Dunedin: all-year-round beach weather! Heaps of room on the beach today too, for some reason.
Dor HaMidbar
@dorhamidbar.bsky.social
Some Religion, some Conspiracism, some Māori wairuatanga | Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, ngā Pākehā
Tl;dr Broke: America is a Christian nation because God chose it. Woke: America is not a Christian nation because its founders were secular. Bespoke: America *is* a Christian nation because its founders systematically privileged Christianity & its oppressive history reflects Christian supremacism.
Indiana University received a $6 million grant to study antisemitism in line with the Trump admin campaign against “campus antisemitism,” led by a scholar who supports the IHRA definition of antisemitism and thinks it is always antisemitic to accuse Israel of genocide. www.ipm.org/news/2026-07...
IU receives $6 million grant to study, educate about modern antisemitism
The IU Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism said it will use the money to “train educators, journalists and public officials to recognize antisemitic rhetoric” and create scholarship t...
ipm.org
Useful map. New Zealand is a long way away for most people.
Amazing story of the racist Alan Titford and his friends the-end-is-naenae.ghost.io/ake-ake-ake/
Ake ake ake
Lies aren't always fleeting - and monsters are no more self-made than better men. This post contains distressing violence and racism. Please take care.
the-end-is-naenae.ghost.io
"If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I should have recommended something simpler." - Alfonso X El Sabio [The Wise], of Castile (1221-1284) upon being instructed in the Ptolemaic system www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/thompson.184...
Titanomachy: the war of the Titans and the Olympian gods. Gigantomachy: the war of Giants and the Olympian gods. Theomachy: the war between Olympian gods at Troy. Christophoromachy: the war between Christophers in NZ elections. "First as tragedy, then as farce" #nzpol
Post a perfect album from the 90s.
Michael DeVries@michaeldevries.bsky.social · last wk.Post a perfect album from the 90s.
I didn't predict this for 2026: Christian Nationalists / Libertarians responsible for explosive diarrhea across America. By your shit shall ye be known.
Katherine Stewart@katherinestewart.bsky.social · 2w agoWhat's with the alliance between sectors of big ag and reactionary religion? My latest religiondispatches.org/2026/07/22/l...
What song did the Sirens sing in The Odyssey? Wrong answers only. youtu.be/XqZsoesa55w
Baby Shark Dance | #babyshark Most Viewed Video | Animal Songs | PINKFONG Songs for Children
YouTube video by Baby Shark - Pinkfong Kids’ Songs & Stories
youtu.be
Becky Tyler@beckytylerart.bsky.social · 2w agoWhat song did the Sirens sing in The Odyssey? Wrong answers only.
Devils of Democracy
LibraryThing@librarything.com · 2w ago"Reveals how America's centuries-long obsession with evil has shaped—and endangered—our democracy." Enter to win a copy of Michael E. Heyes / @thedemonologist.bsky.social's "Devils of Democracy" from @broadleafbooks.bsky.social #💙📚 #Booksky www.librarything.com/ner/detail/5...
"Bypassing misinformation" - one useful tool to deal with your conspiracy-theory-addicted uncle on Facebook, etc etc. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVP-...
How to handle misinformation without starting a fight
YouTube video by CBS Mornings
youtube.com
Remember that time Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, defended Doug Wilson's defence of rape? I do, Denny!
Jenny Cohn@jennycohn.bsky.social · 3w agoDoug Wilson wrote that sex “cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party.” Instead, he says, “a man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants,” while a “woman receives, surrenders, accepts.” Wilson’s wife wrote: “A husband is never trespassing in his own garden.” By Sarah Stankorb, 9/28/21..1/
"this book sets itself apart from the work undertaken by a group I have called the 'philosophical apologists of conspiracy theory.' The aim of these apologists is to deploy a range of arguments to rehabilitate conspiracy theory" - Andrew McKenzie-McHarg, Hidden History of Conspiracy Theory (2026)
Stephen Lim compares Archipelago Asianness and the Continent. The latter is also defined as "Having normal voluntary control over one's excretory functions" (OED). With this, he investigates the origins of Abraham the wandering Aramean. #ISBL26
Mark Leuchter zoomed in to speak at his Dv's tribute session. So me and Mark are Doctor-siblings! Brothers from another mother. He talked on IA Judahite origins of Enoch traditions, I disagreed, but greatly enjoyed thinking through the mentalscapes his talk opened up. #ISBL26
I went along to the tribute session for Ian Young, who is about to retire. He was my secondary PhD supervisor. And we found out that it was Philip Davies who brought Ian, Robert and then Martin together, with a suggestion on working together on a book, back in 2001. Biblical Hebrew. #ISBL26
There's something about spending 2 days at the #ISBL26 conference that has reminded me that I heard a good description/definition of Theology as... "The Zoology of Dragons". @willsweetman.bsky.social Kim...? Where?
I went along to two papers on Isaiah 43, with one of them, by JinRi Kim, engaging a bit with the way this ancient Jewish text appropriates the name 'Israel'/'Jacob'. #ISBL26 I also spotted Hong Guk-Pyoung in the audience, so had to let him know how much I loved his book: Judah's Desire. Fanboi.
On this #ISBL26 conference, I've now heard quite a few acknowledgments we're on Kaurna country. Good to see from Aussies. Yet oddly, it's only acknowledgments. When do they give the land back or at least pay some fucken rent? P.S. some good Aussie reading, Alana Lentin:
If you thought "hydration breaks" were bad, Australia has "Macca's Match Breaks". Ronaldo fucking hates it. #ISBL26
Idan Dershowitz made a case for the derivation of the Jewish week and sabbath from the 7 'planets' or wandering stars. Against those who suggest an abstract scheme or derivation from Greek. A good proposal, I reckon, given the cross-cultural instances of 7s that have the same basis. #ISBL26
Te Aroha Rountree, from the centre of the universe (Ngāpuhi) outlined her approach to Māori biblical interpretation - to engage with biblical texts as an act of interpretive sovereignty - made salient due to the dominant historical role of the Bible in both colonization and Indigenization. #ISBL26