Today marks the first day of the eight-day Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. It also marks the beginning of a struggle journalists and bloggers know well – how do you actually spell Hanukkah? God only knows, right?
Someone even wrote a song about it. (It’s ×Â?× ×Â?×Â?×Â?, by the way)
Speaking of holiday language: have you been yearning to know how to wish someone Merry Christmas in Klingon? How about Elvish? Or Parseltongue? Well now you can wish your fellow geeks – er, “enthusiasts” – Happy Holidays in the invented language of your choice, courtesy the Houston Chronicle blog.
Megapastor and Hipster Christian Rob Bell just sent his parishioners a letter with his parting thoughts (he’s leaving his church to go write a television show). The sentiment appears to be well-received, although some think his grammar is a bit suspect:
Note to self: the Internet can lay a grammar smackdown in 140 characters or less.
Folks (including the fine reporters here at RNS) are pouring over a new Pew Forum study that examines the size and scope of global Christianity. Think you know where all the Christians in the world are? America Magazine actually lets you test your knowledge of Christian demographics.
Oh, you get TWO treats today! (a Hanukkah miracle?) The first is a Comic of the Day: it’s a snippet from an XKCD comic (see the whole thing here) concerning a festive pneumonic device for remembering the planets in our solar system…
Finally, your Awkwardly Delivered And Poorly Understood Joke of the Day comes from the Dalai Lama and some poor Australian guy as he (painfully) realizes that some things are just lost in translation: