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Welcome to Day 2918 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2918 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 147:12-20 Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2918 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2918 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The title for today's Wisdom-Trek is: The Swift Word of the Sovereign King – Fortifying Zion and Thawing the Frozen Wilderness On our previous expedition—on Day Two Thousand Nine Hundred Seventeen—we stepped onto the opening slopes of Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven, exploring verses one through eleven. We marveled at the breathtaking paradox of our Creator: the very same Almighty God who marshals the stars of heaven, calling each one by name, is the gentle Physician who bends down to bandage the broken hearts of hurting exiles. We learned that Yahweh takes no delight in the brute strength of warhorses or human self-reliance, but instead, takes supreme pleasure in those who humbly put their hope in His unfailing covenant love. Today, as we continue along Day Two Thousand Nine Hundred Eighteen of our trek, we move directly into the second half of this glorious hymn: Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven, verses twelve through twenty. In this concluding movement, the psalmist turns his focus toward the fortified walls of Jerusalem, the fierce power of winter weather, and the unique, incomparable privilege of receiving God's holy word. We will see how the sovereign command of yahweh rules effortlessly over both the physical elements of nature and the spiritual destiny of His covenant people. The first segment is: Fortified Gates and the Finest Wheat: The Security of the City Let us open our ears to the exuberant call to worship that begins this second stanza, as recorded in the New Living Translation, grouping together the logical, contiguous thoughts found in verse twelve, verse thirteen, and verse fourteen. Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your city. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat. The psalmist issues a thunderous, joyous summons to the holy city, shouting, “Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!” He immediately anchors this call in concrete acts of divine protection and flourishing, declaring, “For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your city. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.” To grasp the profound relief and joy embedded in these verses, we must remember the historical setting of post-exilic Jerusalem. The city walls had been torn down by Nebuchadnezzar's armies, the gates were burned with fire, and for decades, the returning remnants lived in perpetual fear of hostile surrounding tribes. But when Nehemiah and the people rebuilt the walls under Yahweh's guidance, the city gates were once again secured with heavy bars! Yet, the psalmist recognizes that physical iron bars are useless unless the Lord Himself strengthens them. It is Yahweh who establishes real, impenetrable security around the community, allowing children to play safely within the city streets without fear of sudden invasion. Furthermore, notice the scope of this blessing! It extends from structural safety to internal prosperity. Yahweh grants shalom—complete, untroubled peace—across the borders of the nation, and He satisfies the people's hunger with the “finest wheat.” In the Ancient Israelite divine-council worldview, neighboring pagan nations believed that agriculture and territorial peace depended on sacrificing to localized fertility gods like Baal or Asherah. But Israel knew the truth! Yahweh alone controls the borders of the earth, and Yahweh alone opens the bounty of creation to nourish His children with the very best food. The second segment is: The Cosmic Voice of Winter: Snow, Frost, and the Swift Word The narrative now transitions from civil security to the vast, sweeping power of God's command over the forces of nature, combining the contiguous thoughts found in verse fifteen, verse sixteen, verse seventeen, and verse eighteen. He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then at his command, it melts. He sends the wind, and the ice thaws. Look at the astonishing speed and absolute authority of God's royal decrees! The psalmist proclaims, “He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then at his command, it melts. He sends the wind, and the ice thaws.” In this breathtaking section, the word of God—His davar—is personified as an invincible, swift royal messenger! In the ancient Near East, human kings sent runners across their empires to deliver royal decrees, but those human couriers were limited by speed, terrain, and exhaustion. When Yahweh speaks from His celestial throne room, His word runs like lightning across the globe, instantly obeyed by every element of creation. Notice how the psalmist paints the freezing winter weather: snow falling soft and thick like white wool, frost coating the ground like scattered wood-ash, and hail pounding down like jagged stones! Winter in the mountainous regions of Israel could be severe, paralyzing life and threatening survival. The psalmist asks the dramatic rhetorical question: “Who can stand against his freezing cold?” Human military power, heavy armor, and thermal garments are completely helpless when the Creator turns down the tem“erature of the earth! Yet, just as quick”y as the frost seals the land in ice, Yahweh issues another swift command: He releases His warm wind—His ruach—and the ice immediately thaws, streams begin to flow again, and spring returns to the land. In the divine-council framework, the spiritual principalities that pagan nations worshipped as lords of winter or chaos are unmasked as mere puppets before Yahweh; the weather is simply obedient clay in the hands of the ultimate Cosmic Craftsman. The third segment is: The Unique Treasure: Revealing Decrees to Jacob Having demonstrated how Yahweh's swift word commands the physical cosmos, the psalmist reaches the grand finale of the psalm, revealing the supreme, incomparable gift given exclusively to Israel, as recorded in verse nineteen and verse twenty. He has revealed his word to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the Lord! The psalmist seals this magnificent hymn with a declaration of astounding covenant privilege, exclaiming, “He has revealed his word to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the Lord!” Think about the staggering theological progression of Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven! The God who commands the trillions of stars in verse four, and who directs the freezing hail and melting winds in verses fifteen through eighteen, has chosen to speak directly to human beings! But He did not reveal His holy, written law to the mighty Egyptian empire, nor to the cultured Babylonians, nor to the warlike Assyrians. Instead, He entrusted His sacred decrees, His Torah, and His legal judgments—His mishpatim—uniquely to the descendants of Jacob! To fully appreciate this verse, we must view it through the lens of Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two in the ancient Israelite divine-council worldview. When Yahweh divided the nations after the Tower of Babel, He allocated the pagan peoples under the oversight of lesser spiritual beings, the "sons of God." But Israel was Yahweh's personal, direct inheritance! While other nations stumbled in spiritual darkness, worshipping idols and guessing at the desires of fickle gods, Israel was given the clear, brilliant, life-giving light of Yahweh's written word. They were given the blueprint of cosmic wisdom, showing them how to live in alignment with the Creator. This unique revelation calls for an explosive, ultimate response, ending the psalm with that glorious, unshakeable command: Hallelujah—Praise the Lord! As we conclude today's trek through Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven,

Rob runs with Adam Pope, the author of Run For All Seasons and a man who accompanied him for a great deal of the coast to coast, on a loop around the Thames in the heart of London. Featuring cabbie's shelters, ancient Egyptian obelisks, the Artist's Garden, mudlarking and mudlarkers, the London Marathon's final hill, Ben Wilson's chewing gum art, Adam's next book, and Rob's lovely wife. Subscribe to the Fan Feed at ⁠⁠https://runcompod.supercast.com/⁠⁠ to hear Adam answer our bonus questions -  plus get early access, ad-free listening, and all manner of exclusive content.BUY OUR BOOKS; you can get Paul's NEW BOOK Running Through Sand here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/running-through-sand/paul-tonkinson/9781399404013, you can get Rob's book Running Tracks here - ⁠https://www.waterstones.com/book/running-tracks/rob-deering/9781800180444 Thanks for listening, supporting, and sharing your adventures with us. Happy running. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daily Dose of Hope August 3, 2026   Scripture: 2 Kings 24   Prayer:  Lord Jesus, How thankful I am that we live on the other side of the cross and that your grace is incredibly abundant. And yet, I know that you still allow me to experience the consequences of my behavior; there is still accountability. Lord, help me grow to reflect you more and to gradually live a life characterized by your holiness rather than my own inclination to sin. More of you, less of me. Amen   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope church daily Bible reading plan.  We are almost done with 2 Kings after a summer of learning about the divided kingdom, the various kings, and the exile.  Starting Wednesday, we will be deep diving into Genesis and Exodus.  Hope you will stay with us for that.  Emmy Roberts has agreed to keep up our Friday going deeper discussion.  I've loved my chats with her and I hope you do too.   For hundreds and hundreds of years, God warned his people: Obey the covenant, do not worship other gods, do not neglect the poor. And with just a few exceptions, the people disobeyed. There were judges and prophets sent to warn the people. In fact, there was no shortage of warnings. Yet, the people continued to turn away from God, to be influenced by the culture around them, and to follow the ways of the pagans.   In today's Scripture, 2 Kings 24, we see God lifting his hand of protection. His people have not held up their end of the covenant and he is finally allowing them to experience the consequences of their actions. It's hard to read and yet, we know it had to happen for the next stage of the journey to occur.   Let's talk a little bit about the invasion.  When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, King Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. To be a vassal meant that Judah was subject to Babylon and under its control.  For some context, Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem because the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Babylon. In response, Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and then he pursued their fleeing army all the way down to the Sinai (that's why in verse 7 it mentions that the Egyptian ruler does not come out of his country again – he's been thoroughly defeated).  On the way back, Babylon conquers Jerusalem, who had been loyal to the Egyptian Pharoah.   There will be two more invasions.  In fact, the siege on Jerusalem takes about one year.    King Jehoiachin follows Jehoiakim and not surprisingly, he is also evil.  He actually surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar, hoping to appease him in some way.  But that doesn't happen.  King Jehoiachin is taken captive and sent back to Babylon, as are thousands of Jerusalem's best and brightest.  All the wealthy and skilled people are exiled into Babylon and the treasures found in the Temple are carried off as well.  Jerusalem is impoverished of resources and skill.  Among the captives was the prophet Ezekiel, who wrote his book of while in captivity in Babylon.   Since Nebuchadnezzar has now completely humbled Judah, he puts a king on the throne whom he was pretty sure would submit to Babylon. He chose the uncle of Jehoiachin, and called him Zedekiah.  Shocking, he also did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  By this point, God is done.  The Scripture says he finally cast them out from His presence.   The final line of the chapter says that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  I think we learn more about that tomorrow, in the final chapter.    And once again, we learn that sin has consequences.  God has a tolerance for just so much, and then he is done.  And he is sovereign so he can and will do anything among the nations to make his plan unfold.  We see this here.  Now I don't know about you, but I am incredibly thankful for living on the other side of the cross.  We know grace.  That doesn't mean that sin still doesn't have consequences though.  How have you seen this in your own life?   Tomorrow is the end of 2 Kings.  This should be interesting.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki      

The Slender Man began as two photographs and a caption, submitted to an internet forum in 2009 as nothing more than a creepy image contest. Within five years, people across the country were treating him as real – and some proved just how far that belief could go.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/SlendermanREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8ka2reFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: In 2009, a photograph appeared on an internet forum, submitted as an entry in a contest to create convincing fake paranormal images. The figure in it had no face, arms too long for its body, and a caption written like a piece of found history. Within a few years, that figure had a name recognized across the internet, a following that treated the images as more than fiction, and a reputation for turning up in places far stranger than a photo contest ever intended.CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:02:02.673 = Show Open00:03:13.025 = Slenderman: Blurring The Lines of Reality, Part 100:09:24.860 = Slenderman: Blurring The Lines of Reality, Part 2 ***00:22:48.484 = Slenderman: Blurring The Lines of Reality, Part 3 ***00:34:59.166 = Slenderman: Blurring The Lines of Reality, Part 4 ***00:41:57.606 = Slenderman: Blurring The Lines of Reality, Part 5 ***00:54:09.889 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Slenderman: Blurring The Lines Of Reality” by Marcus Lowth for UFOInsight.com:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9e9srj(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: March, 2022This episode of Weird Darkness traces the Slender Man from an internet photo contest into real-world stabbings, arson, and a wave of suicides on a South Dakota reservation, then weighs whether an invented internet legend can, in some sense, become real.It opens with the character's exact origin: on June 10th, 2009, Eric Knudsen, posting under the name Victor Surge on the forum Something Awful, submitted two doctored photographs as part of a contest to create convincing paranormal images. Each carried a caption inventing a backstory, one referencing a photographer "presumed dead" in 1983 and another tying the figure to a fire at the Stirling City Library and the disappearance of a photographer named Mary Thomas in 1986. The figure in both images, faceless and unnaturally tall with elongated arms, spread across the internet within days and took on the name Slender Man, along with a folklore of his own: a preference for woods and abandoned buildings, the ability to travel at will, and warning signs that included nosebleeds, nightmares, and sudden paranoia.From there, the episode turns to the Waukesha stabbing of May 31st, 2014, in Wisconsin, when twelve-year-old Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser led their friend Payton Leutner into nearby woods and stabbed her nineteen times, telling investigators the attack was meant to prove Slender Man's existence and make them his "proxies." Leutner survived and crawled to a roadside where a cyclist found her. Geyser was sentenced to forty years to life and remains held in a psychiatric facility; Weier, sentenced to twenty-five years to life, was released from institutional care in the summer of 2021 and placed under supervision.Next, the episode covers the string of incidents that followed within months: a thirteen-year-old girl's knife attack on her mother in Hamilton County, Ohio, in June 2014; a Las Vegas shooting in which the gunman, who reportedly dressed as Slender Man, killed two police officers and a bystander before killing his wife and himself; and a house fire set by a fourteen-year-old girl in Port Richey, Florida, in September 2014, who told police she had "been reading a lot" about the character online. It also details a separate wave of youth suicides on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation between late 2014 and mid-2015, which the New York Times reported topped one hundred in six months, some tied by officials to the Slender Man and to a local legend of a "suicide spirit" known as Walking Sam or the Tall Man, and a mass hanging attempt in nearby woods that a local pastor, John Two Bulls, intervened to stop.The episode also relays an account researcher Nick Redfern collected from a Pennsylvania flight attendant trainee named Lacy, who said her laptop began displaying Slender Man's face and, on one occasion, a voice, after she read Robin Swope's book Slenderman: From Fiction to Fact in 2016.The episode closes by comparing Slender Man to Spring-Heeled Jack, a figure reported across Victorian England from the 1830s onward and long suspected of being one person's stunt copied by others in later decades, before turning to researcher Peter McCue's Psychic Internet Theory and the ancient Egyptian god Ptah, weighing whether shared belief circulated across the internet might account for why so many people came to treat a fictional character as something they could encounter.

Trump's approval with independents just hit 24%. Republicans are going home to their districts and getting an earful about an unauthorized, unconstitutional, and wildly unpopular war with Iran that is now pulling in the Saudis, the Egyptians, and Iranian proxies from Iraq to Yemen. Paul Rieckhoff calls it what it is — a sucking chest wound — and lays out why Senate Republicans are finally breaking, why Lindsey Graham comparing Trump and Netanyahu to Roosevelt and Churchill isn't landing, and why supporting the troops means demanding a coherent plan, not a blank check for one man's war. From there, the episode moves to John Cornyn refusing to be rolled on Trump's weaponization slush fund, Todd Blanche's Epstein problem and his condescending meeting with survivors, and the acting-AG limbo that could stretch into September. And it closes with a tribute to Coach Yeoman Wilder — the New York youth baseball legend who stood up to ICE agents at his practice, protected his players, and reminded a country full of capitulating law firms and universities what actual patriotism looks like. Righteous anger, patriotic hope, and a call to meet the moment. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last month, two reports into maternity services in England were published. Donna Ockenden's review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Baroness Valerie Amos's investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. These reports raised important issues about maternity services in England, but what impact have they had on the morale of those working in this area - particularly midwives? Nuala McGovern was joined by author and midwife Leah Hazard, Claire, a midwife practising in Wales, and Safia Saad, a student midwife and founder of Fund Future Midwives UK.Prenups are popular amongst the rich and famous, but research suggests that prenuptial agreements are on the rise for younger couples in the UK. Nuala spoke to Claer Barrett, Consumer Editor at the Financial Times, and Woman's Hour listener Bethan, who has a prenup with her husband, to discuss why more couples are drawing up legal contracts with their partners before they tie the knot.New analysis on mummies of Egyptian princesses shows they were warriors not just pampered queens with the signs pointing to them being highly skilled archers. They even carried wounds consistent with those made by daggers at close combat. It's an intriguing finding but perhaps an even bigger question is why discoveries like this still have the power to surprise us. We delve into how much of history is shaped not just by the evidence itself but by the assumptions we bring to it. Historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes, whose new children's book explores the lives of people in Ancient Egypt, joined Kylie Pentelow along with Professor of History Olivette Otele.Presenter: Kylie Pentelow Producer: Annette Wells

Light language practitioner Althea Lucrezia Avanzo explores her channeling of Pleiadian and mantis beings, the awakening of starseeds, and the physical Grey alien encounter that transformed her understanding of multidimensional reality in episode 257 of the Far Out with Faust podcast.Althea Lucrezia Avanzo is a multidimensional teacher, energy worker, and global grid worker who trains others in psychic development, spiritual protection, Akashic clearing, and sovereign contact with higher consciousness. Through private sessions, online programs, retreats, and collective activations, she draws on years of astral work, past-life recall, and direct encounters with non-human intelligences to help others navigate awakening and energetic transformation.In this conversation, Althea and Faust explore why spiritual awakening begins with unlearning the conditioning that keeps people trapped in fear, external validation, and victimhood. Althea connects shadow work and higher-self integration to personal sovereignty, arguing that expanded perception means little without the discernment to navigate unseen influences and extraordinary experiences. As the discussion turns to Atlantis, the rise of AI and transhumanism, and accelerating UFO disclosure, they consider whether humanity can evolve with technology without surrendering the consciousness needed to remain free.In this episode:• Danny Goler's DMT Laser Experiment: Could the mysterious script seen under infrared light connect light language with Dr. Zach Bush's claims about Egyptian hieroglyphs and human biology?• The Grey Alien Beside Her Bed: What did a QHHT regression reveal about the three insectoid beings Althea says were probing her in Milan?• The Exorcist and Astral Exorcisms: How watching the horror classic at age nine became the beginning of astral battles with demonic and reptilian entities• Pleiadian Heart Codes and Mantis Technology: Why Althea connects one higher self to Lemuria and the other to the lost technology of Atlantis• Darryl Anka, Bashar, and Trance Channeling: Why Althea refuses to leave her body and the spiritual hygiene she says protects a sovereign channel• Mermaid Massacre and Manhattan Catacombs: What led Althea to clear a lost timeline in Mozambique and hundreds of trapped souls beneath New York City?• The Sovereignty Declaration Against Psyops: The rejection of false flags, military-grade psychological operations, and pre-contracted agreements that Althea says can affect the collective• Atlantean Karma, AI, and Transhumanism: Are we repeating the technological pattern Althea says destroyed an ancient civilization?• 2026 UFO Disclosure and the Starseed Awakening: Why Althea believes more ET experiencers are losing their fear of being seen• Live Light Language Psychic Surgery: The collective activation targeting the nervous system, cranial structure, and dormant memory that listeners can experience for themselvesDon't miss Althea's powerful light language transmission at the end of the episode, intended to clear old patterns, support energetic integration, and let listeners experience the work for themselves.Watch our episode with Danny GolerDMT Dimensions: It's Not a Hallucinationhttps://youtu.be/crNbmIJqwiYWatch our episode with William HenrySaddam's Stargate, Anunnaki Artifacts & the Ark of the Covenanthttps://youtu.be/-SpkaDuXeAIConnect with Althea Lucreziahttps://www.althealucrezia.com/https://www.facebook.com/lightcodesbyalahttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjxsD8Yj3hT3bKwswTPi6Ahttps://www.instagram.com/lightcodesbyala/Join us on PatreonFor uncensored episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive community access:https://patreon.com/FarOutWithFaustListen on Spotify + Apple PodcastsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6StPwgq2di3f8uxnc6SmIfApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/far-out-with-faust-fowf/id1533017218FOWF & Faust Checho on socialhttps://www.instagram.com/faroutwithfaust/https://www.instagram.com/theonefaustchecho/https://www.facebook.com/Faroutwithfausthttps://x.com/faustchechohttps://patreon.com/FarOutWithFaustQUESTION THE ANSWERS™we'd love to hear from you

Dr. Louise Steel is an archaeologist whose work focuses on challenging colonial interpretations of Cypriot history by emphasizing the agency of the local population. Through postcolonial theory, she encourages a re-evaluation of Cyprus not as a passive recipient of outside influence, but as an active participant in Bronze Age interconnectivity--especially through trade and cultural exchange. She uses the concept of the "Third Space" to frame Cyprus as a dynamic cultural middle ground, particularly during the Late Bronze Age, when the island thrived through the copper trade and maintained complex, often peaceful, relationships with powers like Egypt. Dr. Steel highlights Enkomi as a prime example of this hybridity: a site marked by elite tombs, Egyptian imports like scarabs and broad collars, and signs of status and identity shaped through interaction rather than domination. Her work invites further inquiry into how material culture reveals the identities and social lives of Cypriots in this pivotal era.

Abdelwahab Meddeb's Returns to Marrakesh, co-translated by Claudia Esposito and Laura Reeck and published by Syracuse University Press in 2026, chronicles Meddeb's successive visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, tracing both his personal journey and Marrakesh's transformation across three pivotal decades. Through his distinctive blend of poetic prose and attentive observation, Meddeb portrays the city as a historical crossroads shaped by Jewish and Muslim communities, different social classes, Sufi mystics, merchants, and travelers—a richly layered urban space in which cultures, histories, and spiritual traditions continually intersect. Presented in a bilingual edition featuring the original French alongside the English translation, the book introduces a wider readership to the work of one of North Africa's most significant literary and intellectual voices. In this episode, Ibrahim Fawzy sat down with Esposito and Reeck to discuss Meddeb's distinctive literary and intellectual presence, his movement across languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions, and his intimate portrayal of Marrakesh. They also explore the collaborative process of translating his multilingual, layered prose and consider how translation can extend—and even renew—a writer's literary afterlife. Claudia Esposito is associate professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is author of The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb.Laura Reeck is an independent translator and scholar. She is the author of Writerly Identities in Beur Fiction and Beyond and coeditor of Post-Migratory Cultures in Postcolonial France. Ibrahim Fawzy is an Egyptian literary translator and writer. He is the translator of Hassan Akram's A Plan to Save the World (Sandorf Passage, 2026). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Abdelwahab Meddeb's Returns to Marrakesh, co-translated by Claudia Esposito and Laura Reeck and published by Syracuse University Press in 2026, chronicles Meddeb's successive visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, tracing both his personal journey and Marrakesh's transformation across three pivotal decades. Through his distinctive blend of poetic prose and attentive observation, Meddeb portrays the city as a historical crossroads shaped by Jewish and Muslim communities, different social classes, Sufi mystics, merchants, and travelers—a richly layered urban space in which cultures, histories, and spiritual traditions continually intersect. Presented in a bilingual edition featuring the original French alongside the English translation, the book introduces a wider readership to the work of one of North Africa's most significant literary and intellectual voices. In this episode, Ibrahim Fawzy sat down with Esposito and Reeck to discuss Meddeb's distinctive literary and intellectual presence, his movement across languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions, and his intimate portrayal of Marrakesh. They also explore the collaborative process of translating his multilingual, layered prose and consider how translation can extend—and even renew—a writer's literary afterlife. Claudia Esposito is associate professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is author of The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb.Laura Reeck is an independent translator and scholar. She is the author of Writerly Identities in Beur Fiction and Beyond and coeditor of Post-Migratory Cultures in Postcolonial France. Ibrahim Fawzy is an Egyptian literary translator and writer. He is the translator of Hassan Akram's A Plan to Save the World (Sandorf Passage, 2026). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Abdelwahab Meddeb's Returns to Marrakesh, co-translated by Claudia Esposito and Laura Reeck and published by Syracuse University Press in 2026, chronicles Meddeb's successive visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, tracing both his personal journey and Marrakesh's transformation across three pivotal decades. Through his distinctive blend of poetic prose and attentive observation, Meddeb portrays the city as a historical crossroads shaped by Jewish and Muslim communities, different social classes, Sufi mystics, merchants, and travelers—a richly layered urban space in which cultures, histories, and spiritual traditions continually intersect. Presented in a bilingual edition featuring the original French alongside the English translation, the book introduces a wider readership to the work of one of North Africa's most significant literary and intellectual voices. In this episode, Ibrahim Fawzy sat down with Esposito and Reeck to discuss Meddeb's distinctive literary and intellectual presence, his movement across languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions, and his intimate portrayal of Marrakesh. They also explore the collaborative process of translating his multilingual, layered prose and consider how translation can extend—and even renew—a writer's literary afterlife. Claudia Esposito is associate professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is author of The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb.Laura Reeck is an independent translator and scholar. She is the author of Writerly Identities in Beur Fiction and Beyond and coeditor of Post-Migratory Cultures in Postcolonial France. Ibrahim Fawzy is an Egyptian literary translator and writer. He is the translator of Hassan Akram's A Plan to Save the World (Sandorf Passage, 2026). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Abdelwahab Meddeb's Returns to Marrakesh, co-translated by Claudia Esposito and Laura Reeck and published by Syracuse University Press in 2026, chronicles Meddeb's successive visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, tracing both his personal journey and Marrakesh's transformation across three pivotal decades. Through his distinctive blend of poetic prose and attentive observation, Meddeb portrays the city as a historical crossroads shaped by Jewish and Muslim communities, different social classes, Sufi mystics, merchants, and travelers—a richly layered urban space in which cultures, histories, and spiritual traditions continually intersect. Presented in a bilingual edition featuring the original French alongside the English translation, the book introduces a wider readership to the work of one of North Africa's most significant literary and intellectual voices. In this episode, Ibrahim Fawzy sat down with Esposito and Reeck to discuss Meddeb's distinctive literary and intellectual presence, his movement across languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions, and his intimate portrayal of Marrakesh. They also explore the collaborative process of translating his multilingual, layered prose and consider how translation can extend—and even renew—a writer's literary afterlife. Claudia Esposito is associate professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is author of The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb.Laura Reeck is an independent translator and scholar. She is the author of Writerly Identities in Beur Fiction and Beyond and coeditor of Post-Migratory Cultures in Postcolonial France. Ibrahim Fawzy is an Egyptian literary translator and writer. He is the translator of Hassan Akram's A Plan to Save the World (Sandorf Passage, 2026). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Abdelwahab Meddeb's Returns to Marrakesh, co-translated by Claudia Esposito and Laura Reeck and published by Syracuse University Press in 2026, chronicles Meddeb's successive visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, tracing both his personal journey and Marrakesh's transformation across three pivotal decades. Through his distinctive blend of poetic prose and attentive observation, Meddeb portrays the city as a historical crossroads shaped by Jewish and Muslim communities, different social classes, Sufi mystics, merchants, and travelers—a richly layered urban space in which cultures, histories, and spiritual traditions continually intersect. Presented in a bilingual edition featuring the original French alongside the English translation, the book introduces a wider readership to the work of one of North Africa's most significant literary and intellectual voices. In this episode, Ibrahim Fawzy sat down with Esposito and Reeck to discuss Meddeb's distinctive literary and intellectual presence, his movement across languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions, and his intimate portrayal of Marrakesh. They also explore the collaborative process of translating his multilingual, layered prose and consider how translation can extend—and even renew—a writer's literary afterlife. Claudia Esposito is associate professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is author of The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb.Laura Reeck is an independent translator and scholar. She is the author of Writerly Identities in Beur Fiction and Beyond and coeditor of Post-Migratory Cultures in Postcolonial France. Ibrahim Fawzy is an Egyptian literary translator and writer. He is the translator of Hassan Akram's A Plan to Save the World (Sandorf Passage, 2026). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/language

This is a preview of The Weekender. Sign up for our Patreon and get access to the full episode every Friday, plus special Live Shows and our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠ Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman start with a war that keeps getting bigger while almost nobody covers it. Ukraine put a missile into an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, an Egyptian port took a suspected Iranian drone, Iran-backed militias in Iraq are making noise, and China has a shipment of missiles headed for Tehran. Laura Loomer turned up in a room with Volodymyr Zelensky, preaching MAGA solidarity with Ukraine, which is not something that happens by accident. Jared makes the case that nobody in this administration is steering. The people who are don't hold office and don't care whose flag wins. Then Anthony Fauci in front of Rand Paul's committee, pleading the Fifth over a hundred times while his lawyer gets hauled off the floor. Jared and Nick get into why he's the test case and not the target, who the real target is, and why building bobbleheads of public servants was always going to end this way. Finally, the number that radicalized Jared: Americans put $166 billion into sports gambling last year, more than they spent on movies, books, art and museums combined. He wants it abolished. Nick ran those ads on the other side of his business and is still paying for it. What we're watching: Nick says The Invite is the funniest thing he's seen in years and to see it with a crowd. Jared finally caught Backrooms and can't recommend it enough.

This week, Egyptian journalist, blogger, photographer, and author Hossam el-Hamalawy joins CounterPunch’s Eric Draitser to discuss his new book Counter-Revolution in Egypt: Sisi’s New Republic, published by Verso. The conversation explores modern Egyptian history and how the state developed into its current form, with much of the focus on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the events that followed. El-Hamalawy blends an analysis of Egyptian political economy, military history, sociology, and social and labor struggle with his deep knowledge of Egyptian politics, society, and culture to provide a sophisticated Marxist analysis of Egypt yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The post Counter-Revolution in Egypt w/ Hossam el-Hamalawy appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

Kevin discusses and covers the following stories: the U.S. Labor Department reported the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, interesting coverage from two different news services; the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported the advance estimate of 2nd Quarter GDP, in a separate report, the BEA, released the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index and Core PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's primary forecasting gauge; oil prices reacts to increased "hostilities" between the U.S. and Iran, a proposed Saudi Arabia led 14 country coalition to boost defense around the Red Sea, an attack on an Egyptian port and events in the war between Ukraine and Russia; Kevin has the details digs into the details, puts the information into historical perspective, offers his insights and opinions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have been called a Real Life Sherlock by many folks I respect within Law Enforcement. Cain's Jawbone is the puzzle that gets to decide if that's actually earned. In 1942 a crossword got too easy, so the Daily Telegraph built one vicious enough to recruit five strangers into Bletchley Park without their knowledge. Cain's Jawbone runs the same test, except the Laurence Sterne Trust holds a verified solution, so every page I get right or wrong actually means something. In this episode: The true story of the 1942 Telegraph crossword that became a Bletchley Park recruitment filter Why Cain's Jawbone sits in that same category, not in Masquerade's or Cicada 3301's What happens when the Real Life Sherlock reputation gets thrown at a puzzle that's beaten almost everyone who's tried it Real material lifted straight into the fiction: Defoe, Whitman, Shakespeare, Conrad, a Jacobite execution, an Egyptian cigarette brand down to the exact sizing Arthur Conan Doyle turning up four separate times, including a dummy bell rope built exactly like the murder weapon in The Speckled BandEvidence the narrator changes page to page, and what two possible voices sound like so far Ten pages down, ninety to go, and why the narrator insisting they're out of their depth might be the actual lie Subscribe if you want to see whether the Real Life Sherlock reputation survives ninety more pages of this. Access the free tier or go deeper with exclusive paid challenges: https://www.omniscient-insights.com/axiomhttps://www.omniscient-insights.com/community-home MERCH -- https://the-deductionist.myspreadshop.co.uk/allE-SCAPE GAME -- https://www.youtube.com/@thedeductionistteamEverything else you need -- https://linktr.ee/bencardall Music provided by https://robertjohncollinsmusic.com/` #podcast #cainsjawbone #murdermystery

ABC News Correspondent Jordana Miller joins Read and Dana with the latest from the Middle East, including the Board of Peace deal with Hamas and strikes on ships in an Egyptian port.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin discusses and covers the following stories: the U.S. Labor Department reported the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, interesting coverage from two different news services; the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported the advance estimate of 2nd Quarter GDP, in a separate report, the BEA, released the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index and Core PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's primary forecasting gauge; oil prices reacts to increased "hostilities" between the U.S. and Iran, a proposed Saudi Arabia led 14 country coalition to boost defense around the Red Sea, an attack on an Egyptian port and events in the war between Ukraine and Russia; Kevin has the details digs into the details, puts the information into historical perspective, offers his insights and opinions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Headlines: Congress was quite busy. Rand Paul turned the Senate into a personal vendetta circus, dragging Anthony Fauci in for a hearing where he pleaded the Fifth almost 100 times — because the entire point was to find something to criminally prosecute him for despite Biden's preemptive pardon — and Paul is now threatening to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for asserting his constitutional right. Todd Blanche's attorney general confirmation vote was cancelled because Thom Tillis and John Cornyn want the bare minimum assurance that he won't create Trump's insurrectionist slush fund or give Trump permanent IRS immunity — things Blanche won't promise — though both senators still ultimately want to vote for him, so there really is no point to this. Jay Clayton, who has zero intelligence or national security experience, was confirmed as Director of National Intelligence anyway, because experience is optional now. On the war beat, Iran launched a ballistic missile strike on a US base in Jordan, Trump told Fox News the US would "beat the fucking shit out of them," the US and Saudi Arabia jointly struck Iranian-aligned militants in Iraq, and then Iranian drones set two ships on fire in an Egyptian port in what Iranian sources called a demonstration that "global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted." Trump called it "more of the same" and said "it's our turn to hit them," he must think war works like the game Battleship. In election interference news, Elon Musk is reviving his America PAC for the midterms after spending $250 million to elect Trump in 2024, with plans for door-knocking, digital ads, and direct mail — and has reportedly been talking to Trump's team about how he can be most helpful. And finally, The Federal Reserve voted 9-3 to keep interest rates between 3.5 and 3.75%, with the three dissenting votes wanting a rate increase due to persistent inflation, which is not the news anyone wanted. Resources/Articles mentioned: WaPo: Rand Paul threatens to hold Fauci in contempt after he declines to answer questions NYT: Senators Cornyn and Tillis Threaten to Block Blanche Nomination Over Trump's IRS Deal CNN: Trump's new intelligence chief takes over an office in turmoil Axios: Exclusive: Musk plans massive push for GOP in midterms NYT: Iran War Live Updates: U.S. Begins New Wave of Attacks on Iran, Military Says Axios:U.S. launches fresh airstrikes in Iran AP News: Trump announces a $22.5B makeover of Dulles airport that will eliminate the 'people movers' WSJ: Fed Holds Rates Steady but Three Officials Vote for Increase Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UEFA — the European soccer governing body — says its 55 teams will sit out all FIFA competitions for as long as a plan to allow investors to buy 20% of the organization remains in place. Also, lab-grown diamonds have exploded in popularity — thanks to their high quality, low cost and ethical considerations — upending the market for natural, mined diamonds. And, China begins mass producing electric vehicles with sodium-ion batteries, widely considered more sustainable and accessible than the standard lithium-ion batteries. Plus, we take a listen to an era of Egyptian disco music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Welcome to Day 2916 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. Day 2916 – Theology Thursday – Ancient Near Eastern Religions versus the God of the Bible Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2916 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps!   I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2916 of our Trek.   The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Our current series of Theology Thursday lessons is written by theologian and teacher John Daniels. I have found that his lessons are short, easy to understand, doctrinally sound, and applicable to all who desire to learn more of God's Word. John's lessons can be found on his website, theologyinfive.com.   Ancient Near Eastern Religions versus the God of the Bible. The religions of the Ancient Near East form a wide landscape of connected myths, rituals, and divine hierarchies that shaped the worldview of early civilizations. Their gods rose and fell in power, reacted emotionally to events, and relied on worshipers to sustain them. These beliefs created a religious environment built on cycles, fragility, and mutual dependence. The biblical portrayal of Yahweh stands in clear contrast. Scripture presents a God who is self-sufficient, unchanging, and sovereign over creation. Examining these differences clarifies the uniqueness of biblical faith within its ancient setting and helps modern readers understand how Israel's worldview developed in the midst of nations with very different assumptions about the divine realm. The first segment is: The Cyclical Nature of ANE Deities ANE religions anchored their divine stories in the rhythms of the natural world. Gods were believed to participate in the same patterns that shaped human experience. Their power rose and fell with the seasons, crops, weather, and the environment. This worldview created a theological system where even major deities could weaken, die, or disappear, only to return when the cycles of nature renewed themselves. The myths surrounding Inanna and Ishtar reveal this worldview clearly. Their descent into the underworld and eventual return mirrored the cycle of barrenness and renewal that governed agricultural life. Their stories did not present beings who transcended nature but ones who were bound to it. Their vitality could pause or fail, only to be restored when the environment shifted. Egyptian religion expressed a similar idea through the Osiris myth. His murder and restoration aligned with the yearly flooding of the Nile, which created fertile soil for crops. The story served as a theological explanation for agricultural renewal. Osiris did not stand above the cycles of life. He represented them. This pattern appears again and again in ANE pantheons, where divine life and natural life were deeply intertwined. The second segment is: Symbiosis Between Gods and Humans The relationship between the gods and humanity in the ANE was shaped by mutual dependence. The gods depended on humans for food, offerings, honor, and the upkeep of temples. Humans depended on the gods for basic stability, agricultural success, and protection. Religion functioned as a system that maintained cosmic order by ensuring both sides received what they needed. Baal worship in Canaan demonstrates this dynamic. Baal's power and presence were tied to the devotion of his followers. If offerings ceased or rituals were neglected, worshipers feared drought, famine, and ecological collapse. Ugaritic texts describe Baal's strength rising and falling in connection with seasonal struggles against Mot, the god of death. The fortunes of the people depended on Baal's vitality, and Baal's vitality depended on the people. This pattern stretched across Mesopotamia as well. Temples functioned as divine households where priests fed, clothed, and cared for the gods. Worship was not about relationship but maintenance. A god who was not sustained properly could weaken, suffer, or lose influence. These beliefs shaped the ancient expectation that the divine and human worlds were locked in an ongoing exchange of needs and services. The third segment is: The God of the Bible: Transcendent, Stable, and Self-Sufficient The biblical portrait of God stands outside the cycles and limitations that characterized ANE religion. Yahweh does not depend on human worship to sustain His power. He does not rise or fall in strength. His nature remains constant, and His authority extends beyond the boundaries of the natural world. Scripture presents Him as the Creator who governs nature rather than one who participates in its fluctuations. Malachi 3 verse six captures this distinction by declaring that God does not change. The prophets frequently challenge the idea that God requires food or ritual maintenance. Psalm 50 portrays God as the owner of all creation rather than a deity who needs sacrifices for sustenance. Isaiah mocks the absurdity of idols that must be carried because they cannot stand on their own. These passages highlight the difference between the dependent gods of the nations and the self-sufficient God of Israel. Covenant reinforces this distinction. When God binds Himself to Abraham, Moses, or David, His promises flow from His own character and faithfulness rather than human ability to maintain Him. His stability provides a foundation for trust that no ANE god could offer, because their identity and power were subject to the very world they governed. The fourth segment is: Supreme Monotheism and the Divine Council The biblical worldview acknowledges a populated spiritual realm, but it does not portray that realm as harmonious or consistently loyal. Scripture presents a divine council, yet this council reflects a world marked by rebellion and spiritual conflict rather than unity. This stands in sharp contrast with ANE pantheons, where deities had fixed jurisdictions and stable roles. Psalm 82 reveals that members of the divine council failed in their appointed tasks. God confronts them for injustice, corruption, and the oppression of the nations they were meant to govern. Their rebellion is a verdict on their unfaithfulness. The psalm ends with God declaring their coming judgment, making clear that divine beings are not beyond accountability. Genesis 6 describes another rebellion in which the sons of God violate the boundaries God established and bring corruption to humanity. This event shaped the Second Temple Jewish worldview and influenced New Testament writers who saw it as a catastrophic turning point in the history of spiritual conflict. These beings did not act out of ignorance but out of deliberate defiance. The Babel event introduces yet another layer of supernatural rebellion. Deuteronomy 32 verse eight and nine describe God dividing the nations and assigning them under the authority of lesser divine beings. These beings later led their nations into idolatry and spiritual deception, choosing loyalty to their own agendas rather than to the Most High. Their failures explain the origin of the false gods and territorial powers that Israel confronted throughout the Old Testament. The biblical writers describe a supernatural realm that is real, complex, and deeply fractured. God alone stands as the supreme Creator. The other divine beings are not competitors to Him, but they are capable of disobedience, corruption, and rebellion. Unlike ANE pantheons defined by competition between gods of similar rank, the Bible presents defiance of the Most High as the central spiritual crisis in human history. The fifth segment is: Stability Versus Variability in the Divine Realm The gods of the ANE were often unpredictable. Their conflicts explained storms, disasters, and political upheavals. Their emotional reactions shaped the lives of their worshipers, who lived in fear of offending them or failing to provide proper care. This instability was a natural consequence of a pantheon filled with beings shaped by the same vulnerabilities as humans. Yahweh's actions are presented differently. His behavior is anchored in His covenantal character. His judgments are consistent with His purposes rather than expressions of divine mood. His promises stand firm even when humans falter. By presenting God as trustworthy and stable, Scripture establishes a theological foundation that separates Israel's faith from the religions around it. The sixth segment is: The Purpose of Humanity: Servants or Imagers ANE creation stories consistently portray humans as laborers created to meet the needs of the gods. In the Enuma Elish, humans are formed from the blood of Kingu after a divine rebellion. Their function is to relieve the gods of work by maintaining temples and performing essential services. Human worth is connected to usefulness, not intrinsic dignity. The biblical account offers an entirely different vision. Humans are created

//The Wire//2100Z July 30, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: UNITED STATES CONDUCTS RETALIATORY STRIKES WITHIN IRAN. CYCLOSPORA OUTBREAK CONTINUES IN UNITED STATES. MIGRATION WAVE HITS SPAIN AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING RESULTS IN BORDER CROSSING BREACH.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: American strikes on Iran continued overnight, with most of the targets being struck in the same coastal regions of Iran that have been targeted since the ceasefire was broken. Iran has claimed to have struck several aircraft on the ground at Muwaffaq al Salti in Jordan, along with other targets around the region which will take some time to verify.On the American side, one new series of targets struck by the United States was reported in the border town of Abadan, which is geographically located right on the Iraqi border, a short distance from Bubiyan Island where American HIMARs launchers have been observed conducting ATACMS strikes within Iran.Spain: An emergency situation has been declared after thousands of migrants swarmed the small enclave of Ceuta on the south side of the Strait of Gibraltar. Several thousand migrants breached the border perimeter that separates the Spanish peninsular city of Ceuta, from mainland Morocco. After it became clear to the crowds that there were very few border guards, the fencing was breached by land, and small boats launched by sea to land on the beaches, circumventing the fencing.Immediately after the migrant waves arrived this morning, the city has been in a state of sheer bedlam. Riots have been reported throughout the peninsula and property owners have reported being swarmed with break ins, as the border itself has completely collapsed.Analyst Comment: The reason for the fray is due to a recent court ruling which has intensified illegal immigration efforts. This week, Spain's Supreme Court re-affirmed that their borders are open, and that migrants who are apprehended trying to cross over to this peninsula cannot be deported. Last month, Spain's amnesty program officially closed, but because it's very hard to prove an entry date for someone who crossed the border illegally, the boats are being launched like never before, which resulted in today's intensification once the fence was breached.-HomeFront-USA: Around the nation the outbreak of cyclospora has continued to remain a concern as the exact point of origin for the parasite remains largely unknown. Over the past few weeks, the infection has continued to spread around the nation, and now a total of 45x states are reporting citizens falling ill. The largest outbreak cluster remains in Michigan and Ohio, and most of the other states affected are located in the midwest, the northeast, and southeastern regions of the nation.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The war in the Middle East has reached a level of complexity that makes direct strikes and targeting efforts way more impactful than they otherwise would be. A few days ago, the Saudis struck targets in northern Iraq, targeting Iran-aligned militia groups. It was partially this action which resulted in Iran striking back at Saudi Arabia yesterday. The groups that were targeted by the Saudis, were allegedly smaller sub-groups within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which had not formally joined with the Iraqi government. For context, the PMF are an infamous collection of militia units and tribes, which align with Iran along religious lines in addition to sharing the geography along the Iranian border.In recent years, the PMF has been rolled into the Iraqi government, to serve as the official militia/homeguard for the nation. This results in a complex web of loyalties and relationships, as making the PMF a part of the official uniformed Iraqi military service makes them harder to strike due to the diplomatic situation. This is probably why the Saudis attacked when they didn't necessarily need to. They found a way to strike PMF factions that would probably result in a fracturing within the region, but also not really result in a retaliatory attack from the Iraqi government. Or at least, that was the gamble on the part of the Saudis. The fact that the PMF sporadically launch drones at the Saudis helped justify this targeting effort last weekend. However in effect, what this has done, has brought Iran and Iraq closer together...at least in terms of hating the Saudis. The problem is that the Saudis (much like others in the region) have a habit of kicking a hornets nest, then handing that nest to the United States to deal with. When the Saudis hit the PMF in Iraq, the militia groups in Iraq will probably take this as an opportunity to increase attacks on the American base in Erbil (as they have for years), and the Iraqi government might not be so inclined to reign them in...because the Americans are not reigning in the Saudis. In short, things are sliding sideways, and because it's complicated and can't be compressed into a quick soundbite for decision makers to consume, the danger is very likely going unnoticed.Even though it is complicated, this is a comparatively easy example of how escalations can take place not just vertically, but also horizontally. Vertical escalations take the form of increasingly more severe tit-for-tat airstrikes, but horizontal escalations are far less intense, while spreading out around the world. This has resulted in the situation sleepwalking into serious territory, which has largely gone unnoticed because it hasn't been flashy enough for headlines. The Saudis are striking the Iraqis, the Houthis are hitting the Saudis, somebody is striking the Egyptians, the Israelis have slipped back into the shadows, the Iranians are hitting the Jordanians and Americans, and the United States is perplexingly bombing coastal targets and bridges within Iran...which are rather forebodingly only used during the wintertime wet season. These horizontal escalations have been a mainstay of this conflict since the beginning, but right now these more indirect escalations are taking center stage as the United States and Iran slug it out with missiles, drones, and bombs, and the United States is unable to make progress for the time being.Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

Last week, the government announced a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues from April. These spaces are increasingly used for coffee mornings, parent and toddler groups, book clubs etc. - the new church hall for many - and they've become a really important "third space" for communities especially for groups that support women. The government has said it wants to protect these venues that are the beating heart of many communities. But is this announcement enough to save an industry that has taken a big economic battering in recent years? Joining Kylie Pentelow, Beverley Whitrick, Chief Executive of the Music Venues Trust, sociologist Dr Lisa McKenzie and 22-year-old pub landlady Elsa Mckenna, who's trying to make exactly this model work.Actor Vicky Krieps is known best to UK audiences for acclaimed performances in films including Corsage and the Academy Award winning film Phantom Thread. She has also appeared in many European films including Hanna, Two Lives, and The Chambermaid Lynn. Vicky joins Kylie Pentelow to discuss her latest film, Love Me Tender, a moving and powerful drama about a mother forced to fight for her relationship with her son after choosing to live openly as a gay woman. The film, directed by Anna Cazenave Cambet and based on Constance Debré's novel, is out in UK cinemas early next month.Campaigners who work with women to encourage them to report crime are concerned that the Early Release Scheme proposed by the government could put them off engaging with the justice system altogether.  Andy Burnham has since announced a pause and a review of the scheme, which would have seen around 700 prisoners released from September. Today we hear from a campaigner, herself a survivor of sexual abuse, who fears the policy and the current uncertainty. 'Sam' (not her real name) reported and helped secure the conviction of the man who violently attacked and raped her 23 years ago. A month ago, before the scheme was paused, she received a letter from the Ministry of Justice warning that her attacker would be released early. She joins us alongside Harriet Wistrich, Director of the Centre for Women's Justice.New analysis on mummies of Egyptian princesses shows they were warriors not just pampered queens with the signs pointing to them being highly skilled archers. They even carried wounds consistent with those made by daggers at close combat. It's an intriguing finding but perhaps an even bigger question is why discoveries like this still have the power to surprise us. We delve into how much of history is shaped not just by the evidence itself but by the assumptions we bring to it. Historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes, whose new children's book explores the lives of people in Ancient Egypt, joins Kylie along with Professor of History Olivette Otele.Presenter: Kylie Pentelow Producer: Simon Richardson

Before the Hearsts and the Pulitzers, before the front page as we know it, the American newspaper was built by teenagers covered in soot, women who risked hanging, and editors who settled arguments with pistols. Alex Wright joins Blaine DeSantis to talk about Empire of Ink, his sweeping history of how a young republic printed itself into existence between the 1700s and the close of the 1800s. It's a project that started as a personal search into Wright's own family of country newspaper publishers in Georgia and turned into fifteen years of research.The conversation moves fast and covers ground most newspaper histories skip entirely. Wright explains what a printer's devil actually was and why the job cut a man's life expectancy in half. He tells the story of the entrepreneur who imported Egyptian mummies by the boatload because their wrappings were cheaper than American rags, and the French naturalist who watched wasps chew wood into pulp and wondered whether people could do the same thing. There's Mary Katherine Goddard, whose name appears at the bottom of the first Declaration of Independence to carry the signers' names, an act she knew could be read as treason. There's the Vicksburg Sentinel, which burned through eight editors in roughly a dozen years, several of whom died in the line of duty.Wright also takes us to the corners of the story that shaped whole communities. The Cherokee Phoenix, published in an alphabet invented from scratch by Sequoyah, became a political voice for the Cherokee people until their press was taken from them. In San Francisco, Yee Gen hand-built a workaround for printing thousands of Chinese characters and launched the first Chinese American paper. Union soldiers carried portable presses into camp and printed papers with blank pages so the men could write home on the other side. And a young Samuel Clemens swept floors as a print shop apprentice before he ever thought to call himself Mark Twain. If you have ever suspected that today's media chaos is something new, this episode is a useful corrective.

Comedian Legend and Friend of the Show Craig Gass joined the guys for the show this morning. Aside from a great Big J impression he also challenged listeners to buy Front Row seats to his upcoming show at the Egyptian this October. Tickets HERE:See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelly Kolodney, channeler of Archangel Raphael, reveals that our biggest barrier isn't trauma or ancestral baggage—but the belief that the light body is something to attain. Ascension isn't up. It's in. Dimensions aren't external layers—they're nested inside your DNA, waiting to unfold.From witnessing her sister channel poetry in a crowded kitchen to proving Raphael could deliver identical downloads to sequestered rooms, Kelly shows why humanity's next leap isn't about healing—it's about remembering. Stop reaching. Start revealing. Your light isn't a future achievement—it's an ancient truth covered by a thin veil.We explore the 2027 Egyptian eclipse, the White Lions anchoring heaven on earth, the gathering of 144,000 souls to dream a new reality, and why those with dementia or non-verbal autism are actually working between dimensions for the collective.The next human species isn't arriving from the sky—it's waking up inside your own heart. Will you keep trying to fix the old you—or finally surrender to the version that never left?___

Concerns the middle east conflict is spreading, after a strike on an Egyption gas port; A report reveals Australia is the largest lender in the Pacific; And in football, Germany will play the Matildas in a friendly match on the 10th of October.

Barry Strauss examines Mark Antony's critical "unforced error" of 33 BC: divorcing Octavia, Octavian's sister. This move provides Octavian with a massive propaganda victory, allowing him to frame Antony as having betrayed Rome for an Egyptian queen. Strauss explains the divorce was a "credible commitment" by Antony to show his Eastern supporters he was fully committed to the coming conflict. Despite advice from his experienced admiral, Ahenobarbus, to leave Cleopatra behind, Antony refuses because she controls the treasury and the Egyptian navy. While Antony may have preferred a campaign against Parthia, Octavian forces his hand by declaring war. Antony's decision to bring Cleopatra into the war effort is anathema to Romans, who view her as a foreign invader. This sets the stage for confrontation, with Octavian relying on the tactical genius of Marcus Agrippa. (4)

Merneptah started his reign aggressively, striking a belligerent tone in his royal names and launching an expedition to Canaan in the first few years. In the process, his troops captured Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yenoam, and dealt with a tribe called "Israel." Simultaneously, Merneptah achieved a great diplomatic coup when we brought Ugarit back into the Egyptian sphere. Music by Keith Zizza & Luke Chaos. Video version available at www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast Merneptah General Dodson, A. (2016). Poisoned Legacy: The Decline and Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty (Revised edn). Iskander, S. (2002). The Reign of Merneptah [Unpublished PhD. Thesis]. Kitchen, K. A. (1987). The Titularies of the Ramesside Kings as Expression of their Ideal Kingship. Annales Du Service Des Antiquités de l'Égypte, 71, 131--141. Servajean, F. (2014). Mérenptah et la fin de la XIXe dynastie. Sourouzian, H. (1989). Les Monuments du roi Merenptah. Canaan, Ugarit, Proto-Israelites (Summary) Cline, E. H. (2021). 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed (Revised edn). Dever, W. G. (2017). Beyond the texts: An archaeological portrait of ancient Israel and Judah. Hasel, M. G. (1998). Domination & Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, ca. 1300-1185 BC. Higginbotham, C. R. (2000). Egyptianization and Elite Emulation in Ramesside Palestine: Governance and Accommodation on the Imperial Periphery. Kahn, D. (2024). The order of Merenptah's reliefs at the Cour de la Cachette, Karnak and its implications. JSSEA, 51, 15-43 online. Killebrew, A. E. (2020). Early Israel's Origins, Settlement, and Ethnogenesis. In B. E. Kelle & B. A. Strawn (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible (pp. 79--93). https://www.academia.edu/101675394/Early_Israels_Origins_Settlement_and_Ethnogenesis_by_Ann_E_Killebrew_2020 Kitchen, K. A. (2004). The Victories of Merenptah, and the Nature of their Record. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 28(3), 259--272. https://doi.org/10.1177/030908920402800301 Lackenbacher, S. (1995). Une Correspondence entre l'administration du pharaon Merneptah et le roi d'Ougarit. In Le pays d'Ougarit autour de 1200 av. J.-C.: Histoire et archéologie (pp. 77--84). https://www.mission-ougarit.fr/parutions/serie-ras-shamra-ougarit/ Maeir, A. M. (1988). Remarks on a Supposed “Egyptian Residency” at Gezer. Tel Aviv, 15, 65--67. https://doi.org/10.1179/tav.1988.1988.1.65 Morris, E. F. (2005). The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy in Egypt's New Kingdom. Morris, E. F. (2015). Egypt, Ugarit, the God Ba'al, and the Puzzle of a Royal Rebuff. In J. Mynářová, P. Onderka, & P. Pavúk (Eds.), There and Back Again—The Crossroads II (pp. 315--351). Charles University. https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8WW9154 Rainey, A. F. (2001). Israel in Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs. Israel Exploration Journal, 51(1), 57–75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27926956 Singer, I. (1988). Merneptah's Campaign to Canaan and the Egyptian Occupation of the Southern Coastal Plain of Palestine in the Ramesside Period. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 269, 1--10. https://doi.org/10.2307/1356946 Singer, I. (2011). The Calm Before the Storm: Selected Writings of Itamar Singer on the late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant. Steiner, R. C. (2024). Merenptah's Israel, His Shasu Militiamen, His Copper Caravan Route, and the Watering Stations Bearing His Name at Kadesh-Barnea and Me-Nephtoah: Part One. In B. P. Muhs & F. D. Scalf (Eds.), A Master of Secrets in the Chamber of Darkness: Egyptological Studies in Honor of Robert K. Ritner (pp. 329--402). https://www.academia.edu/123986155/Merenptahs_Israel_his_Shasu_militiamen_his_copper_caravan_route_and_the_watering_stations_bearing_his_name_at_Kadesh_barnea_and_Me_nephtoah_Part_One Yurco, F. J. (1986). Merenptah's Canaanite Campaign. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 23, 189--215. https://doi.org/10.2307/40001099 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's session continues to explore struggles for political power and cultural survival in hostile, nativist Social Structures. Even as politicians of African descent continue to be elected, even in spaces with majority non-African voters, the challenge to conform, integrate or culturally neuter in order to demonstrate trustworthiness persists. Hard White nationalists such as those who have momentarily captured the federal government push desperately to neuter potential voting power of others and risk an implosion of their existing structural advantage by attacking carefully curated national myths that hold the polity together, at least tangentially. Meanwhile, filmmaker Christopher Nolan‘s latest movie, “The Odyssey,” has begun to make huge global profits. People are hungry for Cultural Meaning-Making that feeds seemingly archetypical myths. Contrasting cherished Western archetypes like the Homeric myth with intra-racial satirizations such as “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and elder narratives like the Ancient Egyptian story of Sinhue/Sanhat, we explore how long-view African memory–or “Black Odysseys”--can be used to both gain perspective and regain the Momentum of Memory. In a moment when a White Nationalist US federal government is working overtime to destroy all lines between fact and fiction, the value of collective learning and developing our abilities, is more critical than ever. With soaring prices of higher education increasingly out of reach for most, renewed efforts to reshape readily accessible public spaces for learning also increase. As we continue to jailbreak learning during the US semiquincentennial year, we ask again the question W.E.B. Du Bois asked before departing permanently for Africa: When it comes to collective movement and institution building within African and other spaces, “Whither Now and Why?”Are you a member of Knarrative? If not, we invite you to join our community today by signing up at: https://www.knarrative.com. As a Knarrative subscriber, you'll gain immediate access to Knubia, our growing community of teachers, learners, thinkers, doers, artists, and creators. Together, we're making a generational commitment to our collective interests, work, and responsibilities. Join us at https://www.knarrative.com and download the Knubia app through your app store or by visiting https://community.knarrative.com.To shop Go to:TheGlobalMajorityMore from us:Follow on X: https://x.com/knarrative_https://x.com/inclasswithcarrFollow on Instagram IG / knarrative IG/ inclasswithcarr Follow Dr. Carr: https://www.drgregcarr.comhttps://x.com/AfricanaCarrFollow Karen Hunter: https://karenhuntershow.comhttps://x.com/karenhunter IG / karenhuntershowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of the greatest questions of life is this: How do we respond to destruction?Every one of us will face setbacks, losses, disappointments—even, G-d forbid, profound tragedy. The question is not whether pain will enter our lives, but what happens after it does.How do we face trauma? Experiences that overwhelm us, shake us to our core, and leave us wondering if we will ever be the same again. Some people are broken by such experiences. Others survive, but carry invisible scars for years. And then there are those remarkable souls who emerge stronger, deeper, and more compassionate than before.What is their secret?Humanity has invested unimaginable resources trying to answer that question—through medicine, therapy, psychology, self-help, and every imaginable means of easing the pain, quieting the anxiety, and healing the wounds of the human spirit.But is there a deeper answer?Let's explore this question not through isolated experiences or quick fixes, but by looking at the larger story of humanity. Let's examine what has truly endured. What has enabled individuals—and entire civilizations—not merely to survive destruction, but to transform it into growth and renewal.There is perhaps no greater case study than the Jewish people.As we approach Tisha B'Av, the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, we remember the destruction of our Holy Temples and centuries of exile, persecution, and loss. The Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and countless others sought to erase us from history.They are gone.We are still here.How?What gave a small, vulnerable people the resilience not only to survive but to continue creating, building, and bringing hope to the world?The answer lies in the profound message of Tisha B'Av itself.The day that commemorates destruction also contains the seed of redemption.The day our hearts were shattered also reveals how brokenness can become the birthplace of our greatest strength.Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as we uncover one of life's most essential secrets: How do we transform destruction into redemption?

Open the Old Testament and you run into a problem nobody warns you about. Israel is supposed to worship one God. Yet the text keeps naming others. Baal. Asherah. The gods of the nations. So where did they all go, and when did Israel actually land on one God alone?Old Testament scholar Dr. Matthew Lynch of Regent College joins the Dig In Podcast to take that question apart. The standard scholarly story says monotheism showed up late, forged in the wreckage of the Babylonian exile. Dr. Lynch says that timeline is wrong, and he found the evidence hiding in a rare Hebrew word the prophet Isaiah used to humiliate the gods of the nations. What follows is a conversation about how the Bible does the work of lifting one God above every rival power, both the seen and the unseen.In this episode you will learn:The real difference between monotheism, monolatry, henotheism, and polytheism, and why those distinctions change how you read the Old TestamentWhy the Hebrew word Elohim is far wider than most readers realize, covering angels, the dead, and the God of Israel himselfThe standard scholarly account of how Israel slowly arrived at one God, and exactly where Dr. Lynch believes it falls apartThe rare term in Isaiah used to strip the gods of their dignity, a word that appears almost nowhere else in the entire Old TestamentHow Genesis 1, the Psalms, and Ezekiel each silence rival gods in completely different waysWhy the prophets aimed their fire not just at other gods, but at the empires of Assyria, Egypt, and BabylonWhat the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten reveals about whether Israel actually invented monotheismHow the unrivaled uniqueness of Israel's God sets the stage for everything the New Testament claims about ChristGuest: Dr. Matthew LynchAssociate Professor of Old Testament at Regent College, Vancouver, and co-founder and co-host of the OnScript podcast. His books include First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods, Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God, Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible, and Monotheism and Institutions in the Book of Chronicles, all available on Amazon.Connect with Dr. Lynch: https://www.regent-college.edu/faculty/lynch-matthewFirst Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods (Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible Book 12)- https://a.co/d/0fZgv5hS Stay Connected:johnnyova.comhttps://www.youtube.com/@thejohnnyovaThe Revelation Reset on Amazon: https://a.co/d/hiUkW8H

How have we not covered this yet? This week, we're heading to the strangest nursing home in movie history with Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-tep (2002), the cult horror-comedy that asks one unforgettable question: What if Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy teamed up to fight an ancient Egyptian soul-sucking mummy? Starring the living legend Bruce Campbell as an aging Elvis who insists he swapped identities with an impersonator years before and Ossie Davis as a Black man who believes he's the real JFK, Bubba Ho-tep blends absurd comedy, heartfelt drama, and supernatural horror into one of the most original cult films ever made. Join us as we unpack the film's offbeat premise, memorable performances, surprising emotional depth, and why this low-budget oddity has earned such a devoted following. We'll explore its themes of aging, identity, friendship, and mortality while celebrating the bizarre charm that makes Bubba Ho-tep truly unlike anything else. Whether you're a longtime fan or discovering this cult classic for the first time, grab your favorite snack, watch out for scarabs, and settle in for a conversation that's equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and wonderfully weird.TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wheel.of.horror7?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pcYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wheelofhorrorpodcast1802/videosApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wheel-of-horror/id1534102813Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3HnyAISG8Z8hvMFdSG60tE?si=9b785cf21c7f46a3Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheel_of_horror/Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/HorrorWheel

In this episode I discuss the book Understanding Social Images: Essays on Visual Methods and Teaching Anthropology (Berghahn, 2025) with co-editors David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab, a posthumous collection of writings by the late anthropologist Marcus Banks. Banks was a key the figures in development of visual anthropology, but his work remains of continuing relevance. This volume brings together several of his essays on film, photography, archive work, as well as reflections of visual methods such as photo-elicitation and ways of teaching visual anthroplogy. The conversation begins with Marcus Banks himself, his place within anthropology, his influence on visual anthropology, and the broader effort to preserve and extend his work through a set of posthumous collections. From there, the discussion turns to one of the central themes that emerge from across several essays, namely, that images are not simply illustrations or transparent representations, but socially and temporally situated objects with disctinct social lives. From there, we discuss Banks's interest in the materiality of the visual and how the circulation and afterlives of images gather new meaning over time. A substantial part of the interview focuses on Banks's film Raju and His Friends (1988), which proved foundational to his later reflections on ethnographic filmmaking, and especially on the ethics and politics of representation. As well as providing an introduction to Marcus Banks's work and serving as a tribute to a scholar whose influence continues to shape the field, many of the topics covered in the interview touches on many broader questions in anthropology itself, and as such will be of interest not only to students of visual anthropology, but to anthropology students and anthropologists more generally. David Zeitlyn is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. His work spans visual anthropology, photography and archives, religion and divination, and long-term fieldwork in Cameroon. He also collaborated with Marcus Banks on the second edition of Visual Methods in Social Research. Chihab El Khachab is Associate Professor in Visual Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. He is a social anthropologist specializing in visual and media anthropology, especially Egyptian media production, and is the author of Making Film in Egypt: How Labor, Technology, and Mediation Shape the Industry. Further reading and resources mentioned in the recording Jainism as Social and Visual Practice: Anthropological PerspectivesMarcus Banks. Edited by John E. Cort, David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab. New Delhi: Primus Books, 2026. This posthumous volume gathers Banks's writings on Jain social organization and visual representation. The revived HADDON catalogue of ethnographic filmsOriginally created by Marcus Banks in the 1990s, HADDON is an online catalogue of archival ethnographic film. The revived site presents a restored version of the database, now hosted through Paul Henley's Silent Time Machine project. Raju and His Friends (1988)The film discussed at length in this episode, and a key reference point for Banks's later reflections on visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking. Marcus Banks was Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford until he passed away in 2020. He was a pioneer in integrating visual approaches into the mainstream of social and cultural anthropology. With Howard Morphy, he edited the influential volume Rethinking Visual Anthropology (Yale University Press, 1999). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A Conversation with author Charles Akl about his debut novel Red Like Orange (Hoopoe, 2026) An offbeat tale of creativity, friendship, and finding your voice in this uproarious journey through Cairo's music scene in the early 2000s, where everything from American rock to Egyptian popular songs cultivates big dreams Winner of the Sawiris Cultural Award Following a breakup with his long-term girlfriend, “Local,” as he is known to his friends, moves from Alexandria to Cairo. In his new apartment, he discovers an old accordion, while his roommate unexpectedly decides to take up the saxophone, despite never having touched one before. And so, in the blistering summer heat, the two of them, without any formal training, dive into their first musical experiment: they put his mother's cookbook to music. Along with an eccentric assortment of acquaintances and occasional bandmates, Local crashes through his twenties and in and out of Cairo hangouts, heated debates on different music scenes, and various impromptu jam sessions and attempts at musical production. This is a raucous journey through offbeat downtown Cairo in the early 2000s and the music of the era, from Mohamed Mounir to Pink Floyd. Suffused with a sardonic humor and full of hilarious observations, Red Like Orange vividly chronicles life lived just outside the mainstream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode I discuss the book Understanding Social Images: Essays on Visual Methods and Teaching Anthropology (Berghahn, 2025) with co-editors David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab, a posthumous collection of writings by the late anthropologist Marcus Banks. Banks was a key the figures in development of visual anthropology, but his work remains of continuing relevance. This volume brings together several of his essays on film, photography, archive work, as well as reflections of visual methods such as photo-elicitation and ways of teaching visual anthroplogy. The conversation begins with Marcus Banks himself, his place within anthropology, his influence on visual anthropology, and the broader effort to preserve and extend his work through a set of posthumous collections. From there, the discussion turns to one of the central themes that emerge from across several essays, namely, that images are not simply illustrations or transparent representations, but socially and temporally situated objects with disctinct social lives. From there, we discuss Banks's interest in the materiality of the visual and how the circulation and afterlives of images gather new meaning over time. A substantial part of the interview focuses on Banks's film Raju and His Friends (1988), which proved foundational to his later reflections on ethnographic filmmaking, and especially on the ethics and politics of representation. As well as providing an introduction to Marcus Banks's work and serving as a tribute to a scholar whose influence continues to shape the field, many of the topics covered in the interview touches on many broader questions in anthropology itself, and as such will be of interest not only to students of visual anthropology, but to anthropology students and anthropologists more generally. David Zeitlyn is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. His work spans visual anthropology, photography and archives, religion and divination, and long-term fieldwork in Cameroon. He also collaborated with Marcus Banks on the second edition of Visual Methods in Social Research. Chihab El Khachab is Associate Professor in Visual Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. He is a social anthropologist specializing in visual and media anthropology, especially Egyptian media production, and is the author of Making Film in Egypt: How Labor, Technology, and Mediation Shape the Industry. Further reading and resources mentioned in the recording Jainism as Social and Visual Practice: Anthropological PerspectivesMarcus Banks. Edited by John E. Cort, David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab. New Delhi: Primus Books, 2026. This posthumous volume gathers Banks's writings on Jain social organization and visual representation. The revived HADDON catalogue of ethnographic filmsOriginally created by Marcus Banks in the 1990s, HADDON is an online catalogue of archival ethnographic film. The revived site presents a restored version of the database, now hosted through Paul Henley's Silent Time Machine project. Raju and His Friends (1988)The film discussed at length in this episode, and a key reference point for Banks's later reflections on visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking. Marcus Banks was Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford until he passed away in 2020. He was a pioneer in integrating visual approaches into the mainstream of social and cultural anthropology. With Howard Morphy, he edited the influential volume Rethinking Visual Anthropology (Yale University Press, 1999). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

A Conversation with author Charles Akl about his debut novel Red Like Orange (Hoopoe, 2026) An offbeat tale of creativity, friendship, and finding your voice in this uproarious journey through Cairo's music scene in the early 2000s, where everything from American rock to Egyptian popular songs cultivates big dreams Winner of the Sawiris Cultural Award Following a breakup with his long-term girlfriend, “Local,” as he is known to his friends, moves from Alexandria to Cairo. In his new apartment, he discovers an old accordion, while his roommate unexpectedly decides to take up the saxophone, despite never having touched one before. And so, in the blistering summer heat, the two of them, without any formal training, dive into their first musical experiment: they put his mother's cookbook to music. Along with an eccentric assortment of acquaintances and occasional bandmates, Local crashes through his twenties and in and out of Cairo hangouts, heated debates on different music scenes, and various impromptu jam sessions and attempts at musical production. This is a raucous journey through offbeat downtown Cairo in the early 2000s and the music of the era, from Mohamed Mounir to Pink Floyd. Suffused with a sardonic humor and full of hilarious observations, Red Like Orange vividly chronicles life lived just outside the mainstream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

In this episode I discuss the book Understanding Social Images: Essays on Visual Methods and Teaching Anthropology (Berghahn, 2025) with co-editors David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab, a posthumous collection of writings by the late anthropologist Marcus Banks. Banks was a key the figures in development of visual anthropology, but his work remains of continuing relevance. This volume brings together several of his essays on film, photography, archive work, as well as reflections of visual methods such as photo-elicitation and ways of teaching visual anthroplogy. The conversation begins with Marcus Banks himself, his place within anthropology, his influence on visual anthropology, and the broader effort to preserve and extend his work through a set of posthumous collections. From there, the discussion turns to one of the central themes that emerge from across several essays, namely, that images are not simply illustrations or transparent representations, but socially and temporally situated objects with disctinct social lives. From there, we discuss Banks's interest in the materiality of the visual and how the circulation and afterlives of images gather new meaning over time. A substantial part of the interview focuses on Banks's film Raju and His Friends (1988), which proved foundational to his later reflections on ethnographic filmmaking, and especially on the ethics and politics of representation. As well as providing an introduction to Marcus Banks's work and serving as a tribute to a scholar whose influence continues to shape the field, many of the topics covered in the interview touches on many broader questions in anthropology itself, and as such will be of interest not only to students of visual anthropology, but to anthropology students and anthropologists more generally. David Zeitlyn is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. His work spans visual anthropology, photography and archives, religion and divination, and long-term fieldwork in Cameroon. He also collaborated with Marcus Banks on the second edition of Visual Methods in Social Research. Chihab El Khachab is Associate Professor in Visual Anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. He is a social anthropologist specializing in visual and media anthropology, especially Egyptian media production, and is the author of Making Film in Egypt: How Labor, Technology, and Mediation Shape the Industry. Further reading and resources mentioned in the recording Jainism as Social and Visual Practice: Anthropological PerspectivesMarcus Banks. Edited by John E. Cort, David Zeitlyn and Chihab El Khachab. New Delhi: Primus Books, 2026. This posthumous volume gathers Banks's writings on Jain social organization and visual representation. The revived HADDON catalogue of ethnographic filmsOriginally created by Marcus Banks in the 1990s, HADDON is an online catalogue of archival ethnographic film. The revived site presents a restored version of the database, now hosted through Paul Henley's Silent Time Machine project. Raju and His Friends (1988)The film discussed at length in this episode, and a key reference point for Banks's later reflections on visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking. Marcus Banks was Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford until he passed away in 2020. He was a pioneer in integrating visual approaches into the mainstream of social and cultural anthropology. With Howard Morphy, he edited the influential volume Rethinking Visual Anthropology (Yale University Press, 1999). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

The Lion's Gate Portal is open from July 28th through August 12th and the peak — August 8th — is one of the most powerful manifestation moments of the entire year. If you've heard about 8/8 before and never really knew what to do with it, this episode is going to change that. Audrey breaks down the ancient history behind this portal, the astrology and numerology that make it so significant, and exactly how to use this energy to call in everything you're ready for in the next six months and beyond.In this episode you'll learn:What the Lion's Gate Portal actually is, where it comes from, and why ancient Egyptians considered it so sacred they built temples around itWhy the star Sirius, Orion's Belt, the sun in Leo, and August 8th all align to create one of the most energetically charged moments of the yearWhat the number 8 means in numerology — and why two eights combined amplify everything you're focusing on right nowWhy this portal isn't just about manifesting — it's about releasing the old patterns and identities that are blocking what you wantHow to prepare your nervous system before you start any manifestation practice so it actually worksThe exact step by step process Audrey uses to manifest during the Lion's Gate Portal — from setting intentions to releasing expectationsFREE GIFTTTSSSS: 8/8 Sound Bath — go to www.helloaudreyrose.com/lionsgate to grab it. Use it on (or before) August 8th for the most potent manifestation experience of the year.Cord Cutting Meditation: https://youtu.be/S9sYq_utps4?si=7OSF71YpxuqnOtUy✨✨ RISE Tribe - Next Steps✨✨For All the Things:  www.helloaudreyrose.com/linkinbio RISE Retreat:  https://www.helloaudreyrose.com/retreatFREE 7 day Nervous System Reset Group - get daily nervous system reset practices in just 10 min a day, with Audrey as your guide https://www.helloaudreyrose.com/7days Nervous System Reset Training (Free): www.helloaudreyrose.com/reset Happiness Bundle - www.helloaudreyrose.com/happiness 

The religion of ancient Egypt said that when a king died, his soul ascended to the heavens to join with the god Osiris, in the modern-day constellation Orion. His tomb was filled with items he might need to help him on his way. And in the case of at least one pharaoh, some of those items probably came from the heavens. The tomb of King Tutankhamen contained thousands of artifacts. Many of them were made of gold, including a dagger buried inside his coffin. But the boy king also had a second dagger, made of iron. When Tut was buried, more than 3300 years ago, Egypt hadn’t started to work with iron ore, so the dagger probably was made from an iron meteorite – a space rock that fell to Earth. The composition of the dagger’s metal is much like that of a metallic meteorite – a mixture of iron and nickel, with a pinch of cobalt. Another Tut artifact was an elaborate piece of jewelry known as a pectoral. Its centerpiece is a scarab beetle carved from yellow glass. The glass formed about 26 million years ago, when an asteroid or comet plunged toward Earth. It either hit the surface or exploded in the atmosphere. Heat from the explosion melted some of the desert sand, creating chunks of glass. One of those chunks eventually made its way to an Egyptian artist, and then to Tut’s tomb – a piece of glass from the heavens for a king traveling to the heavens. Tomorrow: into the void. Script by Damond Benningfield

[This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done. I'll be posting about one of these a week for several months. When you've read them all, I'll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked] Part 1. The Book of Abraham opens with this paragraph: "A Translation of some ancient Records that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus." As you can read, The Book of Abraham was written by grand patriarch Abraham upon papyrus while he was in Egypt. Someone managed to get their hands on these papyri and then subsequently translated them into English. This is of profound historical importance if true, because otherwise there is no direct evidence that Abraham existed as a specific historical individual. Who got their hands on these writings? The Mormons. More specifically their founding prophet Joseph Smith who a few years previously translated some other Egyptian writings into the Book of Mormon. The Book of Abraham is not that well-known in comparison, but it's considered canonical scripture in the Mormon church. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-the-book-of-abraham

Spiritual Amnesia: Remembering God's Faithfulness That Fuels Praise Sam Choi Download I want to say the saints of All Peoples Church greet you. We were sent out eight years ago from Cities Church, and it's a joy to serve you this morning. We're going to be going through all of Psalm 105. There's 45 verses, and so we're going to pick it apart in chunks instead of me reading the whole passage at one time. I want to start off with Psalm 105:1-5, and I want to invite you to have your Bibles out if you have a paper Bible. If not, use your phones. We're going to go through the text together.Most of you don't know me. That's okay, but I love you, and I've been praying that the Lord would give me a heart to see you as my people, even though you're not my people. That He would give me a heart to feel towards you what He feels towards you, and that I would be faithful to serve you this morning. I'm grateful for my family to be here. Just want to honor them. They're sitting there, and I love them, and I love to do life with them. So we're in Psalm 105:1-5.And if you have an ESV Bible, or you can click on it in your phones, would you read this out loud with me?Psalm 105:1-5, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.”Psalms like this have been historically hard for me because it's calling me to do that which I don't feel like often doing. What do you do when the psalmist calls you to praise God, remember His works, and tell of His wondrous works, and seek His face and His presence continually, and you're like, “But I don't feel like it”?Have you ever been in that situation where you got a worship leader, a very peppy worship leader, he's like, “Come on, God's people, let's praise the Lord.” And you're like, “I don't want to.”And so you're in a dilemma. What do you do? Do you fake it? Some of you know how to fake it, like you know the right things to do. E minor plays, you put your hands up because it's the time. The drums are going. You've been conditioned by church. You just know how to go through it, right? Or you're just like, “No, I'm authentic. I'm not going to praise if I don't feel like it.” Right? There's a spectrum in here. The psalmist is calling us to do something that isn't normal. It isn't natural to praise another. It's not. You aren't born with a desire to praise others and thank others. We are born with an inward bent, and so what do we do?Spiritual AmnesiaI want to show you the key to this passage that will free your lips, free your hearts. See, the key to this passage is in verse five. Verses 1-4 give us 10 commands. Sing praises, give thanks, over and over again. And I'm not going to throw law on you, “Hey, guys, have you given thanks this week? Try this week now. If you've only done 5 out of 10, let's go to 6 out of 10, church this week.” Because that won't last. Now, we can shame you, we can guilt you, we can rile you up to have a week of doing it, but you'll forget eventually, and I forget. So what's the key? The key is verse five. “Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered.”Remember, remember, remember.It's repeated a few times throughout the psalm. This is the key that unlocks the rest.The reason why our praise is sparse, our hearts can be full of grumbling rather than gratitude, is because we've forgotten. We have spiritual amnesia.Do you remember what 2021 was like? We were just coming out of the throes of COVID, and my family and I, we live five blocks from George Floyd Square. We just had a contentious election. And on top of that, we had a new church, and one of my good friends was trying to get me removed as a pastor. It was the lowest moment of our life, by far. And my wife and I were brought low. One of my children woke up in the middle of the night regularly with night terrors because there were fires around our home and marches coming around us. Do you remember this time? Something about living here, just this happens a lot, right? You guys are in the news.And during that time, I got a text from a family that I didn't really even know, and they said, “Hey, we'd like to give you $1,000 of spending money, fly you to Anna Marie Island, give you a giant Airbnb that we can no longer use, and bless you.” And that trip was the greatest vacation of all time.My wife and I wept regularly with our Bibles open, worshiping, saying, “God, you see us. You know us. Oh God, you care about us. We're not forgotten. Even though we feel forgotten, we're not forgotten.” And I made some declarations during that time. “God, I'll never forget this. You provide for us. You see us. You know us. You don't forget us.”And guess what I've done?I forgot about that.Have any of you guys been like that where God provides in a supernatural way, and it's so sweet, and you're like, “God, I'll never doubt you again!” Anyone? And then we forget, and then we're anxious again.He provides for you over and over again, and then we forget. This is kind of a problem with God's people: we forget what He has done. What the psalmist is going to try to do is ground our praise in memory, to remember, remember.What do we need to remember? Well, let's look at the next verse, verse 6,“O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!7 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,9 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,”What do we need to remember? We need to remember the Lord. And what do you need to first remember about the Lord? It's that although you may have forgotten him this week, He has not forgotten you.The psalmist calls us to remember, but what do we remember first? Verse 8:“He remembers…”We all forget. We all can be fickle.The Lord isn't. The Lord, He is our God, and He remembers you, church. He remembers you even when you have forgotten Him, and even go further than forgotten, forsaken Him. He remembers you. That is the ground, that is the foundation, that is the security, you can have this morning. It's not that your memory is like an elephant. I will never forget you, Lord. It's just like Peter's grandpa. Peter's grandpa could forget at times, with dementia, but the Lord did not forget him. And I hope that encourages you this morning because some of us here are going through circumstances that are so painful. There are unmet longings or unanswered prayers where you feel, “Certainly, God, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten me. I don't believe this here. Yeah, maybe it's true for so and so, but not for me. You've forgotten me.” And God wants every one of you people this morning to remember He remembers you. He knows every prayer you've prayed. He knows every trial you've gone through. He knows every unmet longing of your hearts. He knows the anxieties. He knows everything. And you need to know that He remembers you, and He's near to you this morning.So what the psalmist is going to do is he's going to go back into history. David is going to remind us of what God has done through several different acts in Israel's history. Something that is important for you to know is that there's not a single person who was hearing this psalm originally who was at the original events. Why is that significant for you?Because a lot of times when we read God's Word, we can feel like it's distant from us, it's sterile. “Yeah, God, you did that back then, but what are you doing now?”See, when David is speaking to his people, and the context is actually in Chronicles. David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and he says these words, you can see it in Chronicles. And it's a reminder that the stories from the past are our stories.See, nobody was there alive when we were going to read about Moses. No one was there, and none of you were there either. And we can often be like, “Well, yeah, that was just for them.” But one of the biggest burdens I have for you this morning, church, is for you to walk away saying, “That's my God.”Those stories are your stories. Remember Galatians 3. If you are in Christ, all the promises that you are an heir of Abraham's line. Yes, you may be Scandinavian, and you may be a Midwesterner here, and you're not ethnically Jewish, but the same God who walked with Moses and Abraham and rescued His people, that's your God. So as we go through these portraits, if you grew up in church, and you know the Father Abraham and all that kind of stuff, the temptation is you're going to be like, "Yeah, I know." But that is your God.Oh, church, fight for your heart this morning. Be like, “Wow, He did that? He did that? That's my God?” That's what I'm going to try to model for you as we go and exalt over each of these stories. And so what I'm going to do is what David tries to do. He tries to remind a forgotten people what God has done and who He is, and who He is for us. So the first one we're going to look at is that God is a fierce protector, if you're a note-taker, from verses 12-15.1. God is a fierce protector.Verse 12,“When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it,13 wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,14 he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,15 saying, ‘Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!'”Okay. So we see a lot of things in this passage, and I don't want to oversimplify, but God is a fierce protector over his people. Think about God's people at this time. They are small. They're vulnerable. They're a remnant. They're barely a blip, and they're traveling through foreign territory. They don't have an army, really. They're cooked. They have no hope of making it as a nation, as a people, and yet God jealously fights for his people. He fiercely protects his people.Think about Abraham and Jacob, or Abraham and Isaac, with Abimelech and Pharaoh. God is able to stop the abuse of Sarah. It doesn't matter how powerful the person is, God is greater still. He fiercely protects his people, and some of you need to be reminded of that. We're exiles, church. Don't forget, this world is not our home. If you feel like you're an exile, you're a remnant, you're a sojourner … good!You're remembering one of your identities. And so when we're here and we have these protesters outside and the world who doesn't love Christ and obey him pushes against us, this is a reminder this is not our home, and yet we have a fierce protector over us.Any of you parents here, you guys are fierce protectors of your children, right? You know that any desire you have to protect your kids is just a shadow of how God feels towards his kids?You care about protection because God cares about protection. Being made in the image of God, you are just reflecting what he's like. And so if you think that you care about your kids, infinitely more your Heavenly Father cares about you, church. He's a fierce protector. Oh, church, put your hope in him afresh, that you are protected by him!One of my children recently said to me, “Dad, do we need to live here? It's hard to live here. It doesn't feel safe.”And that's heartbreaking to hear that from your child. But you know the safest place is to be in God's will, no matter what happens. You can move out into the boonies, in the most safe, conservative area with the most amount of cops, and die if you're out of the will of the Lord. And you could be right in the firestorm of everything, and you are untouchable until the Lord says, “It's time to go home, son.”Do you believe the Lord is a fierce protector over you? Or are you anxiously trying to control and protect your life in a perfect way where you actually don't need him? Remember the Lord, he's a fierce protector. Now, how does he protect? The next portrait we want to see of God is that he's sovereign over all things, even hard and evil things.2. God is sovereign over all things.Let's look at verses 16-25:“When he summoned afamine on the land and broke all supply of bread,17 he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.18 His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.20 The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free;21 he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,22 to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.”Let's stop right there. We'll continue in a moment.This is an amazing reversal. Think about it. This is the superpower of the world, and you've got a guy (Joseph) who gets betrayed by his brothers, and God sends him ahead of time through great evil and trial so that he could bring salvation to the rest of the world when a famine is coming. This is amazing. He goes and he starts as a slave, goes to prison after a little psych-out where it looked like he was going to be good, and then over years of languishing in a prison, when you think he probably said, “God, have you forgotten me? I'm in a prison. I didn't do anything wrong. Yeah, I was annoying to my brothers and a little arrogant, but I don't deserve prison. Oh, Lord, have you forgotten me?”And the Lord elevates him in due season to be at the right hand of Pharaoh so he could bring salvation to his people when the famine hits. And there's a lot to learn there, because remember: what his brothers did to him was evil, was wrong, and that's why when Joseph meets his brothers, what does he say? He says, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”And I want to remind you of that. There's a lot of evil done towards us and evil we do, and God is working it for good. And oftentimes, I think when we hear stories like this, we think super American individualistic. What I mean by that is like, yeah, yeah, this situation is bad, and somehow he's going to work it good for my life. Yes and amen, but so much more than that. God is never doing one thing. Your suffering isn't meaningless. He's actually working in that great evil against you to bring about good, not just for you, but beyond you.He's writing a greater story, a grander story, for all kinds of people, not just you. So your suffering isn't meaningless. Joseph probably thought this was meaningless, but God had purposes to save the entire world through this. This is amazing. What a reversal. But then let's keep reading, because then it gets crazy…Verse 24,“And the Lord made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes.25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.”Okay, let's talk about this just for a moment. I'm not going to, in a few moments, try to explain how God's sovereignty over all things harmonizes with human free choices, but let me say a few things and then for the rest you can email me at jonathan@citieschurch.com. He's on vacation, you could flood him with really hard questions. Don't do that. So oftentimes in scripture, we have two different lenses when we see things that happen. So we have on the ground. On the ground, Egypt is nervous and scared and anxious about this people group that is growing among them. “Maybe they'll turn against us.” Those are all normal human thoughts that they thought until Pharaoh was like, “Okay, let's subject these people, because they could turn against us, and that's not going to be good.” So Pharaoh wanted to subject Israel, God's people, the Hebrews.But then sometimes in scripture, like Psalm 105, you kind of zoom out 30,000 feet and you get God's divine perspective. He was working in that without violating Pharaoh's desires or the Egyptians. They wanted to subject them in an evil way, and yet God is somehow sovereign over that. That's a mystery that many have spilled much ink over. But both are true in scripture. And so in Psalm 105, we are looking at the larger view. Whenever you confuse those views, that's where a lot of times problems come. But I want you to notice that even in doing that, God is setting up something greater. Because if he didn't set that up, his people wouldn't be able to plunder the Egyptians and leave with great triumph and bring judgment on a very wicked world. And let me make this point now. I said that God is sovereign over all things, even evil things. And you know who has a problem with evil things? Not just you. God does. Any sense of justice you have is just a mere echo of God's divine wrath and righteous anger towards wickedness and injustice. And so make no mistake. Yes, God is sovereign in all things … but the next section, God is a righteous judge. Let's look at verses 26-36.3. God is a righteous judge.Verses 26:“He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.27 They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham.”Let's stop there. I'm not going to read the rest of that section because it's a little longer, but why don't you just look at it briefly. What is he doing here? He's turning waters into blood. He's throwing frogs at them … like crazy. Flies, gnats, hail, lightning, and it all culminates in the striking down, in verse 36, of the firstborn. Egypt was a wicked nation. They were a wicked nation, and they oppressed peoples greatly. They subjugated God's people for 400 years. God is not okay with that. And Egypt put a lot of hope and trust in their different gods. They had gods for this, gods for that, and what Yahweh is doing, God is systematically going down the line and showing that, “I reign over that. I reign over frogs. I reign over water. I reign over every single thing.” He puts them in their place because God will have no other gods. He will not share his throne with another. And so let this give you hope when you feel like there's injustice done. Who is making it right? Know that the Lord is a righteous judge. Yes, the timing may not be what you would choose, but if you saw his perspective, you would understand his timing. The Lord is a righteous judge.Church, you don't need to be the judge. You don't need to retaliate. You don't need to have vengeance. The moment you take it in your hands, you are forgetting that the Lord is a righteous judge.Someone needs to remember that. Someone has wronged you greatly, and you feel the burden of taking it into your own hands, or you feel the burden that you can't forgive them because if you forgive them, they're going to get away with it. Don't forget the Lord is a righteous judge.But he doesn't just judge Egypt. He's seen 400 years of unmet prayers and longings from his people. 400 years, generations without wages and without provision. So the next portrait we see is that God is a lavish provider.4. God is a lavish provider.Not just a provider, a lavish provider. Look at verse 37. “Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.40 They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.”Church, have you let this become a fairy tale for you? Have any of you guys been in the desert or in a desolate place?And can you imagine if we were hiking together and all thirsty, and I'm like, “Hey, guys, watch this.” And I just hit a rock and water came out. That would be insane. That'd be the craziest thing you ever saw in your life. And yet we see that and we're like, “Yeah. That's cool. That happened. I saw it in Prince of Egypt. It's a good movie.” Right? That's your God! He did that!They were starving and God gave them manna. Just appears on the ground, they got to collect. They wanted protein, because they didn't want to be vegans, and God sends them quail.That's crazy, church. That's our God. He provided for them. That's your God. He covered them at night. He led them through the day. That's your God.Why do I keep saying that's your God? Because sometimes we forget that that same God who did that is the same God who knows you intimately and walks with you right now. Those stories are your stories, church. That's your story. That's your God. That'‘s your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, whatever grandfather. They went through that. That's your family lineage. That's your heritage. And so some of you, your bank account is low. You're in massive debt up to your eyeballs. You're struggling with so many anxieties and pressures, and you're worrying, and you're wondering. God is a lavish provider. Oh, Church, put your hope in Him. Put your trust in Him. If He could provide then, He can infinitely provide more for you now. Amen? Amen. Now, God needs to provide a lot of things. We have things that we need, and He cares about them. But there's something that we need most, and let's look at this last portrait, the singing Savior. 5. God is a singing Savior.Look at verse 43,“So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.”Now, what we see in Exodus is that when the peoples were delivered from Egypt, Miriam led God's people with a tambourine and a song she wrote, and people were singing, right? But the Hebrew right here is ambiguous about who's actually singing.And when I hear this language, it reminds me of another passage. Would you turn with me to Zephaniah 3:17? If you're not familiar with your Bible yet, it's in the end of the Old Testament. It's one of the sweetest passages, and I want you to hear the parallel language that you hear here. One thing I want to remind you is that anything that we do on this side of eternity that's from the will of God, it's just a shadow and echo of God's heart and what's going on in heaven. When you see someone come to faith and you rejoice, what's going on in heaven? There's a party. It's an echo. So as Israel is rejoicing, what they don't know is that there is another one rejoicing, too. Read with me if you have your Bibles right now, Zephaniah 3:17,“The Lord your God is in your midst. A mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exult over you with loud singing.”Write that on a note card, tape it on your mirror, and brush your teeth every morning. And stare at that. The Lord sings over you like an embarrassing father who delights in his children.The Lord doesn't just save begrudgingly. He delights to save. It brings him great joy. Yes, God is a righteous judge, but he does not delight in the death of the wicked. But God delights to save. He sings. He's a singing Savior. So the greatest need that we have is met in Christ, that Christ saved us. Christ Jesus died for us, and He delights to save His people. Remember that. He delights to save you. It wasn't a duty. It wasn't begrudging. It was His joy, and He sings over you. For some of you, the reason why you don't praise is because you've forgotten that He delights over you, and so this whole Christian thing is just so regimented and so just religious and going through traditions. The Lord sings over you, church. Now, I want you to notice something. The next verse. The next verse is another thing that He provides for us richly, and it's also connected to verse 11.“And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the people's toil." So the Lord provides for His people not just a temporary residence, but in Christ, if you are in Christ, church, you get to inherit the entire world. And the ultimate rest that we have is that we get Jesus. Oh, if you're weary, if you feel displaced, if you're longing and you feel like this earth is not your home, something's wrong, nothing's satisfied, your ultimate destination is Jesus forever on this redeemed world. And Israel gets it in parts, but not in its full. But for us who are in Christ, one day we'll inherit everything, and the greatest inheritance is that we get Jesus. It's the greatest need we have. So if you feel like, man, this world is just not enough, it's not cutting it, it's because you were made for another. You were made for the land that has Christ at the center. Now, if God's people are saved, set apart, rescued, what should be the result of that? Let's look at verse 45,“that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.Praise the Lord!”This is so important. If you haven't been listening, please hear me right now. This order is super important. What comes first, obeying or saving? What comes first, obeying or saving? I'm not trying to trick you. Saving. No, it's obeying. Just kidding. No, it's saving. Saving is first!He brought them out of Egypt. He brought his people out of slavery so that they may obey. That order is the difference between Christianity and not. You are not saved because you obey, but because you are saved, you will obey. This is important here. Another sign of our spiritual amnesia is that you don't obey because you forgot what the Lord has done, and some of you, you don't obey because you're not saved yet. So I just want to say this to you. I don't know you. I only know a few of you. If your life is not one where you're progressively becoming more like Jesus and obeying him more and more in all the stuff of life, then you should have insecurity if you are actually his. And if that's you, come, pray with someone today. Wrestle with it. Examine your heart. Do I actually know the Savior? Because you can't know the Savior and the Savior not change you. You can't. It's impossible. There is no category in scripture, except the category that we have in the West, that you can know Christ and stay the same. Will it be perfect? No. Will you stumble? Yes. Will you still sin? Yes. But over time, will it be true? Yes. Not fully, but truly, over time, Christ will transform you. So if you are not obeying Jesus in every area of your life, oh church, remember the Lord who saved you. Remember the Lord who loves you and sings over you. Don't forget the order. You're saved and set apart to obey. And what does God want to do when we obey? What is he trying to do? Because when we obey, Jesus is taking us by the hand and showing us how to truly live the life he wants us to live, truly be human, truly live the life of abundance he's called us to live. And when we do that, we reflect his heart and his character to the nations, to our neighbors, to our coworkers. God is calling you to show what he's like in your obedience. He has purpose behind him setting you apart to be his.Tell of His Wondrous WorksSo we've gone through the whole psalm, and I want to end with a few points … Look at your life. Is your life characterized by one of praise and gratitude and seeking his presence and his face continually? Ask your friends, ask your spouse, ask your kids, ask people who know you. Does that sound like me? Or am I slow to speak of the things of the Lord? This is something that can be cultivated over time. So I want to challenge you, Cities Church, to practice this habit. Practice it for those who have families, fathers and mothers.Practice telling of his wondrous works to each other. It's not something that can always be natural, but you can grow in it.My wife has us set aside a jar every November to write down things that God has done this last year, and then we read it out loud the week of Thanksgiving and praise the Lord. That's a little simple habit you can try to bring into your life.For those of you who are in community groups, and I hope all of you are in community groups, don't turn this building into just a service where you come and you're like, "Feed me, ah," and you just get your goods and then you go and you leave to do something you want to do. Cities Church is a family to belong to, and Sunday services are absolutely essential, but they're not sufficient for full formation to follow Jesus and become like him. So fight to be in a community group if you're not. And if you're in a community group, regularly have times where you can take time to say, “What has God done? Let's tell of his wondrous works.”And you know how sweet it is to be part of a community who does this? Because check this out. There will be seasons where your heart is cold and someone else is buzzing because God has done great works. And they share, and you hear, and your heart gets warmed, and you're like, "Oh, yeah, the Lord!" You know what that's like? And guess what? Maybe a season or two later, you guys switch spots. This happens a lot of times in marriages.And this person who used to be burning hot have gone through some fiery trials, and they're struggling, they're languishing. And then you're like, "Brother, do you remember?" "Sister, do you remember what he did for you?" You can remind people of his wondrous works and how he worked in their life, and how he worked in your life. How sweet would it be to be part of a church family where you could do that for each other? Older saints in here, go out of your way to share: "Hey, son, come here. Let me tell you something about what the Lord has done.”Younger saints, talk to older saints. Tell me stories of God's faithfulness. Stir up my faith. Build my faith. I want to exhort you that today, over lunch, share of something the Lord has done in his wondrous works. Stir each other's faith. And if you're like, “I can't remember anything”, pray. We planted a church this last year, and they're going through this discipleship curriculum. One of the first things that they do is they do an inventory of three moments where God really showed up in your life, to write it down, so that you can share it with others. And the whole group was like, "I don't know." But then when they actually sat down and were quiet, they're like, "Oh my goodness, God has done great works." We forget, don't we? Church, you have a treasure trove of stories of God's faithfulness for you, but we forget. So write them down. Rehearse them, share it with your kids. Tell it with your neighbors. Tell it with your coworkers. May the Lord open up our mouths and share.And so church, it's been good to be with you, and I want to remind you, the Lord has not forgotten you.You may have forgotten him, and I forget him too, but the Lord has not forgotten you. And that is the great confidence you have.Remember, you have been saved. That leads to obeying. You don't obey to get saved. Remember that the Lord is a fierce protector over you, and that even in the hardest moments of your life, he is sovereign even over that thing.God is a righteous judge and he will redeem and make all things new, and he will right every wrong.And that God is a lavish provider. He can redeem the years the locusts have stolen in your life, no matter how painful or how impossible. He is the God who can give you water out of a rock.That is your God, church. That's your God. Don't you sleep on that. That's your God. And he's the God who saves you with joy and gladly sings over you. And if you don't know this savior, oh, would you talk to someone this morning? Would you not leave if you don't know the sweetness of this savior who delights to save? The righteous judge who judged himself so that you could stand free. Would you come? I'd love to pray with you, and I know there's a number of people here who would love to talk with you. Let's pray.Father, thank you for who you are. And Lord, we confess many of us have forgotten you have been far kinder and better to us than we remember. Sometimes our hearts can be filled with grumbling and amnesia where we forget. And so God, we recenter our hearts, and we look back at your faithfulness, not just to God's people from all generations, but our own lives. I pray for a special gifting over Cities Church that we would grow to be able to tell of his wondrous works. That you would loose our tongues to be able to share. So many in this room have great stories of your grace and your kindness, but they forget it or they're timid, and would you loose their tongues so that this whole church will be full of praise and thanksgiving and gratitude. Oh, God, may we seek your face continually, seek your strength continually. Oh, God, we need you. And Father, if there's anything that I said that was in error, either in manner or in content, would you please correct me and let no one here remember. But God, all that is actually from above, that is from your Word, let it deeply shape us. Let the Word do its work in our hearts. And God, as we transition to the Lord's Supper, help us be freshly reminded that this table is a reminder that you are the Savior, and you delight in us. And you save us, not because we obey, but that it leads to obedience.Let everyone be freshly reminded of the sweetness of the gospel of grace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

In this edition of the Weekend Torah Teaching, Dennis delves into the complexities of human nature, morality, and the Jewish tradition. He explores the idea that our growth as individuals is tied to our ability to see others as real, and that empathy is essential for living a moral life. Dennis draws on the story of Jacob's journey to Egypt, where he and his family are welcomed as strangers, and the importance of loving the stranger is emphasized. Dennis also examines the story of Joseph in Egypt, where he is tasked with managing the famine and collecting taxes from the Egyptian people. He notes that the Torah is trying to explain how the phenomenon of an entire nation being enslaved by one man came about, and how this idea is repugnant to the Jewish tradition. The episode raises important questions about the nature of power, morality, and the human condition. Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timeless-wisdom-with-dennis-prager/id1517302239 Follow us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4SZEYeH4tuLr2FvG4ok1rl Learn more about Dennis Prager: https://pragertopia.com/ Follow Dennis on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DennisPrager Follow Dennis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedennisprager/ Follow Dennis on X: https://x.com/DennisPrager Learn more about the Salem Podcast Network: https://salempodcastnetwork.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II thought so much of himself that he had numerous structures served up in his honor, including many monuments that captured his physical features. One, the colossal statue of Ramesses II, stands thirty-six feet tall and weighs eighty-three tons in all its red-granite glory. Age wasn’t kind to the proud ruler, however. In fact, when he died he was suffering from bad teeth, arthritis, and chronic heart problems. Some of his monuments might last for a while, but—like all mortals—he himself passed. Absalom, one of King David’s sons, also built “a monument to himself” (2 Samuel 18:18). Fueled by rage from past tragedy (see ch. 13) and selfish ambition, this younger man worked to steal “the hearts of all the people of Israel” (15:6) from his father. When Absalom attempted to pilfer the throne, however, God did not allow him to overpower David, His anointed king (1 Samuel 16:12-13), and David's fighting men (2 Samuel 18:6). In the end, Absalom was killed for his treachery. Although his monument still stood (v. 18), he died humbled and defeated. Building monuments to ourselves and serving our own pride and desires won’t end well. But as we humbly serve God and love Him well (Philippians 2:3-8), we’ll find true meaning and fulfillment in His presence.

Nature staff discuss the young but deadly dinosaur kings, the prowess of ancient Egyptian princesses, and how London is becoming the world's AI safety capital.00:34 London is transforming into an AI-safety hubNature: A global capital for AI safety is emerging — and it's not in Silicon Valley05:52 Bones reveal that ancient Egyptian princesses weren't pamperedScientific American: Ancient Egyptian princesses were ‘powerful' weapon users, new analysis suggests9:30 T. rex was born ready to killDiscover magazine: Fossil Evidence Indicates Baby T. rex Were Tiny, but DeadlySubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Day 2912 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2912 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 145:8-13 Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2912 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2912 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The tiel for today's Wisdom-Trek is: The Everlasting Realm of Compassion – Unveiling the Majesty of Yahweh's Kingdom On our previous expedition—on Day Two Thousand Nine Hundred Ten—we stood in awe at the royal threshold of Psalm One Hundred Forty-Five, exploring verses one through seven. We listened as King David laid down his military sword, picked up his harp, and declared that Yahweh's unsearchable greatness must be proclaimed from one generation to the next! We witnessed how the remembrance of God's overflowing, gushing goodness naturally erupts into exuberant, generational praise. Today, we step directly onto the next elevation of this magnificent acrostic summit, advancing into Psalm One Hundred Forty-Five, verses eight through thirteen. As we continue along this pristine trail, David shifts our focus from the unsearchable, transcendent splendor of the Creator to the profound, heart-level warmth of His character. In these six verses, we are invited to gaze into the very heart of the Sovereign King of heaven—a King whose authority is not marked by cold, tyrannical control, but by boundless mercy, universal compassion, and an unshakeable, everlasting dominion that spans every physical and spiritual realm across all generations. The first segment is: The Heart of the King: Abundant Mercy and Universal Compassion Let us open our ears to the deeply comforting words recorded in the New Living Translation, grouping together the logical, contiguous thoughts found in verse eight and verse nine. The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. In these two breathtaking lines, David delivers what can only be described as the supreme theological confession of the Hebrew Scriptures, declaring, “The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.” If these words sound familiar to your ears, it is because David is directly quoting the sacred, self-revealed character statement that Yahweh declared to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter thirty-four! To fully appreciate the revolutionary impact of this revelation, we must view it through the ancient Israelite divine-council worldview. In the ancient Near East, the pagan nations surrounding Israel lived in perpetual, paralyzing fear of their localized deities. Gods like Baal, Chemosh, or Marduk were viewed as erratic, moody, quick-tempered, and selfish entities who demanded bloody sacrifices and cared nothing for the well-being of ordinary mortals. Furthermore, in the cosmic geography of the ancient world, those foreign nations were assigned to rebellious, territorial spiritual principalities who ruled through fear, oppression, and enslavement. Standing in stark, brilliant contrast to those dark, fickle powers, Yahweh reveals His true nature as the absolute Sovereign of the cosmos! He is not quick to wrath; rather, He is patient, long-suffering, and profoundly merciful. The Hebrew term used here for "unfailing love" is chesed—that deep, unwavering, covenant-keeping affection that never gives up on its people. But notice how far David expands this divine love in verse nine! Yahweh's goodness is not restricted to a single tribe or a select elite; He is good to everyone! He showers His tender, fatherly compassion over all His creation—from the highest angelic seraphim in the heavenly assembly, down to the smallest bird resting in the forest canopy. In a world often battered by chaos and cruelty, David reminds us that the supreme ruler of the universe is defined, at His core, by overwhelming, relentless grace. The second segment is: The Chorus of Creation and the Realm of Glory The narrative now moves from the internal character of the King to the explosive, cosmic response of His subjects, linking together the contiguous thoughts found in verse ten, verse eleven, and verse twelve. All of your creatures will thank you, Lord, and your godly people will praise you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom; they will give examples of your power. They will tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign. David paints a panoramic, glorious vision of universal adoration, declaring, “All of your creatures will thank you, Lord, and your godly people will praise you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom; they will give examples of your power. They will tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign.” Look at the dual choir David brings together in this passage! First, he points to “all of your creatures”—the entirety of the natural order and the unseen heavenly hosts—offering a continuous, harmonious echo of thanksgiving to their Creator. But then, he highlights a special group: “your godly people”—the chasidim, those who are bound to Yahweh in a loving, loyal covenant relationship. While creation offers silent, instinctual praise, God's redeemed people are given an articulate, vocal mission! They do not remain quiet; they step into the cosmic courtroom to publicly testify about the true nature of Yahweh's reign. Notice the three specific themes these covenant heralds proclaim: they speak of the glory of His kingdom, they give tangible examples of His power, and they tell about His mighty deeds. In the ancient divine-council framework, earthly kingdoms were constantly boasting about their military conquests, erecting arrogant monuments to their mortal kings. But David's godly people look past earthly empires and fallen principalities to exalt the true, overarching kingdom of God! They share concrete stories of how Yahweh broke the chains of slavery, how He defeated spiritual powers of darkness, how He provided manna in the barren wilderness, and how He heals broken hearts. Their testimony serves as a vibrant, undeniable public witness to the entire world—and to the watching spiritual realms—demonstrating that Yahweh's rule is unmatched in majesty, splendor, and liberating power. The third segment is: The Unshakeable Dominion: An Everlasting Kingdom The psalmist now reaches the ultimate, unshakeable bedrock of his royal hymn, anchoring his narrative in the eternal stability of God's rule, as recorded in verse thirteen. For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule through all generations. The Lord is always faithful to his promises; he is gracious in all he does. With triumphant, absolute confidence, David seals this section of his psalm, exclaiming, “For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule through all generations. The Lord is always faithful to his promises; he is gracious in all he does.” This verse contains a colossal, mind-boggling truth that provides ultimate comfort for our daily trek through life. Throughout human history, massive empires have risen with terrifying power, only to crumble into forgotten dust. The ancient Egyptian pharaohs, the ruthless Assyrian conquerors, the mighty Babylonian kings, and the vast Roman legions all believed their rule would last forever. Yet, every single one of those human regimes—along with the fallen, territorial spiritual principalities that animated them—faded away into the pages of history. But David declares that the kingdom of Yahweh belongs to a completely different category! His rule is an everlasting kingdom—a reign that knows no geographical boundaries, no political decline, no military defeat, and no expiration date! Furthermore, look at the second half of verse thirteen, which highlights the moral foundation of this eternal throne. Unlike human rulers who break treaties, abandon alliances, and act out of selfish ambition, Yahweh is "always faithful to his promises; he is gracious in all he does." In the ancient Near Eastern world, a king's word was often treacherous. But the Supreme King of the divine council binds Himself to His word! Every promise He makes to His children—promises of presence, protection, forgiveness, and ultimate restoration—is locked in an unshakeable, eternal vault. His authority is executed through pure grace, ensuring that those who take refuge under His reign will never be disappointed, forgotten, or cast aside....

The wrap up of things unearthed in the second quarter of 2026 includes the potpourri category, lots of books and letters, shipwrecks, and neanderthals. Research: Addley, Esther. “Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists.” The Guardian. 6/17/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/solstice-aligned-monument-archaeology-wiltshire-stonehenge-prototype Anderson, Sonja. “These 600-Year-Old Chinese Surgical Instruments Are Coated in an Early Local Anesthetic—Carefully Extracted From a Poisonous Plant.” Smithsonian. 5/29/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-600-year-old-chinese-surgical-instruments-are-coated-in-an-early-local-anestheticcarefully-extracted-from-a-poisonous-plant-180988865/ Archaeology Magazine. “Copper Part From Illicit 19th Century Still Discovered in Scotland.” 5/12/2026. https://archaeology.org/news/2026/05/12/copper-part-from-illicit-19th-century-still-discovered-in-scotland/ Associated Press Copenhagen. “Archaeologists discover wreck of Danish warship sunk by Nelson 225 years ago.” The Guardian. 4/2/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/02/archaeologists-discover-wreck-danish-warship-sunk-admiral-nelson Bassi, Margherita. “After Nearly 80 Years of Doubt, Scientists Say a Spear Lodged Between Elephant Ribs Offers Evidence That Neanderthals Hunted Big Game.” Smithsonian. 4/10/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-nearly-80-years-of-doubt-scientists-say-a-spear-lodged-between-elephant-ribs-offers-evidence-that-neanderthals-hunted-big-game-180988522/ Baum, Stephanie and Robert Egan. “Bolivian mummy rewrites scarlet fever's past, suggesting killer bacterium circulated centuries before colonization.” EurekAlert. 4/15/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bolivian-mummy-rewrites-scarlet-fever.html Blackwood, Emma. “Baby fossils reveal link between human and Neanderthal development.” University of Queensland. Via EurekAlert. 6/19/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1132850 Blair, Elizabeth. “Decades-old, newly restored Smithsonian carousel reopens — to children’s delight.” WAMU. 4/25/2026. https://wamu.org/story/26/04/25/decades-old-newly-restored-smithsonian-carousel-reopens-to-childrens-delight/ Blake, Elissa. “New evidence reveals a millennium-old dingo was ritually buried, and cared for, along the Darling (Baaka) River in Australia.” University of Sydney. Via EurekAlert. 5/18/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1128408 Cerino, Marco. “Appeals court clears Trump's path to alter Philadelphia slavery exhibit at historic site.” Philadelphia Tribune. 6/18/2026. https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/appeals-court-clears-trumps-path-to-alter-philadelphia-slavery-exhibit-at-historic-site/article_8ac83e65-6a6d-4db1-91c4-074f98c96a74.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Clark, Gaby. “Climate and competition alone cannot explain Neanderthal extinction, study finds.” Phys.org. 4/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-climate-competition-neanderthal-extinction.html Clark, Gaby. “Did Neanderthals use rhinoceros teeth as tools?” Phys.org. 6/18/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-neanderthals-rhinoceros-teeth-tools.html Clark, Gaby. “Nondestructive DNA sampling reveals 1,300 years of secrets in historic parchments.” Phys.org. 5/18/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nondestructive-dna-sampling-reveals-years.html Clark, Gaby. “Surprising diversity found among Europe's last Neanderthals.” Leiden University. Via Phys.org. 6/24/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-diversity-europe-neanderthals.html Cummings, Mike. “Medici brothers' remains reveal Renaissance-era malaria strains, closing the book on a murder mystery.” Phys.org. 6/30/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-medici-brothers-reveal-renaissance-era.html Defranceschi, Laura. “Ötzi and his microbiome: a 5,300-year-old relationship.” Eurac Research. Via EurekAlert. 6/2/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1129908 Dungate, Joanna. “Shakespeare’s ‘missing’ London house mapped with new discovery.” Kings College London. Via EurekAlert. 4/15/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123989 Egan, Robert. “Neanderthal dentists used stone drills to treat cavities nearly 60,000 years ago, ancient molar suggests.” Phys.org. 5/13/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-neanderthal-dentists-stone-drills-cavities.html Egan, Robert. “Stonehenge Altar Stone's epic transportation across ancient Britain detailed in new study.” Curtin University. Via Phys.org. 6/4/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-stonehenge-altar-stone-epic-ancient.html Ellenby, Danielle. “Medieval Japanese poetry and buried trees help elucidate volatile space weather.” EurekAlert. 4/9/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123008 Forbes, Ellie. “Archaeologists discover unexploded mortar shell at Culloden Battlefield.” Scottish Field. 4/14/2026. https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/news/archaeologists-discover-unexploded-mortar-shell-at-culloden-battlefield/ Harley, Sadie and Robert Egan. “Ancient chicken bones reveal human management in Korea 2,000 years ago.” Phys.org. 4/22/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-chicken-bones-reveal-human.html Jones, Sam. “Hidden treasures: Spanish archaeologists discover trove of ancient shipwrecks in Bay of Gibraltar.” The Guardian. 4/15/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/15/hidden-treasures-spanish-archaeologists-discover-trove-of-ancient-shipwrecks-in-bay-of-gibraltar Kuta, Sarah. “A Shipwreck, but Make It Fashion: Researchers Transformed Wooden Fragments From a 17th-Century Shipwreck Into a Pair of Stylish Maxi Dresses.” Smithsonian. 5/26/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-shipwreck-but-make-it-fashion-researchers-transformed-wooden-fragments-from-a-17th-century-shipwreck-into-a-pair-of-stylish-maxi-dresses-180988825/ Kuta, Sarah. “Archaeologists Discover Evidence That a Wooden Prototype for Stonehenge May Have Aligned With the Solstice 500 Years Before the Stone Circle.” Smithsonian. 6/19/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-discover-evidence-a-wooden-prototype-for-stonehenge-may-have-aligned-with-the-solstice-500-years-before-the-stone-circle-180988988/ Kuta, Sarah. “Did Homo Sapiens Really Outsmart Neanderthals? Different Skull Shapes Didn’t Necessarily Mean Unequal Brain Capacity, New Research Shows.” Smithsonian. 5/13/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-homo-sapiens-really-outsmart-neanderthals-different-skull-shapes-didnt-necessarily-mean-unequal-brain-capacity-new-research-shows-180988738/ Kuta, Sarah. “Did Homo Sapiens Really Outsmart Neanderthals? Different Skull Shapes Didn’t Necessarily Mean Unequal Brain Capacity, New Research Shows.” Smithsonian. 5/13/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-homo-sapiens-really-outsmart-neanderthals-different-skull-shapes-didnt-necessarily-mean-unequal-brain-capacity-new-research-shows-180988738/ Kuta, Sarah. “Potatoes Didn’t Just Feed Ancient Indigenous Communities in the Andes—the Tasty Tubers Also Reshaped People’s DNA.” Smithsonain. 5/12/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/potatoes-didnt-just-feed-ancient-indigenous-communities-in-the-andes-the-tasty-tubers-also-reshaped-peoples-dna-180988732/ Kuta, Sarah. “This American Submarine Lost During WWII—Along With 83 Crew Members—Has Been Discovered in the Pacific Ocean.” Smithsonian. 6/3/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-american-submarine-USS-Herring-lost-during-WWII-along-with-83-crew-members-has-been-discovered-in-the-pacific-ocean-180988895/ Kuta, Sarah. “Turtles May Have Been Tasty Snacks for Neanderthals 125,000 Years Ago. But Their Shells Were Probably the Real Prize.” Smithsonian. 4/15/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/turtles-may-have-been-tasty-snacks-for-neanderthals-125000-years-ago-but-their-shells-were-probably-the-real-prize-180988550/ Kuta, Sarah. “What Killed the Neanderthals? New Research Suggests a Lack of Genetic Diversity May Be Partially to Blame.” Smithsonian. 4/24/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-killed-the-neanderthals-new-research-suggests-a-lack-of-genetic-diversity-may-be-partially-to-blame-180988612/ Lakowski, Amy. “Digging for Remnants of the Battle of Bunker Hill.” Bostonia. Boston University’s Alumni Magazine. 6/22/2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2026/digging-for-remnants-battle-of-bunker-hill/ Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “The Sagrada Familia Will Finally Be Completed in 2026. The Last Challenge? Demolishing the Homes of Some 3,000 Local Residents.” ArtNet. 2/13/2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sagrada-familia-2026-local-residents-2254826 Lock, Lisa and Robert Egan. “Ancient curse tablet bears rare Greek inscription with binding spell intended to harm enemies.” Phys.org. 6/17/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-curse-tablet-rare-greek.html Lu, Donna. “Signs of ‘feeding’ ritual at dingo burial site shed new light on bond between First Nations people and canines.” The Guardian. 5/18/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/19/dingo-burial-site-first-nations-people-relationship-to-animals net. “Lost Writings of Saint Augustine Found in Medieval Manuscript.” 6/2026. https://www.medievalists.net/2026/06/lost-writings-of-saint-augustine-found-in-medieval-manuscript/ net. “Secret Letter Detailing Late Medieval Britain Fully Decoded.” https://www.medievalists.net/2026/04/secret-letter-detailing-late-medieval-britain-fully-decoded/ Mehrtens, Michelle. “A Young Black Girl Was the First to Desegregate a Maryland Carousel in the 1960s. Now, the Historic Merry-Go-Round Will Entertain Visitors on the National Mall.” Smithsonian. 4/22/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/a-young-black-girl-was-the-first-to-desegregate-a-maryland-carousel-in-the-1960s-now-the-historic-merry-go-round-will-entertain-visitors-on-the-national-mall-180988596/ Mondal, Sanjukta. “Scraped from ancient Roman toilets, these crusted remains expose a pathogen found far earlier than expected.” Phys.org. 4/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-roman-toilets-crusted-expose.html Moreau, Didier and Julie Louis. “Thirty previously unpublished verses by Empedocles discovered on a papyrus from Cairo.” University of Liege. Via EurekAlert. 4/1/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1122449 Mosquera, Pau. “Sagrada Família’s 144-year journey nears its end with the Tower of Jesus Christ.” CNN. 6/8/2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/style/sagrada-familia-barcelona-tower-jesus-christ-intl Nicholls, Catherine and Taylor Nicioli. “Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI.” CNN. 6/26/2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/science/papyrus-scroll-vesuvius-ai-scli-intl Oster, Sandee et al. “Rare 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes unearthed at Inca coastal site.” Phys.org. 6/14/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-year-dried-potatoes-unearthed.html Oster, Sandee. “A kohl bottle from York may hint at an ancient Egyptian in Roman-Britain.” Phys.org. 5/31/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-kohl-bottle-york-hint-ancient.html Oster, Sandee. “Lavatory shaft reveals the cost of 17th‑century vanity in Germany.” Phys.org. 6/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lavatory-shaft-reveals-17thcentury-vanity.html Oster, Sandee. “Mummified dogs reveal Tiwanaku people buried companions beside homes long before they became status symbols.” Phys.org. 6/29/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mummified-dogs-reveal-tiwanaku-people.html Randolph, Mary. “A Man and His Dog Discovered a 3,400-Year-Old Ax Head While Out for a Walk in One of England’s Ancient Forests.” Smithsonian. 4/30/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-man-and-his-dog-accidentally-discovered-a-3400-year-old-ax-head-while-out-for-a-walk-in-one-of-englands-ancient-forests-180988649/ Randolph, Mary. “After a Poet’s Love Story Was Cut Short, His Letters Mysteriously Disappeared—Until Rare Book Dealers Acted on a Hunch.” Smithsonian. 4/21/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-john-keats-love-story-was-cut-short-his-letters-mysteriously-disappeared-until-rare-book-dealers-acted-on-a-hunch-180988585/ Science in Poland. “Ancient ‘beer’ traces found in 4,500-year-old vessels in Northeastern Poland.” 5/17/2026. https://scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news%2C112850%2Cancient-beer-traces-found-4500-year-old-vessels-northeastern-poland.html Solly, Meilan. “A 13-Year-Old Boy Found This Bronze Coin in a Field. It Turned Out to Be the First Ancient Greek Artifact Discovered in Berlin.” Smithsonian. 8/28/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-13-year-old-boy-found-this-bronze-coin-in-a-field-it-turned-out-to-be-the-first-ancient-greek-artifact-discovered-in-berlin-180988627/ Solly, Meilan. “New research has identified four members of the doomed 1845 search for the Northwest Passage, including the owner of a paper-stuffed wallet that has long mystified historians.” Smithsonian. 5/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-franklin-expedition-officer-died-in-the-arctic-in-uniform-that-didnt-belong-to-him-now-dna-has-revealed-his-identity-180988702/ Solly, Meilan. “These Italian Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School. They Found Ancient Roman Ruins Hidden in the Basement.” Smithsonian. 6/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-italian-teenagers-stayed-overnight-at-their-school-they-found-ancient-roman-ruins-hidden-in-the-basement-180988917/ The History Blog. “1,500-year-old kitchen knife set found in Hadrianopolis.” 4/22/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75890 The History Blog. “11th c. sword found in Warta River in Poland.” 6/15/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/76308 The History Blog. “Charred loaf of bread found at Roman military camp.” 4/24/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75904 The History Blog. “First-grader on field trip finds 1,300-year-old sword.” 5/13/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/76055 The History Blog. “Matching fragments of Silla stele reunited.” 4/15/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75837 Thorsberg, Christian. “A Hiker in Norway Found an Elite Warrior’s Golden Sword Ornament. It Was Likely a Sacrifice to the Gods Made During a Time of Turmoil.” Smithsonian. 5/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-hiker-in-norway-found-an-elite-warriors-golden-sword-ornament-it-was-likely-a-sacrifice-to-the-gods-made-during-a-time-of-turmoil-180988707/ University of Copenhagen. "4,000-year-old tablets reveal magic spells, kings feared, and a beer receipt." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 May 2026. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260504023848.htm. University of Iowa Health Care. "Ancient DNA shared with Neanderthals may explain human language." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 June 2026. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260611024612.htm University of York. “Ancient DNA from Tuscan Wells Reveal Origins of Modern Wine.” 5/12/2026. https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2026/research/ancient-dna-tuscan-wells-origins-wine/ Wexler, Ellen. “Archaeologists Unearth a Papyrus Fragment From the ‘Iliad’ Tucked Inside the Wrappings of a 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy.” Smithsonian. 4/23/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-a-papyrus-fragment-from-the-iliad-tucked-inside-the-wrappings-of-a-1600-year-old-egyptian-mummy-180988603/ Wexler, Ellen. “Divers Discover the Shipwreck of a World War I-Era Coast Guard Cutter, Which Vanished With 131 Sailors on Board in 1918.” Smithsonian. 5/7/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/divers-discover-the-shipwreck-of-a-world-war-i-era-coast-guard-cutter-which-vanished-with-131-sailors-on-board-in-1918-180988676/ Wexler, Ellen. “Why Did the Handwriting in This 248-Year-Old Notebook Look Familiar? It Turned Out to Be a Forgotten Mozart Manuscript.” Smithsonian. 6/25/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-did-the-handwriting-in-this-248-year-old-notebook-look-familiar-it-turned-out-to-be-a-forgotten-mozart-manuscript-180989017/ Whiddington, Richard. “Newly Recovered Love Letters by John Keats Could Net $2 Million at Auction.” ArtNet. 5/12/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/john-keats-love-letters-sothebys-auction-2772300 Whiddington, Richard. “Rare Centuries-Old Notebook Discovered in Medieval Latrine.” ArtNet. 5/18/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/notebook-medieval-latrine-2774230 Whiddington, Richard. “Shakespeare’s London Home Finally Located After Centuries of Mystery.” ArtNet. 4/17/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shakespeare-london-home-site-found-2766154 Widdington, Richard. “Lost Copy of Earliest-Known English Poem Found in Roman Library.” ArtNet. 5/10/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/caedmon-hymn-copy-rome-library-trinity-college-2771600 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to LDS Discussions Part 79, where we continue our deep dive into the Book of Abraham, examining one of the most popular apologetic arguments: the claim that Joseph Smith drew on ancient traditions about Abraham rather than translating the surviving papyri.We begin by exploring the history of the Joseph Smith Papyri and the various theroies proposed to explain the Book of Abraham, including why so many copeting models exist. From there, we focus on the “ancient traditions” theory, looking at stories about Abraham preserved in later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic writings and askign whether they actually support Joseph Smith's text.Along the way, we compare the timelines of the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham translations, disucss the implications of the Church's Gospel Topics Essay, and examine whether Joseph Smith had access to contemporary biblical commentaries such as Adam Clarke's. We then compare the Book of Abraham's narrative --including Abraham's calls, the famine in Chaldea, Terah, Haran, Abraham's age, the attempted sacrifice of Abraham, Egyptian idolatry, human sacrifice in ancient Egypt, and Abraham's knowledge or astronomy --with the historical sources often cited by apologists.This episode evaluates whether these ancient parallels strengthen the Book of Abraham's authenticity --or instead demonstrate that Joseph Smith was drawing from ideas available in his own time.As always, we examine the historical evidence, compare the primary sources, and let the documents speak for themselves.___________________YouTubeAt Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.  Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions

Part one of the mid-year coverage of things literally and figuratively unearthed in the last quarter includes updates, more updates, animals, edibles and potables, and accidental finds. Research: Addley, Esther. “Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists.” The Guardian. 6/17/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/solstice-aligned-monument-archaeology-wiltshire-stonehenge-prototype Anderson, Sonja. “These 600-Year-Old Chinese Surgical Instruments Are Coated in an Early Local Anesthetic—Carefully Extracted From a Poisonous Plant.” Smithsonian. 5/29/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-600-year-old-chinese-surgical-instruments-are-coated-in-an-early-local-anestheticcarefully-extracted-from-a-poisonous-plant-180988865/ Archaeology Magazine. “Copper Part From Illicit 19th Century Still Discovered in Scotland.” 5/12/2026. https://archaeology.org/news/2026/05/12/copper-part-from-illicit-19th-century-still-discovered-in-scotland/ Associated Press Copenhagen. “Archaeologists discover wreck of Danish warship sunk by Nelson 225 years ago.” The Guardian. 4/2/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/02/archaeologists-discover-wreck-danish-warship-sunk-admiral-nelson Bassi, Margherita. “After Nearly 80 Years of Doubt, Scientists Say a Spear Lodged Between Elephant Ribs Offers Evidence That Neanderthals Hunted Big Game.” Smithsonian. 4/10/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-nearly-80-years-of-doubt-scientists-say-a-spear-lodged-between-elephant-ribs-offers-evidence-that-neanderthals-hunted-big-game-180988522/ Baum, Stephanie and Robert Egan. “Bolivian mummy rewrites scarlet fever's past, suggesting killer bacterium circulated centuries before colonization.” EurekAlert. 4/15/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bolivian-mummy-rewrites-scarlet-fever.html Blackwood, Emma. “Baby fossils reveal link between human and Neanderthal development.” University of Queensland. Via EurekAlert. 6/19/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1132850 Blair, Elizabeth. “Decades-old, newly restored Smithsonian carousel reopens — to children’s delight.” WAMU. 4/25/2026. https://wamu.org/story/26/04/25/decades-old-newly-restored-smithsonian-carousel-reopens-to-childrens-delight/ Blake, Elissa. “New evidence reveals a millennium-old dingo was ritually buried, and cared for, along the Darling (Baaka) River in Australia.” University of Sydney. Via EurekAlert. 5/18/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1128408 Cerino, Marco. “Appeals court clears Trump's path to alter Philadelphia slavery exhibit at historic site.” Philadelphia Tribune. 6/18/2026. https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/appeals-court-clears-trumps-path-to-alter-philadelphia-slavery-exhibit-at-historic-site/article_8ac83e65-6a6d-4db1-91c4-074f98c96a74.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Clark, Gaby. “Climate and competition alone cannot explain Neanderthal extinction, study finds.” Phys.org. 4/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-climate-competition-neanderthal-extinction.html Clark, Gaby. “Did Neanderthals use rhinoceros teeth as tools?” Phys.org. 6/18/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-neanderthals-rhinoceros-teeth-tools.html Clark, Gaby. “Nondestructive DNA sampling reveals 1,300 years of secrets in historic parchments.” Phys.org. 5/18/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nondestructive-dna-sampling-reveals-years.html Clark, Gaby. “Surprising diversity found among Europe's last Neanderthals.” Leiden University. Via Phys.org. 6/24/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-diversity-europe-neanderthals.html Cummings, Mike. “Medici brothers' remains reveal Renaissance-era malaria strains, closing the book on a murder mystery.” Phys.org. 6/30/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-medici-brothers-reveal-renaissance-era.html Defranceschi, Laura. “Ötzi and his microbiome: a 5,300-year-old relationship.” Eurac Research. Via EurekAlert. 6/2/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1129908 Dungate, Joanna. “Shakespeare’s ‘missing’ London house mapped with new discovery.” Kings College London. Via EurekAlert. 4/15/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123989 Egan, Robert. “Neanderthal dentists used stone drills to treat cavities nearly 60,000 years ago, ancient molar suggests.” Phys.org. 5/13/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-neanderthal-dentists-stone-drills-cavities.html Egan, Robert. “Stonehenge Altar Stone's epic transportation across ancient Britain detailed in new study.” Curtin University. Via Phys.org. 6/4/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-stonehenge-altar-stone-epic-ancient.html Ellenby, Danielle. “Medieval Japanese poetry and buried trees help elucidate volatile space weather.” EurekAlert. 4/9/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123008 Forbes, Ellie. “Archaeologists discover unexploded mortar shell at Culloden Battlefield.” Scottish Field. 4/14/2026. https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/news/archaeologists-discover-unexploded-mortar-shell-at-culloden-battlefield/ Harley, Sadie and Robert Egan. “Ancient chicken bones reveal human management in Korea 2,000 years ago.” Phys.org. 4/22/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-chicken-bones-reveal-human.html Jones, Sam. “Hidden treasures: Spanish archaeologists discover trove of ancient shipwrecks in Bay of Gibraltar.” The Guardian. 4/15/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/15/hidden-treasures-spanish-archaeologists-discover-trove-of-ancient-shipwrecks-in-bay-of-gibraltar Kuta, Sarah. “A Shipwreck, but Make It Fashion: Researchers Transformed Wooden Fragments From a 17th-Century Shipwreck Into a Pair of Stylish Maxi Dresses.” Smithsonian. 5/26/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-shipwreck-but-make-it-fashion-researchers-transformed-wooden-fragments-from-a-17th-century-shipwreck-into-a-pair-of-stylish-maxi-dresses-180988825/ Kuta, Sarah. “Archaeologists Discover Evidence That a Wooden Prototype for Stonehenge May Have Aligned With the Solstice 500 Years Before the Stone Circle.” Smithsonian. 6/19/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-discover-evidence-a-wooden-prototype-for-stonehenge-may-have-aligned-with-the-solstice-500-years-before-the-stone-circle-180988988/ Kuta, Sarah. “Did Homo Sapiens Really Outsmart Neanderthals? Different Skull Shapes Didn’t Necessarily Mean Unequal Brain Capacity, New Research Shows.” Smithsonian. 5/13/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-homo-sapiens-really-outsmart-neanderthals-different-skull-shapes-didnt-necessarily-mean-unequal-brain-capacity-new-research-shows-180988738/ Kuta, Sarah. “Did Homo Sapiens Really Outsmart Neanderthals? Different Skull Shapes Didn’t Necessarily Mean Unequal Brain Capacity, New Research Shows.” Smithsonian. 5/13/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-homo-sapiens-really-outsmart-neanderthals-different-skull-shapes-didnt-necessarily-mean-unequal-brain-capacity-new-research-shows-180988738/ Kuta, Sarah. “Potatoes Didn’t Just Feed Ancient Indigenous Communities in the Andes—the Tasty Tubers Also Reshaped People’s DNA.” Smithsonain. 5/12/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/potatoes-didnt-just-feed-ancient-indigenous-communities-in-the-andes-the-tasty-tubers-also-reshaped-peoples-dna-180988732/ Kuta, Sarah. “This American Submarine Lost During WWII—Along With 83 Crew Members—Has Been Discovered in the Pacific Ocean.” Smithsonian. 6/3/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-american-submarine-USS-Herring-lost-during-WWII-along-with-83-crew-members-has-been-discovered-in-the-pacific-ocean-180988895/ Kuta, Sarah. “Turtles May Have Been Tasty Snacks for Neanderthals 125,000 Years Ago. But Their Shells Were Probably the Real Prize.” Smithsonian. 4/15/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/turtles-may-have-been-tasty-snacks-for-neanderthals-125000-years-ago-but-their-shells-were-probably-the-real-prize-180988550/ Kuta, Sarah. “What Killed the Neanderthals? New Research Suggests a Lack of Genetic Diversity May Be Partially to Blame.” Smithsonian. 4/24/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-killed-the-neanderthals-new-research-suggests-a-lack-of-genetic-diversity-may-be-partially-to-blame-180988612/ Lakowski, Amy. “Digging for Remnants of the Battle of Bunker Hill.” Bostonia. Boston University’s Alumni Magazine. 6/22/2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2026/digging-for-remnants-battle-of-bunker-hill/ Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “The Sagrada Familia Will Finally Be Completed in 2026. The Last Challenge? Demolishing the Homes of Some 3,000 Local Residents.” ArtNet. 2/13/2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sagrada-familia-2026-local-residents-2254826 Lock, Lisa and Robert Egan. “Ancient curse tablet bears rare Greek inscription with binding spell intended to harm enemies.” Phys.org. 6/17/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-curse-tablet-rare-greek.html Lu, Donna. “Signs of ‘feeding’ ritual at dingo burial site shed new light on bond between First Nations people and canines.” The Guardian. 5/18/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/19/dingo-burial-site-first-nations-people-relationship-to-animals net. “Lost Writings of Saint Augustine Found in Medieval Manuscript.” 6/2026. https://www.medievalists.net/2026/06/lost-writings-of-saint-augustine-found-in-medieval-manuscript/ net. “Secret Letter Detailing Late Medieval Britain Fully Decoded.” https://www.medievalists.net/2026/04/secret-letter-detailing-late-medieval-britain-fully-decoded/ Mehrtens, Michelle. “A Young Black Girl Was the First to Desegregate a Maryland Carousel in the 1960s. Now, the Historic Merry-Go-Round Will Entertain Visitors on the National Mall.” Smithsonian. 4/22/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/a-young-black-girl-was-the-first-to-desegregate-a-maryland-carousel-in-the-1960s-now-the-historic-merry-go-round-will-entertain-visitors-on-the-national-mall-180988596/ Mondal, Sanjukta. “Scraped from ancient Roman toilets, these crusted remains expose a pathogen found far earlier than expected.” Phys.org. 4/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-roman-toilets-crusted-expose.html Moreau, Didier and Julie Louis. “Thirty previously unpublished verses by Empedocles discovered on a papyrus from Cairo.” University of Liege. Via EurekAlert. 4/1/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1122449 Mosquera, Pau. “Sagrada Família’s 144-year journey nears its end with the Tower of Jesus Christ.” CNN. 6/8/2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/style/sagrada-familia-barcelona-tower-jesus-christ-intl Nicholls, Catherine and Taylor Nicioli. “Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI.” CNN. 6/26/2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/science/papyrus-scroll-vesuvius-ai-scli-intl Oster, Sandee et al. “Rare 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes unearthed at Inca coastal site.” Phys.org. 6/14/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-year-dried-potatoes-unearthed.html Oster, Sandee. “A kohl bottle from York may hint at an ancient Egyptian in Roman-Britain.” Phys.org. 5/31/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-kohl-bottle-york-hint-ancient.html Oster, Sandee. “Lavatory shaft reveals the cost of 17th‑century vanity in Germany.” Phys.org. 6/23/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lavatory-shaft-reveals-17thcentury-vanity.html Oster, Sandee. “Mummified dogs reveal Tiwanaku people buried companions beside homes long before they became status symbols.” Phys.org. 6/29/2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mummified-dogs-reveal-tiwanaku-people.html Randolph, Mary. “A Man and His Dog Discovered a 3,400-Year-Old Ax Head While Out for a Walk in One of England’s Ancient Forests.” Smithsonian. 4/30/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-man-and-his-dog-accidentally-discovered-a-3400-year-old-ax-head-while-out-for-a-walk-in-one-of-englands-ancient-forests-180988649/ Randolph, Mary. “After a Poet’s Love Story Was Cut Short, His Letters Mysteriously Disappeared—Until Rare Book Dealers Acted on a Hunch.” Smithsonian. 4/21/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-john-keats-love-story-was-cut-short-his-letters-mysteriously-disappeared-until-rare-book-dealers-acted-on-a-hunch-180988585/ Science in Poland. “Ancient ‘beer’ traces found in 4,500-year-old vessels in Northeastern Poland.” 5/17/2026. https://scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news%2C112850%2Cancient-beer-traces-found-4500-year-old-vessels-northeastern-poland.html Solly, Meilan. “A 13-Year-Old Boy Found This Bronze Coin in a Field. It Turned Out to Be the First Ancient Greek Artifact Discovered in Berlin.” Smithsonian. 8/28/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-13-year-old-boy-found-this-bronze-coin-in-a-field-it-turned-out-to-be-the-first-ancient-greek-artifact-discovered-in-berlin-180988627/ Solly, Meilan. “New research has identified four members of the doomed 1845 search for the Northwest Passage, including the owner of a paper-stuffed wallet that has long mystified historians.” Smithsonian. 5/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-franklin-expedition-officer-died-in-the-arctic-in-uniform-that-didnt-belong-to-him-now-dna-has-revealed-his-identity-180988702/ Solly, Meilan. “These Italian Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School. They Found Ancient Roman Ruins Hidden in the Basement.” Smithsonian. 6/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-italian-teenagers-stayed-overnight-at-their-school-they-found-ancient-roman-ruins-hidden-in-the-basement-180988917/ The History Blog. “1,500-year-old kitchen knife set found in Hadrianopolis.” 4/22/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75890 The History Blog. “11th c. sword found in Warta River in Poland.” 6/15/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/76308 The History Blog. “Charred loaf of bread found at Roman military camp.” 4/24/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75904 The History Blog. “First-grader on field trip finds 1,300-year-old sword.” 5/13/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/76055 The History Blog. “Matching fragments of Silla stele reunited.” 4/15/2026. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75837 Thorsberg, Christian. “A Hiker in Norway Found an Elite Warrior’s Golden Sword Ornament. It Was Likely a Sacrifice to the Gods Made During a Time of Turmoil.” Smithsonian. 5/8/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-hiker-in-norway-found-an-elite-warriors-golden-sword-ornament-it-was-likely-a-sacrifice-to-the-gods-made-during-a-time-of-turmoil-180988707/ University of Copenhagen. "4,000-year-old tablets reveal magic spells, kings feared, and a beer receipt." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 May 2026. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260504023848.htm. University of Iowa Health Care. "Ancient DNA shared with Neanderthals may explain human language." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 June 2026. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260611024612.htm University of York. “Ancient DNA from Tuscan Wells Reveal Origins of Modern Wine.” 5/12/2026. https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2026/research/ancient-dna-tuscan-wells-origins-wine/ Wexler, Ellen. “Archaeologists Unearth a Papyrus Fragment From the ‘Iliad’ Tucked Inside the Wrappings of a 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy.” Smithsonian. 4/23/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-a-papyrus-fragment-from-the-iliad-tucked-inside-the-wrappings-of-a-1600-year-old-egyptian-mummy-180988603/ Wexler, Ellen. “Divers Discover the Shipwreck of a World War I-Era Coast Guard Cutter, Which Vanished With 131 Sailors on Board in 1918.” Smithsonian. 5/7/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/divers-discover-the-shipwreck-of-a-world-war-i-era-coast-guard-cutter-which-vanished-with-131-sailors-on-board-in-1918-180988676/ Wexler, Ellen. “Why Did the Handwriting in This 248-Year-Old Notebook Look Familiar? It Turned Out to Be a Forgotten Mozart Manuscript.” Smithsonian. 6/25/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-did-the-handwriting-in-this-248-year-old-notebook-look-familiar-it-turned-out-to-be-a-forgotten-mozart-manuscript-180989017/ Whiddington, Richard. “Newly Recovered Love Letters by John Keats Could Net $2 Million at Auction.” ArtNet. 5/12/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/john-keats-love-letters-sothebys-auction-2772300 Whiddington, Richard. “Rare Centuries-Old Notebook Discovered in Medieval Latrine.” ArtNet. 5/18/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/notebook-medieval-latrine-2774230 Whiddington, Richard. “Shakespeare’s London Home Finally Located After Centuries of Mystery.” ArtNet. 4/17/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shakespeare-london-home-site-found-2766154 Widdington, Richard. “Lost Copy of Earliest-Known English Poem Found in Roman Library.” ArtNet. 5/10/2026. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/caedmon-hymn-copy-rome-library-trinity-college-2771600 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.