me and my (little) bro

once upon a time...... hehe, i love this pic!
this ought to clear up any misconceptions as to who is the older sibling :P

moved

"break my heart with the things that break Yours..."

---

Break Our Hearts Again

how easy we forget that cross of shame
where One who did no wrong took all the blame
because of love

how easy we forget the love You show
how welcoming You are to everyone
who cries to You

break our hearts again
break our hearts again

how weary we become of doing good
how deaf and blind we are to those who hurt
who cry for help

break our hearts again
break our hearts again

to love as You have loved
to be a friend
to comfort those who mourn
and dry their tears
to hold the broken hearted
share their pain

break our hearts again
break our hearts again

i never will forget that cross of shame
where One who did no wrong took all the blame
because of love

Noel & Tricia Richards © Thankyou Music 2004

---

"...prepare our hearts to risk again."

six-fingered dominance

whether or not J was serious about me commenting on six-fingered dominance, it's certainly too interesting a subject to overlook. (i think people are beginning to question my definition of 'interesting'...)

---

i took only one course in genetics and that was more than enough. for u UofT science students out there, i'm talking about the infamous HMB265. no one walks away from the course unscathed. in the end, u either love it or u hate it. i think i did both. genetics is one of the COOLEST things on earth to study but it takes a LOT to grasp the full extent of its coolness. so the theory part i managed just fine, but i had very little patience with the problems. (of course the biggest chunk of marks always comes from solving the problems... aiy.) anyway, i don't remember the six-fingered trait being brought up at all. maybe i missed that lecture? or i probably skipped over that problem or something... whatever. i'm catching up now, aren't i?

i found this problem on a berkeley site:

A six-fingered man and a five-fingered woman have 20 children (10 males and 10 females) with six fingers.
1. Do you know if six-fingered is dominant or recessive?
2. Do you know if six-fingered is sex-linked?
3. Do you know with 100% percent certainty that the male is homozygous for six-fingered?
4. What is the probability that if the male is heterozygous for six-fingered that all 20 children are six-fingered?

here are the official answers:

1. Autosomal: Six-fingered is most likely dominant. Note that if it is recessive, the five-fingered woman must be heterozygous and five-fingered is dominant. If 20 out of 20 children are six-fingered, then the chance of mom always donating the six-fingered allele randomly is (1/2)^20 -- not very likely (1 in a million since 2^10 is about 1000). These odds are actually much better than when you play the lottery.

2. The male must have the six-fingered allele and a Y chromosome. Thus the daughters will always get a six-fingered allele from dad and the sons will get the Y chromosome from dad. Mom is either homozygous for the five-fingered allele (if it is recessive) or she is heterozygous with the five-fingered allele being dominant. If she is heterozygous with the five-fingered allele being dominant, then 1/2 the boys should be five-fingered and 1/2 should be six-fingered. Likewise 1/2 the girls should be five-fingered and the other half should be six-fingered. If five-fingered is recessive, then all the boys must be five-fingered and all the girls six-fingered. This is not the case for the boys, so if the trait is sex-linked, then the five-fingered allele must be dominant.

3. This would imply autosomal. If six-fingered is autosomal dominant and the male is homozygous, then all of the offspring should be six-fingered. This is most likely the case.

4. As calculated earlier, the chance of getting the above results is one in a million if the male is heterozygous. Possible, but not likely.

makes plenty of sense to me. basically, the pattern of inheritance for polydactyly (ie. having extra digits) is autosomal dominant, and i read somewhere that the trait also exhibits complete penetrance and variable expressivity.

WHO THE HECK CARES?!
if this is what u're voicing (as i presume most of u are), u can stop right here :)

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!
curiosity killed the cat, they say... so by all means, read on!

---

*the following review is far from comprehensive but will do for the purposes of this post*

• humans carry 23 pairs of chromosomes. the sex chromosomes make up one pair. there are 2 kinds of sex chromosomes: X and Y. (females are XX and males are XY.) the other 22 pairs are called autosomes. so, if a trait is sex-linked, that means the corresponding gene is found on a sex chromosome (ie. whether or not u carry or express that trait depends on whether u're a guy or a girl). autosomal means that the trait expressed by the gene is found on an autosome (ie. the trait has nothing to do with whether u're a guy or a girl).

• genes usually exist in more than one form, and each form is called an allele. we get 2 alleles per gene that are present in an autosome pair--one from mom and one from dad. (sex chromosomes are a bit different but i won't get into that here.) an allele is either dominant or recessive.

• let's use eye-colour as an example. having brown eyes is a dominant trait, so let's represent it with a capital B. having blue eyes is a recessive trait, so let's represent it with a small b. since we have two alleles for our eye-colour gene (one from each parent), we have one of the following combinations: BB, Bb, bB, or bb. of course, if u carry only brown-eyed alleles (ie. BB) then ur eyes would be brown, and if u carry only blue-eyed alleles (ie. bb), then ur eyes would be blue. but what if u carry one of each?

• if an allele is dominant, that means it will override the recessive allele. therefore, if u have one brown-eyed allele and one blue-eyed allele (ie. Bb or bB--same thing), u will end up having brown eyes. a homozygous combination is made up of two of the same alleles (eg. BB or bb) and a heterozygous combination is made up two different alleles (eg. Bb).

• soooo... let's bring it back to the six-fingered trait. it's autosomal dominant, which means that the polydactyl gene (let's represent polydactyly with a capital D and the five-fingered gene with a small d) is on one of the non-sex chromosomes, and it is always expressed in the homozygous combo of DD or even if only one copy of the gene is present, as in the heterozygous combo of Dd.

• now what does it mean to have complete penetrance? in this case, the mutation of six fingers has complete penetrance because its symptoms are present in all individuals who carry this mutation. that is, if u carry a D, it's gonna show without question. other genes may have what's called incomplete penetrance which means that even if u carry it, u don't show it.

• lastly, what does variable expressivity mean? in the case of the six-fingered gene, variable expressivity means that the type and severity of the six-fingered mutation can vary. for example, if u have a D, u can have an extra thumb, or only a part of a thumb, while another person also carrying a D can have an extra index finger.

---

hmm... looking at my explanation, i don't think i made things any less complicated. oh well, that's genetics (and grace) for ya ;)

it's about time!!!

so after all these years of playing softball (since '97 i believe?) i finally finally FINALLY bought myself a glove!! holy crap, i can't believe i waited this long... it's amazing how being in a position of "leadership" can make a person do things they normally wouldn't do. anyway, i'm fairly pleased with my new glove. it was on sale at canadian tire for a little over $40... an easton, all black, 14" (yah it's kinda big, but i like 'em that way) and it's already soft enough for me to open and close, which is good cuz then i can hang on to the ball after i've caught it. and the glove fits well enough so that it doesn't go flying off my hand when i make a catch... i hope.

nostril post, dedicated to puss

i've been meaning to bring up this topic for so long that i forget how it all came about in the first place. i only remember talking to puss about it at some point and promising him that i'd blog about it. and i already had some sort of idea about breathing in through only one nostril at a time. probably a flashback from some lecture. of course, after that blog on antibodies a while back, i know better than to try to dig through my notes to find what i'm looking for :P the net was actually quite friendly to me this time around. and so, without further ado, i present to u some interesting facts about the nasal cycle:

- yes, there is such thing as a nasal cycle

- while one nasal cavity is functionally active*, the opposite side is 'resting'

- in other words, we alternate between the two nostrils when we breathe

- more accurately, we have asymmetrical airflow through our nasal passages

- the cycle takes 2 hours on average, but it varies per person and with age

- we don't notice the switch-over because the total nasal resistance remains fairly constant (due to the fact that the changes between the nasal passages tend to be reciprocal)

- what that means is the increase and decrease in resistance balances out between the two nostrils; we can't tell the difference because we're still inhaling the same amount of air

*mucosal swelling leading to decreased blood flow and increased nasal resistance

---

the following tidbits are interesting, but i'm not sure how scientifically proven they are:

- the nasal cycle may correspond with brain function, with the electrical activity of the brain found to be greater on the side opposite the less congested nostril

- for example, if ur left nostril were less obstructed, the right side of ur brain would be more predominant and u would perform better with creative tasks; if ur right nostril were less obstructed, then the left side of ur brain would be predominant and u would have increased logical and verbal activity

- those practicing yoga believe that a lot of disease is due to the nasal cycle being disturbed

- for example, they claim that prolonged breathing through the left nostril only (over a period of years) will produce asthma; however, by simply teaching the patient to breathe through the right nostril, the asthma can actually be cured

- yogis also believe that diabetes is caused to a large extent by breathing mainly through the right nostril

this can't be right

i've always been an advocate of geeks and nerds everywhere... having been one myself once upon a time (and still a bit of one to this day), i've learned to appreciate their quirks and unique insights. whether i'm laughing with them or at them, the point is they make me laugh. and when is humour not a good thing? and contrary to popular opinion, geeks and nerds are cool in their own right and make very interesting company once u give them the chance. however, the actual dictionary entries for 'geek' really threw me off:

geek n. slang

• a person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
• a person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept
• a carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken

geez louise. do people really have these definitions in mind when they call other people geeks?

the 'nerd' entries aren't much better (with the exception of the last entry):

nerd n. slang

• a foolish, inept, or unattractive person [*oh yah, that's great, just throw 'unattractive' in there, ya big dictionary-writing bully! as though 'clumsy' weren't bad enough]
• an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or studying excessively
• pejorative applied to anyone with an above-average IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals
• [jargon] term of praise applied (in conscious ironic reference to previous connotations) to someone who knows what's really important and interesting and doesn't care to be distracted by trivial chatter and silly status games

WELL. i don't care to be further distracted by silly status games, do u? i shall put an end to this trivial chatter right now.

:P

a reason to celebrate

i just wanna give a shout out to my dear sister lynn who was baptized this past Easter Sunday... i'm rejoicing with u! God-willing, we'll be seeing more of each other in the future... *ahem* t-n--l- *cough* ;)

insulin and aging 101 (as promised)

this post is dedicated to those who love science as much as i do :) i've presented the information in a simple, easy-to-follow format for the benefit of anyone willing enough to read on.

---

insulin-resistance and its contribution to aging

key point: too much insulin in the blood has profound pro-aging effects

let's start with the basics:

• carbohydrates are made up of glucose molecules
• when glucose enters the blood, within minutes your pancreas secrete the hormone insulin
• why? - to get the glucose out of your bloodstream and into your cells ASAP
• how? - your cells have receptors (like trapdoors) for insulin; a cell needs insulin first (via receptor sites) in order to be able to absorb and metabolize glucose
• as you age, your cells lose more and more of these insulin receptors

so what??

let me use this example:

a five-year-old and a fifty-year-old each have a scoop of ice cream

- five-year-old:

• little insulin secreted
• sugar quickly cleared from blood
• insulin levels quickly return to normal

- fifty-year-old:

• a lot more insulin secreted (to make up for the delay in finding the few insulin receptors that are left)
• sugar takes longer to be cleared from blood
• insulin levels take longer to return to normal (ie. more insulin in the blood for a longer period of time)

again... so what??

when your insulin levels are high:

• your body is adding fat onto your waistline
• your blood pressure goes up
• your triglycerides go up (triglycerides are what make up body fat, like how glucose molecules make up carbohydrates)
• you feel tired all the time (because it takes longer to get glucose into your cells; remember that your cells use glucose as fuel, and a slowed-down metabolism of glucose means that your cells aren't getting all the fuel that they need to function top-notch)
• your kidneys retain salt and fluids, which further elevates your blood pressure
• your arterial walls get thicker and harder -> a precursor to heart disease and poor *peripheral circulation (*in other words, blood has a harder time circulating in your skin and you slowly lose your skin's radiance and elasticity, resulting in wrinkles)

are you scared of insulin yet? there's more:

• as long as insulin levels remain elevated, the effects will override your dieting efforts and make it nearly impossible to take off fat
• any intake of carbohydrates will trigger the production of a LOT of insulin to carry out what used to be a small clean-up job (back when your cells had way more insulin receptors)
• a LOT of insulin will of course linger in the blood longer than a LITTLE insulin
• as time goes by, blood sugar goes up and stays up longer because the cells are doing a poorer job of bringing in insulin... and the result? even more insulin is produced!

what does a high blood sugar level lead to?

• GLYCATION - one of the biggest reasons we age
• when glucose levels are elevated in the blood, glucose attaches to proteins or DNA instead of being utilized as fuel for energy
• this irreversibly compromises the function of the protein or DNA (that is, the cell won't work like it originally used to, and this degeneration promotes aging)

last but not least, insulin's extended presence:

• activates cholesterol-making machinery
• did you know that eating red meat has a relatively tiny effect on your cholesterol levels compared to that of a moderately (not even highly, but moderately!) elevated insulin level?? the cholesterol you eat is only responsible for 20-30% of your circulating levels; the rest is manufactured courtesy of insulin!
• the key point is that eating carbohydrates ultimately has more impact on your cholesterol levels than eating high-fat foods

conclusion: insulin-related metabolic changes foster aging and associated major degenerative changes such as obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. simply put, insulin has a great deal to do with how gracefully or poorly you age.

mmm... chocolate...

i've always liked chocolate... but it's been a while since i've consumed it so voraciously or in such massive quantities. i have a stash of chocolate in my room that i've managed to maintain for those momentary cravings, but that stash is on the verge of extinction! i'm inhaling the stuff, seriously. i dunno what's come over me. and frankly, i'm a bit concerned as to where all that junk is going or what it's doing to my body... my insulin's probably going nuts with all that glucose in my blood... speaking of which, i read something the other day about the role of insulin in aging... crazy interesting.

but maybe for another post.

muay thai day

i hope no one irish reads my post today :P being a new ong bak/tony jaa fan and all, i was checking out a bunch of sites and i happened to stumble across this piece of information on the muay thai section of the australian ong bak site (go check it out! the other links too!):

"In 1767, Thailand was at war with the Burmese and a champion [Thai] boxer Nai Kahnomtom was captured by the Burmese king Angwa. King Angwa called for a boxing match, the first Muay Thai match outside of Thailand and Nai Kahnomtom defeated all ten Burmese challengers in succession, with no rest at all between the ten fights.

"As a result, Nai Khanomtom was honored as The Father of Muay Thai and the day of the fight, March 17th is now officially named ‘Muay Thai day’ in Thailand."

what are the chances i'd discover that today?? so yah, i figured recognition of muay thai day ought to take precedence over st. patrick's day... on my blog, at least :)

take my breath away!

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!! can i say WOW?!?!

SICK!! SICK!! TONY JAA IS SICK!! DAYAM!!

i cannot remember the last time a movie has taken my breath away like ong bak. and i don't mean screenplay or cinematography or special effects or whatever... i mean tony jaa and his moves. period. the "no stunt doubles, no computer graphics, no strings attached" tony jaa. dayam! i couldn't even sit still throughout the movie... haha, u shoulda seen me on my couch flinging my elbows and legs around and heard all the ruckus i was making... i got sooo totally into the action! beautiful! the elbows, the knees! the elbow-knee combos! on top of the stunts and everything else! holy crap, the skills!! amazing... the guy just blows me away!! i gotta give mad props to muay thai (someone should be pleased to hear that :P) cuz tony jaa really knew how to bring it! if u're into martial arts or action and u haven't seen ong bak, GO SEE IT!!

xx pov

a lot of the book of proverbs talks about the 'wayward woman' and how deceptive she is and how to avoid all her evil traps and enticing ways lest she lure u in and prey on u and add u to her long and growing list of victims... yah yah ok, fine, but what about the 'wayward man'?? when i first read proverbs, i remember thinking to myself how one-sided solomon's advice was... what about the other way around? what kind of men are women supposed to avoid? anyway, i went through the book again recently and i found a verse for us ladies [proverbs 20:6] :

Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?

haha... good one solomon, thanks for coming through for us :)

baby talk

"hmm... pretty good deal on this high chair.
dun gotta pay for it til i'm three years old.
i should have more than enough by then!"

kill bill | mystery song

so i watched kill bill for the first time tonight.

......iiiinteresting.

there was this song that came on several times in the movie and even during the credits (i think the first time it came on was when the bride was being given her sword) and when i heard it, i was like, hey i know that song! i love that song. it totally brought back memories. but i dunno what it's called. i first heard it in regina... channel 4 (cbc i believe?) used to run this short animation thingy between programs and they had this one animation about a bird... two birds actually... one bird was plain-looking and the other bird was grand and beautiful, and the plain-looking bird wished that it could look like the beautiful bird. the whole thing was so sad... the bird trying so hard to be what it wasn't because it couldn't see its own beauty. anyway, that song was the background music for the animation and i fell in love with both the song and the story. (there's something about the song that just makes me wanna cry... maybe it's that beautiful pan flute playing.) i've wanted to know what the song was called but it's been a decade since my regina days and i've forgotten about it til now. i suppose i could just look it up on the net... but i probably won't. i'll just continue to let it be that mystery song i love so much :)

for hire

anyone need their driveways shovelled?

let me know :P

goofin' around :)

so i bonded with my dad this past wknd... took a bunch of test pics with his new super digital camera and i dunno what came over us but we went crazy making silly faces :P click here for a small sample:

http://www.geocities.com/mulan1231/animated.gif

*grin*

a pointless entry

so i've been sick the past coupla weeks... a lot better now, but i did go to the doctor at one point. he prescribed some antibiotics that i ended up not getting... too cheap to buy medicine for myself so i left my immune system to do its own fighting. anyway, i was recently thinking about how i never bought my antibiotics (why would i be thinking that? i dunno, and please dun ask me) and that got me thinking about antibodies and i suddenly recalled a lecture in which the prof mentioned that we're born with all the antibodies (or means to produce them) that we'll ever need in our lifetime... or something along those lines. but i wasn't sure whether the memory was real or i was just making it up. i tried to google 'antibodies' but i've always sucked at online searches and there was too much info for me (plus not enough patience on my part) to sift through everything to find what i wanted to find. so i decided to go through my university binders... didn't even know where to start since a lot of my courses covered antibodies at some point and i couldn't remember which prof or what course... i leafed through as many binders as i had patience for, found lots of notes on antibodies, but i couldn't find what i wanted to verify. so yah... now i'm all flustered and confused (what's new)... i mean, maybe i did make it up after all... this is really gonna bug me now...

i told u this was gonna be a pointless entry :P

the heart of the matter

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied:

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Matthew 22:36-39

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love,

just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you

and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this:

Love each other as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this,

that he lay down his life for his friends. ”

John 15:9-13

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution

or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that

neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35, 37-39

This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need

but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Dear children,

let us not love with words or tongue

but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:16-18

Love is patient,

love is kind.

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It is not rude,

it is not selfseeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

Love never fails.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

year of the rooster

a happy chinese new year to everyone...
especially to all my fellow '81 roosters out there :)

He gives and takes away

God gives each of us a set of gifts and talents that He expects us to use to the fullest of our abilities to bring Him glory in one way or another. in what way or to what extent we're gifted or even the number of talents we've been blessed with... all these things aren't the point. the point is that we have to make use of what we've got. i believe that throughout life, God gives us many chances to show Him how we've made use of what He gave us. i also believe that whatever we don't use (even after so many chances to do so), He will take away accordingly.

i hope with all my heart that my chances have not yet run out. but even if they have... i know He'll show me another path to take. He's gracious like that :)

Blessed Be Your Name
by Matt Redman
album: Where Angels Fear To Tread (2002)

Blessed be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

*Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

**Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name