Showing posts with label humour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humour. Show all posts
Sunday, April 02, 2017
Monday, July 30, 2012
Summer Trivia: Conjecture
Can you (a) name this publication and (b) correct the error on this particular page:
Update: Stephen Goranson found the error, "electric" for "eclectic," and Maurice Robinson identified the publication – the first edition of Metzger's The Text of the New Testament published in 1964. In the image to the left you can see Tjitze Baarda's conjecture in his copy – I think it was he who notified Metzger who corrected the error in the 2d edition.
Update: Stephen Goranson found the error, "electric" for "eclectic," and Maurice Robinson identified the publication – the first edition of Metzger's The Text of the New Testament published in 1964. In the image to the left you can see Tjitze Baarda's conjecture in his copy – I think it was he who notified Metzger who corrected the error in the 2d edition.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Medieval Musings in the Margins
The brainpickings blog lists a number of curious notes in margins and colophons made by medieval scribes (originally from the Spring 2012 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly:
"New parchment, bad ink; I say nothing more.
"I am very cold."
"That's a hard page and a weary work to read it."
"Let the reader's voice honor the writer's pen."
"This page has not been written very slowly."
"The parchment is hairy."
"The ink is thin."
"Thank God, it will soon be dark."
"Oh, my hand."
"Now I've written the whole thing; for Christ's sake give me a drink."
"Writing is excessive drudgery. It crooks your back, it dims you sight, it twists your stomach and your sides."
"St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing."
"While I wrote I froze, and what I could not write by the beams of the sun I finished by candlelight."
"As the harbor is welcome to the sailor, so is the last line to the scribe."
"This is sad! O little book! A day will come in truth when someone over your page will say, 'The hand that wrote it is no more'."
Cf. the nice little directions for use in Greg.-Aland 1030.
Do you know of any other gems? Share in the comments!
HT: Ingrid Lilly
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
What To Do with SBL Bags?
Have you ever wondered what other people do with their used SBL bags?
Then you should visit this facebook group What to do with SBL bags. As you can see there, I use one of mine to carry skates in winter time (and I am not the only one).
Note that I am not talking about saddleback leather bags (SBL), but the tote bags for participants of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) meetings.
I look forward to getting a new bag at the SBL meeting in London in July. By the way, in case you are an advertiser, don't forget the tote bag insertion ($350 for each insert), which for this meeting is apparently due on Thursday.
Then you should visit this facebook group What to do with SBL bags. As you can see there, I use one of mine to carry skates in winter time (and I am not the only one).
Note that I am not talking about saddleback leather bags (SBL), but the tote bags for participants of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) meetings.
I look forward to getting a new bag at the SBL meeting in London in July. By the way, in case you are an advertiser, don't forget the tote bag insertion ($350 for each insert), which for this meeting is apparently due on Thursday.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Mike Bird in Commercial for SBLGNT
Don't miss Mike Bird's commercial for Mike Holmes' SBLGNT.
HT: Brice Jones, who also reports from SBL Atlanta, where he heard some really good papers ;-) and tells us that he has received an acceptance letter to the PhD program at McMaster Divinity College. Congratulations Brice!
Monday, December 06, 2010
SBL Gatecrashing
Before I say anything about the SBL sessions, if I manage to collect anything from my not so detailed notes from this year's meeting, I will share some funny memories on the theme of SBL gatecrashing.
First, Ulrich Schmid invited me to the Birmingham breakfast (thank you), and I told my room mate and colleague, Mikael Tellbe, to join me and meet my friends. He was a bit hesitant and felt embarrassed since he did not know anyone (but me), but I told him not to, and so we had a very good time with a relaxed conversation around one of the two breakfast tables, and we both had nice chats; there were about 15 people there and I think I knew almost all (most of the folks were from ITSEE, save Mark Goodacre).
Mikael then told me it was my turn to join him to the Regent College breakfast reception the next morning. At the entrance we were warmthly welcomed by Rikki Watts, whom I had not met before. Then we were told to sign the guestbook indicating name and e-mailaddresses. We served ourselves breakfast and sat down at one of the tables. There were perhaps 60 people in the room, around 6-7 tables, Gordon Fee was there with his wife, and I also knew Michael Theophilus and Jim Leonard sitting at other tables (Jim had actually been Gordon Fee's TA when Mikael was at Regent, so Jim had learnt a lot, he said, from the experience of marking Mikael's papers, etc).
After people had settled around the tables, Rikki Watts held a nice talk about stuff going on at Regent these days. Then he said that we should go around each table, and everyone should present themselves and say when they were at Regent, what they studied, and what they are doing now. I bent towards Mikael and said, "You can say something about me being your colleague - I can't stand up." Then, I changed my mind, and said, "Ok, I can say something short..." But then, as the turn came to our table, I changed my mind again and told Mikael, "No, you go ahead and say something about me," which he did, "And this is Tommy Wasserman, and he has not been to Regent" :-). But I added, "But Regent has been to us - we have had several faculty members at our school."
Eventually, when everyone had presented themselves, it turned out there were three people present who had never studied at Regent. During the presentation, one of them stood up and said boldly: "I am at the wrong place, but I have learnt an awful lot!" The next evening when Peter Head and I were sitting at the hotel bar, Rikki Watts came by and joined us to discuss the cost of book manufacturing in the first century, and other interesting matters. It turned out that Peter and Rikki had had neighbouring study spaces for years at Tyndale Library, and were best of friends. Now I had the opportunity to return the hospitality and could take care of the bill.
The next, much funnnier story ;-), is about my colleague Mikael (I hope he doesn't read this, but I can't resist). Mikael met up with a friend and fellow student from the old days at Regent several times during the meeting. This very nice guy, whom I had the opportunity to meet, is currently writing a commentary for Zondervan, and was invited with another colleague to the Zondervan authors' meeting. The other person, however, was prevented to come to the meeting, and so the friend invited Mikael instead (who is not a Zondervan author - yet). The meeting turned out to be very cosy and informal. Of course, the Zondervan directors wondered who Mikael was, but after explaining he was heartily welcomed - in the end the Zondervan manager insisted that Mikael should have the little book bag gift which was given to the invited authors with some complementary Zondervan books.
However, at the beginning of the meeting, when everyone had settled around the table, the Zondervan representative announced a nice little welcome lottery – the price was a pack of commentaries. The winning ticket had been hidden under one of the chairs. So everyone stuck down their hands and fumbled around under the chairs. Lo and Behold! Mikael pulled out a little piece of paper, and bent towards his friend waving with the ticket: "Hey, I've won the lottery, I have the ticket ... what should I now do?" The uninvited guest wins the lottery? Then, suddenly, someone else announced that he had the winning ticket. What now? Didn't I have it, Mikael thought? Mikael looked again on his piece of paper. On it he could read the chair production number and place of manufacturing.
First, Ulrich Schmid invited me to the Birmingham breakfast (thank you), and I told my room mate and colleague, Mikael Tellbe, to join me and meet my friends. He was a bit hesitant and felt embarrassed since he did not know anyone (but me), but I told him not to, and so we had a very good time with a relaxed conversation around one of the two breakfast tables, and we both had nice chats; there were about 15 people there and I think I knew almost all (most of the folks were from ITSEE, save Mark Goodacre).
Mikael then told me it was my turn to join him to the Regent College breakfast reception the next morning. At the entrance we were warmthly welcomed by Rikki Watts, whom I had not met before. Then we were told to sign the guestbook indicating name and e-mailaddresses. We served ourselves breakfast and sat down at one of the tables. There were perhaps 60 people in the room, around 6-7 tables, Gordon Fee was there with his wife, and I also knew Michael Theophilus and Jim Leonard sitting at other tables (Jim had actually been Gordon Fee's TA when Mikael was at Regent, so Jim had learnt a lot, he said, from the experience of marking Mikael's papers, etc).
After people had settled around the tables, Rikki Watts held a nice talk about stuff going on at Regent these days. Then he said that we should go around each table, and everyone should present themselves and say when they were at Regent, what they studied, and what they are doing now. I bent towards Mikael and said, "You can say something about me being your colleague - I can't stand up." Then, I changed my mind, and said, "Ok, I can say something short..." But then, as the turn came to our table, I changed my mind again and told Mikael, "No, you go ahead and say something about me," which he did, "And this is Tommy Wasserman, and he has not been to Regent" :-). But I added, "But Regent has been to us - we have had several faculty members at our school."
Eventually, when everyone had presented themselves, it turned out there were three people present who had never studied at Regent. During the presentation, one of them stood up and said boldly: "I am at the wrong place, but I have learnt an awful lot!" The next evening when Peter Head and I were sitting at the hotel bar, Rikki Watts came by and joined us to discuss the cost of book manufacturing in the first century, and other interesting matters. It turned out that Peter and Rikki had had neighbouring study spaces for years at Tyndale Library, and were best of friends. Now I had the opportunity to return the hospitality and could take care of the bill.
The next, much funnnier story ;-), is about my colleague Mikael (I hope he doesn't read this, but I can't resist). Mikael met up with a friend and fellow student from the old days at Regent several times during the meeting. This very nice guy, whom I had the opportunity to meet, is currently writing a commentary for Zondervan, and was invited with another colleague to the Zondervan authors' meeting. The other person, however, was prevented to come to the meeting, and so the friend invited Mikael instead (who is not a Zondervan author - yet). The meeting turned out to be very cosy and informal. Of course, the Zondervan directors wondered who Mikael was, but after explaining he was heartily welcomed - in the end the Zondervan manager insisted that Mikael should have the little book bag gift which was given to the invited authors with some complementary Zondervan books.
However, at the beginning of the meeting, when everyone had settled around the table, the Zondervan representative announced a nice little welcome lottery – the price was a pack of commentaries. The winning ticket had been hidden under one of the chairs. So everyone stuck down their hands and fumbled around under the chairs. Lo and Behold! Mikael pulled out a little piece of paper, and bent towards his friend waving with the ticket: "Hey, I've won the lottery, I have the ticket ... what should I now do?" The uninvited guest wins the lottery? Then, suddenly, someone else announced that he had the winning ticket. What now? Didn't I have it, Mikael thought? Mikael looked again on his piece of paper. On it he could read the chair production number and place of manufacturing.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Controversial New Article on Greek Archaeology and Palaeography
On the lighter side of things, America's Finest News Source has published an article on a recent National Geographic-sponsored controversy on the ancient world, here. Apparently, the textual tradition of the Iliad is not as reliable as once thought.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Another Scribal Blunder
On the Amsterdam NT weblog, Jan Krans has a nice post on the scribal blunder in Codex Corsendocensis (Greg.-Aland 3).
More laughs at scribal blunders, typos in editions, and other stuff here.
More laughs at scribal blunders, typos in editions, and other stuff here.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Pay for the Peace of Jerusalem?
A while ago on the textual criticism discussion list Jeff Cate drew the attention to a typo in an edition of the 1966 Jerusalem Bible where an "r" was left out so that Psalm 122:6 reads: "Pay for the peace of Jerusalem." (Ironically it happened in the Jerusalem Bible.) But, of course it is also true that often someone has to pay for the peace.
Do we have other funny examples?
Let's include the scribes also. Here are some examples from Metzger's introduction:
There is a curious omission in John 17:5 in Vaticanus resulting in: "I do not pray that you should take them from the evil one."
In Rev 15:6 the seven angels are "robed in pure bright linen" but in Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus and some Vulgate MSS they are "robed in pure bright stone."
In John 5:39 codex Bezae has Jesus say of the Scriptures not that "they bear witness concerning me," but that "they are sinning concerning me"!
And, I have saved this famous one for last: In codex 109, copied from an exemplar which must have had Luke's genealogy of Jesus written in two columns, the scribe copied the genealogy by following the lines across the two columns. Everyone is made the son of the wrong father. God (who stands at the end of the genealogy in Luke 3:38) is said to have been the son of Aram, and Phares has taken God's place as the source of all.
Do we have other funny examples?
Let's include the scribes also. Here are some examples from Metzger's introduction:
There is a curious omission in John 17:5 in Vaticanus resulting in: "I do not pray that you should take them from the evil one."
In Rev 15:6 the seven angels are "robed in pure bright linen" but in Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus and some Vulgate MSS they are "robed in pure bright stone."
In John 5:39 codex Bezae has Jesus say of the Scriptures not that "they bear witness concerning me," but that "they are sinning concerning me"!
And, I have saved this famous one for last: In codex 109, copied from an exemplar which must have had Luke's genealogy of Jesus written in two columns, the scribe copied the genealogy by following the lines across the two columns. Everyone is made the son of the wrong father. God (who stands at the end of the genealogy in Luke 3:38) is said to have been the son of Aram, and Phares has taken God's place as the source of all.
Monday, March 01, 2010
New ETC Blog Record: Over 100 Comments!
As frequent readers of this blog know, it makes us, especially Peter Head, feel good when a post gets fifty comments (see comment 42 here). A few days ago the post "Is 1 Cor 14:34-35 an Interpolation?", featuring a new document available for download (see TC Files) in which Phil Payne replies to questions on this blog concerning 1 Cor 14:34-35 passed over 100 comments! And guess who made the 100th comment?
Friday, February 12, 2010
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Six Steps How to Deliver a Successful Paper
1. Preparation on the platform in Cambridge
2. Preparation on the train to London
3. Preparation in the hotel lobby in London
4. Preparation on the floor
5. Preparation in bed
6. Delivery
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Codex Sinaiticus in Korean (via Googletranslation)
As a preparation for the upcoming conference on Codex Sinaiticus, it may be good to read some facts about the codex in this report on a Korean webpage. (Please note that it has been machinetranslated by Google.)
In case you missed Peter Head's recent significant report on 1 April, here it is again: Codex Sinaiticus Produced Near Jerusalem.
In case you missed Peter Head's recent significant report on 1 April, here it is again: Codex Sinaiticus Produced Near Jerusalem.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Top Search Terms Driving Traffic to this Blog
What are the top search terms driving traffic to this blog from search engines this month? This is possible to find out at Alexa. Some were expected, others turned out to be rather unexpected. This is the top-ten terms that directs people from the search engines to this blog (the list is updated monthly):
#1 devils bible
#2 devil's bible
#3 codex gigas
#4 the devils bible
#5 the devil's bible
#6 misquoting jesus
#7 alexandrian witnesses
#8 maurice robinson
#9 evangelical textual criticism
#10 peter head textual
The devil's bible or Codex gigas keeps driving traffic to this blog, and so is the "misquoting Jesus"-issue. Many will have read Peter William's extensive review of Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, his interview with Ehrman and some subsequent thoughts on the topic. Today I noticed an an on-line lecture by William's from 2006 offering an analysis of the book. (The talk starts a while into the soundfile after some chatting.)
Maurice Robinson is the "most wanted" ETC blogger, slightly less popular than the Alexandrian witnesses :-). I am sure Peter Head likes the idea that people connects him with "textual" (which is probably "textual criticism" - there seem to be a three-word limit to this data).
#1 devils bible
#2 devil's bible
#3 codex gigas
#4 the devils bible
#5 the devil's bible
#6 misquoting jesus
#7 alexandrian witnesses
#8 maurice robinson
#9 evangelical textual criticism
#10 peter head textual
The devil's bible or Codex gigas keeps driving traffic to this blog, and so is the "misquoting Jesus"-issue. Many will have read Peter William's extensive review of Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, his interview with Ehrman and some subsequent thoughts on the topic. Today I noticed an an on-line lecture by William's from 2006 offering an analysis of the book. (The talk starts a while into the soundfile after some chatting.)
Maurice Robinson is the "most wanted" ETC blogger, slightly less popular than the Alexandrian witnesses :-). I am sure Peter Head likes the idea that people connects him with "textual" (which is probably "textual criticism" - there seem to be a three-word limit to this data).
Monday, April 20, 2009
It Was a Joke!
Since several people have congratulated Peter Head for his award of a wild card for the Olympics in Beijing and Dave McGovern has just left a rectifying comment on this story and our subsequent report that Peter came in as 42nd, I take the opportunity to confess that it was a joke, but, as you can see on the images Peter does have a talent for sports ;-). Apparently, Ingus Janevics of Latvia was the real person who came in as 42nd in Beijing.
Dave McGovern maintains an excellent web-site on racewalking: www.racewalking.org and now also a blog. These are the places to go if you are into real racewalking.
Dave McGovern maintains an excellent web-site on racewalking: www.racewalking.org and now also a blog. These are the places to go if you are into real racewalking.
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