Logocentric (adj).Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
I have always enjoyed the longer distance running and skiing. The Marathon in Summer Olympics and the 50km Mass Start in the Winter. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same race for several hours. But they are fascinating to me. I like the Downhill Slalom, Bobsled and Luge sports. Attending a Winter Olympics remains on my bucket list.
My favorite sporting events in the Winter Olympics are the Luge, Bobsled, Figure Skating and curling. Initially, I thought I would be bored with curling but I'm not. It's fascinating how they determine each glide's angle and potential score.
When my children were younger we built them a luge course, they loved it. We were lucky that winter to have lots of snow to build up the walls and with some help with pallets that we covered with snow, it kept them and the neighborhood kids busy until it warmed up and melted. I was a lot more at ease with the luge course than I was when they decided to try arial jumps off our house roof. Never a dull moment when you live in Maine.
I am reading ESV through the Bible this time. Like you, I've explored a bunch of translations. My church uses NIV but my women's Bible study group (part of the same church) varies based on what Bible study we're doing.
Hope you enjoy the Olympics! I agree that the every four year thing makes them feel more special.
I read the New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible. (NABRE) They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, which generally aren't included in other versions of the Bible. I would be curious to read an orthodox bible or the Ethiopian Bible as I hear they have differences as well.
As for the Olympics, I love the Winter Olympics. I'm just crossing my fingers I have time to watch!
In terms of the original texts the NASB has the best reputation among conservative scholars. It looks at more translations, has a sensible hierarchy of text selection and the best principles for approaching the translation task. It favors original texts when possible. The ESV and NKJV are on a similar level. The Net Bible gives the best overview of the discussions in its commentary. The NIV renders the original text to make it more readable. It is a more functional text which is why many churches use it but it is also less precise. Greek or Russian orthodox are more Septuagint orientated and there is a considerable amount of ethical or emotional rendering to the text.The disadvantage of the NASB is that it loses much of the Hebrew poetical style in its effort to be precise as this does not translate into the English
I'm very fortunate to have met some practicing and humble Christians. Truly humble people seek to serve, not attain power and influence. The actions of many Christians make me run the opposite way... as fast as I can.
In his book, Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee states: "Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves,' Have we been justly or unjustly treated?' and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of crossbearing".
Jeff, this is an excellent book. Perhaps one for your reading list?
I'm fascinated by the concept of "white hat" hackers. While black hats seek to hack for personal gain (stealing credit card information to buy things, stealing personal information to sell, etc.), white hats are "ethical hackers" who seek to use their skills to positive ends (working with a company or agency to point out vulnerabilities in their security, etc.). I've read a couple books by Kevin Mitnick over the years (if your interested in hacking and haven't read Ghost in the Wires yet, I highly recommend it), and think it's really interesting to see these savvy techno-wizards using their skills to help make things better rather than tearing them down or gaining personally. A lot of white hats happen to be former black hats who through altruism or a plea agreement, have decided to work for the other side.
I didn't even realize DefCon was a thing, but I'm glad they have white hats working on figuring out potential vulnerabilities in our electronic voting systems. It's kind of a double-edged sword, though, because while you may learn about vulnerabilities that need to be fixed, you also realize how easy your security was to beat in the first place and can sometimes make a target out of you by those looking to flex their muscles and show off. Remember Todd Davis, the LifeLock CEO guy? After he participated in an ad campaign where he posted his real Social Security Number for the world to see and claiming their service's identity theft protections were unbeatable... well, he had his identity stolen 13 times over the following year, mostly from hackers who just wanted to prove they could beat an unbeatable system. Never underestimate people's ability to rise to a challenge!
What's a little worrisome in this article are the ways in which the white hats were able to exploit voting systems. Especially the Danish researcher referenced in this article who just last year was able to take control of a touchscreen voting machine remotely from up to 1,000 feet away. I know that the whole paper ballot hanging chad thing was a big deal in the 2000 presidential election, but the idea of debating how thoroughly punched or marked a piece of paper is seems almost quaint compared to the idea that you could literally steal someone's vote by remotely operating their voting machine from a laptop in your car across the street.
It'll be interesting to see what happens with the voting machines in the 2018 midterm elections coming up in just a few short months. I don't know if they're going to have all this hacked voting machine stuff sorted out by then... but I do know that if they don't, I'm probably going to request a paper ballot. Our district has been singled out for being one of the swing districts where our incumbent Republican congressman has a fair shot at being ousted by his Democratic challenger, so this election is far too important to trust to a machine if it has a known security vulnerability that could be exploited.
Never underestimate people's ability to rise to a challenge!
I know that the whole paper ballot hanging chad thing was a big deal in the 2000 presidential election, but the idea of debating how thoroughly punched or marked a piece of paper is seems almost quaint compared to the idea that you could literally steal someone's vote by remotely operating their voting machine from a laptop in your car across the street. 
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