April 2010 Archives
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April 30, 2010
The Anthropology Carnival Is Up
Give it a read and take a link or two. There’s some abnormally interesting stuff. Submissions were low for this 91st edition of Four Stone Hearth, but that didn’t keep Kurt Thomas Hunt at Sexy Archaeology from doing a very...Read all of "The Anthropology Carnival Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:50 AM
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April 29, 2010
What Are They Thinking?
I doubt this is unique to (experimental) philosophy. Eric Schwitzgebel posts on a special application of a method that he and Russ Hurlburt developed to elicit “a woman's . . . experience as she went about her normal day wearing...Read all of "What Are They Thinking?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:52 AM
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April 28, 2010
The Family Of Bloggers
By any normal definition, I don’t know Aydin Örstan of Snail’s Tales. I’ve never met him. Our backgrounds are very different. We have only a few abnormal interests in common. What do snails and slugs have to do with Akkadian...Read all of "The Family Of Bloggers"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:55 PM
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April 27, 2010
Noah’s Ark, One More Time
Should it surprise anyone that an organization called Noah’s Ark Ministries International has found Noah’s Ark? Or so they say. Richard Bartholomew of Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion has the best discussion I’ve seen so far. With all the abnormally interesting...Read all of "Noah’s Ark, One More Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:31 AM
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April 26, 2010
Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
I often criticize those in the humanities for not knowing any much enough math and science. But today I want to direct your attention to a review of Martha Nussbaum’s Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Troy Jollimore,...Read all of "Why Democracy Needs the Humanities"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:42 AM
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April 25, 2010
Craziness Based On Two Obscurities, An Anachronism
And several world class leaps of logic. Ed Brayton provides an amusing post on an even more “amusing article” advertising a book about, as Ed says, “Biblical astrology...err, astronomy.” It seems that the 2nd coming of Jesus is written in...Read all of "Craziness Based On Two Obscurities, An Anachronism"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:26 PM
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I’ve Gone Too Far This Time
I’m writing up some comparative material for the last of the Akkadian ritual/prayers I’m working on. I‘ve mentioned this ritual a few times before. It involves an exorcism by transferring a ghost from a patient to a figurine and then...Read all of "I’ve Gone Too Far This Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:29 AM
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April 23, 2010
Temple: Some Assembly Required
It doesn’t happen all that often but on this occasion I agree with Jim West the Younger. The recently discovered a 6th Century BCE temple or palace from Torre di Satriano, Italy, is interesting mostly because of its artisan inscriptions....Read all of "Temple: Some Assembly Required"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:15 AM
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April 22, 2010
The Megiddo Gilgamesh Fragment As A Graded Exercise
Among my many unfinished projects is the series “How to recognize a scribal school.” I wrote my most recent post in the series, “Evidence for the training of scribes in Late Bronze Age Canaan,” in October of 2006. At that...Read all of "The Megiddo Gilgamesh Fragment As A Graded Exercise"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:33 AM
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April 21, 2010
Mark Twain: How To Celebrate?
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death. To celebrate you might want to read one of the many recent articles about his life and impact. Here is but a small sampling. 100 years after his death, Mark Twain's...Read all of "Mark Twain: How To Celebrate?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:07 AM
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April 19, 2010
Twain As A “Marginal” Literary Critic
Yesterday I mentioned Mark Twain as poet. Even more than a poet, Twain was a literary critic. The New York Times has a nice piece by Alison Leigh Cowan, “Scrawled in the Margins, Signs of Twain as a Critic.” Kevin...Read all of "Twain As A “Marginal” Literary Critic"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:14 AM
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April 18, 2010
If You Prove Right and I Prove Wrong
A poem on the afterlife in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death: Mark Twain and his friend, Julia (Mrs. Thomas K.) Beecher, had a dispute about the afterlife. Julia Beecher was the wife of the clergyman who...Read all of "If You Prove Right and I Prove Wrong"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:10 AM
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April 17, 2010
Who Could Read Or Write This Text?
The text in question is on a clay tablet found by Macalister at Gezer. Out of laziness, I follow Horowitz and Oshima’s translation, Obverse 1) Seal of Natanyahu 2) the owner of field being sold. -------------------------------------------------- Three impressions of the...Read all of " Who Could Read Or Write This Text?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:20 PM
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April 15, 2010
Four Stone Hearth Is Up, 90th Edition This Time
Four Stone Hearth is up at A Hot Cup of Joe. Not only has Carl Feagans done a great job of bring this 90th edition of the anthropology carnival together, he has written words about me and Abnormal Interests, that...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth Is Up, 90th Edition This Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:58 PM
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On The Risk Of Privileging Disciplines
Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of...Read all of "On The Risk Of Privileging Disciplines"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:39 PM
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April 14, 2010
Tomb Of Ancient Egyptian Scribe Uncovered
Discovery News and Fox News have the story with pictures. I'm sure many others will follow. Here's how the Discovery News story begins. The elaborate burial tomb of an ancient royal scribe has been unearthed near Ismailia, 75 miles (120...Read all of "Tomb Of Ancient Egyptian Scribe Uncovered"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:26 AM
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April 13, 2010
Horsing Around With Scribal Training At Ugarit
Somewhat by accident, I ran across a paper by Robert Hawley on the alphabetic scribal curriculum at Ugarit. Interestingly, he called his paper “On the Alphabetic Scribal Curriculum at Ugarit.” To a very large degree, Hawley’s paper rests on several...Read all of "Horsing Around With Scribal Training At Ugarit"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:33 PM
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April 11, 2010
What Kind of Facts Might These Be?
I just saw a TV commercial in which the California Chamber of Commerce invited viewers to go to their website “for facts and answers about our future.” Amazing. So I went there and did not find a single fact or...Read all of "What Kind of Facts Might These Be?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:52 PM
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April 10, 2010
Stop It! Just Stop It!
Veiled threats, expressions of malevolent desire and implied metaphors with violent vehicles but supposedly benevolent tenors seem to be the order of the day. Lately, the right appears to specialize in these kinds of things but here is one from...Read all of "Stop It! Just Stop It!"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:32 PM
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April 9, 2010
Quotation of 1964
We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well. Richard Hofstadter wrote this in his...Read all of "Quotation of 1964"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:08 PM
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April 8, 2010
New Esarhaddon Vassal Treaty Found In Turkey
The find from southern Turkey is abnormally interesting. The newly discovered Esarhaddon vassal treaty likely does join other Esarhaddon vassal treaties that may (or may not) help us understand the context of biblical covenants. But, why can’t we have an...Read all of "New Esarhaddon Vassal Treaty Found In Turkey"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:15 AM
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April 7, 2010
Offended? You Have Options
But protection from the offense is not one of them. Novelist, scholar or dilettante (not that these are mutually exclusive), Philip Pullman, author of the recently published The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, is sure right about one...Read all of "Offended? You Have Options"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:30 PM
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April 6, 2010
Welcome to the Computer Age
Yesterday our 96 year old neighbor bought her first computer! She was tired of being unable to answer the question “What is your email address?” She plans to surf the internet and do a little online shopping and, perhaps, a...Read all of "Welcome to the Computer Age"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:01 PM
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April 5, 2010
I Need Help With The King Of Heaven And Earth
Now, this may not come as a big surprise to my theistic friends until they see that I have something quite specific in mind. I’m looking of the earliest Jewish and/or Christian sources for the divine epithet that in translation...Read all of "I Need Help With The King Of Heaven And Earth"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:21 PM
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April 4, 2010
A Wonderful Flautist And All That Jazz
There are certain words that I have trouble saying without smiling. “Flautist” is one of them. I’m not exactly sure why but to me it sounds vaguely obscene in a way having nothing to do with playing the flute. The...Read all of "A Wonderful Flautist And All That Jazz"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:12 AM
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April 3, 2010
Snakes That Cannot Be Conjured
Irving Finkel published several Old Babylonian incantations against snakes, mostly, but not exclusively, against snake bits. One of the most interesting is CBS 7005. Here is Finkel’s translation. Pay special attention to line 13. This post is (mostly) about it....Read all of "Snakes That Cannot Be Conjured"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:55 AM
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April 2, 2010
Mark Twain Playing Around
The Bancroft Library has an online exhibit, “Mark Twain at Play.” As the exhibit’s home page says, Mark Twain was a hardworking and prolific writer, but how did he spend his time when the "bread-and-butter element" was put aside and...Read all of "Mark Twain Playing Around"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:20 PM
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