King Hezekiah’s Other Seal Impression

With news (see Dr. Candida Moss’ article) of the discovery of yet another seal impression of King Hezekiah (about whom there is little debate concerning his historicity, as he is already known from extra-biblical sources like Sennacherib’s hexagonal prisms), I thought I’d share the much rarer evidence of King Hezekiah’s lesser known, other seal impression.

King Hezekiah’s Other Seal Impression.

BTW, you can read all about Hezekiah and Sennacherib’s Annals in Chapter 4 of the forthcoming book, Cities that Built the Bible (HarperOne, 2016), available for pre-order now.

“God is Johnson” license plate answers age old question

In Iowa, the name of the county issuing a vehicle’s license plate is printed on the bottom of the plate. This is usually not a problem, unless for instance, you’re making a confession of faith, at which point you may have a problem:

Well, now we know.

Mankind has searched for years, and while God is said to have had many names throughout history such as YHWH, Allah, Vishnu, Ahura Mazda, Zeus, El, Osiris, Apollo, etc., few knew his name was actually “Johnson”.

Then again, perhaps we’re reading the license plate incorrectly. Biblical scholars have known for centuries that many of the earliest Canaanite religions were fertility religions, which worshiped gods like Ba’al or Dagon in the hope that their crops and family would be fertile. Obviously, the owner of this car worships a different fertility god.

And who knows? Maybe the owner just really loves the ol’ People’s Republic??

How would YOU caption this picture?

(HT: Jeremy Swist)

“Simply pretending to hold a watermelon does not validate your argument.”

“Simply pretending to hold a watermelon does not validate your argument.”
– Steve Caruso

So true. And it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. :)

(HT: Tom Verenna)

Fear is all in one’s point of view

For Roslyn, but all mothers and fathers can relate. Fear is all in one’s point of view.

Fear is all in one’s point of view.

(HT: Leah Stone via FB)

How cold is it in Iowa City this spring? THAT just happened!

How cold has it been this spring of 2013 in Iowa City? Well, this is how Dept. of Classics Chair, Dr. John Finamore, gets to work in the Jefferson Building in the morning.

AT-AT snow walker on the Ped Mall in Iowa City, March 18, 2013.

Discovered on my U Iowa office door this morning, the day before my 40th birthday

I arrived at my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office this morning (the day before my 40th birthday), and discovered this taped to my door.

It is supposedly the text of “1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll)”, a newly-discovered Dead Sea Scroll.  It purports to be a list of things I’ve said during various classes at Iowa (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :).

Much of it appears to be corroborated by a textual congruency with a particular Twitter site, which I’m guessing was authored by the same students.

Anyways, I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the statements below.

But I CAN say that I love teaching, I love my students, I love the University of Iowa!

Thanks guys!

(And NO, I shan’t be supplying the missing words…)

The text of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll), discovered posted on my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office door the day before my 40th birthday. It is a list of things I’ve apparently said during class (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :)

The text of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll), discovered posted on my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office door the day before my 40th birthday. It is a list of things I’ve apparently said during class (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :)

The top half of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll).

The bottom half of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll).

hurt puppy

lol.

BWAHAHAHA! How to write a praise song (in 5 minutes or less)

This is such a perfect (and unfortunately, true) satire of what passes today for Christian praise music, it must be viewed by all.

The beauty (and power) of this brilliant and clever video is that it’s dead on the money. The unimaginative, grammatically ignorant, theologically defunct tripe that passes for “worship music” today is parodied perfectly by Garrett Vandenberg.

Watch it and lament what has become of contemporary worship music.

My Opinion of the New UC Logo: It Sucks

The University of California has a new logo. It’s supposed to be better for online icons (especially small ones).

The problem is, it sucks. I mean, it’s really bad. NPR did a story. Even the stylish Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsome, thinks it’s bad. HuffPo has a good article and a slide show that depicts some of the fun people have been having with this abomination of a logo.

At first I said: “The new University of California logo is a sad corporate healthcare logo whose yellow toner cartridge ran out. http://bit.ly/RKIVcn #UC”

The new University of California logo is a sad corporate healthcare logo whose yellow toner cartridge ran out. http://t.co/PjE8eRvi #UC

— Robert R. “Dr. Bob” Cargill (@xkv8r) December 8, 2012

So as a proud alum (UCLA MA 2007; PhD 2008), I first thought I’d express my displeasure with a simple meme. (I even used Comic Sans to highlight how unprofessional and unscholarly it looks:

But I think I’ve got a better analogy, one that captures the essence of the logo as some form of bad personal hygiene logo:

The new UC logo is awful. It looks more like a condom logo than the icon of a prestigious university. Mashup by Dr. Robert Cargill.

For those that remember the UC Davis pepper spray incident, I thought this was clever:

UC Davis Pepper Spray logo

Enough said. It’s bad. Logo FAIL! Or to put it in academic terms, rewrite and resubmit.

Horses and Bayonets

Wouldn’t it be an intriguing news story if President Obama’s “horses and bayonets” line  during the third presidential debate became THE line that stopped the slide in the polls and turned things around for President Obama?

Here’s my mashed-up contribution to the “horses and bayonets” meme.

President Obama as Gandalf with bayonet: You shall not pass!