Jesus Camp

Un amigo me recomendó este documental y realmente me dejó sin palabras... 
Hoy, después de varios días, puedo empezar a digerirlo un poco. Lo suficiente como para darles un vistazo de algo que está ocurriendo en los EEUU. 
Personalmente, me causa una mezcla rara de sentimientos y aunque muchos tal vez sientan que no pueden ver una hora y cuarto de lo que es, básicamente, un crudo endoctrinamiento de niños con la intención de formar una especie de "ejército" de "Dios"; es importante saber lo que está ocurriendo en el mundo, nos guste o no.
El proceso es llevado a cabo por una serie de adultos que forman parte de la iglesia cristiana evangelista de EEUU. Una adicta al spray de pelo, que constantemente compara sus métodos con aquellos utilizados en otras partes del mundo para convertir a niños en feroces guerreros, y disfruta sádicamente del llanto de los niños. 
TRAILER
En vez de debatir conmigo misma, los dejo con un mini debate bastante interesante y un poco caótico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=309MCU8TonE 

Five things humans no longer need!

• Vestigial organs are parts of the body that once had a function but are now more-or-less useless. Probably the most famous example is the appendix, though it is now an open question whether the appendix is really vestigial. The idea that we are carrying around useless relics of our evolutionary past has long fascinated scientists and laypeople alike.

This week we tackle vestigial organs in a feature article that looks at how the idea has changed over the years, and how it has come under attack fromcreationists anxious to deny that vestigial organs (and hence evolution) exist at all. To accompany the article, here is our list of the five organs and functions most likely to be truly vestigial.

Read the full article on vestigial organs

Vomeronasal organ

Rodents and other mammals secrete chemical signals called pheromones that carry information about their gender or reproductive state, and influence the behaviour of others. Pheromones are detected by a specialised sensory system, the vomeronasal organ (VNO), which consists of a pair of structures that nestle in the nasal lining or the roof of the mouth. Although most adult humans have something resembling a VNO in their nose, neuroscientist Michael Meredith of Florida State University in Tallahassee has no hesitation in dismissing it as a remnant.

"If you look at the anatomy of the structure, you don't see any cells that look like the sensory cells in other mammalian VNOs," he says. "You don't see any nerve fibres connecting the organ to the brain." He also points to genetic evidence that the human VNO is non-functional. Virtually all the genes that encode its cell-surface receptors - the molecules that bind incoming chemical signals, triggering an electrical response in the cell - are pseudogenes, and inactive.

So what about the puzzling evidence that humans respond to some pheromones? Larry Katz and a team at Duke University, North Carolina, have found that as well as the VNO, the main olfactory system in mice also responds to pheromones. If that is the case in humans too then it is possible that we may still secrete pheromones to influence the behaviour of others without using a VNO to detect them.

Goose bumps

Though goose bumps are a reflex rather than a permanent anatomical structure, they are widely considered to be vestigial in humans. The pilomotor reflex, to give them one of their technical names, occurs when the tiny muscle at the base of a hair follicle contracts, pulling the hair upright. In birds or mammals with feathers, fur or spines, this creates a layer of insulating warm air in a cold snap, or a reason for a predator to think twice before attacking. But human hair is so puny that it is incapable of either of these functions.

Goose bumps in humans may, however, have taken on a minor new role. Like flushing, another thermoregulatory mechanism, they have become linked with emotional responses - notably fear, rage or the pleasure, say, of listening to beautiful music. This could serve as a signal to others. It may also heighten emotional reactions: there is some evidence, for instance, that a music-induced frisson causes changes of activity in the brain that are associated with pleasure.

Darwin's point

Around the sixth week of gestation, six swellings of tissue called the hillocks of Hiss arise around the area that will form the ear canal. These eventually coalesce to form the outer ear. Darwin's point, or tubercle, is a minor malformation of the junction of the fourth and fifth hillocks of Hiss. It is found in a substantial minority of people and takes the form of a cartilaginous node or bump on the rim of their outer ear, which is thought to be the vestige of a joint that allowed the top part of the ancestral ear to swivel or flop down over the opening to the ear.

Technically considered a congenital defect, Darwin's point does no harm and is surgically removed for cosmetic reasons only. However, the genetics behind it tells an interesting tale, says plastic surgeon Anthony Sclafani of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York City. The trait is passed on according to an autosomal dominant pattern, meaning that a child need only inherit one copy of the gene responsible to have Darwin's point. That suggests that at one time it was useful. However, it also has variable penetration, meaning that you won't necessarily have the trait even if you inherit the gene. "The variable penetration reflects the fact that it is no longer advantageous," Sclafani says.

Tail bone

A structure that is the object of reduced evolutionary pressure can, within limits, take on different forms. As a result, one of the telltale signs of a vestige is variability. A good example is the human coccyx, a vestige of the mammalian tail, which has taken on a modified function, notably as an anchor point for the muscles that hold the anus in place.

The human coccyx is normally composed of four rudimentary vertebrae fused into a single bone. "But it's amazing how much variability there is at this spot," says Patrick Foye, director of the Coccyx Pain Service at New Jersey Medical School in Newark. Whereas babies born with six fingers or toes are rare, he says, the coccyx can and often does consist of anything from three to five bony segments. What's more, there are more than 100 medical reports of babies born with tails. This atavism arises if the signal that normally stops the process of vertebrate elongation during embryonic development fails to activate on time.

Wisdom teeth

Most primates have wisdom teeth (the third molars) but a few species, including marmosets and tamarins, have none. "These are probably evolutionary dwarfs," says anthropologist Peter Lucas of George Washington University, Washington DC. He suggests that when the body size of mammals reduces rapidly their jaws become too small to house all their teeth, and overcrowding eventually results in selection for fewer or smaller teeth (International Congress Series, vol 1296, p 74). This seems to be happening in Homo sapiens.

Robert Corruccini of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, says theproblem of overcrowding has been exacerbated in humans in the past four centuries as our diet has become softer and more processed. With less wear on molars, jaw space is at an even higher premium, "so the third molars, thelast teeth to erupt, run out of space to erupt", he says. Not only are impacted wisdom teeth becoming more common, perhaps as many as 35% of people have no wisdom teeth at all, suggesting that we may be on an evolutionary trajectory to losing them altogether.

ARTICLE TAKEN FROM NewScientist.com.

A veces no sé si la vida es un caos sin sentido o si todo pasa por algo. No me convencen ninguna de las dos teorías, a decir verdad. Creo que es una mezcla de las dos y uno tiene más injerencia de lo que creemos. Siento que cambié mucho y a la vez soy más yo que nunca. Cambió mi actitud hacia las cosas y eso llevó a un cambio en el resultado. A veces las cosas salen bien y otras veces no, pero al final del día lo único que parece importar es cómo me tomo las cosas. Soy una persona afortunada rodeada de buena gente que me apoya y me quiere. Y eso termina impidiendo que este bajoneada más de lo necesario.

La vida me sonrie y yo le sonrio con mi mejor cara de postre. 

Freiheit

Cuando sos chico, todo es blanco y negro. Las cosas son buenas o malas, lindas o feas...
Cuando uno crece, la vida se va transformando en una gama infinita de grises. Un sin fin de contextualizaciones y situaciones sin precedentes. Siempre hay que pensar antes de reaccionar. Siempre hay que mutar, evolucionar y nos encontramos frente a un dilema existencial que nos hace sentir como si tuvieramos 5 años y estuvieramos intentando dilucidar lo que está bien y lo que está mal...
Es un proceso de aprendizaje constante que, de a momentos, puede ser lo mejor que te paso en la vida y en una fracción de segunda, cambia todo, con una palabra, con una mirada aquello que parecía tan claro genera tanta confusión, que mi cabeza está a punto de explotar en mil pedazos. 

~feliz~

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Que los cumplas mas feliz que nunca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TAC

Pedir turno. Doce horas antes tomar 4 pastillas de corticoides -para evitar un posible juicio al hospital. Dos horas antes, intentar tragar otras cuatro pastillas de corticoides, a pesar de que tan solo el sabor causa en mi cuerpo una reacción inmediata de repulsión. Llevar estudios anteriores. Al llegar al hospital completar los papeles de siempre, las preguntas de siempre. Me pregunto si no sería más fácil ingresar los datos en una computadora una sola vez en vez de repetir esta misma acción infinitamente… Una jarra de un líquido naranja que te revuelve el estomago al punto de pensar que lo vas a terminar vomitando y tendrás que volver a empezar de cero, con otra asquerosa jarra de contraste. Esperar… Esperar…Esperar... Un paciente, por sobre todas las cosas, lo que más hace es esperar. Finalmente llega mi turno. Ya soy habitué, así que no hace falta que me ponga la bata porque vine vestida metal-less. Un par de preguntas, me insertan la vía en el brazo y empiezan a pasar un poco de suero. Se ve que esta chica es nueva y con poca experiencia porque cuando me pincha, le da a un nervio o algo y mi brazo pega un sacudón. De nuevo los mismos movimientos. 
Subí el brazo, 
Aguanta la respiración, 
No te muevas. 
¿Tenés frio? Ahora vas a sentir un calorcito...
En realidad quieren decir: vas a sentir un calor desagradable en los genitales y gusto a metal en la boca. Las lágrimas caen de forma involuntaria y casi sin afectar la expresión en el resto de la cara. Los pensamientos incentivan las lágrimas y la repetición de procedimientos desagradables fomentan la angustia. 


La repetición hace que cosas tan sólo desagradables se conviertan en cosas insoportables.

*ODA A LA PAPADA*

Estas ahí cuando nacemos, acompañándonos mientras crecemos.

Cuando la gente te intenta esconder, vos siempre te dejas ver.

Lo peor que te puede pasar es que algun vivo te haga foto-shop…

Por un tiempo desapareciste, pero después de la operación, ¡volviste!

Renegué de vos tanto tiempo que ahora te quiero dar todo el aliento.

Representas todo lo que es bueno, suave y acolchonado,

Y si miramos para el costado, seguramente la veremos en la persona que tenemos al lado.

Mi amada papada, ¿qué haríamos sin vos?