#syntax pod

[lizardson]

The linguist

[glendover]

so I haven’t caught up with syntax pod just yet so idk how the relationships have shifted but I will always be a Silas/ J shipper solemnly bc they make an absolute great hurt/comfort duo especially since Silas gets hurt so often and J is a medic, call that a match made in heaven

[trashburgersblair]

Oh my gOD

I

I love them so much

[fiction-pod-recs]

My podcast rec stash is a little lacking in the spook department, but I believe I have a few things.

The Grotto is a liminal horror podcast about dealing with grief. There are 8 episodes out as of today, I'm mid episode 7 right now. The Grotto also has the best music I've ever heard in an audio drama! I cannot stress enough how good the music is! Highly recommend. The Occurrence in River Oaks is a sci-fi horror about a small town sheriffs office dealing with an unusual problem. The first season is out with 8 episodes and it is really good! Its hard to talk about without spoiling anything but I encourage you to give it a shot.

Gray Matter: An Acid Horror Anthology is a scifi-horror anthology that has a blend of original stories and modern adaptations of classic tales. I'm not very far in yet but the story are very well written and I highly recommend!

Syntax is a science fiction horror podcast about a linguist employed by a biotech firm. There are 2 full seasons out now, and the third was is currently being released. The horror for this one builds up slowly, but is very good! You also get a helping of flawed characters and science talk if your interested in that. Highly recommend.

hey can anyone give me recs for good spooky audio dramas?

Also bonus points if there’s gays in it (although honestly at this point I go into podcasts assuming there will be, and am hardly ever wrong)

Ones I’ve liked and listened to are: the Magnus archives, the box, king falls am, old gods of Appalachia, darkest night, limetown, spines, the bright sessions, wolf 359, all the public radio alliance ones, Alice isn’t dead, archive 81, life after, the message, the far meridian, the bridge, mirrors, the 12:37, penumbra, strange case of starship iris, girl in space, the leap year society, Mabel, and the white vault

[souloperatorpod]

"You'll come out how you came in, sure 'nuff." @syntaxpod

Art by @/kanani_art on twitter

Coming soon to #InkwellHaven 10/18/2024

[sailorluna15]

Azula & Izumi head canon time!

Azula and Izumi are like two peas in a pod. Where you see one, you see the other. Izumi follows Azula everywhere and even stands outside the bathroom door when Azula is in there.

Azula: Can I use the latrine in peace?

Izumi: No. Anyways, you want to know what I did at school today?

Azula: No.

Izumi: In science we made lemon and baking soda volcanos, and we go to put food coloring in our volcano to make the lava any color we want. I chose the color purple, but my friend chose...

Azula: - -

Mai & Zuko think it's hilarious and a bit weird how attached Izumi is to her aunt. Izumi is around Azula so much that she even picks up her diction, tone, and syntax. This is where Mai is like "Okay, you guys need space because this is too much now."

[itsabouttimex2]

Heyyyy, it’s ME again!! I was just wondering if you take requests for Yandere Alphabets? If so can I get one of Huntsman, Syntax, and/or the Mayor?

(I know this is like my third request I’m so sorry I’m so starved of fanfic content of these three in any shape or form it is CRIMINAL 😭)

Yandere Alphabet: Huntsman

(No worries! I don’t mind at all! And sorry if updates have been a little slow- I’ve recently acquired a rescue cat, who’s been a little clingy!)

Authority: Do they see themselves as above their obsession?

No. Huntsman wants someone who is explicitly equal to him- in power and drive and skill. If Y/N is weak or small, he won’t have any interest in them.

Bread: Can they cook or bake? Is Y/N responsible for their own food?

I imagine he cures and dries most of his hunted meat, spicing the strips to be sharp and energizing. He’ll share- especially if you behave well enough to earn a hunt with him. And honestly? Huntsman would love to teach you to prepare it with him.

Probably not too good with modern appliances, though. He can use them, for what it’s worth- he just doesn’t like to.

Cruentus- How do they respond to Y/N being hurt, both slightly and severely?

Given their probable capability for self-defense, Huntsman isn’t too worried about his obsession’s safety. If he’s interested in Y/N, it’s because they make for a good rival- they have to be able to fight back and escape from danger.

If harm somehow comes to them in captivity, the arachnoid does see fit to tend your wounds- perhaps a bit roughly. Many natural remedies- honey as an antibiotic, aloe vera to soothe burns and rashes, poppy pods as a painkiller, ginger for nausea, etc.

Disengage- What’s their response to being ignored?

Mild distaste for what he perceives as ‘childishness’. When he catches Y/N, he expects them to accept it with some measure of grace. Sure, they don’t have to start cheering, but Huntsman would appreciate it if they were more mature.

Besides- he can ignore them right back, especially since they’re the one in cage.

Enclosure: Where do they keep Y/N?

Hung on his wall like a trophy- even if he has to take you apart piece by piece and put you back together like a puzzle.

Or a steel-wrought and dead-bolted cage, with just enough room to pace around- even with a shackle of black iron around your neck.

Decisions, decisions.

Facade: Are they good at hiding their true intentions?

I’d say no, but saying no implies that there’s an undertaken effort being failed- and there isn’t. Huntsman just… doesn’t care.

And franky? Neither does the Spider Queen, or Syntax, or Goliath. (Although the big guy will make sure you don’t starve while his workmate is out.) Nobody cares for your plight, leaving your hope of escape infinitesimally small.

Garment: Do they take control of Y/N’s clothes?

No, not really. As long as the gear you wear is practical, Huntsman won’t so much as bat an eye. Comfort and function are equally important, and that’s something he understands quite well.

If he does manage to catch you, expect to be given “luxury” clothes made from the bodies of his previous quarry. His webbing holds

Handicap: How do they handle Y/N being or becoming disabled?

If the disability occurs before he catches them, Huntsman may well drop his current obsession and find a new one. After all, he’s not looking for a pitiful cripple- he warns a powerful warrior! Why remain with someone who can no longer deftly escape his grasp?

If it happens afterwards, the arachnoid simply takes it as a permanent mark of his victory over you. You’ve got a limp or a shaky wrist or a few missing fingers- and he smiles wide when he see the struggle you undertake.

Proof of the colossal task surmounted- how could he not be proud of himself?

Intertwine: How physical are they? Do they enjoy skinship and touch?

His touch is rough and challenging, constant spurring towards a vicious fight and a potential attempt at escape- keeping you as a caged little bunny is just no fun. If our dear Huntsman can push until you snap and lash, he’ll be all the happier for it.

Just remember- this isn’t a game, and he won’t be going easy on you.

Jaunt: Are they willing to take Y/N out? Where do they go?

Not unless you’re willing to hunt, butcher, and cook little animals with him. If you are, Huntsman enjoys taking you out on little trips out to local forests and woods.

Kindness: What brings out the best in this yandere?

His kindest scenario involves a young and wild Y/N, feral and furious. He takes you under his wing to train properly, honing the skills you’ve obtained in the wild. Your transformation into a spider demon is inevitable, in this scenario. Huntsman would treat you more like an apprentice than a target, maybe taking you in as his own heir.

Limitation: What holds them back? Work? Family obligations? Physical weakness?

Very, very little. A mild and ever-thinning sense of duty to his queen, but that thread is gossamer. You come first, above all else.

Morals: What lines are they not willing to cross?

Torture. Admittedly, Huntsman isn’t a great person. But I don’t think he’d push that line into physical or psychological torment- he’s got his limits, especially when it comes to someone he actually sort of cares about.

Nausea: Can they tend to an illness, or would they rely on a doctor?

If natural remedies and rest don’t work, he’ll take you to Syntax to have your symptoms properly examined. Huntsman doesn’t want to threaten a doctor into seeing you, or run the risk of an escape while bringing you out, so he’ll just steal the needed medicine.

Obcordate: What reminds them of Y/N?

Rabbits scurrying to their burrows. Doves flying to their nests in fright. Fawns sheltering behind their mothers. Little prey animals running to hide away until the dawn rises once more and offers comfort from lurking shadows.

Pacify: How do they comfort Y/N? Do they even bother trying?

If you’re on the younger end (15-19), Huntsman will rummage up a little bit of pity to offer you cured meats and a fur jacket to wear. It’s not much, but it’s proof there’s a little bit of kindness in his heart somewhere.

If you’re on the older end, well… tough luck.

Queue: Do they have something of equal or greater importance to Y/N?

No. His loyalty to the Spider Queen comes close at first, but he eventually ditches her to pursue you more viciously.

Unless… he goes yandere for Sandy, too. With a younger Y/N and a budding obsession with the big blue sweetheart, I could see Huntsman trying to build himself a little family- however crude and forced.

Redemption: Could they grow out of their obsession and make amends with Y/N?

Dear lord, no. There is literally one circumstance in which he gives up on utterly decimating or owning you: the two of you fighting off the Mayor together and fighting the Lady Bone Demon alongside him.

The above mentioned scenario makes him behave more kindly, but he won’t give up the obsessive desire to possess.

Sobriquet- What nicknames do for they have for their obsession?

Morsel, little minnow, little dove, fresh meat… anything that makes you sound small and mouthwatering.

If you’ve animal attributes across your body, expect him to refer to you by whatever collateral adjective applies to your lineage.

Troop: How many people do they obsess over? Is that obsession spread equally?

One or two- it’s either you, or you and Sandy. If it’s both of you, his time and effort is split roughly half-and-half.

Underdog: Who‘s on the yandere’s side? Would they help out?

No one is explicitly helping him (unless mutually yandere Silktea is a thing, and then Sandy does enable him, unfortunately) but no one is stopping him, either. None of his fellow spider demons care whether he has you or not, leaving Huntsman virtually free to do as he pleases while pursuing you.

Vocalize: How do they justify their actions?

Huntsman doesn’t bother to do so- what he’s doing is wrong, but he revels in it anyhow. Why care about mortal laws or logic? All they do is hamper his fun.

White Whale: Why do they pursue Y/N, exactly?

If you’re strong and capable, you’ve got a chance of catching this spider’s eyes. That’s about it- he wants someone just as vicious and powerful (or at least as capable) as he is.

Xanthous: What do they really want?

A way to elevate his skills, and that’s about it. When it comes to his ‘yandere’ side, he’s high on obsession and low on love. It’s one of the reasons he’s willing to kill Y/N- their worth to him is mostly temporary, based on their power and techniques.

Youth: How old is Y/N in comparison to them? Younger, same age, or older?

Same age, maybe a little older. A child won’t have the experience he’s looking for- this arachnoid specifically wants a good hunt. There’s no joy or triumph in butchering a helpless child.

If you do happen to be a child who impressed him, he’ll abduct you. Maybe a few weeks will be spent waiting in a dusty, web-covered cellar, only for him to come in and stab a venom-drone into the base of your spine. A little hunting buddy doesn’t sound like an awful thing to have, after all.

Zealous: Do they pursue Y/N doggedly, or are they more laidback and casual with their approach?

It doesn’t get much more zealous than viciously pursuing someone as though they were a fleeing beast. Every night is spent fortifying your defenses and prepping weaponry, all to meet him in the morning and fight desperately to ward the demon off.

Author’s Choice:

[syntaxpod]

Syntax, Episode 43: Bits and Pieces Live GLOBALLY

It’s time!! Episode 43 of Syntax, Bits and Pieces, is LIVE for global listening! Check us out at our pod link below, and get excited for 44 and 45, the LAST TWO EPISODES OF THE SEASON!!!

[garden-ghoul]

Shanah tovah! We have a very sweet and relaxing poem for you today, another Old Woman Moment from Li Qingzhao! It's titled with the first line.

In my illness wispy white crept up my temples, how splendid! I lie and watch the waning moon rise over the window screen, then fry and boil some cardamom pods. I don't make fancy tea. How comfortable to recline on my pillow and read from the Five Classics; how lovely the world I can see from my doorway when the rain comes; and abiding all day for woman to enjoy, the gentle crowd of osmanthus flowers.

original text and notes under the cut!

摊破浣溪沙·病起萧萧两鬓华

病起萧萧两鬓华，卧���残月上窗纱。豆蔻连梢煎熟水，莫分茶。 枕上诗书闲处好，门前风景雨来佳。终日向人多酝藉，木犀花。

Li Qingzhao has done it again. She is maxing her relaxing. For this translation I wanted to make it feel very comfortable, not elegant and not a big deal. Still, this poem is written in a specific form and even has what I've been thinking of as a consonance rhyme scheme: the lines end huá - shā - shuǐ - chá and hǎo - jiā - jiè - huā.

how splendid! --- I don't really know why the line ends with 华 magnificent, because it doesn't appear in the other translations I've seen, but I read it as a half-sarcastic half-celebratory "who cares if I've got gray hairs!"

cardamom pods --- according to Gushiwen's annotations cardamom infusions cool the body and lower qi. I assume this is a treatment for the illness she's recovering from but I did initially read it and go "oh she is relaxing SO hard."

I don't make fancy tea --- this one was an ODYSSEY. The line reads 莫分茶 I don't divide tea. But it's actually referring to a specific technique! It stands in contrast to 煎茶 frying tea (same character as what she does to the cardamom); dividing tea means you pour a little water into powdered tea to make a paste, and then whisk in boiling water. I gather that this is a more refined and effortful method of making tea. Frying tea basically just involves infusing it by boiling.

the Five Classics --- specifically she mentions the Book of Songs and the Book of History. This reads a little cleaner but I thought it was still interesting to note exactly what she's reading---I'm not totally sure if it's very refined or anything to be rereading the Five Classics but it's not doggerel or travelogues lol.

abiding all day... osmanthus flowers --- this was a fun bit to translate, because one REALLY wants to keep "osmanthus flowers" on its own line but that syntax completely doesn't work in English. A more literal gloss might be "all day for the benefit of people, very gentle and tolerant/encompassing, osmanthus flowers." I think the implied verb is acting for the benefit of people, and you can translate that so many ways! I put "for woman to enjoy" here because so much of this poem seems to be about how convenient things are when you stay home and have no-one but yourself to please: your pillow is comfy, you never have to be bored, beautiful scenery comes to you, and you're surrounded by fragrant flowers. What's better than this!

[acrazybayernfan]

When Pier Paolo Pasolini says : "“I don’t see any opposition between the literature language and the sport language because the sport language is a subgenus of literature. The sport language isn’t the language of the sport journalists. The real sport language is the athletic, physical, muscular, technical, stylistic language of the players."

When he also says: " The football game is a signs system, that is a language, but nonverbal. Football has all the fundamental characteristics of the language per excellence, the one that we immediately possess in the sense of a confrontation, that is to say the talked and written language. The words of football are created exactly like the ones of the written-talked langage. (...) The "podemes" (a neologism based on the word phoneme but in which the reference to the voice (phon-) has been replaced by a reference to foot (pod-) t.n.) form "the football words" and all the "football words" form a speech, regulated by authentic syntactic norms. There is twenty-two "podemes" (= the twenty-two players n.t.) but the "words of football" are potentially infinite because the possible combination between the podemes are infinite (in practice the passes between the players with the ball): the syntax express itself during the match which is really and properly a dramatic speech. ”

When Seirul.lo says : “Each pass is a message. There are neutral passes: “Here, do what you want”. Or they can say “Here, enjoy”. Those are the intentional passes. (…) But the majority of the players just say “Here, do what you can”.”

When Sawako Kuronuma in Kimi ni Todoke says: "“Instead of my smile I’m going to send you this ball to convey my feelings”

When Robert Lewandowski says: "I think that Thomas is a player who knows when and where he should run. Sometimes we don’t need to speak to each other because we know what the other one can do. And that’s why, even if I close my eyes, I know where Thomas should be, and he’ll be there. In football, the language is football. What you say doesn’t matter. The more important thing is what you feel. This is the feeling I have with Thomas and I think he feels the same way.”

[lizardson]

this song is about cassius thatcher btw

[twinstrangersp]

🥹 We love seeing reactions like this! Hope you continue to enjoy the show — and an exceptionally good time to start listening with Season 3 on the horizon!

new podcasts I discovered this week while I frantically finished a crocheting project:

Syntax - how come I’ve never heard anyone talk about it???? I’m only on eps 8 but is sooo good and Silas is baby girl through and through,,, also pls let me hug J, Alyx and Lissy 😭

Midnight Burger - soooo funny and cool??? Gloria is such a mood and Caspar pls I love him (also I’m on episode 5)

The storage papers - I finally caved in and listened to it, it’s good but Uhm I think I missed the over all plot (or maybe there isn’t one idk I’m just confused 😭💀 but I’m also only on eps 10)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The sight of chubby baby cheeks is often enough to transform even the most committed curmudgeon into a babbling softie.

Sentences become shorter, sounds are exaggerated, and the overall pattern of speech is more singsong and musical.

Researchers have dubbed this “motherese,” or, more formally, “infant-directed speech.”

“We’re not changing the words that we’re saying, we’re changing the way that we’re saying them,” says Laela Sayigh, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Only a handful of other species have been shown to change their calls when addressing young, including zebra finches, rhesus macaques, and squirrel monkeys.

Now, Sayigh’s new study, based on three decades of data in Florida, reveals common bottlenose dolphins use motherese — one of the first times it’s been documented in a species other than humans.

It's a major discovery, agrees Rindy Anderson, a behavioral ecologist at Florida Atlantic University who was not involved with the research.

The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "suggests that using these modifications when communicating with young assists them in learning how to produce these calls themselves,” she says.

Talk to me

Learning language is hard. Yet infants, incredibly, sop up the verbal soup around them and learn how to construct sentences with the appropriate structure.

How? The answer has to do with how we intuitively talk to babies.

Making our sentences shorter strips away unnecessary words. Emphasizing sounds makes words clearer. And — importantly — we increase the pitch of our speech.

Studies have shown these vocal characteristics grab and hold the attention of children far better than normal adult-directed speech.

And when parents are coached on how to use motherese, their child babbles more and has a bigger vocabulary as a toddler.

Language scientists make an important distinction between motherese and what is commonly referred to as baby talk.

The latter, they say, consists of largely made-up words with inconsistent and incorrect grammar and syntax:

It’s the difference between telling a baby, “Look at that DOGGY!” and “Wook at dat widdle puppy-wuppy!”

That’s why the list of species that use the more accurate motherese has so far been limited.

“Vocal learning is actually very rare. Out of the millions of species that use sound to communicate, there’s just a few groups that must learn their vocal communication systems,” Anderson says.

Signature sounds

When Sayigh began working with a pod of wild bottlenose dolphins in Florida’s Sarasota Bay in the late 1980s, she observed that these marine mammals shared many characteristics with humans.

For instance, mothers and their offspring live within intricate social groups held together by a complex language of songs and whistles.

Over time, the biologist began to wonder whether females use motherese to communicate with their calves.

Bottlenose mothers nurse their young for two years, and the animals generally stay with her until they’re between three to six years old, learning how to hunt, navigate, and stay safe in the ocean.

Father dolphins generally aren’t involved in rearing their young.

Dolphin communication is profoundly different from how humans talk.

The most common dolphin vocalization is their signature whistle, a sound unique to each dolphin that serves as the cetacean equivalent of a “Hello, My Name is…” sticker.

Dolphins, however, don’t use another animal’s signature whistle to direct communication.

Instead, they repeat their own signature whistle and listen for another dolphin to respond with their own.

It’s analogous to your mother standing on your front porch and yelling her own name to summon her kids, says Kelly Jaakkola, a cognitive psychologist and marine mammal biologist at the nonprofit Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida.

As part of their ongoing research, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program performs regular veterinary exams on the wild dolphins, which have gotten used to the scientists’ presence.

During these exams, Sayigh and colleagues would sometimes attach a small recording device called a hydrophone to a mother dolphin’s forehead with a fist-size suction cup that the researchers later removed.

By analyzing recordings of 19 different female dolphins over 34 years, Sayigh found that the signature whistles of dolphin mothers had a greater range of frequencies — the high pitches were higher and the lows were lower — when their calves were nearby.

The high-pitched sounds are out of the range of human hearing.

Endless questions

To Jaakkola, who wasn’t part of the study, this work was “a fantastic first step.”

“The data here are beautiful,” she says. “The trick comes in possible interpretations of what’s happening.”

The work only looks at dolphin communication in one specific context, which means scientists can’t say definitively that the dolphins are speaking to their calves in motherese, Jaakkola says.

For instance, the results could be due to vocal changes in caused by lactation, or some other unknown variable.

However, in a 2017 study, researchers noticed an identical change in mother dolphins’ signature whistles while examining the effects of human-made noise, which lends support to the authors’ conclusions that the dolphins change their pitch as needed.

For Sayigh, the questions are endless — and fascinating.

“I just can't even articulate what an amazing project it is. I could spend three lifetimes there,” she says.

[twinstrangersp]

Syntax Season 2&3 Q&A ALERT!

With Season 3 of Syntax finished, we've updated our Q&A form for Season 2 AND 3! If you missed the form last time, you're still able to fill it out until JANUARY 31st! Here's the linky poo:

And with this Q&A, we have a question! We've seen other pods doing a LIVE Q&A on YouTube/Twitch. Would you prefer a Live Q&A with the cast and crew or a recorded Q&A on your feeds? Let us know below!

[rook-writes]

extremely rare writing blog reblog here but on paragraphing i always think about the old tiptop post that circulated around tumblr a while back. for those that have never seen it, tiptop stands for time, place topic, person. these are practical ways to split paragraphs, but also, that last one is especially important for how dialogue reads. standard formatting is useful in that regard.

also, paragraphing (in my experience) has a similar purpose to syntax diversity in that they're about how a piece Flows(tm). all different elements of what you do when writing can affect flow, as well as tone and mood. but on a basic level, syntax and paragraphing are peas in a pod. what you put where, and how you break it up, will always affect how an audience absorbs information.

that said, i want to highlight that you can still learn important skills from employing techniques inspired by other mediums. obviously they shouldn't be the only thing you use, but there's a reason a lot of creative writing programs will make you study more than just your focus (the MFA i'm looking at makes you do that, and my undergrad degree did as well). learning from other mediums of writing helps us innovate with the way we use language.

do i think books should be written like movies? nah, not really. but while i was looking for the tiptop post to make sure i quoted it right, i saw another post i reblogged about paragraphing that talked about people wanting to capture the feelings that movies invoked in them.

(hell, it's literally the last post we reblogged here)

studying elements of the stories we like can help us learn how to elevate our craft. for my money, i've learned a lot about paragraphing by working on personal comics (and more comic-oriented people than i have noticed that paneling and paragraphing are far from entirely divorced concepts). thinking about what i want a reader to see versus what i want them to know has been a lot of fun as i've gotten back into writing recently. but that's less related to paragraphing and more just me trying to develop "show and tell" techniques (in this case, showing one thing while a character is telling another).

that was kind of a tangent. anyways.

at the end of the day, paragraphing is, like many other elements of writing, a stylistic thing. it's going to vary from writer to writer, and for people building a style of their own, you'll really need to pull from more than just visual media if you're writing something not intended to be visual.

if you want to write film scripts, do it! but understand that you'll be severely limiting yourself if you only sup your style on the way film crafts stories.

i think people who complain about paragraphs being too long should just read/write screenplays instead. some of us actually enjoy reading

[ramrodd]

Disparaging Jesus: Roman Gossip and Jewish Legend

COMMENTARY:

James Tabor, if an an honest account of the material you are discussing is your goal, it would serve you to abandon the dialectical Marxism of the critical historical method you adopted as an apostate Air Force brat and antiwar protester that was all the rage after the occupation of Columbia University by the SDS in 1968 (and persists as the liberal PC cancel culture) and replace it with the critical literary method of Hegel. It would serve to validate virtually every thing  you've concluded.

First of all, your thesis that the narratives of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John are intended to be understood as intertwined is exactly correct. Cornelius, the centurion featured in Acts 10, is the author of the Gospel of Mark and John Mark is the author of the Gospel of John, which begins when John Mark is 13 years old at Passover CE 27 and about halfway through his preparation for achieving his majority and Bar Mitzvah just before the Festival of Tabernacles 28,  John Mark is not the author of the Gospel of Mark, but becomes the publisher of the Gospel in Alexandria and is part of the committee that shapes the final version, The syntax of Mark 16:9 - 20 is clearly that of the last chapter of John, even in English and was added by John Mark's copyists at some point.

Both Mark and John being when Jesus appears above the Roman military horizon and takes command of John the Baptist's constituency. The reason why the Gospel of Mark begins with John the Baptist is because the Roman intelligence services had an active and routine surveillance program on  the  baptizer: they knew where he lived, they knew what he ate, they knew how he dressed and they generally knew the doctrine he was preaching and they considered him a potential in surgent.

The Gospel of Mark demonstrates that the Romans had active files on all the players in Judea, including the Herodians, the Sadducee's, the Pharisees and it must be assumed, the Zealots, who were the common enemy of both the Romans and Jesus (John 2:17). The Zealots were the John Birch Society of Judea and the instruments of the Apocalypse of the 2nd Temple and Revelation. when Jesus shows up and takes command of John the Baptist's congregation, the Roman spies shift all their resources to Jesus and lose sight of John the Baptist entirely, as reflected in Mark 1:14.

What we learn about Jahn's execution was relayed to the Roman archives, aka Q, by Herod Antipas or his intelligence services, after the reproachment of Pilate and Herod that Luke documents. The flashback in Mark 6 is the only literary artifice in Mark.

The second thing the Romans learn is the extent of the foot print Jesus inherited from John the Baptist in Mark 3::8 It is likely that the Romans were unaware of the extent of this demographic, which appears twice in Mark, the first command performance of Jesus in a boat and the second time after the arrest of John the Baptist in Mark 4. we know from John 3 that John the Baptist was still at liberty at the Passover CE 28.

I have no problem with adoptionism: it's not true, but, if it was true, Resurrection was like Etch-a-Sketch: everything before it is obviated and the God Hypothesis validated, which was one objective of Jesus's mission. A second objective was to create a priesthood of servant-leaders who would erect the new Temple of Moses within the grown community of synagogues emerging from Hellenistic Judaism.

A third objective was to emphasize the Holy Spirit as a supernatural resource available to humankind and to demonstrate it's practical application. Your favorite Myth Master had Rbbi Tabias Singer on his pod cast three years ago who gets his panties all in a know bout how the emphasis on miracles and exorcism in Mark is all Greco-Roman content and has nothing to do with the Torah.

Exactly my point. In terms of Hegel, the Sociology and Anthropology of the Gospel of Mark is entirely that of a Greco-Roman centurion and that Jesus is a Hellenistic post-Apocalyptical Jew who abrogates the Dietary restrictions in Mark 7:19, absorbs Plato into the Shema and adds the Socrates Clause to the Greatest Commandment in Mark 12:29 - 31. The additional clause is a synthesis of Hillel's Silver Rule, Jesus's Golder Rule and Socrates ethic of man's duty to man embedded in the secular rule of law of Athens and Rome.

Finally, the contours of Q are made evident in the Roman apparatus of εὐθὺς  in the Greek Text of the Gospel of Mark. εὐθὺς  indicates that the pericope is eye witness testimony that was collected by the Roman intelligence services as part of the routine surveillance procedures appled to Jesus after His baptism and before His Resurrection, in particular, and his arrext, generally, except for Acts 10:16, when the testimony of Peter provides the narrative structure  for the Gospel of Mark. John Mark, Matthew and Luke have access to this Roman military archive as a result of Peter's encounter with Cornelius and is probably a basis for inclusion in the canon. Pilate's original intelligence report he sent to Tiberius that Tertullian cites went under the euangeliou "Tidings of Joy" Emperor's eyes' first transmittal priority and becomes the code word for the Roman archive that Paul refers to 19 times in his Epistles.

Go back and read the Gospel of Mark in Greek and every time εὐθὺς appears, thing "op-cit" and Ibid" instead of "immediately" and you will see what I mean.

Love your show, Babe, but I grew weary of  John Dominick Crossan’s whole dialectical Marxism trope before I went to Vietnam.  

https://tinyurl.com/2k5jeevk