1.
Feature Story /
TODAY'S
PUZZLE: Where is the "Fertile Crescent" located and
what is a "Temple Knight" and a
"Flagliant"?
109ChristmasCrusadersTempleKnightsFlagllants
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Part
02 -
Study Casts Doubt on Europeans' Ancestral Link
to the Holy Land - the "Fertile Crescent" and
"Christmas" •
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Europeans are most closely related to the
Stone Age hunter-gatherers who arrived on the
continent 40,000 years ago, says recent report,
stimulated by the war in Iraq and Abraham's
legacygiven to all three of the major religions.
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"Was the garden of Eden located in Iraq? .
.. and did Cain really kill Ablel, then flee into
the land of Nod?
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Not too many archeologists were surprised
from the most recent reports from England, that
many adept migrants really did not came from the
Fertile Crescent who introduced agriculture to the
continent 7,500 years
ago.
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That's the conclusion of the first detailed
analysis of maternally inherited DNA extracted from
24 of the migrant farmers' skeletons.
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The study was published Friday in the
journal Science.
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"We were surprised to find close to zero"
resemblance between the early farmers' genes and
those of modern Europeans, said Peter Forster, an
archeologist at Britain's University of Cambridge
who coauthored the study.
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Although the farmers from the Middle East
transformed European culture, bringing agriculture,
distinctive pottery and advanced building
techniques, the genetic mark they left is
minuscule.
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"In the worldwide database of 35,000 modern
DNA lineages, there are fewer than 50 modern
Europeans with the farmers' DNA," Forster
said.
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The new data, however, clash with analyses
of paternally inherited DNA, derived from the Y
chromosomes of living Europeans.
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Those genetic analyses suggest that the
farmers may have contributed up to half of the
European gene pool.
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R. Alexander Bentley, an anthropologist at
Britain's Durham University, said there may be an
easy way to resolve the
conflict.
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"A simple explanation for the difference is
that indigenous hunter-gatherer females
intermarried" with early farmers, he said. Thus,
maternally inherited DNA would show a connection to
the hunter-gatherers, while paternally inherited
DNA would be linked to the farmers.
"Christmas Boycott"
Is Called Off After Retailer's Apology For Using
"Happy Holidays."
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When Wal-Mart wrote, what they thought was a
nice Christmas greeting, how did they know that
Christmas resulted from traditions around the
world, such as Siberian shamanism and Visigoth
calendars.
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"Santa was borrowed from the
[Caucasus], mistletoe from the Celts, yule
log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and
the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide
wide world," Kirby wrote.
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AP news reported from Little Rock, Arkansas
that: Roman Catholic civil rights group called off
a boycott of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Friday,
the12th, -- after the world's largest retailer
apologized for an employee's e-mail that called
Christmas a mix of world religions.
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Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the
e-mail -- sent without review by other employees --
did not represent Wal-Mart's
policies.
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"This is a sweet victory for the Catholic
League, Christians in general and people of all
faiths," said Bill Donohue, president of the
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in
a statement on the group's website.
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Wal-Mart said Thursday that a customer
service employee named Kirby had written an
inappropriate e-mail to a woman who complained that
the retailer had replaced a "Merry Christmas"
greeting with "happy holidays." The company, based
in Bentonville, Ark., also said Kirby no longer
worked for Wal-Mart.
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He said employees would continue to wish
people "happy holidays" because the greeting was
more inclusive.
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Donohue of the Catholic League said the
practice, although "dumb," was never part of his
group's complaint.
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"We only trigger boycotts when we've been
grossly offended," he said.
03.
The
Church and The Crusaders -
The year was 1095
CE, William the Conqueror had united England under
one crown 30 years earlier. The French had been
dividing properties amongst their sons for
generations, causing bloodshed between brothers
over small pieces of real estate. In reaction, Pope
Urban II expanded "The Truce of God", which
outlawed fighting from Sunday to Wednesday, and
banned fighting involving priests, monks, women,
laborers and merchants on any day of the week.
Italy was a collection of city-states, constantly
being overrun by invading hordes, the latest of
which were the Normans, who had just started to
become "civilized". MORE
STORY
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4.
Related
Stories
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Several
years ago, October 22, 2002, a French scholar
reported that he had discovered what may be the
earliest archeological evidence of Jesus a
1,940-year-old limestone burial box bearing the
inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus. Was
this a scam true or
false?. MORE
STORY
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TeleComunication Study - Regulatory Frequency
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