December 2006 Archives
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December 31, 2006
A Font for All Those Other Letters
Dear readers, for best results when reading Ugaritic or Akkadian texts on Abnormal Interests, please download and install the Charis SIL font on your computer. I will continue using my normal font for most other abnormal posts. One of the...Read all of "A Font for All Those Other Letters"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:30 PM
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December 30, 2006
Richard Dawkins and Petitions to the UK Government Concerning Religion
There is a bit of a flap over two petitions, one signed by Richard Dawkins and one not. The flap seems to have started with two interacting posts, one by Mike Gene on Telic Thoughts and the other by Ed...Read all of "Richard Dawkins and Petitions to the UK Government Concerning Religion"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:27 AM
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December 29, 2006
New Speak - Failure Means Success When It's Pakistan's Fault
Frances Fragos Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and CNN's Ed Henry had this exchange about Osama bin Laden last night on The Situation Room. HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said,...Read all of "New Speak - Failure Means Success When It's Pakistan's Fault"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:46 PM
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December 27, 2006
A President for Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, and Atheists
Yesterday evening President Gerald Ford died. In his August 12th, 1974 Address to a Joint Session of the Congress he made this pledge. To the limits of my strength and ability, I will be the President of black, brown, red,...Read all of "A President for Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, and Atheists"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:40 PM
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December 26, 2006
May Ba'al, Even the God Himself, Watch Over Your Life!
As a diversion to a hobby, I've been working my way through the fifteenth century BCE Akkadian letters from Taanach. Perhaps I'll post my full translations and comments in the future. But for now, Taanach 2 has a couple of...Read all of "May Ba'al, Even the God Himself, Watch Over Your Life!"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:02 PM
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December 24, 2006
And to All a Good Night
To my Christian friends and readers - MERRY CHRISTMAS To my Jewish friends and readers - HAPPY HANUKKAH To my Pagan friends and readers - JOYOUS SOLSTICE To those friends and readers who celebrate Kwanzaa - HABARI GANI To those...Read all of "And to All a Good Night"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:59 AM
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December 22, 2006
Languages and Dialects and Canaanite and Hebrew and Aramaic, Oh My!
Charles at Awilum has posted his threatened promised follow-up to my post "Is the Canaanite of the Amarna Letters a Precursor of Biblical Hebrew?" I think we are largely in agreement on this issue. Biblical Hebrew is not the direct...Read all of "Languages and Dialects and Canaanite and Hebrew and Aramaic, Oh My!"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:06 PM
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December 21, 2006
The Seal Women of Authority in Ancient Times
The other day I mentioned an ancient seal that belonged to one yhwhħn, a woman. In that post, I indicated that seals belonging to women were quite rare. You may remember that that seal, from Mamillah, Jerusalem tomb 52, reads,...Read all of "The Seal Women of Authority in Ancient Times"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:37 PM
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December 20, 2006
Oh, For the Peace and Joy of the Monastic Life at this Blessed Time of Year
CNN reports, Two groups of monks clashed on Wednesday at a monastery facility in Mt. Athos, resulting in at least seven injuries, police said. Fighting broke out between a group of rebel monks occupying facilities of the 1,000-year-old monastery of...Read all of "Oh, For the Peace and Joy of the Monastic Life at this Blessed Time of Year"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:31 AM
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December 19, 2006
A Bad Year for Creationists
John Lynch at Stranger Fruit has a month by month chronicle of events ending with today's defeat in the Cobb Country (GA) disclaimer case. In fact, December has been a particularly bad month for creationists. Only May seems to have...Read all of "A Bad Year for Creationists"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:25 PM
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December 18, 2006
Did Mark Twain Really Say This?
You see it attributed to Mark Twain everywhere these days. Dawkins even refers to it in The God Delusion. "I do not fear death, in view of the fact that I had been dead for billions and billions of years...Read all of "Did Mark Twain Really Say This?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:30 PM
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December 16, 2006
Is the Canaanite of the Amarna Letters a Precursor of Biblical Hebrew?
Over at Awilum an interesting discussion of literacy in the Ancient Near East has developed from Charles' comments on my post about the Revadim Seal. Take a look at the comment thread if you are interested in this question. In...Read all of "Is the Canaanite of the Amarna Letters a Precursor of Biblical Hebrew?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:13 PM
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And Now For Something Completely Stupid
Ever wonder what I looked like as an Elf? Well, here's your chance; take this link. I think I prefer afarensis as an Elf. And of course, you can also make a fool Elf of yourself if you like....Read all of "And Now For Something Completely Stupid"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:54 PM
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December 15, 2006
The Seal of a Woman
I received my very own copy of Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context, A Tribute to Nadav Na'aman yesterday. Since I've been on a seal kick lately, I headed straight for Reich and Sass, "Three Hebrew Seals...Read all of "The Seal of a Woman"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:11 PM
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December 14, 2006
Hittite Dam Returns to Use
afarensis found an abnormally interesting piece on Yahoo News. A dam, one of ten, built by the Hittite king Tudhaliyas IV, in 1240 BCE has been restored to use. Give both afarensis and the Yahoo article a look....Read all of "Hittite Dam Returns to Use"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:21 AM
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December 13, 2006
Talk About Illiteracy in Antiquity
Do you see anything wrong with the drawing on the left? I don't, because I am looking at the Proto-Something letters l’b’, "belonging to Aba," inscribed on this seal found in an apple orchard belonging to Kibbutz Revadim in Israel....Read all of "Talk About Illiteracy in Antiquity"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:54 PM
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December 12, 2006
No Natural Constituency
Nicolle Wallace, having been the White House Communications Director, is now a CBS consultant. Here is my transcription of part of an interchange she had with Katie Couric on this evening's CBS News. Couric: Why so much push back on...Read all of "No Natural Constituency"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:09 PM
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December 11, 2006
The Lachish Ewer
Starkey discovered the sherds of Lachish Ewer, pictured to the left, in 1933 in a pit or rubbish dump near the Fosse Temple at Lachish. The iconography on this painted pitcher contains a number of figures and designs including a...Read all of "The Lachish Ewer"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:41 PM
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December 10, 2006
Jeff Stein Has a Lot to Learn
Jeff Stein, Congressional Quarterly's National Security Editor, reports on an interview with Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Democrat from Texas, who will become Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Here is the scary part. Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or...Read all of "Jeff Stein Has a Lot to Learn"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:36 AM
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December 7, 2006
Ša in Labels, One More Time
The other day I wrote a post that discussed a couple of labels in Akkadian from Ugarit. I noted that some of them used "ša" meaning "of" or "from" and others simply used the genitive. I speculated that the two...Read all of "Ša in Labels, One More Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:55 PM
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December 6, 2006
Too Obvious; Perhaps Too Little and Too Late
I read The Iraq Study Group Report today. Aside from the section on the Iraqi Police and Criminal Justice system, some of which was new to me, there was nothing surprising or even slightly controversial in this report. In fact,...Read all of "Too Obvious; Perhaps Too Little and Too Late"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:23 PM
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December 5, 2006
lb‛lt in the Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions
The other day I mentioned that I was looking at instances of the phrase lb‛lt in the Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions. At that time, I said there were seven examples. On further study, I now think there are only four possible examples...Read all of "lb‛lt in the Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:53 PM
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December 4, 2006
"De-emphasizing" the Evidence as a Creationist Strategy
This issue has raised its head for the second time in the last few months. Several bloggers, including yours truly, reported on it when it first appeared. But yesterday Yahoo brought up The Daily Telegraph of London report that is...Read all of ""De-emphasizing" the Evidence as a Creationist Strategy"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:19 PM
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Shiloh, The Search for the Tabernacle and Archaeology
The Telegraph is reporting the discovery of a late fourth century CE Church at Shiloh on the West Bank. If nothing else, the picture of the mosaic floor is worth taking the link to the article. An inscription even mentions...Read all of "Shiloh, The Search for the Tabernacle and Archaeology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:44 AM
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December 3, 2006
Frustration
While they were not the only things I did this weekend, they did take up the bulk of my time. Watched the USC/UCLA game. Tried to make sense of the various words and phrases that come before the letters lb‛lt...
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:55 PM
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December 2, 2006
Civil War? That is Not the Issue
Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times has an interesting discussion on whether or not to call the current state of affairs in Iraq a civil war. I fully agree with one of his points. This whole argument is purely...Read all of "Civil War? That is Not the Issue"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:26 PM
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December 1, 2006
The Bargain Between The Civilian Authorities And The Armed Services
Bill Moyers spoke at West Point on Wednesday. The extended excerpt from his speech is well worth reading. Here is a sample. I want to contend that the American military systems that evolved in the early days of this republic...Read all of "The Bargain Between The Civilian Authorities And The Armed Services"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:03 AM
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