Gay people, Xq28, evolution and ants

The annual Chicago gay parade took place yesterday, lots of wierdly and scantily dressed homosexuals expressing their pride on being gay. Well I have nothing against gay people, I mean other peoples sexual preferences are none of my business, screw a guy, girl, goat or an inflatable doll, its your preroragative, just dont F&$! with me. But I for one see no pride in dressing up as freaks to prove one is normal.

But lets ruminate this gay phenomenon, how did it come about? why? Some research points at the gene Xq28 from the mothers side, some say its the effect of circumstances of life and others say its just fashion. Anyway I look at it, homosexuality doesnt help in the evolution of the species, atleast not directly. No species would want to have gay members as they woudnt contribute to the furtherance of its gene pool, its almost like being sterile, no propogation, no contribution. So then why is something that is detrimental to the species allowed to go on? I am assuming here that the aim of any species is to propogate, increase its population, evolve into something better(not better, lets say different).

One explanation is that gay people are the genetic strains which have been marked for deletion, those are the people who have a genetic combination that is not beneficial to be carried on and hence should be stopped from reproducing. Something decided that this combination would be bad for the species and will need to be weeded out. Or maybe, just C + O2 is ok but C + O is poisonous (carbon diaoide and carbon monoxide) similarly some combination of genes has been deemed poisonous. so basically this hypothesis states that being gay equates to being the end of the line.
Lets analyze this hypothesis, we all know evolution doesnt think, basically it consists of two forces, one force trying to increase genetic diversity, and another trying to decrease it, evolution thus, is a constant battle, the result of which is the outcome of the war that is the species. There is no defined hypothesis such as this will be good for the species, here is a chartered path etc, its a random combinator working both ways. Does the Hypothesis fail then, kind of, because the hypothesis assumes that the gene is thinking and decides to end its line. But it could entirely possible that a certain strain has evolved to self destruct through the ages, i.e. some combination of x + y + z genes, automatically causes the total gene to self destruct. Now we might ask why make something gay, why not just make it sterile or dead, thats a more permanent fix, true, unless there is a reason for them to exist. Its almost as if there is some benefit from having them around, but no benefit from having them reproduce.
Homosexuals can now undergo artificial insemination etc and still have kids, thats a recent technological/medical innovation, evolution I think will adapt to that if it realizes that more and more of its doomed people are circumventing its fence and reproduced.

Another thing to consider is that even if in some bizzare way all the gays were removed from our species right now, the next generation would still produce some gay people, if we have a population of 100, there will be a certain number of transexuals, homosexuals, hetrosexuals, bisexuals etc. come what may. The interesting study would be to check if that number is increasing or decreasing through the ages and to check if it has any co-relation with anything else. That could point us to the future of out species.

Consider an ant or bee colony, only the queen bee or ant propogates through special drones, all the other worker ants and bees are sterile. Is that the apex of a species, when only a few reproduce while the rest are there just to help. The worker ants and bees fulfill a duty to the species, but they arent propogated, their lot is to support the species with their talents and work, but the actual propogation is performed by a select few, thats selective reproduction at its best. We humans might end up that way too, once we reach a higher level, when we control the environment so much that its just us, there are no forces decreasing genetic diversity then the species would have reached its apex and it would suffice if worker strains are developed to work the few strains which still have potential, allowed to reproduce. Another hypothesis is that gay people are a step in that direction, they are producers and consumers of an economy that supports the few to propogate and evolve. The human species definitely is headed in this direction.

I also have a pet theory that, maybe the ultimate aim of the species is to evolve into an unisex, everybody can mate with everybody else, ultimate diversity, a strong indication in this sense is the increasing gays transexuals etc which could be experiments by evolution to reach its final goal. A funny thought is, if you check out every science fiction renderation of advanced alien species, we never know how they mate, the all look asexual, live like a ant or bee colony, have absolutely no bio diversity (no other animals, plants), manufacture everything, use the sun for energy.... is our species unkowingly headed in that direction.

Well that aside, I think gays shoudnt go about parading to prove they are humans, it was sad not to see a single scientific research paper or idea being given out in yesterdays parade, it was jsut an excuse to frolic, get drunk and dirty the city. The anti gay protesters were their, and other than waving bibles at each other nobody talked any sense. I for one support more research into this gay phenomenon and its impact on out species.

Lessons from Personal Trainer

I took up some personal trainer lessons recently, 10 sessions or so, here are some things I learnt. I also have been playing and working out with other people and this brings together all the things I feel are points to ponder on.
I have always worked out, but usually do stuff I see other people do or ask around for ideas but usually applying my own logic, this time I am going for professional help.
My goals were
1) to be able to play better i.e. jump higher, run faster, hit stronger
2) look good, good enough to remove my shirt in public
3) lose some weight to decrease pressure on my knees and ankles
4) lose fat around abs and obliques
5) learn about this whole physical training, exercising, fat calorie etc

session 1: (just testing)
found out I had 19% body fat. height 6ft weight 190 pounds. 19% is average for guys, thought for athletes 10% is better.
your body becomes used to a certain routine, so to keep seeing results you have to change routine once in a while(2 months or so).
if you dont do a complete extension of the exersise you will only have strength till the part you complete and will be weak for the last part. sometimes I used to stop at a certain point in the movement.
work two things at the same time, dont do one, sit for a while, do another, rest, goto sleep, chat and have a drink. Keep the heart rate up, alternate quickly between two exercises.
stomach and obliques are first to come and last to go. filo. you might build your ab muscles, but you need tog et rid of the fat to make them show.
eat more frequently but less portions, if you eat big but far in betweeen body thinks its in a famine and starts storing as fat.
lose more fat in weight training than aerobics, as in aerobics a different class of foods is used up and also if you do weight body keeps working next few days healing those muscles.
better not work same muscle group on consecutive days, alternate muscle groups for best results.

Session 2:(upper body, 1 set will split upper body later)
two types of strength, endurance and short burst. if you do less reps of heavy weight it builds up short term strength for that one big push. more reps implies strength for longer period. difference between hammering a nail and pulling a trunk.
more reps gives better muscle definement.
good to work out with a spot as you usually go one step further than you would alone, use them.
dumbells are better than bars as they concentrate weight on the muscle you are working, a bar spreads it out, also dumbells have better movement and deliver a better workout.
do atleast 10-15 reps first time, and decrease it to 10 if you cant do so many.
usually chest and back is the weakest part for people, make sure you work those.

session 3:(lower body)
working out legs is very important, dont want to be a conifer. Once you get injured somewhere you will never be the same again, but you will have to build strength every where else to compensate. If you get used to braces you might have to wear them the rest of the life. Its better to build strength than just use braces, sometimes braces might inhibit strength development. Recovery is always slow, dont rush it. Always maintain proper form, else you could hurt yourself.

session 4
keep changing stuff, make small changes in the routine, try doing more reps with a lesser weight for more burn, or less reps with more weight to build strength, add a twist to the end position, vary things, make it more interesting and challenge yourself.
form is very very important.
always do cardio after weights, lifting weights uses up more carbs, which is the more immediate source of energy, hence dont waste it on cardio, and after doing weights do cardio you will lose more weight that way.
allow time for muscle tears to heal, so give a 24-48 hour gap between working the same muscle strenuously.
the steam room is good, but there are conflicting thoughts to doing steam room after weights, most players ice after game or workout to decrease blood supply, thus decreasing chance of inflamation. steam room causes more blood to flow into different areas in the body, thus increasing the supply of nutrients, quicker healing but might cause inflamation. Never do steam room if you are tired or exhausted as it might put strain on the heart.
use same weights on both sides, its bad to use different weights just because one hand is stronger than the other.

session 5 (upper body)
different people have different recovery periods, some people lift weights one day and are tight rest of the week, some people 24-48 hrs thats general idea is to rest the muscle group for 24-48 hrs to allow it to recover before working it out again. In my case strangely I need about 30 mins, however much I lift, after 30 mins I am loose and ready to go again.
Change the order of the routine, do it backwards, switch the coupling between exercises.
To do exercises properly you need to strengthen all parts of your body, if your back isnt strong enough you want be able to do crunches properly, as it cannot do its bit in the exercise and that will pain.
when in pain stop, there is no glory in going further, you have the rest of your life to get where you want to be, an injury only sets you back.
abs come quick and go very slow, only way to get good abs is the shave the fat away by general exercise, just doing ab axercises wont help as this only builds the muscles inside leaving the fat outside. you have to do both. Diet is also important.

Session 6 (upper body)
ever try bending a cold piece of plastic, it will break, but if you warm it up a little bit it will bend, same with your body, warm up a little before you stretch. Stretching is important, especially if you want to retain flexibility. Stretch all times during the day. During routine do dynamic stretches (quick movements side to side) and also short duration stretches. After routine spend some time doing long stretches (count upto 15 or more).
do burn exercises during your routine, i.e. no or min weights but quick and many reps.
take sips of water to replace water lost during workout, dont gulp down a gallon as it upsets stomach, same after playing.
As you do weights, muscles are torn, and blood accumalates there to fix it, hence the stiffness, more protein diet helps repare muscles faster.

Session 7
you work muscle groups in tandem, i.e., there is always a primary muscle and a secondary muscle. When you are working your chest you also work your triceps, and when you work your back you are also working your biceps. You can play around with that theory to touch all muscles.
To lose weight cardio is the best thing, but here also you need to keep switching things around, for me though sports is the best way, playing exercises more parts of your body than runningg etc, though running, swimming etc help you maintain a more constant heart rate.

When you want to spike a volleyball, smash a sixer or kick a football, even though the primary muscle is your hand or leg the base of the power comes from your abs, lower back, basically your torso, to get a good swing you need a good torso, work on that and it will help you all round. By torso I mean, abs, back, hip joint, arm socket and chest.
Remember form is everything. Especially when playing.
Warm up all muscles before playing otherwise you will not get your form, first warm up then stretch and then play.

Sessions 8-10
I twistede my ankle badly and was out for a month and then I cought the flu and was out another month and a half, together with the holiday stuffing and partying I lost 10 pounds, became week and was back at square -10 so let it starts again

when coming back from a lay off, go easy, dont kill yourself, youa re tempted to start where you left off, even decrease reps to keep the weight up, dont do that, you have to slowly build back the strength
eating healthy is everything
when I checked my body fat index after my illness, it was still 19%, but I had lost 10-12 pounds. Its not important how much you weight, but rather how much fat you have in your body. Its better to be 200 pounds with 10% body fat, than 100 pounds with 30% body fat
When you start fresh, do a little bit of everything everyday. When the frequency of working out is good then you can target one muscle group each day, but that is difficult to maintain when you skip days etc.
Burning fat is a overall underlying process, jsut doing abs will not burn fat, its like any other muscle, if it is covered by fat tough luck, you have to burn the fat
try isolating the muscle/side when you exercise, you will actually know how strong is. Usually when ever you do something your whole body compensates for the work so you might now jsut exercising the one muscle, so islating the right hand or leg or back when you do an exercise helps push that muscle completly.

baseball 11 Vs cricket 11

I would like to propose a series of baseball games and cricket games between a world cricket 11 and a world baseball 11. It will be awesome to see gilchrist or shewag face pedro or randy jhonson. It initially came out of a thought of which cricket players would be successful in baseball, and vice versa. Cricket and Baseball are different in many ways, but it will be an interesting matchup.

Strategy for cricket 11:
for the cricket game we will need spinners, baseball game we will need some strong hitters and some swing bowlers.

Strategy for baseball 11:
for baseball games we will need some pitchers with lots of variations, not necessarily fast. cricket game we will need some athletes, hitters who are patient.

Cricket 11
batsman: Gilchrist, shewag,tendulkar,jayasuriya,
bowlers: akhtar, warne, muralitharan,
Baseball 11
Hitters: ichiro, bonds,jeter,
Pitchers:Pedro, clemens, maddux,

need to put some more thought ino this

The UN Veto

The United Nations was formed in 1945, never before nor sadly after was the need felt so much for a strong governing body to save the world from another world war. The League of Nations had failed, World War 2 had devastated the world and countries were prepared to do anything to get this body up and running. The three victors of WW2, USA, UK and USSR blackmailed the other countries into giving them a veto in this new body. check out http://www.un.int/mexico/discur97/veto-eng.htm a nice article about Mexico's fight against the veto. Since the security council is seen as the governing body of the UN, this veto power gave them supreme rights in the UN (How China and and France snuck into this cabal will be an interesting study of world politics, China was beaten up by Japan and France had lost the war).

I understand the need for a Security Council over the General Assembly. The League of Nations had failed because there were too many cooks stirring the broth, a smaller body can make a quick decision to avert a disaster. The idea was, atleast 20 countries would always have their representatives at the UN to be at hand to avert a crisis (though in todays age of video conferencing this requirement seems superflous). Anyways, we have a Security Council which takes decisions for the UN, decisions which ultimately need to be validated by the General Assembly.

The Veto though is a slap on the equality of countries. It gives the power to the 5 permanent members of the security council to block any resolution in the security council, thereby giving them supreme power in the UN. What is the basis for the veto; Strength (I say anybody with a nuclear bomb is powerful enough), Money (Germany and Japan are in the top 3 largest economies of the world), Stability (India is the the largest stable democracy), Diversity( India is one of the most diverse countries in the world), Resources (who can fight against the OPEC when it comes to oil), Population (India). What then may I ask is the reason for giving certain countries the right to impose their will on others, nothing other than the notion that these countries came up at the right end of the stick after WW2. Is the UN implying that 5 countries are more mature, have greater responsibility towards the world, have the capability to make important decisions for everybody, impartial, respected by everybody in the world and strong enough to make everybody listen for ever and ever till the end of time? I hope not. I dont understand how all the other countires can just bend over and submit to this injustice.

Lets take a look at the countries having the Veto power.
America: Has used the Veto the most in recent times (since 1984), the only country to use nuclear weapons on innocent people(not once but twice) and also one of the few countries to go to war without UN authorization
Russia: A ghost of the former USSR, still has disputes with other former Soviet republics, a bankrupt economy, fledgling democracy.
China: Non democratic, history of human rights violations, no free speech, currency pegged to the dollar.
France: Destroyed in WW2, nothing to differentiate it from any other country in the world.
Britian: Nothing to differentiate it from any other country.

What if we replaced the present set of veto members with Germany, Australia, Japan,India, Brazil and Egypt or say one vote for each major world organization, 1 for NATO, 1 for EU, 1 for SAARC, 1 for OPEC etc. I am sure anybody can come up with half a dozen objections similar to the ones I have given, hence my contention that since there is no logical reason as to why one country should have the veto versus another, either the veto should be rotated or removed altogether. Justify the veto power before bestowing it.

Here are some uses the veto power has been put to, or should we say abuses of the veto power. If this was the precedence, can we continue to trust the present countries to not abuse it further. Were these vetos used for the good of the world or was there some personal animosity or gain which was the actual reason.

Blocking the memberships of Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Japan, Bangladesh and many more countries (is the UN a brotherhood of the 5)
Veto has been used whenever there has been a complaint by a country against the veto powers, Nicaragua against USA, Panama against USA, (caesars wife is above complaint)
Veto has been used when ever a resolution was entered that might go against a veto powered country, even at the cost of other member countries (sacrifice the weak for the strong)

complete list: http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/membship/veto/vetosubj.htm

The veto has always been used to protect the intrests of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council, all other countries have had to align themselves with these 5 countries to protect their intrests, the world has been more polarised then united by this veto power. What is the use of being a member of the UN, if what ever you say can be over ruled by a select few, do the other member countries subjugate their interests in deference to the few. This power states that the interests of these 5 countries are more important than the good of the world.

A country with a weapon will always use it in its own interests, be it Saudi Arabia with huge oil reserves or India with skilled man power or USA with technology, by giving a few countries a special veto power we are giving them an extra weapon they can use against other countries. I will not blame the USA for using the veto, it will do it in its own best interests, If I had the veto I would use it for my best interests. My contention is that when the world is concerned every country is equal, everybody should be given an equal right. In our elections we dont say that the members of a certain race have veto votes or extra votes, the world has to be a democracy., A macrocsm of the microcsm we defend as the ideal governance.

Why does Britian feel that India shoudnt be given the veto power, similarly why does China feel that Japan shoudnt be given the veto, woudnt that feeling be mutual. I am sure Japan feels threatned that China has a veto, Germany that Britian and France have veto. Would the US feel secure if Mexico had a veto in the UN and it didnt. The basic fear is a country can use the veto to favour itself or bring about harm to the world. How can countries feel secure in the UN when one country can stop the wheel of justice. The veto is just a ruse by the 5 countries to maintain their hegemony over other countries, Britian clinging on to its past, USA trying to further its present, China establishing its future, Russia using it to survive and France playing self important.

I am for equality of all countries, I will not trust any country to hold the reins of earth for eternity, it was a mistake to give some countries the veto power and we should now correct it by abolishing this veto system. It does come at a critical juncture when India, Japan, Brazil and Germany are applying for permanent membership of the Security council, I want to ask these countries, you want the veto because you feel you are being trampled upon, you want a greater say in world politics and you dont want to be held hostage by the present 5, infact you feel threatned by them, doesnt the same feeling hold good for other countries which will be left out, wont they feel insecure too.
I do not belive in the status quo, I do not support the present system saying its worked so far, the system has failed, out and loud I say the system has failed, its just we dont want to know about it. I am sure the world would have been a better place if equality had been maintained, if USA and USSR didnt meddle maybe the India Pakisthan issues could have been resolved long ago. Polarising the world will only create problems.

Its my opinion that the veto system in the security council should be abolished, or every country should be given a veto. The General Assembly should be the ultimate power and the security council should only be used as a group to take quick decisions which will need to be later ratified by the General Assembly.