Under the sage direction of Dr. Cole, I’m taking Syriac this semester at SEBTS. One thing I never head into language-learning without is a good set of flashcards. These can take tons of time to make and while making your own is a good exercise, let’s face it, it’s also taxing. After seeing how popular the Seow Hebrew flashcards I posted are, I’ve decided to share my Syriac flashcards as well. They are based on John Healey’s Leshono Suryoyo published by Gorgias Press.

My Syriac flashcards come in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. You may not have known that Excel can be used for flashcards, but let me assure you it’s pretty sweet. You’ll need to enable the macro once you open the Excel file. Here’s a screenshot of what that looks like in Excel 2007.

I’ll be updating the file as the semester progresses. Right now the flashcards are incomplete and are only up to date with what we’ve covered in class so far. I’ll be updating the file and this post as I update the flashcards every week.

Download Leshono Suryoyo Syriac Flashcards

Download: SyriacFlashcards-HealeyLeshonoSuryoyo-KataDrew

Status: Chapter 6 (plus interrogatives and demonstratives)
Last updated: March 11, 2010

Required Font: Serto Jerusalem

Like Healey’s text these flashcards use the Syriac Serto script. The flashcards utilize and therefore require the Beth Mardutho Meltho Syriac Fonts, specifically the one in the package called Serto Jerusalem. The font pack containing Serto Jerusalem is freely available through the Beth Mardutho web site on the Meltho Font download page. Click the download link, fill out the form (if you wish), agree to the license, and then you’ll be able to directly download the fonts. The following operating systems are supported: Microsoft Windows, Linux/BSD, Unix, and Mac OS X.

I also use this font to do my homework in Word. To do this you need to add a Syriac keyboard through the Windows Control Panel by going to Change keyboards or other input methods.  From the Keyboards and Languages tab click Change keyboards… . Click Add and then scroll down to Syriac in the list of languages. I recommend the Syriac Phonetic keyboard. Then switch to this “keyboard” when you want to type in Syriac with the Serto Jerusalem font. Vowels are added by first entering the consonant on which they appear and then using Shift plus another key. For example, for a ptoho (the one in Serto that sorta looks like a Greek alpha), you hit the consonant on which you want it to appear and then the Q key while holding down Shift. The other vowels are found on the W, E, R, T, and Y keys if I remember rightly.

Help

If you need help with any of this, simply leave a comment and I’ll be glad to help.

Needed this for a project. Thought someone else might be able to benefit from a comma separated list of the books of the Bible:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrew, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation

DeepDiscount.com is a little known online retailer that always offers free shipping on every order, no minimum. They provide very good competition for Amazon.com. While they largely specialize in DVDs, they’ve also got a bargain book section in which you’ll find some surprising works:

• David Clines, Word Biblical Commentary:Job 21-37 – $23.30 (Amazon $34.99) – link
• Stephen Smalley, Word Biblical Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John – $23.30 (Amazon $36.49) - link
• Alister McGrath, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea – $10.55 (Amazon $12.44) – link

These are just the first three to catch my eye. You can view an extended list of the books in the bargain bin. Also, if you’re looking for the perfect gift this Christmas, DeepDiscount has what’s sure to be a hit this holiday shopping season:

Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now – The Game for only $9.99 with free shipping. What else, right!? DeepDiscount rightly categorizes this in the “Fun Stuff” category. Get your copy today while supplies last!

I don’t just like reading books; I like books. I like their binding, their design, their font, their florals, their cover designs, their pagination, their layout, their texture, their beauty.

For example, while reading Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness I was struck by the beauty of the letter Q.

Isn’t that a beautiful Q? Look how long its tail is and how elegantly it swoops under two vowels. I love it.

I haven’t blogged in a while (since my daughter was born) but today is just too funny: both Twitter and Facebook are down. All of a sudden I feel the Internet is slightly less helpful and fun. I needed to send a message to someone on Facebook (a message that actually mattered) and my cognitive queue of tweets is rapidly building. The only place left to turn to when I need to express myself online is my personal, self-hosted blog at KataDrew.com. Let’s just hope my host doesn’t go down, too.

Well, in lieu of social networking, may today be the day we pursue real live interpersonal relationships instead of social networking-driven relationships. My cellphone still works. I can still kiss my wife and the Bible’s just as thrilling as ever. I’ll just have to un-tick the “Notify Twitter about this post?” when I hit publish. Real people are still out there!

Poppy Emelia Maust @ two weeks

No.

Al Mohler writes:

The murder of Dr. George Tiller presents America with another reminder of the violence that exists within our midst. This is not the way the pro-life movement wanted Tiller’s life to end. Our mission is to convince Americans of the sanctity of every human life — born and unborn. The murder of Dr. Tiller does not serve that cause.

Read the entire article “The horrible lesson of Wichita” by Dr. Mohler.

For a preaching class I’m taking this semester I have to turn in a sermon report form each week, providing a critique of preachers and sermons. I was listening along tonight and filling out my sermon report form when the preacher had a comical slip of the tongue. This is too good not to share.

Download Clip (350kb MP3)

I’m not sharing the preacher’s name or church because I don’t want to shame him in any way, but I made this little clip/excerpt just to share his slip-up anonymously. If you’re interested in finding the complete sermon, I’ve included enough information to get you there in the comment field of the MP3 ID3 tag.

Samuel Johnson knew about procrastination. His periodical The Rambler was published each Tuesday and Saturday for two years. He knew all about being employed deliberating on subjects that occurred to the imagination while having deadlines looming. Rambler #134 treats of this, every student’s anxiety and proclivity to procrastination. Johnson’s conclusion should be enough to get us up off our bums and doing something productive. If not, read the entire rambling.

The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform. It is true, that no diligence can ascertain success; death may intercept the swiftest career; but he who is cut off in the execution of an honest undertaking has at least the honour of falling in his rank, and has fought the battle, though he missed the victory.

Let’s go!

• New blog post: 2009-04-09 Tweets http://tinyurl.com/dc3dgw 00:23:13
• Who’s ever had to wait at a Waffle House? 06:03:27
• Listening to Jimmy Needham for the first time. The guy’s actually really good. 13:54:11
• Part two of date after Sheetz: Emily finds cute $5 top, i get a new roasting pan with rack. Where next? 18:18:16