Ancient Near East

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Houghing and uh-oh-ing

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The lanky surgeon leaned back on his stool. His feet touched the floor. His head touched the wall. Thus elongated, he grimaced, then pronounced, "it's avulsed." 

"Avulsed," of course, is doctorspeak for "you ripped that sucker clean off the bone."

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The Woman who would be King (apologies to R. K.)

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The Woman who would be King (apologies to R. K.)

For reasons I cannot fathom, people delight in scaring themselves on Halloween. It is bewildering. If I ever felt the need to recalibrate my terror-o-meter, I would simply drive to the local grocery store. Life in Central Florida is surreal enough.

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She was a Man-Eater

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She was a Man-Eater

I might as well be hunting SheSquatch. Queen Shamiram of Assyria is nimble and elusive, yet enormously powerful. Like her sisters of blood-legend, Zenobia, Jezebel, or Cleopatra, it is hard to know where truth ends and fiction begins.