Another weblog

I hope that everyone enjoys Christmas today. It’s a time when many people are able to take off from work or school and spend time with their families.

It has been traditional for a long time now to celebrate the birth of Christ on 25 December, so that Christmas is celebrated as a legal holiday in many countries on that day. In the Catholic church the day is celebrated as the second greatest day in the year—second only to Easter.

However, much tradition has crept up around the biblical account, as it has with Easter. […]

Posted in Bible, Religion | 1 comment »

Today is the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the birth of L. L. Zamenhof.

Zamenhof is known as the ‘initiator’ of the constructed language Esperanto; after working on it extensively, he presented its basic grammar and vocabulary in 1887. He is known as the ‘initiator’ because although he laid the foundation for the language, he did not invent the language in its entirety. No language can be described completely; the language we now call ‘Esperanto’ developed over the past century of constant use, based on the principles that Zamenhof laid out. […]

Posted in Language | 4 comments »

This is the account of the first day of competition at the National Bible Bee.

In the morning I rose early (at least relatively to my normal schedule)—around 6:30, I believe. The night before I had got into bed early also, but as the heat was turned up to 68·5°F, I could not sleep: we do not heat the house at night, and so I am used to the house being relatively cold during the autumn and winter months. Furthermore, I am not used to the sheer number of sheets and pillows provided at the hotel. It wasn’t until after I turned the heat down to 60°F that I slept; I probably did not actually fall asleep till midnight. […]

Posted in Bible, Personal | No comments »