What Caught My Eye Today

Jesus - Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets. The documentary argues that 10 ancient ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family. The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Is anyone else having flashbacks to Geraldo Rivera's documentary on Al Capone's vault?

Genealogy - The Rev. Al Sharpton said he wants a DNA test to determine whether he is related to former segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond through his great-grandfather, a slave owned by an ancestor of the late senator. Professional genealogists, who work for Ancestry.com, found that Sharpton's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was a slave owned by Julia Thurmond, whose grandfather was Strom Thurmond's great-great-grandfather. Coleman Sharpton was later freed. Talk about your six degrees of separation. This is one that I never would have thought of.

Serbia - The highest U.N. court cleared the Serbian state on Monday of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war, but said it had violated its responsibility to prevent genocide. Bosnia had asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on whether Serbia committed genocide through the killing, rape and ethnic cleansing that ravaged Bosnia during the war. The court ruled that the Serbian state could not be held directly responsible for genocide, so paying reparations to Bosnia would be inappropriate even though Serbia had failed to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrators. Okay, I'm confused here. What exactly is the difference between 'responsibility for genocide' and 'responsibility to prevent genocide'?

Iran - Major world powers agreed on Monday to begin work on a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Ian over its nuclear program. Iran dug in its heels over its program as the major powers met in London to discuss tightening U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which the West fears is trying to build nuclear arms. Iran says its program is purely for electricity. No other details were immediately available from the London meeting but the major powers had been thought likely to discuss imposing a travel ban on senior Iranian officials and restrictions on non-nuclear business. You know, if you really want to screw with their travel, force them to fly on Jet Blue.

The Oscars - Here's how the Hollywood Reporter summed up the evening:

"Host Ellen DeGeneres, though true to her kinder, softer brand of humor, got too silly at times. And the show, which feels bloated under the best of circumstances, ran 20 minutes long despite rigid enforcement of the 45-second rule for acceptance speeches. Past Oscar telecasts tried to satisfy both sides by keeping the unpopular awards in the show but getting through them as quickly as possible, as though they were a necessary evil. Practically every Oscar telecast has one or more moments that remain in our minds and get picked up in future clip reels. There were precious few this time around -- maybe only one. That would be near the end of the show, when first-time Oscar winner Martin Scorsese was embraced by fellow directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

As for my picks...I went 4 out of 6. Didn't fair so well with the actors.

Cycling - Two items of note.

Embattled German cycling star Jan Ullrich, a former winner and five-time runner-up of the Tour de France, has announced his retirement from cycling on Monday. Ullrich was one of dozens of cyclists implicated in an alleged doping network in Spain last year, which led to his team T-Mobile suspending him from last year's Tour de France.

Levi Leipheimer won the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday having never trailed in the eight-day race. Leipheimer, a three-time top-10 Tour de France finisher, completed 639.2-mile race with a 21-second advantage over Jens Voigt of Germany

Olympics - Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner lost a toe to frostbite after being stranded in the wilderness, impaled himself with an arrow and was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. In his latest escape from death, he survived a plane crash over the weekend into the aptly named Good Hope Bay on the Utah-Arizona border. "I think I'm really lucky," Gardner told CNN on Monday, "after everything I have been through." I'd say that's a bit of an understatement, wouldn't you?