Halloween is definitely linked to All Hallow’s Eve, Day of the Dead and All Soul’s! I am hoping you will write about our new Advent Season that includes Cook County Property Taxes; bills mailed Dec 1, $ due Dec 30! Open a window each day…oh, and that insert of Holiday Gifts from the Tribune was terrible! In a city full of creative businesses, gift shops, bookstores, museums and artists, everything they listed was available at Amazon! That took absolutely no thought at all. I have greatly enjoyed my first year of the Picayune Sentinel and am happy to renew! Thanks.
I cancelled my Trib subscription 4 months ago. They keep delivering the physical paper and sending the digital edition daily, no further charges on my CC! 😂 LoL, take a chance... you can bet they have a promised circulation to advertisers.
I cancelled mine, and they kept billing me, both via email and via mail. I finally called and told them I’d cancelled, and asked about the bills I’d received in the mail. The rep told me to just ignore them. After a few months they stopped coming. (Interestingly they never charged my account. My guess is they were hoping I’d inadvertently pay the bill. )
I cancelled my Trib subscription 6 months ago. They stopped charging my credit card but sent me an invoice for approximately the amount of two "special" supplements. I tossed the bill and then got a notice from a collection agency.
I missed this in the comments in the previous issue, but....
"....no one really know when — or if — Jesus was born...."
Huh? Nobody *knows* if Jesus was born?
One can legitimately argue whether the son of a Nazarene carpenter is or is not the Messiah, the Son of God, to be sure. One can debate the validity of a virgin Birth.
But does anyone really argue that "no one really knows" whether that carpenter's son existed at all?
Only if one would argue that "no one really knows" if other historical figures existed. Herod? John the Baptizer? Heck, I've never met Abraham Lincoln. Take your history books and shove 'em. If I've never met the person, nobody can convince ME that the person actually existed.
I don't *know" if Jesus was born. Do you have documentary proof? Is he named in historical records? "Jesus, son of a carpenter in Nazareth, was executed on the first Friday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox in 0000." That would be proof. Like I believe there was a great flood, not because it's in the Bible, a religious text, but because it's mentioned in many many other religious and cultural traditions. I'm not mocking the belief. Just saying that religious beliefs cannot be proven.
Wow. You don't *know" if Jesus was born? From a historical perspective? Really?
"Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that a historical human Jesus existed. Historian Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical textual criticism are applied to the New Testament, "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."
I asked above, but you never replied. do you believe that Herod existed?
>>> While billions of people believe Jesus of Nazareth was one of the most important figures in world history, many others reject the idea that he even existed at all. A 2015 survey conducted by the Church of England, for instance, found that 22 percent of adults in England did not believe Jesus was a real person.>>> https://www.history.com/news/was-jesus-real-historical-evidence>>> Most scholars do think he was a real person and not a mythological figure, but, again from the article at history.com >>>There is no definitive physical or archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus. “There’s nothing conclusive, nor would I expect there to be,” Mykytiuk says. “Peasants don’t normally leave an archaeological trail.”
“The reality is that we don’t have archaeological records for virtually anyone who lived in Jesus’s time and place,” says University of North Carolina religious studies professor Bart D. Ehrman, author of Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. “The lack of evidence does not mean a person at the time didn’t exist. It means that she or he, like 99.99% of the rest of the world at the time, made no impact on the archaeological record.”
EZ - I would just point out that while the article you cite does state that there are no archeological records, it does discuss documentary evidence of Jesus' life outside of the Gospels (although it is characterized as "limited). I think it would be incorrect to characterize the article as concluding that "we just don't know." Also, I'm not sure public opinion survey data is useful on this question.
Hmm. Popularity has often been adduced to me as evidence for the literal truth of the New Testament. And my guess is that at least that percentage of the public have low regard for the popular belief that Christ was born of a virgin and literally came back from the dead, though you may consider that doltish as well.
No, Eric, not at all. I think the belief that the carpenter's son was born of a virgin, or was risen from the dead after three days, are faith-based conclusions.
This is the fist time in a long time that I've come across an argument that the Nazarene carpenter's son never existed. Certainly there is enough historical evidence of his existence, outside the gospel accounts.
Again, quoting from wikipedia, where anyone can log in and write whatever they like, so one just *knows* it is all true:
"Virtually all scholars of antiquity see the theories of his non-existence as effectively refuted, and in modern scholarship, the Christ myth theory is a fringe theory and finds virtually no support from scholars."
And....
"Serious historians of the early Christian movement—all of them—have spent many years preparing to be experts in their field. Just to read the ancient sources requires expertise in a range of ancient languages: Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and often Aramaic, Syriac, and Coptic, not to mention the modern languages of scholarship (for example, German and French). And that is just for starters. Expertise requires years of patiently examining ancient texts and a thorough grounding in the history and culture of Greek and Roman antiquity, the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, both pagan and Jewish, knowledge of the history of the Christian church and the development of its social life and theology, and, well, lots of other things. It is striking that virtually everyone who has spent all the years needed to attain these qualifications is convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure."
Just like people question the historical reality of Muhammad, Buddha, and Confucius. The alternative is always that it was another person of unknown name (??) or the result of a compilation of stories by a collection of unknown scribes and thinkers for various reasons. It seems much more likely to me that the historical people actually existed and that their followers and adopters modified or embellished their stories.
Halloween is New Year's Eve on the Celtic calendar. It is one of many holidays co-opted by Christianity and turned into something else. It existed long before Christianity did. So no, let's not move a holiday that doesn't belong to us to a month earlier. Canada has Thanksgiving in October and also celebrates Halloween, so if you want to move Thanksgiving, I'm cool with that since it's not tied to an ancient celebration still practiced by some (very few, but definitely some).
Occasionally someone proposes moving Thanksgiving to a Friday so folks can have a three day weekend.All the folks who get a four day weekend now rise up against it.
Your paean to American Football (Gridiron Football) doesn't have anything to do with a certain team putting a beatdown on a team in Columbus, OH, does it?
RE: Caesarization of American Campuses - As a matter of fact, my mother - who attended Eric's alma mater in the mid-50s - WAS a campus representative for (unfiltered) Chesterfield cigarettes on campus in Ann Arbor during her college days. (She still smokes [well, vapes] almost 70 years later. How she - despite her COPD and extremely poor lung function is still alive and kickin' is a mystery to us all.) I think she now rues the fact that she helped introduce and hook new smokers back in the day. I don't know when the school banned such student cigarette distributors on campus, but they were NOT present in the early 1980s. On this issue, my mom served as a great negative role model. My dad never smoked; and neither I, nor any of my brothers or sister took up the habit.
The cigarette girls were still there in the 70's. I remember them handing out mini-packs (5 cigs?) of smokes. And I am pretty sure that the beer promotion girls are still around in their branded outfits and handing out stuff to get people into the bars for brand nights. I sympathize with Eric's view that 'respectable institutions' should not be helping to promote gambling, but when the state and cities are promoting their own games and casinos and touting it as a great revenue stream, I don't see how colleges are much less respectable. Will he have a similar reaction to cannabis promotions when those companies arrive on campus?
1. Which will come first - America goes all out soccer or America converts to the metric system?
2. Wait a moment - wins/losses and not scoring is relevant in soccer? I thought a tie was as good as a win. Truthfully - soccer has more issues with concussions than football.
3. There was a documentary 10-15 years ago exploring Christmas - Birth of Jesus. Archeologically, there is support that Jesus was born on April 12. Maybe combine Easter and Christmas?
4. There is nothing better than a good Schrödinger cat joke
Only the US and Myanmar -in the entire world! - do not use the metric system. That we continue to cling to a British system that they don't use (for most things) anymore is just awful - from an efficiency standpoint, if nothing else. The US was on track to adopt the metric system in the 1970s - until the Reagan Administration scotched it.
while you may be correct that the reagan admin 'scotched' the effort to convert to the metric system, it was the abysmal planning and rollout by the carter admin - and the firestorm of protest in response - that killed the conversion to the metric system in the US of A. i say this in agmt with your surprise/discouragement that the US hasn't wised up and converted to metric.
I've had it with the subscription game and have started to act. I cancelled the ST yesterday (yes, I had to call) after the rate went up 40% for online and Sunday only delivery. Same with the DH. I got a bill stating that there was a newsprint surcharge of $6.20 to cover their increased expenses. No problem with that. A big problem is my previous bill of 39.20 and adding the 6.20 now was $69.00. Of course both places told me that other options were available to which I said no thanks. Still have the Trib for now, but I see my future news $ going completely online where I cancel at any moment should I get jerked around.
I have an online (digital) subscription for the Suntimes. They emailed me my renewal would go up in price, but I had the option to disable auto-renewal, which I did online. The Suntimes dropped their paywall, so I see no reason to pay a higher price for what others can see for free.
Halloween is definitely linked to All Hallow’s Eve, Day of the Dead and All Soul’s! I am hoping you will write about our new Advent Season that includes Cook County Property Taxes; bills mailed Dec 1, $ due Dec 30! Open a window each day…oh, and that insert of Holiday Gifts from the Tribune was terrible! In a city full of creative businesses, gift shops, bookstores, museums and artists, everything they listed was available at Amazon! That took absolutely no thought at all. I have greatly enjoyed my first year of the Picayune Sentinel and am happy to renew! Thanks.
I cancelled my Trib subscription 4 months ago. They keep delivering the physical paper and sending the digital edition daily, no further charges on my CC! 😂 LoL, take a chance... you can bet they have a promised circulation to advertisers.
I cancelled mine, and they kept billing me, both via email and via mail. I finally called and told them I’d cancelled, and asked about the bills I’d received in the mail. The rep told me to just ignore them. After a few months they stopped coming. (Interestingly they never charged my account. My guess is they were hoping I’d inadvertently pay the bill. )
I cancelled my Trib subscription 6 months ago. They stopped charging my credit card but sent me an invoice for approximately the amount of two "special" supplements. I tossed the bill and then got a notice from a collection agency.
I missed this in the comments in the previous issue, but....
"....no one really know when — or if — Jesus was born...."
Huh? Nobody *knows* if Jesus was born?
One can legitimately argue whether the son of a Nazarene carpenter is or is not the Messiah, the Son of God, to be sure. One can debate the validity of a virgin Birth.
But does anyone really argue that "no one really knows" whether that carpenter's son existed at all?
Only if one would argue that "no one really knows" if other historical figures existed. Herod? John the Baptizer? Heck, I've never met Abraham Lincoln. Take your history books and shove 'em. If I've never met the person, nobody can convince ME that the person actually existed.
🙄
I don't *know" if Jesus was born. Do you have documentary proof? Is he named in historical records? "Jesus, son of a carpenter in Nazareth, was executed on the first Friday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox in 0000." That would be proof. Like I believe there was a great flood, not because it's in the Bible, a religious text, but because it's mentioned in many many other religious and cultural traditions. I'm not mocking the belief. Just saying that religious beliefs cannot be proven.
For what it's worth. BTW, The Guardian is not exactly an evangelical newspaper. It's a left-leaning British paper. Others may have better sources on this issue but I thought this was at least a starting point. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/14/what-is-the-historical-evidence-that-jesus-christ-lived-and-died
Wow. You don't *know" if Jesus was born? From a historical perspective? Really?
"Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that a historical human Jesus existed. Historian Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical textual criticism are applied to the New Testament, "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."
I asked above, but you never replied. do you believe that Herod existed?
>>> While billions of people believe Jesus of Nazareth was one of the most important figures in world history, many others reject the idea that he even existed at all. A 2015 survey conducted by the Church of England, for instance, found that 22 percent of adults in England did not believe Jesus was a real person.>>> https://www.history.com/news/was-jesus-real-historical-evidence>>> Most scholars do think he was a real person and not a mythological figure, but, again from the article at history.com >>>There is no definitive physical or archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus. “There’s nothing conclusive, nor would I expect there to be,” Mykytiuk says. “Peasants don’t normally leave an archaeological trail.”
“The reality is that we don’t have archaeological records for virtually anyone who lived in Jesus’s time and place,” says University of North Carolina religious studies professor Bart D. Ehrman, author of Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. “The lack of evidence does not mean a person at the time didn’t exist. It means that she or he, like 99.99% of the rest of the world at the time, made no impact on the archaeological record.”
The American Atheists are, as you might expect, more skeptical: https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/did-jesus-exist/
EZ - I would just point out that while the article you cite does state that there are no archeological records, it does discuss documentary evidence of Jesus' life outside of the Gospels (although it is characterized as "limited). I think it would be incorrect to characterize the article as concluding that "we just don't know." Also, I'm not sure public opinion survey data is useful on this question.
That public opinion survey merely convinces me that 22% of Brits are dolts.
Hmm. Popularity has often been adduced to me as evidence for the literal truth of the New Testament. And my guess is that at least that percentage of the public have low regard for the popular belief that Christ was born of a virgin and literally came back from the dead, though you may consider that doltish as well.
No, Eric, not at all. I think the belief that the carpenter's son was born of a virgin, or was risen from the dead after three days, are faith-based conclusions.
This is the fist time in a long time that I've come across an argument that the Nazarene carpenter's son never existed. Certainly there is enough historical evidence of his existence, outside the gospel accounts.
Again, quoting from wikipedia, where anyone can log in and write whatever they like, so one just *knows* it is all true:
"Virtually all scholars of antiquity see the theories of his non-existence as effectively refuted, and in modern scholarship, the Christ myth theory is a fringe theory and finds virtually no support from scholars."
And....
"Serious historians of the early Christian movement—all of them—have spent many years preparing to be experts in their field. Just to read the ancient sources requires expertise in a range of ancient languages: Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and often Aramaic, Syriac, and Coptic, not to mention the modern languages of scholarship (for example, German and French). And that is just for starters. Expertise requires years of patiently examining ancient texts and a thorough grounding in the history and culture of Greek and Roman antiquity, the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, both pagan and Jewish, knowledge of the history of the Christian church and the development of its social life and theology, and, well, lots of other things. It is striking that virtually everyone who has spent all the years needed to attain these qualifications is convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure."
Just like people question the historical reality of Muhammad, Buddha, and Confucius. The alternative is always that it was another person of unknown name (??) or the result of a compilation of stories by a collection of unknown scribes and thinkers for various reasons. It seems much more likely to me that the historical people actually existed and that their followers and adopters modified or embellished their stories.
Thanks for the tip about the "premium" issues. I expect the Trib's customer service department will get a lot of phone calls today!
No rah-rah's for the Maize and Blue? Really?
Halloween is New Year's Eve on the Celtic calendar. It is one of many holidays co-opted by Christianity and turned into something else. It existed long before Christianity did. So no, let's not move a holiday that doesn't belong to us to a month earlier. Canada has Thanksgiving in October and also celebrates Halloween, so if you want to move Thanksgiving, I'm cool with that since it's not tied to an ancient celebration still practiced by some (very few, but definitely some).
Occasionally someone proposes moving Thanksgiving to a Friday so folks can have a three day weekend.All the folks who get a four day weekend now rise up against it.
There is nothing funny about any of the tweets or else I am too dull to understand them without explanations.
I agree with Rosalie Z. I am def sticking around for another year.
Your paean to American Football (Gridiron Football) doesn't have anything to do with a certain team putting a beatdown on a team in Columbus, OH, does it?
American soccer is the Dippin' Dots of professional sports.
RE: Caesarization of American Campuses - As a matter of fact, my mother - who attended Eric's alma mater in the mid-50s - WAS a campus representative for (unfiltered) Chesterfield cigarettes on campus in Ann Arbor during her college days. (She still smokes [well, vapes] almost 70 years later. How she - despite her COPD and extremely poor lung function is still alive and kickin' is a mystery to us all.) I think she now rues the fact that she helped introduce and hook new smokers back in the day. I don't know when the school banned such student cigarette distributors on campus, but they were NOT present in the early 1980s. On this issue, my mom served as a great negative role model. My dad never smoked; and neither I, nor any of my brothers or sister took up the habit.
The cigarette girls were still there in the 70's. I remember them handing out mini-packs (5 cigs?) of smokes. And I am pretty sure that the beer promotion girls are still around in their branded outfits and handing out stuff to get people into the bars for brand nights. I sympathize with Eric's view that 'respectable institutions' should not be helping to promote gambling, but when the state and cities are promoting their own games and casinos and touting it as a great revenue stream, I don't see how colleges are much less respectable. Will he have a similar reaction to cannabis promotions when those companies arrive on campus?
Love, love, LOVE the Schrödinger's Plates Tweet. (Although Chucky's Empty Box is a veryclose second.)
1. Which will come first - America goes all out soccer or America converts to the metric system?
2. Wait a moment - wins/losses and not scoring is relevant in soccer? I thought a tie was as good as a win. Truthfully - soccer has more issues with concussions than football.
3. There was a documentary 10-15 years ago exploring Christmas - Birth of Jesus. Archeologically, there is support that Jesus was born on April 12. Maybe combine Easter and Christmas?
4. There is nothing better than a good Schrödinger cat joke
Only the US and Myanmar -in the entire world! - do not use the metric system. That we continue to cling to a British system that they don't use (for most things) anymore is just awful - from an efficiency standpoint, if nothing else. The US was on track to adopt the metric system in the 1970s - until the Reagan Administration scotched it.
while you may be correct that the reagan admin 'scotched' the effort to convert to the metric system, it was the abysmal planning and rollout by the carter admin - and the firestorm of protest in response - that killed the conversion to the metric system in the US of A. i say this in agmt with your surprise/discouragement that the US hasn't wised up and converted to metric.
I've had it with the subscription game and have started to act. I cancelled the ST yesterday (yes, I had to call) after the rate went up 40% for online and Sunday only delivery. Same with the DH. I got a bill stating that there was a newsprint surcharge of $6.20 to cover their increased expenses. No problem with that. A big problem is my previous bill of 39.20 and adding the 6.20 now was $69.00. Of course both places told me that other options were available to which I said no thanks. Still have the Trib for now, but I see my future news $ going completely online where I cancel at any moment should I get jerked around.
I have an online (digital) subscription for the Suntimes. They emailed me my renewal would go up in price, but I had the option to disable auto-renewal, which I did online. The Suntimes dropped their paywall, so I see no reason to pay a higher price for what others can see for free.
Hmm. So online only does give you the opt out. Interesting.,,
"It is apply named...." If this had been in the Funniest Tweets section I would have voted for it.