5/18/2009 Word of the day: fund
Posted by G.T. in Word of the Day on May 18th, 2009
Ran into this one in a c0ntext where it clearly meant ‘bottom.’ I didn’t know it could mean that. Turns out it comes from Latin, fundus, meaning either a bottom or a piece of land.
fund:
NOUN, 1. A source of supply; a stock: a fund of goodwill. 2a. A sum of money or other resources set aside for a specific purpose: a pension fund. 2b. funds Available money; ready cash: short on funds. 3. funds The stock of the British permanent national debt, considered as public securities. Used with the. 4. An organization established to administer and manage a sum of money.
TRANSITIVE VERB: 1.To provide money for paying off the interest or principal of (a debt). 2. To convert into a long-term or floating debt with fixed interest payments. 3. To place in a fund for accumulation. 4. To furnish a fund for: funded the space program.
ETYMOLOGY:
Latin fundus, bottom, piece of land.
5/12/2009 Word of the Day: batten
Posted by G.T. in Word of the Day on May 12th, 2009
There’s also batten down the hatches, but that’s one a lot of folks know. This is the one I had to look up. The hatches one refers to a slat of wood for holding a hatch cover, keeping a sail flat, construction work, etc.
bat·ten
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
- To become fat.
- To thrive and prosper, especially at another’s expense: “[She] battens like a leech on the lives of famous people, . . . a professional retailer of falsehoods” (George F. Will).
TRANSITIVE VERB:
- To fatten; overfeed.
5/9/09 Word of the Day: Picaresque
Posted by G.T. in Word of the Day on May 9th, 2009
pic·a·resque:
ADJECTIVE:
- Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers.
- Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society.
NOUN:
- One that is picaresque.
ETYMOLOGY:
French, from Spanish picaresco, from pícaro,
The Ignis Fatuui of their own Brains
Posted by G.T. in Uncategorized on April 4th, 2009
Here’s a great Spurgeon sermon preached on my negative 118th birthday.
There are two faults of the Church which appear to me periodically to manifest themselves.
The one is when men ascribe wrong things to the Holy Ghost, and maketh him the author of human novelties and delusions. In seasons when the minds of good men were anxiously alive to spiritual operations, certain weak-headed or designing persons have grown fanatical, and being bewildered by their own confused feelings, and puffed up by their fleshly mind, have forsaken the true light which is in the Word, to follow after the will-o’-the-wisps of their own fancies, the ignis-fatuui of their own brains.
Such vain-glorious fools aspiring to be leaders, masters of sects, will boldly tell to men of itching ears that fresh doctrines have been specially revealed to them. They prate much of what they call the inner light (which is often an inner darkness), which dim candle they exalt above the light of the word of God, and tell you that marvellous things have been taught to them in dreams and visions.
Ah! this is a high and crying crime. What, will you lay at the door of the Holy Ghost a deed which God hath solemnly cursed? Do you not start back at such a thought? Is it not almost blasphemy to imagine it? And yet remember, he that adds a single word to the canon of inspiration is cursed. Give ear to the very words of the Lord our God, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
And do you think the Holy Ghost would do that which involves a curse upon man? If I venture to add to God’s word, or to take from it, I do it with this as my penalty, that God shall blot my name out of the Book of Life and out of the holy city; and yet these base pretenders, who would lay their foolish notions at the door of God the Holy Ghost, will have it that he has taught them more than is in the Book, that he has removed that which God laid down as the grand land-mark, and added to the finished testimony of God.
Let none of you have any sort of patience with men who talk thus. Deny their very first principle, tell them whether it be the deceiver of Western America, or the false prophet of Arabia—tell them that they are all impostors, for they ascribe to the Holy Ghost that which is impossible for him to commit, a violation of the revealed will of God in which it is declared that the canon of inspiration is shut up once for all.
A little of this evil I detect among godly people. I find that sometimes even gracious men think they have had revelations. Texts of Scripture are no doubt laid home by the Holy Ghost to the souls of men as much to-day as in Paul’s time, and there can be no doubt whatever that the Spirit bringeth all things to our remembrance whatsoever Christ hath taught, and that he leadeth us into all truth; but when a man tells me that the Holy Ghost has revealed to him something that is not in the Bible, he lies!
Is that a hard word? It doth but express the truth. The man may have dreamed his revelation, he may have fancied it, but the Holy Spirit goeth never beyond the written word. “He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” And beyond what Christ hath spoken and what Christ hath taught, the Holy Spirit goeth in no sense and in no respect. You understand what Christ has taught through the Spirit’s teaching; but anything beyond the teaching of Christ and his apostles must be not of God but of man.
This is a most important principle to be held fast by all godly people, for the day may come when false prophets shall arise, and delude the people, and by this shall we be able to discover them; if they claim aught beyond what Christ hath put them aside, for they be false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing. The Spirit only teacheth us that which Christ hath taught beforehand either by himself or by the inspired apostles. “He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.”
Just now we are in little danger from the excesses of fevered brains, for, as a rule, our sin is in being far too cold and dead to spiritual influences. I fear me we are liable to another evil, and are apt to forget the person and work of the Comforter altogether. We fear some congregations might say, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” From many modern sermons would you know that there was a Holy Spirit? If it were not for the benediction or the doxology you might go in and out many churches and meeting-houses by the year together, and scarcely know that there was such a person as that blessed, blessed giver of all good, the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we hear a little about his influences, as if the Holy Spirit were not as truly a person as even Jesus Christ himself, who in flesh and blood trod this earth.
Oh, dear friends, I fear the first danger, that of running wild with whimsies and fancies about inner lights and new revelations; but I equally dread this last, this putting the revelation above the revealer, this taking the book without the author, this preaching of the truth without the great truth-applyer, this going forth to work with the sword, forgetting that it is the sword of the Spirit, and only mighty as the Holy Ghost maketh it “mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.” May this Church ever continue to reverence the Holy Spirit without exaggerating his work! May we prize him, love him.
Talk About a Shot Heard ‘Round the World
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous on February 20th, 2009
I just read this Wikipedia article regarding the scuttling of the German fleet of WWI at Gutter Sound. Interesting article in many ways, but the thing I found most remarkable was that the wreck of the Kronprinz Wilhelm was used as a source of radiation-free steel for the construction of delicate radaition-sensitive instruments. Apparently these require metals to be used that were forged prior to Earth’s first atomic explosion in 1945 because all metal forged on Earth since 1945 contains radioactive isotopes that will harm these instruments. Read the rest of this entry »
Leadership, Decisionmaking and Trust
Posted by G.T. in Finance/Econ, Miscellaneous on February 8th, 2009
As policy-makers navigate the financial crisis, the leadership styles on display are interesting. The predominant style is a single-solution approach. One idea (TARP or the Bad-Bank) is selected at a time and incremental changes are made as new information and ideas emerge. Contrast this with a more multi-solution approach where several possible solutions are put forward, strengths and weaknesses are discussed, adjustments are made and finally, one solution is chosen from among many. For example, suggestions could include TARP-style cash infusions, creation of a Bad-Bank, creation of a Good-Bank, do nothing, etc.
The single solution model Read the rest of this entry »
What do I Know Anyhow?
In the shower just now to think. (I do that a lot.) And after a moment I said out loud to myself, quite surprised at what I had realized, “Why should I believe anything I’m thinking? My heart is a spiritual cesspool right now.” And immediately after that I said with equal surprise, “Why should I believe that then?” And this led to the point of this post. Alien righteousness.
This is Tim Hoelzel’s favorite topic. I think he got it from the Westminster Standards. The righteousness offered us in the gospel is one from outside ourselves, Read the rest of this entry »
I’m back in town
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous, School on August 17th, 2008
I’m back. I took a summer away resting up and trying to find some time to draw near to God. It was really refreshing, although it was also full of a lot of difficulty. Hopefully I’ll be posting more frequently again now that I’m back in town.
One of the most refreshing parts of my summer was a little book called “A Simple Way to Pray” by Martin Luther. He wrote it for his barber of many years when he asked Luther how he ought to pray. I learned from this book the (obvious?) lesson that I can’t pray well from a cold start. I need to prepare my heart to pray well. Luther would begin by turning to the Gospels and reading a saying of our Lord or some other such passage to warm his heart to pray. When his heart was warmed to pray he would begin. I’ve found that preparing my heart before praying helps me pray much better.
Read Luther’s book. It’s only a letter actually, just a few pages long.
I won my first game in the HSU vs. CSU Long Beach chess tournament
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous, Passions, School on April 13th, 2008
It has been a very long time since I last wrote. Life has been pretty busy, but I had such a great time in this game that I just wanted to post a note about it. It was a sort of online correspondence chess, 3 days per move. It really drew out the excitement. The game can be viewed online here.
He played a good game. He eventually blundered a bishop as he tried to win a pawn and a rook for a rook. I then forced the trade of both queens and he chose to trade the remaining rooks to lead us into the endgame with me a bishop and pawn ahead. I think the position was essentially won at that point. It dragged on for another 20 moves before he resigned. I came close to blundering it myself by moving to centralize my king in the endgame when I should have gone straight for his passed pawn. I caught the error in time to capture the passed pawn before it was too late.
Diogenes’ Tavern
Jeremy Taylor tells a story of Diogenes, the famous street philosopher who is said to have slept in a tub in the streets of Athens. Late one night Diogenes saw a man stepping out of the dark doorway of a notorious tavern. The young man recognized the famous philosopher and as their eyes met he stepped nervously back into the shadow of the doorway hoping not to be recognized himself. Diogenes called out to him saying, ‘Quanta magis intraveris, tanto magis eris in caupona.’ The more you step back, the farther into the whorehouse you go.
Isn’t it better to do good by admitting our evil than to continue as we are by denying there’s a problem? Who would rather keep a good reputation than gain a good heart? The wisdom of Diogenes is that he who denies his sin still retains what he counts to be his shame.