(Funny) Pic of the day!

This is bloody hilarious! Here's a snippet about the piece:

In the Jack Reese Galleria of the great Hodges Library of the University of Tennessee the art and artifacts of the Centaur excavation at Volos has found a permanent home. This reconstruction of a Centaurian burial site was assembled by Professor William Willers of the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1980s before being moved to the University of Tennessee. This controversial reconstruction has -as intended-- provided the catalyst for countless discussions about (for example) biological possibilities, mythological realities, cultural transmission, psycho-dynamic representations, and occasionally the possibility of an elaborate hoax. As the embodiment of the ideal integration of physical, spiritual, and intellectual strengths, the Centaur is a prominent candidate for University mascot.

Read more here and a bit more here

Incredible holographic technology

This material is crazy! I can see the potential uses for museum/galleries that don't have a lot of space but want to show, for example, 3D representations of ruins and the like.

Theologian proposes God had a wife in earlier versions of the Bible

As reported by Dean Praetorius ,The Huffington Post:

God's Wife, Asherah, May Have Been Edited Out Of The Bible Says Theologian

This might not exactly be the version of the Bible you remember from Sunday school.

Early versions of the Bible apparently featured a fertility godess, Asherah, who may have been God's wife, at least according to one British theologian. Back in 1967, historian Raphael Patai mentioned ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah, according to Discovery.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, is shedding new light on the theory. However, even if she's right, the Bible's editors may very well have wiped her almost clean from the document, reports TIME.

What remains of God's purported other half are clues in ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in an ancient Canaanite coastal city, now in modern-day Syria. Inscriptions on pottery found in the Sinai desert also show Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped as a pair, and a passage in the Book of Kings mentions the goddess as being housed in the temple of Yahweh.

J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, backs Stavrakopoulou's findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah."

It's all a bit Dan Brown-ish, but apparently there are still a few signs of her in the Bible.

Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."

Whether the goddess was actually edited out of the document is debatable, but Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museum and an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, told TIME the ancient Isrealites were, in fact, polytheists.

Stavrakopoulou's books and papers have become the basis for a documentary series in Europe where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.

Strike at Glasgow University Arts Faculty, including Archaeology Dept.

Lecturers from one of Scotland’s leading universities have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over job cuts.

The move, by academics from Glasgow University yesterday, means there could be a summer of disruption to student admissions and the marking of resit exams.

A ballot was held by the University and College Union (UCU) after the university management refused to rule out compulsory redundancies in ongoing plans for job cuts.

The university has targeted up to 80 jobs in a number of different academic disciplines, including archaeology, biomedical and life sciences, and the education department.

The union argues job losses are unnecessary because the university is heading for a £6 million surplus and will do lasting damage to the university’s academic reputation.

However, the university argues the job cuts are necessary because of specific financial issues in some of the ­departments, while also warning of future threats to public funding of universities generally.

The announcement on the result of the ballot comes on the eve of a meeting of the univer sity’s ruling court, which will decide on whether to pursue compulsory redundancies.

Mary Senior, UCU Scottish official, said: “There is a clear mandate for industrial action, but we hope the dispute can be resolved without recourse to strikes. The Glasgow University Court cannot ignore its staff and must agree to work together to resolve the situation without forcing job cuts.”

She added: “We are calling on the Court to end the uncertainty for staff in the threatened departments or risk damaging the university’s proud international reputation.”

However, a spokesman for the university said: “We are disappointed at the UCU ballot result as industrial action will only harm students.

“We continue to consult with staff and their unions and Glasgow University will do all in its power to minimise the effects of any action on students and the university as a whole.”

Earlier this year, the university announced plans for up to 80 job cuts in a number of different departments, including the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard).

Established in 1989, Guard is a commercial enterprise run by university academics which provides archaeological services to businesses and public bodies across Scotland.

It is best known for its work on Time Team, presented by Tony Robinson, and BBC2’s Two Men In A Trench, co-presented by Neil Oliver and Tony Pollard, head of Guard’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology.

After the plight of Guard was featured in The Herald, the university’s ruling court gave it a temporary reprieve to allow for closer scrutiny of its finances.

(Story Source)