• Uncategorized

    Christmas musings

    From this Kevin Williamson column

    But that isn’t exactly what happened. Not really. He was not called wonderful or mighty — He was called criminal and heretic. We may call Him the Prince of Peace now, here at 2,000 years of safe reserve, but He knew very little peace in His own time. He was rejected even before His birth: We hear in the traditional account of the Nativity that “there was no room at the inn,” but many contemporary scholars believe that this translation represents a mishandling of the Greek, which specifies not a pandokheion, an ordinary commercial inn, but a kataluma, something quite different: the guest room in a family home. (I am indebted to the Reverend David Rea of Providence Presbyterian Church in Dallas for this insight.) That is a very different story: Mary and Joseph were not turned away by an overbooked hotelier but by their own family, who were no doubt filled with shame and indignation at Mary’s irregular condition. All the best people, the straight and the good and the true — they never really change. They’ve been insufferable since 6 b.c., at least.

    How much can the interpretations change based on Greek translations?

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  • Adages

    Quote from Tom Lehrer

    (Discussing his sort of retirement from music, written from memory)

    I’ve always lived by the principle that if you’ve seen Cincinnati you don’t need to see Cleveland

    Meaning that if something is no longer fun, then stop.

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  • Election2018

    2018 Election Results

    So, it seems my earlier predictions where wrong by a bit.  The Dems have taken the house, and they’re doing better in the Senate than I would have thought.  Stacie Abrams does not seem to have won the governor’s race, but has come very close, which is quite remarkable for a Democrat in GA.  Voter turnout was way, way higher too, in contrast, as of 6:40 AM the day after the totals are

    Candidate Party Votes Percentage
    Brian Kemp GOP 1,962,547 50%
    Stacey Abrams Dem 1,887,161 49%
    Ted Metz Lib 36,706 1%
    Total 3,886,414

    In contract, in 2014 the results were

    Georgia gubernatorial election, 2014[16]

    Republican Nathan Deal – 1,345,237 –  52.75%
    Democratic Jason Carter –  1,144,794  – 44.89%
    Libertarian Andrew Hunt –  60,185 2.36%
    Total 2,550,216

    A difference of 1.4 million votes in only four years which is rather staggering.

     

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