J-M's History Corner

G'day!  Welcome to my second "Fortnightly Movie/TV Thoughts".  You can view the first one here (containing reviews of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and London Has Fallen (2016)).  Here are this fortnight's movies/shows: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), rated PG for mild fantasy violence, some scenes may upset young children The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), rated M for  frequent battle violence  The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010), rated PG for  mild violence and scary scenes  One Night with the King (2006), rated PG for mild violence Amazing Grace (2006), rated PG for mild themes These are the Australian ratings.  For the American ones: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - PG for battle sequences an...

Today I present my Restored English Translation (RET) of Beresheet ( Genesis ) chapter 37.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names (with a glossary of them afterwards), and at the end a a list of where the Aleph-Tavs occur (as they are no longer included in the main text). (To clarify: this is MY OWN translation of the Bible, a “work in progress”.  The chapters I post are completed, though.) CHAPTER 37 1 And Ya’akov lived in the land in which his father was a stranger, in the land of Kena’an. 2 These are the generations of Ya’akov. Yosef, a son of 17 years, was feeding the flock with his brothers; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Yosef brought their evil report to his father . 3 Now Yisra’el loved Yosef more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a coat reaching to the feet. 4 And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated...

Here is my Restored English Translation (RET) of Beresheet ( Genesis ) chapter 36.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names , with a glossary of them afterwards.  At the end is a list of where the Aleph Tavs occur, as they are no longer included in the main text. CHAPTER 36 1 Now these are the generations of Esav, who is Edom. 2 Esav took his wives from the Kena’ani women: Adah the daughter of Elon the Chitti, and Oholivamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Tsivon the Chivi, 3 and Basemat the daughter of Yishma’el, sister of Nevayot. 4 And Adah bore Elifaz to Esav ; and Basemat bore Re’uel; 5 and Oholivamah bore Ye’ush, and Ya’alam, and Korach. These are the sons of Esav, who were born to him in the land of Kena’an. 6 And Esav took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his livestock, and all his beasts, and all his wealth, which he had got in the land of Kena’an, and went to a land away from the face of his brother...

G'day!  I've decided that every two weeks, I'll post fairly short reviews of 5 movies/TV series.  I'll try to keep them spoiler-free, although I won't always be successful, so here's the disclaimer: WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD.  PROCEED AT OWN RISK OK, now that that's out of the way, here are this fortnight's five movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), rated M for moderate violence Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), rated M for moderate violence Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), rated PG for mild violence Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), rated M for frequent action violence   London Has Fallen (2016), rated MA15+ for strong action violence Those are the Australian ratings.  The American ones: Raiders of the Lost Ark - PG Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - PG Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - PG-13 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - PG-13 for action advent...

The usual story of oil's origin is that it's fossilised plant or animal material that turned into oil when compressed, hence the term fossil fuel.  Really? In the (excellent) novel The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry, one of the plot points is that oil doesn't really come from organic material (biotic) - but is naturally formed (abiotic) deep within the earth.  In the author's note at the back separating the fact from the fiction, Berry has to say the following about the facts that inspired that element of the novel: The debate between biotic and abiotic oil is real, and continues to this day.  Does oil come from decaying organism or is it naturally produced by the earth?  One source is finite, the other infinite.  the Russians, at Stalin's prodding, pioneered the abiotic theory in the 1950s and continue to find oil, utilizing the concept, in places where fossil fuels could never exist (chapters 15 and 17).  Likewise, as Stephanie Nelle points out in...

Here is the latest installment in my Restored English Translation (RET) of the Bible: Beresheet ( Genesis ) chapter 35.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names , with a glossary of them after the chapter.  At the end is a list of where the Aleph-Tavs occur , as they are no longer included in the main text . CHAPTER 35 1 And ELOHIM said to Ya'akov, "Arise, go up to Beyt-El and live there. And make an altar there to ELOHIM Who appeared to you when you fled from the face of your brother Esav." 2 Then Ya'akov said to his household and to all that were with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your clothing. 3 And let us arise and go up to Beyt-El, and I will make there an altar to EL, Who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." 4 And they gave all the strange gods which were in their hand  and the rings which were in their ears to Ya'akov. And Ya'akov hid them un...

This is my monthly reblog of an older post. This is not about the modern cultural war between the Biblical and Scientific fact that gender is binary and genetic and cannot change (no matter how much you mutilate your body), and the pseudoscientific left-wing lunacy that gender is fluid and can be changed.  It is instead the controversial subject of Adam’s gender at creation – and a couple of other related subjects. Read the rest at  https://jmshistorycorner.blogspot.com/2018/05/biblical-genders.html.

Shabbat Shalom!  Today I present my Restored English Translation (RET) of Beresheet ( Genesis ) chapter 34.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names (with a glossary of them at the end) and a list of where the Aleph-Tavs occur (as they're  no longer included in the main text ). CHAPTER 34 1 And Leah's daughter Dinah (whom she bore to Ya'akov) went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Chamor the Chivi, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and had sex with her, and humbled her. 3 And his soul clung to Dinah the daughter of Ya'akov, and he loved t he girl, and spoke to the heart of the girl. 4 And Shechem spoke to his father Chamor, saying, "Get me this girl for my wife." 5 And Ya'akov heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; and Ya'akov held his peace until they had come. 6 And Chamor the father of Shechem went out to Ya'akov to speak with hi...