Technique for monitoring activity in free-moving animals

A techique is described for measuring activity by monitoring the rotational movements of a commutator. to which animals might be connected for other experimental purposes.     

Remaking a Kabbalist: Manuscript and Print Cultures in Early Modern Italy

Jewish History - The dissemination of Safedian Kabbalah in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Italy represents a critical turning point in the history of modern Kabbalah. Several...     

The Mystery of the Spirit in Three Traditions: Calvin, Rahner, Florensky Or, You Keep Wondering Where the Spirit Went

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century North Atlantic theology has seen a succession of Trinitarian revivals. Some observers take as an index of a theologian's success whether he or she has much interesting to say about the Holy Spirit, and some, including Robert Jenson, have also noted a tendency to announce the Spirit and talk about the Son. While Rogers shares that concern, he qualifies the characterization to note that authors in three traditions sometimes admit the charge and demur, claiming that is how it should be, citing passages in Calvin, Rahner, and Pavel Florensky. Of these the boldest is Florensky, who anticipates Jenson's critique but, writing in 1913, makes it not of Barth but of Eastern Orthodox theology (usually seen as a model to follow here), even in its liturgy. Rogers leaves this puzzle unresolved.     

Ritual Murder in a Russian Border Town

On April 22, 1823, in the small White Russian border town of Velizh, a three-year-old boy finished his lunch and went outside to play. Fedor never returned home, and several days later a neighbor found his body at the very edge of town, punctured in numerous places. Now largely forgotten, Fedor’s death resulted in the longest and one of the most comprehensive investigations of ritual murder in the modern world. Using the analytical techniques of microhistory, this essay reconstructs small-town life in the Russian Empire, exploring along the way neighborly encounters, law and daily life, and the complex motivations that led to the ritual murder charge. While scholars usually attribute the charge to antisemitism and economic rivalries, this essay offers an alternative explanation. By recreating the day-to-day world of Velizh, I argue that tales of blood sacrifice proved remarkably contagious in the towns and villages of eastern Europe because of their role in the popular belief systems of the time and their ability to express the fears and preoccupations of a population that left no other records.