WordWolf

That's it.

"If you take a jar of pickles, and write "apple butter" on the outside, that still doesn't change the pickles on the inside." I imagine he said it differently on a number of occasions. IIRC, that version was straight from the class.

IIRC, someone once posted about that. The experience was common enough that a slang term was coined for it: "STUMP COORDINATOR." That was a person (generally corps) who was put in charge of an area, and effectively killed it off. ================================== As for me, NYC was an area targeted for growth, which it did. Before I ever heard of twi, they'd sent a lot of people to NYC in a few areas, and ran then through classes as fast as they could get them. That's how we ended up with a lot of Intermediate Class grads, and people "qualified" to run a twig. We had a Corps grad assigned as the Territory Coordinator, and everyone else was just us schmoes. I heard of things right after vpw died- which is when HQ was stumbling through things, and that was actually a great time to show up, since the locals were left alone for a few years while HQ and all the Corps and leadership hashed out all the craziness with POP and so on. We actually had steady growth during that time, and "my" Territory effectively went to 1/2 its geographical area, since it grew enough that it was split. Where it was previously labelled as 2 counties, each county was made into a separate Territory. Then 1989 came, and lcm demanded an oath of loyalty to himself personally, to follow him blindly (he confirmed to a poster once, who knew him, that this was exactly what he was expecting from this oath of allegiance- to "follow him blindly." Altogether, about 80% of twi left within a timeframe of about a year. In the case of NYC, most of us left together and kept on meeting locally and doing stuff- just without lcm's approval. After that, twi had continued to hemorrhage members until now it's almost nonexistent, and those of us who left locally actually increased in numbers for a few years, but too much of the stereotypical Corps stuff plus weirdness from Gartmore plus weirdness from the "Limb Coordinator"(State Coordinator) eventually meant that a lot of us just wandered off, sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, that's how it affected me.

"Yes, but why is the rum gone?"

Star Wars Episode V: the Empire Strikes Back. I'm glad someone knew the correct name for "Taken." I keep hearing its name for Spanish-speaking countries, which doesn't translate into anything resembling "taken." It translates into "Relentless Pursuit." (Or, most literally, "Implacable Search.")

But..."I want the girl I marry...to have....a certain...special...something"

The utter unreality of life in twi... 1) the chewer didn't think the tirade would just prove you needed to get out yesterday, not today, and legitimize any concerns of yours 2) it didn't send you running for the door as soon as his back was turned. (It takes a while to get used to healthy thinking again after any abusive relationship)

"Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who."

I meant that I thought the first had Arnie with more screen-time, with later ones having him possibly make a cameo appearance. So, I thought you were excluding the first that way.

Visited grounds once for a weekend. One of the resident corps and I interacted briefly. I said something that was true, but he didn't like hearing. (Wasn't twi related, either.) He went off on how I'd affected his believing and so on for about a minute. At the end, I drily commented about how he must have been saving that speech up all month. After that, he unclenched a bit and acted more human. In hindsight, I was probably the first person on-grounds that WAS acting human that he'd interacted with for quite some time.

Ok, that narrows it down to a franchise. With Arnie in #1, that narrows it down to 2 others. So, I shall guess "Expendables 3".

That's it, whether or not Raf replies soon. ("I played this town like a harp from hell.")

wierwille WAS a drunk. It doesn't matter how he started being one, but he certainly was one by the time he hijacked the hippies. That's not the reason twi's toxic- it was just another symptom of the toxicity of twi, because vpw's narcissism and sociopathic issues are WHY he had no problem drinking all the time AND doing the other things that ruined the lives of others. And yes, some people did their best to emulate all of vpw's behavior- like trying to like his alcohol and cigarette brands, and yell at people and claim it's because he cared and they could take it, and so on.

Due to First Amendment issues, the government is careful how they phrase things concerning religions. It's easy for someone to slap a LABEL of "cult" on a group. If one person in the government REPEATS it, then it's a big deal- especially if the group turns out NOT to be one. The government takes cults seriously, depending on the specific issues involved, and the level of government involved. Look at what's left of the Branch Davidians after the ATF got involved if you think the government categorically blows things off. Or, you could phrase it as a question here. Something like: "If you had to explain to someone what a 'cult' is in 30 seconds or less, without them misunderstanding, how would you do it?" Then you could tap the skills of the other posters here. That's one good thing about messageboards.

This is 2014. If the current types of fertilizers become rarer, there's plenty of alternatives available, and-after the obvious conversion from one type to another or several- things will proceed as normal. As for Solyndra, that was just one of many startup companies that had to close its doors when they failed to account for dramatic shifts in prices that resulted in their company no longer being able to meet costs, let alone turn a profit. Simply put, the cost of competing technologies to make solar cells COLLAPSED, which meant that Solyndra was now selling the most expensive panels on the market. Naturally, that meant they had no customers, and no customers means you're out of business. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-13/solyndra-program-vilified-by-republicans-turns-a-profit.html http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-11-12/u-dot-s-dot-expects-5-billion-from-program-that-funded-solyndra "The California-based solar manufacturer went bust pursuing an alternate photovoltaic technology that became too expensive as panel prices plunged worldwide."

Indeed. Gandalf the Grey to the Balrog, in probably the most exciting scene in the book and the movie.

If the followers wake up, they could realize it's time to stop feeding twi their money, time, and loyalty-their lives, really- and discover life outside of twi. Christians live much richer lives outside of it all the time. Then again, some other people decided they could leave twi, and still take twi with them- continuing to ignore all the information exposing the lies, and maintaining vpw was some great one, who had a special connection to God Almighty, and wasn't just a fraud who used the work of others to pretend he knew what a deep relationship with God Almighty was all about. That is an option for the remaining innies. It's an unhealthy option, but frankly, I think it beats remaining in twi entirely.

Yes it does.

The article is partly right, but spends its time taking a strong stand in one direction- and leaves out what doesn't support that position. It is true that, statistically, 100% of the planet's oil probably will never be used up. However, that's because it becomes a matter of what can be gotten easily vs what can be gotten. The US can get a LOT of oil, just not as easily. For example, we have fracking, which is oil that isn't that easy to get (shale also), but the environmental effects of fracking are still being discovered (contamination of groundwater, higher incidents of seismic activity), and that should be kept in mind when comparing options. The US has size-able coal and gas supplies as well, which are worth remembering. Skipping a number of other resources, the US' crop production also makes it a good candidate for producing BIODIESEL. Naturally, this means fights between people who want FOOD and people who want BIODIESEL, and will eventually lead to some hot fighting over those resources. On the one hand, some people will point out that beef production is very inefficient per acre for food production, which means we might have to consider going mostly veggie or all veggie or starving. On the other hand, if we give up beef entirely, will we really think it's worth not starving? We won't have leather, either. And so on. Things are complicated, and there's no EASY answers, but there are answers. So, I really think the US' oil supply is better served if the price and supply elsewhere gets more expensive and rarer- which is a point the article you linked agrees with, but phrases in a different fashion. If the price goes up, the US will find it cost-effective to get the rest. If the price goes down, the US won't find that so, but will be able to buy more on the market. That's not counting biodiesel and other GROWN fuels as options. I find it comforting that problems foreseen decades ago can be solved by solutions not seen decades ago. In the 70s and 80s, people talked about nuclear, solar, hydroelectric, even thermal and wind, but nobody (almost nobody) mentioned a fuel from a crop, and who imagined people working on bacteria and so on that would eat garbage and excrete a fuel? (It's in the earliest stages of development, so perhaps in 20 years, it might be ready for the market.) The only place I saw discussion of a grown fuel, in the 80s, was a martial arts movie- and I actually took a class on Energy for a year back in high school.

The thread title surprised me. I think of this as more of a twi myth, and the vpw myth as things like The 1942 Promise and other disproven things and wild claims.

Obviously episode names of a series. "Supernatural" ?

2001: A Space Odyssey

Correct, of course.

"Gee, Officer Krupke"

"Electric Avenue", Eddy Grant.