Excluded

2014-06-22

Excluded

Black Lightning

2014-06-10

Black Lightning

Cast the first stone

There's a well-known proverb in our culture:  "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

(It is often butchered as "Let he who ..."  That's a subject for another post.)

This is, of course, one of the sayings of Jesus; it is found in the Christian scriptures at index John 8:7.

Which translation of the bible gives this exact phrasing of the saying?

The King James Version (KJV)?  The Revised Standard Version (RSV)?  These would be reasonable first candidates.

In fact, this exact phrasing is not in any version the bible in English.  We probably get it from the translation of William Tyndale -- found in the "Tyndale Bible" (1535), the Matthew Bible (1537), and the Geneva Bible (1560) -- who rendered it thusly:

Let him that is among you without sin, cast the first stone at her.

We get the popular phrasing by dropping the prepositional phrases "among you" and "at her" so as to generalize from the context of the narrative, and by replacing "that" with "who" per modern styling.

The KJV and RSV use the following constructions, respectively:

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

What these do differently from the Tyndale/Geneva is apply "first" to the throwing or the thrower (respectively) rather than to the stone.

Most English versions follow one or the other of these two, although a few do follow the Tyndale/Geneva.  (Of course, paraphrases do their own thing. For example, The Message gives it as: "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.")

It is interesting to realize that this expression became common before the widespread adoption of the KJV (the Authorized Version), which was published in 1611.

Massively Parallel Proselytizing

(Note: There is no "Tyndale Bible", as Tyndale died before completing his project. But the parts he had completed were incorporated into the Matthew Bible and subsequently into the Geneva Bible. BibleGateway has the New Matthew Bible (NMB), a "gently updated" version.)

Latin: primus
Greek: πρωτος

JDP's Road Warrior Tips, Part II: Travel

These are my recommendations for what to pack when you're going on a business trip.

Assuming your computer carrying case is your entire mobile office, put these in it:

• Laptop computer.
• Power brick.  Include international power adapter if traveling overseas.
• External mouse and/or keyboard if you prefer them.
• Thumb drive (2x), in case you need to transfer some files. Make sure they're fully sanitized.
• Phone charger, with a good reliable charger cord. 
• Earbuds/headphones with microphone. 
• Should have noise canceling capability if you'll be traveling by air.
• Make sure you have whatever's necessary to charge it up.
• Adapter for your phone, if necessary (e.g. to use non-Apple headphone with iPhone)
• Ballpoint pen.
• Mechanical pencil - with good working eraser.
• Sharpie pen, fine-point.
• Highlighter.
• Notebook/pad.
• Pad of sticky-notes. 
• A couple business-size envelopes; a few stamps.

The following should go in your computer bag if there's room, or else wherever makes sense for you:

• Cell phone.
• Your Contacts should already have the people you will need to call when you are on the trip, such as your POC who will meet you at the gate/reception. Also emergency numbers, such as roadside assistance.
• Your phone plan should include mobile hotspot.
• Wallet, with ID, credit card, and emergency cash (a couple $20's). A card with emergency contact numbers on it, plus additional info if traveling overseas.
• Business cards.  
• If possible, have them printed with QR code for your contact info.
• Aspirin, allergy meds, caffeine tablets, instant coffee packets, etc.
• Tissues.
• Hand sanitizer - small travel-size bottle. 
• Tool kit, e.g. one of those all-in-one screwdriver/plier/knife things.
• Bottle of water.
• Snacks (e.g. power bars). 
• Mints/gum.
• Ear plugs, since some hotel rooms are noisier than you're used to.

Obviously, modify this list to suit your personal preferences and to accommodate the particulars of each business trip.

In the evening, plug in all the electronics to get them fully charged up; and refill the water bottle. Replenish any depleted consumables (e.g. tissues).

Ghost World

The problem is that everyone who ever cared about me is dead.

Well, not necessarily literally dead, but 
passed on into another life

Another world

A world without me in it.

But
By that measure, perhaps I'm dead as well.

Perhaps I'm the only one who's dead.

It certainly seems that way very often.

Like a ghost,
I can see the world, yet remain invisible to it

I linger near, yet can never touch

I hear, yet can never join in the laughter.

(March 5, 2014)

Ephemerescence

On the underside of my parchment skin, tissue thin,
An automatic writing slowly resolves in venous blue calligraphy

Each day that passes, each fading year,
I seem to see it ever clearer

Yet it remains asemic, unintelligible, undeciphered
A pulsing message in an alien language

Each day, I peer closer, examining
the grey traces and capillary filigrees
For some subtle sign of intelligence

Ah! my dewdrops of hope have all but evaporated

In another year, or another year,
I shall be entirely faded

Ready for His next
palimpsest

(Feb. 23, 2016)

No phoenix, my love

The house -- our house -- is a smoking ruin
Electricity's out -- no lights left, save for some random embers
I wait for dawn to go in and see what remains, what's lost, what's salvageable.
The TV - toast.
The couch is bare springs and a skeleton of blackened beechwood.
All the food in the fridge - baked.
That's ok. I can live with that loss.  
You reflect on what's really important.
What is?  What is it?
To the bedroom. Where is my wedding ring?
The dresser is a charcoal cube
An ancient altar after the annual ritual
The precious things we placed on top -- consumed
The incense of that cedar and burnished cherry
rose -- to whose nose?  What god found this sacrifice acceptable?
Fine.
What else?
I turn and survey the remains of the nuptial pyre
The scene of the sacred ceremony
Nothing lingers but a shadow
A smudge of grey, the bed ash mocks the entwined occupants 
What love lay there?
Down, down, into dust, blacked out and bedashed
No phoenix, my love
But eternally darkened cold and still. 

(Apr. 3, 2014)