The Obesity Epidemic: Even Your Pets Are Fat

I suppose it should come as no surprise that pudgy Brits have pudgy pets.  Reuters reports

Eight of Britain’s fattest pets are to embark on a 100-day diet and fitness regime in a bid to crowned this year’s pet fit club champion. The seven dogs and one cat, who are all more than 30 percent overweight and weigh a combined total of 191 kg (30 stones), were picked by veterinary charity PDSA who are running the slimming contest. The animals, who need to lose a total of 74 kg to reach their ideal weight, will be put on specially tailored diet and exercise programs.  The pet who achieves the biggest percentage weight loss and best follows their new regime will be crowned champion, winning their owner a pet-friendly holiday.

There’s a simpler way to make the obese critters lose weight… ship them to countries where they are delicacies.  That way you kill two birds with one stone: the hungry are fed and the overweight beasts are dealt with in a way befitting their worth.  It’s the ‘Swiftian Solution’ (you’ll recall, I hope, that J. Swift suggested that the cure for the Irish famine was Irish cannibalism- curing both the problem of the famine and the problem of the Irish).

A New Bible Study Magazine

Ryan Burns was nice enough to send along a copy of the latest biblical studies oriented magazine to hit the market (and published by Logos).  The title is, cleverly, Bible Study Magazine.  It’s nice to see a magazine title that leaves nothing to the imagination, because this new offering is just about bible study.

So far as aesthetics are concerned, it is nicely produced.  The layout is user friendly and the print is clear enough on the page (though a bit smallish- but only because I’m at the bifocal stage of life).  The photos are clear and even the Hebrew font used is clean.

As far as content is concerned, I think this particular magazine will appeal more to a conservative Evangelical readership than to those who tend toward the center or left of center.  The authors aren’t biblical scholars for the most part but freelance journalists.  For example, the lead article – titled ‘Josh McDowell: On Defending the Bible’, is written by a young woman ‘on staff with the international Arts Movement in NYC.  She is a writer, musician, and conference speaker’.

The second chief article in this inaugural number is an interview with Peter Flint and is very well done.

Dan Wallace contributes the third essay titled ‘Choosing a Bible Translation’.  The choice of Wallace as contributor indicates as well as the tone of the first essay the fact that conservative Evangelicals are the target audience.

Next, Craig Broyles offers what can, I think, best be described as a devotional reading of Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah.  It’s nicely done and finely illustrated.  But utterly devotional in its tone.  Another devotionally oriented piece follows by John Barry on Hebrews: ‘Facing Today with the Book of Hebrews’.  This young fellow is an MA student and Associate Editor of the present publication.

A few shorter snippets follow the major articles, including one called ‘Thoughts from the Church Fathers’.

Michael Heiser, the Chief Editor of the project, next has what can best be described as a piece on textual criticism titled ‘Who Took Verse 4 Out of my Bible?’  He’s speaking of John 5:4.  This too takes a devotional tack.

This particular issue concludes with part one of a three part interview with Mark Goodacre titled ‘When I Open the Gospels:’  Followed by a theological essay-ette on Justification and Sanctification (written by a Messianic Jew), and a chart illustrating the various ‘canons’ of the Bible.

One final clue as to the intended readership can be seen in the books reviewed section.  All the volumes examined are from InterVarsity Press (with the exception of one Baker volume).

All in all it’s a nicely done publication.  It won’t appeal to the Guild of Biblical Minimalists; but it will most likely find a comfortable home on the shelves or coffee tables of many conservative Evangelicals.

Looting The West Bank: The Stolen Past

National Geographic has a good piece today on the archaeological looting going on in the West Bank.  It’s very much worth a read.

With ruthless efficiency the looters dug beneath each foundation and into every well and cistern, searching for anything they could sell: Byzantine coins, clay lamps, glass bracelets. In the process they toppled columns and riddled the site with holes, erasing the outlines of walls and doorways—and the only surviving record of thousands of ancient lives. What was once an archaeological treasure and tour stop became a moonscape of craters and rubble. Abu Mohrez, a local imam and shopkeeper, begged the looters to stop, to no avail. He places his hand over his heart and grimaces with regret. “They wrecked the place, and it used to be beautiful.”

Yes, read it all.

The 2008 Gezer Excavation Report

Is available, in brief, here.  It includes some fantastic photos.  Enjoy.

More on Khirbet Qeiyafa: Is it the Biblical Sha’arayim?

The San Francisco Gate has more information on the find:

On Tuesday, Hebrew University archaeology Professor Yosef Garfinkel will present compelling evidence to scholars at Harvard University that he has found the 10th century biblical city of Sha’arayim, Hebrew for “Two Gates.” Garfinkel, who made his startling discovery at the beginning of this month, will also discuss his findings at the American Schools of Oriental Research conference hosted by Boston University on Thursday. Garfinkel believes the city provides evidence that King David ruled a kingdom from his capital of Jerusalem. Some modern scholars have questioned the biblical account of David’s kingdom and even whether he existed. Although it is not clear how the Sha’arayim relates to David, Garfinkel says finding a Judean city along the ancient highway to Jerusalem that appears to have been a fortress on the western border with the Philistines indicates a kingdom with a developed political and military organization that was powerful enough to include a major fortified city.

Read the whole… Especially Aren’s remarks

“There is no question that Yosef Garfinkel has found a unique and interesting site of a type we haven’t had until now,” said Aren Maeir, professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan who is excavating Goliath’s hometown of Gath nearby. “But we have to wait for more findings and more analysis.”