I wasn’t familiar with the term “sealioning” until P. Z. Myers used it on his blog recently, linking to an explanation of why it is bad. The term refers to an online debate tactic depicted in this cartoon by David Maliki, which gives the phenomenon its name: I’m in two minds about this. On the one hand, it isn’t hard to see that the sea lion ends up engaging in faux politeness while in fact being extremely rude. Ironically, the behavior of the... Read more
In flashbacks, we learn of Sun and Jin struggling to conceive. We also see Sun meeting with the man from the earlier date, to learn English. A fertility doctor says that there is no way for Jin and Sun to conceive. The doctor says the problem is with her, but later confesses that he lied, and that the problem is with him. Locke says that Ana was running “like the devil was chasing her.” He tells her about them having... Read more
Of related interest, see Jared Calaway’s recent blog post about what Origen wrote about animal poop on Noah’s ark. Read more
One of my Christmas presents for 2014 is still being made. Here’s a photo indicating the progress thus far. Can you all recognize what it is? Read more
This post is not about the conservative religious view of the Biblical authors and copyists, whose writing activity was supposedly taken over by God to make God the author. No, this isn’t a metaphor – it is about an actual robotic scribe! Bible History Daily reported the story, including the fact that the process does not produce a scroll that can be used in orthodox synagogues – not only because of the materials used in the process, but also because a robot... Read more
Daniel Gulotta hosts his first ever Biblical studies carnival. It includes lots of links that are of interest to readers of this blog, on all kinds of interesting Biblical studies news, including some of the discussions of mythicism. Brian Small shared his monthly round-up of online activity about Hebrews. Peter Kirby shared the biblioblog rankings, with Exploring Our Matrix coming in at #10. And in an interesting alternative to standard practice, Morgan Guyton listed seven posts on his blog that... Read more
This episode focuses on Aaron having a fever and rash. Danielle shows up in camp, and says he is “infected.” Jack suggests it is rosiola, common in children. Claire starts to remember something, and asks Libby to help her recover her memories, since she thinks that the others did something to her baby. Libby tries hypnosis. Claire begins to remember Ethan injecting her with something. Libby is concerned that Claire might be combining genuine memories from before the trip with... Read more
This might be contrasted with the recent article Eric Metaxas wrote for the Wall Street Journal, although one can be open to seeing questions at the limits of our scientific inquiry as pointers to a transcendent reality, without adopting the approach that views unanswered but potentially answerable questions within the realm of science as gaps to be filled with God as explanation. Read more
Via 1st Doctor/William Hartnell on Facebook Read more
A recent article on Simcha Jacobovici’s The Lost Gospel included Titian’s painting “Noli me Tangere,” which is in the public domain. I had seen the painting before, but the poses of the two figures never struck me in quite the way they did when I saw it connected with Jacobovici’s conspiracy theory about Jesus and Mary Magdalene being married. And so it seemed appropriate to add a caption to it. For a more reverent interpretation of the pose, you can read Jonathan Jones’... Read more
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