"The Thorn Birds"

I like this book and I read all of the 550 pages before I know it. It's an interesting story about the passions everyone has, those passions that we know they will kill us. Choices we make and pay for them for a lifetime, but we're never sorry about it, because it was our only way.

Here are some memorable quotes:

- There's a story... a legend, about a bird that sings just once in its life. From the moment it leaves its nest, it searches for a thorn tree... and never rests until it's found one. And then it sings... more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. And singing, it impales itself on the longest, sharpest thorn. But, as it dies, it rises above its own agony, to outsing the lark and the nightingale. The thorn bird pays its life for just one song, but the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles.
-What does it mean, Father?
- That the best... is bought only at the cost of great pain.

-What kind of man is this Luke O'Neill, who roams about and doesn't even make a home for Meggie?
- The ambitious kind.

Our God has given us freewill. And with that freewill comes the burden of choice. It is time, far past time that you took up that burden, because until you do, you cannot go on.

And there's nothing I can do to change it. Do you know how terrifying it is, that power you have over me?

Don't do to Meggie what you did to Mary Carson. Don't destroy her with love!

Men will extinct?

It has long been suspected that the sex chromosome that only males carry is deteriorating and could disappear entirely within a few million years, but until now, no one has understood the evolutionary processes that control the Y chromosome's demise. Now, a pair of Penn State scientists has discovered that the Y chromosome has evolved at a much more rapid pace than its partner chromosome, the X chromosome, leading to a dramatic loss of genes on the Y chromosome at a rate that, if maintained, eventually could lead to the Y chromosome's complete disappearance.

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are the structures that hold our DNA, but just one pair of these chromosomes are sex chromosomes, while the others are referred to as non-sex chromosomes. "In eutherian mammals [humans and other non-marsupial mammals], the sex chromosomes contain an additional region of DNA whereas, in the egg-laying mammals and marsupials [such as opossums and platypuses], this additional region of DNA is located on the non-sex chromosomes," said Penn State's Kateryna Makova. "At first, bits of DNA within this additional region were readily swapped between the X and Y chromosomes, but some time between 80 and 130 million years ago, the region became two completely separate entities that no longer swapped DNA. One of the regions became specifically associated with the X chromosome and the other became specifically associated with the Y chromosome."

Writing in PLoS Genetics, Makova explains that by comparing the DNA of the X and Y chromosomes in eutherian mammals to the DNA of the non-sex chromosomes in the opossum and platypus, the researchers were able to go back in time to the point when the X and Y chromosomes were still swapping DNA, just like the non-sex chromosomes in the opossum and platypus. The scientists then were able to observe how the DNA of the X and Y chromosomes changed over time relative to the DNA of the non-sex chromosomes. "Our research revealed that the Y-specific DNA began to evolve rapidly at the time that the DNA region split into two entities, while the X-specific DNA maintained the same evolutionary rate as the non-sex chromosomes," said Makova.

After determining that the Y chromosome has been evolving more rapidly and has been losing more genes as a result, they wanted to find out why the Y chromosome has not already disappeared entirely. "Today, the human Y chromosome contains less than 200 genes, while the human X chromosome contains around 1,100 genes," said co-researcher Melissa Wilson. "We know that a few of the genes on the Y chromosome are important, such as the ones involved in the formation of sperm, but we also know that most of the genes were not important for survival because they were lost, which led to the very different numbers of genes we observe between the once-identical X and Y. Although there is evidence that the Y chromosome is still degrading, some of the surviving genes on the Y chromosome may be essential, which can be inferred because these genes have been maintained for so long."

Makova and Wilson then decided to test the hypothesis that some of the genes on the Y chromosome are being maintained because they are essential. The team's approach was to compare the expression and function of genes on the Y chromosome with analogous genes on the X chromosome. "If the genes' expressions and/or functions were different, then it would make sense that the genes on the Y chromosome would be maintained because they are doing something that the genes on the X chromosome can't do," explained Makova. "This hypothesis turned out to be correct."

Although some of the genes on the Y chromosome have been maintained, most of them have died, and the team found evidence that some others are on track to disappear, as well. "Even though some of the genes appear to be important, we still think there is a chance that the Y chromosome eventually could disappear," said Makova. "If this happens, it won't be the end of males. Instead, a new pair of non-sex chromosomes likely will start on the path to becoming sex chromosomes."

In the future, the team plans to use its newly generated data to create a computer model that tracks the degeneration of the Y chromosome. The scientists hope to determine how long it will take for the Y chromosome to disappear.

Article taken from: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20090616231446data_trunc_sys.shtml

A Nice Song from a Favorite Movie

The Paradox of Revenge

The passion for revenge is strong and sometimes almost overwhelming. But our intuitive logic about revenge is often twisted, conflicted, parochial, and dangerous. Revenge is a primitive, destructive, and violent response to anger, injury, or humiliation. It is a misguided attempt to transform shame into pride. Many governments, religions, traditions, and cultures provide guidance on when revenge may and may not be sought. Unfortunately this guidance is often unsatisfactory.

Revenge originates from the primal need for self-defense. In today's world, it is often abused as a destructive and futile response to anger or humiliation.
Most strategies for revenge fail because they attempt to change the past. Unfortunately once the damage is done and the injury, insult, humiliation, or other loss occurs, the clock cannot be turned back and the loss is permanent. In addition, the value of the loss to the offended is seen as much greater than any benefit gained by the offender. As a result the offense represents an unrecoverable loss to society as a whole. Successful strategies for revenge look far into the future and recognize that the cycle of vengeance and retaliation can only spiral toward tragedy and are best stopped before they are started.
Revenge is a doomed attempt to eliminate shame and increase stature by asserting dominance. It fails because asserting dominance does not increase stature, instead it usually increases violence. Also, remorse cannot be coerced, it has to be discovered. Evidence indicates that forgiveness increases self-esteem and decreases anxiety.
Economics and business decision-making recognize sunk costs as the costs that have already been incurred and which can never be recovered to any significant degree. Economic theory proposes that a rational actor does not let sunk costs influence a decision because past costs cannot be recovered in any case. This is also called the bygones principle; let bygones be bygones. This recognizes that you cannot change the past. The fallacy of sunk costs is to consider sunk costs when making a decision. Sound business decisions are based on a forward-looking view, ignoring sunk costs.

Read more at the original path of the article: www.emotionalcompetency.com/revenge.htm

Shopping Online- My Latest Addiction

I'm stuck home studying. I turn off my phone, but I need to use the computer and that's how it started. Somehow I found a commercial for a party wear... yes, the Christmas parties and celebrations with the family, colleagues, friends. They all requires nice outfit and did I forget to mention that I need to find good Christmas gifts? The earlier I start, the better I'll do (really?)
After I listed my excuses it's time to confess... I was looking at online shopping sites last two weeks every day. I catch my self doing it even at work when I take a little break. I've already ordered a few things and I'm on my way to explore more options.
The ones that are already delivered fit very well on me, so it's like additional motivation to go on this way. It's so easy, just click on the buttons and in a few days they are on me.

Insatiable - One of My Favorite Love Songs

Say "Yes" to the Bachelorette Party

A friend is getting married in a few weeks. We were all so excited about her that we decided to make something silly for her- a bechelorette party surprise. We were preparing it for more than a week- the cake, the club, getting all of her friends together hahah and of course the stripper.
The party started like just a night out. She didn't get suspicious when we asked her not to invite her fiance.

Then at midnight the waitress brought a big pink heart shaped cake. We wished the future bride a love life as sweet as the cake :)

Then she got silly gifts:

And finally the most spicy part - the sailor.

He obviously felt uncomfortable having clothes on him.

The stripper was the only man she paid attention to, to the ones who were hitting on her in the club she was saying "Sorry, I'm getting married".

P.S. The cake was yummy :D

Opportunity Cost

Benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost. Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/opportunity-cost.html#ixzz12ug4l9f6

It's not effective for finance decisions only. It's the same like in our lives every day, the small and the big decisions we make... we always have to give up one, or a part of it to get another or a part of it. I only wish there was a formula to calculate how much exactly our gains and losses would be.

Miss World 2010

I couldn't watch the contest, but I'm looking at the official website - www.missworld.com now and honestly I think there are better looking women in the world.
But here are the girls who impressed me most:

Miss Belarus looks charming:

Miss Colombia looks very beautiful and her shots are very good ones:

I like Miss India too, she has the features of her nation and she is beautiful in the standard way in the same time:
I don't like brunettes only. Very good shot of Miss Netherlands, she's like a snowflake:

Miss Puerto Rico is my favorite one, there's not much I can say, her face says it all- beauty:
I like Miss St. Luca too:
I don't pretend to know much about beauty and fashion, but the winner is not in my favorites list. Honestly the Bulgarian girl is not in the list either.