March 2011 Archives
« February 2011 | Main | April 2011 »
March 31, 2011
A Minor Rant
The woes of being an independent student department About a year ago Honnold Library at the Claremont Colleges moved all (or most) of their considerable periodical holdings to an off campus “Records Center.” In so doing they make room for...
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:15 PM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (3)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 30, 2011
Abnormal Prurient Antiquarian Interests
At the Pacific Coast Regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, I heard the expression “antiquarian interests” used a couple of times as if it were a synonym for prurient interests or maybe worse. And this wasn’t the first...
Read all of "Abnormal Prurient Antiquarian Interests "
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:44 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (5)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 29, 2011
The Western Regional SBL – A Quick Comment
or three. First, I had a great time seeing old friends like Chris Heard (remember when he was a great blogger), Don Benjamin (who may aspire to be a great blogger) and Brad Kelle and meeting for the first time...Read all of "The Western Regional SBL – A Quick Comment"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:16 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 26, 2011
Fair Warning
I plan to be at Whittier College the next couple of days, so if you plan to be there too, look out. I’m off to the Pacific Coast Region meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature Sunday and Monday. I’m...
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:09 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 25, 2011
Taking Our Country Back
to the 19th century. More than a third of all U.S. states allow borrowers who can't or won't pay to be jailed. Judges have signed off on more than 5,000 such warrants since the start of 2010 in nine counties...Read all of "Taking Our Country Back"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:40 PM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 24, 2011
New Project at Byblos
The Daily Star reports, Caretaker Culture Minister Selim Wardy and the municipality of Jbeil launched Tuesday the archeological project “Jbeil and the Sea,” which aims at retrieving the city’s Phoenician-era port. “We hope our work will shed light on this...Read all of "New Project at Byblos"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:34 PM
| Read more on Archaeology |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 23, 2011
The Sea People As Cultural Vectors
In a fascinating and, for me, frustrating paper, Susan Sherratt discusses the Sea People in the context of 2nd millennium economics. Within one frame of reference, she may be correct in saying, As it is, I am not sure that...Read all of "The Sea People As Cultural Vectors"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:17 PM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 21, 2011
Paul Krugman on Elizabeth Warren,
The fact that she’s so well qualified is, of course, the reason she’s being attacked so fiercely. Nothing could be worse, from the point of view of bankers and the politicians who serve them, than to have consumers protected by...Read all of "Paul Krugman on Elizabeth Warren,"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:26 PM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
Osso Buco and Augury at Ugarit
I don’t even claim to know any Italian but that doesn’t mean that I’m exempt from dealing with it from time to time. My main problem with the language is that after struggling with a few words or a sentence...Read all of "Osso Buco and Augury at Ugarit"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:49 AM
| Read more on Humor |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 20, 2011
What’s Wrong With the Society of Biblical Literature?
Well, I’m not sure of everything that is wrong or right with the largest organization devoted to the academic study of the Bible. But if I were forced to judge by a single question in the Biblical Scholar Survey sponsored...Read all of "What’s Wrong With the Society of Biblical Literature?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:20 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 18, 2011
Relative Abstraction and Instrumental Music
A short question with a long introduction: In past years, my philosopher kids and I discussed the question of relative abstraction. There’s a rather large definitional problem here that for this post I choose to ignore. Whatever relative abstraction is,...Read all of "Relative Abstraction and Instrumental Music"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:48 AM
| Read more on Odds and Ends |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 17, 2011
A Week Away For Two Months Now
For the last two months, I’ve been a week away from completing an essay on the origins of Homeric augury The essay is an interdisciplinary study: Classics on the one hand and Assyriology on the other. But I am not...Read all of "A Week Away For Two Months Now"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:01 AM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 16, 2011
Some “Communist” On Collective Bargaining
Obviously, this has been around for a while, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it. Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars where Ed has some of the text that preceded the YouTube version of Reagan’s comments....Read all of "Some “Communist” On Collective Bargaining"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:19 AM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 13, 2011
Just How Figuratively Should We Take This?
But indeed, ask please the domestic animals, And they will teach you; And the birds of the heavens, they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, she will teach you. And the fish of the sea will recount to...Read all of "Just How Figuratively Should We Take This?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:38 PM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (5)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 12, 2011
What Do You Call A Reception At A Cemetery?
A few thousand of my fellow alumni, their families and I have been invited to a funeral reception. Why would anyone host a funeral reception for a university president at a cemetery? Personally, I try my best to avoid receptions...Read all of "What Do You Call A Reception At A Cemetery?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:32 AM
| Read more on Humor |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 11, 2011
Earthquake in Japan
By now, I suppose everyone knows of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan. What no one knows for sure is the full extent to the devastation. I am not exactly sure how I will respond. It is...Read all of "Earthquake in Japan"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:17 AM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 10, 2011
“Like Rock Stars With A First Hit Record”
The Los Angeles Times has an abnormally interesting article on the editors of the Autobiography of Mark Twain. Thrust into a publishing success about which other academics can only fantasize, Smith and her colleagues at UC Berkeley's Mark Twain Papers...Read all of "“Like Rock Stars With A First Hit Record”"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:23 AM
| Read more on Mark Twain |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 9, 2011
The End Of Philosophy At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas?
It appears that the Board of Regents of the University Of Nevada will be considering a proposal to eliminate the entire Philosophy Department and two smaller departments at their Las Vegas campus. If this passes, I hope they also remove...Read all of "The End Of Philosophy At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:24 PM
| Read more on Current Events |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 8, 2011
Homer Can’t Live By Naveh and Powell Alone
This afternoon I read Sven-Tage Teodorsson’s paper, “Eastern Literacy, Greek Alphabet, and Homer, Mnemosyne, 59:2, 2006, 61-187. Teodorsson’s paper deals with the question of when and under what circumstances the Homeric epics were committed to writing. In the course of...Read all of "Homer Can’t Live By Naveh and Powell Alone"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:43 PM
| Read more on Archaeology |
| Abnormal Comments (8)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 7, 2011
An Abbreviated Public Service
For any abnormal reader who may want such a thing, I’ve uploaded an Excel file with reference abbreviations as recommended by the American Journal of Archaeology and the Society of Biblical Literature. Even for the same reference, they sometimes have...Read all of "An Abbreviated Public Service"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:28 PM
| Read more on Archaeology |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 6, 2011
The Egyptian Throne
Klaus P. Kuhlmann has just published the entry “Throne” for the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology on eScholarship. Here’s the abstract, By today’s definition, a “throne” is the seat of a king or sovereign. In ancient Egypt, a plethora of terms...Read all of "The Egyptian Throne "
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:17 AM
| Read more on Archaeology |
| Abnormal Comments (3)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 5, 2011
On Dating Mesopotamian Influence
No, this post doesn’t directly deal with the question of Mesopotamian influences on the Hebrew Bible. If you’re too disappointed, I will mention it at the end of the post. Scholars like Martin West and more recently Burkert plus a...Read all of "On Dating Mesopotamian Influence"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:13 PM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 3, 2011
A Proper Ruling For A Despicable Organization
I think the Supreme Court was correct in ruling in favor of the loathsome Westboro Baptist Church. We can’t demand freedom of speech only for those whose opinions and behavior we like. Fred W. Phelps and the members his family...Read all of "A Proper Ruling For A Despicable Organization "
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:50 AM
| Read more on Religion |
| Abnormal Comments (2)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 2, 2011
Ebla Archives Online
I just spent some time looking around the new online Ebla Digital Archives. Here’s what they say about themselves. The aim of the Ebla Digital Archives [ EbDA ] database is to provide a digital edition of the entire corpus...Read all of "Ebla Archives Online"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:38 AM
| Read more on Akkadian |
| Abnormal Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
March 1, 2011
Quotation Of The Day
“Yes, Virginia, atheist creationists do exist. And they're just as insane as the religious kind.” – PZ Myers at Pharyngula....Read all of "Quotation Of The Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:23 AM
| Read more on Religion |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |
Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up
The February Biblical Studies Carnival is up at Matthew Crowe’s A Fistful of Farthings. There’s loads of good stuff and some theology. Take a look. If you’re like me you’ll be surprised at how many abnormally interesting posts you missed...Read all of "Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:15 AM
| Read more on Hebrew Bible |
| Abnormal Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
| Abnormal Archive Link |