so I went looking for the pattern to the project I was knitting and alas, I could not find hide nor hair of it anywhere! sigh... I had known that thankfully, I had stored a copy of it in my computer, though sadly, I have no idea where I stopped in the pattern...This requires some backtracking to figure out exactly where I left off....
wish me luck...
perhaps, there will be pictures to follow
22.11.10
20.11.10
times they are a changin'
though you'd never know it as human history has repeated itself oh, since the beginning of time? and that raises another question: did time exist before people, or is it a human invention?
So yesterday was a great day, despite not having started out as such: work in the morning and then a fun-filled afternoon of housework and housework; I was thinking of going to finish viewing the rest of the Three Faiths exhibit at the library, but then decided that I really didn't feel like going out and dealing with people. Then I got a phone call to come out and play ^..^
I went to dinner with a new-found friend of mine and we had a grand time :-)
My quest for understanding the history of religion continues...
I was researching the Freemasons yesterday which was really a result from my serch on christian mysticism which, truth be told, was utterly fruitless; well, ok not UTTERLY, but damn close to it. I found it realy interesting that the Jews have the Kabbalah, the Muslims have Sufism and the Christians, well, they got a lot of nothing. I found a couple of interesting sites on Christian mysticism, but there's no "branch" or "sect" that specifically deals with mysticism per se. Though I did discover that Gnosticism come pretty close....this warrants further research...
The semester is alost finished! Both me and my students were kind of shocked to figure out that we only have three or four class meetings left! I assume they're all busy working on their presenations now...I asked them to let me know what they were planning on presenting, but haven't heard anything from anyone....perhaps this warrants an e.mail?
In other news, winter, I think, is upon us (oh the joy) and I have noticed that I only think to spend hours behind the computer screen in the cold weather....any puzzle? any wonder?
I think not...
So yesterday was a great day, despite not having started out as such: work in the morning and then a fun-filled afternoon of housework and housework; I was thinking of going to finish viewing the rest of the Three Faiths exhibit at the library, but then decided that I really didn't feel like going out and dealing with people. Then I got a phone call to come out and play ^..^
I went to dinner with a new-found friend of mine and we had a grand time :-)
My quest for understanding the history of religion continues...
I was researching the Freemasons yesterday which was really a result from my serch on christian mysticism which, truth be told, was utterly fruitless; well, ok not UTTERLY, but damn close to it. I found it realy interesting that the Jews have the Kabbalah, the Muslims have Sufism and the Christians, well, they got a lot of nothing. I found a couple of interesting sites on Christian mysticism, but there's no "branch" or "sect" that specifically deals with mysticism per se. Though I did discover that Gnosticism come pretty close....this warrants further research...
The semester is alost finished! Both me and my students were kind of shocked to figure out that we only have three or four class meetings left! I assume they're all busy working on their presenations now...I asked them to let me know what they were planning on presenting, but haven't heard anything from anyone....perhaps this warrants an e.mail?
In other news, winter, I think, is upon us (oh the joy) and I have noticed that I only think to spend hours behind the computer screen in the cold weather....any puzzle? any wonder?
I think not...
13.11.10
monotheism sweeps the world
should I get my broom?
I went to see a fantastic exhibit yesterday at the NYPL (sometimes they can be so fantastic) on the three Abrahamic religions. I learned a lot! It reminded me that when I was an undergrad, a favorite prof of mine gave me a book on exegesis in the middle ages in Europe (of course). But I learned that many bibles and other religious book (psalters, hymnals, books of hours) had been written in Ethopian...who knew? I'm sure some people knew, though I was not one of them ^..^
Anyway, I plan to go back, as I had only enough patience to get through about the first half of the exhibit and then it got crowded in the library (I hate when that happens). But this little adventure of mine has inspired me to remember to take full advantage of hte city in which I live. I have Friday afternoons free, and well, I should really exploit that time and use it to my advantage; there is so much to do here! I haven't been to the Met in ages....I think it's high time for a return trip.
I also learned of the interesting importance of Gabriel in all three religions (makes me wonder if there isn't some sort of conspiracy going on here....) in Judaism, he apparently was a go-between (but not like Galeotto) for Moses when he received the commandments on Mount Sinai, not to mention the laws and other tuff that G-d told him to do; in Christianity, he told Mary of her virgin birth (pregnancy?) (the Annunciation); in Islam, he was again the go-between for Mohammed when he was talking to G-d. Gabriel's role as messenger in each religion is intriguing to me for several reasons: firstly, I have always had an attraction to the Gabriel, whatever his guise; secondly, when my brother was born, my father gave me the opportunity to give him a middle name....I chose Gabriel; thirdly, I have always been able to pick the guy out of a crowd (no kidding). This certainly requires further research. I wonder why each religion "chose" Gabriel as the messenger...perhaps the Jews did it first, and the other two needed to follow suit (kind of like what the Christians did with the Pagans...but whatever, I say nothing); or perhaps there really is something to it.....maybe I will meditate on this for a time and come back with an answer.
I also learned quite a bit about the various commentaries on each "book" which in the beginning (no pun intended) were scrolls until people (thank you Gutenberg) figured out that the book format is easier to carry. Actuall, it isn't thanks to Gutenberg, as many of the torahs, bibles, qur'ans, psalters, prayer books, etc. were hand-written all the way into the 20th Century in some cases. Judaism mandates that the Torah and the Megillah remain in scroll format when they are used for ritual purposes. In reality, I think it was the Protestants who encouraged education in that they were the first Cristian sect (though I'm not sure about the Orthodox) to require that participants be able to read, and to read the bible as a means of enlightenment.
I learned that sometime between 200 and 500 CE the Talmud was codified and the oral tradition was redacted; sometime between 70 and 120 CE the writing of the Synoptic Gospels took place and by 900 CE, the Qur'an was completely codified with vowels and diacritical marks...
Interesting that by 397 BCE the text of the Torah was finalized and being read (thank you Ezra the Scribe).
I also recently read a really interesting article about Cleopatra in the New Yorker....mental note: find a link to that. The New Yorker keeps trying to get me to renew my subscription and is luring me with the promise of free gifts...perhaps I will exploit their offer and get my free gift for renewing early.
You know what they say; the early bird gets the worm. My big question has always been: who wants worms?
I went to see a fantastic exhibit yesterday at the NYPL (sometimes they can be so fantastic) on the three Abrahamic religions. I learned a lot! It reminded me that when I was an undergrad, a favorite prof of mine gave me a book on exegesis in the middle ages in Europe (of course). But I learned that many bibles and other religious book (psalters, hymnals, books of hours) had been written in Ethopian...who knew? I'm sure some people knew, though I was not one of them ^..^
Anyway, I plan to go back, as I had only enough patience to get through about the first half of the exhibit and then it got crowded in the library (I hate when that happens). But this little adventure of mine has inspired me to remember to take full advantage of hte city in which I live. I have Friday afternoons free, and well, I should really exploit that time and use it to my advantage; there is so much to do here! I haven't been to the Met in ages....I think it's high time for a return trip.
I also learned of the interesting importance of Gabriel in all three religions (makes me wonder if there isn't some sort of conspiracy going on here....) in Judaism, he apparently was a go-between (but not like Galeotto) for Moses when he received the commandments on Mount Sinai, not to mention the laws and other tuff that G-d told him to do; in Christianity, he told Mary of her virgin birth (pregnancy?) (the Annunciation); in Islam, he was again the go-between for Mohammed when he was talking to G-d. Gabriel's role as messenger in each religion is intriguing to me for several reasons: firstly, I have always had an attraction to the Gabriel, whatever his guise; secondly, when my brother was born, my father gave me the opportunity to give him a middle name....I chose Gabriel; thirdly, I have always been able to pick the guy out of a crowd (no kidding). This certainly requires further research. I wonder why each religion "chose" Gabriel as the messenger...perhaps the Jews did it first, and the other two needed to follow suit (kind of like what the Christians did with the Pagans...but whatever, I say nothing); or perhaps there really is something to it.....maybe I will meditate on this for a time and come back with an answer.
I also learned quite a bit about the various commentaries on each "book" which in the beginning (no pun intended) were scrolls until people (thank you Gutenberg) figured out that the book format is easier to carry. Actuall, it isn't thanks to Gutenberg, as many of the torahs, bibles, qur'ans, psalters, prayer books, etc. were hand-written all the way into the 20th Century in some cases. Judaism mandates that the Torah and the Megillah remain in scroll format when they are used for ritual purposes. In reality, I think it was the Protestants who encouraged education in that they were the first Cristian sect (though I'm not sure about the Orthodox) to require that participants be able to read, and to read the bible as a means of enlightenment.
I learned that sometime between 200 and 500 CE the Talmud was codified and the oral tradition was redacted; sometime between 70 and 120 CE the writing of the Synoptic Gospels took place and by 900 CE, the Qur'an was completely codified with vowels and diacritical marks...
Interesting that by 397 BCE the text of the Torah was finalized and being read (thank you Ezra the Scribe).
I also recently read a really interesting article about Cleopatra in the New Yorker....mental note: find a link to that. The New Yorker keeps trying to get me to renew my subscription and is luring me with the promise of free gifts...perhaps I will exploit their offer and get my free gift for renewing early.
You know what they say; the early bird gets the worm. My big question has always been: who wants worms?
11.11.10
politics, anyone?
so the political discussion never materialized....oh well, today is a new day and more discussions will happen! Interested to see what will be....
I planned presentations and the last few weeks of class with my Italian students yesterday; it was really nice to finally see them excited and motivated about something. Of course, I think it has more to do with extra credit than anything else....whatever, we'll see what happens. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what they will produce. They were actually interested in doing more work than less work, which I thought was funny based on their past performances and past motivational levels.
Today is promising to be a beautiful day, though cold. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? speaking of which, I have a knitting project left over from last year that I really must take up again....if I could only find the damn pattern! Perhaps it's time to look for that....
I planned presentations and the last few weeks of class with my Italian students yesterday; it was really nice to finally see them excited and motivated about something. Of course, I think it has more to do with extra credit than anything else....whatever, we'll see what happens. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what they will produce. They were actually interested in doing more work than less work, which I thought was funny based on their past performances and past motivational levels.
Today is promising to be a beautiful day, though cold. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? speaking of which, I have a knitting project left over from last year that I really must take up again....if I could only find the damn pattern! Perhaps it's time to look for that....
10.11.10
some handguns, a couple of rifles and an organized militia
will I really start maintaining this blog again? don't I ask that question every time I visit here and the first answer is always yes! I will blog! and the reality turns out to be the exact opposite.
I had an interesting debate this morning over the second amendment to the US constitution (it's nice to speak with a native English speaker every now and again....keeps things in perspective for me) which perhaps will continue at some later date as we didn't have much time to actively debate anything besides the expression of opinions...
I find it intriguing....this idea of states' rights vs. federal rights and wonder why there should be discrepancies of such epic proportions...but more on that later....afer we reconvene and continue our debate (though that may not actually happen)
I also wonder why students find it necessary to refer to their profs as u in e.mails....this is completely baffling to me.
So now I must go eat an apple and find my way up into the bronx for my italian adventure....
more news later (with any luck that later will be sooner than later...)
I had an interesting debate this morning over the second amendment to the US constitution (it's nice to speak with a native English speaker every now and again....keeps things in perspective for me) which perhaps will continue at some later date as we didn't have much time to actively debate anything besides the expression of opinions...
I find it intriguing....this idea of states' rights vs. federal rights and wonder why there should be discrepancies of such epic proportions...but more on that later....afer we reconvene and continue our debate (though that may not actually happen)
I also wonder why students find it necessary to refer to their profs as u in e.mails....this is completely baffling to me.
So now I must go eat an apple and find my way up into the bronx for my italian adventure....
more news later (with any luck that later will be sooner than later...)
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