WordWolf

lcm got the idea for "athletes of the spirit" in college, where the expression was already in use in Christian organizations. It came up again after college because Glenn Clark, one of the people vpw plagiarized, and his "camps furthest out" (ripped off for camps, and other outdoorsy stuff) included "athletes of the spirit" also. (None of those words are uncommon in usage in the English language.) When lcm saw the John Travolta film "Staying Alive", he got the idea to do the 2-hour production that greatly resembled some of the dance scenes in the movie. There is no need to look further for the inspiration.

We're still around. The short of it was, the Politics section was making the GSC no longer worth maintaining for the staff. Since the Politics section was NOT necessary for the GSC (and wasn't even a thing for several years until 9/11 happened) the staff decided to jettison all the politics and keep EVERYTHING else. (It was more work to moderate the Politics than all the rest put together, and it was a stressful, thankless job.) So, you're free to post anything you could before- so long as it is NOT political.

| I was talking to my favorite aunt." "Aunt Felda right?" "Yeah." "Did she ever figure what that thing on her knee was?" "Turned out to be a chocolate chip." "That makes sense, she does love to bake." "She does, you are a thoroughbred!" "You're an adult who can't get by without an allowance from his parents. Women don't want that." "What are you saying? That you're giving up on me? What kind of father gives up on his son?" "I have six children, five of whom are married and self-sufficient. I don't think I'm the problem."

There were probably a few, but this isn't any of them.

That's it.

Philosophy didn't "resolve" this- because philosophy NEVER "resolves" anything. It's entirely about the journey, and reaching the destination/RESOLVING something is antithetical to it. I confirmed that when taking a Philosophy class alongside a friend. He came to conclusions. He saw me write " off-the-cuff" quickly and write that we can't come to a definite conclusion. He spent over an hour on his work, I spent several minutes, and I got a higher grade. (He asked to study with me after that.)

The phrasing was memorable. "...she had a need. And the need was, 'they might as well be red drapes.'" Only in twi can the definition of a "need" include "they might as well" in it.

"Heck, now I'm having a son. I'll have to teach him how to play sports, and watch sports, and-and-and-and-and..." "He just ran out of "Man Things", he's in trouble." "My mother's texting you? "Yeah, we've been talking a lot lately." "Why? Is she sick of talking to the Magic Mirror on the wall?" "No, I think she's lonely. She's been reaching out." "Wake up. It's time." "Oh. Did your water break?" "No." "Are you feeling any contractions?" "No." "Wait. Well, where are you going?" "To the hospital. Today's my due date, and this crap needs to end now."

Ok, has this thread gone as far as it can go and still actually say something, or is it down to ONLY insults and catcalling?

That's it.

"Remember when you were young. and you shone like the sun?"

In fairness, that was a bit too short....

""Yeah, it’s weirdly quiet. Nobody’s in the street." "Huh, that’s strange." "You thinking what I’m thinking?" "They cut that meteorite open and unleashed a space plague." "Exactly." "Let me just lock up here." "Okay, so what do we do?" "Uh, well, if this is a worst case scenario and we’re the last two people alive we’re gonna have to rebuild civilization." "Do you have any special skills?" "I can draw. How about you?" "I can play clarinet." "I didn’t know that." "Yeah. Ten years. Ah." "You know, it, uh, might also be up to us to repopulate the earth." "I’m okay with that." "So shall we?" "Wait here. I’m gonna brush my teeth."

"When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy. In the company of strangers In the quiet of a railway station Running scared. Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters Where the ragged people go Looking for the places only they would know."

"Remember when you were young"

Total disinterest? So, if the US wins the US-England match this week, you don't mind if I celebrate in the thread?

Prepositions are the trickiest thing to learn in any language. They're trickier when someone's misusing them.

"Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again. " "You didn't beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you. " "That's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?"

“No man can REALLY say that Jesus is Lord, but by holy spirit.” That's pfal, not Bible. When you add "really", you add a word, and no longer have...? Also, saying "by holy spirit" means "by speaking in tongues". you're changing what the Bible said. When you change the words, you no longer have..... So, if that has nothing to do with s.i.t. (which it doesn't, that was vpw's unsupported claim,) then what does it mean that "No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit"? It's still taking about making Jesus your Lord/setting forth that Jesus is your Lord. What does it mean that he's your lord? It means he's your sovereign, and you have sworn fealty to him. He commands, you obey. (Yes, as your sovereign, he has responsibilities, also, so this goes both ways in a formal relationship.) So, how does 'by the Holy Spirit" figure in? In the more obvious manner. Matthew 13. "3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." ======================= John 12: 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. -------------------------------- Once you look at it without trying to shoehorn vpw's error-ridden doctrines into the verses where they do not appear, they make a lot more sense.

"It says here to 'Leave no stone unturned.' " "Now we got a lot of family coming in tomorrow. I'm gonna need everyone's help. Think of this as one of your comic book movies. There's a bunch of superheroes, each with a different task." "Oh, like the new Avengers." "Which one was that?" "The one you slept through last weekend." "Ah. That was a good nap." "I think it's more like, uh,... like Lord of the Rings, and you're the Fellowship. Someone's gotta go to Gondor, someone's gotta go to Mordor, someone's gotta hold off the Demon of Shadow and Flame." "You mean the Balrog?" "I mean my mother." "You're probably wondering why I put you through this." "You mean the last two minutes or the last twenty years?" "Hey, watcha doing?" "Improving our wedding photos." "Oh, that's nice. Wait, I'm still in them, right?" "Of course. And not only you. I've added some guests who couldn't be there." "Who's that next to my father?" "The Wright brothers." "And why are they at our wedding?" "Orville, because I admire him; Wilbur, because he was Orville's plus-one."

The rhythm has me thinking this is Toto's "AFRICA."

Taking one of my notorious wild swings here.... "THE TRUMAN SHOW"???

"It says here to 'Leave no stone unturned.' " "Now we got a lot of family coming in tomorrow. I'm gonna need everyone's help. Think of this as one of your comic book movies. There's a bunch of superheroes, each with a different task." "Oh, like the new Avengers." "Which one was that?" "The one you slept through last weekend." "Ah. That was a good nap." "I think it's more like, uh,... like Lord of the Rings, and you're the Fellowship. Someone's gotta go to Gondor, someone's gotta go to Mordor, someone's gotta hold off the Demon of Shadow and Flame." "You mean the Balrog?" "I mean my mother."

Next week, in Qatar, is the World Cup. Anyone interested in it?

When I was in college- and for a few years after- I was involved with a SERVICE fraternity. Instead of a house and drinking games, there were service projects and showing up to work on things. It can be argued that it looked good on a resumè, that it provided free leadership training, and so on, so that it was useful to the member. (In fact, I argued that Christians might find it useful to show up and get some of the experience.) Either way, there was a lot of community service and work with other people. In fact, some people contacted us to work with them every year because we knew what we were doing. I've handled phones for PBS telethons, marshalled walkathons, worked on rebuilding a building, worked on Earth Day and Comic Relief (both in Manhattan, both in the same year), and other service projects. Yes, it's amazing how the skills are transferable. I remember once showing up at an assigned spot for a walkathon. We got to the corner before the officials assigned to the corner. I looked at the materials, and at my fraternity brothers, and mumbled something as I organized who was working with what. A few minutes after we arrived, the official arrived, saw the corner all ready, and left us to run it. They gave us some quick instructions, announcements to make at that spot, and handed me a bullhorn before going to the next corner- which was completely disorganized. (Looking back, I'm amazed they figured out who to hand the bullhorn to when we were all dressed similarly.) All of that being said, I kept that as college life and social life. Around that time, NY (state and city) had, in effect, been kicked out by lcm. That's when he'd demanded an oath of loyalty to himself PERSONALLY to follow him BLINDLY and without qualification (in both meanings of the word.) The entire staff of the state refused and were fired en masse. We were told they were all serving their own bellies and to ignore them, by lcm. But, we'd worked with these people and knew that was a lie, and we couldn't say the same about lcm. In fact, he was slated to show up locally once and he wussed out. So, 80% or more of the state walked en masse with the staff. Not that long into the process (a few years), one of the area coordinators started mentioning to me an idea that had been trickling down- the idea of public service, of volunteering for local events that needed help. He sounded like this was the most shocking idea he'd heard in some time. (Then again, he'd been hearing from HQ until recently, and now only from upstate for a few years, so a few new ideas were circulating.) I offered my counsel, and told him I'd been doing that for years at college and had accumulated over 100 service hours, so I had experience. (Minimum of 20 hours per semester, 2 semesters per year, 4-5 years at the time...) He gave me a look like I'd just claimed to have invented the idea of public service, and never uttered a peep to me about it again, let alone asked me for practical advice. Even for ex-twi, the idea that public service outside of official channels could work has ranged, at times, between surprise, shock, and outright disbelief. Now, it's decades later, and I'd expect the idea isn't so shocking anymore.