Friday Quick Hits and Varia

It’s a cold and calm day today. Really cold (like -15 and dropping). It’s going to get warmer over the weekend, but it will also snow. This is the compromise we make here in North Dakotaland.

Fortunately, this weekend is a veritable smorgasbord of boxing action. The week before the Superb Owl has become a kind of boxing holiday in the late season football interstice. I’m very eager to see the Stevenson-Lopez bout tomorrow night (and the other strong fights on the card). In the afternoon, the Murtazaliev-Kelly card feels intriguing to me as I’m not familiar with either guy. I will almost certainly catch the unification bout between Xander Zayas and Abass Baraou and contemplate whether the winner might face the winner of Murtazaliev-Kelly to unify the IBF belt. This would leave the winner to Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora (the current WBC belt holder). That would be must see TV (for me).

I have a manuscript review on my desk, a few books incoming, and a book in production to finish this weekend which will keep me busy and entertained. This week was a bit challenging for me, so please pardon the rather anemic list of quick hits and varia:

• If you’re looking for better and more links, check out Joshua Nudell’s varia on his Noodlings blog.

• Some Early Christianity:

The Earliest χρηστιανοί of Messene and Their Third- and Fourth-century Funerary Monuments.

Unearthing an Imperially Glorious Byzantine Church near Bet Shemesh: From Fieldwork to Virtual Reality (Friend of ASOR talk on February 4th)

• Evidence Linking Open Science to Research Integrity.

• Raiford Guins’ King Pong (2025). This cover!

• RIP James Sallis. (Sallis was a long-time contributor to the Quarterly)

• Neville Morley on Deborah Cameron. (And I appreciate what he was expressing here).

• What I’m reading: a book manuscript!

• What I’m listening to: Joel Ross, Gospel Music.