THE JEWS HAVE THEIR OWN CALENDAR.

Jews use the ancient BABYLONIAN calendar.

Babylonian astronomers deduced that 235 lunar months = 19 tropical years. They introduced a calendar with 7 leap months every 19 years which is the basis of the Hebrew calendar. The names of the Hebrew months have been borrowed from the Babylonians.

Tishri = Tashritu.

THE ARABS INVENTED OUR NUMERIC SYSTEM

The first people to think of using a zero as a placeholder were the ancient Babylonians (again).

The Babylonians used a sexagesimal (base 60) system.

The Hindus applied the zero to a decimal (base 10) system and probably invented the decimal point.

Arab traders carried the Hindu system to Europe and also simplified the ornate Hindu numerals.

We use Arab numerals within a system based on the work of Babylonian and Hindu mathematicians.

THE ARABS INVENTED ALGEBRA

The word algebra derives from Al-Khwarizmi the name of a mathematician who lived in present day Uzbekistan between 780 & 850. Many think he invented algebra.

Actually he wrote a widely used algebra textbook.

No one person invented algebra. However Diophantus who lived in Alexandria between 210 & 290 is often called the "father of algebra."

BEFORE COLUMBUS' PEOPLE THOUGHT THE EARTH WAS FLAT

The ancient Greeks already knew the Earth was spherical. Eratosthenes, born in present day Libya in ca 276 BC died in Alexandria ca 196 BC made the first reliable estimate of the diameter of the Earth.

By Columbus' time educated people knew the Earth was spherical.

Columbus disagreed with the estimates of Eratosthenes and others. He thought the Earth was quite small and that he could reach Asia easily along a Western route.

Most people agreed with Eratosthenes' estimate and were reluctant to finance such a foolish expedition. They thought Columbus would run out of food and water long before he could reach Asia.

The sceptics were right and Columbus was wrong. Had it not been for America Columbus' expedition would have perished.

Moral: IT IS BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN CORRECT.

WAR IS DESTRUCTIVE...

World War II produced the most destructive
weapon ever used in warfare - the atomic
bomb.

Yet, there were many inventions that came
out of the war that have benefited people
enormously.

Nuclear energy, which was first used in the
atomic bomb, now provides power for
industry. The war also stimulated the
development of radar, an invention that plays
an important part today in commercial
aviation and in weather forecasting.

" IT'S BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN CORRECT."

Here are the ten top accidental discoveries:

Penicillin, LSD, Potato Chips, Microwave,
Teflon, Brandy, Artificial Sweetener,
Popsicles, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and last but
not least - Viagra.

These can be found at:

http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/top-10-accidental-discoveries

StevenImeyer.

Interesting about the Babylonian Calender. I must remember to thank the next Babylonian I meet. What other nationalities use the same Calender?
I think the common reasoning is that it is uniquely Jewish for at least the last 2+ millennium I think they can claim ownership without too much fear of cross ownership suits.

Does't the year numbering have religious connotations(that what my Jewish daughter has told me)? I admit this is an area of which I have only a passing understanding of.

Of course you’re correct in the other points but with reference to our previous conversations I remember saying that the Arabs were the repository (storing and development place they even had Universities of sorts) of this sort of knowledge while the western world were in the so called “Dark Ages”. :-)

One could add to that music, art, ceramics, Literature, poetry Astronomy, Medicine, Law and Philosophy (although they tended to be variations on the Greek Philosophy).
Steel working (swords, Iraq I think). In the early Christian invasions aka Crusades. The Arab swords were far stronger (Less brittle than the crusaders’.) Although the English Long Bow was more than a match for the Islamic forces.

Much of this learning were available to even non Arabs in the Moorish Spain.
Keep in mind that the term Arab is/was a quasi religious term (Muslim) as many were Persian etc. Up until the 1800’s generally speaking national boundaries were fluid and nationalism took second place to the prevailing empire.

Foxy
I think your heading should be "war was ONLY destructive".
I think the survivors and history of the Ghettos in Poland, Warsaw generally, London Blitz, Coventry, Dunkirk, The Holocaust, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Pearl Harbour, Battles of the Bulge and Coral Sea , several German towns and Cities etc. may tend to dull your assertions.
You also missed Rockets, Aerodynamics Development, Jets, SONAR, start of Magnetic detection and war movies with bad german accents to mention a few.

Dear examiner,

The topic of this thread is debunking myths.
Of course we all know that "War is not
healthy for children and other living things."

I tried to point out some positives
that also resulted out of the catastrophe that
war is. In retrospect,I now realize how
foolish I was. You were right to remind me.

My family came to Australia post World War II
as "Displaced Persons," running from the Soviet
occupation of their homeland.

They lost many members of their families.
My father's brother was tortured to death.
He was a high school student.
My cousin and his family were
deportees to the Laptev Sea. And, there's
more, but I won't go into details here.

I should have given more thought to this topic
before jumping right in,
as I'm well aware of what war means.

Foxy
No probs it was a light comment by me anyway hence the smiley.
By the way I too am from Refo stock Latvia in fact.
Part of my 15 mins of fame was my story on "can we help" a few months back.
I read your comments and usually they make sense, they come across as thoughtful and genuine. Perhaps my style needs work. ;-)

Interesting family histories Foxy and examinator.

The previous five generation of my family have been refugees at one time or another. My siblings and I are the first generation, after five, who did not have to flee for our lives.

At various times members of our extended family have fled the Cossacks, the Bolsheviks, the Nazis and the Muslims. My late grandmother set something of a record. At different times she fled the Cossacks, Bolsheviks and Nazis.

Maybe that's why I detest ALL totalitarian ideologies, and their apologists, with equal ferocity. It still distresses me that so many of the early Bolsheviks were Jews.

It also, and I shall be blunt about this, is the reason for my loathing of CONTEMPORARY Islam. To me contemporary Islam is simply another totalitarian ideology. The fact that it is labelled a "religion" cuts no ice with me.

It is also why I am so contemptuous of those who seek to explain away, excuse or minimise the totalitarian nature of contemporary Islam. To me apologists for the Nazis, the Bolsheviks and contemporary Islam are all equally despicable.

Note however that I refer to "CONTEMPORARY Islam." I do understand the religious beliefs evolve. In 1600 Catholicism was a totalitarian ideology. While I hold no great liking for contemporary Catholicism, I recognise that Catholicism has changed over the past four centuries.

Perhaps Islam will also evolve into something more benign. Perhaps not. But contemporary Islam is every bit as totalitarian as Nazism and Bolshevism and their apologists equally contemptible.

Examinator:

The year in the Jewish calendar is supposed to be the number of years since the creation of the world. We are currently in the Jewish year 5768.

The system, however, derives from the Babylonians as do the names of many of the months.

To the best of my knowledge Jews are the only people who still use the Babylonian calendar system.