Feiler Faster

This year’s newest explanation. A Cuneiform clay tablet which for over 150 years defied attempts at interpretation has been “revealed” to describe an asteroid impact which in 3123 BC hit Köfels, Austria, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction which is be credited with accounting for the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The…

A friend in London who travels a lot around the world was visiting New York recently. We had a sobering conversation in which this very sophisticated traveler, who’s written numerous books about China, said she concerned that the growing impact of Islam around the world — including in Europe — would lead to a general…

The NYT looks at Black Liberation Theology and its declining significance in the black community — only a quarter of churches now follow the theology that stresses that God’s commitment to free the Israelites in the Bible, among other places, means he will free blacks today. This thesis is a big part of my new…

This detail from my reading pile. All NPR lovers have heard of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They also fund the famed “genius” grants every year. But a new book, Eccentric Billionaire, focuses on their odd life. A recent piece in USA Today includes this gem: His questionable ethics persisted as he…

For those of you lucky enough to get some. Here are some things to do with your leftovers.Hat tip: A certain Passover-hating friend.

Buried in a NYT story about Passover, this statistic. According to Lubicom, a marketing firm for the kosher food industry, about 350,000 households in the United States keep kosher kitchens year-round, a number that has gone up by 3 percent to 5 percent every year since 2005 as some American Jews have become more observant.…

The Bread and Mammon crowd, which is to say those who like to expalin American behavior with biblical precedents, should love this. We are once more defying the Bible. As the AP reports, “The two biggest U.S. warehouse retail chains are limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what Sam’s Club, a division…

It’s a fact! Both the NYT and the L.A. Daily News have now run breathless stories about the Plight of the Missing Matzahs (insert your own spelling here; a brief search of the NYT website finds three different spellings of the unleavened bread — matzah, matzoh, and matzo). Here’s the NYT: From coast to coast,…

Say what you will about the Tibet protestors, but as an act of brand warfare — tarnishing one of the most carefully cultivated worldwide brands ever created — they’ve done a masterful job. They’ve now got the torch cowering inside buses and cutting short its route, and today PM Brown said he would boycott opening…

No, but Harry Potter may be. Harris Interactive has released results of its Favorite Book of 2008. While The Bible is number one among each of the different demographic groups, there is a large difference in the number two favorite book. For men, that belongs to Lord of the Rings while women cite Gone with…

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