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Ursus

Plebes
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Everything posted by Ursus

  1. Well, I would hope we have more than a mere 12 members interested. Nonetheless ... yes. Unless there is a major turn in the polls, it appears there will be two regional meetings in 2007. The two camps can begin making plans independently of each other.
  2. Amazingly enough, there is an entire subfolder at UNRV devoted to Latin. I shall move this thread there to point the way.
  3. Ursus

    Crazy Calvin

    Hail to Zeus. Justice was done.
  4. There have been essentially two proposals for the 2007 American meet. 1) A national meeting in Las Vegas for gambling, night life and excursions to California 2) Two regional meetings. The West centered around Vegas, The East centered around either NYC or DC or some point in between When choosing take into account how far you would be willing to travel and what your favorite locale is.
  5. I haven't had much time to research further areas. Perhaps later this month. However it needs to be decided here and now whether 1) There is is to be one national meeting or 2) There are to be two regional meetings, one centered out West by LV and the other in the East somewhere between NYC and DC. If the latter option is chosen then Westerners and Easterners can begin making their own plans independently of each other.
  6. Whoever wrote it, I give them kudos.
  7. Oh, I don't know ..... if I were the plaything of one of the blonde models, I would learn to live with it.
  8. Well, at least no one has said they wish to overthrow the moderating regime of UNRV.
  9. There is only one oath required by the Constitution of the United States - that which is uttered by the President-elect upon taking office. And that oath makes no mention of any deity. I therefore don't understand why school children are forced to take an oath with a religious component. If one must take an oath of loyalty to one's government, so be it. But if that oath of loyalty demands with it adherence to a particular religion, then there will be problems. Really, the whole thing is laced with irony. We've come full circle from the days of Ancient Rome when the imperial government forced its subjects to light incense to the emperor as a sign of loyalty, and the Christians objected to it on religious grounds. Now that the shoe is on the other foot ....
  10. The Federation of the Star Trek universe. I never saw a bunch of boorish, politically correct pansies. The Romulans should conquer them.
  11. Happy Birthday, my friend. May fortune favor you and yours.
  12. While Californian students can be obnoxious in flaunting their trendy views, the kid was right about one thing: "under god" was inserted during the Red Scare of the '50's as a public loyalty test against godless Communism. Some consider it offensive. At the very least, it is outdated. The principle enemy these days is not godless communists, but people who believe in their god so much they will kill you if you don't trim your beard in strict observance of their religious law.
  13. The Roman male third name was sometimes taken after animals. I decided on "bear" because it's kind of a family totem.
  14. That is my poor attempt to portray Russian in phoenetic English. Anyway, happy 18th to Lacertus.
  15. For whatever country they called home, and for whatever cause they called just, hail to those who performed martial service.
  16. I didn't vote. Neither of the two major parties in my state offered candidates for whom I could vote. In fact, the Senate race between Santorum and Casey made me sick.
  17. The Mediterranean was a melting pot and a lot of different cultures were interacting. Cultures often adopted the gods of their neighbors, albeit with some cultural modifications (or cultural distortions, depending on your perspective).
  18. Geeks like me all too often focus on the historical and academic side of things, neglecting the personal. Your blog is a good reminder that religion is a living and breathing affirmation of one's relation to the divine.
  19. Actually, yes. The origins of Hellenic religion are manifold. At least three strands are observed: 1) The Minoan-Myceanean proto-Hellenic religion 2) The Indo-European 3) Near Eastern/West Asian For instance, Zeus is a god that has undeniable linguistic roots in the Indo-European religion. However, there is some kind of Zeus in the Minoan religion. Furthermore, his mythological and cultic persona seems to have much in common with Near Eastern/West Asian wheather deities and was probably influenced by them. As another example, Aphrodite is a much re-worked version of the Punic Ishtar-Astarte
  20. Isn't barbarism precisely the point of the death penalty? Either murder criminals publically and violently to send a message, or don't kill them at all. Humane execution is a ludicrous concept.
  21. Religion aside though, I have to say I admire Constantine. He had the vision and the strength to take the empire to new directions. Granted those of us from the old school disagree about the direction it took, but nonetheless he was a most capable individual.
  22. I think it's simply a function of the fact the vast majority of us here are native English speakers, with the largest group of non-Americans being actually British. I am sure if we had more French, Spaniards and Italians here things would be different. And I personally feel Roman culture didn't rub off on Ye Olde Brits sufficiently to survive the Germanic occupation. But what is interesting to me about Roman Britain is how the natives retained a large degree of their cultural identity under Roman dominion - the hybrid of local and imperial culture often referred to as Romano-Celt.
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