gc

A bit more on the subject which is interesting from Nature.

Published online: 29 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050627-7

War of the fire ants

Jessica Ebert

Males pit their genes against females by chucking DNA out of eggs.

In a bizarre war of the sexes, little fire ants have evolved a novel way to fight for their gender's genes, according to new research.

The sperm of the male ant appears to be able to destroy the female DNA within a fertilized egg, giving birth to a male that is a clone of its father. Meanwhile the female queens make clones of themselves to carry on the royal female line.

The result is that both the males and females have their own, independent gene pools, leading some to speculate whether each gender ought to be technically classified as its own species. "We could think of the males as a separate, parasitic species that uses host eggs for its own reproduction," says Denis Fournier of the Université Libre in Brussels, Belgium, who led the work.

Many insects, including most bees, wasps and ants, sexually reproduce in order to create both queens and sterile female workers. Males are created when a female egg goes unfertilized. Unlike humans, whose males require genetic input from a father, these male insects simply have less genetic material than the females.

But when Fournier and his team were studying little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) in French Guiana, they found something quite different.

Lucky dip

"It is by chance that we discovered this extraordinary genetic system," says Fournier. The team had set out to investigate how colonies in human-disturbed areas, such as plantations or quarries, differ from those in undisturbed rain forests. But after collecting 34 nests and analyzing the genomes of the queens and workers, and the sperm of the males, an unusual pattern emerged. Although the sterile workers carried one maternal and one paternal set of chromosomes as expected, the queens carried only maternal genes and the males carried only paternal genes.

"There's no other genetic system that's quite like this," says Benjamin Normark, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Little fire ant queens produce two types of eggs: one that carries the full complement of maternal genes and develops without fertilization into future clones of the queen, and a second group that carries only one set of chromosomes and is fertilized with sperm from a male. Of this latter group of eggs, most develop into sterile workers. In some of the fertilized eggs, however, the maternal genes are somehow destroyed, leaving the eggs to develop into male ant clones.

The rest of the story...

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/full/050627-7.htm

gc

Very good news they found the little girl alive. Now to find her brother!

I found this blog with the same name as the website mentioned in the new article. Could it this man's blog site?

http://fifthnail.blogspot.com/

Cindy, that's a great shop! It fits women from smaller sizes to larger sizes and they even have nice accessories too. Dress Barn is the shop I was thinking about when I posted. The prices are decent and there is always a sale going on.

gc

Bramble, It also helps to find a shop that caters to Women. :)-->

gc

I've been on a diet for a few weeks now. I know everyone says that loosing weight too quickly is not the way to go, but I'm not sure what too much weight is, honestly.

I work at a restaurant, so before my diet (bad term for it) started I used to snack on tex/mex food and sopapillas, lots of fried foods. My clothes were all getting way too tight. So...

I cut out all bread and sweets ('cept for sugar in my coffee and honey in my tea and cereal bars as a snack)

I ate lots of fresh fruit

Cereals

I ate fresh veggies

Meat without sauces

No starches

In three weeks I lost 14 pounds.

I'm active i.e. I cut my own grass, etc. and I'm a waitress. I also started back into an exercise program.

Mind you, 14 pounds on me is NOT a big deal, since I'm almost 5'10". About 20 pounds is a dress size for me.

Hope this helps!

As a side note, there were three of us on a diet. We all chose how we wanted to loose weight. One was on the cabbage diet, but she couldn't stick to it, she gained weight. The other woman and me both went on a similar diet plan, one doing more exercise than the other. I did less exercise and lost more weight since muscle (and the one gal gained muscle) weighs more than fat. So, if you get on a exercise program and gain muscle, you might not loose as much, so don't get disappointed because you'll look much better. And choose a program you can stick with, which is also healthy.

my two cent worth :)-->

gc

Geo, there are lots of men who are wonderful! The few complaints I've read on this thread aren't about the ones who try and the ones who care. I've voiced my opinion here and I'm divorced, but I didn't make that decision lightly, nor without a lot of thought beforehand and I gave it a long time to be right, but nothing I did worked. I'm sorry if anything I said angered you, I would never want to do that especially to someone going through the beginnings of a divorce.

I find most women, I'm generalizing here, are willing to wait out the problems, just like men. They are appreciative of what their husband's do and sometimes they too don't utter the words that should be said, taking for granted that their husbands know.

gc

quote:

Originally posted by Abigail:

Divorce is a death of sorts. Or more like a double suicide. Suicide/homicide. I dunno.

Just give yourself lots of room to grieve and vent.

You are very right on here. I wanted my divorce, I initiated it, but still I went through a grieving process for about a year and I can't fully explain it easily. A friend of mine told me that divorce is similar to a death, 'cept there's no honor.

gc

dek, That's pretty sad. I don't think one should be compared to anyone else, and reality should always prevail.

gc

Yes, congrats on both accounts!

gc

quote:

Originally posted by mj412:

I tell the woman to think and think hard. grass is not greener just diffferent. many people who have been married a good chunk of life, may leave, but then they seek another relationship and often get married again . male and female.

Sometimes the grass is greener and has flowers too! :D-->

The one thing I didn't think about when I became single, but it wouldn't have stopped me, was that I would be loosing part of my family, my inlaws. :(-->

I think that sometimes people seek another relationship because they like what marriage can be or should be, others seek because they can't be alone, which isn't so great.

gc

Garth :D--> Which side the Mississippi are you on, just in case ;)-->

gc

I think I've been drinking caffine in my coffee for too long, I can finish off a pot at night, then go off to sleep for 8 hours without waking up once. :D-->

Having my second cup of the day and its 7:30 am ;)-->

gc

Vickles, That I don't understand. Coming from the angle of wanting a good marriage, is hard to watch someone kill a good one.

gc

Vickles, I wasn't in my 50's, but my 40's when I divorced. When I realized that my marriage was terrible I promised myself that I would give my marriage until my son was finished school. He was two years into college (and I was 42) when I was seperated. It was not a mid-life crisis, but an "enough was enough" situation.

Women today are not totally dependent on their spouses for support so they don't have to put up with a bad marriage. I also think more and more women aren't buying the church's angle on marriage and divorce so they are more free to live a better life, what ever that means to them.

Jim, Maybe your wife is enjoying doing things just for herself, things she has always wanted to do? :)--> I had to wait until I was single again to do things for me that I wanted to do.

gc

quote:

Originally posted by satori001:

It was black humor, but not a joke.

The story reminded me of TWI's standard response to the criticism of "unbelievers." I thought the wording would pretty much speak for itself.

satori

Thanks for explaining, it always ruins the joke when you have to explain it, huh? I can appreciate black humor, the problem is, for me, I usually don't recognize it as quickly as most. :)-->

Thanks Raf :)-->

gc

quote:

Originally posted by satori001:

The world will always condemn what it doesn't understand. Let's just be thankful that the priest took a stand and the nun was delivered.

I do hope you are joking, even though it would be in bad taste at the expense of a murdered individual. But in case you aren't, she isn't delivered, she is dead. As far as the priest taking a stand, I hope their magistrates also take a stand and deal in justice.

gc

Romanian priest unrepentant after crucifixion of nun

By Laura Chiriac, Agence France Press

TANACU, Romania — A Romanian Orthodox priest, facing charges for ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was "possessed by the devil," was unrepentant Saturday as he celebrated a funeral ceremony for his alleged victim.

"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," Father Daniel, 29, the superior of the Holy Trinity monastery in north-eastern Romania, told an AFP reporter before celebrating a short liturgy "for the soul of the deceased", in the presence of 13 nuns who showed no visible emotion.

He insisted that from the religious point of view the crucifixion of Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, was "entirely justified," but admitted he faced excommunication as well as prosecution, and was seeking a "good lawyer."

Prosecutors said Saturday they had charged the priest and four nuns with imprisonment leading to death, while religious authorities said he would be barred from celebrating liturgy until the investigation was completed. The monastery will be shut if they are found guilty, Father Daniel's superiors said.

Cornici was found dead on Wednesday, gagged and chained to a cross, after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.

Mihaela Straub, spokeswoman for the police in the province of Vaslui, said Daniel and four other nuns had claimed Cornici was possessed and should be exorcised.

Before being crucified she had been kept shut up for several days, her hands and feet tied and without food or drink, he said.

Cornici had entered the monastery just three months before, after visiting a friend who was a nun there, police said.

As her coffin entered the church of the monastery Saturday no church bells were sounded while nuns cast distrustful glances at the strangers, including two AFP reporters, present at the ceremony.

Claps of thunder from an approaching storm were sometimes the only sounds to break the silence.

"This storm is proof that the will of God has been done," Daniel said.

"You see it?" said the priest, gesturing at the body, lying in an annexe and still showing the marks of the gag.

Daniel has lived for the past four years in the isolated monastery located in the hills of one of the poorest regions of Romania, without running water or electricity.

"Over there, in your world, the people must know that the devil exists. Personally I can find his work in the gestures and speech of possessed people, because man is often weak and lets himself be easily manipulated by the forces of evil," said the bearded young priest.

"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practise in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," he said.

Sociologist Alred Bulai said that corporal punishment was still commonly used in certain Romanian monasteries.

"It's happening particularly in the isolated monasteries, where the superiors have difficulty understanding the current realities and adapting themselves to modern life," Bulai said.

It was not clear why Father Daniel believed the nun was possessed. One parishoner, Dora, said the nun "had to be punished, she had an argument with the Father during a Sunday mass and insulted him in front of the congregation."

Mediafax news agency reported Saturday that the Cornici had recently been treated for "schizophrenia" at the local hospital, but the chief of the local child welfare office, Ionel Bratianu, said the nun was "in good health and did not suffer from any psychiatric trouble."

Cornici was raised in an orphanage until the age of 19, when she traveled to Germany to work as a nanny for a family of German doctors. After in-depth psychological and psychiatric tests, the German embassy had declared her apt to take care of children, said Bratianu.

Since the fall of the communist regime in December 1989, the Orthodox Church, which represents 85% of Romania's 22 million inhabitants, is rated in many opinion polls as the most trusted institution in the country.

Vitalie Danciu, the superior of a nearby monastery at Golia, called the crucifixion "inexcusable," but a spokesman for the Orthodox patriarchate in Bucharest refused to condemn it.

"I don't know what this young woman did," Bogdan Teleanu said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005...st_x.htm?csp=34

http://www.daily-news.ro/article_detail.php?idarticle=12569

This is a very sad commentary for this day in time!

gc

Praying for ya'll

gc

I'm sorry, will be praying for ya'll.

gc

How could you leave your child, or any child, home with two dogs when you are scared that one might harm your child? Stay in the basement while I run errands???? Errands were so important and secret that she HAD to go and couldn't take him with her?

quote:

"I put him down there, with a shovel on the door," Faibish said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "And I told him: 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me."

I hope she doesn't have any other kids!

gc

quote:

Originally posted by Belle:

I never heard of cooking with lavender either, but I'd love to try that salmon recipe. I don't see lavender down here and wonder if it's too hot for it and where I could find some....

Belle, I'm guessing you are in the south, so am I. I've tried to grow lavender a number of times and failed, 'cept for this year. In the past I've bought a lavender plant in mid-spring and it would die before it was fully established, I'm guessing because of the heat. This year I bought a plant in February, potted it into a clay pot, left it outdoors and kept it watered. By the time the temp. heated up my plant was established and starting to grow. Then I moved it under a tree so that it gets some sun and stays cooler than if it was in full sun. It seems to be thriving! I'm thinking of cutting some back to fill a sachet :)-->

As far as finding a plant, I noticed that they had some for sale at one of the local Whole Food Markets. I bought mine at a nursery. I've also seen the seeds, but I would suggest starting them early here in the south.

Hope this helps.

gc

thanks coolchef, I'll try it!

gc

I'm with you CWF, prayer and gardening :)-->

This year I only have tomatoes, bell peppers, beans and zucchini. So far I have three tomatoes on two of my plants and lots of peppers. They are flowering beautifully!

This year my herb garden is parsley, thyme, oregano, chamomile, lavender, basil, sage, rosemary, chives and garlic chives.

Most of my gardening now is done in pots, 'cept for my parsley, chives and rosemary; chives and rosemary I've had for years, my parsley keeps reseeding itself. :D-->

I have a hard time growing lavender because of our summer heat. This year I've had success! I started early before the heat set in, around February and now that it's established I have it under a tree so that it gets some sun and stays cool.

My best year gardening was when my entire back yard was a veggie and herb garden with flowers here and there to help with bug control. It was absolutely beautiful. When the corn started to come up my neighbors would stop and talk to ask about what was growing. It was so much fun!

Gardening from seeds, to me, is the most fun :)-->

coolchef, have you used lavender on anything besides ostrich?

gc

pawtucket, ebuyer sells to both Britian and America. There is a flag icon on the bottom left that you can click on which will bring you to either country's site.

gc

Have you tried ebuyer?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/