Linda Z

Exsie: If Oldies isn't pulling our legs, he asked for it to be deleted. I guess you can do that if you start a thread. *shrug* It was about the plane crashing into the Pentagon on Sept. 11 being a hoax. There was a link to a video about it. But then Sudo checked it on snopes and it was supposed to be bogus. The hoax was a hoax. Dear Tom Stranger in the Night and in the Day: I wish you lived closer, cuz I'd take you up on that! I could buy the popcorn and you could buy the (what else?) Sno-Cones! Alas, you live tooooo far away. {{Sudo}} Oh, and P.S. I share your admiration of Johnny Depp, Tom. I think he's the finest young actor on the planet. He's done the roles he wanted to do, he isn't afraid to disguise his incredible good looks, he isn't afraid to make "little" movies. He always knocks my socks off.

Allan assumed: ...and then said in defense of the above: I have a news flash for ya, Allan. You are not Jesus Christ. You are not anyone's mother. As far as I know, you are not the father of anyone else who posts here. So why do you feel the need to "rescue" all of us by constantly pointing out how "unspiritual" and disinterested in the things of God you think everyone else around here is? I love when people interpret the traffic on a thread. Here we have Allen letting us in on the fact that the small number of posts is "rather telling." Telling of what? Threads come and threads go, just like sightings of Noah's ark. When I see yet another of these reports that the ark's been found, I just yawn. I don't need Noah's ark to solidify my faith in God. Not one bit. It would be cool, historically speaking, if they found it, but if they never do, I'll still believe in and trust in God. You and your "spiritualist" accusations crack me up. I don't know of anyone on GS who goes around trying to speak to the dead. I know a few who have come to believe that God and Jesus Christ aren't in a neat little box a la PFAL and that there might be more to know about them than was taught in that class. You've apparently reached the place where you know everything about God and everything about everyone who posts here. What's that like? Why, I imagine it must be like being God. Oh wait, you're not God, either. Why don't you quit trying to act like you are.

Sudo, that was a nice, straightforward apology, uncluttered with excuses. Thank you. I didn't say much...just thanked you for the snopes link and asked why you had to equate faith with gullibility. I like you, y'know. In spite of your occasional swipes at what I hold dear, I still think you're a decent guy. So...how was the movie? The only person who would go see it with me is on vacation. :( I loved the first one, but then I usually enjoy any movie with Johnny Depp in it. What a risk taker he is. Doesn't hurt that he has those drop-dead gorgeous eyes, and those perfect cheekbones, either. :)

Giant?

Why? Because you made a mistake? Sheesh, I'd guess most of us have posted things we regretted. So you got a little egg on your face...no big deal. Oh well.

Okay, I was interested in Sudo's response to my post to him. Now the whole thing is gone. What's up?

Wayfernot, I think you've made the best decision. Job opportunities come and go, but a 96-year-old grandmother is to be cherished while you're fortunate enough to still have her in your lives. If the people running that dept. are that inflexible, perhaps that's a big clue to how that dept. would be to work in.

Exsie, I paid for a couple downloadable programs when I was trying to cast out the computer's demons, too. They were worthless. That's when I finally decided to call in the ghostbusters.

Exsie, I know how frustrating this stuff is. I've been there. I took my computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and got it back in a couple days minus all the nasties. I think it cost about $50, plus $30 for SpySweep, which has been a good program to keep the adware and such away. Hope you get a solution soon. Mwah, Linda

Hey, JL, we babbling old farts have to stick together. Hmmm, we must know each other. I'll PM you.

Of course not, Oldies. I just mow down the bad ones. (only in my dreams)

Good point, Oeno. I hadn't even thought of that.

Skyrider, I don't disagree that VPW could have confronted many of those things. He seemed to have a real knack for giving the wrong person the wrong responsibility. I can think of lots of examples. And even when said person demonstrated incompetence in said position, he didn't remove them. Having said all that, though, I was at HQ when Athletes was in the works. He did confront Craig on that. He said all that devil spirit imagery would distract people from the Word, that some of the content was inaccurate, and that Craig had no business being a dancer in the production. I also remember a meeting, a day or two before the Word over the World Auditorium was dedicated. VPW called all the staff in there to be the audience for a run-through, but he also shared some things. He was worked up (IMO in a good way that time), saying that if it was anything but the Word that the auditorium stood for, it might as well burn to the ground. He didn't single anyone out, but it seemed to me he was confronting some rampant egos. I think it was at that meeting that he absolutely forbid anyone to put his name on that building. Toward the end, there was a prevailing attitude around HQ that VPW was a doddering old fart who was to be humored but ignored. I saw lots of signs of that and heard comments to that effect, even though they were stated a bit more eupehemistically than that. Don Wierwille said something to that effect to my mother..."Oh, we just let him do that because it makes him happy." Very condescending. By the time VPW went to Gartmore, he was very sick and quite frail. Not exactly at his "fightin' weight." I don't think by that time he was up to confronting a mosquito. Edited to add this: It stands to reason that VPW would go to Gartmore. If LCM was his #1 a$$ kisser, CG was an extremely close second. It was obvious at HQ that now that Craig had "made it," he didn't need to kiss VP's butt anymore. I think he felt rejected and tossed aside and went where someone was who idolized him, or at least acted like he did.

When this came up before, I did a search of the old newspapers collection on Ancestry.com. I found several brief articles about VPW, but none mentioning a scandal. That's not to say there wasn't one, but I think I said before, if there was, I seriously doubt it would be noted in the newspapers of that time. They just didn't typically cover local scandals, unless there was an arrest involved.

Good point, wayfernot. I've been startled more than once by bikes suddenly zipping between me and the car or truck in the next lane on a freeway. But I've had fewer problems with motorcycles than with bicycles. Almost every day I encounter them during rush hour, darting through a red light, darting in front of me with barely enough time for me to see them, riding two abreast on main city streets going 5 mph. God bless 'em for saving the environment and all that, but if you're gonna ride with the big dogs, get movin' or at least have the decency to ride on the edge of the road instead of in the middle. The worst ones are the bicyclists I encounter in our lovely, extensive park system. Almost all the roads through the system have bike/hiking trails beside them. They're plenty wide enough for the "serious" bikers to be able to pass the casual bikers or the walkers/runners. But noooooooooooo, they have to ride on the curvy, narrow roads. I hate coming around a curve and yikes, suddenly there they are, in the middle of the road, going 10 mph in a 30 mph zone. You can't pass them and it's illegal to run them over. If I were mean and evil, I'd take a broom handle with me and stick it out my window into their spokes. Good thing I'm not mean and evil.

Would somebody PLEASE push the eject button!?!

Liberty without order is anarchy. The flip side of the coin is that order without liberty is tyranny. The trick is finding the balance.

Wacky, could you please share more in this thread? I'd love to hear what you've learned/done. BTW, nice to see you! I've missed your "presence" around GS of late.

You're right, mstar. It's probably safer walking in your woods with bears than in the inner city. From what you describe, seeing black bears around isn't that unusual where you are. But around here, they've been spotted in more heavily populated areas than in years past, which is some cause for alarm. I understand that under normal circumstances, black bears don't attack humans, but now that they're becomeing overcrowded, they're wandering into areas inhabited by humans to search for food. I don't know if they're as docile under those circumstances.

I can certainly understand the heart pumping, MStar. When I was getting ready to go on LEAD I was hoping I'd see a bear. Then I got into the wilderness and heard some of the large-animal sounds and decided maybe I didn't really want to see one up close. It must have been cool though, since you survived the experience! I live in the city, so I haven't seen any bears wandering around. But my cousin lives in the country on the other side of Cleveland. A year or two ago he videoed a black bear roaming around in his front yard. He thought it was cool. I thought it wouldn't have been so cool if the bear had decided one of his children would make a nice meal or plaything. It seems like every week lately there's a report of a black bear sighting in the rural areas surrounding Cleveland. There was also an elderly lady in the area who was badly injured by a deer who got into her house a couple weeks ago. She opened the door to check her mail or something, and it just charged in and then freaked out, kicking all the way. She's lucky she wasn't killed. I've never heard so many reports of bears coming into inhabited areas until the past couple years. It's probably because of all the big housing developments that are eating up so much of the animals' habitat. They have less and less space in which to live and hence more competition for food and territory. I'll stop here before I get your thread relegated to the Politics 'n Tacks forum.

Our dear Belle was kind enough to send me a copy of Dorothy's book a few years ago. I really wanted to read it, because I was fond of Dorothy. Now, I'm an editor, so I know full well that every writer's work needs editing. But rule number one is to allow the writer "have his/her own voice." In other words, don't replace the writer's perfectly good words with wording you'd use if you were doing the writing. And on that same note, don't EVER change the person's intent or meaning in the process of changing his/her grammar, etc. The feeling I got from Dorothy's book was that most of it was heavily edited so that it would say what the twi muckety-mucks wanted it to say. I wasn't surprised in the least, but I was certainly disappointed not to hear more of Dorothy's "voice." She had a terrific sense of humor, she was spunky yet gentle and kind, and she was intelligent and wise. I never got the slightest feeling that she thought she was better than anyone else, regardless of her status as the widow of one of the original trustees. She was humble and ready to teach and share. I know some people bristled at her etiquette lessons, but frankly, some people needed them--badly. :) And she was there to help, not to make you feel foolish. No, Dorothy wasn't the only "pillar of the twi church" who was treated badly at or near the end of her life. Cora Mae Pxtxrs comes to mind. She worked in the Wierwille home for many, many years, but when she got cancer it was "buh-bye." Sad, very sad. And I wonder about Berxxta Jess. I don't know if she left HQ of her own volition or if she got the boot. Another sweet, intelligent, humble servant of God.

Oh, and by the way, so as not to slight anyone... I think there are a lot of people in this the 9th Corps tread who have great writing ability. When I only have a few minutes to spend on GS, it's one of my must-read hangouts!

Exsie, damn straight we'll be singin' to you next year. simon, I'm not kidding. You have an engaging, refreshing writing style. Trust me, I read enough bad writers in the course of my exciting () job to be able to spot a good 'un when I see one!

Terms of Endearment Shirley MacLaine Steel Magnolias

Thanks for sharing that, TempleLady. I didn't really know how ex-LDS folks were treated by LDS church members. I've always respected them for the way they help each other.