Remembrance of Things Past

Several people have called my attention to this intriguing item:

“Lost Language Discovered at Egyptian Monastery”

Unfortunately, it’s been many years since I last visited St. Catherine’s Monastery.  I never thought that would happen, but life goes in directions that we don’t anticipate.  It’s an absolutely fascinating place.

In its glory days, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), the precursor to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (and to today’s very much repurposed Maxwell Institute), was at the cutting edge of the kind of technology alluded to in this article, recovering text from damaged manuscripts.  We were, I thought then, in a unique position because of the unusual Church culture at BYU:  Engineering and technical people here had unusually strong interests in ancient religious manuscripts and were delighted to join with people professionally focused on such things.  That’s why we had something called the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART), which I directed for a while.  We worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls, on charred papyri from Herculaneum, on Maya murals at Bonampak, on Syriac manuscripts in the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, and a number of such things.

I’ve long regretted that the CPART mission was allowed, to a considerable degree, to fade away.  (Some on campus are still working, independently of the old FARMS and Maxwell Institute operation, on materials from Herculaneum.)  But that’s how it goes.  Life offers up both satisfying victories and discouraging defeats.

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Here’s an item from just over a week ago that you might have missed:

“‘Muslims against terrorism’: Hundreds of people gather just yards from where Barcelona terror attack took place to protest against violence as police kill Europe’s most wanted man”

I think it worth mentioning even at this late date because I so often hear that Muslims don’t speak out against terrorist violence.

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And I want to alert you to a “Magic Show Fundraiser for Refugees” that will take place at Murray High School, in Murray, Utah, on Saturday, 7 October 2017:

“Magic Show Fundraiser for Refugees”

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Out for Mexican food with a group of friends last night.  Out for Mexican food at a different restaurant, with a different set of friends, tonight.  It makes maintaining my girlish figure just a bit difficult.

I was very disappointed to learn that the Mexican restaurant El Azteca, at 78 South State Street in Orem, Utah, where we ate a few hours ago, will be closing its doors on Thursday (tomorrow) after fifty-five years of business.

My future wife and I had dinner at El Azteca, at its old upstairs location south of the BYU campus in Provo, on our second date, and it’s been a mainstay ever since, whenever we’ve been in Utah Valley.  The food has been reliably excellent, and it’s been a favorite of ours for decades.

There is a chance that they’ll reopen elsewhere — apparently, problems with their current place of business are behind the closure — and I want to encourage them to do so.  If you happen to be among those who care, as we do, please drop them a note on their Facebook page.  (I’ve provided the link above.)