“Old Joke Versified”

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno34.jpg

Says Tom to Bill, pray tell me, sir,
Why is it that the devil,
In spite of all his naughty ways,
Can never be uncivil?

Says Bill to Tom, the answer’s plain
To any mind that’s bright:
Because the imp of darkness, sir,
Can ne’er be imp o’ light.

— Charles Carroll Bombaugh, Gleanings for the Curious From the Harvest-Fields of Literature, 1890

| Humor · Poems · Religion

Unbelievers

Modern atheists:

  • Douglas Adams
  • Woody Allen
  • Isaac Asimov
  • Dave Barry
  • Ricky Gervais
  • Paul Giamatti
  • Nadine Gordimer
  • Katharine Hepburn
  • Billy Joel
  • Ian McEwan
  • Ian McKellen
  • Harold Pinter
  • Kurt Vonnegut

“Atheism,” said George Carlin, “is a non-prophet organization.”

| Religion

Scandal

In 1394, a pig was hanged at Mortaign for having sacrilegiously eaten a consecrated wafer; and in a case of infanticide, it is expressly stated in the plaintiff’s declaration that the pig killed the child and ate of its flesh, “although it was Friday,” and this violation of the jejunium sextae, prescribed by the Church, was urged by the prosecuting attorney and accepted by the court as a serious aggravation of the porker’s offence.

— E.P. Evans, The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals, 1906

| Oddities · Religion

A Biblical Pangram

Ezra 7:21 contains every letter except J:

And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.

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Low Profile

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HalukOzozluWwwSihirliturComDerinkuyu2.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

If you were an early Christian fleeing Roman persecution, Turkey offered more than 200 underground cities, 40 of which contain three levels or more. The largest found so far, in Derinkuyu, has eight floors and extends to a depth of 85 meters, covering as much as 7,000 square feet (some floors haven’t yet been excavated).

It wasn’t a bad life: The larger complexes had rooms for food storage, kitchens, churches, stables, wine and oil presses, and shafts for ventilation. At its height, the city at Derinkuyu could accommodate 50,000 people.

| Oddities · Religion

Just Deserts

The image of a man playing chess with the devil for possession of his soul has appeared in many pieces of fiction, notably Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal (and later Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey). In one interesting twist that appears in some folk stories, the devil takes black (naturally), and play goes like this:

chess with death

1. … Nd4+ 2. Kd6 Qxd7+ 3. Nxd7 Rxd5+ 4. Nxd5 Re6

“Mate!” cries the fiend — but then he takes a second look at the board and disappears with a scream:

chess with death - solution

| Entertainment · Religion

Field Report

The longest item of news ever telegraphed to a newspaper, was the entire New Testament as revised, and all variations of the English and American committees, from New York to Chicago, and the whole published as an item of news in the Sunday morning Chicago Tribune for May 22, 1882. That day’s Tribune comprised 20 pages, 16 of which were required for the New Testament.

— Miscellaneous Notes and Queries, May 1889

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