The New York Times (HT Jim Davila) has a video about rare languages spoken in New York. One of them is Mandaic, that is, Neo-Mandaic, the modern spoken dialect. Unfortunately the video cannot be embedded.

If Dakhil Shooshtary or any other Mandaeans living in the United States have in their possession copies of the Mandaean Book of John, I hope they will get in touch!

In connection with a discussion of banning laptops in classrooms, a music video has been made with that well-worn phrase that sometimes accompanies in-class laptop use: “Please repeat the question.” There’s a transcript as well as the video here.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3508179&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Please Repeat the Question from Amanda Bakale on Vimeo.

HT Greenflame

The latest LOST Untangled is a music video about the life of John Locke. It is called “Locked and Loaded,” although the chorus is “Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do.” Fans are going to love this…

http://a.abc.com/media/_global/swf/embed/2.6.1/SFP_Walt.swf

HT DocArtz

Here’s Part One of a video of Jennifer Knapp being interviewed by Larry King on CNN:

You can find a transcript on the CNN website. The parts are also on YouTube, and the whole thing is interesting.

HT a time to rend

There are lots of interesting video items today. Jim West and the ASOR blog share the ABC News coverage of the latest alleged discovery of Noah’s Ark, featuring Eric Cline. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be possible to embed it here, but it is definitely worth watching.

Bible Films Blog shares that the documentary “Jesus Christ Movie Star” is on YouTube:

PZ Myers and Ruth Gledhill share a video of a graduate who repents of her education, then collapses.

Sansblogue has a post about Bob Cargill’s use of YouTube (see also Bob Cargill’s own blog), while Eruesso links to the PBS documentary The Buddha on YouTube.

Tonight’s episode of “V” cranked up the level of spirituality and religious themes. Although hints of Anna being viewed as like a god were raised in the last episode, tonight’s showed what might well be a realistic response to the arrival of aliens who demonstrated an ability to heal otherwise incurable human illnesses and injuries.

After all, isn’t that a major theme in the Biblical tradition, in particular the New Testament? That the healing power of God is demonstrated through God’s agent, whose credibility is enhanced thereby?

If prayer doesn’t heal someone, but alien technology later did, what would the appropriate response of the one healed be? If you are an adherent of the tradition within which the prayers were offered but without avail, how might you respond to such a development?

As ever, science fiction is exploring interesting topics related to religion, science, and speculation.