Free Republic

In a land flowing with milk and honey, what kinds of food made up the ancient Jewish diet? What did people eat and drink in Roman Palestine? Susan Weingarten guides readers through a menu of the first millennium C.E. in her article "Biblical Archaeology 101: The Ancient Diet of Roman Palestine," published in the March/April 2019 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Although it is difficult to reconstruct the diet of the average person in Palestine during the Roman and Late Antique periods, Weingarten, as both a food historian and an archaeologist, is well equipped for the task. Using archaeological remains...

Oh, we’re back to Nazi references again. Last week, NPR’s Maria Hinojosa compared federal law enforcement officers to the Gestapo because they were doing their jobs. Hinojosa was on MSNBC with Ali Velshi to comment on President Trump “s**thole countries” remark that sent left wing America into full-blown meltdown mode last week. It became another angle to call Trump a racist. Even though one can argue quite convincingly that Somalia, one of the countries Trump listed in his executive order on immigration (aka the “Muslim ban”), is indeed a hellhole. Until Americans, especially liberals go to vacation in Somalia, South...

The BBC has been accused of bowing to political correctness after it emerged that it was discouraging the use of the terms BC and AD for fear of offending non-Christians. The Corporation's religion website states that it opts for the "religiously neutral" Common Era and Before Common Era, rather than Anno Domini (the year of Our Lord) and Before Christ. It goes on: "As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians." But critics said the changes were meaningless because, just like AD and BC, the alternative terms...

If I write a date as 44 BC or 476 AD, you immediately know to what years I am referring. I would guess that just about anyone junior high age or older in the U.S., Canada, or anywhere in Europe would also immediately recognize that one of those dates is 2055 years ago, and the other is 1535 years ago. (Okay, some of you had to pull out a calculator first.) You all know that BC means “Before Christ,” and many of you may even remember that AD is an abbreviation for the Latin Anno Domini: in the year...

Political Correctness Takes a Hit in Kentucky Schools School Board Retains Traditional Historic Designations B.C. and A.D. By Jim Brown and Jody Brown June 15, 2006 (AgapePress) - A conservative advocacy group is praising the Kentucky state school board for refusing to add the secular terms "Common Era" and "Before the Common Era" to school curriculum. The board has voted 10-0 to continue using the designations "B.C." and "A.D." to mark historical dates in textbooks and tests. The unanimous vote overturns an April decision in which the board proposed changing the acronyms to "C.E." and "B.C.E." Since that decision was...

4/18/2006 - VIEUX FORT, Saint Lucia (AFPN) -- A C-17 Globemaster III aircrew flew civil engineers to this tropical isle as part of ongoing support for the war on drugs. The mission also provided an opportunity for the aircrew to maintain their proficiency. The transport started its circuitous mission April 7 at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., with a mixed Reserve and active-duty aircrew. “We go everywhere to support the Air Force mission,” said Maj. Mike Phillips, a Reserve pilot with the 300th Airlift Squadron. “We like to support as many active-duty and Reserve units as possible.” The squadron aircrew...

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Leading PC and consumer electronics companies announced they are developing a specification for a next-generation PC digital display interface that is also compatible with high-definition TV signals. Penned the Unified Display Interface (UDI), the standard is expected to replace the aging VGA analog standard and provide guidelines to ensure compatibility with the DVI standard. UDI will be also be compatible with HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), the standard digital interface for High Definition TVs (HDTVs) and advanced CE displays. UDI will be able to use High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology widely deployed in HDMI-compatible products today....

Transmeta teams with Windows CE .Net Chipmaker Transmeta said Wednesday it has received a key certification from Microsoft, an important step in the company's strategy to enter the embedded processor market. Transmeta chips were given the green light by Microsoft to work with the Windows CE .Net operating system. Now manufacturers that buy Transmeta's chips will be better able to develop devices based on the Windows CE operating system, the company said. Windows CE .Net, code-named Talisker and introduced in January, is used in a range of devices, from handhelds to gas pumps. Since its introduction, it has been updated...