WordWolf

So, are you saying-or suggesting- that posters who reported that either were lying or deserved to get beaten down? I wouldn't ask, but YOU'RE the one who singled out that phrase and replied by pointing out some people lie and sometimes we don't know the reason someone does something like beat someone....

Every time I've flown in an airplane, I've taken it as a given that the flight crew in the cockpit has extensive experience, and any of the three (pilot, co-pilot, navigator) is capable of flying the plane if need be. If you ever fly in an airplane, it would be in your best interest for the pilot to be EXPERIENCED and have learned under more seasoned pilots, rather than simply be able to get a perfect score on a written test of piloting. JFK Jr lacked that experience with flying on instruments only, although he seems to have had the textbook knowledge of it sufficient to be allowed to fly without a co-pilot. His body and that of his passengers were never found- nor was his plane, from when it went down. As someone fond of textbook learning, I had to learn the limitations of paper-and-ink, and learn they were bigger limitations than I wanted to admit....

Is this "Seabiscuit"?

Just a friendly reminder..... As many posters have said over the years, EVERY PERSON'S TWI EXPERIENCE WAS UNIQUE. I'd also like to point out that every person's twi experience was THEIR OWN. What do I mean by that? Each person had a different experience from others- whether that be from decade to decade, state to state, family to family, or any other way. People in the same state around the same time could have RADICALLY different experiences. That means that the accounts of some people-whether the accounts are "Nothing bad ever happened to me, everyone was fantastic" or "I was forced through a torturous twi experience until I got older and my family was kicked out" or anything else- can be quite shocking to posters. Some people may say "It is ridiculous to claim children in family corps were beaten almost to unconsciousness" and WANT to believe posters who say such are liars, but we have at least one poster who DID get such an assault and battery as a child, and MANY people have had problems with the official policies of everyone having a wooden beating implement on them, and how ANY adult on grounds were free to use it at their discretion, with no official policy as to what was too lenient and what was too strong. Some people may say "My experience was all close to paradise. Nobody was a problem, everyone was great," and others may find that ridiculous, too, but we have posters who have made such claims also. I, for one, am not ready to call them liars, EITHER. Unless one was PHYSICALLY PRESENT at the place and time of an incident, it's not easy to FAIRLY say "that's not what happened at all", and harder to FAIRLY say "you are lying." ====== There's been many accounts how a person-if connected well enough- could get away with anything, and twi would either IGNORE it or ASSIST in burying it. Ever read the account of the child molester twi hid by relocating him, then had people commit the felony of Breaking and Entering to make the felony of theft possible, to steal the evidence against him when a twi'er reported the molester to the police for molesting her kids? That's FAR beyond "what twi tolerated", right? But it happened-more than one posted reported on this, eyewitnesses. Is it possible for someone with homosexual experience and tendencies to flourish in twi WHILE lcm was conducting his witch-hunt for all "homos" and "homo sympathizers"? Impossible you say? Well, it appears to have happened at the highest level of twi.... ======= And yes, some higher-ups were so privileged that their kids had NO discipline, NO boundaries, could get away with ANYTHING, and got over with all sorts of things. Some of them called the ROA "score week" for reasons you can figure out- we even have that one from lcm's mouth- and there was plenty of underage drinking or whatever as well. Then again, as one former teen reported, for those who were NOT part of the privileged few, underage drinking was one coping mechanism for dealing with twi. Oh, and lcm ADMITTED-IN COURT- to coercion in getting at least one woman to sleep with him. That's what he ADMITTED to, not everything he necessarily ever DID. Now, whether or not you call it "rape" if there's no force of physical violence or not is your own business. However, he was TAUGHT that he had to LEARN to sleep with other women. He was TAUGHT that by vpw himself. According to eyewitnesses here, vpw wasn't above drugging women into unconsciousness then having sex with them while unconscious. Now, THAT counts as 'rape', right? But when vpw did it, it was carefully orchestrated, and there were people in twi who voluntarily covered it up (like Mr and Mrs Moneyhands), and people who monitored the victims, so that if they were going to tell someone, they were personally destroyed and kicked out of twi to silence them. That's happened more than once. vpw never went to prison. By someone's definition, that means he never committed a crime. If I can offer advice, I would recommend they withhold judgement, and, especially, speaking on what vpw and twi "would never do" until they knew a lot more about what they DEFINITELY DID.

A URL is the exact web-address of something. The URL of the mainpage of this website is http://www.greasespotcafe.com/ Individual items on a page may have a URL also. If so, then you can link to that exact item instead of the page. That's NOT recommended for things like personal avatars, because every single time someone calls up a page with your avatar on it (which is every page you post on), the forum has to use up some of ITS bandwidth to pull up the image, and the site that HOSTS the image has to use up some of ITS bandwidth to allow it to be accessed. If you must link to an offsite image, it's good manners to capture the image to your computer, and then uplink the image to a hosting service (there's a number of FREE ones designed for it), then get the URL from them for the image (it will be provided when you upload it-don't lose the information). Then you go to the messageboard and provide the URL for it. I find it a LOT more practical to upload the image directly to the messageboard, so there's no back-and-forth while you access a page. For that, you capture an image to your computer, then upload it to your profile. Since that's a little tricky, I recommend waiting until you get the hang of the messageboard first.

Once you're logged in, the upper right has your options. My Controls is your account generally. (If you Right-Click on that, the second option is "Open in New Window", which will allow you to keep this page open as a guide while you open that one.) The thing added automatically to the ends of posts on messageboards is called a "signature." (Just as that's the last thing at the bottom of a formal letter.) Once you select My Controls, study the left column menu that comes up. The Personal Profile sub-menu includes "Edit Signature" and "edit avatar settings." From "Edit Signature", you can type what you'd like, or do some other stuff. Me, I just type for my signature. You can also use "edit avatar settings" to set an avatar. A forum avatar is the little picture that appears by your screen-name, next to your posts. The GSC has a few pre-installed galleries you can select from for now. (I recommend looking around and not picking one someone else is using.) You can also upload an avatar from somewhere else. Like most people with a PERSONAL avatar (mine was commissioned from an artist), I will ask you not copy MINE. (I paid for it, I own it.) Once you have a little practice online, feel free to ask me or someone else to help you find something that works for you. Or, to find an artist to draw something for you that's really specific and personal.

Personally, I think EVERYONE's dander should be raised a bit over this, and I have difficulty with the idea that some people, apparently, are just fine over this. I think it's WORTH some outrage.

That was the famous "line in the sand" time, circa 1989, when lcm demanded an oath of allegiance, and fired any leader who said they were loyal to the ministry, but absolute allegiance to lcm as the leader. (They claimed the right to think for themself, and to identify error if they saw it.)

Usually, when tempers flare on messageboards, I recommend people log off and take a brisk walk around the block. I've found it helps me quite a bit, and doctors recommend the mild exercise for a number of reasons.

If one insists on spiritualizing the organization, one should be consistent and admit that, yes, the program was CLAIMED to replicate life in the first-century Christian church, and therefore the Christians in the Book of Acts. If one was to do that, one should be consistent and actually examine the Book of Acts, and compare it to the program. Even a cursory review would show there was a huge DISCONNECT between the CLAIM- 1st century Christian church- and the PROGRAM- which CLAIMED to be based on the 1st century Christian church at some points, and at other points were claimed to be based on the US military and so on. In the "Heart of the Way Corps" series, vpw HIMSELF mentioned the military claim WITHOUT making the 1st century claim. He said OUTRIGHT that he looked at how the US military got commitment from its soldiers, and said he'd considered that the military was bigger than God since it got more commitment from its people than God did. (He was, of course, using a figure of speech about the military being bigger than God-sarcasm.) Of course, if one accepts vpw's own claim that the corps was based on the US military (and rejects vpw's own claim that the corps was based on the 1st century Christian church), there's an additional problem. vpw wanted the COMMITMENT of the military-but didn't study its structure to see how they did it successfully. He has no background in the US military, and there was no ex-military advisor in twi designing the program, or evaluating all aspects at the planning level, or vetting the steps. In fact, the first exposure to the REAL military with the corps was early corps like John T entering the corps. How much did vpw value his input on what the early corps should be like? In TW:LiL, vpw himself derides the training John T received in the military. In conclusion, vpw claimed, at different times, to have based the early corps on the 1st century Christian church, and on the US military. However, its lack of resemblance to EITHER indicates it was based on NEITHER. vpw seems to have wanted a group of people to be committed and loyal, and used trappings of the 1st century Christian church, or the US military, when either suited him, and discarded either when they didn't suit him. ======== Oh, and before anyone "reads into" what I wrote, that doesn't mean there weren't many fine, committed Christians who were IN that program. I don't think their excellence as humans or as Christians can be attributed primarily to the program. They were fine individuals before entering, and would have been so without it. Even the most horrible programs, if quality people are allowed to join it, are bound to have a few excellent grads. That's a matter of statistics, just as the most excellent program will eventually have failures or "washouts." That's going to happen eventually no matter what, at SOME point. That's why EXCEPTIONS are not to be considered the RULE. (And, at least compared to later corps, the early corps was hardly "the most horrible" program.)

"... So the guy staggers to his feet and goes back to the girl. She smiles, looks him right in the eye and says "Just try that in hyperspace!"" "Ah, I see. So the difficulty in attaining such complex positioning in a zero gravity environment, coupled with the adverse effect it would have on the psychological well being of the average human male, is what makes this anecdote so amusing. Yes. Very humorous indeed. Hysterical, in fact." Geordi's trying to teach Data humor again. "Swimming is too much like bathing." Worf, like other Klingons, seems not to like water in general, other than for bathing. "The Klingon Way" speculated that's why Worf considers prune juice "a warrior's drink"- it is nothing at all like water, as beverages go. "I am receiving a Code Forty-Seven." Walker Keel sent a Code 47 Emergency Communique- no records are to be made of the communication. "You're using a Code Forty-Seven! I have to know what this is all about." "Not over subspace. No." Keel wasn't taking ANY chances. "In a manner of speaking, it is nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock, a useless ball of mud, a worthless chunk of --" "Thank you, Data. I get the idea." Keel says to rendezvous at Dytallix B's mining colony. (Abandoned mining colony.) "Two are frigates: the Renegade commanded by Tryla Scott, and the Thomas Paine, Captain Rixx commanding." "The third is just coming into range now, sir... It is an Ambassador Class heavy cruiser... The USS Horatio." "Horatio?" "Isn't that Walker Keel's ship?" There's three captains to meet with Admiral Keel, including Picard. Rixx was the first Bolian we ever saw. Either he was not a purebreed Bolian, or there's variety in skintone among Bolians, since he had human-color skin. "Do you recall the night you introduced Jack Crusher to Beverly?" "You know full well I hadn't even met Beverly then. You introduced them." "My brother introduced them." "You don't have a brother -- two sisters, Anne and Melissa. Now what the hell's this all about?!" Keel noted the conspiracy had people forgetting things they should have remembered, so he played "remember when" with Picard until he was sure he wasn't one of them. The writers meant to follow up on this, and never got the chance. Some non-canon stories here and there have been written with the parasites appearing again. The early drafts didn't HAVE parasites-there was a literal conspiracy in Starfleet. Roddenberry squashed that flat- he insisted Starfleet and the Federation would be nearly perfect. Supposedly, the first draft was going to be another one of ST:TNG's failed "here's the moral of this story" episodes- commenting on Iran/Contra. In hindsight, I'm glad that part was eliminated-NextGen NEVER made those stories work- with the possible exception of "the Arsenal of Freedom."

CORRECT! And, as you know, the Code 47 wasn't used frivolously- just cryptically.

"... So the guy staggers to his feet and goes back to the girl. She smiles, looks him right in the eye and says "Just try that in hyperspace!"" "Ah, I see. So the difficulty in attaining such complex positioning in a zero gravity environment, coupled with the adverse effect it would have on the psychological well being of the average human male, is what makes this anecdote so amusing. Yes. Very humorous indeed. Hysterical, in fact." "Swimming is too much like bathing." "I am receiving a Code Forty-Seven." "You're using a Code Forty-Seven! I have to know what this is all about." "Not over subspace. No." "In a manner of speaking, it is nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock, a useless ball of mud, a worthless chunk of --" "Thank you, Data. I get the idea." "Two are frigates: the Renegade commanded by Tryla Scott, and the Thomas Paine, Captain Rixx commanding." "The third is just coming into range now, sir... It is an Ambassador Class heavy cruiser... The USS Horatio." "Horatio?" "Isn't that Walker Keel's ship?" "Do you recall the night you introduced Jack Crusher to Beverly?" "You know full well I hadn't even met Beverly then. You introduced them." "My brother introduced them." "You don't have a brother -- two sisters, Anne and Melissa. Now what the hell's this all about?!"

Four dead in Ohio. How many more?

It's not e.e. cummings, and it's not Ogden Nash. And I've READ this poem, and I'm sure I can't name the poet.

It is indeed Meatloaf. It is indeed "Bat Out of Hell", from the album of the same title. (Lyrics by Jim Steinman.) I was getting ready to post a big block of lyrics. Meatloaf's best songs seem to just go on and on, don't they? (Me, I like them that way.)

Is this that current show, "Heroes"?

"I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram on a silver black phantom bike" "I can see myself tearing up the road faster than any other boy has ever gone"

*wild swing* "the Munsters Today."

VERY interesting point! Of course, lcm and the others claimed they "HELPED KILL" vpw, who, supposedly, chose to die. (WE HAVE THAT IN WRITING.) But vpw is supposedly not even PARTIALLY to blame when he drives someone else to suicide. And, naturally, all our points keep getting CHANGED to "the victim had zero responsibility" when we're saying "of course that's not true!" This is NOT about "truth"-this is about ABSOLVING VPW OF RESPONSIBILITY no matter HOW ludicrous the posts have to get to do that.

You speak as someone who doesn't understand that level of hopelessness and pain. She was giving you the benefit of the doubt. One possibility-the one she took- was that you lack experience anywhere near it, and thus can't empathize with what is-to you-foreign emotion. That is understandable. The other possibility-the one she didn't take-was that you HAVE felt that level of hopelessness and pain, and are so emotionally selfish, or emotionally numb, that you cannot, or will not, extend enough pathos to someone else who's felt that, and instead of offering empathy or at least SILENCE (many of us chose to say nothing on the subject), you instead started in with how it was shameful for the person to commit suicide. Well, duh. We knew that, but what needed saying was how they GOT to that shameful position. Suicides generally don't kill themselves because they're feeling PRIDE or feeling GOOD about themselves. I think you are CAPABLE of extending empathy IF YOU WANT. Instead of only exercising it for the criminals of twi, how about trying something novel and extending it to the VICTIMS at some point? You wouldn't have to do it ALL the time if you found it too taxing, but if nothing else, it could be an educational experience. It certainly would be more novel than your habitual painting of rascal as "lying".

"... So the guy staggers to his feet and goes back to the girl. She smiles, looks him right in the eye and says "Just try that in hyperspace!"" "Ah, I see. So the difficulty in attaining such complex positioning in a zero gravity environment, coupled with the adverse effect it would have on the psychological well being of the average human male, is what makes this anecdote so amusing. Yes. Very humorous indeed. Hysterical, in fact." "Swimming is too much like bathing." "I am receiving a Code Forty-Seven." "You're using a Code Forty-Seven! I have to know what this is all about." "Not over subspace. No." "In a manner of speaking, it is nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock, a useless ball of mud, a worthless chunk of --" "Thank you, Data. I get the idea."

So's the spy-boy, as was mentioned in the 2nd link I linked. There's a number of versions of this song, and there's different people mentioned, both at the beginning of the song and later on.