Der Herrgott ist ein Tintenfisch--eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa!

So I should figure out what pheremone I'm emitting that's attracting evangelists. At the von Steuben Day Parade, tyrannio, innerdoggie, and I ended up plucking a pair of pamphlets out of a bush in a roadside planter. Language geeks all (see tyrannio's current link to a friendly little language quiz), we began to examine the German-language one for amusement (hoping thereby to give the Shriners time to get well ahead of us, so we wouldn't be stuck keeping pace with their blaring engines all along Lincoln on our way to meet Nuphy).

Almost an hour later, while enjoying beers and conversation at Lincoln Square, we were approached by two of the distributors: A big-bellied Bubba and a thin, silent East-African-appearing man. To make conversation, I mentioned that the German version of the pamphlet was completely different than the English and the Bubba talked enthusiastically about some of the author's other works, "like this really good one has about the eye, y'know, how our eye is so complicated it could only be the result of an intelligent creation."

"I know this one!" I replied. "It's the one that proves that God is a squid!" Turning to my companions, I babbled, "You see, the capillaries that nourish our retinas lie on top of the retina, so the blood flowing through them interferes with our vision. But the squid has the vessels behind the retina--their eyes are much better designed. So God must be a squid." "Or He has a special affection for them," suggested tyrannio.

Silence.

With a little less Beck's in me, I might not have been so blunt. Fortunately, tyrannio spotted a Chinese-language pamphlet in the man's breast pocket and that launched a brief, polite exchange culminating in a discussion of the Hmong people. The missionary was very well-informed about the size and location of Hmong communities in the USA, which made me curious how closely he'd worked with them. But he soon thanked us for our time and moved on, leaving us to puzzle out the Chinese names of New Testament books at our leisure.

We rounded out that day by having an authentically German dinner: Real Italian pizza at Pizza D.O.C.. Finally, I got there early enough on a weekend to be seated immediately. Tasty, reasonable, exceedingly pleasant. But, alas, we ended up too full to determine whether their tiramisù was up to the same standard.

I got yer Paraclete right chere!

Here's a little quiz that will tie together a few recent themes in this journal.

Tun fil azal akwai Kalma, Kalman nan kuwa tare da Allah yake, Kalman nan kuwa Allah ne. Shi ne tun fil azal yake tare da Allah. Dukan abubuwa sun kasance ta gare shi ne, ba kuma abin da ya kasance na abubuwan da suka kasance, sai ta game da shi.

That's a translation of Chapter 1 of the Gospel of John, verses 1-3. Anybody care to venture a guess what language this is?