May 2007 Archives
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May 31, 2007
Abnormal Intermittent Problems
Regular readers may have noticed periods when Abnormal Interests was abnormally down for periods of time ranging from a few seconds to a half an hour or more. There is some kind of a problem with our abnormal router or...Read all of "Abnormal Intermittent Problems"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:20 PM
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O'Reilly Fears the Loss of White, Christian, Male Power
Crooks and Liars has a video clip of Bill O'Reilly interviewing, if that is what you call it, John McCain. At one point, O'Reilly made this amazing statement, But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the...Read all of "O'Reilly Fears the Loss of White, Christian, Male Power"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:28 PM
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Those Mostly Hebrew Writings
Well, here we go again! What to call them? Chris Heard is a zealous proponent of calling it Tanakh. And if I were an esteemed Associate Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University or anywhere else, I would call it Tanakh...Read all of "Those Mostly Hebrew Writings"
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May 30, 2007
Walter Reich on Recent Finds In Palestine
Walter Reich, professor of international affairs, ethics and human behavior at George Washington University and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has an interesting piece in the Los Angeles Times how archaeology gets used politically...Read all of "Walter Reich on Recent Finds In Palestine"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:50 AM
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May 28, 2007
Memorial Day
I was about to write something for Memorial Day when Juan Cole's post, "Memorial Day, 2007," stopped me cold. It is on target both in emotionally and politically. Here is his final paragraph. Our job as the citizens of a...
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:41 AM
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May 27, 2007
The Creation Museum Carnival is Up at Pharyngula
PZ Myers has done a great job pulling together abstracts and links to about 65 posts whose content ranges from scientific discussion to analyses of media responses to just plain derision. There's even one about Hebrew words that don't mean...Read all of "The Creation Museum Carnival is Up at Pharyngula"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:27 PM
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May 26, 2007
Hector Avalos' Promotion and Something Irrelevant
Chris Heard has a great post at Higgaion on how the Discovery Institute is trying to leverage Hector Avalos' promotion at Iowa State to support claims that Iowa State improperly denied tenure to Guillermo Gonzalez. Please give it a read....Read all of "Hector Avalos' Promotion and Something Irrelevant"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:07 PM
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One Stone in a Row
I just read Aydin's discussion of a paper by Howard Wainer called "The Most Dangerous Equation." I applied my awesome powers of false analogy and free association to Aydin's post. This random process reminded me of Bill Dever's dictum, "One...Read all of "One Stone in a Row"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:30 PM
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May 25, 2007
This Is Not About Dinosaurs
With Ken Ham's creation museum opening May 28, in Petersburg, Kentucky, I thought it might be abnormally interesting to look at some of the claims concerning the Hebrew Bible and dinosaurs. In this post, I will limit myself to two...Read all of "This Is Not About Dinosaurs"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:29 PM
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May 23, 2007
Midweek Cat Blogging
Over at About Archaeology, K. Kris Hirst has a post on a non-subject, cat domestication. Anyone who has ever lived with cats knows that they are not domesticated animals. It is far better to understand them as domesticators of people....Read all of "Midweek Cat Blogging"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:38 PM
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May 22, 2007
Liberty College Student Prepares a Terrorist Attack
A Liberty College student planned to incinerate protesters with gasoline and detergent bombs at Jerry Falwell's funeral. . . . Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. The student, 19-year-old Mark...Read all of "Liberty College Student Prepares a Terrorist Attack"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:57 PM
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May 21, 2007
Meta-meta-archaeology
I've never been a big fan of meta-archaeology or meta much else for that matter. In general, I find that the various positions of those who engage in meta-archaeology fall into the following three categories. Trivially correct Trivially wrong Incomprehensible...Read all of "Meta-meta-archaeology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:22 PM
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May 20, 2007
I Like This, But I Think Something Is Wrong
From time to time, Christianity Today does an online poll. The most recent one was on atheism. Here are the results. I do think the 93% of the respondents who answered that atheism is "the only rational outlook" are correct....Read all of "I Like This, But I Think Something Is Wrong"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:31 PM
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May 19, 2007
What?
Sheldon Drobny has written a horrible piece on The Huffington Post. At least the second half is horrible. I rather agree with the first half but the errors of the second half are so grievous that they more than negate...
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:21 PM
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May 18, 2007
The Seal of Lugal-Dúr, the Scribe
While looking for something else I came across a beautiful cylinder seal from Nippur. While it is neither from a location (Mesopotamia) nor from a time (3rd millennium BCE) normally among my abnormal interests, its wonderful workmanship struck me. You...Read all of "The Seal of Lugal-Dúr, the Scribe"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:34 PM
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May 17, 2007
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)
Wolfowitz resigned under a cloud of "good faith" and "ethical" actions. Here is part of the statement from the Board of Directors of the World Bank. Over the last three days we have considered carefully the report of the ad...Read all of "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:31 PM
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The Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Jerry Falwell's Funeral
Yes, the congregation of the completely crazy plans to picket the funeral of the dangerously deluded. Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend has the story. And you thought that there was no room to the right of Falwell....Read all of "The Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Jerry Falwell's Funeral"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:05 AM
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May 15, 2007
Ninth Century BCE Seals from Jerusalem (?)
There's a report that archaeologist Ronny Reich found a number of seal impressions in the same context as 9th century BCE potsherds "at the bottom of the quarry/pool by the Gihon spring." I quote from Yigal Levin's observations as reported...Read all of "Ninth Century BCE Seals from Jerusalem (?)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:47 AM
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May 14, 2007
Canon: from GI.NI to QN to Κανών
This started out as a comment for Claude Mariottini's blog. I wanted to react to a very small point in an otherwise excellent post on the canon of the Hebrew Bible. It grew in size and technical complexity to the...Read all of "Canon: from GI.NI to QN to Κανών"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:53 PM
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May 13, 2007
Where are ‛Izbet Sartah and Tel Zayit?
This post is a bit of an experiment. I have been looking for good mapping software for the Ancient Near East. The other day Todd Bolen of Bible Places directed us to Bible Mapper, so I thought I'd give it...Read all of "Where are ‛Izbet Sartah and Tel Zayit?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:50 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
May 12, 2007
Thinking Blogger Awards
Chris Heard of Higgaion has kindly tagged me with the Think Blogger Aware meme. Based on his stated reasons, I'd better do a couple of posts on Ugaritic or Akkadian philology. At least he does acknowledge my other abnormal interests....Read all of "Thinking Blogger Awards"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:15 PM
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May 11, 2007
The Leviticus Scroll Fragments: How Much Material is Needed for Testing?
With all my shoveling and spreading and the resulting aches and pains, I'm really behind the times on a number of things. One thing I haven't commented on is the latest flap about the testing that was done on the...Read all of "The Leviticus Scroll Fragments: How Much Material is Needed for Testing?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:24 PM
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May 10, 2007
The David Dynasty: Extra-Biblical Evidence; A Brief Look
A few days ago, Jim West and Claude Mariottini discussed a recent documentary on the reigns of David and Solomon and the evidence for the existence of these individuals and their dynasty. I haven't seen the documentary but both Jim...Read all of "The David Dynasty: Extra-Biblical Evidence; A Brief Look"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:18 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
May 8, 2007
I Know A Pile When I See One
Anyone who has a yard knows that from time to time it needs attention beyond watering, weekly grass cutting and occasional feeding. Our backyard is a bit of a mess and needs to be rehabilitated. As part of that...Read all of "I Know A Pile When I See One"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:07 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
May 7, 2007
Herod's Tomb and Found at Herodium
Aren Maier hinted at it and Jim West found the news. The most complete story is in Haaretz but there may be more details after tomorrow's press conference....Read all of "Herod's Tomb and Found at Herodium"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:56 PM
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I'm a Materialist. OK, But What About All That Other Stuff?
You scored as Materialist. Materialism stresses the essence of fundamental particles. Everything that exists is purely physical matter and there is no special force that holds life together. You believe that anything can be explained by breaking it up...Read all of "I'm a Materialist. OK, But What About All That Other Stuff?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:51 PM
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May 6, 2007
The Price of History
Christopher O'Brien at Northstate Science has an update on the Dead Sea Scroll fragment acquired by Legacy Ministries International. Both Christopher and I received an email from the "antiquities broker" who sold the fragment to Legacy. Christopher does a good...Read all of "The Price of History"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:16 AM
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May 5, 2007
Were Seal Engravers Trained Scribes?
The evidence for the southern Levant seems to indicate that they were not. Christopher Rollston (1966) argued that there is sufficient evidence to hold that formal scribal training was part of the eighth through the sixth centuries BCE process of...Read all of "Were Seal Engravers Trained Scribes?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:46 PM
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May 2, 2007
How Words Lose Their Meaning: When Criticism Equals Terrorism
No, I'm not talking about the way our current administration uses the word "terrorism" but I could be. In this case, I'm talking about an editorial in L'Osservatore Romano that says, among other crazy things, This, too, is terrorism. It's...Read all of "How Words Lose Their Meaning: When Criticism Equals Terrorism"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:03 PM
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May 1, 2007
Biblical Studies Carnival XVII is Up
Chris Heard, at Higgion, has done a great job pulling together the most interesting of last month's posts. The collected posts represent the best of the academic study of the Bible on the web. Go over to Chris' place and...Read all of "Biblical Studies Carnival XVII is Up"
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More Excuses! All I Ever Have are Excuses.
For about the last two or three weeks I thought that I was one good working day away from publishing my next mega-post on scribal schools. But sometime yesterday evening I realized that the approach I was taking to presenting...Read all of "More Excuses! All I Ever Have are Excuses. "
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:30 PM
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