Clay Tablet News Flash

Image Source: British Museum via news.com.au.

At the British Museum, Irving Finkel, the museum's assistant keeper of the Middle East, has deciphered a 4,000 year old clay tablet, on display as of 24 January 2014, which refers to ancient flood preparations. The tablet came to Britain via an RAF airman's Second World War service in the Middle East. The tablet predates Biblical sources by several centuries:

The tablet gives a version of the ark story far older than the biblical accounts, and Finkel believes the explanation of how "holy writ appears on this piece of Weetabix", is that the writers of the Bible drew on ancient accounts encountered by Hebrew scholars during the Babylonian exile [in the 7th-6th centuries BCE].

The tablet originated in Mesopotamia; its 60 lines of text are written in cuneiform:

The text describes god speaking to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who is the Noah figure in earlier versions of the ark story.

He says: 'Wall, wall! Reed wall, reed wall! Atram-Hasis, pay heed to my advice, that you may live forever! Destroy your house, build a boat; despise possessions And save life! Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same.'

The ancient Babylonian text describes the ark as a round 220-ft diameter coracle with walls 20-ft high.

According to the tablet, the ark had two levels and a roof on the top.

The craft was divided into sections to divide the various animals into their own sections.

The 60 lines of text, which Dr Finkel describes as a 'detailed construction manual for building an ark', claims the craft was built using ropes and reeds before being smeared with bitumen to make it waterproof.

Because the tablet stipulates that this 'ark,' or 'coarcle' was round, a new unusual detail has been added to the family of flood myths.

Finkel has penned a book and is preparing a television show around his translation of the tablet and the folk memory it relates, The Ark Before Noah (brought to you by the same people who published Teach Yourself: Complete Babylonian). CNN:

The newly decoded cuneiform tells of a divinely sent flood and a sole survivor on an ark, who takes all the animals on board to preserve them. It even includes the famous phrase “two by two,” describing how the animals came onto the ark. ...

We have known for well over a century that there are flood stories from the ancient Near East that long predate the biblical account ... .

What’s really intriguing scholars is the description of the ark itself. The Bible presents a standard boat shape – long and narrow. The length being six times the measure of the width, with three decks and an entrance on the side. The newly discovered Mesopotamian text describes a large round vessel, made of woven rope, and coated (like the biblical ark) in pitch to keep it waterproof.

Archaeologists are planning to design a prototype of the ark, built to the specifications of this text, to see if it would actually float. Good luck to them in trying to estimate the weight of its cargo. So, why does this new discovery matter? It matters because it serves as a reminder that the story of the Flood wasn’t set in stone from its earliest version all the way through to its latest incarnation.

The people who wrote down the Flood narrative, in any of its manifestations, weren’t reporting on a historical event for which they had to get their facts straight (like what shape the ark was). Everyone reshapes the Flood story, and the ark itself, according to the norms of their own time and place.

Coincidentally, the British Museum translation, book, and Channel Four TV show are being released just before the CGI-300-style, ancient-prepper film, Noah, starring Russell Crowe. The film will premiere on 28 March 2014. See the trailer below the jump. In the same vein, the sequel to 300, which deals with ancient Babylonia in the 5th century BCE, will be released earlier in March.

"Irving Finkel poses with the 4000-year-old clay tablet containing the story of the Ark at the British Museum in London on Friday." Image Source: The Hindu.

Reason, Judgement and the Age of Information

Madonna dressed as the Whore of Babylon and/or Baphomet at the Superbowl half time performance (2012); first depicted on this blog here. Image Source: Reuters via Stuart Wilde.

In the mid-16th century, Martin Luther attacked the use of reason in the absence of faith. He also abhored the idea that reason and faith were at odds. He felt that when reason was used in opposition to faith, reason became the 'Devil's harlot.' When reason was divorced from faith, she could deceive men into believing anything - any terrible idea - while thinking that they were acting with good sense. The famous remark is widely quoted on the Web; from Whole Reason:

Reason is the Devil’s greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil’s appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom … Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism …. [Martin Luther, Works, Erlangen Edition, vol. 16, pp. 142-148. (I haven't confirmed the footnote; see a comment about the Erlangen Edition here.)]

A now-common misunderstanding of Luther's argument. Image Source: Ideation.

These comments were part of Luther's attack on what he saw as a resurgence of pagan Aristotelianism in the Catholic Church and the early universities. Today, Luther's attack on faithless reason is often misquoted as an attack on all reason. This misreading supports a contemporary rift between atheism and religion.

The point to this post is not to get into that Millennial feud. Rather, it is to seize on the larger value of Luther's allegory. This larger meaning also appears in the metaphor of the Whore of Babylon. She is described in the Bible as πόρνη (pronounced porna),  which can be translated as 'Idolatress.' Moral failure as it descends into pure evil - symbolized in this misogynistic narrative by a fallen woman - simultaneously equates with bad judgement, intellectual arrogance, and the worshiping of false idols.

20th Century Camera Chronicles

Soldier (1940). Image Source: Art Agenda.

This past week, the BBC World News ran a series on the history of German art, including the photographer August Sander (1876-1964), who chronicled the state of his society before the First World War through the post World War II period.  At this time, the camera was cutting edge technology and Sander aimed to use it to capture his surroundings at that moment. His first collection from 1929 was entitled Face of Our Time. A later series, also from the Weimar period, was entitled People of the 20th Century. Through the thirty-year height of his career, roughly 1910 to 1940, his work shows a huge transformation of German society. By 1945, he had taken over 40,000 photographs of German people.

Sander is considered to be "the most important German portrait photographer of the early twentieth century." To honour his vision and accomplishments, there is a crater named after him on the planet Mercury.

Craigslist's Shades of Grey

The new thing: 50 Shades of Grey Birthday Cake (thanks to -A.). Image Source: Inspire, Design, and Create.

This blog is always in search of the Millennial New Normal, so I thought, recalling this post, that I'd swing by Craigslist and have a look at their best ads. Craigslist is known for veering off the Internet's beaten track, and several MSM outlets, for example here, here, here, and here, have reported on the list's craziest ads. Posted on 15 December 2013, under the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania listings, there is the following disturbing advertisement; it would would make great fiction, not-great Millennial reality:

$40k a year to attend Harvard University as me

You must have either a 4.0 GPA in high school, or a 3.5 or higher GPA from a university to get hired for this.

Your age does not matter, but you must be a male since I have a male name.

I am looking for someone to attend Harvard University pretending to be me for four years, starting August 2014. I will pay for your tuition, books, housing, transportation, and living expenses and pay $40,000 a year with a $10,000 bonus after graduation. All you have to do is attend all classes, pass all tests, and finish all assigned work, while pretending you are me.

You do not need to worry about being accepted, I have already taken care of that.

If interested please email me a little info about yourself, and we can meet in person to discuss further.

When we meet you will be asked to sign a non disclosure agreement, so you can not reveal who I am or any further information, whether you're selected or not.

• Location: Cambridge, MA
• it's ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
• Compensation: $40,000 a year

Simulactive Office Space

.Gif Source: Z. Scott via We Invent You.

Some online reports this week discuss the work of .gif artist, Zach Scott, who has created an artistic online conference call simulation. Scott sampled 15 voices with 75 lines of corporate office meeting dialogue which he randomized. If you visit this site, you will experience a Webinar as surreal Millennial art. Scott cites director David Lynch as a big influence, especially with regard to the use of ambient sound to contribute to an jarring atmosphere, and also in relation to a collage of normal details which, together, add up to something unsettling. From The Creators Project interview with Scott:

Lynch--he's my very favorite director and a huge influence. The intent of the ambient soundtrack was to create an unsettling atmosphere. I included quiet supermarket sounds at the beginning and end of the loop because I want people to subliminally feel the influence of money and transactions.

In many conference calls, time really is money, and every distraction and interruption begins to add up monetarily. The participants' inefficiencies are tangibly costing someone money, and it becomes stressful.

I had a few alternate backing tracks that dramatically changed the whole experience. One of them was a loop of a few cheesy hold music smooth jazz clips. I didn't use it because I thought it made the website too funny. I wanted to make people feel a little uncomfortable, and smooth jazz is just too funny. The backing track is really important in setting the tone--if the backing track was the sound of chatter and work and keyboards then the resulting vibe would be more industrious. But I wanted people to think about the absurdity of the conference call and feel a little despair.

Evolutionary Babylon

"A rainbow-colored beast from the margins of a fifteenth-century text." Image Source: Public Domain Review via Paris Review.

The Justin Bieber mugshot is already an Internet meme (do not click here or here and don't don't don't click here (told you not to)). Fortunately, there are other things to think about, like the origins of life. Jeremy England, a 31-year-old physicist at MIT, thinks that he has identified the physics that underlies the difference between inanimate and animate matter. The thermodynamic theory, which complements Darwin's theory of evolution, is outlined in Quanta Magazine, and summarized below the jump.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with the Tower of Babel in the background ("probably 19th century after the first excavations in the Assyrian capitals"). Image Source: Wiki.

Already, critics are queueing to attack England's ideas. But is this simply because his concept has appeared in many guises, to researchers working in various fields, each of which has a field-specific language and set of research precedents? Is the theory of the origin of life a modern Tower of Babel?

Interlude: Birds in the Receding Storm

Gif Source: Lân Phạm Hoàng.

For today, here is a beautiful clip of animation from the Japanese 2013 film, Kotonoha no Niwa (言の葉の庭; The Garden of Words), with birds flying across a city sky through clearing skies after a rain storm. The film is directed by Gen Xer Makoto Shinkai.

Farewell to Komla Dumor

Image Source: BBC via Nollywood Nice.

A bright light at the BBC, reporter and broadcaster, Komla Dumor, died suddenly on Saturday 18 January 2014 at age 41. I was so very sad to hear this today. He always projected a larger-than-life, wonderful and genuine personality as he brought the stories of Africa to the world, and brought the world to Africa:

Between 2009 and 2012 Komla was the anchor of the groundbreaking Africa Business Report on BBC World News. This program (a first for the BBC) took Komla to close to 20 African countries covering hundreds of thousands of miles interviewing the continents top entrepreneurs, politicians and policy makers. In addition to the European mornings Komla [wa]s the face and main anchor for the first BBC's programme dedicated daily African news and current affairs show; Focus on Africa.

Mr. Dumor reportedly died of a heart attack. According to Nollywood Nice and many others online, there is speculation that Dumor overworked himself and this struggle similarly reflects stresses suffered by other immigrant workers. I have not confirmed this, but a Facebook message purportedly from Dumor shortly before he died noted how hard it is to change the way people think, to bring new ideas to the world, to break new ground and conquer prejudice while succeeding in a career:

“God has been v good to me.,last year I experienced a lot of illness ..my B[lood] P[ressure] nearly gave me a stroke but I trod on..waking up at 2am and heading to work..exhausted sometimes..aching in my body a soul..mentally and emotionally drained ..but I kept going ..I smiled for the camera..I volunteered for extra shifts ..I showed respect to my colleagues from directors to the security guards..I took a lot of jealousy driven vicious insults and backstabbing  from petty people without reply..I remain silent in my personal strife and misery..I kept smiling and pushing on to present better and to engage w my audience and increase my following.,long days and frustrating times..but I kept going..through the west gate mall coverage through the Mandela funeral..even when illness had me collapsing I delivered..today my boss the head of television called me for a 1 minute meeting..he said Komla we have decided to make you the anchor presenter for our coverage of the World Cup in Brazil ..we shook hands and I left..I looked to the sky and said thank you Lord for reminding me that you are on my side ..the enemy will be scattered..Selah!Selah! Praise Him..tomorrow is another day.”

I cannot find that quotation on Dumor's Facebook wall here, nor would such a public statement chime with his polished professionalism. If it is genuine, it was likely a private comment.

Dumor spent many years working at Joy 99.7 FM based in Accra, Ghana. On 20 January 2014, Joy is honouring Mr. Dumor by playing his favourite playlists on the station's Multi Track Show. You can listen at 9 p.m. (local?), here, here or here.

Image Source: Facebook.