farrbahren

I'm not OP, but while we wait to him to respond I can guess based on my experiences as an ex-JW in the US.

I would guess that the trend of young-adult attrition is a global phenomenon for them, but they combat it by fostering social dependence. Looking back, I realized that the recommendation we always got (and which I never followed) was to keep a tract on your desk at school so your classmates might get curious and ask you and maybe they'll join. That stated goal may have been a secondary goal, but I'm convinced that the actual primary goal was for the tract to ward off interaction in class, making you feel isolated and more dependent on your local congregation. How likely a young adult is to escape depends largely on how successfully they ran their social isolation campaign on you. The kids who have the worst shot at escape are probably those who were homeschooled.

Looks like it was only available for a brief period.

De La Soul is giving away their entire catalog for free tomorrow, February 14th in anticipation of the 25th anniversary of their game-changing debut 3 Feet High & Rising next month. The music will be downloadable at the group’s official site wearedelasoul.com for a brief 25-hour window starting at 11am EST tomorrow (and ending Saturday at 12 noon).

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/de-la-soul-give-away-entire-catalog-for-free.html

I believe he removed the equipment from the gym because his business partner was stiffing him on pay.

We can take his silence as proof that they are already here. O_O

Mark Dean is an engineer. Engineers solve things with tools. He probably thinks about social problems as network troubleshooting.