Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 2d

This has infested our house as well.

The YouTube Shorts generation have already made this twice these holidays!

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 2d

Some flavor crazes flirt with us and fade. Others stay and make themselves at home. The Dubai chocolate movement seems to have put down roots and is spreading.

The Dubai chocolate craze is now about much more than bars

Some flavor crazes flirt with us and fade. Others stay and make themselves at home. The Dubai chocolate movement seems to have put down roots and is spreading.

bit.ly

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 5d

I did read a big chunk of Gerhard Von Rad's OTT in the waiting room.

It feels so far like he just discovered the word "amphictyony" and is trying to work it in to as many sentences as he can.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 5d

9.5 hours in a waiting room to get told it’s likely inflammation not a stress fracture was not how I wanted to spend my Saturday.

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Reposted by Douglas Fyfe

History Daily - This Many Years Ago @thismanyyearsago.bsky.social · 8d

2355 years ago, on the 1st of October 331 BCE, the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Army under King Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela. It is seen as the final blow to the Persian Empire. #otd #history #persia #alexanderthegreat 🗃️

Alexander Mosaic, House of the Faun, Pompeii photographed by Berthold Werner, Naples National Archaeological Museum, May 2013
The mosaic represents a battle in which Alexander of Macedonia charges the Persian king Darius III, the commander-in-chief of the Persian army. Alexander fought Darius III in a series of battles over control of the Persian Empire. Alexander defeated Darius at the Battle of Issus and again two years later at the Battle of Gaugamela. The work is traditionally believed to show the Battle of Issus.
The battle scene comprises over 50 men. It stands out among ancient works of art because it represents a large group of soldiers, depicts each figure with meticulous attention to detail, expertly captures the expressions that appear on the warriors' faces, and uses muted colors.The mosaic features many figures in a very large space. The two most distinguished and recognizable figures are Alexander and Darius III.

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Reposted by Douglas Fyfe

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 12d

Yom Kippur begins at sunset on 1 October. Here is Jonah being swallowed by the fish, at the text of Jonah, the haftarah for the afternoon service of Yom Kippur.
#YomKippur
Bodleian Library, MS Kennicott 1; 'The Kennicott Bible'; 1476 CE; La Coruña, Spain; f.305r @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 13d

I've clearly been marking too much. I keep writing LSS (learning support system) instead of LXX.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) is both written down by Moses, reflecting actual historical events, AND is a polemic against the neo-Babylonian empire. not sure how these can both be true but finding out is the joy of marking. #ammarking

two men are sitting at a table in front of a crowd and one of them is talking on a phone .

ALT: two men are sitting at a table in front of a crowd and one of them is talking on a phone .

media.tenor.com

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

wasn't he in court in tassie for knicking a car or something too? busy lad

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

confusingly, forty is a five-letter word (assuming my maths still holds up). really fun clue

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

The push-shove moment for Zondervan will be when someone points out to Trump something they didn't like and then Trump dobs on Murdoch who dobs on NewsCorp who dobs on HarperCollins who dobs on Zondervan. The recent late-night-host censoring is a reminder that connections always come with a cost.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

Sure. Maybe this will be the only one they acquire. It just seems to be the way of things - everyone eats up everyone else.

Maybe the only way for Baker to survive will be to eat or be eaten - Lexical Darwinism (to mangle the term from Mortal Engines).

Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

I don't know anything about Beersheba but "the way" in Amos 8:14 makes it sound like Beersheba is a place of pilgrimage, maybe you have to walk all the way there, throw a coin in the well (Beer) and you get to make a wish (Sheba - "to swear")?

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

In the last verse of Amos 8 Yhwh has issues with people putting their trust in three northern locations: Samaria, Dan and Beersheba. He calls out the Shame of Samaria, the God of Dan, and the Way of Beersheba.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 15d

My fear with the Lexham Logos Baker deal is the endless conglomeration. Soon everything is going to be owned by Bezos or Disney or Murdoch. Murdoch btw owns NewsCorp who owns HarperCollins who owns Zondervan.

When one falls they’ll all go down.

Oh and more censorship.

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Reposted by Douglas Fyfe

Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · Feb 1

lol ok i had to

The Star Wars meme with Anaking Skywalker and Padme in four panels.

Panel 1: Anakin (as publishing): Don't forget to promote your book :)
Panel 2: Padme (as the author), grinning: Cool! Ur gonna promote it too, right?
Panel 3: Anakin (as publishing): ...
Panel 4: Padme (as the author), serious and concerned: ... Ur gonna promote it, too. Right?

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 16d

meanwhile essays i'm marking which have clearly had parts written by AI are coming up 0% on Turnetin's inbuilt detector. dumb software wasting everyone's time and making us dumber

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 16d

dumb AI recognition software is giving my son anxiety. he's writing an 800 word essay and it's telling him it's some percent AI (which it isn't - I watched him write it) and now he's stressing trying to edit it to reduce it so he doesn't get in trouble

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Reposted by Douglas Fyfe

Evan Caddy @excadthedra.bsky.social · 17d

A great🧵

One day somebody’s going to write a PhD on Charlie Kirk’s funeral as the consummation of American evangelical syncretism. Like, there’s so much text and sub-text here. Just deeply disturbing.

Josiah Hawthorne @josiahhawthorne.bsky.social · 17d

"You see, Charlie looked at politics as an on-ramp to Jesus. He knew if he'd get all of you rowing in the streams of liberty, you'd come to its source, and that's the Lord."

--Rob McCoy, Kirk's pastor

Sooo... what exactly does that mean? If we follow Kirk's politics we'll become Christians?

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 17d

Agree. Rereading Jonah was massive for me. Finally got to preach it this year and the congregation were challenged but I think got it - it really is a more coherent way to read it.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 19d

Brilliant #MinuteCryptic today for this religious space lover:

"Religious space cosmonaut struggling with lack of oxygen" (7)

www.minutecryptic.com?utm_source=s...

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

www.minutecryptic.com

Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 20d

now I can only imagine a dog in a basket

oh wait, now I'm imagining friday arvo schooners. much better

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 20d

the diversity of words for baskets in the Hebrew Bible, but also the clustering, is really interesting. I wonder whether each author had a different item in mind, or whether that was just their idiolect - everyone just has their own word for a basket (like Australians and our words for beer glasses)

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 20d

2. the word for the basket in Amos 8 כלוב is only used in Amos. Each book seems to have its own word.
Zechariah it's איפה, in Jeremiah and Ps 86 it's דוד, in Genesis 40, Exodus 29, Leviticus, Numbers and Judges 6 it's סל. Deuteronomy usually uses טנא but once has כלי (the word I would expect)

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 20d

just hit Amos 8. two things to note 🪔

1. there's a pun on the word translated "summer fruit", because it sounds like the word for "end". it's קיץ and קץ. Yhwh shows Amos the basket of קיץ and says the קץ is coming. I like how the NIV tries its own pun - here's some ripe fruit; the time is ripe.

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Douglas Fyfe @duck5.bsky.social · 21d

there's an interesting suggested emendation of Proverbs 15:2 in BHS, where תיטיב could conceivably be תיטיף (v and ph are pretty close), as it's in parallel there with נבע, to gush or flow:
the wise and the fool both gush words, where the former's are knowledge the latter's are folly.

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