If you believe in God:

bryan4980 · 06-05-2007, 9:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Well you seem to have no problem making use of the written word, so writing your thesis shouldn't be a problem for you. I'm in school one day a week, I takes enough of my time for now. Perhaps when the kids are older I will take up more study, it seems to stimulate the mind in a way that the work environment fails to.

Most jobs are meant to repress the spirit and to get you to keep you trapped in a job.

*ratchetman* · 06-05-2007, 9:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Thank you for the information regarding the Tanakh.
What are your thoughts regarding if Christianity were to use a similar method to Wicca in that you could not just walk into a church and attend every service. You would only be able to become a member of the church once you where there for a while and the other members accepted only then could you begin the process of becoming a member?

Membership is for those organizations that wish to be exclusive. Exclusivity goes against the teachings of Christ. It is hard to reconcile the concept of church membership with Christianity. Here in Canada there is a legal reason to have church membership. A Church as an organization must have members and meetings to conduct church business as it pertains to the operation of the building and staff. This is required to maintain control over the physical assets. Some churches use membership to maintain control over the members, this is wrong.

*ratchetman* · 06-05-2007, 9:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Most jobs are meant to repress the spirit and to get you to keep you trapped in a job.

Gotta pay bills

analogbear · 06-05-2007, 9:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Well you seem to have no problem making use of the written word, so writing your thesis shouldn't be a problem for you. I'm in school one day a week, I takes enough of my time for now. Perhaps when the kids are older I will take up more study, it seems to stimulate the mind in a way that the work environment fails to.

Actually, I have already done a thesis-length document...For the PhD I must publish what is called a "dissertation," and that is about 100-500 pages in length, depending on the disciplene studied.

I agree. The reason I left the Army was a lack of intellectual stimulation. I just screwed up and went to law school instead of right to grad school...Live and learn, right? My wife only works 2 week days, so our schedules can be complementary...For the kids, you know.

analogbear · 06-05-2007, 9:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Most jobs are meant to repress the spirit and to get you to keep you trapped in a job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Gotta pay bills

Do you guys know the perspective on labor/work that Marx saw through history? To really get it, without the communist propaganda is pretty cool. Lemme know if you want a primer.

*ratchetman* · 06-05-2007, 9:48 PM

Working with addicts is both difficult and rewarding. 70% of our grads are clean five years after graduation.

bryan4980 · 06-05-2007, 9:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Gotta pay bills

Own your own business, I am attempting to transition into that right now. Just gotta get a client base

bryan4980 · 06-05-2007, 9:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

Do you guys know the perspective on labor/work that Marx saw through history? To really get it, without the communist propaganda is pretty cool. Lemme know if you want a primer.

Sure I'm curious.

bryan4980 · 06-05-2007, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Membership is for those organizations that wish to be exclusive. Exclusivity goes against the teachings of Christ. It is hard to reconcile the concept of church membership with Christianity. Here in Canada there is a legal reason to have church membership. A Church as an organization must have members and meetings to conduct church business as it pertains to the operation of the building and staff. This is required to maintain control over the physical assets. Some churches use membership to maintain control over the members, this is wrong.

What I was getting at was do you believe it would improve the quality of the members? It would not be impossible to join I would think it would filter out those that really don't believe and perhaps not as many atrocities would have been committed under the guise of Christianity. What do you think?

analogbear · 06-06-2007, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Own your own business, I am attempting to transition into that right now. Just gotta get a client base

My brother and I are opening a wine store in about 5 years. I am both excited and terrified...

bryan4980 · 06-06-2007, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

My brother and I are opening a wine store in about 5 years. I am both excited and terrified...

Fear can be a good thing, I myself am going into financial services. Helping get out of debt plan for retirement, that sort of thing. Is your winery going to be somewhere along the Seneca wine trail? Those ice wines at Sheldrake Point are wonderful.

analogbear · 06-06-2007, 2:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Fear can be a good thing, I myself am going into financial services. Helping get out of debt plan for retirement, that sort of thing. Is your winery going to be somewhere along the Seneca wine trail? Those ice wines at Sheldrake Point are wonderful.

No, it'l be in Fairfield County CT, as the licensing requirements/commercial opportunities are both easier to exploit there...

bryan4980 · 06-06-2007, 3:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

No, it'l be in Fairfield County CT, as the licensing requirements/commercial opportunities are both easier to exploit there...

Right, that and most of upstate NY is pretty saturated as well. Have you ever been to some of the vineyards over there? I used to drive from Chicago to a cottage my family had just outside of Ovid and it is a nice area. Too bad they sold the cottage.

analogbear · 06-06-2007, 3:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Right, that and most of upstate NY is pretty saturated as well. Have you ever been to some of the vineyards over there? I used to drive from Chicago to a cottage my family had just outside of Ovid and it is a nice area. Too bad they sold the cottage.

I love those areas too, but as we are doing a store rather than a vinyard (why try to do myself from the beginning at more than 40 years old what others have already perfected and want to sell) the commercial aspects were most important to us...The kind of store we are opening just isn't in the part of FCC that we are going to open in, so it's a real hole/need in society for us to fill...

bryan4980 · 06-06-2007, 5:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

I love those areas too, but as we are doing a store rather than a vinyard (why try to do myself from the beginning at more than 40 years old what others have already perfected and want to sell) the commercial aspects were most important to us...The kind of store we are opening just isn't in the part of FCC that we are going to open in, so it's a real hole/need in society for us to fill...

I got vineyard stuck in my head for some reason so I thought that was what you were talking about.

bryan4980 · 06-06-2007, 9:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

I love those areas too, but as we are doing a store rather than a vinyard (why try to do myself from the beginning at more than 40 years old what others have already perfected and want to sell) the commercial aspects were most important to us...The kind of store we are opening just isn't in the part of FCC that we are going to open in, so it's a real hole/need in society for us to fill...

Any plans to import the local NY wines or is there some reason why you can only buy them direct from the vineyard?

analogbear · 06-07-2007, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Any plans to import the local NY wines or is there some reason why you can only buy them direct from the vineyard?

I am not sure about carrying NY wines...I am sure they are simply delicious; but I have a certain wine-profile that I want to carry, and want to market certain select vinyards in CA, Washington State, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Australia, and Italy, and carry several levels from each producer, rather than carrying a lot of unknown/small batch names...The wine profile I will market is the same one I wish I could shop...But can't, as nobody carries exactly what I like in any single store...

When I visit my brother, and we go to the discount place attached to the local mega-store, I can't get a good $20 Zin, good $30 Cab, and good $30 Brunello or Chianti, with a real Sauternes; nor can I get a few Sam Seasonal sixers, a couple of Franziskaner Hefeweizens, a Heineken mini-keg, and a Duvel without going to about 3 or 4 total stores...

Nobody does that centralized selection; and we will add some specialty stuff too, with 5 scotches, 5 whiskeys, a few fortified wines, Champ's etc. and 5 coffees, 5 teas and some better juices...The non-pasteurized fresh stuff.

It will be more of a fine beverage emporium, rather than a straight-up liquor store...

bryan4980 · 06-07-2007, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

I am not sure about carrying NY wines...I am sure they are simply delicious; but I have a certain wine-profile that I want to carry, and want to market certain select vinyards in CA, Washington State, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Australia, and Italy, and carry several levels from each producer, rather than carrying a lot of unknown/small batch names...The wine profile I will market is the same one I wish I could shop...But can't, as nobody carries exactly what I like in any single store...

When I visit my brother, and we go to the discount place attached to the local mega-store, I can't get a good $20 Zin, good $30 Cab, and good $30 Brunello or Chianti, with a real Sauternes; nor can I get a few Sam Seasonal sixers, a couple of Franziskaner Hefeweizens, a Heineken mini-keg, and a Duvel without going to about 3 or 4 total stores...

Nobody does that centralized selection; and we will add some specialty stuff too, with 5 scotches, 5 whiskeys, a few fortified wines, Champ's etc. and 5 coffees, 5 teas and some better juices...The non-pasteurized fresh stuff.

It will be more of a fine beverage emporium, rather than a straight-up liquor store...

Sounds interesting. Will you be able to ship out of state? Is the populace in that general area able to tell the difference between good and crap? Most of the geniuses I work with just drink wine to get drunk, they just don't get it. That is not what it is meant for.

analogbear · 06-07-2007, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

Sounds interesting. Will you be able to ship out of state? Is the populace in that general area able to tell the difference between good and crap? Most of the geniuses I work with just drink wine to get drunk, they just don't get it. That is not what it is meant for.

It would depend on the state to which I was shipping, though I am not sure I want to get in to the mail-order part of it...That requires a huge warehouse commitment, dedicated shipping/receiving facility (even if only a big room) and is costly to start-up.
I think the locals up there will appreciate the difference. They go down to the city now, or to westchester county, to pick up everything besides sutter home white zin...

bryan4980 · 06-07-2007, 3:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

It would depend on the state to which I was shipping, though I am not sure I want to get in to the mail-order part of it...That requires a huge warehouse commitment, dedicated shipping/receiving facility (even if only a big room) and is costly to start-up.
I think the locals up there will appreciate the difference. They go down to the city now, or to westchester county, to pick up everything besides sutter home white zin...

I think the bigger issue would be the legal side of it, your beverages being alcoholic and all. Wouldn't you be able to only send out what you have in stock through ups or usps? Why would you need dedicated shipping and receiving? Why couldn't you just have a regular stock room just go back pack whatever up and call UPS? Yeah Sutter Crap.

analogbear · 06-07-2007, 3:29 PM

No, the legal side is pretty easy, again, depending on the state...

Because real estate and wine-stock cost money, the "stock room" will have to first supply the store, and only then would I be able...Forget this line of commentary. Dude, I am not shipping anything anywhere, at least for the forseeable future, so the issue is not yet ripe.

*ratchetman* · 06-07-2007, 6:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

What I was getting at was do you believe it would improve the quality of the members? It would not be impossible to join I would think it would filter out those that really don't believe and perhaps not as many atrocities would have been committed under the guise of Christianity. What do you think?

I think that anytime you have a commingling of church and state you are headed for trouble. The other part of the picture is the accountability of the leadership. In any organization when the leadership is not accountable things will go off course. This is true of any organization. I am not interested in any church were the minister can never admit a fault. We are all human and we all make mistakes. There was only one perfect man an they nailed him to a tree.

bryan4980 · 06-07-2007, 6:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratchetman

I think that anytime you have a commingling of church and state you are headed for trouble. The other part of the picture is the accountability of the leadership. In any organization when the leadership is not accountable things will go off course. This is true of any organization. I am not interested in any church were the minister can never admit a fault. We are all human and we all make mistakes. There was only one perfect man an they nailed him to a tree.

I do not remember where I was talking about a commingling of church and state. The rest is true but do you believe being a little selective would improve quality of members and prevent atrocities from occurring in the name of the bible?

bryan4980 · 06-07-2007, 6:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbear

No, the legal side is pretty easy, again, depending on the state...

Because real estate and wine-stock cost money, the "stock room" will have to first supply the store, and only then would I be able...Forget this line of commentary. Dude, I am not shipping anything anywhere, at least for the forseeable future, so the issue is not yet ripe.

K. Well I wish you good luck in your business venture. I heard from someone once working for someone else is like renting, sure you don't have to fix anything but you have wait for someone to get off their backside to take care of it. In addition you will be paying for the rest of your life to be controlled by someone who is not you.

*ratchetman* · 06-07-2007, 7:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan4980

I do not remember where I was talking about a commingling of church and state. The rest is true but do you believe being a little selective would improve quality of members and prevent atrocities from occurring in the name of the bible?

Jesus taught that it is wrong to be exclusive. It is not exclusivity that will improve the quality of the membership. It is accountability. Keeping folks accountable in a loving way will do more for the quality of the membership than anything else. Historically speaking church atrocities came mostly out of an environment that commingled church and state. Taking a close second place would be church leaders that are unaccountable. That type of leadership usually leads a church into the direction of a cult, because those types of people are all about control.

bryan4980 · 06-07-2007, 9:46 PM

Quote:

<

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Jesus taught that it is wrong to be exclusive. It is not exclusivity that will improve the quality of the membership. It is accountability. Keeping folks accountable in a loving way will do more for the quality of the membership than anything else. Historically speaking church atrocities came mostly out of an environment that commingled church and state. Taking a close second place would be church leaders that are unaccountable. That type of leadership usually leads a church into the direction of a cult, because those types of people are all about control.