Tiny pieces of the bones of Jesus Christ have been discovered and subjected to DNA testing. So argues a documentary by James Cameron entitled “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” soon to be broadcast on the Discovery Channel. The film cites academic researchers to defend the claim that a group of limestone ossuaries excavated from a tomb discovered in 1980 in Taipot, Israel may have contained the remains of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their son Judah. Some feel that the controversial ossuary sometimes supposed to have once held the bones of a brother to Jesus, may also have come from this site (The purported ossuary of James has been discussed at Metafilter before).

Cameron plans to publicly open three of the stone boxes in New York later today, to show the world the dust of Jesus, Mary, and Mary Magdalene.  Are the contents of the Taipot tomb most likely there by coincidence or forgery? Or might they in fact be surviving vestiges of the Christian Messiah and his family? What would it matter, one way or another?

Interviews with the film’s director and Producer from the Discovery Channel

University to retire the Chief Friday
Posted: 2/15/07 Section: News

Sources within the University and close to the Chief tradition confirmed today that Board of Trustees President Larry Eppley intended to single handedly retire Chief Illiniwek under pressure from Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones.

Rumors have been flying on campus about the future of Chief Illiniwek in the recent weeks, especially after the Jan. 17 resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the Oglala Sioux Tribal nation demanding the University return the Chief Illiniwek’s regalia.

Gordy Hulten of the popular blog IlliniPundit.com posted an entry today that stated the University Board of Trustees will eliminate the Chief tomorrow, in one form or another.

The decision will come one day after the current portrayers of Chief Illiniwek filed suit against the NCAA and the University. The suit is seeking a restraining order that would keep the NCAA from enforcing its policy declaring the Chief “hostile and abusive.” Sources say that the lawsuit is a pre-emptive strike intended to prevent the University from retiring the Chief. The hearing on the suit is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow. Should the court issue an injunction, the University will be prohibited from putting the plans to retire the Chief in motion.

Check out www.dailyillini.com for further information and updates on the story as it unfolds.

It’s been a long time coming.  Some small congratulations to the University of Illinois for finally mustering a a half-ounce of courage on this issue.  More substantial congratulations to everyone who’s kept pushing to get rid of “the Chief” for so many years. 

Note: Time may be running out to download your cool Chief Illiniwek wallpaper.  Impress your friends!

I dare you to tell me you don’t love this.

We love the tawdry chintz of Valentine’s Day, which feels like a real saint’s day, all red cellophane and roses.  In my world however, Valentine’s is also traditionally a day for romantic disaster.  But none of that this year.  This year I spent most of the day digging out from under a titanic snow, shoveling the sidewalks and driveway I’d already shoveled yesterday, finding the snow mysteriously heavy and hard, breaking off into giant chunks.

But it’s Valentine’s Day all the same.  And I eventually excavated my car, and drove it to campus.  I found the hard-to-find book I’d been waiting for six weeks had finally arrived from Germany, and that the quad was filled with students frolicking (there’s no other word for it) in the snow, like all the kids in brochures for Gustavus Adolphus College, or some such place.

In any case we here at TDQ wish you and yours a happy Valentine’s Day, whether you’re feeling a bit forlorn, or whether the bliss of romantic love has plugged you directly into the sweet center spot of the Hegelian dialectic. 

Meet Chris Langan, “the world’s smartest man,” as interviewed by Errol Morris. 

Part 2 and Part 3.

Langan was beaten up for being too smart, while luckier kids were praised for being “gifted.”  Lucky them.  Or maybe not?  See also: Malcolm Gladwell’s take on the pernicious notion of precociousness.  (via Mefi)

All classes have been canceled for Tuesday (Feb. 13) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. More than 5 inches of snow fell overnight, up to another foot of snow is possible by Tuesday night and a blizzard warning is in effect. U. of I. employees who have been designated as essential personnel are expected to report to work.

This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Chancellor

I visited Springfield Illinois yesterday to watch Barack Obama’s official announcement that he’s running for President.  It was cold, and he gave a great speech (you can watch it in its entirety at his website). 

I took some pictures of my visit to Springfield and posted them as a photoset on Flickr.  Here, have a look.  I’m tempted to write more, and perhaps will soon, but I’ve just wasted too much time adding captions for my flickr photos.

I just tagged along for some drinks after a panel talk featuring the Famous Intellectual who’s in town for a couple weeks.  It was a little frustrating, since I think I disagree pretty strongly with most of his main ideas, and yet I’m not sure enough about his work to really engage him.  But in that last few days I’ve been reading his work and suspect that he’ll probably be taken to task in the final chapter of my dissertation, on which I’ve lately been working (lucky him).  Yet everyone seemed so jointly enthusiastic about one another’s ideas that I kept almost entirely quiet.  I concluded that the enormity of my own sense of his wrongness must surely point to something embarrassingly confused about my way of understanding him. 

And there are other little things that confuse me about his work.  He often uses the work “bicameral.” Bicameral?  Like Julian Jayes bicameralism?  Or does Deluze or someone use this term in some other sense? 

I guess I decided to avoid launching into a long winded but ill-informed critique of a well known thinker who I plan to discuss briefly in my dissertation.  This is a little unlike me, and in a sort of bad way.  Probably he’d have enjoyed a bit of disagreement.  On the other hand, I suppose there was also a pretty high likelihood of my appearing to be terminally confused.  All in all, incredibly frustrating–enough to make me resort to this seldom used blog to complain into a hole in the earth.