It really is true that a huge part of learning a language is the habit of it. It’s repetition which makes this data I’m trying to assimilate accessible when I need it. And it’s neglect which allows it to get buried with all the other cares and tasks and happenings of the day. And after a few days, it’s hard to dig it back out.
This shouldn’t be surprising to me after learning programming languages from Lasso to JSP to Javascript to PHP and so on. I think the difference between a programming language and Koine Greek (a dead language) is that I can experiment with programming languages and get instant feedback and instant gratification. Failure in a programming language can be an annoying but benign null pointer error. Failure in Greek can be heresy.
As I’m learning the third declension nouns, I’m feeling like I don’t have the first and second declensions solid enough yet. Which just piles on the stress. I know them, but they’re not “at the ready” like I want them to be. Maybe I’m just being impatient.
Will that stop me? μη γενοιτο! Heck, four months ago, the word declension scared me. :)
Helen often wakes up to the alarm playing the soundtrack CD from Sophie’s Choice. It’s nice, gentle, a little wistful.
Anyway, when she wasn’t looking, I cranked up iTunes, copied the CD, and made a new one with the first song the same as always (to give her that sense of familiarity), but the second song was [this annoying little tune][1] from an [old Sherlock Holmes movie][2]. I warn you, if you listen, it will stubbornly lodge itself in your head. Even singing it like Bob Dylan won’t get it out.
– H. Alford The Greek New Testament 7th Ed. (number one pick, more technical greek)
– W. R. Nicell The Expositor’s Greek Testament
– I. H. Marshall New International Greek Testament Commentary
– G. Fee New International Commentary of the New Testament (number two pick, more homiletic/application)
To my fellow Lackian followers, you can view just the “Greek Class” category [here][1] (you can bookmark that, too).
I’ve been interested in weather since I was a little kid with my little home weather station. I know. Dweeb. Anyway, some years ago, I got to mix that interest with my geek work while I was working for Digital Cyclone helping build different bits of [My-Cast][2], which I still use daily.
Well, something new is courting me for daily attention: [Seasonality][1]. So many nice bits of information, well displayed, and easy to use. Great sunrise/sunset display. Satellite photos with radar and satellite transparently laid over (user definable transparency). Ooo, graphs.
There’s a free demo; check it out!
Don’t worry, DCI; I can’t [run it on my phone][3]. :)
OK, so [this guy][1] has apparently been all over the news in various places. Why? He started a blog and had a red paperclip. He’s hoping to trade it for a house. It looks like it’s going to work. He’s already traded up to a truck in something like seven or eight trades. And, of course, there’s the book deal, the radio and TV interviews. Wow.
The comments on my post about [Saint Paul’s new smoking ban][1] are really pretty interesting. A couple of gentlemen from very different perspectives have weighed in. I appreciate the conversation. I hope it can continue to be fairly civil. Let’s not go ad hominum, please. :)
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
Are not looking great right now. Margaret, are you watching?
Get this, and get it straight: Crime is a sucker’s road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave. There’s no other end… but they never learn.
