today's lost links

1. Lost literature.

The vast majority of students don't even want to be professors: They'd like to get something from a book they can use in their lives outside the classroom. What right have we to forget them?

2. Lost syncretism.

In presenting their faith, Christians naturally used the cultural forms that would be familiar to Asians. They told their stories in the forms of sutras, verse patterns already made famous by Buddhist missionaries and teachers. A stunning collection of Jesus Sutras was found in caves at Dunhuang, in northwest China. Some Nestorian writings draw heavily on Buddhist ideas, as they translate prayers and Christian services in ways that would make sense to Asian readers. In some texts, the Christian phrase "angels and archangels and hosts of heaven" is translated into the language of buddhas and devas.

3. Paradise lost.

[Begin Liveblog! (10:25 PM]

This is confusing.
I don't get it.
What?
Oh, screw it.

[End Liveblog! [10:27 PM]

4. Dualism lost.

investigators have used an MRI to read images off the visual cortex. They presented subjects with some simple symbols and letters, scanned their brains, and read off the image from the data — and it was even legible!

5. "Big loss."

David Stern never said "I'm sorry" to Sonics fans, but for the first time the NBA commissioner sounded apologetic about the sale of the professional basketball team that produced several lawsuits and resulted in owner Clay Bennett moving it to Oklahoma City.

"I'm not thrilled about the outcome in Seattle," he said during an espn.com podcast. "Believe me it's a big loss anytime you leave a city."

Well, duh.