Just before the height of last year's "Climategate" scandal, the British newspaper The Telegraph ran an article entitled "Climategate reveals 'the most influential tree in the world'".  Writer Christopher Booker made good points but got the wrong tree.

Booker wrote:

Coming to light in recent days has been one of the most extraordinary scientific detective stories of our time, bizarrely centred on a single tree in Siberia dubbed "the most influential tree in the world". On this astonishing tale, it is no exaggeration to say, could hang in considerable part the future shape of our civilisation. Right at the heart of the sound and fury of "Climategate" – the emails leaked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in East Anglia – is one story of scientific chicanery, overlooked by the media, whose implications dwarf all the rest.

The Merriam Webster Word of the Day for September 21, 2009 was laodicean.

For those of you who are acquainted with Scripture this may sound familiar.  This word comes from the name Laodicea which is one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation.  The Laodicean believers were known for their lukewarm behavior.  In fact, that is the modern meaning of this word:

lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics

In fact, M-W refers to Scripture in their etymology of the word:

Some of you may have heard the exclamation "Jesus H. Christ!" at some point in your lives.  A few more frequently than others, perhaps.  I heard this recently and (curious guy that I am) I asked the question: "Where did the 'H' come from and what does it stand for?"

We have previously noted that Jesus is not the name of the Messiah and that the verbal sound "Jesus" was not used as a label for Him until some thousand years after His death, burial, and resurrection.  His name was [and is!] Yeshua and that name has migrated (in one form or fashion) into various languages in different ways.

We have also previously mentioned that "Christ" is not the last name of the Messiah.  When Messiah and his disciples would visit a restaurant (kosher, of course!) they would not wait for the hostess to call for "Christ, party of thirteen".  The English word "Christ" comes from the Greek word Kristos which means "anointed one" or messiah.  It is a title rather than a name: Jesus the Christ/Messiah/Anointed One.

So where did the "H" come from?

I was looking at my calendar this morning and noticed that Friday, February 18th was "Purim Katan".

"Purim Katan?", I thought.  "Little Purim?"

Yes, indeed, it is a little Purim.

The book of Esther tells us:

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king's command and edict were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them. (Esther 9:1)

For grins, I went to Webster's 1828 dictionary to look up the words liberalism and conservatism after writing recent Word For Thought articles about them.  His 1828 dictionary is much more reflective of Webster's Christian character than modern dictionaries that carry his name.  I found these insights (the emphasis is mine):

Liberal (Liberalism was not present)