Thursday, March 29, 2007

Firefox Reminders - Have a look at Toodledo

http://toodledo.com/index.php

Well I installed Reminderfox and like it
but perhaps Toodledo is more sophisticated
talks about sorting out priorities

So one day soon I will check

Firefox Add on Showcase for Tab view

http://showcase.uworks.net/
This gives an image view of your Firefox tabs. Just finding the tab you want with the little icons on tabbar can be tricky  This gives a bigger image   As a Sidebar  Or what I think is cute - open a new browser and launch from View Showcae all windows ( F12 ) BUT first goto the options and untick the defaults re close showcase as you want the image page to stay  


used this for a while but finally decided the Tabs could be inspected just as easily

Firefox Addon ImageZoom

http://imagezoom.yellowgorilla.net/

Brilliant

with mouse wheel
  • Hold down the right mouse button and scroll the mouse wheel back and forth to zoom in and out
  • Hold down the right mouse button and click the left mouse button to fit the image to the screen
  • Hold down the right mouse button and click the middle mouse button to restore the image to its original dimensions

By clicking on an Image in a webpage with the right mouse button, you can show the context menu which will have Image Zooming options.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Index to My Blogs

Starting this March 2007 - just to see if a better way for you to navigate


The tomb in Talpiyot, a Jerusalem neighborhood - The film and book alleging tomb of Jesus Christ found - links to more pages I have written - and other folks too..... sadly this film and book are very bad nonsense

Technical - some brilliant free stuff I recently installed.
These are addons to Firefox web browser and Thunderbird the mail reader - if you do not have these I would suggest try them out details at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/

These Addons I am really getting great productivity from
Other stuff
What is peak oil? - My son's blog
Zulu: The True Story
Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia and Anna Anderson/ Manahan and Ingrid Bergman and some interesting DNA matters for genealogists
The Da Vinci Code - a book soon to be motion pictu... - (nonsense)
The Tutankhamen Deception by Gerald O'Farrell (nonsense)
David Rohl - books and websites on his NEW Chronology
Videos from Al-Jazeera


Movies
The Devil Wears Prada
The Wrong Man _ a nasty movie

Photo Scanning and Editing -

Have some ramblings on how I handle photo and slide scanning and storage and then putting on web. Tools I have used.
Please visit
Photo Scanning and Editing

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Xpunge Thunderbird extension

http://www.theodoretegos.net/mozilla/tb/releases/xpunge/beta/index.html


Thunderbird like OE etc "keeps" deleted notes until the folder is
compacted - I did have the Option turned on to remind that a compact was
needed.
Plus it would only compact current mail account

XPunge gives me a tool button MultiXpunge which will compact everything
all accounts - and also empty the trash folder

Nothing major but useful

Table2clipboard - copy/paste data like a dream

Table2Clipboard :: Firefox Add-ons

means I can cut and paste table formatted data from Firefox into Excel or notes etc with correct format.
In Ancestry.com I bring up a list of people in a census area I only want 3 or so and not all the columns - Table2clipboard means I can
  • Select Ctrl and hold.
  • Mouse over all the cells that you want to copy, they will be highlighted.
  • Right click on the highlighted cells and select "Copy Table elements"
  • Now paste into a note - into a spreadsheet - into an html editor.
  • I use Frontpage - you will now have an uncluttered table - I often having a table and use paste special with formatted selected
This is really an enormous tool - you have to use it to appreciate what a help it is

Pat Geary's site on how to use for Genealogy and in Frontpage

IETab enables a MSIE tab in Firefox

This is a MS Windows only Addon

I wanted to switch to Firefox BUT Ancestry.com have an advanced image viewer that only works in MSIE - you can see census etc images in FF but they are better in MSIE

IE Tab also allows FF to behave like MSIE. Simply it puts an icon on bottom right status line - its Firefox when Firefox and click to make it MSIE.

I also like Table2Clipboard and I use that to paste Ancestry data lists of people in census - so that needs to be Firefox - so I only click IE Tab when I want to look at an image.

IE Tab cannot provide a navigation history

So this is how I use - I leave Ancestry as FF - do not put in IETab list of sites - then I get the navigation history - when I want to see an image - click right on image icon and select Open in IETab - it is wonderful

Friday, March 16, 2007

JSVIEW and Firefox

I have a family history web site http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~lankshear/ created with an html editor (Frontpage - could be Nvu etc). As I publish from my hard drive, I have a copy there and I like to navigate to files I want to edit using my web browser.
MSIE always allowed this as it had an Open in Editor icon ie Frontpage or whatever you set up in options.
BUT I have been finding Ie7 unstable and wanted to use Firefox.

But I could not see a way to open my files in Frontpage.
Anyhow I just found an add on JSVIEW

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2076/

the options include pick your own editor. So now I just right click on the page when in Firefox
select Jsview and up comes FP.
Also CSS support and other features which I have yet to explore

Thursday, March 15, 2007

ReminderFox - a great reminder and todo list

Technical - Addons Firefox and Thunderbird

ReminderFox I really want to get my life under control - and I have been trying lots of Calendar and TODO list programs. At first sight yesterday this is the best. Just the way the little knot appears in bottom right corner and moving cursor over it THE MAJOR items appear.

Note you can have it in Thunderbird and Firefox - you just need to go into options and adjust the File used so as the same in both - full instructions atReminderFox

There are lots of features but for quick calendar and major ToDo stuff this is good

You can have it RF running in both apps but just in one lot of options turn off Alerts else the Alarms come up double

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The tomb in Talpiyot, a Jerusalem neighborhood

The tomb in Talpiyot, a Jerusalem neighborhood
A new film and book claim it is the Tomb of Jesus Christ and contains his remains. Discovery Channel first showed the film on 4 March 2007
(This blog was written before the show goes to air and I have only read about the press conference. I have some links for people who have seen the film ).

The Book page which finishes "The latest research on how the 'forgotten' gospels, like the Gnostic gospels and Gospel of Mary, hint at the truth of this discovery." Note HINT - not evidence but hints......
This appears to be the movie site http://www.jesusfamilytomb.com./
which says "Tombs with the names The Virgin Mary, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene and Judah, their son, are found."
Note: those names as shown above are not in the tomb - Virgin is not in the tomb and neither is Nazareth nor Magdalene - or even "their son". The names as found are:

On Six ossuary, or bone box are inscribed as below - 4 others were not inscribed

(1) Yehudah bar Yeshua
(2)Yeshua bar Yoseph
(3) Maria (Latin)
(4) Matia
(5) Yose
(6) Mariamene e Mara (written in Greek).
other subjects to discuss
DNA
Statistics of names
1980 to 2007
Talpiyot Tomb supposed link - "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus"

Talpiyot Tomb - Recommended Sites

The whole basis of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. H was buried in a shroud in a tomb and arose from there. John the disciple was shaken when he saw the shroud left behind. He was not left to rot and then had his bones placed in a box. A body left behind is in utter conflict with Christian belief.

Do read the Wikipedia article They even record a major expert as saying the name is not Yeshua but "Hanun"

Saturday, March 10, 2007

What is peak oil? - My son's blog

What is peak oil?


My son David is concerned about World Oil supply - his site has links to lots of information and starts with his article in Zadok

Friday, March 09, 2007

Talpiyot Tomb - Yeshua bar Yoseph

This inscription is said to read Yeshua bar Yoseph - Jesus son of Joseph. And the implication is that this is Jesus of Nazareth.

I read 2 experts as saying not Yesuha so would that be a 80% possibility of the name even being a Yeshua

see Steve Caruso I know when you "know" what writing is you can then see the word - but Steve doesn't think it is Yeshua or Bar either

I see all over the net:
Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, also gives little credit to the film's theory. According to the same story in the Associated Press, he even thinks that the name on the key casket is more likely "Hanun" than "Jesus."

I did not find an actual page by Stephen on this but here is his take on Statistics etc
http://www.uhl.ac/JudeanTombsAndOssuaries.html
and includes usage of names including Hanun

My reading of the Gospels is that Jesus Christ was identified as "son of Joseph" about 4 times and other times as "son of Mary" and more often as Jesus of Nazareth. Note the film web site says the tomb contained the name of Jesus of Nazareth (which it does not). So they themselves think that is the name he was known by rather than Jesus bar Joseph. It is expected that a person from Galilee buried in Jerusalem would be shown with name of place they came from.

This person seems to be another Yeshua or even an Hanun

For more on the real Jesus please visit Ron's Faith page

Friday, March 02, 2007

Talpiyot Tomb - "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus""

"James son of Joseph brother of Jesus""

The producer and Writer of the film is "An Israeli-born Canadian, Simcha Jacobovici is an award-winning documentary director and producer"

Another one of his documentaries was on the James ossuary
"An ossuary, or bone box, has come to light in the possession of a private collector. On its side is an inscription in Aramaic that reads, "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus""
"Upon examining the tomb, the filmmakers determined a space exists that would have fit the "James" ossuary. Given the patina match and this observation, Jacobovici theorizes the lost burial box could, in fact, be the "James" ossuary."

There is actually a court case in progress as the collector is charged with forging this particular box see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823215.html

An interesting point is that evidence in the case is that the ossuary was photographed in 1976. Please note that the Talyipot tomb was unearthed in 1980.

I posted this on sci.archaeology see http://groups.google.com.au/group/sci.archaeology/msg/c81983d262ed04e6

and went on to add from the Jerusalem Post A conversation with the archaeologist
"What of the assertion that the 10th ossuary disappeared from your care and may be none other than the "James" ossuary? "
"Nothing has disappeared. The 10th ossuary was on my list. The measurements were not the same (as the James ossuary). It was plain (without an inscription). We had no room under our roofs for all the ossuaries, so unmarked ones were sometimes kept in the courtyard (of the Rockefeller Museum). "

The film makers would love the ossuary to be from the tomb with wording like "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus" but it is not!

Have another look at BenW 26 Feb Eusebius recorded that there was a tomb of James in Jerusalem itself and it was not at Talipot. James the brother was buried elsewhere.

Hence if we just suppose the James ossuary was buried in this tomb and the inscription is authentic then he is not the brother of who the film thinks he is and so everyone else is not the person the film claims either.

But it really does not look like the ossuary is from the tomb so claiming it is in such suspicious circumstances really does not lead to a conclusion of integrity on the part of the film makers

Talpiyot Tomb - 1980 to 2007

This tomb was found in 1980 - the inscriptions were given out 10 years ago. Why did it take so long to put all this together if it is so clear cut.

Quotes from SMH

"To a layman's eye it seems pretty darn compelling," executive producer James Cameron, the Canadian director of the movie Titanic, said at a press conference in New York.

(I Note: LAYMAN's EYE - so that whole thing is a fudge meant to confuse. Cameron wants to tell us he cannot assess the evidence himself - really so why promote it. )

and Cameron also said "This is the biggest archaeological story of the century."

Well possibly it could have been the biggest story of the last century but we are now 7 years into a new century - how come 20+ years before all these experts tell about something they say is so obvious.

The BBC actually beat them to the story and how "cute" it was back in 1996

The biggest archaeological story of the 20th century was the basis of

The Tutankhamen Deception by Gerald O'Farrell and that book thought King Tut was Jesus Christ


Talpiyot Tomb - Statistics

The film site has some number like 600 to 1 in favour.
A lot of talk about taking the large number of occurrences of the names and then statistical analysing down to the sons of Joseph with a mother Mary with a brother Yosa etc
see http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/527734/

Also some thoughts on numbers on James Tabor's blog - one of the film team
Talks about "population of Jerusalem being 50,000 and if they were all in a stadium......then there would be so many". One trouble with that is Jesus did not live in Jerusalem so if we are saying a family that did not live in Jerusalem then we need the whole population of the Jewish nation in that area and over several generations not just at one moment in the capital city.

All that depends on the relationships of the people in the tomb being the same as Mary's family but nothing confirms that those are the relationships so the statistical analysis falls

A senior Israeli archaeologist who thoroughly researched the tomb after its discovery, and at the time deciphered the inscriptions, cast serious doubt on the documentary's claim. "It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever," Professor Amos Kloner, who published the findings of his research in the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Friday.

"The names that are found on the tombs are names that are similar to the names of the family of Jesus," he said. "But those were the most common names found among Jews in the first centuries BCE and CE," he added. He dismissed the combination of names found in the cave as a "coincidence".

The newsgroup sci.archaeology has a Different view on the statistics - now its 12 to 1 against

And Cadre comments - Looking at the numbers
starts to consider the fact that several generations are involved so more than one lot of 50,000 are in the base numbers.

This one is on the track
http://josiahcm.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/statistical-analysis/

as is this

The correct interpretation of 1:600 odds calculation

The Statistical Case for the Identity of the "Jesus Family Tomb"



Talpiyot Tomb -Yose

Yose alternate form of 'Joseph' ( Matthew 13:54 lists 4 brothers of Jesus—James, Joses, Simon, Judas—and unnamed and unnumbered sisters)
Yose is said to be a unique or rare form of the name Joseph - the inference being it is only known as being used for the brother of Jesus Christ.
No one is saying it is a rare form.

Why does this have to be the brother of the Jesus in the tomb? He could just as easily be the father. Why label Jesus "son of" if the father is not in the tomb? And if Yose is the brother why was his box not label as Yose bar Yehosef.

And I suppose the unmarked boxes contain Simon and the sisters - after all we don't know their names so they must be the sisters

Talpiyot Tomb - DNA

DNA analysis by the film team identifies that tissues from the ossuaries of Jesua and Mariamene e Mara were not related, raising the possibility they may have been married and had a child.

Am I reading that only TWO remains were DNA tested? Surely they are joking! Strangely people who are related do get married - there are so many combinations of who these people are and what relationships if any they might have had to each other.

Using the words "DNA tested" implies links were found. BUT in this case no link was found - so nothing was proven - and using the words "DNA tested" is implying something was proven - that is most MISLEADING to use a polite word

Talpiyot Tomb - Matia.

Matthew

Yes one of Jesus's disciple was Matthew also known as Levi. He is supposed to have been killed in Ethiopia - a long way from Jerusalem - just another name coincidence. Sounds good for the association with Jesus Christ as many people know Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Now I am hearing that they are saying that Matia must have been a relative of Maria and this proves this is her family tomb. Just another hypothesis.

A name found in a family tomb for which there is no known connection with Mary's family would imply that it is not Mary's family in the tomb.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says
Matthew 24:23-25 At that time, someone might say to you, 'Look, there is the Christ!' Or another person might say, 'There he is!' But don't believe them. False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles. They will try to fool even the people God has chosen, if that is possible. Now I have warned you about this before it happens.




Talpiyot Tomb - Maria

Latin for Mary.
So to the film obviously "Ave Maria" is meant so this must have been Mary the mother. Note the film's web site says Virgin Mary - the word virgin is not reported as found on the boxes

How many Mary in Jerusalem in those days? The Bible itself has several. It was a very widely used female name.

I always understood Mary went to Ephesus with the disciple John and was buried there.

Some of the statistical imaginings are based on how many Jesus would have a Joseph as father and a mother Mary - but nothing in the tomb says that the Maria is the mother of this Jesus - she could also be the wife of the Jesus in the tomb or the wife of the Matia or even the Judah.

Talpiyot Tomb - Mariamene e Mara


Mariamene e Mara (written in Greek)

From the Film site: “Mary known as the master,” which Cameron thinks might be Mary of Magdalene." and further "Francois Bovon, professor of the history of religion at Harvard University, told Discovery News, "Mariamene, or Mariamne, probably was the actual name given to Mary Magdalene." Bovon explained that he and a colleague discovered a fourteenth century copy in Greek of a fourth century text that contains the most complete version of the "Acts of Philip" ever found. Although not included in the Bible, the "Acts of Philip" mentions the apostles and Mariamne, sister of the apostle Philip.


Note: MIGHT and PROBABLY - using those words sound like they don't really know but it fits their imaginings. The links below show that there is no evidence for Magdalene being Philip's sister.

In reality there seems to be a case that Mara means Martha rather than Master and could even mean two different people in this box. see Ben Witherington 28 Feb

Ben which also refers to the Philip allusion - for more on the Philip book and discussing in detail the mentions of Mariamene see James Snapp Jr. if you don't know anything about the Acts of Philip then please read James scholarly discussion. And more from James on Mariamene.
See also Talpiyot Tomb - Recommended Sites for several sites discussing the Mariamene name.

More from Stephen Pfann on box being for two bodies and a site under his name with pictures of the writing

And I like the Comment on Wired

Some people say this tomb proves that Dan Brown was right in the DaVinci Code regarding a marriage between Jesus and Magdalene - actually the first book that brought that nonsense to my notice was "Holy Blood Holy Grail" published in early 1980s . However both books said that Magdalene migrated to South France - so who took her remains back to Jerusalem? come on! This nonsense gets sillier!

Talpiyot Tomb - Yehudah bar Yeshua

Yehudah bar Yeshua is Aramaic for Judah, son of Jesus (also Judas or Jude )

So the film finds that as this says "son of Jesus" this must prove that it was the Jesus in the tomb who married the woman in the tomb they call Mary Magdalene and hence this Judah must be their son. See the DNA test for their prove.

We have heard that Jesus married Mary Magadalene before this but this is the first time we have ever heard of this son. None of the writings over the centuries ever came up with this. In all that Dan Brown wrote this was not suggested. So how can this conclusion be reached.

So what is the story the film suggests? Jesus and Mary marry and have a child and name him Judas - I suppose after the wonderful treasurer who betrayed Jesus and caused his arrest.

To me it is evidence that the people in this tomb are nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

Talpiyot Tomb - Recommended Sites

These sites present sound arguments on the nonsense of the claim re finding the tomb of Jesus

from Nehemia Gordon the author of the book The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus - Nehemia discusses many matters including " So rather than being a Latinized form of Maria, the ossuary in the "Talpiot Tomb" was probably from that of a man named Merayah." And also where the tomb is actually located if you are in Jerusalem you could visit.

April 12
Experts back away from Jesus's tomb claims

This one is after the show and has lots of links to other sources The Lost Tomb of Jesus: Really?

Site with lots of Links still being updated and Another with links

The following were from when the show was about to go on TV

Christopher Rollston on the Talpiot Tomb

The Jerusalem Post

ABC News

Y-Zine.com

Ben Witherington 26 Feb

Ben Witherington 28 Feb

Time Magazine

http://www.biblicalfoundations.org/?p=92

Recliner Commentaries

Resources and Responses to the “Tomb of Jesus and His Family” Story

http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/106 with some more on statistics

Joe Zias Jerusalem 03/07 Someone who was there - some of the film makers activities are unbelievable - Joe has more on statistics

an answer of NO! by Jodi Magness - an archaeologist

Scholar .......... I am angry." from Scientific American

James Snapp, Jr. ~ March 7, 2007 and March 2, 2007