I am that I am -

Jul. 6th, 2009

11:50 AM

The Codex Sinaiticus is written in Greek, and can be viewed at www.codexsinaiticus.org

The world's oldest known Christian Bible goes online Monday -- but the 1,600-year-old text doesn't match the one you'll find in churches today.

Discovered in a monastery in the Sinai desert in Egypt more than 160 years ago, the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament.

The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections -- some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written, according to scholars who worked on the project of putting the Bible online. The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences.

And some familiar -- very important -- passages are missing, including verses dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, they said.

Juan Garces, the British Library project curator, said it should be no surprise that the ancient text is not quite the same as the modern one, since the Bible has developed and changed over the years."

The FBI says that it is absolutely, positively, not investigating Sarah Palin. Is anyone surprised?

Here is a rundown of the various health care reform plans being bandied about in Washington right now.

Drug bust nets heroin stuffed in Build-A-Bear toys
A dozen people have been arrested, and 33 pounds of heroin worth $30 million and stuffed inside Build-A-Bear toys has been seized in a drug bust in the Bronx.

Take your pick now: Either Honduras' swift coup was months in the making or there was no 'coup' in Honduras.

Texas brewer, once near defeat, shines again
By all accounts, Shiner beer shouldn't have made it this long. The Spoetzl Brewery ferments its brew in a one-stoplight town that's not on the way to anywhere, and much larger regional brewers long ago succumbed to consolidation and the muscle of national brewers.

theneiadmuse has gone in for a body mod that requires the help of a professional, but required no tattooing or surgery. Go check out her elf ears.

Comments

( 11 comments — Leave a comment )

txtriffidranch wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 07:30 pm (UTC)

As far as the ear mod is concerned, I have only one thing to say: I sure hope she likes it. I once dated a girl who was looking into getting this done, and was informed by a knowledgeable plastic surgeon that the tips have a tendency to hang down after a few years. Sure, she looks like an elf or Vulcan now, but by the time she's forty, she'll look like Yoda.

Besides, when it comes down to body mods, there's only one way to go about it. "Cyber-technology is superior. Mistakes will not be made."

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interactiveleaf wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 07:52 pm (UTC)

Now I'm dying to see pictures of her in another twenty years. Yoda!

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buscemi wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 07:50 pm (UTC)

That drug bust article reminds me of an old SNL sketch. Dana Carvey was supposed to be a drug dealer. I remember him saying, "It's a Paddington Bear. There's a hole in the back for the blow." Hee.

Either the FBI is vehemently denying the investigation because they're trying to throw people off, or they figure the Alaska legislature will get her first. ;)

Edited at 2009-07-06 07:51 pm (UTC)

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interactiveleaf wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 07:53 pm (UTC)

Or she thinks that quitting the Alaskan governorship is a good move for a potential Presidential candidate. She might be just that crazy . . .

Or maybe she's just miserable where she is, and is quite sensibly getting out.

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brak55 wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 08:58 pm (UTC)

There was a special on the History channel about a number of books not included in the current bible that paint a very different story. I wonder if this is what they were talking about.

I love the Republican's version of the health care. Affordable and accessible to all but we aren't going to spend anything on it and we're not going to mandate anything and we're basically not going to do a thing. It's going to happen, because we live in a fantasy world and we can just decree it.

I also don't see how tax credits are going to help anyone in the lower income brackets. There is no way they can afford the insurance without money up front, so they won't be able to apply for the tax credit because they didn't buy any and they won't have that tax credit to buy it in the next year. Remember the Republican platform on health insurance. "If you can't pay for it yourself, you might as well just die."

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interactiveleaf wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 09:07 pm (UTC)

There are a lot of books not included in any current bible, and of course there is more than one "current bible." The Catholics, for instance, use a fairly different version than most Protestants, the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches add books that the others don't, the Eastern Orthodox church includes the book of Odes and Esdras, the Syriac Orthodox church includes the books of Baruch, and the Ethiopian Church has yet another book or two . . .

The Anglicans use some of the Apocrypha in their liturgical rituals, but don't take them seriously enough to let them establish doctrine.

Speaking of "the bible" means a lot of very different things to people around the world. The special you saw was probably about the Apocrypha in general, but those books aren't necessarily apocryphal to everyone.

It's an interesting study if you have time or inclination to pursue it.

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jenndolari wrote:

Jul. 7th, 2009 12:45 am (UTC)

Then there's things like the Nag Hammadi library (with things like a walking talking cross, the God of the Old Testament being an evil being called Yaldaboth), and the Jewish Midrash (which have some GREAT alternate stories of the bible, or try to fill in the gaps of stories the bible doesn't tell), or the wierd middle years between the formation of Christianity and Islam (Jesus as a kid had a diaper that healed, sweat that became a cream, and breathed life into clay pidgeons).

There's a LOT of neat stuff out there. :D

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juliarandolph wrote:

Jul. 6th, 2009 09:12 pm (UTC)

If you're going to try fake elf ears for awhile before getting them permanent, I hear tell Superglue can be used to hold things together in a point. (One friend of mine did this at a science fiction convention.)

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