Buddha's skull found

The Telegraph reports on a possible finding in Nanjing:

Source: Telegraph (UK) (11-24-08)

The pagoda was wedged tightly inside an iron case that was discovered at the site of a former temple in the city in August.



The four-storey pagoda, which is almost four feet high and one-and-a-half feet wide, is thought by archaeologists to be one of the 84,000 pagodas commissioned by Ashoka the Great in the second century BC to house the remains of the Buddha.



Ashoka, one of India's greatest emperors, converted to Buddhism after waging a bloody war in the eastern state of Orissa. He is widely credited with spreading Buddhism throughout Asia, and across his kingdom, which stretched from Pakistan through Afghanistan and into Iran.



The pagoda found in Nanjing is crafted from wood, gilded with silver and inlaid with gold, coloured glass and amber. It matches a description of another of Ashoka's pagodas which used to be housed underneath the Changgan Buddhist temple in Nanjing.



A description of the contents of the pagoda was also found: a gold coffin bearing part of Buddha's skull inside a silver box. Although scans have confirmed that there are two small metal boxes inside the pagoda, experts have not yet peered inside. The pagoda is currently on display in the museum.

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I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Kudos to the Daily Dish for pointing this out:

The Onion

I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

BY JANET COSGROVE

CHRISTIAN

NOVEMBER 19, 2008 | ISSUE 44•47

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Everybody has this image of "crazy Christians" based on what they hear in the media, but it's just not true. Most Christians are normal, decent folks. We don't all blindly follow a bunch of outdated biblical tenets or go all fanatical about every bit of dogma. What I'm trying to say is, don't let the actions of a vocal few color your perceptions about what the majority of us are like.

Like me. I may be a Christian, but it's not like I'm one of those wacko "love your neighbor as yourself " types.

God forbid!

[From I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians | The Onion - America's Finest News Source]

Copernicus's remains identified

Source: Telegraph (UK) (11-21-08)

Researchers compared DNA samples taken from bones retrieved from Frombork Cathedral in northern Poland, long believed to be the scientist's last resting place, with those of hairs found in a book which once belonged to Copernicus.



The results confirmed that the remains are almost certainly those of the astronomer, who was the first man to put forward the hypothesis that the sun, not the earth, formed the centre of the universe.



Professor Jerzy Gassowski, who led the archaeological team that found the body three years ago in a grave near the altar, said that although they had been sure the remains were those of Copernicus "a grain of doubt remained" so they had sent a vertebrae, a tooth and femur to Uppsala University in Sweden.



Swedish scientists then took hairs from the astronomer's book, which is in the university's possession, and ran DNA tests.



"We collected four hairs and two of them are from the same individual as the bones," said Marie Allen, a genetic expert from Uppsala.



The new findings confirm earlier evidence that indicated the bones were those of the sixteenth-century scientist. A forensic facial reconstruction of the skull looked similar to a portrait of the astronomer, and the bones belonged to man of about 70, the same age Copernicus was when he died in 1543.

[From Copernicus's remains identified]

Palin: Obama Is ‘Palling Around With Terrorists’ - New York Times

I will be so glad when this election is over. Seriously, we seem to lack any sort of restraint or intellect in politics. Of course now we do know a lot more about how Palin reads her news: through soundbites and headlines. So yes, Obama has met someone before who performed terrorist acts, acts performed when he was 8. Of course, the fact that he was never close to Ayers and has called his acts "detestable" but that is beside the point!

ABC News

Palin: Obama Is ‘Palling Around With Terrorists’
New York Times - 1 hour ago
By Kate Phillips In remarks at a Colorado airport hangar today, Gov. Sarah Palin tore into Senator Barack Obama with a twist that she ripped right from the headlines of this very newspaper.
Palin Says Obama 'Palling Around' With Terrorists ABC News
Palin Turns to NYT, Citing Article on Ayers Washington Post
CNN Political Ticker - The Swamp - Tribune's Washington Bureau - FOXNews
all 267 news articles

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