Dispatches from the Empire

Frontline: From Jesus to Christ

I’ve long been interested in beginnings of things, be it a river, a time period, or a belief system. The Middle East has all three in spades. I’m drawn to that region not as a believer, but as someone compelled to understand the beginnings of a moral framework of my culture.

Why did Judaism and Christianity spring from this part of the world? What was/is so compelling about these stories?

Once we understand the source, it becomes infinitely more compelling to look at the current manifestations of these beliefs in my own time, culture, and country. Having lived in the Middle East, it becomes apparent that American Christianity is a bastardization — a cheap facsimile — of the religion as it was. Yet here I am, living in a culture full of people that believe in the watered-down version of those stories. How on earth Christians can be such rabid capitalists, I’ll never understand, but watching people twist their beliefs into knots to justify their actions and desires — a behavior not exclusive to Christians…or the religious — is a favorite pastime.

Lest I sound judgmental (because I am, to be clear), I’m guilty of these moral contortions, too. It’s human nature to do so, but the least we could do is own up to our moral hypocrisies. But that is not a hallmark of religion.

Human nature is endlessly fascinating, at least from a distance. Get too close and you risk your life, as evidenced by this documentary.

AI reads text from ancient Herculaneum scroll for the first time

A 21-year-old computer-science student has won a global contest to read the first text inside a carbonized scroll from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, which had been unreadable since a volcanic eruption in AD 79 — the same one that buried nearby Pompeii. The breakthrough could open up hundreds of texts from the only intact library to survive from Greco-Roman antiquity.

Luke Farritor, who is at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, developed a machine-learning algorithm that has detected Greek letters on several lines of the rolled-up papyrus, including πορϕυρας (porphyras), meaning ‘purple’. Farritor used subtle, small-scale differences in surface texture to train his neural network and highlight the ink.

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2023 via Kottke

The Century and Consumers Buildings in Chicago were two highlights of the architecture section of social studies class in, um, middle school? Elementary school? Whenever it was, one of the many perks living within driving radius of Chicago.

To this day, nothing inspires awe like a walk through The Loop.

Historical Marker Database.