I just finished watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. On the one hand, the idea of extraterrestrials or interdimensional beings (or angels or deities, for that matter) having come to earth and brought the key elements of civilization and technology with them (whether making fire, irrigation, or velcro) faces a problem akin to that of intelligent design. It is the common reaction “I can’t imagine how that came about, so I will posit an external intervention... Read more

Butler University is working on adding Digital Commons (i.e. a central site for access to the research and publications of those at Butler) to its web presence. I’ve begun setting up a Selected Works page for myself. Have others used this type of web resource before? Have you found it useful? Any suggestions or feedback will be welcome! Read more

“Scholars of classical antiquity have argued that ancient literary composition was essentially an oral process based on one’s memory rather than on piles of written notes. What was composed orally was subsequently dictated to a scribe who was the actual writer of the text. Once the author had “published” his work by allowing its reproduction by booksellers and friends, he had lost all influence on its further development. Since no copyright laws existed, the author had no protection against the... Read more

Bad Astronomy has the top ten astronomy images for 2008. Number 4 is aptly described as “beautiful beyond words”: Be sure to go take a look at it at full resolution. Read more

I have to say it, even though it may lose me some credibility in the eyes of older academics (although I suspect they already view me with disdain for blogging, so it probably won’t matter much, except to solidify their impression). I love Facebook. It has allowed me to reconnect with friends from childhood, from college, currently scattered all over the world, people that I long regretted losing touch with. But more than that, it allows them to make the... Read more

Given my Romanian connections, I had to share this (HT Mark Goodacre): Sacra Scriptathe new Romanian journal for Biblical Studies edited by the Centre for Biblical Studiesof Babes Bolyai Universität Cluj-NapocaChief editor: Stelian TofanaExecutive editor: Korinna ZamfirEditorial board: Gjörgy Benyik, Ioan Chirilla, Erik Eynikel, Marius Furtuna, Hans Klein, Lehel Lszai, Ulrich Luz, Sorin Martian, Janos Molnar, Tobias Nicklas, Zoltan Olah, Joseph Verheyden Two issues of ca 120 pages per year. Articles are accepted in English, German, French and Italian.Among the... Read more

Here are the first and second of the new Battlestar Galactica webisodes: http://www.hulu.com/embed/il8TBUWAz4WwVfXVnLR4qQ http://www.hulu.com/embed/e12o0fMh-rbavGLrmS97lw Read more

I recently posted an excerpt from “Every Star Shall Sing a Carol” by Sydney Carter. You can listen to the piece online here, and can find sheet music for the melody here. I also came across a small poem called “Interview” that expresses Carter’s outlook: So what do you believe in?Nothing fixed or final,all the while Itravel a miracle. I doubt,and yetI walk upon the water Read more

The latest of the Dharma Special Access videos have been made available. In the first, the producers give intentionally ambiguous answers to fans’ questions. The only straight answer is when they tell us that the smoke monster existed on the island before the Dharma Initiative got there. There is also another clip from the season premiere. Definitely worth taking a look! Read more

On tonight’s Heroes finale, Sylar puts a bunch of the show’s “heroes” together in circumstances planned to bring out the worst in them, to see whether they are capable of killing, of being “monsters” like he is. But in fact, as he confronts Angela trying to get at the truth, he almost begs her to persuade him that she is different from him. Deep down he’s not seeking proof that everyone is like him. He’s seeking evidence that they aren’t.... Read more