Linda Z

Tommy S, if you click on "My Assistant" at the top, it's on a drop-down menu.

WG, that sounds so nice. There were at least 15 different fireworks displays last night in suburbs around here, and an especailly large, spectacular display downtown in the Flats district that could be seen from many vantage points without having to fight the thick of the traffic. I don't know why people feel so compelled to put on their own shows. On the news they showed views of the city from a helicopter, and the reportrer commented on how many "back yard fireworks" there were this year. I think I saw my neighborhood. :) I'm glad no one got hurt and no one lost a house!

John J, I agree with you that the concept that one must SIT to be born again is wrong. I also agree that SIT is not absolute evidence that someone is born again. However, on the following point, I would disagree. You said: "+ TWI was wrong to say people should be taught to SIT, prophesy, etc. The result was that many people were "manifesting" a human ability to mimic SIT, prophecy, etc. Even an unbeliever can fake these by babbling or by saying something that sounds like a Biblical prophecy. It can become very mechanical. You can't find any Biblical phrase that says that an Apostle "taught" someone to prophesy or SIT." I was led into SIT in the same way that VPW led people into SIT in session 12, but it was a few years before I'd met anyone from twi. I had never even heard of SIT, and I had certainly never heard anyone doing it, so I had nothing to copy and no basis for "faking" it. The instructions given boiled down to the same thing as in PFAL: if I would be willing to speak, God would give me the words. Take a deep breath and just start speaking. So I have no beef with the way people were led into it; I do agree that there was way too much pressure, that everyone must SIT. That, and the pressure to interpret and prophecy spawned a lot of made-up messages. You also said: "+ the idea that people can manifest on command makes the leader who commands someone to manifest the mover rather than the Spirit himself." If I'm understanding you correctly, I agree. I thought it was better when someone leading a fellowship would ask those who were inspired to manifest to stand up, and then chose from among them.

The clock is ticking faster and faster! Enjoy your wedding day and honeymoon, and take lots of pictures! All the best to you both as you start this new adventure in your lives.

Geez Louise. What a 4th. My next-door neighbors were setting off HUGE fireworks (like you see at professional fireworks displays--no chit) in the street in front of their house. I have a very big, very dry maple tree right in front of my house, and when I saw all the hot embers falling from the sky through the tree branches, I got ....ed. If that tree had gone, my house would have been toast. So I went outside and told the neighbor, "I just wanted to see who was doing this, so I'd know who to sue if you set my house on fire." I'm sure he wasn't amused, but neither was I. They had two little boys running around with no shoes, running within 3 or 4 feet of where the "adults" were lighting the stuff. At one point I caught one of the kids just before he stepped on a big ember that had landed in my front yard. After telling off the neighbor, I started back into my house, only to discover that the dogs had pushed the front door shut in their panic over the fireworks, and I was locked out. No shoes, no keys, no cell phone. Thank God my neighbor on the other side was home and let me use his cell phone to call my sister to bring over my spare key. I could have asked the pyrotechnicians, but I have a hunch they wouldn't have been too happy to accommodate me. :) When my sister and brother-in-law got here they were amazed by the size of the fireworks being shot off only about 12 feet from my house (we have tiny front yards on this street). She said they saw the fireworks from the freeway on their way over and thought they were watching the city's big display, until they got here and saw where they were coming from. Poor Emmadog and Clevedog. Emma got so scared she pooped in the house. The two of them were beside themselves by the time I got inside. Oh well, it's over for another year. Thank goodness.

I love fireworks, but I'd prefer that they were set off by professionals, in a safe location. Especially during a severe drought like we've had this summer. Two houses in a town near Cleveland were already burned to the ground this week when some bottle rockets set the grass on fire, which quickly spread to the two homes. My neighborhood's like pond's...lots of houses pretty close together. Some years the fireworks darn near rival the professional ones. Every year I find tons of spent fireworks trash in my yard and even see the stuff on my roof. I like people to have fun, but every year I pray the amateurs don't start a house fire. Of course EmmaDog is a nervous wreck, as she is every year.

Dot, I imagine it's a lot like the USA, with cities being more prone to gang activity and rural areas relatively free of it. Here's one link to a recent article about Toronto-based gangs: http://hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=37603&sc=89

Sprawled: Ohhhhhhh an ad copy writer. This knowledge about you has greatly impacted me!! I am tasked with interpreting these grammar rules every day and, quite frankly, it's headaching me. <_< I'd like to regift my copy of Strunk & White to someone else and and let him/her deal with all these rules for a while. :D :D :D (Re: impact as a verb, I had read that; but I believe the usage was different when it was first used that way. I'll have to look it up when I have time, or it'll bug me.) WW: I hate to see anyone get run off, but in all honesty, I've seen very few people correcting other people's spelling and grammar on GSC. Maybe I just haven't been reading the threads where it's happened. The only time I've done it was once when someone else criticized someone for spelling and made a big ol' grammar mistake in doing so. (There's some Internet "law" that says anytime someone corrects someone else's grammar or spelling, the person doing the correcting will also make a grammar/spelling error...I forget what it's called.) I know what you're saying, though. I'm dyslexic myself (go figure, a dyslexic copy editor and proofreader). I was fortunate enough to learn how to compensate, but I know not everyone can. I look at it this way: I figure we all have different skills and talents. I'm thankful I have mine, and I'm glad everyone else has theirs. Makes for a lovely mix! I can't draw a straight line, and I so admire people who can paint and draw. I'm a so-so cook, and I love to read the posts in the cooking forum. If we were all professional grammarians, all we'd do is sit around and argue about commas and such. How boring would that be?!? Come to think of it, some of our more creative spellers are among my favorite posters.

I read Shifra that way, too--that she was referring to the pain people in the Corps/on staff or visiting that campus experienced. I'm thankful that most of my memories of the place are good ones, but I feel for those who went through he!! there. Waysider, the Kneipp water treatments involved what you're describing, I believe, plus some other, less "cosmetic" treatments, like sticking hoses where the sun don't shine and...well, you know. I had a little booklet on the Kneipp Springs "water cure," and I've promised it to NoWayHozay if I ever find it!! If I do, I'll post some of its contents before sending it to him.

Dooj: bingo! That's a pretty simple explanation, but basically accurate. There are people who are paid by the publishers of dictionaries to read--everything from grocery store fliers to toothpaste tubes to newspapers to novels to academic works, you name it--and make note when they see a slight shift in how a word is used or if they see a newly coined term. I don't know if they've automated the process in the 20 years since I worked on the dictionary, but they used to cut out the word in its context and glue that onto a 3 x 5 card. Every week or two they came into the office and filed all these cards alphabetically. Than, when the senior editors were working on a new edition, they went word-by-word through the old one. They would look through all those citations that the readers had filed, consult other dictionaries and reference books, and discuss all this among themselves, and decide whether a definition should be added or changed (or dropped). Once in a while one of these senior editors would go around to each person in the office and ask something like this: "When I say 'earth tones,' what does that mean to you?" Each of us would answer and she would take that into account when making her decision. I was just a freelance proofreader/keyboarder, but I loved the heck out of that job. It was the most interesting work in the editorial field that I've ever done. And except for the psycho people (see my response to DMiller), the people were bright and clever and great fun. Alas, when the freelance gig ended, I moved on, but it sure was enjoyable while it lasted.

Hmmm, DMiller, I believe that's the result of the process, not the process. I knew what that word meant (literally), but I looked it up to see what else the dictionary said about it and got a chuckle out of this meaning: "2 : a meaningless word coined by a psychotic" Some of the people I worked with on a new dictionary edition definitely fell into the psychotic (or at least REALLY neurotic) category. I'm not kidding. Those of us who felt we were a tad more "normal" were going to write a sitcom about it, but we decided no one would believe us.

Great thread, Chas. I've enjoyed everyone's explanations. DMiller, what a thrill it must have been to hold (and PLUCK!) that fiddle. And MStar, wow, another great story! That window makes for a beautiful avatar. I love the colors and the symmetry--everything about it. Krys, if you're tired of your avatar I suppose we can allow you to change it. :) But I love it, and as soon as I see that pretty butterfly, I know I'm in for some wise words. I wish I had time to comment on everyone's avatar stories, but I don't, so I'm just quickly going from memory. Oh, and Waysider, on accounta my old lady eyes, I never could see what your avatar was...I'm so glad to finally find out! My avatar is my favorite photo of my dad and me. We were walking in a park that's still near my house. Besides reminding me of my happy childhood, it reminds me of how completely I can trust God--just as I never doubted that I was safe and cared for when my dad was holding my hand. Sappy, maybe, but it works for me.

Belle, I think you communicate exceptionally well. The only reason I put in my two cents about the "rules" is that I was disagreeing with what Sprawled Out said to GStG. Another thing to consider re: grammar is context. I tend to stick pretty close to the rules in my job because I work primarily on a peer-reviewed medical journal. On other publicaitons I've written/edited for, which have a much more conversational tone, many rules can be relaxed. Clarity is a lot more important (IMO) than grammatical perfection. And there's almost no one on here who writes so poorly that I can't figure out what he or she is saying. Oh, and Belle, impact is now recognized as a verb. It didn't used to be, and diehard grammarians still cringe at the sight of it. The language is always evolving. Some of us get dragged into new usages kicking and screaming, but we get there eventually. It doesn't mean we have to like it. Here's a trivia question for those interested in words. Do you know how dictionary definitions get changed over the years?

Sorry, Sprawled, but I would have to disagree. I've seen lots of changes in usage in my 20+ years as an editor/copy editor, but it is still incorrect to use "they" with a singular antecedent. That rule is broken more and more often as time goes by, so although we might grow accustomed to hearing it that way, it's still incorrect. In the publicaitons I work on, we use "he or she" or, if possible, we change the antecedent to a plural so that "they" is correct. I suppose if you're not going by the letter of the law, "like" in the context cited is okay. But technically, George is correct on that one, too. Writers tend to be a lot more loosey-goosey with the rules of grammer and syntax than editors. I've done a fair amount of writing for publication, too, but I'm still an editor at heart and admittedly adjust to shifts in the language more slowly than the average writer probably does. Example: I'm still trying to recover from "impact" as a verb (only another editor could understand the depth of my pain). And if I hear one more newscaster say, "The neighbors told Joe and I that the arrested man was 'just a regular guy,' I'll scream. Back to the original topic: I rarely, rarely correct anyone's grammar unless it's part of my work. I certainly don't always write perfectly when posting on the Internet, despite my occupation. And I sure don't think it's my duty to criticize. I do admit that there are certain errors that occur over and over on GS that drive me a little nuts inside, but I keep it to myself. :D

I haven't heard anything new, other than the report that someone came forward and admitted leaving that baby. The first report I heard, that said someone had "buried their stash," was later corrected; it was where someone had planted some mj. That made a lot more sense. Sometimes these on-the-fly reports, especially when it's something dramatic like a grave has been discovered, get pretty fouled up on the news. Today about 1,000 people continued to search.

Tonto, the rec room was directly below that fancy parlor-type room, which was next to the east entrance. Unless they moved the workout room after I was there, the rec room was sort of across the hall from it. Clam, that's so sad!! Thinking of your son having to leave like that breaks my heart. Bastages!!!

Thank God, what looked like a shallow grave was where some doofus buried his/her pot stash. The search continues this morning.

I have no doubt that Big Brother can level many injustices against the good citizens of our country. I simply don't think this particular case is one of those times. At 127 mph, that car was a lethal weapon and I'm glad the felon who was driving it can't anymore. I don't want to argue with ya, Rottie. I simply disagree with you on this one. Groucho, this wasn't a guy with a pound of pot in his trunk. This was an idiot who put everyone's lives around him at risk because he clearly didn't give a damn about anyone (including his own sorry a$$, apparently). Too bad, so sad, he's been had. My cousin's granddaughter just underwent her umpteenth plastic surgery to reconstruct her eye and eye socket after being hit by a similar jacka$$ almost 10 years ago. It's been hell for that little girl. People who commit crimes against others with their vehicles by their incredible recklessness should be prosecuted just as rigorously as those who stick a gun in someone's face, if you ask me.

I'm all in favor of the sanctity of private property and all that, but my knee-jerk reaction is that anyone who puts people at risk by driving 127 mph in a 35-mph zone deserves to lose his car.

Exsie, what they said on the local news tonight was that a group of volunteer searchers found what appeared to be a freshly dug, shallow grave (6' x 3') and they brought in a team of cadaver dogs. They hadn't yet (on 6 o'clock news) said whether the dogs detected a body. I hope not, but it doesn't look good. They also said that it could take 14 more days to determine whether the baby on the doorstep is the missing mom's baby. And the father of her son and her baby apparently has an alibi. He spent 4 hours at a neighbrohood sports bar, where it seems everyone knows everyone, and he was seen by many witnesses. Although I don't know what that proves, just because it was the night she went missing. Today 1800 people (I also heard 1500) showed up to help in the search and they will resume tomorrow morning unless that place the dogs are checking out turns up something. So sad for her family. :(

Highway, I'm glad the rec room was still a fun spot when you were there. I wondered how it would hold up with all the kids using it. We completely gutted that big room, including pulling down an old pressed-tin ceiling, and started over. We built the wooden booths and made the cushions for the booths and refurbished the pool table and I forget what else. It was a high-pressure time because we had to have it finished before we left for a week at Gunnison, but we sure had fun working together and listening to "debbil music" blasting all the while. It seemed like Danny, because he was one of the FV guys who was actually skilled in building stuff, was always there working. I've been saying for years I should drive over and check the place out, but I haven't yet. One of these days.

I loved the Rome City campus. The old buildings were marvelous, and the grounds--from the rolling lawn to the woods and fields--were lovely. There was only one hallway in the basement that I found a little creepy. In fact, our Corps (FV) completely renovated the billiard/rec room that was in the basement as our gift to the campus before graduation. (I'm sure Danny remembers that!). I think they called it the "Family Corner." The barns, especailly the larger of the two, were spectacular, built long ago by real masters. The inside of the roof of the bigger one reminded me of the inside of the bottom of an old sailing ship. There were so many nooks and crannies to expllore. When I was there (78-79 and 80-81), the kids had a ball doing just that. The attic was filled with remnants of the day when people came there to "take the water cure." I know a lot of ex-Family Corps. There might be some who considered it a prison, but I don't know any. Maybe Rascal was kidding, but it would be a shame to bulldoze such a lovely place. I hope someone will buy it who can keep it up and put it to good use.

Danny, yes, the Chris N in the video clips is the Chris N from F7.

MStar, I found numerous Web sites that recommend making a paste of baking soda and water to relieve the burning and itching. Couldn't hurt, and it might help! Ow, ow, ow, ow (feeling your pain) {{{MStar}}}

Is was 17 when I got my first full-time, paycheck-earning job as a cashier at Kroger's (grocery store). Before that I babysat, mowed lawns, raked leaves, helped little old ladies clean their houses. When I was younger, there was always the proverbial lemonade or Kool-Aid stand in the summer.