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PHILMONT, N.Y.

In the beginning, Phillip Patterson decided to write out every word in the Bible.

On empty pages, he wrote of Adam, an ark, locusts, loaves, fishes and the resurrection in his neat, looping cursive. Four years of work begat more than 2,400 pages and left a multitude of pens in its wake. Now, as he copies the last words of the last book, Patterson sees all that he has created.

And it is good.

"I hadn't counted on the fact that it would end up being beautiful," Patterson said. "Or that it would be so exhilarating. And so long."

Patterson, 63, might seem like an unlikely scribe for the King James version of the Bible. Tall and bald with a hearty laugh, the retired interior designer is neither monkish nor zealous. He goes to church but has never been particularly religious. Health issues - including AIDS and anemia - have sent him to the hospital and slowed the work. He relies on two canes and will lean on walls and furniture to get around his apartment near the Massachusetts border.

But he has always been curious.

One day in 2007, his longtime partner, Mohammad, mentioned that Islam has a tradition of writing out the Quran. Patterson, who refers to his partner by only one name to protect his privacy, replied that the Bible was too long. Mohammad said, well, then, Patterson should do it.

"The next day I started researching pens and pencils and paper and never looked back," he said.

Patterson began copying the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, in 2007. Work on this "prototype" allowed him to figure out technique, layout and technical details like the type of paper (19-by-13-inch watercolor) and writing instruments (felt-tip pens). He tackled the complete King James Bible in 2009.

See more here:
Unlikely NY scribe handwrites Good Book in 4 years

Published: Monday, May 6, 2013, 8:27a.m. Updated 12 hours ago

PHILMONT, N.Y. In the beginning, Phillip Patterson decided to write out every word in the Bible.

On empty pages, he wrote of Adam, an ark, locusts, loaves, fishes and the resurrection in his neat, looping cursive. Four years of work begat more than 2,400 pages and left a multitude of pens in its wake. Now, as he copies the last words of the last book, Patterson sees all that he has created.

And it is good.

I hadn't counted on the fact that it would end up being beautiful, Patterson said. Or that it would be so exhilarating. And so long.

Patterson, 63, might seem like an unlikely scribe for the King James version of the Bible. Tall and bald with a hearty laugh, the retired interior designer is neither monkish nor zealous. He goes to church but has never been particularly religious. Health issues including AIDS and anemia have sent him to the hospital and slowed the work. He relies on two canes and will lean on walls and furniture to get around his apartment near the Massachusetts border.

But he has always been curious.

One day in 2007, his longtime partner, Mohammad, mentioned that Islam has a tradition of writing out the Quran. Patterson replied that the Bible was too long. Mohammad said, well then, Patterson should do it.

The next day I started researching pens and pencils and paper and never looked back, he said.

Patterson began copying the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, in 2007. Work on this prototype allowed him to figure out technique, layout and technical details like the type of paper (19-by-13-inch watercolor) and writing instruments (felt-tip pens). He tackled the complete King James Bible in 2009.

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New York man writes out every word of the Bible by hand

LAST Sunday, an emissary from Communications Minister Dina Pule approached three Sunday Times journalists, me included, apparently looking to apologise for her press conference the previous week.

That press conference, billed as important, was essentially to attack the three journalists me, Stephan Hofstatter and Mzilikazi wa Afrika -who had written articles on how her alleged boyfriend, Mr Phosane Mngqibisa, had scored R6m from the ICT Indaba. Ms Pule herself had leaned on companies to sponsor this event.

So Ms Pule accused Mr Wa Afrika of having a secret cellphone company, Mr Hofstatter of planting spies in her office and me of having close friends at telecoms companies all part of our agenda to benefit unrelated handlers whose fortunes, it turned out, had gloriously converged.

It was a preposterous conspiracy theory. Many people saw through it pretty quickly. Ms Pule also obviously realised her gamble had backfired, which is why she sent her dove of peace, lawyer Ronnie Bokwa, to us last Sunday.

The first meeting was scheduled for Sunday night, between the hacks, the minister and the editor of this newspaper. Ms Pule would meet us, apologise for wronging the newspaper, and reveal all. On Sunday, we waited, drank coffee and stared at our watches. At about 6pm, we were told Ms Pule wouldnt make it because she had been driving from Mpumalanga all day.

No matter: Monday was a new day. The emissary of peace met us again, explained the terms of the meeting and assured us that at 6pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sandton wed meet the minister so she could apologise.

At the agreed time, we journalists congregated at the agreed place. It was to take place on the 27th floor of the Intercontinental, where only the privileged few are entitled to breathe the rarified air. The lawyer was there though, and he told us that Dina was nearby as there had been some conference.

We made small talk, we drank coffee, we ate Ferrero Roche chocolates (though the receptionist on the 27th floor wasnt sure she should hand them over when she discovered we hadnt paid for a room). The lawyer checked his watch: Shell be here now, he assured us.

It didnt ring any alarm bells particularly. For months, Ms Pule had promised to meet the Sunday Times, then cancelled, preferring to place rebuttals in more malleable media.

Besides, shes not known for particularly diligent timekeeping. After all, even at the press conference last week, called specifically to defend her personal honour, she was half-an-hour late.

Continue reading here:
LAST WORD: Waiting for Dina...

The statement

"The Internal Revenue code has ballooned to a 5,600-page, 4 million-word complicated mess that is seven times as long as the Bible with none of the good news."

Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., in a press release

The ruling

A 2010 report by the Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer's Advocate Office found that the tax code contained 3.8 million words. That calculation was made by downloading a zip file of the code, unzipping it and running it through Microsoft Word's word-count feature, according to a footnote in the report. A 2012 version of the report puts the number of words in the code at "about 4 million."

We also reached out to CCH, the Riverwoods, Ill., publisher of the two-volume 2013 Winter version of the tax code and was told the best estimate of word length was 4 million.

So Lance's claim about the number of words is generally accurate.

Next, let's look at number of pages. Lance said 5,600, based on the same figure cited by articles in the Washington Post, the Harvard Business Review and other publications, according to Todd Mitchell, Lance's chief of staff.

Mark Luscombe, a principal federal tax analyst for CCH, said the publisher's version of the tax code is 5,036 pages.

"Private publishers do a print version of the Internal Revenue code, but then you're looking at one private publisher's version of the code," he said. "We do it in two volumes and we keep condensing it."

More:
PolitiFact: Yes, tax code is long and complex

Bravo!

"Kudos to Saint Bede for hosting the free Trinity Organ Series of concerts. Listening to the classical works makes for a delightful lunchtime hour. Looking forward to next year's season."

Tongue in cheek

"An enterprising local restaurant has added new menu items in the wake of this week's news from Jamestown. These include: lady fingers, shepherdess pie, colonist casserole, and the popular Jamestown family stew."

Phone scam

"I have received several calls to my cell phone by someone in broken English telling me I will get a $100 voucher to be used at any store of my choosing. The catch is I need to send $3.95 for the shipping cost and place it on my Visa or MasterCard. I told him a voucher could be put in an envelope and should only take one stamp to mail to me. All he wanted was access to my credit card."

Race agenda

"I would give a strong protest about this rainbow run. Apparently the homosexual community formed a run through Town Center in Newport News. They took different-colored flour and threw it around while it was raining."

The event was called Color Me Rad, part of a nationwide race series loosely based on the Hindu Festival of Colors, also known as Holi. Participants wear white clothing, and people stationed along the race route throw colored powder on them as they run by. The local race benefited the Newport News Green Foundation. Another race in the series takes place Sunday in Virginia Beach. Visit http://www.colormerad.com for details.

Signage

See original here:
Virginia Gazette Last Word for May 4: Phone scam; Race agenda; Cox issues