The odd absences in Mark are matched by the unreal presences in the other Gospels. The beautiful Nativity story in Luke, for instance, in which a Roman census forces the Holy Family to go back to its ancestral city of Bethlehem, is an obvious invention, since there was no Empire-wide census at that moment, and no sane Roman bureaucrat would have dreamed of ordering people back to be counted in cities that their families had left hundreds of years before. The author of Luke, whoever he might have been, invented Bethlehem in order to put Jesus in David’s city.
1. Apparently 55 people have died in Florida as a result of being tasered.
2. David Bernstein submitted his DNA for analysis, and offers an interesting history lesson about his ancestors - - Jews who moved an awful lot through Europe.
Happy Ada Lovelace Day, which celebrates the achievements of women in technology and science. Who was Ada Lovelace?
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on 10th December 1815, the only child of Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella. Born Augusta Ada Byron, but now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented.
4. The SyFy Channel will have a new cooking show called Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, starring Top Chef season 2 runner-up Marcel Vigneron. (I miss the days when they showed Buck Rogers marathons.) Via.
2. How Rome fell. (Hint, despite what you may heard at partisan websites, it wasn't because of homosexuality or anything remotely similar to George Bush's leadership.)
3. LeBron James' new Nikes apparently subtly hint at his enthusiasm for the NY Knicks? (No it's a hoax.)
Skeletor atop his throne by Keith Noordzy for an upcoming Gallery 1988 show.
And a few more links:
1. "Signs of what could be a previously unknown ancient civilisation are emerging from beneath the felled trees of the Amazon. Some 260 giant avenues, ditches and enclosures have been spotted from the air in a region straddling Brazil's border with Bolivia." Photo link. Via.
The ad campaign for SyFy's version of Alice in Wonderland is almost certainly more interesting than the movie will be. Part of the campaign included people running around New York dressed as rabbits, as well as rabbits projected on buildings. More details here.
3. Used to be, the fear was that Asian countries were producing too many men, the men would be unable to find wives, and would accordingly start wars instead. The reality is that they simply go to another country to look for a wife.
