Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
And remember — English is a Germanic (Angle-Saxon-Norse) language with a Latin grammar (death penalty aka F if you split an infinitive which is impossible in Latin) with added Celtic Norman-French vocabulary — and in the USA more words mainstreamed by immmigrants and technology. Americanese has 650,000+ words, whereas other major languages are in the 150s+ such as Spanish.There are changes the meaning of slang too. Some become obsolete. Others have meanings changed. One example from when I was in grade school: a pud-wacker was a maturbator — decades later pud became a synonym for a fool, AH, drip, nerd, etc. Food for another never-ending topic.
Tyre during the glory years of Phoenicia. I do not think I could handle the land south filled with raving prophets. 😉
To paraphrase the satiricist Mort Sahl's great remark: In each election we are confronted with the lesser of two evils or the evil of two lessers.
Yes, Phidippedes, I created the pun decades ago when I wrote an unproduced satire for film set in that era complete with Nebuchadnezzar and temple prostitutes participating in a “Super Ball” — tastefully done of course. ::)
Cannot resist sharing my pun, which Herodotus may have taken in another vein: One man's Mede is another man's Persian.
Good hat manners need to be taught as well — an impossible task given the general lack of same these days.
After being forced to wear hat and helmet in the Army, I was delighted the hat phase ended. Now, I would not mind if the custom returned — excluding baseball caps worn backwards a la Beavis and Butthead.
Interesting posts, which in some instances reveal more about the poster than shedding light on the subject.I am summarzing below some material I have read over the years.Regarding the Hittites, according to the racist British-Israel World Federation (interesting faux history there too), in their publications (which I have in my possession) they show bas-reliefs from the pyramids that “prove” modern Jews resemble Armenoid Hittites and are a mongrelized mix (as if non-Jews are not) while Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Celts resemble Israelites and are of the lost Ten Tribes. It's all in the curve of the nostril, they claim. ::)Regarding the Khazars, the concensus seems to be that only the ruling family and aristocracy converted to Judaism.Regarding Europe, at the time of Jesus, the Jewish population was as high as 5-10% of the hundred million population of the Roman Empire, up to 90 % of them living outside of Palestine. A diaspora of choice. They could be found from Hispania, Gaul, Italy, and Germany to the Black Sea. Cyrenica and Alexandria had populations in the hundreds of thousands. Pagan conversion to Judaism was not unusual because of the Sabbath and family values, but limited because of male circumcision. Later, Paul understood that.During the “Golden Age” for Jews in the Carolingian Empire and after, there were up to 15,000 conversions from among both Pagans and Christians from the 700s to the First Crusade, which began the great massacres over the next centuries. Many Jews fled East not west to Poland where they were welcomed by the rulers for another brief Golden Age.Regarding the Hyksos, it seems we are awaiting the “smoking guns” for definitive answers that will never please those who have vested academic interests in their conclusions and others who have specific biases. Regarding DNA, is one going to argue that the 20% of Spaniards who have Sephardic DNA ( from a recent study) are descended from Khazars? One also may speculate how many people everywhere have Jewish DNA from ancestors who chose conversion to Christianity and Islam over death.
Aside from one based on my novel :D, I would choose a film or better yet a miniseries on the life of Talleyrand.
True historical fiction, not romance or alternitive crap, and inspire those who love history to research further as happened to me from childhood when I read or saw historical films.Therefore — Shameless self promotion —My novel Rocamora fills in the historically exceptional sketchy life of Vicente de Rocamora (1601-83), royal confessor and spiritual director for the teenage Infanta of Spain, sister of Philip IV, and mother of all future Habsburg rulers, when he was only five years older than she in an era before the confessional booth.Spanish saying: No man is closer to a woman, not her father, not her brother, not her husband.”Rocamora disappears from Court in 1643 when Olivares falls from power, goes to Amsterdam where he declares himself to be a Jew, circumcises himself, and takes the name Isaac, after which he goes to medical school, receives his license to practice at age 46 and marries at age 46 a 25 year old who gives him 9 children in the next 11 years.How tumescent and randy a confessor he must have been.My research, not generally mentioned, uncovered Rocamora was a freethinker and connected to the titled de Rocamoras of Rafal, Benferri, and Granja de Rocamora. They originated from Roquemaure on the Rhone, and their ancestor, the Sieur de Roquemaure, was a nephew of Louis VIII.Of course, I added roance, swordplay, and court intrigues against a background of fear of the Inquisition.
I also agree college should be available to all who qualify, but it is not necessary for all to attend. We would be better off with more artisans who can think criticially, enjoy fine arts, and take pride in their work than uncreative academic memorizers with degrees who lack those qualities and interests and supply the worst class of people aside from rentiers and certain lawyers– middle management and humance resources personnel.
