October 2010 Archives
« September 2010 | Main | November 2010 »
October 31, 2010
The Oktoberfest Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up
The Oktoberfest Biblical Studies Blog Carnival Extravaganza is up at ξἐνος. Jonathan has done a very commendable job at pulling this month’s carnival together. But in so doing, he has put me in a bit on an embarrassing position. Some...Read all of "The Oktoberfest Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:59 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
How Much Math Do We Really Need?
G.V. Ramanathan, professor emeritus of mathematics, statistics and computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, tries to answer this question in the Washington Post. And according to him, you don’t need very much. Unlike literature, history, politics and...Read all of "How Much Math Do We Really Need?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:20 PM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (3)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 30, 2010
Jan Alberto Soggin (1926-2010)
Jan Alberto Soggin died on Thursday. He was one of those scholars who had important things to say to all students of the Bible, professional or amateur, pious or secular. Four of his books grace my library. I still consult...Read all of "Jan Alberto Soggin (1926-2010)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:50 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 29, 2010
Four Stone Hearth Is Up
I’m running a couple of days late but Four Stone Hearth #104 is up at Sorting Out Science. Give it a look. For abnormal reasons, I will be hosting Four Stone Hearth #105 here in a couple of weeks. It’s...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:56 PM
| Read more on Paleoanthropology |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 28, 2010
When A Snake Doesn’t Bite
As a diversion to a diversion to an irrelevancy, I’ve been reading through the snake omens on tablets 22-29 of the Akkadian omen series Shumma Alu ina mele Shakin. Of the 200 plus omens involving snakes only a very few...Read all of "When A Snake Doesn’t Bite"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:06 PM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 27, 2010
Common English Bible
I just received a “complementary” leather bound copy of the Common English Bible’s Christian New Testament translation and boy am I disappointed. I thought "common" meant vulgar and I was expecting a lot of profanity and dirty words. So far,...Read all of "Common English Bible"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:50 AM
| Read more on Humor |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 26, 2010
Verb Or Noun? It Makes A Difference (To Me)
And if a noun, which meaning should I adopt? Take a look at the colophon at the end of KTU 1.6, lines vi 54-58. KTU 1.6 is part of the Ba’al myth. I offer three options on how to understand...Read all of "Verb Or Noun? It Makes A Difference (To Me)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:02 PM
| Read more on Ugarit |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 24, 2010
Negative Campaigning Works
We may say that we hate all those negative advertisements that pollute everything from our favorite TV shows to blogs but no matter how much we may hate them, those who study the election process know they work. "The operating...Read all of "Negative Campaigning Works"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:18 AM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 23, 2010
Getting Even
Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings has a beef with big companies. The beef is about the asymmetry in the way mistakes are addressed. When he makes a mistake, he must fix it immediately. When big companies make a mistake, they take...
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:18 PM
| Read more on Humor |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 21, 2010
A Person’s Life
What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, and every day, the mill of his...
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:51 PM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 20, 2010
Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1, Now Online
The Mark Twain Project has now released Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 free online. And an amazing presentation it is. In addition to making the whole volume available without charge, the online version contains many explanatory notes that are...Read all of "Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1, Now Online"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:53 PM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 19, 2010
An Akkadian Fragment From Egypt
This is left over from a now abandoned project but I though I’d post it anyway. When we think of Akkadian texts from Egypt we tend to think of the Amarna letters. But Archaeologists have uncovered a few other fragmentary...Read all of "An Akkadian Fragment From Egypt"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:15 AM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 18, 2010
New Ancient World Open Bibliographies Blog
Phoebe Acheson and Chuck Jones have launched a new blog. Here’s it’s raison d’être This blog is for discussion and development of a project to collect and solicit annotated bibliographies about subjects relevant to studies of the ancient world (as...Read all of "New Ancient World Open Bibliographies Blog"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:05 PM
| Read more on Archaeology |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 17, 2010
Thought Of The Day
As I said I would do, I am reading Autobiography of Mark Twain and wondering. One of the things I am wondering is what my library would be like if Brill sold 736 page books on the ancient Near East...Read all of "Thought Of The Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:11 PM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 16, 2010
Wow! And A Month Early
The first volume of Autobiography of Mark Twain has just arrived, all 736 pages of it. And a wonderful production it is. The chapters which immediately follow constitute a fragment of one of my many attempts (after I was in...Read all of "Wow! And A Month Early"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:29 PM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
Who Is This Guy?
Yesterday, a group of us celebrated our high school graduating class’s 50th reunion or so it was called. There haven't actually been 50 reunions. I think there have been about four or five but it’s the first one I’ve attended....Read all of "Who Is This Guy?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:53 PM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 14, 2010
Four Stone Hearth Is Up
Raymond Ho of The Prancing Papio hosts the latest segment, the 103th, of Four Stone Hearth. As usual, there’s lots of good stuff. I found Jane Simpson’s Small languages flourishing (2) – Íslenska abnormally interesting. Those of you who have...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:36 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 13, 2010
A Tedious Task
I’ve been busy trying to see if I can identify differences in the semantic ranges of the verbal use of the root ktb in various cognate Northwest Semitic languages. It’s a common enough root in Biblical Hebrew with a meaning...
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:25 PM
| Read more on Ugarit |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 12, 2010
Finally
I’m pleased to report that someone I didn’t know and never heard of died yesterday. When you reach my age, you don't get that kind of news very often. It would be insensitive of me to give the deceased’s name....
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:29 PM
| Read more on Humor |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 10, 2010
Oh Orchestra
I love you most of all. Last night was concert night. Last night was the orchestra. Last night was Haydn and Liszt and Rodrigo. Last night was the orchestra. It’s not just orchestra music that I love; it’s the ritual,...
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:11 AM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 9, 2010
How I Spent My Saturday Afternoon
Replacing one of these: It is likely that you have one of these or something very much like it at your house. I hope you don’t need to replace yours or even see it....Read all of "How I Spent My Saturday Afternoon"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:37 PM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (4)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 8, 2010
Greek, Nietzsche, And The Subtly Of God
Via NT Resources Blog, Darrell Pursiful, Dr. Platypus, reproduces and comments on Dave Black’s “thirteen things Greek teachers won’t tell you.” Of course, these failures to communicate only apply to some teachers of the Greek of the Christian New Testament...Read all of "Greek, Nietzsche, And The Subtly Of God"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:21 PM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 7, 2010
I Can Hardly Wait!
I’ve mentioned before that volume 1 of the Autobiography of Mark Twain is about to be published. Excitement is in the air. It is also at This is Mark Twain, a University of California sponsored website, and at Amazon. The...Read all of "I Can Hardly Wait!"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:56 PM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 6, 2010
Literacy Among the Pharaohs?
When Semitists think of literacy, they tend to think of literacy (or lack of it) among the ancient Israelites and their Northwest Semitic neighbors or they think of the possibility of literacy among those who wrote in cuneiform. But Semitists...Read all of "Literacy Among the Pharaohs?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:10 PM
| Read more on Scribal Schools |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 5, 2010
John Burrow On History
We are accustomed to think of the intellectual history of Europe in terms of the history of philosophy, of science and religion, of art, literature and of ideas of social order and political authority. But the history of ideas about...Read all of "John Burrow On History"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:29 PM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 4, 2010
Here We Go Again
The State University of New York at Albany's motto is "the world within reach." But language faculty members are questioning the university's commitment to such a vision after being told Friday that the university was ending all admissions to programs...Read all of "Here We Go Again"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:51 AM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 3, 2010
An Arrogant Atheist To The Rescue
Yesterday, an almost unimaginable disaster befell Jim West’s Zwinglius Redivivus blog. One of his posts was lost. But, now it’s found. In accordance with Holy Scripture (John 10:28) and assisted by almighty Google cache, I am happy to be able...Read all of "An Arrogant Atheist To The Rescue"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:26 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (11)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
Five Centuries of Genevieve Lee
Last night Shirley and I attended one of those free concerts at Pomona College that I keep raving about. This one featured the work of Professor Genevieve Feiwen Lee who I also keep raving about. Finally I was able to...Read all of "Five Centuries of Genevieve Lee"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:09 AM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 2, 2010
Reflections On Recent Bible Studies Carnivals
I direct this post to the biblical blogging community. Unless you really have abnormal interests, this post may not interest you at all. Before I get into the meat of the post, let me do a little stage setting, a...Read all of "Reflections On Recent Bible Studies Carnivals "
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:31 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (5)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
Affirming The Consequent
1. If P, then Q. 2. Q. 3. Therefore, P For several months, really for over a year as a background activity, I've been trying to answer the question, “Is there convincing evidence that one or more of the kings...Read all of "Affirming The Consequent"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:37 AM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
October 1, 2010
Friday Self Promotion
I just received a rather large box of offprints of my much anticipated, by me, paper, “'Pisser against a Wall': an echo of divination in Biblical Hebrew?” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72:4 (October 2010), 699-717 As I have said, this is...Read all of "Friday Self Promotion"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:21 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |