Sunday, May 12, 2002

•••Speaking of Cuneiform Hey, mister -- wanna buy a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet for $10?. Iraq's economic collapse means the oldest writing in the world can be bought for a song on eBay -- and has scholars racing to digitize Sumerian artifacts before they become paperweights. [from Salon.com] Maybe I should sign on to eBay and buy one of those things. I actually know a fella that can not only read cuneiform, but write it. Back in seminary at St. Louis, this fellow (Jay, as I knew him then) was simultaneously completing his M.Div at Concordia Seminary and his Doctorate in Assyriology at Washington University. Go figger. Fascinating fellow though. One of those guys I could easily and gladly spend hours shooting the breeze with about most anything, but hated to have classes with because he usually didn't ever raise his hand just to ask a question, but to give a mini-lecture to the prof and the rest of the class which only half the time ended with a question mark. Amazingly enough, that fella knows fourteen dead languages. On the other hand, I happen know the lyrics to almost that many Ramones albums. And oddly enough, that's probably a small part of why you're even bothering to read this blog, isn't it?   12:18:19 AM   googleit 18     itemlink->