Sunday, February 24, 2008

Bible Trivia I

Here are some interesting verses from the book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecc. 1:9 "That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." People often quote the end of this verse without knowing it's from the Bible. Solomon certainly was a wise man.

Ecc. 10:1 "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor. So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor." We used to quote the first half of this verse when I worked as a fruit fly trapper. The entire verse would be good for the current presidential candidates to remember.

And here's the verse that best fits my current profession:
Ecc. 12:12 "And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh." That was 3000 years ago. What would Solomon say if he walked into some of our modern libraries and bookstores?

There's lots more wisdom in this seldom-read book. I once did a devotion on our modern tendency to accumulate stuff, using verses from all over Ecclesiastes.

I'm taking a week off work, starting tomorrow. I had intended to have the whole week planned out, so that I don't waste any of this precious time, but so far I only have a few plans (not by my choice, either). I guess it will be just serendipity. I've got errands tomorrow, class Tuesday night, breakfast with Jacob on Wednesday after his court appointment, then get two new tires, and I don't know after that. I have some major cleaning I want to do, I want to make two or more woven lanyards for work, Rachel and I want to do some woodworking, and we want to go somewhere on Friday since we both have the day off. I guess I'll be busy enough, seeing it all written down. And I'd like to go for some long walks. Maybe I need two weeks! At least the weather is supposed to be nice.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Strange fact of the day

I frequently suffer from writer's block, which results in complaints from Rachel, who says I don't post enough. So, I came up with the idea of posting any strange facts I come across in my job as a reference "librarian" (I'm not really a librarian, just an assistant, but the patrons don't realize that.)

Anyway, here's the strange fact of the day:

Jim Jones,who founded the People's Temple and led over 900 of his followers to their death at his compound in Guyana in 1978, once earned money by selling pet monkeys door-to-door. I can't believe anyone would buy a live monkey from a door-to-door salesman. I read that he had quite an ability to manipulate people - maybe that's how he did it.

Pretty strange, don't you think? You have to admit it's more entertaining than "cute Joseph quote of the day."