Galen

rascal: "Do you mean that if I had studied the bible more I would have had less problems? Cause if THATS what you mean....it would be inapropriate..." I did not mean that, yes I know it sounded bad, sorry. I like word-studies, and I like the idea of a written standard of morals. I did not mean that YOU needed to do more Bible study, nor more prayer, I see how it sounded, I am sorry. I have no issues really with fundamentalism, but they need to stay there and not go off into left field. So many see the phrase of "Head of Household" and immediately want to have an iron fist. Is that really what is seen from any Biblical examples? Can you picture Jesus ruling with an Iron fist? "bad treatment.... wrong decisions...inapropriate behavior....we must submit to this...and THEN God would bless us...regardless of whether the husband was right or wrong... husband making foolish decisions....Our whole role in the marriage our insights...our longsuits would be dismissed at a whim...as unimportant..thus fully discarding half of what was needed for a healthy marriage and happy family." It offends me, it is so obviously wrong. We can today see cultures wherein the men rule their households in that method. Their women are silent and stay home. There is no running water, no sanitation, no electricity, . . . can you picture, can anyone picture a culture wherein I could provide for my entire family with 4 wives 20 children and relatives all from a herd of 30 goats? Abject poverty, ignorant people and no hope of prosperity, or freedom. Is that the guideline to be set for us? You can not say, well it is the Biblical guideline. There were ancient societys that did prosper. Rahab was the head of her own household, she owned her own home, she had employees, she supported her relatives, she was known in the city. People desire to call her a prostitute, the Bible does not. In the full vocanulary used through-out the Bible 'prostitute' is used many times, but not used of Rahab. She was an independant women, who through un-specified mis-fortune (maybe she was just very head-strong and no man was her equal) became her own head of household.

la prochaine and Ex: "i think what bothers me is how could god answer a prayer of mine that would ultimately cause me so much pain ?" "I've often thought of this myself Exxie. This I believe is why EX-TWIERS (even TWI members) are so torn when they either leave, think about leaving or are asked to leave. It truly is a dilemma for some." First I apologize for anything that I have done, that in any way added to your pain. Next, I wonder. When driving my bike sometimes I 'see' a log in the road (or I blink and can't focus on a patch of the pavement ahead of me) when this happens I shift to a different part of the lane. Sometimes as I clear the curve ahead, I go by whatever was in the road, and I am thankful that I 'received' the information that something was in fact ahead on the road and that I needed to get into a differnet part of the lane. Does this happen all of the time? no. Does it happen sometimes? yes. Will it happen for you just in the same way it happens for me? I have no idea. If I need to be in the center of the lane, during this mile; does that mean I need to be in the center of the lane forever more? no. Perhaps 20 miles down the road, I will need to be hanging out on the right extreme edge of the road. I look as far ahead as I can, and I try to stay alert, and I pray, and I am thankfull. Did our Heavenly Father desire that I be a part of TWI? I beleive so, yes. Did that mean that I was to stay in TWI forever, I dont think so. If I can learn something from one ministry this month, be blessed and bless others; than wonderful. If next month I am lead to yet another ministry, then fine. Is it possible that I may have been lead into one ministry and that I stayed there longer than I should have? It is possible. Perhaps I missed the signal to leave at the appropriate time, or perhaps there was still some person that I still needed to meet and to bless there, that caused me to need to stay just a little bit longer. That is still okay by me. I hope that "The Great Architect of the Universe" sees far more than I do, and has further plans for me still.

Zixar- “Galen: When cats start "going" in non-standard places, it's usually a psychological condition rather than a physical one. Don't know if the parallel holds with humans, but it's possible.” I would fully anticipate that the issue with these children is fully psychological and not the least bit physical. Dmiller- “Galen -- Me too. My house (nothing special, Geo can testify to that), was built around 1895, and one of those top mount units would be great. Just for the looks alone, if nothing else!” At least with one of those you can hear the satisfying roar of the water as it scrubs and flushes and charges down the bowl. “Many of the "clients" I work with utilize "bathroom dis-order" to either gain attention to themselves, or to express displeasure with whatever happens to be going on at the time that they disagree with. Your cats (I'm thinking) are no different, so your assumption is correct.” I assure you nothing is wrong outside of what proper placement of a cattle-prod wouldn’t help. (take due notice, that I am funning you here. I have no intention of actually using a cattle-prod on any of our foster-children at this time. Granted as soon as we finalize their adoptions, and the ‘NO-Corporal-punishment’ restrictions are again lifted, things may be seen in a different light. After all we love our demon-spawn children.) “. . . to either gain attention to themselves, or to express displeasure with whatever happens to be going on at the time that they disagree with . . . ” So is the agreement of the therapists that our children are each seeing. Whether it is putting away their own clothing, or taking a bath before bed, or not being allowed to wear makeup, or being made to go to school, etc. Hap- “But Geo, the rumor is that a wife will love you EVEN more if you actually install it instead of storing it in a closet. LOL” Right now, I am basking in my wife’s affection from having installed a jaquzzi in our Motor Home. Do you mean that there is MORE affection available?

dmiller: "I was looking for proof of G-d's existence and whether His power is granted to men." "Galen -- your continued use of G-d intrigues me. The only folks I have ever seen do that are those in the Messianic movement, though there are a few who (out of respect for The Holy Name), will do the same." I have in the past fellowshipped with Messianics. There once a saying about comparing different sects of beleivers and holding on to that which you have found as the greatest thing of each. Well anyway, I feel that I do own our Heavenly Father respect, and I do not desire to see His name trashed. This is seen many many times in the Bible. We also deal with Mennonites routinely, and there is yet another beleif system of which I highly respect. (We use a mennonite curriculum for Home-schooling).

imbus: "Thanks for the functioning insite. Having to clean the cottages from time to time where I work, I often have gotten angry at the smell and dribbles that were everwhere. The young males would intentionally urinate in closets or hampers but I never could understand the bathrm. Now I understand." Well I dont. Our children (currently we have 3 boys in our home) do the hamper thing. I dont know why. They have gone through phases of buckets in their room, etc. Now it seems more often then not, the bathroom hamper (next to the toilet) smells. Ugh, I dont have any idea why. Granted our little girl had a lego bucket in her closet filled this past winter.

I grew up attending a Baptist church, was born again around 12 - 13 years old. I was a member of that church until I was 16. I left over an argument about how much I was required to tithe to them, as a member of the church. I then went to a Methodist church until I entered the Navy at 18. I realized that Baptists and Methodists were hypocrites, and they knew no power nor authority in life. I was disappointed in Christianity, my Christian up-bringing had taught me that religious men are greedy, power-hungry, and have no clue of whether or not there is a god. I had been raised a Baptist, though later I saw that denomination as entirely hypocritical and greedy. I had been into the Methodists, until we found out that their tithes were going to South America to buy firearms for drug runners. I sought evidence that anything existed beyond the shell of mortal bodies. As a young man, I sought proof whether there was a spiritual realm and if there was a god. I fell into a group that were studying together, spell-casting and found others who operated control over other men's minds (they fronted themselves as 'Dungeons N Dragons' Dungeon Masters). We made road trips to various places to get spell casting materials and to find 'power' places. In my searching, I was practicing meditation and astral projection I was in a group that were studying together, and I had been singled out for grooming. I apprenticed to a wiccan sorcerer (Al S). I practiced spell-casting with friends and I saw them operate power to influence others, they did it for greed and power; while Al seemed to have a far greater understanding of bigger powers that were available. I saw friends control other people and Al float objects through the air. Al once told me that his family attended an annual festival, where they worshipped the form of a horned-frog. Al called on the name of 'Lucifer' in his prayers. Al told me that before I could attend such a festival, I would need to be given a 'spiritual guide' and a good place to do that was through 'Silva's Mind Control' seminar, he signed me up for a 'Silva's Mind Control' seminar to meet my 'spirit guide' that would reside within me and that would give me advise and guide my spiritual path. I was also invited to take part in a Wiccan blood sacrifice. During this time, I saw men operate powers of their own that extended beyond their bodies. This proved to me, that a spiritual realm does exist. Those who operated the most power openly worshipped Lucifer and gave him homage. While awaiting the seminar, I considered that I had indeed found that powers do exist beyond my physical mortal shell, and that some of those powers are granted to men, While awaiting the proper moon for the Wiccan ceremony. I realized that since Lucifer did exist, than there must by default exist a good G-d. I considered that if Lucifer operated power and gave such to men, then somewhere somehow there must be a G-d that must have power and He must give some to men. One day I prayed to G-d, I asked that if He truly existed, to show me a sign, that if He gave any power to men, and if anyone who knew how to get into this righteous power, to please help me, or point me toward what religion operates His power. The day I did this I was in my barracks room on Subase Groton. And a little later, someone knocked on my door, it was a petite pretty young girl that I had never seen before (I later learned her name was Holly, now Holly Liphold) she did not introduce herself, she only said "Do you want to operate power in your life?" I followed her, to a family's home (Ed and Jackie Beirnet) they were running a public Ex. I paid for the PFAL class that day. Though do to a scheduling conflict I could not take PFAL immediately, but the next time I was on the surface, they did have a class running, and I took PFAL. I took PFAL after which they said they were having a fellowship there each month, so I attended there for the next few months (the class had been run at the branch-wow home run by 4 wow girls). Someone once asked me what 'twig' I was in, I had to ask what a twig was. Eventually I was introduced to twigs and found out about weekly fellowships. I attended a fellowship there (in Connecticut) until 1981, when I was tranfered to Virginia. A couple years later, I ran into one of my former friends, RH was still using spell-casting, and while I visited with him, he showed me that he had manipulated two of our previous friends to give him their wives whenever he wanted them. He demonstrated his powers, and I saw that the only purpose of it was to augment his greed. I was looking for proof of G-d's existence and whether His power is granted to men. I found my answer, first through spell-casting then later through TWI. Had it not been for TWI, I am fairly sure that I would have likely been trained in a significantly different faith. I believe that TWI was the best that G-d had available, for some period of time, and that some great things were taught therein. It is truly a shame that corrupt people have done what they did. Still PFAL was the Greatest thing that I ever did in my life. The first time I met a walking corpse, it was Steve Strezpec. He had been counseling a couple that wanted to get married, and he had put them off for six months. The guy was military and they needed to be married, soon so that she could move to his next duty station with him. Strezpec refused to give them an answer of date. I had already been ordained elsewhere, so I married the couple. When Strezpec found out, he blew his top. He said that he had never intended to marry them, he had been leading them on, hoping that eventually they would tire out and give up. He would never marry a non-corpse couple, as nobody but corpse could ever understand commitment. It was TWI policy to lie to non-corpse (since they are not REAL believers, it does not matter if you lie to them, they don't really count anyway). He got really upset, that the truth might be known to believers in his limb, so he threw me out and declared that I was 'born of a different father'. (this couple, "the Strayhorns" are still married, I still speak with them occasionally.)

rascal: "Can`t help you boys, as I have joined my daughters and their teen girl friends newest trend and eschewed traditional womens underwear (it chafes)...we all wear boxers now:-)...Oh, I`m sorry was that tmi? Does that spoil the nice mind pics? Maybe it is really ok since some of us don`t look so good in thongs anymore anyway..." The first time I really noticed this fad, was in 1990-93, I was doing Police work at Subase Groton and each day pulled a short-shift on a gate checking ID cards and searching vehicles. During this period of time, I was amazed (and still am) by the way females often drive an automobile, with their left foot out the driver's window. Sometimes cocked on the driver's side rear view mirror. On one particular hot afternoon, I saw a car coming up to me, and there is the usual ID card being handed out the window to me, but there was also a bare foot between the rearview mirror and the doorpost. I stepped up to the car, took the ID card and began to compare the picture to the face of the driver. I had diffidulty do this as this teenage girl was wearing men's boxer shorts (which fit very loosely and very baggy) but also the fly was not sewn shut. So while this young lady was enjoying her drive and no doubt the feel of wind running down her leg was cooling to her, it also revealed a bit more than I presume she wished to be revealed. I was very much thankful that on this day, I was wearing mirrored sunglasses and no doubt exactly where I was looking was difficult for her to determine. I was able however to spot an open beer can on the seat, between her legs (no doubt intended to further cool her). I still see young ladys wearing men's boxer shorts, I still see young ladys driving cars with their left foot out the car window, and I still occasionaly spot such shorts that have not had their fly sewn shut. We on occasion have young female renters who will hang-out in our kitchen while doing their laundry, it never fails that if they decide to wear men's boxer shorts, they rarely sew shut the fly. There are some things I wish to see while drinking coffee, other things that perhaps I should not. . . Rascal, dear would you pay attention to your shorts as well as your daughter's, and sew shut the flys. Unless of course that is your pre-determined wish not to.

Vickles- “this is too interesting of a subject to be packing...” I am glad to offer you amusement.

Zixar- “George is right. The round-front toilets are a curse unto mankind.” Agreed. And thank you for your input. “Ladies: For those of you who get annoyed that men sometimes "miss" the toilet, you have to understand how men are built. Now, you know perfectly well that as you urinate, the pressure gradually drops until you stop. It's the same with us, except that our bladders are larger than yours and the pressure is higher. Since you pee straight down, the pressure doesn't matter to you. Since we pee "out" more or less, the stream is going to jet out for a distance proportional to the pressure at any given instant. That's why we have to stand back a bit from the toilet and can't stand completely over the bowl to catch drips--we'd whiz all over the tank if we did. So, when we're close to finishing we have to lean in a bit as the stream gets shorter. Sometimes the pressure can stop abruptly through flexing of the urinary sphincter, and oops, some can hit the floor anyway. It's not intentional, it's just bio-physics.” Good try there. I learned long ago, many of us men, stand with feet wide apart and one hand on the wall over the toilet to resolve this issue with aim. It also helps when you have drank a wee too much to be able to stand without stumbling. Pmosh- “If I have to use a public bathroom, I don't sit down but instead squat, my rear hovering above the seat.” Yes. “At home or elsewhere, if I have to sit down, I don't let my wang hang down into the bowl and instead leave it above on the seat. This often results in me having a .... and flushing that before I sit down. I have no idea why the two are connected, but I do them separately and it's ok.” Yes I understand.

George- “Something else I should have noted, you should be sure to get a toilet with an "elongated front" rather than a round front. It gives the men in the house a little more "equipment" room. Unless space is really limited, it's the only kind of unit I'll put in a bath anymore. Round fronts are icky.” I agree entirely, though I was going to leave that discussion for yet another day. Draping my stuff against the front rim of the bowl is distasteful, in my opinion. I do hate round-bowls, and even many ‘elongated-bowls’ really don’t help. I don’t want to hang outside of the bowl entirely, but to scoot back enough to fit inside, often means leaving streaks on the aft part of the seat. So it all has to be wiped down when I stand up anyway. See people (ladies) these are common issues among men. Most of us have learned to live with the curse of manhood, quietly. But no more, now is the time for voicing our problems. Girl from OZ- The issue was not an issue of aim. It was dealing with things once you sit down. To sit down and center yourself over the bowl, a man does not wish to hang his parts outside of the bowl (should there be leakage from his hose, or what if he needs to drain his hose as well as dump solids?) No no no ‘aim’ is not the issue. It is fitting everything into the bowl rim, yet without dangling into the water puddle, or getting splashed by things hitting the water-puddle. Which is disgusting by the way. Having parts of my person splashed with seemingly dirty water, see? “Still, it doesn't solve the problem of little puddles on the floor....” Then may I suggest, that after drinking so much rum you send your man outside, where he does not have to concentrate so much on his aim.

Ckeer- “Is that what submariners call "blowing sanitary"? Sounds like a great way to leak test your drains. Ever forget to block all them before that exercise?” I don’t really care if it burps the deck-drain, or burps in the bath-tub. So long as it clears out the gooseneck underneath the toilet. Once they join together in the vertical 6” ironpipe they also enjoy the flow from up-stairs, to help wash things away. Long gone- “That has nothing to do with what I suggested. A toilet holds water in two places, the tank and the bowl. You raised the water level in the tank, which helped flushing by increasing the amount of water dumped from the tank to the bowl when you raise the flapper with the flush lever. What I suggested was decreasing the water level in the bowl, thereby increasing the distance from the seat to what you call the puddle, which is what you say you want.” I apologize as I mis-understood what you were saying. Yes lowering the water-level in the bowl would help. How do I go about doing that?

Vickles- “I didn't realize men had this kind of problem” As you can see, it is not an entirely un-common problem. “Galen, I'm not trying to be funny here but am raising a son so feel I know something. Could you maybe hold the dangling part a little from the top so it doesn't dangle and you can go from both ends at the same time if need be?” Yes, maam Well there is also the ‘other’ dangling parts (the ones with the fur) which get splashed as well, but I suppose that your suggestion would apply with them as well. As to raising young boys, I installed a deck-drain in the center of our bathroom floor back in 1990 when we first bought this building. The floor has ceramic tiles that are laid on a thin layer of concrete, I did it so the floor has a slight tilt, all around the room, so any fluids anywhere flow towards the deck-drain. When we returned stateside this past time, we found that many of the floor tiles were cracked and the grouting had no been re-sealed for numerous years. So I replaced the old tiles with 1 ¼” white ceramic tiles. I was building a jaquzzi in our basement and had lots of resin left over so we decided to seal the floor this time with a thick layer of polyester resin. With all these children around, I thought that I would be a little artsy so I randomly painted many of the tiles with glow-in-the-dark paints. Some blue, some red, some yellow and green. Before I sealed over them with the resin. Now it is all sealed, and any water splashed out of the tub or that flows over the rim of the toilet, runs nicely down the deck drain. And yes my bathroom floor lights up in a checker-board of different colours, when you turn off the light. The bath-tub / shower-enclosure also has two opposing shower heads with their own controls. I put it in the last time we lived here. Bonnie likes it for taking showers together as a couple. (she often wants her hair-washed or her back-scrubbed. Women can be so demanding.)

Hap- “I can't say I have ever heard of anyone with your dangle problem. geesh, maybe your only answer is to use the john only when you have an erection.” It is my understanding that an erection kind of prevents some fluids from flowing. But you are correct that to prevent dangle a stiffy would do. I did not really want to prevent the dangle so much as to prevent the dangle from splashing or from getting splashed. “American Standard makes a "power flush" model which uses some sort of a forced pressure to flush the system. They work incredibly well, but are rather loud. My clients have been very happy with them in spite of the loudness.” Cool, in the Navy they are all power flush units using 150 psi fire-main water to power-flush things along. I don’t mind the noise. “Poor cleaning of the bowl can have many causes, from a clogged wax ring, corroded/crusty inlet holes in the bowl, improper water level, or bad/weak flapper valve (where the water leaves the tank to go to the bowl) My first guess is the flapper valve, second the wax ring. You should never set the float valve to fill the tank above the water elevation mark which is cast into the back of the tank. It's a waste of water and does little to increase flushing capability.” Really? I thought the wax-ring is just a form of gasket, it can get clogged? I never thought of the inlet holes into the bowl getting clogged either, I will check that would slow down the flush and limit the amount of inertia developed within the bowl to carry anything through the gooseneck and away. If the flapper valve seals and does not leak, the only issue I have with them is when they settle back down before the water-closet has fully drained itself. Which is I think a matter of the air-bubble inside having been lost. Raising the water level in the tank, does increase the amount of water be3ing flushed, Here in the New England, we don’t have any water shortages. Un-like the South West. Most of my family are in California and they do have tight restrictions on their water usage. “Oh, regarding installing used 3.5 or 5.0 gallon toilets. Its a bad idea unless the area has soft water. You are buying someone else's problems most likely, but most contractors would give them to you so they don't have to haul them to the dump. Licensed plumbers cannot install them for you (at least in my area). I guess plumbers need to know more than that water flows downhill and payday is on Friday.” When I have hired plumbers here in Ct, they have always impressed me with their singular lack of knowledge about their profession. Our last building manager was a plumber, when each room’s wall-mounted heating unit had problems or began to leak, he would shut them off, rather then fix them. When we returned stateside, I was amazed that we still had any renters at all. It was down to a single one-room heater per apartment. I ripped them out and replaced them all with baseboard heat and plumbed them all to their furnaces, myself. I replaced the kitchen cabinets, sinks and floor tile in each apartment, and I put in two bath-tub surrounds and one free-standing shower-stall. (The shower-stall looks goofy as it is in a room with a 6-foot ceiling only in the center of the room, both opposing walls are the low roof which meet in the center, so the shower-stall is cut like an A-frame). I have learned to really dis-like the local plumbers. When I had rentals in Southern California things worked better.

Imbus- “I was thinking about your delima but not to seriously when a thought came to mind. When I worked at an eating disorder facility some girls were given donuts (inflatable tubes) to sit on because they were so thin an bone on hard” Cool, never have so many people focused their attention on my parts. Once while stationed on the USS George C. Marshall, we were in a shipyard and functioning out of a office-barge, Everyday we were required to wear hardhats and safety shoes to be able to get to the barge. Well the officers hung signs everywhere that for the following morning’s muster we were going to muster out on the pier and the uniform for the muster would be ‘HARD HATS AND SAFETY SHOES’ and it went on to say how much trouble we would get if we were not in the ‘HARD HATS AND SAFETY SHOES’. So the next morning I showed up for muster wearing my hard hat and safety shoes. They got all upset as they apparently had meant for us to still wear our uniforms also. My response was that we always wore uniforms plus hardhats and safety shoes, they are the ones who generated the order to wear this on this special day. I had to go home and change. Paw- “wear a condom” To the restroom?

Dmiller- “Galen -- this law only applies to new models, right? You can find "used" models where renovation and remodeling of homes is being done, or where building demolition will be taking place.” Right-o, the older models are still the 5 gallon units. I really like the ones that hold the water-closet up on the wall mounted close to the ceiling. Abigail- “However, Galen, I am extremely grateful we have never met in "real life" and I have no face to put with the image, so to speak.” I fail to see why you would not desire to have met me. 1000-faces-man- “Thanks for playing "Too Much Information", Galen, and if you'll step off to the left of the stage, Carol has some lovely 'parting' gifts for you.” I play whenever I can.

The 'Unity Common Ground Fair' in September; was very enjoyable last year, thank you for the invite. Perhaps we can attempt a meet up this year.

Hills- “Whats with all these young ladies wearing the thong underwear? . Sure they are the in thing but all those wedgies. Gotta be uncomfortable with your pants wedged up your arse like that? Why wear any? As you can see I am deeply concerned about these rash causing undies. I will continue to look out for you..hehehe” I do agree, there are things I dot understand. Herby- “Oh I am quite in favor of the thongless look but somehow that little strip of lace poking out the top grabs my attention alot quicker n bare flesh, mostly cuz of the subtle suggestion of where it all leads” The flash of lace grabs your attention? Good it proves your still alive. To me it is the jiggle up front, or the sway in the back and a little lower. Vickles- “Well, I happen to like wearing thongs...very comfortable....” Then by all means continue to do so.

Long- “You might not need a new toilet, Galen. The flushing problem could be caused by an inadequate or blocked sewer vent, rather than the toilet itself. If the toilet sometimes actually backs up, the problem could be a partial blockage in the trap part of the toilet, caused by something that was dropped in, but didn’t make it around the curve when flushed.” The original flushing problem is fixed for now, thank you. This one has not been backing up, just slow flushes requiring secondary flushes. This building has three heads (or ‘bathrooms’ to civilians) they are all ‘stacked’ exactly on top of each other; a three story-building with heads in the same place, each drains into a vertical 6” cast-iron pipe. That pipe necks down to 2” and goes out through the roof as a vent. Our head feeds into the bottom of this 35’ tall column just before the 6” pipe elbows 90* and goes down a gentle grade 70’ and into the sewer underneath the street. The bathtubs from the first and second floors as well as the sinks from all three floors all drain into this 6” pipe to keep things moving along. The third floor apartment was actually an attic and was converted in the mid 80’s (that’s 1880’s in case you were wondering) into an apartment. It’s ceilings are all gabled roof tops, it’s head only has normal height while standing in the center of the room, It did have a bathtub but to get into said tub you had to crouch down and duck your head, as the tub was up against the ceiling. I recently replaced that tub (cast iron with claw feet from a factory in 1915) with a shower stall that I trimmed to fit. The first floor crapper only needs to move jetsam about one foot and the flow from above will carry it away. When I suspect blockage I routinely use 150 psi air to blow such blockages out into the street. “Whether or not you replace the toilet, you may be able to lower the water level in the bowl, either by constricting the little hose that trickles water into the bowl while the tank is filling or by aiming the hose so that only part of the stream goes down the vertical pipe in the center of your tank.” Actually I just ‘raised’ the level of water in the water-closet by 2 more inches. Which had an immediate effect on flushing characteristics. Tom- I have used outhouses and I rather prefer them. People, this was truly meant as a serious topic. When I have gone into hardware stores and asked about the average distance from seat to puddle they look at me like I am stupid.

Imbus- “Not to sound ignorant but, would it be smart to hold the one while using the other? I did not know that this would be an issue for some folks.” Hmm, I have attempted this feat. And many times I do just that. Uh, in my ‘plumbing’ when I am operating one valve, often times the other valve with crack open and a dribble will flow out as well. Operating one valve at a time, and only one valve at a time, as not always possible. For example, to hold the hose coming from one valve (I will call it valve #1) while attempting to operate the other valve (let us say valve #2) would often give cause to leakage from the hose of the first valve #1. I learned long ago, to never operate a fire hose without proper control and targeting, for in other nearby equipment could get wet. Tom- “I think I'd choose the "no dangle" option and take my chances on the splashes...” I do, and as I pointed out in the beginning of this thread, I don’t really care for those splashes. If men are truly those who design all things commercial, then why haven’t commodes been designed with men in mind? Trefor- “Here in the UK the distance between seat and puddle is approx 9”. No splash probs to report and I wonder if Galen is boasting?” True. While living in Scotland, I don’t recall this being such an issue. I did not intend any such boast. Tom- Salads make less splash? I thought it was much more a matter of proximity to the water.

Thank you for your heartfelt concern. I have no difficulty while standing.

ckeer: "Galen- I had just considered the problem as part of life and why the french developed Bidets" See I knew that others must be observing the same thing that I observe. "These toilets won't splash and the centrex model shoud be tall have enough height to accomidate the angles and dangles of an ex submariner like yourself" Sure no water, equals no splash, hmm. "Angles and dangles" cute, real cute.

Dear sweet Ex- http://www.kbbonline.com/kitchenandbath/ideas/toilets.jsp Even this site, more goes to further prove my point. Style, colour, pressure, one-piece or two, rond bowl or eblong; all nice things to know, but they dont address the issue.

The operation of a gift ministry is something between that person and their Heavenly Father. Biblically the public display and ceremony which seperates clergy and laity is phooey. Either someone is functioning as if they are clergy or they are not. We are to look among ourselves, see and recognize those who labor among us, working their ministrys. In our culture any 'church' (group of 3 or more) can recognize someone and 'ordain' them as clergy. If TWI 'ordained' someone then fine, if TWI defrocked someone then fine. That does not in any way hinder a previously TWI ordained clergy from seeking ordaination from another 'church'. It is merely a piece of paper required by some citys or states, to be able to perform weddings and services. I have one. Does it make me any more or any less worthy in the eyes of G-d? I dont think so. If six different home-churches each decided that they wanted to issue you a certificate of ordination, would it make your operation of your ministry any more so? If these men wish to continue to function as we were ALL taught to do, to focus their lives on worshipping G-d, blessing the beleivers, and performing weddings / funerals / prison visitations; I would have to applaud them.

Bathroom question for the men here. I find myself recently re-working on one of our toilets. It often requires multiple-flushes to get it to clean itself out. I found and reviewed a plumbing site wherein the details and engineering of toilets and water-closets were discussed. I leanred that the single most important issue in getting a toilet to flush properly is the quantity of water held in the water-closet. Since Amnerica views water as a non-renewable natural resource we have passed laws to limit how much of this non-renewable resource each flush uses. They insisted that there is no difference in functioning from one brand name to another, and the only thing that drives pricing is the quality of the glazing in the porcelin. So no matter if you spend $100 or $500 all models will work the same. The question, how do you find a toilet wherein the distance from the seat to the puddle is suffecient to stop a guy from dangling into the water? It truly disgusts me when any part of my person dangles into the water puddle, and I find it dis-tasteful when things are 'splashing' into the puddle and parts of my person get splashed. To my wife this is a source of humour, she does not get splashed and in fact is able to use any toilet without dipping into the water, or getting splashed by the water. I trust that obviously other men have the same issue, so what is the answer? I have looked at the models on sale in HomeDepot, and on the web; there is no rating for the seat-to-puddle distance. So when purchasing a toilet there is no way to really determine whether or not you will 'dangle' into the puddle. For that matter material dropping into the puddle will make a splash, and yet there is no consumer's rating or any system for that matter to indicate or limit the amount of splash. How do you guys purchase new toilets? Thank you, and I do remind you this is a serious topic and not meant as humour. Please ladies, I understand that you would find this humourous (even though such humour would not be kind) so ladies could you possibly limit your comments. thank you. Galen ET1 (SS) USN retired

I did. At the time, I assumed that most people did. Never really followed the SNT tapes, though every sub-patrol I went out on, I took at least one Bible and a Strong's or Young's Concordance (sometimes both). Various patrols I took other books, but in general space is limited when living under-water, the main constant ws that I always took a Bible and a concordance. My wife and I always had something planned to study. Usually it was something in conjuction with what the Twig was going to be studying while I was gone. We really enjoyed it. I got into TWI while on my first boat; but after that each boat I was stationed on I was the Protestant Lay-Leader and as such I was charged with coordinating and leading all protestant services on board. Usually I did all burials at sea as well. Sometimes on various patrols my services got lumped together with LDS, Jewish, and Adventist. Depending on the holiday, I have done services combined with the Catholics (but rarely, as they have a very strict protocol which can not be varied). Lexicons sometimes. But again rarely. As we were doing the Bible-Concordance word-studys. Most times we wrote it all up and presented it in in fellowship when I next surfaced.