Nephele

No, I haven't. I know that Primus Pilus went through a veritable circus trying to get his own stuff removed from Wikipedia for a long time. If you know whom to contact and if you'd care to PM me the info, I'd be most appreciative. -- Nephele No, sorry. I just clicked on some of the Wikipaedia's hotlinks. PP will surely be able to guide you within these issues. My guess would be that, even if legal actions were not a practical option, you can always create an account for editing the relevant article(s) and/or to link them to UNRV (but again, this is only a guess). I think this is a most interesting topic for many of us that may well deserve its own thread, so we may be able to check on the contributions of other UNRV members. After making several polite inquiries at Wikipedia, I am pleased to say that the matter (regarding content taken from one of my UNRV articles and not being credited to me) has been resolved amicably. The person responsible for editing the Wiki article titled "Praenomen" has not only credited me for the information taken from my UNRV article, but has also included a link to my article here at UNRV. I think Sylla had a good idea to suggest that the subject of UNRV content being found uncredited at Wikipedia is a topic that deserves its own thread. So I'm posting this, for anyone else here who may come across a Wiki article that clearly includes uncredited information from a UNRV article. Just post here whatever it is that you found, if you wish to bring it to the attention of any UNRV article author. I think, in most cases, such issues with Wiki can be resolved amicably. At least, my own issue was. -- Nephele

Are you going to perform this on YouTube? -- Nephele

I should think that the gods would be well appeased with a drop of Smirnoff. I'll also put in a good word for Ohio with my sisters, the Nephelai. -- Nephele

Was she completely topless? Because, if she was, that is so hippie. I must, must, must anagram a hippie name for her, so that she may no longer be anonymous. Vienna's Jersey Girl = Jenysis RiverAngel -- Nephele

Nah, just one. VTC, I propose a name for your band that incorporates Australian pride, drinking, and Latin, all in a single word: Salutaria Salutaria comes from the Latin phrase bibere salutaria, ("to drink one's health"). So "Salutaria!" might be construed as a Latin equivalent of "Cheers!" The phrase bibere salutaria appears in The Golden Ass by Lucius Appuleius. It's the part where Thelyphron has just entertained some dinner guests with his tale of how he lost his nose and ears due to witchcraft. All present laugh heartily and drink to his health. (But of course. What could be funnier when you're already drunk, than to hear a story about supernatural mutilation?) And, as if you Aussies didn't already have enough reason to be proud of your drinking stamina... "Salutaria" is an anagram of "Australia." -- Nephele

Can't get enough of those Broadswordway Musicals... Ursus, your new avatar is hawt. -- Nephele

Welcome aboard! -- Nephele

Aw... Marcus Silanus, you and Northern Neil and all our other members of rainy Britannia have my heartfelt sympathy. But I'm afraid that you must come up with your own ideas for observing (and adapting) the Neptunalia this coming Thursday. Come on -- be creative! Thursday must not go by without marking the Neptunalia in some way or another! -- Nephele

Caldrail, just a suggestion. Library computer techs are often magicians at retreiving lost data. You might want to find out who the tech is at the public library that you frequent, and see if you can arrange some private deal with him to have a look at your computer for you. My own tech man works wonders at fixing virus-afflicted computers, and retrieving data one would think might be irretrieveably lost. Anyway, good luck to you. I know how much something like this sucks when it happens to you. -- Nephele

This Thursday (July 23rd, and 10 days before the Kalends of Sextilis), I wish a joyous Neptunalia to all! Some ideas... To avert the heat and drought often brought by this summer month of Quintilis, we may propitiate the deities of water and springs. As you take a cooling shower, give praise to the god Neptunus and his lady consort Salacia. If you have access to the seashore to escape the summer heat, do your propitiation at the beach. Or just chill out at home with a cold beer and a toast to Neptunus and Salacia. Also on this day, the Romans would build small outdoor huts, and cover them with the foliage of trees as shelter from the harsh light and heat of the sun. But you can use your patio umbrella as your Neptunalia "hut." So relax and dine (Roman style!) outdoors in the shade of your patio umbrella "hut," in observance of this festival. And don't forget the beer. Any one else have suggestions for a modern-day observance of this holiday? -- Nephele

So sorry to hear about your loss, Caldrail. And it truly is a loss, when one's computer dies, taking with it all of one's precious documents, photos, etc. At least when a relative dies, one sometimes gets an inheritance. -- Nephele

Well done, Klingan! Is this your first review? Looking forward to your further contributions! Cheers! -- Nephele

Mmmm! Charcoal grilling can't be beat! Did you catch those fish yourself, Viggen? Do you guys over in Austria ever roast corn on the cob? -- Nephele

I admit that I didn't watch the entire video either, MS. In fact, I didn't go much further than the bit where Mark Kleiman of U.C.L.A. takes author Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) to task for "ignoring" polytheism: "That seems to me to be a more grown-up set of beliefs." Regardless of whether it's monotheism or polytheism, hearing either one compared to the other as being "a more grown-up set of beliefs" just makes me giggle. -- Nephele

To me, a debate over which is "ethically superior": monotheism or polytheism?, is like a debate over which tastes better: Coke or Pepsi? -- Nephele Who thinks that both Coke and Pepsi taste like Satan's jizz.

Brilliant, as all your artwork, Albert! Do you ever do any female historical figures? -- Nephele

"Clodius" is a spelling and pronunciation variation of "Claudius," same as "Plotius" is a variation of "Plautius," and "Coelius" of "Caelius." I believe P. Clodius' styling of himself as such was a matter of personal preference, and there were other Clodii, as well. His name, following his adoption into the plebeian Fonteii, should have been P. Fonteius Clodianus (or Claudianus). But towards the end of the Republic, Romans didn't always follow the traditional naming rules. I believe you may have that the wrong way around -- that would have been a Claudius/Clodius adopted into the family of the Cornelii Lentuli. Again, I believe it's just a name variation, and a matter of preference. M

Ah, I thought I'd posted about Zainab Salbi's book before on this site, and so I had, in the What's the last book you read? thread back in 2007. I'll repost Salbi's quote from her book, describing what Saddam Hussein did to the Babylon archaeological site: He [saddam Hussein] spent three years rebuilding King Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He was really excited about this latest of his construction projects and couldn't wait to show it to us... I had been to many historical sites, from Athens to Rio. I understood something of the importance of preserving history. I knew that the beauty of a historic site is in its age, in the accidental grace with which stones cling precariously to ruins, in the texture and even the smell of the ancient bricks. But this city was entirely new. In his determination to one-up Nebuchadnezzar, [saddam Hussein] had destroyed the ancient ruins. As Mama and I walked through and realized what he had done, we didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On top of the ancient bricks, which had a historic inscription on them saying "Built in the Time of Nebuchadnezzar," he had cemented thousands upon thousands of bright new yellow bricks inscribed "Built in the Time of Saddam Hussein." Virgil61, your pictures further illustrate Salbi's words above. Absolutely agreed. The U.N. cultural agency is well and truly late in its blusterings "to make Babylon a World Heritage site and prevent similar vandalism in future wars." Where were they when Saddam was having free rein with destroying not only the Babylon site, but other archaelogical sites throughout Iraq? -- Nephele

Ditto -- welcome back! -- Nephele

Formosus Viriustus, I have sent your last two postings in this thread to Tartarus. Debate the topic, not the people discussing it. Don't highjack topics to air your personal grievances. If you have a problem with moderation, you are welcome to take it in private message to any of the Board Administrators. You know who they are. -- Nephele

Alas, our Flavia Gemina hasn't been around here for awhile, but I passed along UNRV's acknowledgement of her award and congratulations to her. Caroline says: "Thanks! It was wonderful to win my first and only award." May she win many more awards, as the lady is truly deserving. -- Nephele

GPM, try WorldCat.org to find a library near you that has the book, that maybe you can borrow and read for free. Nice book review, Formosus. -- Nephele

That absolutely sucks, but Iraq's archaeological sites have sadly been taking a beating for a long time. Zainab Salbi, eyewitness survivor of Saddam Hussein's reign, author of Between Two Worlds, and founder of Women for Women International, tells in her book of one incident where Saddam Hussein had ordered that an archaeological site be taken apart, brick by brick. And then Saddam had it rebuilt with new bricks -- with his own name stamped into each brick. Insane. It's been a couple of years since I read Zainab Salbi's book, but if I can find it in my public library tomorrow, I'll see if I can dig out that excerpt. -- Nephele

I can't make out the scene in the lower part. Are those cattle being attacked by lions? -- Nephele

Just about anything you find at UNRV is going to be better than (ugh) Wikipedia. And for an exceptionally well-written article on the Ara Pacis, I refer you to the March 2007 award-winning essay by UNRV member The Augusta: Laying New Foundations: How Augustan Propaganda Attempted to Reshape the Roman Past -- Nephele