September 2007 Archives
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September 30, 2007
The Reluctant Archaeologists
Eric Cline, chair of the department of classical and Semitic languages and literature at the George Washington University and associate director of the current excavations at Megiddo, takes archeologists to task for not challenging the fantastic claims of amateurs who...Read all of "The Reluctant Archaeologists"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:07 AM
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September 29, 2007
Mark Twain on One of My Abnormal Interests
Some of you may have noticed that I haven't really produced a substantive post in a while. I have several excuses and two reasons: 1) over the last several weeks, my 20% part time job hasn't exactly been 20% and...Read all of "Mark Twain on One of My Abnormal Interests"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:44 PM
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September 28, 2007
What to Do?
Today we received a letter from a company with whom we do business. They wanted to tell us about their privacy policy and ask us if we desired to change anything with regard to that policy. The cover letter contained...
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:29 PM
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September 27, 2007
Mark Twain, The Sea of Galilee and Lake Tahoe
Todd Bolen of Bible Places reminds us of a comparison, made by Mark Twain, between the Sea of Galilee and Lake Tahoe. The account can be found in Twain's Innocents Abroad, Chapter XLVIII or if you're in a hurry, you...Read all of "Mark Twain, The Sea of Galilee and Lake Tahoe"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:58 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
September 26, 2007
Fishing with Fire
Yesterday, a couple of bloggers noted a Discovery Channel piece on Galili and Rosen's discovery of a 7th Century shipwreck off Dor in Israel. Now, I don't normally worry much about anything later than the Iron Age, but this account...Read all of "Fishing with Fire"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:40 PM
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September 25, 2007
Scientific Literacy
Thomas Martin, an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett Honors College of Arizona State University, wrote an award winning essay entitled "Scientific Literacy and the Habit of Discourse." His essay is packed with abnormally interesting thoughts. Here is one example, Science...Read all of "Scientific Literacy"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:57 PM
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September 23, 2007
I'd Want to See His Driver's License Before Getting in the Car With This Guy
One of the best ongoing series on the internet is Afarensis' "Know Your Primate" series. Every week Afarensis brings us another abnormally interesting primate. Each post has great pictures and a description of the featured species. This week's primate is...Read all of "I'd Want to See His Driver's License Before Getting in the Car With This Guy"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:57 PM
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September 22, 2007
Another Instructor Fired Out of Fear of Legal Action (perhaps)
Chris Heard has a must read post on teaching the Genesis creation accounts. But the most interesting and, if true, appalling part of his story concerns the firing of an instructor at Southwestern Community College in Red Oak, Iowa, for...Read all of "Another Instructor Fired Out of Fear of Legal Action (perhaps)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:11 PM
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September 21, 2007
Merlo on Asherah, Yahweh and Kuntillet 'Ajurd
Paolo Merlo's 1994 work L‘Asherah di Yhwh a Kuntillet ‘Ajrud Rassegna critica degli studi e delle interpretazioni is now available online. This work provides a good opportunity to review scholarly opinion on Asherah, Yahweh and Kuntillet 'Ajurd up to 1994...Read all of "Merlo on Asherah, Yahweh and Kuntillet 'Ajurd"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:20 PM
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September 20, 2007
Genotype Does Not Imply "Phonotype."
Reporting on the J-2 haplogroup in Mediterranean populations, Jim Davila at PaleoJudaica said the following: This implies, not surprisingly, that Israelites and Canaanites shared not only the same language (Hebrew and Phoenician are really nothing more than dialectal variants) but...Read all of "Genotype Does Not Imply "Phonotype." "
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:43 AM
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September 19, 2007
It Makes No More Sense in Pirate Talk
Arrrr! Today be international talk like a pirate day. So I decided I'd try t' find t' Akkadian word or phrase for pirate. T' best I could come up with be šarrâqu that means "thief." So I decided t' just...Read all of "It Makes No More Sense in Pirate Talk"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:32 PM
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September 18, 2007
One of These Things May or May Not Be Like the Other
I've spent a good portion of this afternoon trying to convince myself, one way or the other, that there is a relationship between the formula מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד, "Psalm of/for/to David" or its cousins like מִזְמוֹר לְאָסָף, "Psalm of/for/to Asaph" and...Read all of "One of These Things May or May Not Be Like the Other"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:57 PM
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September 16, 2007
Richard Dawkins Confirms Duane's Inverse Bookshelf Length Law
In announcing the tax exempt status of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, Dawkins also linked to a somewhat revised mission statement. In his extended preface to that statement, Dawkins reports on the following observation. I have just...Read all of "Richard Dawkins Confirms Duane's Inverse Bookshelf Length Law"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:42 PM
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September 15, 2007
Rick Colling and the "Profoundly Scientifically Ignorant"
I have not written on Rick Colling. Others have done a very good job covering the issues surrounding the severe restrictions put of Colling by Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois. Colling wants to teach evolution in a biology class of...Read all of "Rick Colling and the "Profoundly Scientifically Ignorant""
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:12 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
September 14, 2007
"Blessed Among the Nations" and Other Divine Appellatives
In a comment to my last post, John correctly pointed out that in the spirit of the 99 names of Allah "adjectives and participles, plus or minus a complement, qualify as divine names if they are stand-alone descriptors of deity"...Read all of ""Blessed Among the Nations" and Other Divine Appellatives"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:38 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
Names of the Gods in Some Epigraphic Hebrew
John F. Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry is teaching us the "144 Names of God in the Hebrew Bible." I thought it might be fun to list the ten of so names of gods (it depends on how you count)...Read all of "Names of the Gods in Some Epigraphic Hebrew"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:45 AM
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September 12, 2007
Is This a Tax Deduction or a Tax Credit?
Every so often, I need to visit the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA. I hadn't made the pilgrimage for several months, but over those months I accumulated enough abnormal references to justify the trip across town. Between my...Read all of "Is This a Tax Deduction or a Tax Credit?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:03 PM
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September 11, 2007
In Which Direction Should One Write?
Last Thursday I took a clay tablet to lunch to show to a couple of the people that Shirley and I have lunch with almost every week. After the question, "Can anyone really read this?" the next question was "In...Read all of "In Which Direction Should One Write?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:15 PM
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September 10, 2007
A Probable Possible Prehistory of KTU 1.85
Schaeffer found four, fragmentary, instances of the Ugarit veterinary text KTU 1.85: KTU 1.85 itself (RS 17.120, the most complete and therefore the tablet used to identify and reference the text), KTU 1.71 (RS 5.300), KTU 1.72 (RS 5.285) and...
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Posted by Duane Smith at 7:38 PM
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September 9, 2007
Without a Benevolent Spider, I Might Not Be Here Today
Shirley found the following concerning my fifth great grandfather, Bladen Ashby, in a June 16, 1942, account of his life. Bladen Ashby was born in Baldensburg, Md, in 1759. He was named after the town of his birth. He early...Read all of "Without a Benevolent Spider, I Might Not Be Here Today"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:58 PM
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September 8, 2007
How Logical Are You?
You Are Incredibly Logical Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer! How Logical Are You? While I found this little...Read all of "How Logical Are You?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:00 AM
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September 7, 2007
Two Goats for Akash Bhairab and a 757
From Wednesday's Reuters, Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday. Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing...Read all of "Two Goats for Akash Bhairab and a 757"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:43 AM
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September 6, 2007
Carnival Post-mortem
Over all, I think Biblical Studies Carnival XXI was well received. I want to thank everyone for his or her kind comments and links to the Carnival. I don't have exact numbers but I think the carnival had over one...Read all of "Carnival Post-mortem"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:48 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
September 5, 2007
Liver Models, Lung Models and Science
This post started as a rather technical post, but I decided, in the interest of readability and in deference to my own laziness, I'd skip the technical details and work in translation. In any case, the important points I want...Read all of "Liver Models, Lung Models and Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:26 PM
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September 3, 2007
Alun Salt Has a Big Theological Problem
Just as he was mounting a vigorous defense of Hekate against the godless atheists, he discovers a wholesale assault on Poseidon. When will it ever end?...Read all of "Alun Salt Has a Big Theological Problem"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:12 PM
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Another Inscribed Liver Model from Hazor
Among the ancients cites in Canaan, only Taanach has produced more clay tablets than Hazor. And yet no large archive has be found anywhere in the area. If one is to be found, Hazor is among the very best candidate...Read all of "Another Inscribed Liver Model from Hazor"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:22 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
September 2, 2007
Someone Else With Abnormal Interests
Something shocking happened the week before last. When I when to the library to get the Schaeffer article I quoted in the previous post, the bound, 1934, volume of Syria, with that article, was not on the shelf! First, all...Read all of "Someone Else With Abnormal Interests"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:27 PM
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The Horse Tablets in Archaeological Context
I thought I was about ready to post on a possible prehistory of text of KTU 1.85, the Ugaritic veterinary text that I've been "horsing around" with, when something struck me as possibly important or at least abnormally interesting. Two...Read all of "The Horse Tablets in Archaeological Context"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:53 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
September 1, 2007
Biblical Studies Carnival XXI
Come one, come all to the Biblical Studies Carnival XXI. Boys and girls of all ages will find pleasure, intrigue, excitement and, with a little luck, insight within the posts featured in this month's carnival. Here you will find links...Read all of "Biblical Studies Carnival XXI"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:28 AM
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