Happy Passover – Seder Primer

April 8, 2009 by Be Holy

This is a learning experience for me, you might as well come along.

Ever since the night before the Exodus Jews have celebrated a Seder, a supper before the Lord and a story told, the Haggadah.

More Happy Passover from the Anchoress

Happy Passover!

New Discovery – Older than the Hills

April 8, 2009 by Be Holy

Look what the Anchoress unearthed. It’s a fascinating look back into time with the recently (1994) unearthing of Gobekle Tepe in Turkey/Urfa,craddle of Armenian civilization. Just thinking of people 11,000 years ago expending so much effort in an age without machines to worship or appease their gods, makes me wonder at how dismissive our age has become.

Amid all the archeological information on the Smithsonian site, this comment also caught my attention, reminding me that the societal tensions of yesteryear are deeply ingrained in fallen humankind and with us today, tied closely to our ethnicity and cultural undergirdings:

“It is sad that the article talks about the ‘site in Turkey’. 6000 years ago there was no Turkey. 600 years ago there was no Turkey. This site is ARMENIAN. Just another example of how history is being rewritten! It’s a shame. At least the Western scientific world should be more specific to acknowledge the fact that Urfa was the craddle of the Armenian civilization. Too sad, that’s all.” Posted by Gregov

And this:

Turkey? do you really think that mongols who destroyed some of the worlds oldest heritages have a history as old as this? It’s very sad, this site is Armenian and you must address it properley to people and nation who contributed many many things to humankind’s civilization. if you search in what today call’s it self Turkey, you may find that it has nothing on its own, all of the wonderfull sites belong to Armenians, Greeks, Asurians, Urartu’s and etc. I hope they will correct the title no one can stole other nations heritage and culture this easily as Turks are trying to do . . ” Posted by George

The ecological twists of the story also make me uncomfortable.

“There were herds of game, rivers of fish, and flocks of wildfowl; lush green meadows were ringed by woods and wild orchards. About 10,000 years ago, the Kurdish desert was a ‘paradisiacal place’, as Schmidt puts it. So what destroyed the environment? The answer is Man.

As we began farming, we changed the landscape and the climate. When the trees were chopped down, the soil leached away; all that ploughing and reaping left the land eroded and bare. What was once an agreeable oasis became a land of stress, toil and diminishing returns.

And so, paradise was lost.”

I can see Al Gore hyjacking this as the beginning of global warming.

Spies Penetrate Electrical Grid

April 8, 2009 by Be Holy

Spies penetrate electrical grid via Joejolly’s Web Log”

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls, the newspaper said, citing current and former U.S. national security officials.

The intruders have not sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure but officials said they could try during a crisis or war, the paper said in a report on its website.

“The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid,” a senior intelligence official told the Journal. “So have the Russians.”…

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53729120090408

Cockamamie – Interesting

April 8, 2009 by Be Holy

I admit it; I love words. Here’s what I didn’t know about “cockamamie”:

COCKAMAMIE. “‘Cockamamie’ means something worthless or trifling, even absurd or strange; a ‘cockamamie’ excuse or story is an implausible, ridiculous one. The word may be a corruption of ‘decalcomania’ (‘a cheap picture or design on specially prepared paper that is transferred to china, wood, etc.’), a word youngsters on New York’s Lower East Side early in the century found tiring to pronounce and impossible to spell.” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997).

“Cockamamie is the child’s version of ‘decalcomania,’ dye transfers that youngsters used to put on their hands and arms. Since they were cheap, they soon wore off. So, ‘cockamamie’ first meant anything trifling or second-rate, and later came to mean simply silly or laughable.” From “Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins” by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).

Update-Reaching for the Ground?That’s Reaching!

April 8, 2009 by Be Holy

Update-Reaching for the Ground? That’s Reaching!

The White House now believes the American people are blind as well as stupid, as evidenced by their COCKAMAMIE explanation for President Obama’s blunderous bow to King Abdullah. Cock- and-bull stories work best without pictures and video.