This is the Message Centre for Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 1

Gnomon - time to move on

Hi Dmitri. Thanks for putting the new Front Page up. Well done! It looks great.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 2

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Hey, Gnomon, thanks! smiley - smiley And Merry Christmas.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 3

Gnomon - time to move on

Same to you. It's 00:45 on the 26th here, so Christmas Day itself is finished. We had a good one, and I hope yours continues to be good. Say hello to Elektra from me.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - ok Will do. Enjoy your Boxing Day (but rest first). smiley - run


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 5

Gnomon - time to move on

We call it "Stephen's Day" here in Ireland.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 6

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - eureka How smiley - cool. Look out for King Wenceslas, then. smiley - winkeye He should be out in the snow with some firewood, a bottle of wine, and a joint.

A joint of meat, I mean...smiley - laugh

Although I heard you had warm weather.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 7

Gnomon - time to move on

Yesterday was the warmest Christmas on record, I believe. About 15 degrees. That's 25 degrees hotter than last year.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 8

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

And that's warmer than our projected high for today, which is 11. smiley - laugh Good deal. (I hate cold weather.)

Here's to a promising new year on both sides of the Atlantic. smiley - bubbly (And may the weather behave.)


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 9

Gnomon - time to move on

Hey, Dmitri!

I'm sub-editing an entry on the Israeli raid at Entebbe, Uganda. Apparently, Chaim Herzog said to the United Nations Security Council:

"We are proud of what we have done because we have demonstrated to the world that a small country, in Israel's circumstances, with which the members of this Council are by now all too familiar, the dignity of man, human life and human freedom constitute the highest values."

My problem is that the sentence is incomplete and ungrammatical:

"we have demonstrated... that a small country... the dignity of man, human life and human freedom constitute the highest values."

I've no idea if that is what Herzog actually said; it's a quote from Wikipedia, who may have got it wrong. But I'm wary of adding my own words and altering the quote to make it grammatical.

What do you think?


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 10

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

I would be, too, Gnomon. If we can't chase down the quote, maybe just put three dots between "all too familiar' and 'the dignity of man'?

I'll bet that's where they lost the quote. Of course, sometimes, when people are speaking off the cuff, they lose the subject. Even presidents. smiley - winkeye

Sorry - even presidents who are not from the US. smiley - whistle


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 11

Gnomon - time to move on

Found a reference which gives a grammatical version of the quote:

http://warchronicle.com/israel/entebbe/herzog.htm

"The Arab-Israeli Wars. New York, Random House, 1984, revised edition."

smiley - somersault


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 12

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - applause Good job.

Typical. Somebody at Wiki truncated the quote badly.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 13

Gnomon - time to move on

Dmitri, I'm look at your "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" entry. The quotations from the song/hymn would normally be in italics. Do you have any objection to this?


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 14

Gnomon - time to move on

Another thing:

You give the quote from the book of Enoch as 23:25 which would mean chapters 23 to 25. I've found a copy of the book of Enoch on the web: in this, the verses you quoted as chapter 23, verses 4, 5 and 7, which would be written 23:4-7.

Do you have a different version of the Book of Enoch?


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 15

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - yikes You are right. I got the number wrong. But there's a problem.

These days, I tend to look online, as I imagine you do. Online, there is a translation by RH Charles. It gives the quote as Enoch 23:4-7:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_5XsUkRI50C&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=And+as+for+this+fragrant+tree+no+mortal+is+permitted+to+touch+it+till+the+great+judgement...+It+shall+then+be+given+to+the+righteous+and+holy&source=bl&ots=XhndBb3Cz3&sig=WK6q6OgqmsuybqEUqZpk49wQ_zU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yzsYT5afAsa3twfr3-HDCw&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=And%20as%20for%20this%20fragrant%20tree%20no%20mortal%20is%20permitted%20to%20touch%20it%20till%20the%20great%20judgement...%20It%20shall%20then%20be%20given%20to%20the%20righteous%20and%20holy&f=false

So far so good. But as someone pointed out a long time ago about Scriptures, 'the chapter divisions are not divinely inspired.'

My hard copy of Enoch is a 1976 reprint of the 1883 translation by Richard Laurence. He's got the quote at XXIV:9-11. Since it's a different translation, his would read:

'And that tree of an agreeable smell...there shall be no power to touch, until the period of the great judgment....The fruit of this tree shall be given to the elect....Then shall they greatly rejoice...And I blessed the Lord of glory, the everlasting King, because He has prepared this tree for the saints....and declared that He would give it to them.' Enoch 24: 9-11, Richard Laurence translation. London: Kegan Paul, 1883. [Laurence was Archbishop of Cashel, and the translation was from an Ethiopic MS in the Bodleian Library.)

So take your pick. I hope this helps.

Oh, italics are fine.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 16

Gnomon - time to move on

Should we be using single quotes rather than double quotes for the quote of the day on the Front Page? It is our Edited Guide standard, but I'm not sure what standard we impose on the Front Page.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 17

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Well, I'll tell you:

The committee that sends me those quotes wanted them that way. I asked. They send us a sheet full of code.

I think they look okay, simply because the curly GuideML quotes are, er, part of the feature...? What do you think?


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 18

Gnomon - time to move on

I thought we should use ‘ and ’, the single curly quotes.

They're the standard in book publishing in the UK and that's what the h2g2 Style Guide is based on. I notice my "Metro" newspaper uses them too, but my "Irish Times" uses the double quote marks.


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 19

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Ah, good thought.

I'll replace them from today, and tell lil, so she can change their spreadsheet. smiley - smiley


Gnomon Calling Dmitri

Post 20

Gnomon - time to move on

I've just finished sub-editing "First Songs" at A87783664. Do you want to look over it before I send it back into the system?


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