DNA Claims That The Majority of Japanese have Chinese Origins

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The origins of the Japanese people is not entirely clear yet. It is common for Japanese people to think that Japan is not part of Asia since it is an island, cut off from the continent. This tells a lot about how they see themselves in relation to their neighbours. But in spite of what the Japanese may think of themselves, they do not have extraterrestrial origins, and are indeed related to several peoples in Asia.

During the last Ice Age, which ended approximately 15,000 years ago, Japan was connected to the continent through several land bridges, notably one linking the Ryukyu Islands to Taiwan and Kyushu, one linking Kyushu to the Korean peninsula, and another one connecting Hokkaido to Sakhalin and the Siberian mainland. In fact, the Philippines and Indonesia were also connected to the Asian mainland. This allowed migrations from China and Austronesia towards Japan, about 35,000 years ago. These were the ancestors of the modern Ryukyuans (Okinawans), and the first inhabitants of all Japan.

The Ainu came from Siberia and settled in Hokkaido and Honshu some 15,000 years ago, just before the water levels started rising again. Nowadays the Ryukuyans, the Ainus and the Japanese are considered three ethnically separate groups.

54% of Japanese men belong to haplogroup O, and more precisely to the subgroups O3 and O2b. Both of them could be of Han Chinese or Korean origin. A negligible percentage of the Japanese are O1 or O2a, two lineages that trace their roots among southern Chinese or south-east Asian people.

Y-DNA haplogroup D2, making up 36% of the Japanese male lineages, is interesting because it is only found in Japan. Its closest relatives are scattered around very specific regions of Asia : the Andaman Islands (between India and Myanmar), Indonesia (only a small minority), Southwest China (mostly among the Qiang ethnic group), Mongolia (also a small minority) and Tibet. Haplogroup D is thought to have originated in East Africa some 50,000 years before present. The first carriers of the gene would have migrated along the coasts of the Indian Ocean, through Indonesia, and gone up to Japan, South-East Siberia, then moved inland to Mongolia, with the last part of the group continuing as far as Tibet. However, whereas the Japanese belong to haplogroup D2, Tibetans are part of the completely separate D3a, the Qiang of D1, and the Andaman Islanders of D*. It means that their most recent common ancestors goes back tens of thousands of years. In other words the genetic gap between these ethnic groups is immense, despite false appearances of belonging to a common haplogroup

The 3% of haplogroups N may be of Siberian or Chinese origin. Haplogroup C3, representing also 3% of the population, is typical of the Mongols and Siberians. It might have come with the Ainu through Sakhalin island and Hokkaido, or along with the Yayoi farmers from Korea. C3 is indeed found at both extremities of the country but is rare in central Japan, suggesting two separate entries.

In conclusion, approximately 43% modern Japanese men carry a Y-chromosome of Jomon origin. The highest proportions of Y-DNA haplogroup C and D is found in northern Japan (over 60%) and the lowest in Western Japan (25%). This is concordant with the history of Japan; the Yayoi people of Sino-Korean origins having settled first and most heavily in Kyushu and Chūgoku, in Western Japan.

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Iraq: Can ancient Babylon be rescued?

By Christopher Torchia and Ammar Al-Musawi

BABYLON, Iraq — It was one of the world's first, greatest cities — a place where astronomers mapped the stars millennia ago and kings created an early code of law and planted what became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Yet little remains of the ancient capital, as seen by The Associated Press during a trip to Babylon last month on one of the few permits issued by Iraq's government since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The site has the aura of a theme park touched by the ambition of dictator Saddam Hussein and the opportunism of looters: Modern walkways run beside crumbling old walls, a reconstructed Greek theater and a palace built for Saddam atop an artificial hill.

Now, for the first time, global institutions led by the U.N. are thoroughly documenting the damage and how to fix it. A UNESCO report due out early next year will cite Saddam's construction but focus, at the Iraqi government's request, on damage done by U.S. forces from April to September 2003, and the Polish troops deployed there for more than a year afterward.

The U.S., which turned Babylon into a military base, says the looting would have been worse but for the troops' presence. The U.S. also says it will help rehabilitate Babylon, funding an effort by the World Monuments Fund and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, but has yet to release precise funding figures.

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Koreans Claims on Invention of Chinese Written Language

Quate from the newsgroup soc.culture.china .I think this is the longest discussion thread I have ever seen, there is roughly 400
replies until today.

The so-called Chinese character was probably invented and
developed by Korean, although the populous Chinese also have used it as
their basic writing systems. I believe the number of population of any
ethnic group should not be a factor that obscures the origin. I explain some
evidences.

1. The original pictographs called 'gab-gol' (bone and shell) or 'bok-sa' in
Korean were certainly invented during the Yin dynasty (or Shang state, BC
1600~BC 1046), although it is uncertain who was the inventor. There is no
dispute regarding this matter between Korean and Chinese historians. There
are ample recent evidences that the dominant people of the Yin dynasty was
Korean, which some Chinese historians also acknowledge.

2. Among countries that adopted Chinese character, only Koreans use exactly
one syllable for one character. Chinese or Japanese used one or more
syllables for one character. A good example is the sounds denoting the
numbers. Only Koreans use just one syllable for one number. So, it is very
easy for Koreans to say any complex numbers quickly.

For another example, the sound for 'white' in Chinese character in 'baek'
(one syllable) in Korean but 'bai' (two syllable) in Chinese. Regarding the
character denoting 'head', it is 'doo' in Korean but 'tou' in Chinese. On
the other hand, it is the same for the character denoting 'mountain' -
'shan' in both Korean and Chinese.

Why have Koreans used only one syllable for one character, but Chinese one
or more syllables? It certainly shows that Chinese pronunciation system is a
variant from Korean counterpart.

3. Some basic pictographs reflect Korean life-style and customs.

For example, the character denoting 'house' (ga in Korean) contains a
character denoting a pig (hog) in the lower part. In the house, people live,
not a pig live. Why did they adopt a pig to denote a house? Only Koreans
raised pigs within their house.

Another example is the character denoting 'sun'. The character contains a
dot within a rectangle. Why did they contain the dot, seemingly
unnecessarily? The dot denotes a golden crow. Only Koreans had the legend
linking the sun to the golden crow.

Additional example is the character denoting 'surname' (ssi in Korean). In
Chinese, the character denotes only 'surname' while it denotes both
'surname' and 'seed' in Korean. 'Ssi' is a most common word in Korean and
compares the pedigree with the tree (i.e., the seed is a common symbol for
the original ancestor whose trace has been handed down by his surname).

4. Korean history book describes the origin of written systems, which is
inscribed in dolmens in Korea.

A Korean history book called Chun-bu-gyung records the origin of both
current Chinese character and Korean alphabet (hangul). Chinese character is
a kind of pictograph + ideograph, while hangul is the most advanced of
phonogram + ideogram in the world. Bone and shell inscriptions were a
pictograph, while hexagrams of I-ching invented by Fu Xi (Bokhwi in Korean)
are a kind of ideogram. The original character for both Chinese character
and hangul was 'Nok-doo-mun' (the most ancient writing system), according to
the Chun-bu-gyung. Currently, only Koreans still play a game called 'Yout',
which is believed to be very similar to the 'Nok-doo-mun'. The principles of
Yout game are essentially the same as I-Ching. Moreover, in Korea and
Manchuria, currently there are many ancient rocks (dolmen) in which various
kinds of primitive writings are inscribed (see some pictures at
http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~kbyon/culture/rokdo.htm)

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Mysterious Bird Cryptid Ruffles Feathers in Iran

Is it a bird or something else? The creature, which was discovered near Meshginshahr in Iran is reportedly bipedal, quickly decaying, and nothing like any of the other creatures ever discovered in the area - or anywhere else on Earth. Not only is the creature bipedal, it has massive teeth with fangs unlike anything we've seen flying through the air - at least not for several million years. Is this a survivor of the cretaceous period that somehow met its end recently in Iran? Or is this something completely different?

How could a creature that so clearly is very different from anything we've seen before survive near densely populated areas? And are there more of this species elsewhere in Iran? The creature, which was first reported by IRNA on Sunday had a long snout (or beak), feathers, and what appear to be two bird-like legs. But ornithologists looking into the case are saying those three things don't go together. Currently the incident is being investigated by the Iranian Environmental Protection Organization.

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Koreans Claims Legendary Chinese Warlord Cao Cao as Korean

As you may have heard, the tomb of legendary Eastern Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao (155-220 AD) was recently claimed to have been discovered. It was said that he had 72 fake tombs to hide his true tomb and there is still some controversy that this tomb is really Cao Cao’s tomb.

As expected! Cao Cao ultimately becomes Korean si mi da
Following the discovery of Cao Cao’s tomb, enthusiasm over exploring the mysteries of Cao Cao’s tomb instantly rose up on the internet. With everyone discussing the discovery of the tomb to the grave robbers to the items and concubines buried with Cao Cao, and from these items exorbitant value to investigating the DNA of the remains, it can be said that the enthusiasm has become increasingly higher. Yesterday, a discussion forum shockingly reported some controversial news that people cannot help but be indignant. Let us take a look…

News from the 《大韩民报》 ["Da Han Min Bao"], Korea’s Ewha Womans University professor Zheng, while refuting that Cao Cao’s tomb is in Anyang [Henan] and following a discovery from Professor Zheng’s decades of research on Chinese and Korean history, said that the famously fierce Cao Cao from the late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty was actually Korean

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5 Curses You Probably Want to Stay Away From

1. The Madden Curse

As a pro football player, not only are you making ridiculous amounts of money for playing, but you also have a chance at scoring some serious endorsement money. However, you might want to reconsider if offered a deal as the new face of the Madden video game, considering the track record of your predecessors:

2000-Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions—Sanders didn’t play a single down during the 1999-2000 season (or ever again), retiring after a ten year career.

2000-Dorsey Levens, Green Bay Packers—Later copies of the game to featured Levens, who was bothered by a bad knee in the following season, leading to reduction to a reserve player (aka benchwarmer). He was fired in 2001.

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Did Japanese Originated From Koreans ?

During the Ice Ages, land bridges connected Japan's main islands to one another and to the mainland, allowing mammals ― including humans ― to arrive on foot. Archeologists have proposed four conflicting theories. Most popular in Japan is the view that the Japanese gradually evolved from ancient Ice Age people who occupied Japan long before 20,000 B.C. Also widespread in Japan is a theory that the Japanese descended from horse-riding Asian nomads who passed through Korea to conquer Japan in the fourth century, but who were themselves ― emphatically ― not Koreans. A theory favored by many Western archeologists and Koreans, and unpopular in some circles in Japan, is that the Japanese are descendants of immigrants from Korea who arrived with rice-paddy agriculture around 400 B.C. Finally, the fourth theory holds that the peoples named in the other three theories could have mixed to form the modern Japanese.

Why do they care so much? Unlike most other non-European countries, Japan preserved its independence and culture while emerging from isolation to create an industrialized society in the late nineteenth century. It was a remarkable achievement. Now the Japanese people are understandably concerned about maintaining their traditions in the face of massive Western cultural influences. They want to believe that their distinctive language and culture required uniquely complex developmental processes. To acknowledge a relationship of the Japanese language to any other language seems to constitute a surrender of cultural identity.

What makes it especially difficult to discuss Japanese archeology dispassionately is that Japanese interpretations of the past affect present behavior. Who among East Asian peoples brought culture to whom? Who has historical claims to whose land? These are not just academic questions. For instance, there is much archeological evidence that people and material objects passed between Japan and Korea in the period A.D. 300 to 700. Japanese interpret this to mean that Japan conquered Korea and brought Korean slaves and artisans to Japan; Koreans believe instead that Korea conquered Japan and that the founders of the Japanese imperial family were Korean.

Thus, when Japan sent troops to Korea and annexed it in 1910, Japanese military leaders celebrated the annexation as “the restoration of the legitimate arrangement of antiquity.” For the next 35 years, Japanese occupation forces tried to eradicate Korean culture and to replace the Korean language with Japanese in schools. The effort was a consequence of a centuries-old attitude of disdain. “Nose tombs” in Japan still contain 20,000 noses severed from Koreans and brought home as trophies of a sixteenth-century Japanese invasion. Not surprisingly, many Koreans loathe the Japanese, and their loathing is returned with contempt.

What really was “the legitimate arrangement of antiquity”? Today, Japan and Korea are both economic powerhouses, facing each other across the Korea Strait and viewing each other through colored lenses of false myths and past atrocities. It bodes ill for the future of East Asia if these two great peoples cannot find common ground. To do so, they will need a correct understanding of who the Japanese people really are.

Since languages change over time, the more similar two languages are, the more recently they must have diverged. By counting common words and features, linguists can estimate how long ago languages diverged, and such estimates suggest that Japanese and Korean parted company at least 4,000 years ago. As for the Ainu language, its origins are thoroughly in doubt; it may not have any special relationship to Japanese. After genes and language, a third type of evidence about Japanese origins comes from ancient portraits. The earliest preserved likenesses of Japan's inhabitants are statues called haniwa, erected outside tombs around 1,500 years ago. Those statues unmistakably depict East Asians. They do not resemble the heavily bearded Ainu. If the Japanese did replace the Ainu in Japan south of Hokkaido, that replacement must have occurred before A.D. 500.

Our earliest written information about Japan comes from Chinese chronicles, because China developed literacy long before Korea or Japan. In early Chinese accounts of various peoples referred to as “Eastern Barbarians", Japan is described under the name Wa, whose inhabitants were said to be divided into more than a hundred quarreling states. Only a few Korean or Japanese inscriptions before A.D. 700 have been preserved, but extensive chronicles were written in 712 and 720 in Japan and later in Korea. Those reveal massive transmission of culture to Japan from Korea itself, and from China via Korea. The chronicles are also full of accounts of Koreans in Japan and of Japanese in Korea ｡X interpreted by Japanese or Korean historians, respectively, as evidence of Japanese conquest of Korea or the reverse.

To understand the answer to this paradox, we have to remember that until 400 B.C., the Korea Strait separated not rich farmers from poor hunter-gatherers, but poor farmers from rich hunter-gatherers. China itself and Jomon Japan were probably not in direct contact. Instead Japan's trade contacts, such as they were, involved Korea. But rice had been domesticated in warm southern China and spread only slowly northward to much cooler Korea, because it took a long time to develop cold-resistant strains of rice. Early rice agriculture in Korea used dry-field methods rather than irrigated paddies and was not particularly productive. Hence early Korean agriculture could not compete with Jomon hunting and gathering. Jomon people themselves would have seen no advantage in adopting Korean agriculture, insofar as they were aware of its existence, and poor Korean farmers had no advantages that would let them force their way into Japan. As we shall see, the advantages finally reversed suddenly and dramatically.

More than 10,000 years after the invention of pottery and the subsequent Jomon population explosion, a second decisive event in Japanese history triggered a second population explosion. Around 400 B.C., a new lifestyle arrived from South Korea. This second transition poses in acute form our question about who the Japanese are. Does the transition mark the replacement of Jomon people with immigrants from Korea, ancestral to the modern Japanese? Or did Japan's original Jomon inhabitants continue to occupy Japan while learning valuable new tricks?

Which of the three theories is correct for Japan? The only direct way to answer this question is to compare Jomon and Yayoi skeletons and genes with those of modern Japanese and Ainu. Measurements have now been made of many skeletons. In addition, within the last three years molecular geneticists have begun to extract DNA from ancient human skeletons and compare the genes of Japan's ancient and modern populations. Jomon and Yayoi skeletons, researchers find, are on the average readily distinguishable. Jomon people tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more wide-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography, with strikingly raised browridges, noses, and nose bridges. Yayoi people averaged an inch or two taller, with close-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat browridges and noses. Some skeletons of the Yayoi period were still Jomon-like in appearance, but that is to be expected by almost any theory of the Jomon-Yayoi transition. By the time of the kofun period, all Japanese skeletons except those of the Ainu form a homogeneous group, resembling modern Japanese and Koreans.

In all these respects, Jomon skulls differ from those of modern Japanese and are most similar to those of modern Ainu, while Yayoi skulls most resemble those of modern Japanese. Similarly, geneticists attempting to calculate the relative contributions of Korean-like Yayoi genes and Ainu-like Jomon genes to the modern Japanese gene pool have concluded that the Yayoi contribution was generally dominant. Thus, immigrants from Korea really did make a big contribution to the modern Japanese, though we cannot yet say whether that was because of massive immigration or else modest immigration amplified by a high rate of population increase. Genetic studies of the past three years have also at last resolved the controversy about the origins of the Ainu: they are the descendants of Japan's ancient Jomon inhabitants, mixed with Korean genes of Yayoi colonists and of the modern Japanese.

Given the overwhelming advantage that rice agriculture gave Korean farmers, one has to wonder why the farmers achieved victory over Jomon hunters so suddenly, after making little headway in Japan for thousands of years. What finally tipped the balance and triggered the Yayoi transition was probably a combination of four developments: the farmers began raising rice in irrigated fields instead of in less productive dry fields; they developed rice strains that would grow well in a cool climate; their population expanded in Korea, putting pressure on Koreans to emigrate; and they invented iron tools that allowed them to mass-produce the wooden shovels, hoes, and other tools needed for rice-paddy agriculture. That iron and intensive farming reached Japan simultaneously is unlikely to have been a coincidence.

History gives the Japanese and the Koreans ample grounds for mutual distrust and contempt, so any conclusion confirming their close relationship is likely to be unpopular among both peoples. Like Arabs and Jews, Koreans and Japanese are joined by blood yet locked in traditional enmity. But enmity is mutually destructive, in East Asia as in the Middle East. As reluctant as Japanese and Koreans are to admit it, they are like twin brothers who shared their formative years. The political future of East Asia depends in large part on their success in rediscovering those ancient bonds between them.

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Remote viewing Tibetan monks see Extra Terrestrial powers saving the World from destroying itself in 2012

Remote viewing is nothing new in Tibetan monasteries. For thousands of years remote viewing in the middle of other spiritual activities have dominated Tibetan culture. What some Indian tourists came to learn from a few Tibetan monasteries under the current Chinese rule is extremely alarming and fascinating.

According to these tourists remote viewers are seeing world powers in the course of self-destruction. They also see that the world will not be destroyed. Between now and 2012 the world super powers will continue to engage in regional wars. Terrorism and covert war will be the main problem. In world politics something will happen in and around 2010. At that time the world powers will threaten to destroy each other.

Between 2010 and 2012, the whole world will get polarized and prepare for the ultimate dooms day. Heavy political maneuvers and negotiations will take place with little progress.

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Japanese Language Origins

As with all other languages, the Japanese language can be understood formally as a set of lingusitic characteristics or subjectively as a way of experiencing and ordering the world. However, unlike other languages, Japanese is unique to both linguists and to the people speaking the language. The Japanese by and large believe their language to be a highly unique language—some believe it to be unlike any other language in existence. Western linguists believe that Japanese is a language clearly related to other, Northern Asian languages, but there is a fair amount of disagreement among them. Suffice it to say that Japanese is the only human language where we can't quite decide where it came from or what other languages it's related to.

From the point of view of the Japanese, the experience of this language is based on two, widely held beliefs about the language. First, the Japanese believe that the language is somehow highly unique—almost a language unto itself. Second, the Japanese believe that their language is extremely difficult for non-Japanese to read or understand. In fact, the Japanese have a name for non-Japanese who can speak and understand the language: hen gaijin , or "crazy foreigners." So the "experience" of Japanese as a language is an exclusive experience, a sense that one is participating in a language that no others can share or penetrate.

From a Western perspective, Japanese is not an overly difficult language to learn (Chinese and Old Irish are considerably more difficult) nor is it a unique language. There, however, the agreement ends. For it's uncertain exactly what language family Japanese comes from. There are three main theories about the origin of the Japanese language among both Western and Japanese linguists:
1. Japanese is an Altaic language related to Korean, Mongolian, and Turkish.
2. Japanese is an Austronesian language related to Papuan, Malayan and other Pacific languages.
3. Japanese is a Souteast Asian language related to Vietnamese, Tibetan, Burmese or, in one school of thought, the Tamil languages of southern India and Ceylon.
Almost all linguists believe that Japanese

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Chilli pepper removed from lung after a year-long cough

A chilli pepper has been removed from the lung of a man in China's Heilongjiang province, one year after he choked on it.

Wang Yuxiang from Longjiang county visited his local hospital to treat his year-long cough, but doctors soon found the cause to be something rather unusual.

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Dog and goose become best pals

A dog and a goose have become unlikely best friends in China after the dog rescued the bird after it was hit by a car.

Yu Yanping, who owns both animals, feared the worst when he saw his pet dog carrying the limp goose into the yard of his home at Jiujiawan village in Urumchi, northwestern China.

But it turned out the goose had been only stunned and it came round after being carried to safety by Yu's pet dog in the village, part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Yu, 47, said: "I thought he would eat the goose - but instead he put him down and licked the bird until it came round - and since then the two have been inseparable.


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2012: 15 doomsday prophecies and how they turned out

Not many people working today, aside from Blofeld or maybe Lex Luthor, have hatched as many plots to destroy the world as director Roland Emmerich (certainly not on such a grand scale). In Independence Day, he used a worldwide alien assault to blast human civilization to rubble. In The Day After Tomorrow, he flooded the world and then flash-froze it like some kind of Clarence Birdseye with delusions of godhood.

Emmerich is prepping his new disaster movie 2012 for release on Friday. This time he's basing his world-smashing destruction on a bunch of theories floating around the blogosphere and the nutosphere that state that the world will end sometime during late 2012, around the time of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

So, in light of Emmerich's new plot to destroy the world, and with tinfoil hats firmly in place, we thought it'd be worthwhile to look over 15 end-of-the-world prophecies from the past 1800 years or so and see how they turned out

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Queen termites can make men king in bed, says man

A MAN involved in the pest control business has claimed eating queen termites can boost the sexual prowess for men.

Metro Ahad reported Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar as saying queen termites had special properties similar to that of viagra. He said the bug must be swallowed alive 15 minutes before the start of sexual activity for it to be effective.

'The effect is as if we are running in a marathon non-stop,' claimed the 45-year-old man, who said he started eating queen termites seven years ago.

Abdul Rahim claimed the price of a queen termite can be as high as between RM2,500 and RM5,000, depending on its size and colour.

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Did Japanese Language originated From Korea ?

Researchers studying the various dialects of Japanese have concluded that all are descended from a founding language taken to the Japanese islands about 2,200 years ago. The finding sheds new light on the origin of the Japanese people, suggesting that their language is descended from that of the rice-growing farmers who arrived in Japan from the Korean Peninsula, and not from the hunter-gatherers who first inhabited the islands some 30,000 years ago

様々な研究学者の研究結果によって、日本語の様々な方言が二千二百年程前に日本諸島に渡った言語が源という結果でした。その革命思想によれば、日本人の由来は３万年前に日本諸島に渡った狩猟採集民ではなく、朝鮮半島から渡ったという判断です。

다양한 연구 학자들의 연구 결과를 통해, 일본어의 다양한 방언이 2 천 2 백 년 전의 일본 제도에 건너온 언어가 근원이라는 결과였습니다. 그 혁명 사상에 의하면, 일본인의 유래는 3 만 년 전에 일본 제도에 건너온 수렵채집민(狩猟採集民)이 아니라 조선반도에서 건너온다는 판단입니다.

In the case of Japan, archaeologists have found evidence for two waves of migrants, a hunter-gatherer people who created the Jomon culture and wet rice farmers who left remains known as the Yayoi culture.

日本の場合、初代目来日する狩猟採集民が縄文時代を始め、次は弥生時代を始めた水稲農家でした。

일본의 경우 첫번째 일본 방문하는 수렵 채집 민이 죠몽 시대를 시작하고 다음은 야요이 시대를 시작했다 벼 농가였습니다.

Several languages seem to have been spoken on the Korean Peninsula at this time, and that of the Yayoi people is unknown. The work of two researchers at the University of Tokyo, Sean Lee and Toshikazu Hasegawa, now suggests that the origin of Japonic — the language family that includes Japanese and Ryukyuan, spoken in the Ryukyu island chain south of Japan — coincides with the arrival of the Yayoi.

その時代と同時に、朝鮮半島に様々な言語が話され、弥生時代の日常言語は不明。東京大学での研究によれば、標準日本語と琉球語を含めた日本語族が、弥生時代の到来と一致していると考えている。

그 시대 때 조선반도에 다양한 언어를 사용하고 야요이 시대의 일상 언어는 불명. 도쿄 대학의 연구에 의하면, 표준 일본어와 류큐 어를 포함한 일본어 족이 야요이 시대의 도래와 일치하고 있다고 생각하고있다.

The finding, if confirmed, indicates that the Yayoi people took Japonic to Japan, but leaves unresolved the question of where in Asia the Yayoi culture or Japonic language originated before arriving in the Korean Peninsula.

その研究結果の正確さを証明できれば、弥生人が朝鮮半島から日本諸島に日本語族をもたらしたとも判断できる。

그 연구 결과의 정확성을 입증할 수있는 경우 야요이 인이 조선반도에서 일본 제도에게 일본어 족을 제공했다고 판단할 수있다.

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The Doomsday List

Throughout history, there have been those who have predicted the Coming of the End, the Consummation of All Things, the Return of Christ, Armageddon, Ragnarok, what-have-you. The majority of these seers and prognosticators were wise enough to leave the date unspecified, presumably to avoid embarrassment when the expected event failed to materialize. Others, such as Nostradamus and Bishop Ussher, put the date far into the future, long after their corporeal bodies had returned to dust.


There are those few brave souls, however, who are willing to stick their necks out, and give us a date in the near future, when they themselves will presumably still be around to either bask in the glow of glory, or suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, should the cosmic plan go awry. It is to these, the few, the brave and most importantly, the Web-enabled that this list is dedicated.


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Angry Birds: Magpies Recognize a Face, and Attack

A researcher in South Korea going about his job collecting data on local magpie populations made a stunning discovery: The birds recognized his face, and began to dive-bomb him out of their nests, like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."

"I remember when a magpie came down from a nest tree scolding at me," study researcher Won Young Lee, a student at Seoul National University, said in a statement. "I was with a second researcher at that time, and I tried to fool the magpie by giving my cap to the other person. But this did not work! When I moved away the bird followed me rather than the fellow observer wearing my cap."

At the time of the attack Lee was taking inventory of the birds around the university campus — counting the number of birds and eggs in each nest. He had already visited some of the nests to install cameras for a separate project, and he noticed that only the birds from nests he had previously visited were aggressive specifically toward him.

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Two-headed calf shocks owner

A Chinese grandmother collapsed with shock when her cow gave birth to a two-headed calf.

Dong Yubao, 65, of Gaoyang village, northern China's Hebei Province, said his wife Li Chunhua, 60,was helping the cow give birth.

"My wife and a neighbour were in the barn to help the cow through labour," he said.

"The calf came out - heads first - and my wife fell to the floor when she saw the two heads and four eyes."

Dong said the cow had previously been a mother many times and her calves had all been healthy and normal.

"I can't understand why she produced such a weird calf this time," he added.

The calf's two heads point in almost opposite directions. Both heads have their own eyes, nose and mouth but only three ears between them.

Dong said the two-headed calf can't stand unaided so his 16-year-old granddaughter Jinfeg is bottle-feeding it with sheep milk.

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Crop circle in Sumatera Barat

This is a video of a crop circle that was reported on May 13, 2011 in Indonesia.

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Four students had hysterical seizure in school

Four Form Four students in Pahang had a hysterical seizure in school and acted strangely, reported Sinar Harian.

It happened on Tuesday when one of the female students started screaming in class and it affected students from other classes, causing panic at the school.

The school immediately cancelled classes and allowed the students to go home early.

Previously, a female teacher and two Form One students were also reported to have had an attack of hysteria.

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List of Failed Doomsday Prophecies

The Following are a List of prophecies made about Doomsday which did not come true.

1. About 30 CE: The Christian Scriptures (New Testament), when interpreted literally, appear to record many predictions by Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) that God's Kingdom would arrive within a very short period, or was actually in the process of arriving. For example, Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew 16:28: "...there shall be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." In Matthew 24:34, Yeshua is recorded as saying: "...This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Since the life expectancy in those days was little over 30 years, Jesus appears to have predicted his second coming sometime during the 1^st century CE. It didn't happen
2. About 60 CE: Interpreting the Epistles of Paul of Tarsus literally, his writings seem to imply that Jesus would return and usher in a rapture during the lifetime of persons who were living in the middle of the 1^st century
3. About 90 CE: Saint Clement 1 predicted that the world end would occur at any moment
4. 2^nd Century CE: Prophets and Prophetesses of the Montanist movement predicted that Jesus would return sometime during their lifetime and establish the New Jerusalem in the city of Pepuza in Asia Minor
5. 365 CE: A man by the name of Hilary of Poitiers, announced that the end would happen that year. It didn't.
6. 375 to 400 CE: Saint Martin of Tours, a student of Hilary, was convinced that the end would happen sometime before 400 CE
7. 500 CE: This was the first year-with-a-nice-round-number-panic. The antipope Hippolytus and an earlier Christian academic Sextus Julius Africanus had predicted Armageddon at about this year.
8. 968 CE: An eclipse was interpreted as a prelude to the end of the world by the army of the German emperor Otto III
9. 992: Good Friday coincided with the Feast of the Annunciation; this had long been believed to be the event that would bring forth the Antichrist, and thus the end-times events foretold in the book of Revelation. Records from Germany report that a new sun rose in the north and that as many as 3 suns and 3 moons were fighting. There does not appear to be independent verification of this remarkable event.
10. 1000-JAN-1: Many Christians in Europe had predicted the end of the world on this date. As the date approached, Christian armies waged war against some of the Pagan countries in Northern Europe. The motivation was to convert them all to Christianity, by force if necessary, before Christ returned in the year 1000. Meanwhile, some Christians had given their possessions to the Church in anticipation of the end. Fortunately, the level of education was so low that many citizens were unaware of the year. They did not know enough to be afraid. Otherwise, the panic might have been far worse than it was. Unfortunately, when Jesus did not appear, the church did not return the gifts. Serious criticism of the Church followed. The Church reacted by exterminating some heretics. Agitation settled down quickly, as it later did in the year 2000.
11. 1000-MAY: The body of Charlemagne was disinterred on Pentecost. A legend had arisen that an emperor would rise from his sleep to fight the Antichrist.
12. 1005-1006: A terrible famine throughout Europe was seen as a sign of the nearness of the end.
13. 1033: Some believed this to be the 1000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus. His second coming was anticipated. Jesus' actual date of execution is unknown, but is believed to be in the range of 27 to 33 CE.
14. 1147: Gerard of Poehlde decided that the millennium had actually started in 306 CE during Constantine's reign. Thus, the world end was expected in 1306 CE.
15. 1179: John of Toledo predicted the end of the world during 1186. This estimate was based on the alignment of many planets.
16. 1205: Joachim of Fiore predicted in 1190 that the Antichrist was already in the world, and that King Richard of England would defeat him. The Millennium would then begin, sometime before 1205.
17. 1284: Pope Innocent III computed this date by adding 666 years onto the date the Islam was founded
18. 1346 and later: The black plague spread across Europe, killing one third of the population. This was seen as the prelude to an immediate end of the world. Unfortunately, the Christians had previously killed a many of the cats, fearing that they might be familiars of Witches. The fewer the cats, the more the rats. It was the rat fleas that spread the black plague
19. 1496: This was approximately 1500 years after the birth of Jesus. Some mystics in the 15th century predicted that the millennium would begin during this year
20. 1524: Many astrologers predicted the imminent end of the world due to a world wide flood. They obviously had not read the Genesis story of the rainbow
21. 1533: Melchior Hoffman predicted that Jesus' return would happen a millennium and a half after the nominal date of his execution, in 1533. The New Jerusalem was expected to be established in Strasbourg, Germany. He was arrested and died in a Strasbourg jail
22. 1669: The Old Believers in Russia believed that the end of the world would occur in this year. 20 thousand burned themselves to death between 1669 and 1690 to protect themselves from the Antichrist
23. 1689: Benjamin Keach, a 17^th century Baptist, predicted the end of the world for this year
24. 1736: British theologian and mathematician William Whitson predicted a great flood similar to Noah's for OCT-13 of this year
25. 1792: This was the date of the end of the world calculated by some believers in the Shaker movement
26. 1794: Charles Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, thought Doomsday would be in this year
27. 1830: Margaret McDonald, a Christian prophetess, predicted that Robert Owen would be the Antichrist. Owen helped found New Harmony, IN
28. 1832?: Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was the founder of the Church of Christ, which became the Restorationist movement after many schisms. It now includes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- a.k.a. the Mormons, and about a hundred other denominations and sects. He heard a voice while praying. He wrote, in Doctrines and Covenants section 130
29. 1890 would pass without Jesus' return (which did come to pass).
30. 1843-MAR-21: William Miller, founder of the Millerite movement, predicted that Jesus would come on this date. A very large number of Christians accepted his prophecy
31. 1844-OCT-22: When Jesus did not return, Miller predicted this new date. In an event which is now called "The Great Disappointment," many Christians sold their property and possessions, quit their jobs and prepared themselves for the second coming. Nothing happened; the day came and went without incident
32. 1850: Ellen White, founder of the Seven Day Adventists movement, made many predictions of the timing of the end of the world. All failed. On 1850-JUN-27 she prophesied that only a few months remained before the end. She wrote: "My accompanying angel said, 'Time is almost finished. Get ready, get ready, get ready.' ...now time is almost finished...and what we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months
33. 1856 or later: At Ellen White's last prediction, she said that she was shown in a vision the fate of believers who attended the 1856 SDA conference. She wrote "I was shown the company present at the Conference. Said the angel: 'Some food for worms, some subjects of the seven last plagues, some will be alive and remain upon the earth to be translated at the coming of Jesus." ₁₁ That is, some of the attendees would die of normal diseases; some would die from plagues at the last days, others would still be alive when Jesus came. "By the early 1900s all those who attended the conference had passed away, leaving the Church with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to explain away such a prominent prophetic failure
34. 1881: Mother Shipton, (1488 - 1561), a 16th century mystic predicted the end of the world: "...The world to an end shall come; in eighteen hundred and eighty-one
35. 1891 or before: On 1835-FEB-14, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, attended a meeting of church leaders. He said that the meeting had been called because God had commanded it. He announced that Jesus would return within 56 years -- i.e. before 1891-FEB-15. (History of the Church 2:182)
36. 1914 was one of the more important estimates of the start of the war of Armageddon by the Jehovah's Witnesses (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society). They based their prophecy of 1914 from prophecy in the book of Daniel, Chapter 4. The writings referred to "seven times". The WTS interpreted each "time" as equal to 360 days, giving a total of 2520 days. This was further interpreted as representing 2520 years, measured from the starting date of 607 BCE. This gave 1914 as the target date. When 1914 passed, they changed their prediction; 1914 became the year that Jesus invisibly began his rule
37. 1919: Meteorologist Albert Porta predicted that the conjunction of 6 planets would generate a magnetic current that would cause the sun to explode and engulf the earth on DEC-17.

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Dead Alien Found in Siberia of Russia (Мертвые Allien Найдено в Сибири России )

Picture is (C) copyright to latest-ufo-sightings.net

April 20, 2011 - Irkutsk, Russia has claimed more than a few sightings of UFOs and brushes with the extraterrestrial, in fact there are many claims made each year, so it may not seem so unusual that there is yet another encounter claimed now. The remarkable aspects of this particular encounter are that the unusual alien creature was dead and that it was filmed. There has been no confirmation yet as to whether the corpse like object in the snow is, in fact, alien, puppet, or something else.


The alien body was found by two Russian men in a depression in the snow, by what appears to be uprooted tree roots. It has a humanoid shape, it has arms and legs as well as a skull shaped similarly to that of a humans though the dome of the skull appears to be longer. The skull has deep holes for both eyes and a mouth, though no immediately apparent indication of a nose. The "corpse" is missing part of its left leg and partially buried in the snow. It is approximately two feet in hight and fairly thin.


Those who believe this creature to be extra terrestrial believe that there may be some correlation between its death and a claimed UFO crash in the same area approximately a month earlier. Theories include the possibility that it died in the supposed crash, and was left behind, or that a special division of the Russian military devoted to addressing extraterrestrial related problems missed it while cleaning up the supposed UFO crash



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Hundreds of UFOs Witnessed in Beijing, China!

Last night, May 15, 2011, around 8 PM I witnessed an awesome UFO event over the city of Beijing, China. I am an American living and working here and I live on the 4th floor of an apartment complex, in the old embassy district of town. My location is just southeast of Ritan Park, next door to the Silk Market.

I was in my study for an hour or so, had finished an email, logged off and turned out the light to go into another room. As I was walking out I glanced out of the window in my study, which faces north, and saw an unusual light low in the sky. It was perhaps at 10,000 feet (maybe a bit less) and not moving.

I grabbed a pair of binoculars from another room, to get a better look and immediately knew that this was no conventional craft. It was clearly disc-shaped, was spinning and slightly swaying and flashing red, blue, green, and white. Every minute or so the red color would freeze, and a round red bulb of light would bulge from the middle of the craft and hold for a couple of seconds. Then it would draw back in and continue blinking the other colors.







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Baby born with two heads

Surgeons in China say a baby girl born with two heads cannot be separated.

Bao Qiaoying, 25, gave birth to the two-headed baby at Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Doctors at Suining Central Hospital said it was extremely rare to see a baby with two heads, and it was the first such case in China.

Bao was living in Guangdong Province as a migrant worker when she became pregnant. Her first scan found the baby to be normal.

Bao then went back to her home in Suining with her husband, Liao Guojun, to prepare for the birth of their first child.

A second scan also suggested the baby was normal but after a third scan last week, doctors told her "the fetus has two heads, and one body".

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Judgement Day on Saturday May 21, 2011

A written article , audio, and video Bible teachings which conclusively prove May 21, 2011 to be Judgment Day and The Rapture, and October 21, 2011 to be the end of the world. It is most urgent to examine yourself, whether you are saved.



Judgment Day begins and the Rapture on May 21, 2011... The end of the world on October 21, 2011... Are you crazy? You're just another one of those lunatics like Nostradamus or the Mayans who say the apocalypse will be in 2012 and all the other crazy, absurd people who have predicted dates for the end of the world throughout history only to be proven wrong each and every time. And doesn't the Bible say that no man knows the day and hour? You're just playing on the fears of people because you're some kind of a sick control freak or something.

If this is in part or completely how you feel, let me say, I can understand. There have been many end of the world date-setters in history, and they have all, to date, been proven wrong, except, of course, Noah who knew exactly when the world would end (Gen. 6:3; 7:4). But when I say that the Rapture and Judgment Day begins on May 21, 2011 after which all hope is gone, I am not saying this in at all the same vain as any other predictions ever made. In fact, I am not even including May 21, 2011 in the category of prediction, but in the realm of absolute fact. Why? Never before in all history has God brought forth from the Bible alone so much evidence and proofs that we are right at the end of the world.

"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4). And again,

"Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end" (Dan. 12:9).

Because we are now at the time of the end of the world, God, who once sealed up or hid these truths in the Bible, has now opened up our understanding like never before to those things which pertain to the end of all things.

[Click here to read full article]

Picture is (C) copyright to COMPANY

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Incredible story of how man survives being hit by lightning TWICE in remarkable CCTV footage

The chances of being struck by lightning once are high enough.

But one unfortunate man appears to have been electrocuted twice within the space of a minute by two almighty bolts of lightning.

The hapless pedestrian had been jogging along a quiet city street when CCTV captured the astonishing moment on April 11.

Shortly before the apparent freak accident a walker carrying an umbrella and a jogger had passed through the street unscathed.

They are followed later by a young couple walking arm-in-arm as they shelter from what could be light drizzle.

But the unlucky man then jogs in from the bottom of the screen wearing dark trousers and a heavy coat.

Seconds later a frightening bolt of electricity rips down from the heavens and zaps the man in his tracks.

He stumbles for a few feet before collapsing painfully face down onto the hard ground.

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Videos of Saturday May 21 Year 2011 Predictions

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Rare tornado hits Xindian in New Taipei

TAIWAN - Many people in downtown Xindian in New Taipei City could not believe their eyes when they witnessed a tornado, an extremely rare phenomenon on the island.

The 20-floor high tornado lasted about two minutes and hurled objects in its path into the air in downtown Xindian, including some trees. A van was lifted from the ground and smashed a motorcycle when it fell. No casualties were reported.

"It's the first time in my life that I saw a tornado," said a local witness, who was woken up by the swirling storm.

The whole process of the tornado's formation and disappearance was recorded by a local resident, who posted the video on YouTube.

According the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), the storm will not be included in the official record of natural disasters as it was not recorded by the bureau's weather station.

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Judgement Day (May 21) & Dooms Day (October 21)

This tract is to inform you of the great urgency there now is in the world for each and every person to be reconciled to God. The Bible is the Word of God! Everything the Bible declares has the full authority of God Himself. Now, at this time, information is coming forth from the Bible which clearly reveals God’s plan for Judgment Day and the end of the world itself. The Bible has opened up its secrets concerning the timeline of history. This information was never previously known because God had closed up His Word blocking any attempt to gain knowledge of the end of the world. We read about this in the book of Daniel:

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

However, now in our present day, God has opened up His Word (the Bible) to reveal a great deal of truth concerning the end of time (and many other teachings). Also, in the same chapter of Daniel, it says:

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

THE BIBLE’S CALENDAR OF HISTORY
The Lord has opened up His people’s understanding to the “Biblical calendar” found on the pages of the Bible. The genealogies of the book of Genesis, primarily in chapters 5 and 11, can be shown to be a precise calendar of the history of mankind in this world. The Bible’s calendar of history is completely accurate and trustworthy.

Since this Bible calendar is given by God in His Word, it can be trusted wholeheartedly. In this brief pamphlet, we will share some of the conclusions derived from the Biblical calendar and from other studies in the Scriptures. However, the amount of information available is far too abundant and complex to get into much detail in this short pamphlet; but we can and will give precise and compelling dates. These dates can be trusted entirely because they come right out of the Bible.

TIMING OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HISTORY
11,013 BC—Creation. God created the world and man (Adam and Eve).

4990 BC—The flood of Noah’s day. All perished in a worldwide flood. Only Noah, his wife, and his 3 sons and their wives survived in the ark (6023 years from creation).

7 BC—The year Jesus Christ was born (11,006 years from creation).

33 AD—The year Jesus Christ was crucified and the church age began (11,045 years from creation; 5023 calendar years from the flood).

1988 AD—This year ended the church age and began the great tribulation period of 23 years (13,000 years from creation).

1994 AD—On September 7th, the first 2300-day period of the great tribulation came to an end and the latter rain began, commencing God’s plan to save a great multitude of people outside of the churches (13,006 years from creation).

2011 AD—On May 21st, Judgment Day will begin and the rapture (the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will occur at the end of the 23-year great tribulation. On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation).


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Why the world might end next Saturday

A group of Christian activists believe the apocalypse is May 21. We look at the evidence, and the man behind it

Spring is finally here -- but apparently, the apocalypse will be fast on its trail. That's the word from a slight but outspoken group of spiritual devotees who believe that the world as we know it is coming to an end.

Maybe you've already encountered the literature: pamphlets, subway ads, billboards on the side of the highway. "Judgment Day is coming" reads one billboard, which features a man praying in silhouette against a sunset backdrop. These are the works of a peculiar breed of Christian activists who've taken to the road to preach their belief in the fast-approaching End of Days.

The self-appointed harbingers are not tied to any particular church -- they claim organized religion has been corrupted by the devil -- but rather to Internet- and radio-based ministries. And their lone mission is to tell anyone and everyone that the end of days is May 21. That's when, they insist, God's true believers will be lifted into heaven and saved, during a biblical event widely referred to as the Rapture.

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Why World's End On May 21 Saturday 2011 ?

Picture is (C) copyright to Lord Jim on flickr

why so many people are talking about the world ending on May 21, 2011.

It turns out the theory comes down to two numerological proofs.

The first proof is based on Genesis 7:4, when God said to Noah: "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

When God referred to seven days, he meant both seven days and seven thousand years, because "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The flood occurred in 4990 BC. Seven thousand years later is 2011

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Stick Figure Creatures Were Smaller Than They Appeared

The creatures that wowed the paranormal community with the mysterious footage showing them walking down a path on a hill has been studied and the findings are nothing short of incredible.

Perhaps more unsettling than originally thought, these creatures are showing they are not only smaller than originally thought, but a fairly comprehensive analysis accompanying the video has more than a few convinced that it's genuine. But if that's the case, just what are we looking at?



The video shows two creatures, which appear to be nothing more than round heads atop long unexplainably thin legs that waltz with a strange sliding gait as they stroll down this rural area of road behind trees.

The larger of the two shapes is quickly followed by a smaller one which seems to stop and look around at one point before attempting to catch up to the larger of the two entities. The original video, which was uploaded in March had a strong impression on the first few thousand viewers who quickly shared it and allowed it to reach viral status.

But after that the scrutiny began with these images reaching skeptics. And barring some unknown high quality CG hoaxing technique, no one has been able to provide an explanation as to how something like this could have been faked. And this isn't the first entirely unexplainable video of these creatures captured from California.

But it appears the creatures were far smaller than the original video seems to suggest, with a size comparison superimposed on the video it looks like the taller of the two creatures is no higher up than a baby's stroller as it walks past. The smaller creature is apparently no higher than a foot and a half tall. While this size comparison doesn't shed any light on what the creatures could be, it does help provide further evidence on what they are most definitely not.

Contrary to the original opinion of many skeptics, it would appear the far smaller creatures would be impossible to fake by simply wrapping a long flowing sheet around a person and having them walk on stilts. The clear space between the creatures two legs that appear to make up the majority of their bipod-like bodies suggests nothing could be so intelligently controlled unless it was a puppet.

The puppet analysis is the one the video attempts to address next, suggesting a puppet would leave behind strings when the footage was embossed. Unfortunately, this is not possible as the strings could have theoretically blended in with the surrounding environment concealing the strings.

But the figures don't appear to be puppet-like for different reasons. The strings guiding the puppets would have to be quite high up giving plenty of opportunity for the puppets to act clumsily or awkwardly and generally look like puppets with even the slightest wind. And there's the matter of the puppeteer himself. He would have had to either use a pulley system that travels across the field of view to make the puppets appear to be moving of their own free will.

While this is common practice for puppets, and can be achieved quite easily, the system itself would have to have been rigged up on the street in the middle of the night. It seems like a bit much for such a simple video. And perhaps it's that very simplicity that makes this video truly amazing.

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It will Be Doomsday on Saturday 21 May 2011?

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III has refuted the May 21, 2011 end-of-the-world prediction a California-based Christian ministry has spread through the Internet and in the streets of Manila.

Quitorio said the end of the world cannot be predicted, recalling that, “In the Bible, it says nobody knows when the end of the world is, except God the Father."

“How can they predict the end of the world when no one can even predict an earthquake accurately?" the CBCP spokesman added.


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Pious Indians bank on holy deposits

y Alka Pande – Fri May 6

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – In a bank with no security gates, guards or locks, deposits from thousands of customers from across India are stacked on shelves, protected from theft by the grace of God.

In a cramped room in a small house in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Ram Bank offers no interest or loans, but has around 5,000 customers who flock to deposit documents bearing God's name.

"There is no need for security as there is no fear of any theft," said Lovelesh Tewari, who founded the bank 25 years ago.

"People feel better by writing God's name as it becomes a medium to release their pent up frustrations and eventually the faith makes them work toward their goals."
The bank's customers scribble "Ram," the protagonist in the Indian mythological epic Ramayana, on pieces of paper as many as 100,000 times and deposit them in the bank. Ram is also known as Rama.

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The Mysterious Yurei Ghosts of Japan

Ghosts in the west are generally uniformed spectral figures that appear translucent and either amorphous and smoke-like or as anthropomorphic figures of varying detail. But in Japan, the traditional Yurei ghost comes with very specific characteristics, most commonly today portrayed in theater and film but also in folklore.

These figures often are attached to tragic tales of lost love, vengeance, tragedy, and mystery. To spot a Yurei there are very specific characteristics to look for according to contemporary literature. The figures are most commonly seen wearing pure white flowing gowns or robes.

It's common to see a Yurei wearing a 'katabira' or a 'kyokatabira' as they wander through the last moments of their lives once again. Katabiras and Kyokatabiras are white flowing gowns with insignias drawn upon them.

These are said to symbolize the purity of the spirit and death. Another thing to keep an eye out for with Yurei is signature long eerie hair that betrays some conflict in the past by being unkempt and disheveled. Long tangled knots of hair may indicate the person has died as women traditionally wore their hair up, letting it down for only certain occasions such as sleep or burial.

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The Third Wave Experiment

The Third Wave was an experiment to demonstrate that even democratic societies are not immune to the appeal of fascism. It was undertaken by history teacher Ron Jones with sophomore high school students attending his "Contemporary World" history class as part of a study of Nazi Germany.

The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April 1967. Jones, unable to explain to his students how the German population could claim ignorance of the extermination of the Jewish people, decided to show them instead.

Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and told his students that the movement aimed to eliminate democracy. The idea that democracy emphasizes individuality was considered as a drawback of democracy, and Jones emphasized this main point of the movement in its motto: "Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride".

Official website: story history, FAQ, links, etc. by original Third Wave students

Remembering the 3rd Wave

Official website of the documentary, as told by the original Third Wave students and teacher

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Flying Girl in Russian Woods

Here's what you'll see: A man, speaking in Russian, is out in the snow-covered woods with his dog, Tarzan. The dog chases after something and the man follows. They come across an adult who is watching a small girl who appears to by flying or levitating about 10 feet above him. When they realize the man is approaching, the girl drops to the ground and they run off.

As curious as this video is, we can't imagine that it is anything but a hoax for a number of reasons, the main one being that people cannot fly. Aside from that, what is the guy doing out in the woods with his video camera? Does he always videotape his walks with his dog? Okay, so it's a hoax -- but a rather clever and entertaining one. So the question I have for you is: How do you think they did it? Was it done with wires? Or was the levitation trick accomplished with video editing software. What do you think?

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The Truth About the Superman Curse

By Brian McKernan

Much has been written about the so-called "Superman Curse," especially after Christopher Reeve's 1995 tragic accident and his unfortunate death. Once again, tabloid writers drew comparisons with 1950s TV Superman George Reeves' suicide, with the hardships suffered by Superman co-creators Siegel and Shuster after they sold their billion-dollar creation to DC Comics for a mere $130, and with actor Kirk Alyn's lackluster career after playing Superman in two 1940s movie serials.

A closer examination, however, makes talk of a "Superman Curse" absurd. There's as much circumstantial evidence to suggest there isn't a curse as there is to suggest there is.

Siegel and Shuster were just two of the many young 1930s comic book pioneers who created characters as a "work for hire" and did not share in the profits. As for Kirk Alyn, he too was just one of many serial stars who faded into obscurity and went on to do other things with their lives. Who today remembers serial stars Ralph Byrd (Dick Tracy), Tom Tyler (Captain Marvel) or Gordon Jones (The Green Hornet)?

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The mystery of the Singapore Stone

The Singapore Stone, sandstone slab, ancient relic, currently on exhibit at Singapore History Museum. The slab is one of three pieces of a large boulder discovered in June 1819 and blown up in 1843 to widen the mouth of the Singapore River. It had an indecipherable ancient script, pointing to a possible extension of the Majapahit civilization on the island.

A monolithic, weathered boulder made of coarse sandstone, the original Singapore Stone rose to about 3 m high and was 3 m wide. It stood at a promontory known as the Rocky Point, at the Southeast side of the mouth of the Singapore River. Its location was known at various times as Artillery Point, Fort Fullerton and the Master Attendants Office.

The Merlion Statue had previously been located at an extension of that spot. Munshi Abdullah in 1819, noted that curious onlookers of all nationalities came in crowds to see the stone. Most significant, the rock had about 50 lines of indecipherable inscriptions which is believed to hold secrets to Singapore's ancient history. This rock had often been mistaken for another stone found nearby and revered as a religious object, called Batu Kepala Todak (in Malay means "swordfish rock" because of its shape) by the Orang Laut (in Malay means "sea gypsies").

Along with the ancient walls around Fort Canning, the stone points to an ancient civilisation linked to the Majapahit era which had set root on the island. The original rock was discovered in June 1819 by labourers clearing forest trees and jungle, on a spot called 'Rocky Point'.

The first effectual study of the fragments was by epigrapher and Dutch scholar H. Kern. He succeeded in deciphering a few words, and gave the probable date of inscription as around 1230 AD. Even Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was involved in trying to decipher the inscriptions on this huge rock. Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (a.k.a. Munshi Abdullah) recorded Sir Stamford Raffles taking Rev. Claudius Henry Thomsen and himself, to see what he described as a 'remarkable stone' in October 1822.

Other scholars believed the stone engravings to be in an ancient script, possibly in ancient Sanskrit, commonly used between the 12th and 14th century Majapahit era. Many historians believed these writings held the keys to Singapore's ancient past but none could decipher its contents.

In 1843, it was blown upon the orders of acting Settlement Engineer, Captain Stevenson, to clear and widen the passageway at the mouth of the Singapore River; and to provide space for Fort Fullerton and its living-quarters. Various sources note that George D. Coleman was responsible for the stone's destruction, but he had been on leave at the time of its blasting.

Lt-Colonel James Low, who had opposed the blasting, arrived at the scene shortly after the blast and managed to salvage at least three slabs with the inscription. Two slabs were sent to the Royal Asiatic Society's Museum in Calcutta for analysis, where they arrived in about June 1848. The only surviving relic of the Singapore Stone is on exhibit at the Singapore History Museum, formerly the Singapore National Museum, at Stamford Road.

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Jurong Crocodile Rumor

From Contributor : Mr. Chan ShiJie (陈世杰)



A crocodile lifespan generally as to speak could be between the range from 45 to 100 yrs; though 75 seems to be the average lifespan! but it also very subjected to the type of species of the crocodile as well.


Before the development of Jurong which the earliest, was somewhere in the 1960s, Jurong Back then had another known name to many which was ..... The Heaven of the crocodile or what some also called it as paradise of the crocodile. (鳄鱼天堂, Buaya Paradise, मगरमच्छ स्वर्ग )





In this whole piece of land known as Jurong, the population of Crocodiles far exceeds the population of humans. Crocodiles can be very easily sighted everywhere you go. There is no such place which crocodile cannot be seen or found in Jurong back then.

But with the development of Jurong, the crocodiles of Jurong had disappeared, all except for perhaps 1 !

This one according to the local rumour which has been already for many years, resides in Jurong Lake. Till today this rumour still continues to exists and remain unproved true or false.



Rumor of Jurong Lake

However, there is one particular rumor concerning this lake and the crocodiles I earlier mentioned. The rumor of it is that, it has been said that there is a crocodile in that lake ! This rumor has already been pass down for a few generations ! It has not been confirmed by anyone on if the rumor is true or false, up to present and hence this rumor still continues.







There has been accidents that has taken place before around and in this lake and whenever such accident happened, people will link it to the rumor that , there could be a possibilities that the person has encounter the crocodile.



There has been people who went fishing or swimming and encounter some accidents before. All of the accidents by them were linked with the crocodile of Jurong lake base on urban rumors.

Sightings of Crocodile

Sometimes at night, based on rumors, some of the residents who lived in the HDB(s) or other houses near that lake had make claims that from their high rise storey that they had spotted crocodile appearing in that lake. But anyways these are stories based on rumors only.



How valid and true these rumors, stories and claims are up to present still remains a mystery not being proven by anyone yet ! That lake is very scary ! What really lies beneath that lake? Are the rumors true? Much about that lake is still unknown !



Urban Jurong Lake and Crocodile



So beware the next time you are near to the Jurong Lake ! It is a Dangerous Lake ! A lake that is not so simple as it seems to be !



Has it ever even stumbled across to your mind on what has happen to those crocodiles back then? Well, it is a likely thing that many escaped back to Malaysia. Some ended up in the Singapore crocodile farm and zoo of Singapore. That was what that has been said to where all those crocodiles that inhabitant Jurong back has ended up based on the believes and sayings from people of Jurong.



It can be a very likely case that this Jurong Lake crocodile could be one of those not being captured and which still continues to breed in Jurong Lake, perhaps !



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