We couldn't possibly all be descended from Noah. It's a ludicrous idea. The interesting thing is that there are similar legends of a great inundation in many other cultures all over the World besides the Judeo-Christian, and ALL of them mention various heroes or just plain lucky people who rode it out in boats, on rafts, or on mountaintops.

There was not just one Noah and family, folks. There were a great many Noahs and their families in many different places. As to what caused the worldwide flood...probably a major atmospheric change that caused a far denser atmosphere than the present one to condense a vast amount of water vapor in rains that went on for a long time. The resulting flooding could well have killed the majority of the Earth's population at the time (and the majority of animals and plants) but it definitely didn't kill everyone EXCEPT Noah and his family.

A brief digression. Now feel free to return to the theme of Bush achieving unity in Iraq. I think he oughta get a Nobel Prize of some kind for this. Not even Saddam could do it.

- LH