I would think his state medical association would be interested in knowing that he's making such referrals.

Hi, Mex, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too. Yes, John S graduated from the Corps--either 6th or 8th, I think.

WG, enjoy every precious minute with your little one and your bigger ones!! Someday, when all the smoke his mom blows clears away and he's a little older and understands better, he'll not forget how you've loved him and fought for him. You're storing up treasures in his heart.

JJ, it so great to see your screen name here!! I've missed you. Gosh, I had no idea, but thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you'll stick around here, as long as there's a here to stick around. Merry Christmas! RG, thanks for your reply, too, and for the lovely wreath. And Waysider, what can I say? Cool shirt, but it does sorta pale by comparison to the gift I received. I hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful. My family's surely was.

Santa came early for me this year, when somehow my son managed to escape LaGuardia after being stuck there for a day and a half trying to get a flight home on standby. He had a "buddy pass" that he had to use by the end of the year, and he had the brilliant idea that the weekend before Christmas would be a great time to go to New York City to visit a friend and go hear another friend's band play. Getting there was no problem. He got on a flight right away, arrived safely and had a great weekend. Coming home was another story. He started calling on Sunday to check seat availability. Nada. All the flights were sold out until after Christmas. He headed to the airport early Monday afternoon with the friend he stayed with. His friend had a regular ticket for a flight to Cleveland, and my son hoped somehow to get on the same flight. Yeah, right. He waved goodbye to his friend and tried the next flight, and the next, and the next, for 18 long hours. It would have sucked not having him home for Christmas, but it would have sucked worse knowing he was spending Christmas at LaGuardia! There were 5 other people ahead of him on standby (people with buddy passes are at the bottom of the totem pole). After each flight that left without him, he'd call me. "Nope, couldn't get on that one." I tried calling Amtrak. Same story, sold out completely. Greyhound (perish the thought) would have put him in here at about 11:30 p.m. on Christmas eve. Things were not looking good. The airport was so crowded that they herded people down to the baggage claim area to spend the night. He tried the 6:20 a.m. flight the next morning and it looked like he might get on that one. It was delayed until about 8:30, at which time he called to tell me he didn't make it again, but there was another flight at 9:30. I was praying like a house afire, as I had all through the previous afternoon and night, that somehow there'd be a seat for him. Finally, at about 9:30 a.m., my phone rang. "Mom, you won't believe it. I'm sitting on a plane!!" If all I get for Christmas this year is a lump of coal, I'll still be grinning, and very, very thankful.