WordWolf

I'll go with "Deja Q", then.

I disagree. I believe pfal was a class AND a scam AND a way to enslave. I believe it was versatile like that. I think some of the things I learned in it were useful- but they needed to be carefully pruned away from "which I have dedicated my life to" and "one for the money, two for the show..." and the "LAW of believing" and making it the means to a DIFFERENT end, and so on. Add a little arsenic to a fine meal, and you can poison a whole crowd at once.

Was that "Q WHO"?

I ran Dr Web's antivirus link checker on the links. (I keep it around for just such occasions. :D ) They came up clean. (Those of you who use Firefox can download this handy little Extension for yourselves.)

I ran Dr Web's antivirus link checker on each link. They came up clean. Although I didnt check the link to another page on this forum, because DUH. So, should be safe to click.

You meant "the Nth Degree", which IS the correct answer. Barclay's brain gets a super-upgrade, and he gets confidence and an effective personality as a side-effect. Before that, he's unable to perform Cyrano confidently, even with full costume. Afterwards, he's 'in character' with no need of costume. Thus, the lines from the play about the moon. After he takes over the ship, they begin working on a bypass to the engines so they can get to a starbase, while the ship's counselor tries to talk him out of his plan, and thus out of being plugged into the ship. When she fails, she turns back and says "The Captain will do everything within his power to stop you," which not only won't convince him to step out, not only will convince him she was insincere when talking earlier, but was as good as sounding an alert that they were working on something- which, of course, means Barclay stopsm Geordi's bypass. All from one line. Also, he stays up all night debating the Grand Unification Theory with a holographic program of Albert Einstein-and is getting the better of him in discussion! It was the German Einstein who said "Gruss gott!" ========= pawnbroker's turn!

Sadly, no. Maybe if you figure out who that exchange was between, you'll have the episode. There's a hint if you read it carefully.

"The moon. Yes, that will be my home. My paradise. I shall find there, all the souls I love -- Socrates, Galileo..." "The Captain will do everything in his power to stop you." "G sub I J of t as t approaches infinity..." "That's G of t over G-naught." "So it is, so it is." "I still don't see how you can incorporate the quantum principle into general relativity without adjusting the cosmological constant a lot more than you're doing here." "If we increase the value as you suggest, we must face the possibility of twenty-six dimensions, instead of ten!" "I'm not sure if I'm ready for that." "I certainly am not." "But if this semiset was curved into the subatomic, the infinities might cancel each other out." "Gruss Gott. They just might."

Thing is, with both "Andromeda" and "Earth:the Final Conflict" (I seem to have a psychological blind-spot on recalling these 2), I followed a simple logic. Gene Roddenberry, the Great Bird of the Galaxy, was nearly worshipped among some Trekkies. If he had a competent SF concept to release, it would have an automatic audience. (Well, it would for sure once ST:TNG was proven, and points thereafter.) So, if Roddenberry had ideas for shows, and never followed up on them, to me, that says he wasn't confident they were worth airing. And if the writer is not confident they are worth airing, then I certainly am not confident they are worth WATCHING.

When I dealt with the peons, the "Joe Believers", many times, I was the recipient of, or the witness to, acts of kindness done just to bless members of "the family." 2 quick examples: As a brokeass kid, I raised the money for "the class", and asked to borrow someone's Bible. When I got to Session 1, someone gave me a brand-new Bible. (A really nice one with large print.) Another person I know balked at the class since they were hesitant about raising the $40 (someone else broke.) Someone who had just met them then offered to pay the $40 for them, no strings attached, no nothing. (Looking back, I'm fully confident there were no strings attached.) Many of us loved each other and did things-little things or big things- to bless each other, because we wanted to. I also met total strangers, both on staff, or at the ROA, or returning from the WOW field, and we were usually quite kind to each other and offered each other a hand-up. Of course, that didn't speak for EVERYONE. Some people who were leaders locally, or trained leaders from hq, or training IN hq, should have had a funny walk from having to accomodate the stick up their keister. ========== Looking back, it's interesting. Although it always seemed (& felt) like there were NO CONDITIONS on anything we did for each other, it's probable that it was TIERED- that we were that good to people in the group or entering the group, but if you weren't interested, then you weren't treated quite as nice. It has been said that "the best way to have friends is to be one, and the true test of a friend lies in our treatment of people from whom we can expect no favours in return." I think there's something to that. On the one hand, it was often seen as more "watching each other's backs and watching out for family." On the other hand, how easy it was to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the problems and sufferings of those not IN the group? Many church organizations "with inferior doctrine" have NO DIFFICULTY in reaching out to help those from whom they can expect no favours in return.

I asked about the thing in 'my' "Secret Initiation?" thread. http://www.greasespotcafe.com/ipb/index.ph...ic=8433&hl= The conclusion of that PARTICULAR thread about that PARTICULAR ceremony was, for the most part, that it was a stupid prank on the level of "Animal House" "mild" hazing, some "Repeat after me, 'I, state your name...'" stuff. Although some good questions were raised about how elaborate the preparations were. Of course, some practical jokes take a lot of prep-time...

Well, it would let people know in advance who they could NOT appeal to if there's a problem further down the line, and help reduce misunderstandings. It could be worse-they could need a "hold harmless" clause and contract.

"The moon. Yes, that will be my home. My paradise. I shall find there, all the souls I love -- Socrates, Galileo..." "The Captain will do everything in his power to stop you."

Proverbs 30:18-19.(KJV) "18There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: 19The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid." Colour charts cost more. Spending a penny more on people WOULD have killed vpw. When it came to expenditures for others, he could pinch a penny until it howled for mercy, and left fingerprint indentations on every nickel. There's more than 1 type of Christian, and more than 1 type of learning. Plus, there's more than 1 type of LESSON. Lectures and classrooms are great for some types, and dismal for other types. That's one reason a lot of people learn computers faster if they're allowed to to go through a "what does this button do" phase.

Let's see..... Top leaders are convinced they have THE Truth, and other Christians are lesser and lack THE Truth. Top leaders are autocrats and not accountable for anything. Dissent/disagreement of all kinds is stomped flat ASAP. Add in all the poison concealed in their own training, and practice at glossing over evil (how many of them, to this day, have never come clean about EVER knowing ANYTHING vpw did?), and you're overqualified to be Lord Over God's Heritage and abuse his people. The filthy lucre is a bonus.

One of the commentaries on Sun Tzu's "the Art of War" included this story. One emperor challenged his great general to make a disciplined force of the Emperor's concubines. (To show he could do anything, not so they'd actually go into battle.) The general equipped them, appointed officers among them, and had the basics demonstrated (parade-ground, exhibition stuff, not real fighting stuff.) Then he gave a simple instruction for attention with the weapon over the shoulder. The "army" giggled and did not carry it out, resulting instead in dropped weapons and much tittering. The general pointed out that if a general's directions are unclear, it is the general's fault, but if his directions are clear, and the soldiers STILL do not carry them out, it is the fault of the OFFICERS. After some "officers" were beheaded, the military unit had no difficulty carrying out the previous instruction. The point being, that if ONE person turns out bad, it's likely the person. If ALL of them turn bad, there's a problem with the PROGRAM, and the people in CHARGE are responsible. vpw had ZERO training in any programs himself, and had ZERO study in how to run a successful program. He figured you could just cobble something together easily. His first attempt failed so completely he disbanded it and blamed them. His second attempt may have followed his instructions, but that's more the result of him demonstrating harshness (like beheading concubines to show you're serious) than him actually having an excellent program. The complete failure of the program was the fault of those running it, which is to say, vpw. Of course, what's considered a "flaw" depends on who's doing the consideration. They followed orders unquestioningly, and paid on time. That was what vpw considered a success. (Following orders was always his big sign, and how lcm got to be his fair-haired boy. I have documentation on the money thing, from a reliable source, if you need it.) As to the flaws being corrected, the program had people paying money to perform manual labour. They were taught some Bible (which they didn't have to go in for- everybody learned some Bible), and did calisthenics (we have photos), were loaned out to farmers for manual labour, and kept up the grounds. In between, there were some "leadership training" things taught by people who had little business doing so since they had no formal training to do so. We also had people sent hitchhiking, or transported in the homemade trailer hitches like cattle. Some people were hospitalized, and some died, as the result of these measures which saved money. All of that was because the program required hazarding the lives and safety of its students so they could follow the directives of unqualified climbers and go up some mountansides. When it was pointed out that women were getting raped hitchhiking, vpw himself insisted it remain a requirement for the program, since they could potentially get raped anywhere. (His comments are in the "Heart of the Way Corps" tapes.) So, vpw considered the frugality of the program to be paramount, even when was kept at the expense of the safety of the students. So, people were EXPENDABLE, but the money came in, and the people in the program always did what they were told, and much of what was taught was of dubious benefit. Depending on who you ask, that makes it a great success, or a great failure.

Ok, next one, then..... "The moon. Yes, that will be my home. My paradise. I shall find there, all the souls I love -- Socrates, Galileo..."

Or at least a working-definition of a "tiddlywinks Christian". Do they suck eggs? Do they play tiddlywinks? Can it core a apple? ===== Actually, I think very few-if any-object to vpw using Bullinger's books. They object to blatant violation of Bullinger's copyrights, and deception and fraud performed USING Bullinger's books. Many of us have books of Bullinger. Many of us have read them. Many of us have quoted from them and recommended them. We just don't pretend we WROTE them.

"THE FIRST DUTY." When Picard finally gets to see Boothby again, Boothby replies "I remember you. What happened to your hair?" Boothby gets great lines. With a faint look of disappointment, at that! I hear the Voyager fans consider "Threshold" the worst Trek episode ever, due to it being a continuous string of science fantasy so far from plausible that suspension of disbelief just can't be done. (For most people.)

Wouldn't mind at all. Until then, I refuse to give up until I injure myself here trying. Ok, one more shot. "Firefly/Serenity."

This is the first I've heard of her. This is what I found, though.... http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2003/004/18.66.html http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2005/005/1.30.html

Correct. Geordi gets dating advice from Guinan. And Picard's bugged that the others don't share his love of ship models. But Worf didn't play with toys as a boy, and Data was never a boy. Go, George!

Actually, left-handers and ambidextrous people have more connections between the hemispheres. (Scans have shown more activity in the corpus collosum.) There's 4 types of side dominance: right-handed dominance (uses right hand for most things) left-handed dominance (uses left hand for most things) ambidextrous (uses either or both just as often) cross-dominance (leads with the left for some things, leads with the right for some things.) One guess as to why cross-dominance exists is that some left-handers were born left-handers, but learned to use the right-hand more, whether by being FORCED to or through acculturation. So, your story is not an uncommon one. ========== As for the things of God, IMHO, it is good to have an intellectual understanding of what you CAN understand. However, the IMPORTANT parts are the things you know in your heart. That's what has meaning, and keeps you alive. That's what motivates ACTION, and what people will remember with more depth than "he really knew those Greek words". That's why one person said "In the end, only kindness matters."

I was referring to a Saturday Night Live skit, which was of Blue Oyster Cult recording this song, and a guy at the studio (played by Christopher Walken) who kept insisting that they record it with one member playing the cowbell. Most of the band was saying to drop the instrument, but he was DETERMINED. And his line about having a fever that could only be cured with MORE COWBELL has been quoted a LOT online. I've seen versions in "signatures" that included screenshots of the scene, or of a band member hitting the cowbell in an animation.

pg-235, TW:LiL. "We started the first Way Corps then, the fall of 1969, especially for that purpose, to prepare leaders, There were nine of them-some married, some single, younger and older. They stayed until the spring, and then I gave them the privilege of leaving. You see, they never got it together among themselves. They didn't have that commitment, that discipline." pg-236, TW:LiL. "They just kept fighting among themselves. But you know what? They're all standing today, all but one, and she'll be back. She'll get tired of messing around after a while. And she'll be back because there's nowhere else to go after you have seen the greatness of the Word."