Chandler Collins

Some Observations on the "Siloam Dam" A massive dam wall was uncovered in excavations at Birket al-Ḥamra in Jerusalem and dated to ca. 800 BCE. Let's take a closer look.

I wrote a little about the "Siloam Dam," which was recently uncovered in Jerusalem.

Free coloring therapy

Perusing the @asor-research.bsky.social annual meeting schedule. Glad to see a paper on ancient foraging and hope to attend.

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 64,005.

What may be the largest recorded Neo-Assyrian lamassu (winged bull) has been unearthed in the ancient city of Nineveh, Mosul, Iraq. It was found in the remains of the throne room built by King Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) and is six meters (20 feet) high.
www.aina.org/news/2025092...

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 57,914.

Much editing, nailing down of loose concepts, and replacement of poor words with better words. Draft of one new section complete.

James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder and ‘family values’ advocate, dies at 89 (RNS) — A child psychologist by training, Dobson made the crossover from academia to religious-oriented political activism with his 1977 founding of Focus on the Family.

James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family in 1977 to promote conservative views on parenting, has died at age 89.
religionnews.com/2025/08/21/j...

@eerdmansbooks.bsky.social is launching a Pillar OT commentary series. How slick is that cover art? (even if they were used as orthostats)

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 59,509.

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 53,207.

Hello user, would you like our AI tool to summarize the key points of this four-sentence paragraph?

22 Large Blocks of the Lighthouse of Alexandria Retrieved from the Seafloor, Including Its Door Lintels Three decades after the waters of Alexandria’s bay revealed the first submerged vestiges of the seventh wonder of the world, an international archaeological mission has successfully extracted from…

After 30 years underwater, 22 massive stones from the Lighthouse of Alexandria have been recovered. Not in the Bible—but Alexandria shaped biblical history, from the Septuagint to early Christian thought. #Archaeology #Bible #Pharos

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 51,701. Chapter 2 submitted.

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 49,505. Rough draft of chapter 2 nearly finished.

There's no need to respond
(breath deeply)
Don't get into an unnecessary fight
(breath deeply)
Eyes on the ball and your to-do list
(breath deeply)
Just move on
(breath deeply)
Watch this substantive point, on which you are absolutely correct, drift on the waves on the ocean, as you wave goodbye

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 47,605. I now live in a word doc.

Oh, chatbot says P? Well, chatbot would have said not-P just as strenuously if you’d asked. That should be the end of the conversation.

A similar observation applies to question phrasing on personality tests, where there is often no circumstantial nuance.

What truly new things have we learned about how the prophetic books of the Bible came to be? An interview I just did with @haydentank.bsky.social made me reflect on how I was completely wrong on a key point and what a great recent book tells us about the values behind ancient Hebrew literature. 🧵

This is really helpful. I must read Mastnjak.

This was not on my bingo card. What even would be the ostensible archaeological value for tourists with already packed itineraries?

Gross

Looks great!

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 45,095.

Just finished making jerky with some pheasant backs. How do you like to use them?

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 43,190.

Facebook post from page consequence: Amy Poehler and Parks & Recreation creator Mike Schur are reuniting for a new comedy series called DIG. The Peacock series revolves around women working at an archeological dig in Greece at wildly different crossroads in their lives. When the team uncovers a long-buried secret with the potential to rewrite history, they find themselves at the center of a high-stakes international conspiracy.

Did not have Amy Poehler-led Greek archaeology comedy series on my 2025 bingo card.

A fitting punishment for many scholars.

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 41,592. Finished a chapter section.

Stinging nettles, pickled onions, garlic, pesto, ramp butter.