socks

I know of at least two ministries that use The Way in their names. An acquaintance of mine has worked with one, and they have no background of any kind with the New Knoxville Way, past or present. Might as well be on different planets. My name is the same as a well known professional athlete. He has a domain name that includes another word plus his name. I was researching it as a domain name and discovered that another person with my same name has registered the actual name as a dot com. So I had some other avenues to pursue, such as a _ in the name, or additional characters. In my case I learned a name is a name is a name. If it's registered, it's registered. The IP address is always assigned as a different one, but the name as a collection of letters has to be different. And the fact that the other person's name is the same, it's a done deal. Their intent was identical to mine. If someone else had it registered and wasn't using it, I could buy it, or negotiate a turnover of some kind when it lapsed. Or just wait. To prove fraud of some kind would be fairly involved, and expensive I discovered. In my case, it was a no brainer. There were legitimate legal rights being exercised by those who had registered the name.

Good point, Pat. The dot com was sitting there when the Way registered the others and they didn't register it. Org is appropriate, dot com is for commercial endeavors. Usually when a company wants to insure that all url entries will come to them and they want their name to be covered, they register all of them and redirect the unused to the one they're actually using for a site. ICANN.com itself does that, by placing you at a page with links that directs you to the actual sites with content that are all net and org domains. They registered them all but really only use the ones appropriate. It makes the whole use of the url names simpler, and for a large organization it makes sense to have them all. Then no matter what a person types in (and the com is still the one nearly everyone defaults first time) they'll get to the right spot. Was/is the Way just ignorant, stupid? You'd think their "legal" advisors would have advised them according to normal accepted business practice. Since the Way is an international effort with what, activities in 50 countries is it? what were they thinking? Their action seems to indicate their interest in the dot com was nil. Still, I wonder if their actual right to it is arguable. Guess they think so. The Way left the dot com. They're not a commercial endeavor. (So they say). From their standpoint which may have very well been due to a lack of expertise in internet set up (go figure) their intent may have been established by what they did and didn't do. ? At first pass though, I'd say they may have an argument. That's why I'm curious to see more of the story.

Yeah! I think .biz would be appropriate! Maybe a new one "theway.givnusthebiz" :D-->

Pat, I'm interested in how this will work out. I won't push for details till you're ready, but in light of ICANN's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) rules and regs for domain name procurement how will this play out. Namely, the "bad faith" section. Here's the section I'm talking about: Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith: (i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or (ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or (iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or (iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location. -------- Is the Way Nash's approach going to be that you secured the name to prevent their rights as users, misrepresent it, or...?

They're actually totally different names - "wayinternational.com" was registered to a guy in Irvine, CA. in 2003 according to the domain searches I did. "thewayinternational.com" is regsitered to a guy in Vermont. :)--> You could register "thewayinternationale.com tomorrow, it's not taken.

:)--> "One by one" "Honey, I'd like to pray for you..."

Interesting. Was there a laying on of hands, Oaks?

That's a cool card, Zix. At that price it IS a steal!

Wacky, go to the wall and click around the lower left shadow, down at the bottom...

Hey diazbro, thanks for all the comments on this thread. The balance of information and ideas is really interesting. ex10, your post is close to me. I've often thought of how the expectations were built to literally expect a person, like Way Corps, to have all the answers all the time, to be perfect and to always be everything that anyone needed and wanted at anytime of the day or night. Kind of like Dirty Harry. Never sleeps or finishes a meal ;)-->. He's on The Case 24 X 7. I think that kind of lifestyle appealed to some people, too. So what do you get? Well, for better or worse people who's byline is "The Ministry's my LIFE!" (ooh I love the Dirty Harry flix! but of course he was a troubled conflicted character who's personal problems led to all kinds of pathological behavior. The assumption was that the force of the character's personal resolve could overcome all human failings and in the end, when that .44 took aim, it hit what it was aiming at, right?) I've always been kind of fascinated by people when they have that approach. They're "called" to this or that, they have a calling of some sort they say and they want everybody to get on their bandwagon. But if the calling destroys the vessel it lives in, what's really going on? It's something we don't see see immediately sometimes. (at least ol' Harry had the class to go it alone since he knew he could only account for himself ;)-->)

Boy howdeee! Cool game Cool Waters! Just got back to it, finally got out. Had to come back to the dancing guy on the wall couple times before I saw what he was doing. SWEET!

Radar :)--> ex10, :)--> Everybody :)--> I'm just a smiley foo' today. Blue forms - for tax accountablity, sure. For measuring or evaluating a person's well-being, nasty. The endless blahdee blah, "if you're BLESSED you'll be giving. If you're not BLESSED and NOT GIVING, something's wrong. With YOU". I'm not proud of the way I handled all of this over the years. Eventually my underlying convictions fought against requirements at times and I rebelled in stupid ways. I'd have been more honest to just say yes I want to be in the Way Corps and yes I want everybody and their uncle to be blessed but no I won't do something I feel is being used wrongly. If I feel something else can be done with the fellowship's resources I'll discuss it with everyone involved and if that makes me derilict of duty so be it, kick me out, I'll just do what I believe with people somewhere that want to work that way. That's eventually the route our fellowship went when we ended being an "official" Way twig. We were just a fellowship of willing participants and we were eager to retain friendships and associations, with no enemies. But if you got in my face or our people's face without showing the same respect we gave you, I wasn't going to tolerate it. Don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out. What's really weird to me now is that in one of those now infamous expositions that I once heard VPW give on this whole ABS/blue form thing he said to a small group that if he was in a twig and there was a need or something he felt like ABS should be used for, if it was him he'd just do and keep it between God and himself. "Just don't tell anybody". Oh, I thought that was so cool at the time. He wasn't suggesting irresponsible behavior but from the legal and tax standpoint he knew it could get dicey. So that was an "answer" for certain situations. But it really wasn't. Because it wasn't a standard it was an exception. If you did that all the time, those blue forms would creep back up. "The ABS has gone down. What's wrong, isn't everybody BLESSED?" So at best you'd have people all over running around doing whatever they wanted to and not telling anybody. Maybe that would have been better, it might have brought things to a head a lot sooner.

Yup, my3cents, just use the INSERT FILE feature. I like to start and record a blank/no sound audio file for the default 60 seconds and save it. Then insert it back in and it adds it on to the existing 60 seconds, doubling it. Save that, do it again in a new file, get 180 seconds, etc. Then all you're doing is re recording over the file in the final step to record what you want. But it will work with any wav file to start with.

Hey sudo, good question. I've used Sound Forge to do what you're trying. Once installed, it will run off the same sound card that plays your streaming audio. All you have to do is prep the file you're about to play, and open a new file in Sound Forge, hit record and then hit play in your media file or whatever it is you want to play. It captures the sound as it plays, you just adjust the audio volume on the media player. You can get a 16 bit stereo wav file that way and edit it in Sound Forge. I use mp3-2-wav from www.mp3fe.com to do a simple conversion to mp3 if that's what I want. I subscribe to Rhapsody and have uh, tested this method on stereo audio playbacks. All I have to do is snip off the blank time at the beginning and end if there is any and I've got a perfect stereo wav file. Another simple way to do it is to open your Sound Recorder that comes with Windows and select record and record a file to the default length of 60 seconds with no sound and save it as a TEST.wav file. Then select EDIT and INSERT FILE and select and insert that file, which will now give you a length of 120 seconds instead of just 60. You can do that as many times as you need to get longer recording time. You can select FILE and PROPERTIES to get a 16 bit stereo 44,1k format too. So now you have a blank file that you've saved to record over. Just reopen it and prep the file you're trying to record on the fly, hit RECORD on the Sound Recorder program and hit PLAY on the media file or whatever the source is. Bingo, just stop it when you're done and save it as a wav with a new name. You can also do conversions to mp3 by selecting FILE and PROPERTIES to convert the format. It's free and does a pretty good job, you may have to fiddle with the player volume a bit to get the result you want. That might do it for you.

ex10, your comment about the blue forms made me laugh. I bet there's boxes in closets and garages all over the world that still have some of those in them. The business about the blue forms was the most hateful of things I experienced in the Way. Point of fact - my wife and I moved to a large Area in about 82. We had a little twig, and "twig area" which was 2 or 3 twigs depending on the month. Anyway, for most of the first year I was either not working or working intermittently. Another guy in our twig the same thing for most of that year. There were a few others who had regular "day jobs" and between us all probably only two people with decent incomes. But we all gave what we had and sent it in and we were all pretty happy if not rich. My point, we weren't a "big money" fellowship of people. Anyway as we got started the second year the local Area coordinator got with me to tell me some news - he'd been doing the books for the previous year and lo n behold! Our twig from the previous year was the SECOND highest ABS'ers in the entire Area, which totaled 3 branches plus our "twig area"..... ??? The highest ABS'ers was a fellowship of long standing grads who were always "# 1". Which made me scratch my head. How could a bunch like us, a brand new twig in it's first year, be the second highest "givers" in that Area. It didn't make sense till I realized that apparently either we were the only ones who were stupid enough to try and share on a regular basis OR everyone else was poorer than dirt. (actually it was due to one couple for most of the year, whose husband was one of the greatest guys I've ever know and who of course was considered marginal by other Way bosses because he didn't kiss everyone's a$$ on cue). There were several instances of those kinds of things that happened while I was in Florida - ABS, PFAL registrations, WOW registrations, twig "numbers", split. Our folks always seemed to quietly go about their business and I tried to not get in their hair...yet I always had some Wise Elder on my a$$ telling me what a lousy job I was doing because I didn't do it "the right way" or according to the Holy Rules of Behavior of the Way. Funny looking back. I was a pretty tweezed "leader" by any standard but I saw some amazing things inbetween failing and succeeding. :)-->

For the record, I'm strange. Anyone who wants to give me money can contact me at soques@hotmail.com

The verse in Romans 16, about marking and avoiding those who cause "divisions and offences".... The definition of offences includes that which is offensive by EXAMPLE and action as in a stumblingblock, something that causes another to err, trip or fall. Something that offends another. Isn't the ol' greek word "skandalon"...? Yeah, it's real scandalous if you don't vacuum your home twice a day. Dust mites, that'll really screw someone's faith up. But bad mouth people, give bad advice, destroy reputations, have to fire your acting President because he can't keep his pants on, have half your staff "leadership" suddenly grow zippers on their lips because nobody knows nuttin' about nothin' and ain't never seen nobody do nuttin' wrong ever... That's not offensive? Well, according to their little 25k TV add, no. They're the heart of America. NOT TO MENTION the incredibly bad hair that seems to have proliferated at the Way Nash in the last 10 years or so. Geez. Talk about offensive. I have to avoid Rosalies photo on this site's homepage lest I fall in to a serious out of fellowship funk. (I don't think it's fixable, from what I've seen that kind of hair thing can only be made right by mucho prayer and fasting). THAT needs marking and avoidance if anything ever did. Seriously.

Well, 'gracious' isn't a word I'd associate with the Way, at least not anymore. It may be that they've learned their lesson the hard way about this mark and avoid issue, but time will tell. If they haven't they need to grab some people by the short hairs and tell them to shut up! while they still have a farm to squat on. I'm certain that quite a few people who could quantify damage sustained by the Way's mark and avoid actions could sue for damages. One's good name is generally considered to have a value. Not that a law suit is the answer for every problem by any means, but it seems to be the only thing that gets the Way's attention. They're like near sighted pigs that have to be led out of the muck by the nose.

cool! I got in to the room, but will have to finish it later. (I think! I got as far as the key and had to stop, not sure where it's going but it looks like fun!)

Tom, I've been pondering your picture and it's possible meanings....this is no mere coincidence! I'm sure of it. Visitation and sightings are up! Physical evidences abound! Awareness is rising, like a great organ. Interesting point I've considered on my journey to the Great Monkey! Check this out: The lowest Point in North America is Death Valley, California: 282 feet / 86 meters below sea level. The HIGHEST point in the northern hemisphere: McKinley (Denali), Alaska: 20,320 feet / 6194 meters. Death Valley is just a day's drive or so. We're on our way. Once covered by water...who knows what lies below the surface of that hot, bleached sand! This line from "The Big Book of Brine" by Dr. Frederick G. Gilley has always caught my eye (chapter 2, p 898) "The ancient city of Salinea, long thought to be myth, was described in writings by the Italian historian Joeceephus as having been located on "the western rim of the Great Land where the sun sets". I smell a connection!!! Ala, we're playing I Still Haven't Found The Monkey That I'm Looking For right now!

JL, word on the wire is that the LOASMFW's (League of Amazing Sea Monkeys! Freedom Warriors ) have dispatched a squad of Minja's to your area. Help is on the way!

That sounds like them, wyteduv58!! You can verify that by checking out this cool link to a short video of Amazing Sea Monkey's mating as they play and cavort! They're real cavorters! Don't worry, it's Family Rated! p.s. remember to turn your speaker volume up to hear the swingin' music!

MOW! So little time, so much amazingstuff!! A comrade in arms, attacked by the Dark Monkey's minions!!! His mighty ones, powerful they are! But a match they are not for the concerted power of ML! OLM's...unleash the... MONKEY LOVE!!! Feel the love! Be the love! Live the love! Words of Watery Power are needed...! The life is in the water The water is life By the water I am all things I know all things I see all things! The water is life The life is in the water!!! Be CLEANSED Dark Monkey Minions of Madness!!!! Back!!! BACK!!!

Thanks Hope! That helps the timeline to make a little more sense. GEEZ. You can really see Craigbo's torturous use of language. His double speak is incredible. Not joking here, he is truly a master of saying nothing. “The Prevailing Word in the Promised Land of the Household, or Promised Land of the Prevailing Word in the Household--I guess either way would work." ??? --> That's surreal! It's like giving a new name to an old horse, parking it at the end of the track and saying "We won!". One day, everybody's putzing along dodee dodee doe. The next day - "We be prevailin' mo'fo!" "and as we move into Generation II of The Way International Ministry of Research, Teaching, and Fellowship, there has to be ways to focus our thoughts and define it, both culturally and in language that communicates, as well as Biblically and spiritually.” Doink! Define it biblically? Why bother? Just say "thus saith the Lord" and declare whatever drops out of your nose this week to be the Nectar of the Gods. He's struggling to manufacture a vision. "leaders are to stand in the gap between the adversary and the believers in the household" How? By kicking them out the second they have problems? Way to gap bro! "I believe we are right now at the brink , on the very verge of the actual experiential reality of the prevailing Word. And we are at the point of bring into functional reality the seventh section of the book of Acts.” Functional reality, a favorite phrase of his. What in GAWDS name does that mean? Actual experiential reality....it just goes on and on. What a mess.

Raf sed: How about, like choosing between Bluto and The Joker then? I'd go for that comparison. :D--> How many Way Leaders does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Answer: depends on how many underlings they have and how many times the underlings have to be reproved for not doing it right.