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April 1, 2008
My April Fools Day Came March 31
And my computer played that April fools joke on me at the Society for Biblical Literature, Pacific Coast Regional meeting. I planned to use projected slides to supplement my presentation. I made sure everything was working correctly before the session. I did this specifically to avoid the awkward and disruptive transition that often comes from technology problems. I tested the system not once but twice. Everything worked great during the tests but when I tried to bring my laptop to life a few minutes before my talk, it wouldn't come up or at least it won't come up in a way that seemed useful. It had been in habitation mode and, for all practical purposes, it continued to nap. The hard disk accessed, but nothing appeared on the computer's display. The projector was disabled at the time.
So, I made the real time decision not to use the d . . ned thing. Why waste the attendees' time and reduce the time of the remaining speaker while I troubleshoot my computer? The real issue was that I had not rehearsed the talk without the slides. I had planned on them to help the audience to focus on the main points of the presentation and to have them do a little multiplexing here and there.
Given this blip in the process, I think the paper when reasonably well. It was not as smooth as I had hoped and I glossed a couple of points that I wouldn't have had I had the slides. I was glad that I my handouts contained all the important primary material. It might have helped a little to have had normalized Akkadian rather than the sign level representation on the handout. But I think those who knew Akkadian got my more technical points and those who didn't didn't. That would have likely been true anyway.
After the session, I got some good feedback and a couple people suggested that I publish the paper. For that reason, I won't publish the complete paper here, at least not now. I will be happy to send a copy to anyone who would like one. Just leave a comment or send me an email and I will email it to you. The only requirement is that you give me feedback.
As you may know, the topic and title of the paper was "מַשְׁתִּין בְּקִיר - An Echo of Divination in Biblical Hebrew?" For those who don't know, מַשְׁתִּין בְּקִיר means "pisser against a wall." In the course of the presentation, I quoted Bruce Birch as having said that the expression referred to, ". . . the male gender by reference to their means of urination" and that he went on to call the phrase a "euphemism"(!) for males. I said that I wasn't sure what society Birch enjoyed but that I, for one, didn't self identify as a pisser against a wall. A third of the house laughed, a third actively suppressed laughter, and a third sat there in stoic contemplation of the weight of my remark. But then, a third of the house was seminary students.
I may comment on some of the other papers later, for now I want to say that the Fuller Theological Seminary folks, students and staff, did a great job hosting the event. Aside from my computer, everything else seemed to work great. I also want to thank Brad Kelle of Point Loma Nazarene University for bringing this new section, "Neo-Assyrian Insights on Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible," together. Independent to my small footnote on this subject, the programmatic papers by Tammi Schneider, Jeffery Kuan and Marvin Sweeney and the summary remarks by K. Lawson Younger were abnormally interesting. Younger's Plenary Session address on Shalmaneser III brought to light a range of important considerations. But those considerations are for another post.
Oh yeah, I now know why my computer appeared to fail. I didn't have its display activated. Operator error! So, it seems, I played an pre-April fools joke on myself.
Posted by Duane Smith at April 1, 2008 10:01 AM | Read more on Hebrew Bible |
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Comments
I am glad your talk was well received. Congratulations.
Back in the stoneage, well really 1992, I was about to give a conference talk and my "helper" dumped the photographic slides. All the slides for five presentations fell out onto the floor.
I know just how you feel.
Posted by: Gary Hurd at April 3, 2008 9:23 PM
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