Rayilyn, Great history lesson. Many of us are going to be doing a lot of catching up on learning about the history and culture of that region. (I hear copies of the Koran are flying off the bookstore shelves.) Somehow for me this a good parallel to the thread about exercise. We need to keep flexing our cognitive "muscles," too. Thanks for the workout! (Thanks to Michel also for raising the question.) Kathleen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn