Word: modernizing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Christmas caroling, says Daniel Abraham, musicology expert and choral director at American University in Washington, D.C. "The concept of carol in its origins has actually nothing to do with Christmas," Abraham says. Medieval carols were liturgical songs reserved for processionals in the 12th and 13th centuries. And though modern carols sometimes take their form from these original carols - starting with a refrain, followed by verses of uniform structure - they're separate entities. (See the 10 worst Christmas movies...
...Sexuality is such a central organizing logic of human subjectivity in the modern era, that you need to know about it to make sense of oneself,” Kaiser says. “There’s a lot of violence and injustice perpetuated in the US because of sexuality...
...Blue Book. The earliest UFO sightings in recorded history can be found in 4th century Chinese texts claiming that a "moon boat" hovered above China every 12 years. Other enthusiasts cite the Book of Ezekiel, in which a curious vessel dropped from the sky and landed in Chaldea, in modern-day Kuwait. A wave of sightings occurred near Rome in 218 B.C. and again in Germany in 1561. During World War II, Allied pilots coined the term foo fighters for the bizarre orbs of light that some insisted flew alongside their planes during combat...
...student in the lab of Tufts psychology professor Nalini Ambady, researchers designed the multipart study to examine the communication of race bias on television to white college-age volunteers. Weisbuch and his team were intrigued by the fact that despite a significant reduction in overt expressions of racism in modern American society - the country has, after all, just elected its first black president - studies consistently find that many people still show biased or negative attitudes toward African-Americans, primarily through nonverbal means such as facial expressions, crossed arms and averted gazes. The psychologists wondered how such biases could persist...
...original pirates of the Caribbean were liars, cheats and thieves. But they could be trusted to pour a glass of rum the right way. Unlike many modern imbibers - who debase the sugarcane-based spirit with Coke, coconut cream or fruit juice - the bloodthirsty seafarers enjoyed their hooch neat. (Edward "Blackbeard" Teach was the exception; he took his grog with a pinch of gunpowder.) Now artisan rum producers from Antigua to Venezuela are persuading sophisticated sippers to dump the mixers and drink like Captain Kidd once more. These master distillers specialize in dark, aged rums that are big on nose...