That is my answer to the question “So, you think you can tell Arial from Helvetica?”
And I can prove it. Here’s my score on the quiz at Ironic Sans.
Take the quiz yourself and see how you do. If you are nervous, brush up on the differences here first.
Definitely worth the six minutes to watch William Kamkwamba’s TED talk. This July 2009 video is worth a million words.
You can also see his original 2007 TED talk about his first windmill from their archive here.
TED also has an expanded bio and other links here.
From those links (definitely watch the short documentary):
A short documentary about Kamkwamba, called Moving Windmills, won several awards last year; Kamkwamba and friends are now working on a full-length film. You can read the ongoing details on his blog (which he keeps with help from his mentor), and support his work and other young inventors at MovingWindmills.org.
For students translating (or studying) Amos who may not have access to programs like BibleWorks, Accordance, or Logos, Tim Bulkeley has made available a nice (free) online resource (he also has a blog).
In his own words:
I teach Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the University of Auckland and at Carey Baptist College, I prepared the Amos commentary and the associated Bible Dictionary material, as a prototype of a much more ambitious project to eventually produce a multi-author commentary/dictionary that covers the whole Bible.
You can check it out here. If you like it, but prefer to access the material offline, you can order a CD with the same material.
The text is viewable in English or Hebrew. If you click on a Hebrew word, you can read some lexical info in one of the boxes. A nice feature is that you can also hear each verse in English or Hebrew.
Jim also has some notes on Ruth and Jonah (which I have not had the time to look through yet).
We support a young man in Malawi so that he can attend school, etc. I was thrilled, then, to hear about William Kamkwamba.
William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, Africa, a country plagued by AIDS and poverty. Like most people in his village, his family subsisted on the meager crops they could grow, living without the luxuriesconsider necessities in the Westof electricity or running water. Already living on the edge, the situation became dire when, in 2002, Malawi experienced the worst famine in 50 years. Struggling to survive, 14-year-old William was forced to drop out of school because his family could not afford the $80-a-year tuition.
Though he was not in a classroom, William continued to think, learnand dream. Armed with curiosity, determination, and a library book he discovered in a nearby library, he embarked on a daring planto build a windmill that could bring his family the electricity only two percent of Malawians could afford. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and blue-gum trees, William forged a crude yet working windmill, an unlikely hand-built contraption that would successfully power four light bulbs and two radios in his familys compound. Soon, news of his invention spread, attracting interest and offers of help from around the world. Not only did William return to school but he and was offered the opportunity to visit wind farms in the United States, much like the ones he hopes to build across Africa.
A moving tale of one boys struggle to create a better life, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is Williams amazing storya journey that offers hope for the lives of other Africansand the whole world, irrefutably demonstrating that one individual can make a difference.
UPDATE: Listen to Diane Rehm (NPR) interview William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer on her show (aired Oct 1, 2009). William is now a student at the Pan-African Leadership Academy in South Africa and a 2007 TED Global Fellow.
We all know that Dr. Jim West leads the pack of Bibliobloggers (He even makes sure we don’t miss the monthly stats that document his secure seat at the top).
So, I thought I should find out a little more about his blog. For instance…
Do you know how his blog ranks in other countries?
Do you know where his readership lives?
Do you know that yesterday he garnered 0.0011% of global Internet users?
You can check on up to the minute stats of Dr. West’s blog at this Alexa link. You can also generate your own comparison graph to see how you stack up to this giant. My own graph showed me as a flat line compared to him. I quickly went to SiteMeter to confirm that my blog does indeed still have a pulse. It would appear that I need to do some more aerobic workouts though to increase my blog strength. Or beg the good Dr. to link to me.
Kudos to everyone on the entire Biblioblog list for another good month of blogging. Check out Daniel&Tonya‘s excellent roundup at the 46th Biblical Studies Carnival (which is the first BSC to be hosted from Africa).
Whether you are a Hebrew student looking for a way to impress your prof or an attendee at the annual SBL conference looking to stand out in the crowd, you need to check out our list of “must-have” t-shirt links.
We’ll start with the ol’ basic aleph-bet.
Want to go paleo?
For those of you in Chicago:
California?
Love caffeine?
Not a coffee drinker? How about a beer?
… even better than a t-shirt, a bike jersey!
This is not strictly Hebrew… but close enough. T-shirt from real-life Shmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of HE’BREW gourmet Kosher beer, including Messiah Stout and Genesis Ale.
Can’t afford gourmet?
From the “I can’t make this up” category:
From the designer: What better way to tell the world that you (or a forgiving female friend) are Older Than Dirt than in the language of divine revelation? Uses feminine grammatical forms. Biblical Hebrew and English.
I am not endorsing this, merely passing it on:
If you aren’t one of these, you know someone who is:
Got any you want to add to the list?
It’s about that time in the semester for new Hebrew students to begin to encounter pronouns. So, we’ll post this oft-repeated (but worthy) tribute to confused Hebrew students everywhere.
Abbott & Costello Learn Hebrew
Aka “Who’s On First“…
© Rabbi Jack Moline
ABBOTT: I see you’re here for your Hebrew lesson.
COSTELLO: I’m ready to learn.
A: Now, the first thing you must understand is that Hebrew and English have many words which sound alike, but they do not mean the same thing.
C: Sure, I understand.
A: Now, don’t be too quick to say that.
C: How stupid do you think I am – don’t answer that. It’s simple – some words in Hebrew sound like words in English, but they don’t mean the same.
A: Precisely.
C: We have that word in English, too. What does it mean in Hebrew?
A: No, no. Precisely is an English word.
C: I didn’t come here to learn English, I came to learn Hebrew. So make with the Hebrew.
A: Fine. Let’s start with mee.
C: You.
A: No, mee.
C: Fine, we’ll start with you.
A: No, we’ll start with mee.
C: Okay, have it your way.
A: Now, mee is who.
C: You is Abbott.
A: No, no, no. Mee is who.
C: You is Abbott.
A: You don’t understand.
C: I don’t understand? Did you just say me is who?
A: Yes I did. Mee is who.
C: You is Abbott.
A: No, you misunderstand what I am saying. Tell me about mee.
C: Well, you’re a nice enough guy.
A: No, no. Tell me about mee!
C: Who?
A: Precisely.
C: Precisely what?
A: Precisely who.
C: It’s precisely whom!
A: No, mee is who.
C: Don’t start that again – go on to something else.
A: All right. Hu is he.
C: Who is he?
A: Yes.
C: I don’t know. Who is he?
A: Sure you do. You just said it.
C: I just said what?
A: Hu is he.
C: Who is he?
A: Precisely.
C: Again with the precisely! Precisely who?
A: No, precisely he.
C: Precisely he? Who is he?
A: Precisely!
C: And what about me?
A: Who.
C: me, me, me!
A: Who, who, who!
C: What are you, an owl? Me! Who is me?
A: No, hu is he!
C: I don’t know, maybe he is me!
A: No, hee is she!
C: (STARE AT ABBOTT) Do his parents know about this?
A: About what?
C: About her!
A: What about her?
C: That she is he!
A: No, you’ve got it wrong – hee is she!
C: Then who is he?
A: Precisely!
C: Who?
A: He!
C: Me?
A: Who!
C: He?
A: She!
C: Who is she?
A: No, hu is he.
C: I don’t care who is he, I want to know who is she?
A: No, that’s not right.
C: How can it not be right? I said it. I was standing here when I said it, and I know me.
A: Who.
C: Who?
A: Precisely!
C: Me! Me is that he you are talking about! He is me!
A: No, hee is she!
C: Wait a Minute, wait a minute! I’m trying to learn a little Hebrew, and now I can’t even speak English. Let me review.
A: Go ahead.
C: Now first You want to know me is who.
A: Correct.
C: And then you say who is he.
A: Absolutely.
C: And then you tell me he is she.
A & C: Precisely!
C: Now look at this logically. If me is who, and who is he, and he is she, don’t it stand to reason that me is she?
A: Who?
C: She!
A: That is he!
C: Who is he?
A & C: Precisely!
C: I have just about had it. You have me confused I want to go home. You know what I want? Ma!
A: What.
C: I said Ma.
A: What.
C: What are you, deaf? I want Ma!
A: What!
C: Not what, who!
A: He!
C: Not he! Ma is not he!
A: Of course not! Hu is he!
C: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t care who is he, he is she, me is who, ma is what. I just want to go home now and play with my dog.
A: Fish.
C: Fish?
A: Dag is fish.
C: That’s all, I’m outa here.
I know this material is making the rounds, but it is just too good to resist passing it on again.
First found at Eilidh.
You don’t even need to be a West Wing fan to love this. The Peters Projection perfectly presented.
What’s up with all these GEB posts? If you missed what we’re doing, read here. Remember, I’m no expert on all this, I’m just helping facilitate. I’m trying to read along with the rest of you!
Current Assignment: For Monday, September 28
Read: Little Harmonic Labyrinth and Chapter V: Recursive Structures and Processes
Listen: The Little Harmonic Labyrinth by Johann David Heinichen. Waltz #2 by Billy Joel.
I think the Fall semester has hit most of us and our schedules are slipping away from our control (did we ever really have control??). But, in case someone is still interested in this, I’ll continue to post for a bit more.
When Justin Curry (MIT) taught this course, he quoted the following at this point in the book:
This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill -the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill -you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Morpheus
Continue reading
UPDATE: We have a winner, Ken Brown. Congratulations!
I’m inspired by some fellow bloggers to get a contest going on this blog (and no, Ros, I haven’t forgotten that you won the prize for posting the first comment on the “new” blog. I’ve got your surprise ready for SBL). I’ve had several people comment or contact me about the Hebrew letter magnets for the ‘fridge. So, I’ve decided that I will offer one set of these magnets as a prize. Since this is the first time I’ve done this, I’ll run the contest for 2 weeks (ending October 10th).
