{yawnnnn} More OneTonRamp pimping......

[Justme]

Get out your checkbooks, they're trying to fill more "classes".

 

I find it interesting they've only 7 comments on their post about their Chicago event. Looks like even their "hardcore" followers are bored.

[fundiefan]

God is bored with the Maxwells. He isn't even packing in the (financial/pimping) blessings these days. I guess it is hard to adjust to life at home after years on the road with the Maxwell circus. It's harder for god to give his special blessings on polishing the cabinets and hours of bible study every day not to mention the making of mashed beans.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Get out your checkbooks, they're trying to fill more "classes".

I find it interesting they've only 7 comments on their post about their Chicago event. Looks like even their "hardcore" followers are bored.

Well, like most of their posts, it's fairly content-free.

It's got the usual family photo shoot pictures - members of the family posed and smiling in front of some backdrop that says "look! We were here!." It's got the usual random photo of a baby or two, never anyone named or actually KNOWN to the family, but just some random kid for the "see! The next generation is being raised up!" thing. It's got the picture of another unnamed random adult attendee, again not named and apparently not known.

The part at the top with Abby hiding her stuffed animal(?) was promising, but confusing. What was she hiding? Why? Is this a tradition they have? It also completely neglects to tell us what happened when Dad found the items. Was he happy? Nostalgic because this is a thing they always do? Or what? Who knows? Is this a Moody book inside joke?

Similarly "Nathan with a friend" finally had some personal content. Great! But who is he? Why are they friends? Give us a line about why he's interesting - you don't need to endanger his identity or even give his name, but just some blurb about him. He's into historical reenactment maybe?

More than that, though - this was a conference. A conference that they didn't run. How about just a few lines about how they felt about the CONTENT of the conference? You had a social, what was talked about there? Maybe you really liked Mr. X's session but thought Mr. Y was interpreting some verses wrong, and so had a nice lively intellectual chat over coffee? Who were you next to in the dealer's room? What did you think about their stuff for sale? Etc.

To sum up, they always just have various posed pics of them with random unnamed people, and the far off gauzy shots of them speaking, but there's never anything about the CONTENT (either how theirs is recieved, other than the occasional "God was opening hearts!!" OR about the content of the other speakers) or the theology of the churches they're at, or whatever. They might as well be posing on the side of the mountain on a hike, because it all just seems like content-free backdrop.

[lilwriter85]

The recent Maxwell posts have been a bit boring. Sometimes the pictures provide some snark material. I do laugh whenever they pimp out iTonRamp because it is an overpriced program and some people see that. Nathan's upcoming A+ classes are going to be a $1,000.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

The recent Maxwell posts have been a bit boring. Sometimes the pictures provide some snark material. I do laugh whenever they pimp out iTonRamp because it is an overpriced program and some people see that. Nathan's upcoming A+ classes are going to be a $1,000.

Yeah. Of course what they're selling is never only the product itself, but the reassurance that it's Godly, that you can do whatever activity it is and still be Godly, etc. Timid people are no doubt willing to shell out the $$$, though I'm not sure how many of them there are. Just googling around the One Ton Ramp I found only TWO people mentioning the thing at all, other than actual Maxwell-related advertising posts, and both of them were quite young. In fact I suspect at least one of them is the student whose father (father!!! wtf?) Steve-O was chatting up at this conference.

The other big example is "Managers Of Their Schools." It's about homeschooling, but the real selling point is the testimonial from Teri that it's really okay to use textbooks in homeschooling. So many of the Christian homeschoolers were running away from that, going for more Charlotte Mason-esque approaches and self-directed learning directly from the Bible itself or from "living books" and whatever, that some moms would feel guilty about wanting to take the "easy" way out and just use a textbook and sit the kids at the DRT (or in a bus seat!!) with a workbook on their own on a schedule while Mom deals with her issues.

But Wow! Look, the Maxwells do it. They will provide scripture verses telling you that it's all okay to do that, don't worry!

MOTH scheduling similarly. I actually find some things interesting about scheduling and think some of the nuts and bolts advice from the Corners is right on, even. But while for me, it's "damn, can you just get to that one point without all the Bible verse business??" annoyance, the actual audience is there for the Bible stuff, I think. Tells them, hey, you don't have to feel guilty about needing to micromanage stuff to this degree just to get through your day.

With the One Ton Ramp, there's also the benefit of knowing you won't have to interact with any materials or people who aren't coming through a God-suffused filter. No secular texts, nothing. That's the selling point more than the actual IT content, surely.

It's crazy, but there's a market for it I guess. But I think that market is pretty small, because like I said, googling around the One Ton Ramp there's pretty much NO hits. Maybe someone else has found more? But given the way so many of these religious people blog about every tiny thing, I'm surprised I'm not seeing more people talking about The Ramp.

Heck, we've not even seen photos of them giving a class with non-family participants, have we?

[fundiefan]

Yeah. Of course what they're selling is never only the product itself, but the reassurance that it's Godly, that you can do whatever activity it is and still be Godly, etc. Timid people are no doubt willing to shell out the $$$, though I'm not sure how many of them there are. Just googling around the One Ton Ramp I found only TWO people mentioning the thing at all, other than actual Maxwell-related advertising posts, and both of them were quite young. In fact I suspect at least one of them is the student whose father (father!!! wtf?) Steve-O was chatting up at this conference.

The other big example is "Managers Of Their Schools." It's about homeschooling, but the real selling point is the testimonial from Teri that it's really okay to use textbooks in homeschooling. So many of the Christian homeschoolers were running away from that, going for more Charlotte Mason-esque approaches and self-directed learning directly from the Bible itself or from "living books" and whatever, that some moms would feel guilty about wanting to take the "easy" way out and just use a textbook and sit the kids at the DRT (or in a bus seat!!) with a workbook on their own on a schedule while Mom deals with her issues.

But Wow! Look, the Maxwells do it. They will provide scripture verses telling you that it's all okay to do that, don't worry!

MOTH scheduling similarly. I actually find some things interesting about scheduling and think some of the nuts and bolts advice from the Corners is right on, even. But while for me, it's "damn, can you just get to that one point without all the Bible verse business??" annoyance, the actual audience is there for the Bible stuff, I think. Tells them, hey, you don't have to feel guilty about needing to micromanage stuff to this degree just to get through your day.

With the One Ton Ramp, there's also the benefit of knowing you won't have to interact with any materials or people who aren't coming through a God-suffused filter. No secular texts, nothing. That's the selling point more than the actual IT content, surely.

It's crazy, but there's a market for it I guess. But I think that market is pretty small, because like I said, googling around the One Ton Ramp there's pretty much NO hits. Maybe someone else has found more? But given the way so many of these religious people blog about every tiny thing, I'm surprised I'm not seeing more people talking about The Ramp.

Heck, we've not even seen photos of them giving a class with non-family participants, have we?

That is how they are selling it, at least. It is actually no content that is not Maxwell filtered. They did on their boards - no post allowed through that they didn't censor and/or approve of and, if what I've read is true, altered. Of the Maxwells don't like it or believe it, it doesn't exist, wasn't said and doesn't count. No matter what anyone's educational goals are, I can't imagine wanting to be censored by someone else. If Steve Maxwell says it ain't godly, you will nnever see it, read it, hear it or know it exists.

[VenusDaisy]

The Maxwell family is boring! We came across one of the moody books at the Doctor's office. Book is a snooze fest! Wonder if these people ever had fun in their entire lives.

[terranova]

There grammar are real good.

[anniebgood]

There grammar are real good.

Huked on fonix didn't werk for them.

[lilwriter85]

The Maxwell family is boring! We came across one of the moody books at the Doctor's office. Book is a snooze fest! Wonder if these people ever had fun in their entire lives.

I think they had fun making yogurt.

[WonderingInWA]

The Maxwell family is boring! We came across one of the moody books at the Doctor's office. Book is a snooze fest! Wonder if these people ever had fun in their entire lives.

Waaaaaiiiiit a minute -- at the doctor's office? There is so much WRONG with that!

First, that's practically like making it available in a library, and Stevie does NOT approve of that. If you are the original owner, you don't loan it or give it as a second hand book. Somehow in his limited knowledge of copyright laws, that's infringement! I hope you either destroyed the book, or took it with you and immediately mailed a check off to the Maxwell's for your violation of trying to read the book.

Second, what kind of doctor's office carries the Moody books? Ugh! Our pediatrician carries Highlights magazine and some assorted Dr. Suess.

[Sola]

If I had some money to waste, I would sign up for the lolz and to give a review for FJ!

[lilwriter85]

Waaaaaiiiiit a minute -- at the doctor's office? There is so much WRONG with that!

First, that's practically like making it available in a library, and Stevie does NOT approve of that. If you are the original owner, you don't loan it or give it as a second hand book. Somehow in his limited knowledge of copyright laws, that's infringement! I hope you either destroyed the book, or took it with you and immediately mailed a check off to the Maxwell's for your violation of trying to read the book.

Second, what kind of doctor's office carries the Moody books? Ugh! Our pediatrician carries Highlights magazine and some assorted Dr. Suess.

You gave me a laugh with this post.

I was also wondering how a Moody book ended up in a doctor's office. Maybe the doctor is a Maxwell fan lol or someone on the staff is. If Steve reads this thread he will be pissed.

[VenusDaisy]

Waaaaaiiiiit a minute -- at the doctor's office? There is so much WRONG with that!

First, that's practically like making it available in a library, and Stevie does NOT approve of that. If you are the original owner, you don't loan it or give it as a second hand book. Somehow in his limited knowledge of copyright laws, that's infringement! I hope you either destroyed the book, or took it with you and immediately mailed a check off to the Maxwell's for your violation of trying to read the book.

Second, what kind of doctor's office carries the Moody books? Ugh! Our pediatrician carries Highlights magazine and some assorted Dr. Suess.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I highly doubt the book came from the doctor herself. My son's pediatrician isn't exactly the kind of place fundies would flock to. For one thing, she's an ebil feminist. Second, her office manager is an openly gay man. I don't know how the book got there. But if it's still there two weeks from now, when we go for a follow up, I'll borrow it and post a review on FJ. :D

Sorry Steve..... you won't be getting a check from me! :naughty:

[Guest Anonymous]

You gave me a laugh with this post.

I was also wondering how a Moody book ended up in a doctor's office. Maybe the doctor is a Maxwell fan lol or someone on the staff is. If Steve reads this thread he will be pissed.

To be fair, I must confess I just donated a pile of children's books to my Doctor's surgery and one of them was the "I'll love you forever" book, which I never thought about as creepy until it was discussed at FJ. There is probably a Mumsnet-stylee forum online somewhere right now, complaining about how a Dr's surgery could possibly have got hold of a book with a creepy grandma climbing a ladder into her adult son's bedroom to rock him to sleep...... :lol:

[WonderingInWA]

:lol: :lol: :lol: I highly doubt the book came from the doctor herself. My son's pediatrician isn't exactly the kind of place fundies would flock to. For one thing, she's an ebil feminist. Second, her office manager is an openly gay man. I don't know how the book got there. But if it's still there two weeks from now, when we go for a follow up, I'll borrow it and post a review on FJ. :D

Sorry Steve..... you won't be getting a check from me! :naughty:

Maybe they are planting the books in unsuspecting places -- now THERE's a marketing technique! You know, like the Bibles that are planted in hotel rooms. No one stops you from taking it, right?

[VenusDaisy]

I would gladly ask to borrow the book. But I wouldn't want to keep it. I don't want that type of "literature" in my happy little atheist home.

[fundiefan]

I would gladly ask to borrow the book. But I wouldn't want to keep it. I don't want that type of "literature" in my happy little atheist home.

I'd totally read them for curiosity (and snark) sake but wouldn't spend a penny on them and wouldn't want them in my home. What if someone came over and saw them?

[Katiebug]

The recent Maxwell posts have been a bit boring. Sometimes the pictures provide some snark material. I do laugh whenever they pimp out iTonRamp because it is an overpriced program and some people see that. Nathan's upcoming A+ classes are going to be a $1,000.

That's downright cheap. For a while before the economy went in the shitter, my husband worked for a large for-profit IT/computer training company. He worked in selling to corporations and organizations but they had people doing direct-to-consumer sales. His employer split the A+ certification prep course into two one-week parts. Each part was something like $2500 for three or four days of training with no guarantee that the student would pass the certification exam - so just to prep for A+ was $5000+. Meanwhile the local community college offers an AAS in IT that includes A+ among other certifications, requires at least one semester-long internship, and obviously is a full-fledged associate's degree program. I believe at current tuition rates those two years of college would cost around the same as the private training company's 7 days of classes that are meant as a super-quick prep class.

When DH was laid off along with 1/3 of the office in late 2008, they offered the laid-off employees the opportunity to take free courses for 6 months. He took them up on the A+ classes among others but he felt that he could have been just as prepared for the certification exams by buying a $75 test prep book and studying for a while. He has no interest in working in IT and just did it for fun and to break up the drudgery of job hunting during a 9 month stretch of unemployment, but there were unemployed people in pretty desperate straits who had put the courses on credit cards or taken out a private loan because they had been convinced that the certification was their ticket to a lucrative career in IT. Not so much...the dirty little secret of the direct-to-consumer salespeople was that without experience most of the certifications were unlikely to land a "graduate" more than an entry level, minimum wage IT helpdesk job and that even that was unlikely for many of the students taking the classes.

[johnhugh]

Maybe, Stevie might have other course members coming? - let's see....

[LurkerOverThePond]

If I had some money to waste, I would sign up for the lolz and to give a review for FJ!

But since you are a woman (or so I assume) you couldn't communicate directly with Master Nathan or Joseph the-mini-Nathan. If you had any problems with your computer, you would have to pray with some random Maxwell girl for God to resolve your problem since it's sinful for opposite sexes to communicate even in the phone.

[Justme]

But since you are a woman (or so I assume) you couldn't communicate directly with Master Nathan or Joseph the-mini-Nathan. If you had any problems with your computer, you would have to pray with some random Maxwell girl for God to resolve your problem since it's sinful for opposite sexes to communicate even in the phone.

I wonder what they would do if you had a name like "Chris" (Christopher/Christine), "Sam" (Samantha/Samual), or "Gerry" (Gerald/Geraldine)? :? How they might but Anna or Sarah on with a Samual or Nathan on with a Samantha...... :naughty: A young boys voice often sounds like a girl and a woman's voice could be deep and husky. :P

[Guest Anonymous]

But since you are a woman (or so I assume) you couldn't communicate directly with Master Nathan or Joseph the-mini-Nathan. If you had any problems with your computer, you would have to pray with some random Maxwell girl for God to resolve your problem since it's sinful for opposite sexes to communicate even in the phone.

You could - I think I posted before - I emailed Steve about this and he said that they have already had several female students who get mentoring direct from the teacher - the female mentors are an option they introduced for those who would prefer it.