Batterij van de digitale camera loopt wel verdacht snel leeg. Gelukkig heb ik er twee. Batterijen, that is.

Librarian Avengers! [via Rene Hoornweg]

Third Rock is afgelopen met een sisser. En queue de poisson. Bah.

’t Zijn de Keystone Kops, I swear!

Sniper: “Hello, Hello, can you hear me?”

Cops: “Can’t hear you, it’s garbled!”

Sniper: “Okay, I am driving towards the nearest cell phone tower I see. Can you hear me now?”

Cops: “We are getting some of it, but it’s garbled.”

Sniper: “Shit. Okay, now I am going to walk out and sit on the base of the nearest cell phone tower I see. Can you hear me now?”

Cops: “Nope, still garbled.” [can you believe the asshat is falling for this? The old garbled message trick?]

Sniper: “Shit, this isn’t working. Can you give me an adress where I might turn up at a specified time and call you?”

Cops: “If it isn’t too much trouble, could you show up at the pay phone at the junction of Elm and Maple? At the gas station?”

Sniper: “You got it.”

En dan asshat Moose: we hebben de sniper! Ze zijn met twee! Of neen! Toch niet! Het zijn illegale immigranten! Maar zou de sniper ons kunnen terugbellen? Want we hebben hem niet goed kunnen verstaan!

Tchhh. Keystone Kops I tell you.

I love it when interviewees get personal:

For you, is it an open question as to whether the low chronology is correct, or are you certain it?s correct?

I am certain.

This is very technical material. I think what our readers would like to know is why so many senior …

You are stepping into a trap. I?m warning you. […]

I wonder if you would explain your position.

First of all, you, Hershel, play a major role in the incitement. You have to admit this. You play a really important role in inciting people against each other. I respect and have respected a lot of what you have done throughout the years. But there are points that I don?t respect. You know exactly what they are. We have known each other long enough to know where we disagree. The only problem in the last year or two has been that I felt that the disagreement between the two of us got a twist into a hostile direction that really surprised me.

En kom het verdorie tegen, de laatste aflevering van Third Rock From The Sun. Nu kan ik nog niet gaan slapen, beurk.

Allez ju, een laatste rit in de John Lithgow School of Overacting.

Toch vreemd, het was vandeweekend al de laatste aflevering van Deep Space Nine.

Hershel Shanks van Biblical Archeology Review, ’t is ne kadee. Voor alle duidelijkheid: hij is de stichter en de hoofdredacteur, en hij doet een interview met Israel Finkelstein. Zijn vragen staan in het vet.

On the other hand, someone may reason that the ancients understood a phenomenon like the parting of the Red Sea as a God-given miracle, when in fact there is a natural explanation for it. To such a person who sees this text as sanctified by time and as representative of an early people?s understanding of an event, they may ask themselves, ?What inspired that understanding in ancient people thousands of years ago?? That is also a legitimate question. I believe there are no illegitimate questions, only illegitimate answers. To such a person, he or she may be interested in whether or not there was some natural event that the ancients understood as a miracle. And to such a person I say, ?That?s a legitimate question.? It may not interest you, it may not interest me?or it may. Would you agree that that?s a legitimate question?

Every question, almost every question is legitimate. I don?t want to go into the philosophy of whether every question is legitimate here.

Getting back to the historicity of events in early Israel, I started with a miracle, the parting of the Red Sea. Let?s take another one: God told Abraham to ?go forth to a land that I will show you? (Genesis 12). Whether God said that of course is a miracle. That?s beyond history. That?s a matter of faith. But someone may legitimately ask, did Abraham come from the east? Does archaeology have anything to contribute to that question?

I?m not sure. I think the question should be, why did they tell the story in late monarchic times?

That?s your question. That may not be someone else?s question.

But the question before was your question.

That?s right.

Who are you representing? The lawyer Hershel Shanks, are you representing the ancient people?

No, I?m trying to understand your views.

Okay, so I?m trying to tell you what my question is.

That?s your question, though.

You just told me a minute ago that every question is legitimate.

Yes, your question is legitimate, too. But our readers would like to know whether archaeology has anything to contribute to my question.

My method is to start with the question of why the story was told. What?s the purpose of telling this story in the text, a text that was put into writing only at quite a late date?

Didn?t the people who put together the Biblical text use sources? They didn?t just make up a story, did they?

Definitely not. Do you mean written sources?

They had some written sources.

Great stuff.

Great! Alan Partridge, als hij bij Radio Norwich het ochtendprogramma doet voor boer en tuinder. Fantastisch!

Writing in the new issue of Shanks’ Biblical Archaeology Review, Andre Lemaire, a specialist in ancient inscriptions at France’s Practical School of Higher Studies, says it is “very probable” the find is an authentic reference to Jesus of Nazareth and he dates it to A.D. 63 — just three decades after the crucifixion.

The inscription, in the Aramaic language, appears on an empty ossuary, or limestone burial box for bones. It reads: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Lemaire dates the object to 63 A.D.

The first century Jewish historian Josephus recorded that “the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, James by name,” was stoned to death as a Jewish heretic in A.D. 62. If his bones were placed in an ossuary that would have occurred the following year, dating the inscription around A.D. 63.  [Salon]

Meer informatie te vinden op de website van Biblical Archeology Review (trouwens van harte aangeraden).

I get kind of excited about getting beat up and thrown around.”
— Jennifer Love Hewitt on getting roughed up by Jackie Chan in “The Tuxedo,” to Reuters.

Guess the Dictator or Sitcom Character. Grappig. Er was al één iemand voor mij die Jean-Bédel Bokassa in gedachten had. Maar hij heeft niet geraden dat ik Boss Hogg van The Dukes of Hazzard was. Ha!

The Office is weer prachtig goed.

Vier types vader, volgens Equal Oppertunities Commission volgens de mannen aan de BBC. Ik vrees dat ik Entertainer Dad ben.

Bah, het lukt niet. Vindt files niet en stop met de install voor hij goed en wel begonnen is. Beh.

Pffff… low-level miserie. Uiteindelijk een DOS-versie van de Macintosh-tool Shrinkwrap gevonden. En met shrinkwr -x disk?.img agenda lukt het om alles te extracten. Nu nog de drives SUBSTen en proberen installeren.