August 2010 Archives
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August 31, 2010
Power From The Cross
Check it out. It may prove to be salivation to those in need. Via Boing Boing...Read all of "Power From The Cross"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:31 PM
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August 29, 2010
Atrahasis At Ugarit
I’ve been looking at the work of the several scribes from Ugarit, among them Na’amrašap. He was not only a scribe but the father of scribes. We have several of his mature works. But we may also have one of...Read all of "Atrahasis At Ugarit"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:01 PM
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August 28, 2010
Is There Anything That Will Keep A “Family Values” Candidate Off The Ballot?
Apparently not. Being an admitted client of a prostitute doesn’t appear to be any hindrance at all. And claiming, apparently with a straight face, that a "legislative assistant on women's issues" who was accused of domestic violence didn’t work on...Read all of "Is There Anything That Will Keep A “Family Values” Candidate Off The Ballot?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:14 PM
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August 26, 2010
The Alphabet In The Atlantic
In “10 Reading Revolutions Before E-Books,” Tim Carmody’s writes for The Atlantic, 3. There are many crucial developments in the very early history of writing, but for the sake of time/space (writing being the primary technology that allows us to...Read all of "The Alphabet In The Atlantic"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:34 AM
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August 25, 2010
My Heroic Days
I spent yesterday and today trying to track down an UR.SAG series or something that might indicate that there was such a series. This is cleanup effort from my work on one of the Shamash prayers. The mean nasty demanding...
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:36 PM
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August 23, 2010
Wanting To Believe
Yesterday Shirley and I received an email from someone who has sent us abnormally interesting, accurate, stuff in the past. What he sent us this time was rather detailed and seemed plausible. It concerned Lee Martin, Captain Kangaroo and Mr....Read all of "Wanting To Believe"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:45 PM
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August 22, 2010
On Secondary Literature
A couple of weeks ago I was at the CBA conference sitting at a dinner table with Joseph Blenkinsopp, Jim West and a few others. We were having the typical “how have you been,” “why are you here,” “what are...Read all of "On Secondary Literature"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:56 AM
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August 21, 2010
מלך ארטוש
For abnormal reasons, Shirley and I have been listening to a series of lectures by Dorsey Armstrong on The Medieval World. Armstrong specializes in Arthurian literature as well as other things medieval. So my interest was peeked when I saw...
Posted by Duane Smith at 5:44 PM
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August 20, 2010
Blogging Is A Little Light These Days
I’ve been busy going down dead end streets, dead end streets that turned out to be neither abnormal nor interesting. I’m also in the information gathering stage for I new, or better revised, project on ancient literacy. I find literature...Read all of "Blogging Is A Little Light These Days"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:40 PM
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August 19, 2010
Four Stone Hearth - 1 Short of 100
"Four Stone Hearth #99: The last two-digit edition" is up at A Very Remote Period Indeed. Julien Riel-Salvatore pulled together an abnormally interesting collection of the last two weeks' anthropology posts. Abnormal readers will surely want to read Chris Feagans’...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth - 1 Short of 100"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:21 PM
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August 16, 2010
New Discoveries North Of Ugarit
The Global Arab Network headline reads, “Syria – Archaeological findings in Ugarit dating back to Hellenistic and Bronze ages.” Well, almost. It’s only 7 km off. Not that bad for a headline. But then, perhaps they meant the Kingdom of...Read all of "New Discoveries North Of Ugarit"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:01 PM
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The University of Sciences: One More Time
Jim Davila has an abnormally interesting post on Why We Need Akkadian in which he draws from Jerome A. Chanes’ The Forward review of An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological- Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents With Supplements on Biblical...Read all of "The University of Sciences: One More Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:58 AM
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August 15, 2010
The Hazor Law Tablet Fragments A Surface Find
Gordon Franz reports that the much touted cuneiform law fragments from Hazor where surface finds. Robert Cargill asked the question on his blog: “Where was this in 2006 when I was digging there? lol.” The answer is quite simple: “Right...Read all of "The Hazor Law Tablet Fragments A Surface Find"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:46 PM
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August 14, 2010
Give Jay Valentine A Job
And give Merrie Harris some kind of award. Go here to see why....Read all of "Give Jay Valentine A Job"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:02 PM
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August 13, 2010
Amazing
The President of the United States came out for freedom of religion. The amazing thing about it is that he had to. But then a lot of folks who talk endlessly about the Constitution somehow think that it only applies...
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:26 PM
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Do Bloggers Need Something Like This?
I think we do. You can checkout the complete set of warning stickers as developed by Tom Scott at his Making Stuff Happen. In most cases, all we’d need to do is substitute “Blogger” for “Journalist.” It’s too bad...Read all of "Do Bloggers Need Something Like This?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:34 PM
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August 12, 2010
The Phoenician City Of Aüza (re)Located(?)
Live Science (and others) reports, The site of an ancient city called Aüza, the earliest African city of the Phoenician civilization that existed 3,500 years ago, may have been in a different spot than experts have thought, archaeologists report. Scholars...Read all of "The Phoenician City Of Aüza (re)Located(?)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:53 PM
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August 11, 2010
The Left Thinks This Is All About Them
"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said. "I mean, it's crazy." The press secretary dismissed the "professional left" in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on...Read all of "The Left Thinks This Is All About Them"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:51 PM
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When Belshazzar Wet Himself
Or worse. The Akkadian phrase palḫāku adrāku u šutādurāku, “I am afraid, anxious, and constantly in fear,” is a common element in Akkadian prayers where the supplicant laments the impending portent of a bad omen. Daniel 5 tells a story...Read all of "When Belshazzar Wet Himself"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:04 PM
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August 10, 2010
On My Lack Of Clarity
Now that I’m in the process of getting a few things published I must deal with reviewers and editors. Why do they bother to ask me to clarify a comment or phrase? Don’t they understand that had I been clear,...Read all of "On My Lack Of Clarity"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:24 PM
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August 8, 2010
Calling All Eunuch Judges
Tony Perkins (and others) thinks that judges having a sexual orientation should recuse themselves from cases involving sexual orientation. At least that is the only conclusion that one can reasonably draw from his comments on “Face the Nation.” While I...Read all of "Calling All Eunuch Judges"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:03 PM
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August 6, 2010
Divine Kingship
Do we get it at all? Steve Wiggins has an abnormally interesting post on divine kingship at Sects and Violence in the Ancient World part of which Jim Getz reflects on at Ketuvim. Both posts are well worth the read....
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:06 PM
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August 5, 2010
Four Stone Hearth #98 Is Up
Raymond Ho has the 98th edition of the anthropology carnival Four Stone Hearth up at The Prancing Papio. While I found all his selections abnormally interesting, something really struck me about Martin Rundk’s post Future Archaeology of Gaming. When we...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth #98 Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:03 PM
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August 4, 2010
John the Baptist Will Be Good For Tourism
Archaeologists in Bulgaria claim they have found remains of John the Baptist while excavating the site of a 5th century monastery on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan. . . . Further tests on the fragments are due to...Read all of "John the Baptist Will Be Good For Tourism"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:03 AM
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August 3, 2010
Go Eagles
“Eagles” is the mascot name of Bell High School. I graduated from that institution 1960. I’ve only returned one or two times since. Even those visits were long ago. Well, as you might have guessed, our graduating class is having...
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:35 PM
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August 2, 2010
David, Jerusalem, And Other Underdetermined Questions
All the abnormally interesting problems in archaeology, philology, ancient literature and history, (modern literature and history too) are underdetermined. The more underdetermined they are, the more interesting they are. Answers to questions concerning Iron Age I/early Iron IIA Jerusalem and...Read all of "David, Jerusalem, And Other Underdetermined Questions"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:23 PM
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