Comments for Stephen Zook

Comment on Reaction to Amish roofing story by justin zook

justin zook — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:27:27 +0000

I think people are just pissed and jealous because the omish have it right, just think, we are running out of social security due to trusting a corrupt government that uses our money for things un-said. when we run out of social security, the omish will still be living their lives and we will be bitching on our cell phones trying to figure out whats going on. lol. i guess ill have to go back to my omish roots and start over again.

Justin Zook

Comment on It’s just not the same: Lessons in learning Arabic by It’s just not the same: Lessons in learning Arabic (via Stephen Zook) | learning quran online blog

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:54:16 +0000

[...] It’s just not the same: Lessons in learning Arabic (via Stephen Zook) Posted on January 8, 2011 by inislamicworld UPDATE: A commenter mentioned the Bourguiba School of Languages in Tunis. I didn't include any foreign programs, since they are out of my budget, but I would love to study Arabic in the Middle East. Preferably in Cairo or Amman, although the Bourguiba school sounds like a good choice too. I am in the process of studying for the Foreign Service Officer Test, the first step of many in the process to become a Foreign Service Officer, the State Depar … Read More [...]

Comment on Reaction to Amish roofing story by Amish business book winners, and your questions answered

Amish business book winners, and your questions answered — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:37:41 +0000

[...] Amish are typically going to abide by local rules and regulations. However they do have religious exemptions for certain forms of insurance such as workman’s comp. Of course, Amish take on financial burdens to pay for many things out of pocket (ie cash bills for medical care for injured employees), which non-Amish wouldn’t. Some Amish have also formed Amish-run liability insurance programs, operated by the community. A good blog post I recently read addressing this issue is here. [...]

Comment on Reaction to Amish roofing story by Stephen Zook

Stephen Zook — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:01:18 +0000

I didn’t think about this angle, but those looking to support the Amish claim that the Social Security exemptions do not give them an unfair advantage could certainly make the argument.

The non-Amish counter-argument might be that Social Security tends to be a pay-now-benefit-later enterprise. I.E., you make SS payments while you are working, then reap the benefits in retirement.

In the long-term, though, it should theoretically even out. Not that it does, but it is an uncomfortable position to argue that Social Security is a losing proposition for American workers to get into.

Comment on Reaction to Amish roofing story by Richard L. Hamilton

Richard L. Hamilton — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:36:38 +0000

Of course the Amish also don’t receive benefits from Social Security or workman’s comp, so claiming that those differences offer a competitive advantage is tantamount to claiming that the government shouldn’t be trashing the economy by having such economically unsound programs in the first place, a claim that perhaps few non-Amish roofers, unionized or not, would wish to make.

Comment on In a city of neighborhoods, one with no name (or two?) by Stephen Zook

Stephen Zook — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:58:16 +0000

Next time before you dismiss someone’s work, I suggest you read the first paragraph.

I quote: “The neighborhood is also known as Hartranft, after a Civil War general and advocate for broader suffrage and working-class rights, but I haven’t been able to find out why this specific neighborhood is called Hartranft.”

The question I had was why that specific section is named after Hartranft. Not why Hartranft has a section of the city named after him.

Comment on In a city of neighborhoods, one with no name (or two?) by John Yee

John Yee — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:50:44 +0000

Hartranft:

If you were really a reporter, you would delved alittle deeper into the story. Governor John F. Hartranft was a great Civil War general before he became governor of PA twice. This you could have found easily if you knew how to google. So next time before you dismiss a person of great importance, I suggest you do some homework. Governor Hartranft was a distant relative of my wife.

Comment on Hit by lightning on Friday the 13th. And lucky. by Cho

Cho — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:20:30 +0000

Superstitions are probably thought of a “reasonable” way for humans to explain what we can’t actually explain with concrete scientific evidence. They’re hard to break because it is deeply rooted in our society, and has been for quite some time. If young children don’t hear from their parents about the myths and “dangers” of the number 13, they’ll probably learn it from their classmates. Constant repetition and exposure of superstitions by the media (like the 13/13th/13:13 article) only reinforces the idea to us that there might be some actual truth in these events. It’s very cyclical.

Superstitions are also very paralyzing; they might keep us from doing certain things, going into certain buildings or even floors. If anything, I think our society actually searches for incidents that seem unbelievable and fit our standards for superstitions, instead of thinking of reasonable explanations. We jump to superstitious conclusions because it’s the easiest thing to do.

Thanks for the very interesting article!! Very well written.

Comment on It’s just not the same: Lessons in learning Arabic by Stephen Zook

Stephen Zook — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:12:57 +0000

Thanks for the advice. I would like to use a flash card system, to improve my vocabulary. I hadn’t thought of the read-along plus audio method, but it sounds like an effective one. I’ll probably give it a try. Thanks again!

Comment on It’s just not the same: Lessons in learning Arabic by christianclarityreview

christianclarityreview — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:29:15 +0000

Depends on what you want. If you can find a download or buy a native Arabic person reading a Bible on file, and get an Arabic Bible to read as you listen you can pick up the cadence and pronunciation. If you use or can get Firefox as a browser, there is a widget called Globefish that allows you to outline a word or phrase with your mouse and it will translate it for you. If you’ve got the download for the audio files ( I have found this link and use those files sometimes: http://www.audiotreasure.com/mp3/Arabic/ ) then you can also go to Biblos and look up the Arabic Bible, and listen while you read. You won’t get it all at the first, but at least pick out individual words as you go. The problem is matching the translation to the translation on audio. So there are skips and omissions, etc, per version. Still, a good tool and you can use the Globefish to translate words for you.

If you like flashcards, ANKI is pretty much the thing you want. Free, good quality. Look it up. After you have downloaded it and opened it up, go to ‘files-> download-> shared decks’. Another box will appear and you can get whatever Arabic resources they have by double-clicking on that resource. That’s why they are there and the resources change regularly. Seems last time I looked there were several massive Arabic decks. You can also make your own flashcards in Anki per the vocabulary you need for a particular test, etc.

The old FSI courses are available for free download ..somewhere. Saudi Arabic. Levant Arabic. Syrian Arabic. I ran through them when I first got them but haven’t really used them since.

Other than that my advice would be to learn two or three languages at the same time. Arabic takes a while ( and I have yet to master it myself ) because it has such a complex grammar. You need more Arabic to get started in Arabic than you do with say Spanish or Russian. If you study other languages, it helps to rub the ‘strange’ off foreign languages by immersing you in that strange, which is a large part of the battle. You will always feel a certain pressure to learn and feel behind and feel like you are swimming in an ocean a bit too large for you, but that is just part of learning languages. The Bible is a particular help in that. E-sword has a free download of bible software in many languages so you can listen and read offline in those languages, but you won’t have Globefish.( http://www.e-sword.net/ ).

As far as I have seen, there hasn’t been a Christian in the State department in decades. Don’t know that you are one, but I am and am definitely no diplomat. God bless you in Christ.

timothy

Isaiah 26:10 If favour be shewn to the wicked, he doth not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness he dealeth unjustly, and beholdeth not the majesty of Jehovah.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen