Israeli researchers: Group of Colorado Indians have genetic Jewish roots
Sheba Medical Center geneticists find common genetic mutation, often called the 'Ashkenazi mutation,' associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
Sheba Medical Center geneticists have found that a population of Indians in the U.S. state of Colorado has genetic Jewish roots going back to the expulsion of Jews from Spain.
The common marker was a unique genetic mutation on the BRCA1 gene. This mutation, commonly known as the "Ashkenazi mutation," is found in Jews of Ashkenazi origin and is associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
The trail began with research conducted by Prof. Jeffrey Weitzel, an oncogenetic (cancer genetics) expert at the City of Hope Hospital in California. Weitzel examined samples from 110 American families of Hispanic origin, and followed them through a computational genetics study, and in 2005 published an article pointing to their common ancestry: People who had immigrated to the United States from Mexico and South America.
On Sunday, 40,000 mostly Hasidic Jewish men in black hats and black suits gathered at Citi Field for a series of speeches concerning the corrupting influence of the Internet. The talks were broadcast to the JumboTron, betwixt the oversized bottles of Cholula censored with a white cloth over the label, which shows a woman.
The 7 train from Grand Central had become packed with men in black, all in a fine mood, before we poured out at the Mets-Willets Point train station like kids on a field trip. Now there were all kinds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in the stadium: fat, skinny, young, old, short, tall, with glasses, without beards, wearing watches, smoking cigarettes, talking on cellphones. “Hats off! Hats off!” the ticket-takers barked as the throng of yidden crowded around the entrance to left field. Jewish Reporter, one of the few media outlets approved by the organizers, said on Twitter that it was one of the biggest crowds the stadium had ever seen.
Yes, the stadium was full of men, and the women’s bathrooms were reportedly locked. Yet there were at least three females present: a ticket-taker, an usher, and me, in a pair of $15 Payless loafers, my brother’s dress clothes, and a donated kippah. Oh, and the white duct tape around my chest, G.I. Jane style.
I tested my disguise at Duane Reade and the 6 train and was relieved to see I wasn’t getting any longer-than-usual stares; but it wasn’t until the first Hasid asked me for directions that I breathed a sigh of relief. Or would have, if the duct tape weren’t so tight.
It's too bad Adrienne didn't include any pictures of herself in her disguise so that people could decide for themselves how authentic, or how silly it was.
Babushka, speaking as the Jewiest Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Hasidic womanly woman who ever lived, thinks this anti-Internet rally was one of the most embarrassing and silly events to ever waste the collective time of 40,000 human beings. The Internet is a tool, just like telephones and the printing press. Of course filters are a necessity--even if people just relied on their stupendous "willpower" to avoid porno and time-wasting blogs (like this one--wait, what?) without filters they would be overwhelmed with spam and malware.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in silhouette as they talk about harvesting wheat in the shade near a wheat field outside Sha'alvim in central Israel, 17 May 2012, after they cut the wheat with hand sickles. The wheat is then processed, all by hand-made Kosher means, to bake unleavened Matzah, to be eaten during the next high holiday of Passover, in April 2013. The wheat is harvested just before the holiday of Shavuot, which comes seven weeks after Passover, and marks when God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. EPA/JIM HOLLANDER
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men use a small fan attached to a car engine to provide some breeze as they separate wheat grain from the hay under a shade outside Sha’alvim in central Israel, 17 May 2012, after they cut the wheat with hand sickles. The wheat is then processed, all by hand-made Kosher means, to bake unleavened Matzah, to be eaten during the next high holiday of Passover, in April 2013. The wheat is harvested just before the holiday of Shavuot, which comes seven weeks after Passover, and marks when God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Credit: EPA
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men use a small fan attached to a car engine to provide some breeze as they separate wheat grain from the hay under a shade outside Sha’alvim in central Israel, 17 May 2012, after they cut the wheat with hand sickles. The wheat is then processed, all by hand-made Kosher means, to bake unleavened Matzah, to be eaten during the next high holiday of Passover, in April 2013. The wheat is harvested just before the holiday of Shavuot, which comes seven weeks after Passover, and marks when God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to “married” Saturday and received over one million “likes” from his followers. But the site he founded isn’t always so marriage-friendly. In fact, lawyers say the social network contributes to an increasing number of marriage breakups.
More than a third of divorce filings last year contained the word Facebook, according to a U.K. survey by Divorce Online, a legal services firm. And over 80% of U.S. divorce attorneys say they’ve seen a rise in the number of cases using social networking, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “I see Facebook issues breaking up marriages all the time,” says Gary Traystman, a divorce attorney in New London, Conn. Of the 15 cases he handles per year where computer history, texts and emails are admitted as evidence, 60% exclusively involve Facebook.
“Affairs happen with a lightning speed on Facebook,” says K. Jason Krafsky, who authored the book “Facebook and Your Marriage” with his wife Kelli. In the real world, he says, office romances and out-of-town trysts can take months or even years to develop. “On Facebook,” he says, “they happen in just a few clicks.”
Queens, NY - More than 50,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men plan are packed at this hour at Citi Field for a gathering on the dangers of the Internet, and organizers have also rented the nearby Arthur Ashe Stadium for the overflow crowd.
“It’s going to be inspiration and education about using technology responsibly in accordance with Jewish values,” said Eytan Kobre, a lawyer who is the spokesman for the event’s organizers.
Kobre said the rally’s purpose is not to ban the Internet but to learn how to harness it.
“There is a very significant downside to the Internet,” he said. “It does pose a challenge to us in various aspects of our lives.”
He cited online pornography and gambling as well as the risk of social media undermining “our ability to pray uninterruptedly, to focus and to concentrate.”
President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that daughters Malia and Sasha can use their cell phones only on weekends, are banned from Facebook, can't watch TV and are only allowed on the computer during the week when they have to do their homework. He also said he was "too long-winded" to use Twitter and that he likes to "tape" things on "this—what's it called, DVR."
It's almost enough for a national newsweekly to dub him "America's First Amish President."
Obama's wide-ranging interview with ABC's "The View," recorded in New York on Monday, included a pop culture quiz and a predictable election prediction ("I'm gonna win"). The president cautiously gave himself an "incomplete" rather than a letter grade on the still-sour economy, and publicly forgave Vice President Joe Biden for forcing his hand on same-sex marriage last week.
And he revealed that First Lady Michelle Obama is "merciless" in mocking him—to the delight of his staff.Her repertoire includes "big ear jokes ... big nose joke, all my funny little habits," said the president.
"She just is relentless," Obama said. "But it is good for you. Especially in the White House, you know, you've got a bunch of people around who are always laughing at your jokes and thinking you're funny. And Michelle's like 'this guy? Really?'"
"And I will tell you, when she does it in front of my team, they love it. They're crackin' up," he added.
The Obama White House—and his political campaign—have embraced technology to an unprecedented degree. But when it comes to their daughters, the president and first lady have a pretty tough set of rules.
Turkish authorities believe that they have found a bird used for espionage purposes by Israel, the country's media reported.
According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, an investigation to that effect was launched in Ankara several days ago, after a farmer discovered a dead Merops Apiaster, commonly known as the European Bee-Eater, in his field. The bird had a ring reading "Israel" on one of its legs.
Bird-banding is a common practice in ornithology, meant to help scientists track bird migration routes.
The band, however, was not the most damning piece of evidence against the bee-eater: Its nostrils were.
The bird-beak in question reportedly sported "unusually large nostrils," which – combined with the identification ring – raised suspicions that the bird was "implanted with a surveillance device" and that it arrived in Turkey as part of an espionage mission.
The bird's remains were originally handed over to the Turkish Agriculture Ministry, which then turned in over to Ankara's security services.
A Palestinian boy dances in front of a map showing parts of British Mandate Palestine [specifically the "parts" which became Israel] during a rally in Gaza City ahead of Nakba May 9, 2012. On May 15 Palestinians will mark Nakba, or catastrophe, of Israel's founding in a 1948 war, when hundreds of thousands of their brethren fled or were forced to leave their homes. Reuters Pictures.
A Palestinian woman paints a mural during the 64th anniversary of "Nakba", Arabic for catastrophe, the term used to mark the events leading to Israel's founding in 1948, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their villages during the war over Israel's 1948 creation, an event they commemorate every year as their "Nakba". AP Photo.
Palestinians protest outside Damascus gate in Jerusalem's Old City on May 15, 2012 marking Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Getty Images.
In the provocative new cover story of its May 21 issue, TIME Magazine taps into a two-decade-long parenting conversation that has boiled over in recent months. Journalist Kate Pickert reports on the rise of attachment parenting, a set of techniques popularized by Dr. William (Bill) Sears in “The Baby Book,” his 767-page treatise published in 1992.
In the article, Pickert explores who Sears is and why controversy surrounds his theories — specifically baby-wearing, extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping — but it’s TIME’s photographs of real mothers breastfeeding their toddlers that has everyone talking.
The cover shows Jamie Lynne Grumet, a slim blonde 26-year-old California mom, breastfeeding her 3-year-old son. TIME photographer Martin Schoeller also shot three other families on the same day.
I’m a mother, I have nursed all my children, and my daughters have nursed all their children, and I can’t begin to describe how disturbing this Time photo is. The choice of an older child, and provocative hand-on-hip pose and the mom facing the camera instead of her child as if to say “Look at how HIP and HOT and THIN I am! Better than all of you!”
I’ve been following the discussion on this Time cover photo on several other blogs, and there seems to be a notion that, if you’re uncomfortable with this particular photo (which is not natural at all, IMO) then you must be against breastfeeding which is perfectly normal and natural!
I can proclaim myself an expert on child rearing—hey, I raised 9 kids and they are all educated and self-supporting! And I think this “attachment parenting” thing is complete horseshit, just something to make like 99% of the parents who read this article feel inadequate about themselves.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews stand next to bonfires during Lag Ba'Omer celebrations to commemorate the end of a plague said to have decimated Jews in Roman times, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, May 9, 2012. AP Photo.
Almost all our political parties expressed their views on the proper way to draft the haredim into the IDF. The freshest proposal is the one presented by Yair Lapid. The main innovation inherent in it is the undoing of the Gordian knot that forces ultra-Orthodox youngsters to study at the yeshiva and prevents them from working for a living.
Haredi officials rushed to slam the rookie politician and accused him of holding hatred towards members of their sector. This is a regular pattern: Anyone who attempts to impose any kind of change on the haredim is accused of hating them and often also of anti-Semitism. Those who view themselves as the guardians of real Judaism apparently cannot address criticism against them in any other way.
Yet don’t conclude from the above that I endorse Lapid’s proposal. The forced enlistment of thousands of youngsters lacking any professional training guarantees a huge waste of money and immense corruption. So what should we do?
I’ve heard all the prevailing views and none of them convinced me. When a question has no answer for a long period of time, we must realize that no answer exists and come up with another question. Hence, the correct question is not how to draft the haredim and draw them into the job market, but rather, what should be done in order to minimize their rate within Israeli society.
OF COURSE Haredim should be drafted into the IDF or National Service like everyone else, and support their families with dignity. But Yaron London does not want that. He does not want Haredim in IDF uniforms carrying guns, or empowered Haredim working in professional careers. He wants them reduced, shrunken, dwindled, minimized...without saying exactly how he proposes to go about shrinking an entire population, but his words do conjure up images from history as to how similar objectives of shrinking a population were carried out in the past.
Eliyahu Werdesheim leaves the Baltimore courtroom with his wife.
BALTIMORE – One brother was convicted and the other was exonerated Thursday in the 2010 beating of a black teenager they encountered while patrolling as watch volunteers in their Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Judge Pamela White ruled from the bench against Eliyahu and Avi Werdesheim, 24 and 22. They opted for a bench trial after withdrawing a motion to move their trial because of publicity comparing their case to the fatal shooting of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
Both were charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault and carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure. The judge found Eliyahu not guilty of the weapon charge and cleared Avi on all three.
They had no visible reaction when the verdict was read, though Eliyahu's wife ran from the courtroom in tears. They could have faced up to 13 years if convicted on all three charges.
Prosecutors said the brothers attacked the teen, hitting him with a radio and holding him on the ground. But Eliyahu testified that he acted in self-defense when the teen attacked him with a nail-studded plank and said his brother wasn't involved in the fight. The judge rejected Eliyahu's claim of self-defense.
This song is catchy and addictive! Just like game of falling blocks!
1900's
To Moscow I came seeking fortune But they’re making me work til I’m dead The bourgeoisie have it so easy The Tsar’s putting gold on his bread The people of Moscow are hungry But think what a feast there could be If we could create a socialist state That cared for the people like me:
1910's
I am the man who arranges the blocks That descend upon me from up above. They come down and I spin them around Til they fit in the ground like hand in glove. Sometimes it seems that to move blocks is fine And the lines will be formed as they fall - Then I see that I have misjudged it! I should not have nudged it after all. Can I have a long one please? Why must these infernal blocks tease?
1918: GLORIOUS REVOLUTION!
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. Come Muscovite! Let the workers unite! A collective regime of peace and love. I work so hard in arranging the blocks But the landlord and taxman bleed me dry But the workers will rise! We will not compromise For we know that the old regime must die. Long live Lenin, kill the tsar! We salute the sickle and star!
1920's
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. The food on your plate now belongs to the state A collective regime of peace and love. I have no choice in arranging the blocks Under Bolshevik rule, what they say goes. The rule of the game is we all are the same And my blocks must create unbroken rows.
1930's
Long live Stalin! He loves you! Sing these words, or you know what he’ll do…
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are made by the men in Kazakhstan. They come two weeks late and they don’t tessellate But we’re working to Stalin’s five year plan.
1940's
I am the man who arranges the tanks That will make all the Nazis keep away The Fuhrer is dead, and Europe is Red!
1950's
Let us point all our guns at the USA. We shall live forever more! We can start a nuclear war!
1960's
I am the man who arranges the blocks That are building a highly secret base. Hip hip hurrah for the USSR! We are sending our men to outer space.
1970's
I work so hard in arranging the blocks But each night I go home to my wife in tears - What’s the point of it all, when you’re building a wall And in front of your eyes it disappears? Pointless work for pointless pay This is one game I shall not play.
1980's
I am the man who arranges the blocks! But tomorrow I think I’ll stay in bed. The winter is cold, I’ve got plenty of gold And I’m standing in line for a loaf of bread Maybe we’d be better off If we brought down Gorbachev
1990's
I am the man who arranges the blocks That continue to fall from up above. The markets are free! So much money for me! Tell me, why should I care for peace and love? The markets are free! So much money for me! Tell me, why should I care for peace and love? Peace and love, peace and love!
2000's
And now the wall is down, the Marxists frown There’s foreign shops all over town When in Red Square, well don’t despair There’s Levi’s and McDonald’s there The US gave us crystal meth And Yeltsin drank himself to death But now that Putin’s put the boot in, Who’ll get in our way?
2010's
So we reject free enterprise And once again the left will rise. Prepare the flags to be unfurled For we’re seceding from the world: We shall regain the Georgian soil We shall obtain the Arctic oil We shall arrange the blocks and toil Forever and a day.
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