Jonitus

• Paul Manansala, at blog Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan, brings us an excellent post on the person of Jonitus, a figure later Christian mythology identifies as the 4th son of Noah. He is also identified with Prester John.
  For centuries, commentators have linked the origin of Prester John's name, Joannes or Johannes in Latin, with that of Oannes, the maritime sage mentioned in the Mesopotamian works of Berossus.
  Various theories find the origin of the name "Oannes" in forms like U-khan-na "Lord of the Fish," or Ea-khan "Ea the Fish" in the Akkadian language. Oannes shares attributes of the fish-like god Ea/Enki and also of the sage Adapa.
  There is some wonderful content in this entry, as in all of Paul's posts.
  

New JFK video, why I keep the sound down, social networking, and Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan

• A new video of JFK's assassination surfaces. From the BBC:
  Amateur photographer George Jefferies held onto the film for more than 40 years believing it was unimportant.
  And on the possible implications:
  ...the president's jacket was riding high on his back, the entry wound in his body did not appear to match the expected position in his coat, which would add fuel to claims that more than three shots were fired.
• This is why I keep the sound low:
  WAUKESHA - An Oconomowoc man who thought he heard a woman being raped allegedly busted through a neighbor’s door, carrying a sword, only to find the neighbor watching pornography.
• Not dead yet: although everybody seems to be on Myspace or Tribe, my Friendster account is being to see a lot of action again. No Orkut invite yet. Huh, looks like they have opened up Orkut up to general use. Just created a basic profile.
• I realize that I just wrote about this yesterday, but Paul Manansala's 'Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan' blog is quite brilliant. Take a look at his post regarding the Sambatyon River:
  The first mention of a river of sand and stones connected in some way with the "lost tribes" actually occurs in Islamic literature. A group known as the "people of Moses" is mentioned in the Quran, and the commentator Muqatil bin Sulayman (767 CE) associates them with the lost tribes. He further places the people of Moses, numbering 70,000, beyond a river of sand in China. Several hadith tell of how the people of Moses dug a tunnel from the Temple Mount to or beyond China where they lived pious lives, and where Muhammed introduced them to Islam during his "night journey."
  

Extreme alarm clock and the King of the East

• An alarm clock that I really don't want
  The Sonic Bomb Clock has an adjustable volume alarm with a maximum loudness of 113 decibels (just for reference, a jackhammer is about 100 decibels!) And the bed shaker does just that. Slip it under your mattress and your ears will bleed and your bed will shake, and there is no way you will oversleep.
  Jesus Christ. That's one Thinkgeek gadget I'm not coveting.
• Another very tasty blog: Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan. Take this post on the King of the East as an instance:
  Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian and to a lesser extent Muslim traditions all possess a theme of the "King of the East" as a key player in apocalyptic times.
  Concepts of cyclic change that began at least by the Middle Kingdom in Egypt appear to have contributed to Egyptian millennarianism in the first few centuries before the era among gnostic and Jewish apocalyptic sects. Interestingly at about the same time in China to the East, ideas of a future millennarian age initiated by a reincarnationa of Laozi also come to fore. This was at about the same time that the Fangshi wizards preached the wisdom of venturing to Penglai, the isle of immortals. During this period, there is evidence of contact between East and West both overland via the Silk Road and by sea via the maritime spice routes.
  Concepts of both a savior king and a destructive king of the "antichrist" type are clearly present during this period.