The summer days in Scotland are long and mild with nights that stay bright until 10pm. The scenery is beautiful, the weather is at its best and the tranquillity makes an ideal choice for a relaxing vacation, or so you would think.

Your holiday has just started and at the end of the first day the prospect of an aperitif in the garden or by the lakeside is very appealing. It has just passed 5pm. The first sip is rewarding and satisfying as you sit back to breath in the clean, fresh air and absorb the breath-taking scenery. Gradually you feel uncomfortable and find that you have the urge to scratch your head and face. Then you are aware of something like dust particles floating around the upper part of your body. Dismissing them with a wave, thinking they are far too small to contemplate, you carry on with your aperitif and conversation. But then you find yourself itching so much, eventually you can’t take it any more and head inside wondering how these minute creatures could have ruined your evening, you can hardly see them!

Next day you frighten yourself as you look in the bathroom mirror, still itching, and see an image of someone who appears to be suffering from measles! But it’s not measles, it’s the result of the bite of the ferocious Culicoides impunctatus, the infamous female Highland Midge ! She will come out every evening like a vampire, to fulfil her need to supply her unborn eggs with blood. She breeds in damp vegetative areas and is attracted to you by the carbon dioxide you breath out. The only way she will not detect you and attack for your blood is if you stop breathing!

However, there is an alternative…that works!

We all learn evolution theory in schools. Well most of us do.

However, what’s taught in schools are just basic. What most people, especially religious fundamentalists do not want you to know is that evolution theory can very naturally explain human nature.

It’s not in school. So I’ll tell you here. I’ll start from the least shocking conclusions first and then we’ll go to the most politically incorrect ones people have been trying to hide from you.

Why Cheetah run fast? Simple. In ancient time, some Cheetah run fast, some Cheetah ran slow. Cheetahs that run fast, gather more food, and live. Such Cheetah, then get married, form a family, and life offspring.

The slow Cheetah die. Got it so far? Here we go…

Here, we see that evolution fine tuned Cheetah traits, namely, promoting Cheetahs that run fast.

It turns out, evolution do not only govern physical traits, like how fast you can run and other capabilities. Evolution also fine tuned preferences. Preferences that are working out in the gene pool are preferences that are hard wired in our genes.

Those are preferences that we don’t even have to think about. We just feel like doing it.

For example, most of us have strong preferences to have sex with the opposite sex. Why? Because those who do live have decendants and those who don’t went extinct.

Nothing strange, nothing bizzare.

Now here we go…

Say one male make 1000 kids. Say another male make 1 kids. Which one will survive better in the gene pool? The one making 1000 kids.

You see, gene pool survival is not a boolean value. Survival is not for the fit but for the fittest.

Preferences that work in the gene pool in the past are preferences that are common nowadays.

Ugh, I can sense that the conservative will start going back to their bible. Not yet. Here’s more.

One obvious way to make genetic copies of ourself is by making kids.

Now, if you’re a male, how would you maximize the number of kids you make?

You do so by mating with as many females as possible. Males that mate with more women, and produce more kids, like Genghis Khan, will survive better in the genepool, in the past.

In fact, a genetic testing shows that the y chromosome of Genghish Khan is the same chromosome with 1 out of 4 people in Asia. Now that’s, success.

Let me repeat. Preferences that used to work in the past are preferences that are common nowadays. So, what do common typical males want nowadays? Mate with as many females as possible.

Not necessarily making kids. Our preferences are set up in the past, where sex and kids are inseparable. There are no contraception whatsoever.

So males want as many females as possible. It is normal to want as many females as possible. In fact, the “normality” of those who are homosexual is not far different than the normality of males that are monogamous.

Successful males are males that can make a lot of money, gain huge political power, and mate with many females. That’s what males want.

What do women want? Women want the best genes. Those women that pick the best genes will produce more successful sons. How do women measure the quality of a male’s genetic material? By success. Got so far?

Now, we got an issue. There are the same number of males and females. If one male is successful, the others don’t get any.

And that’s the main sources of conflicts all over the world. When we’re not at war, we’re in a race. When we’re in a race, those who are not competitive will want to knock down those running fast. Such preferences are called envy.

Different societies then have different ways to balance tolerance toward success and some socialism to appease those who are not successful.

The conservative, for example, allow economic success but demand socialism through life long monogamous relationship. The liberal, for example, allow sexual success but demand socialism in economy.

None of which are optimum, in my opinion. I wrote plenty of articles suggesting how better social contracts can benefit both the rich and the poor.

For example, taxing kids, rather than income and paying dividend to all citizens, will allow the poor to postpone making kids and have enough capital to get them rich.

Now, that’s the basic of evolution theory on humans’ nature and preferences. I guess that’s all for an article.

Properly understood, evolution theory can be very useful. We can understand why there are many criminalization against consensual acts. We’ll see that those laws are there to protect disgruntled competitors.

We’ll see why there are so many wars over religious doctrines. That happens because to be successful in countries heavily influenced by envy, the wise need to keep pitting people against each other.

Many more are like this. Properly understood, we can correctly predict the outcome of our choices more accurately. Then we can come up with strategies that will result in what we want more. On the other hand, those who are blind will be eaten by those who see.

It’s toward ones’ best interest to learn and understand evolution theory. Ignore evolution theory at our own peril.

The Sun is the centerpiece of our solar system, the gravity force that keeps everything together. Here is an overview of this source of our existence.

An Overview of the Sun

The Sun is a star, one of billions in the known universe. It is similar to other stars you see in the night sky, but is prominent in our lives because we orbit it once every 365 days.

The process pivotal in the creation of the Sun goes on to this very day. Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, a massive gas cloud surrounded by dust began to compress. As one small part gained in density, it started to produce a small gravitational pull. Over time, this sucked the rest of the gas and dust into an increasingly smaller area. Nobody is sure what first set off the gravity movement, but it may have been a supernova.

As the disk of material compressed, it created more gravity and sucked in more material. With spin induced, the disk produced heat. Throw in a bit of helium and trace elements and you have a cauldron that eventually became our Sun.

The actual process that fuels our Sun is called fusion. Fusion is fueled by the elements of the Sun to create what is essentially a ball of plasma. The atomic elements that act as fuel for this process are hydrogen and helium atoms. Hydrogen makes up roughly 74 percent of the mass of the Sun. Helium makes up roughly 24 percent. The remaining one percent consists of trace elements such as iron.

As to pure measurements, the Sun is pretty impressive. It does not have a solid surface, but it is generally considered to have a diameter of 864,900 miles. As a matter of comparison, the Earth has a diameter of some 7,900 miles. Every second, the Sun converts approximately 5 million tons of matter into energy. The outer layer of the sun averages roughly 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature at the core of the sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.

The sun is expected to continue to keep burning for another 4.5 to 5 billion years. Break out the sun block!

Lights in the sky have fascinated us for thousands of years. The lights in the far north and south of our planet are some of the more famous ones.

What was in that Soup?

Travel to Antarctica or the Arctic and you’ll start thinking you are having hallucinations. During the evenings, the sky will literally glow.

In the Northern Hemisphere these lights are known as the aurora borealis. They are part of a larger light phenomenon known as aurora. In the Southern Hemisphere, these lights are known as the aurora australis or southern lights. In certain countries such as Russia, the northern lights are known as the white nights. Regardless of the hemisphere, the aurora has a uniform cause.

The aurora is the result of streams of electrons reacting to the magnetic field of the Earth. At far northern latitudes, the magnetic field is very close to the surface of the planet. Where the field penetrates the atmosphere, electrons react with gases such as oxygen and produce the effect known as the northern lights.

The aurora is undeniably beautiful. The lights appear in a variety of forms, but often combine a glow and curtain like roll. The light literally appears to slowly flow across the sky much like a sheet in the wind. The lights, however, can also appear in a curve similar to a rainbow or long lines. The specific shape is entirely dependent on how the magnetic field is interacting with the atmosphere.

On rare occasions, auroras may appear closer to the equator. This rare event is associated with massive solar events. When our sun kicks out a massive solar flare, the resulting solar radiation batters our magnetic field. This battering will actually push the field back into the atmosphere of the planet. When this happens, people around the world are given a chance to see the aurora without traveling the far north or south.

The aurora is truly an amazing thing to see. If you are compelled to experience it, Alaska and Norway are considered the best viewing locations.

Thought control? How would you like to be able to turn on your television just by thinking? Or have the door to your house open by mind power when your hands were full? This isn’t something that will remain science fiction for long. The technology necessary to make this happen is here now.

First of all, you have basic thought control now, meaning you can control and direct your thoughts. You can imagine a friend talking in your mind, for example. Then you can choose to hear music in your imagination. If you are hooked up to an electroencephalograph when you do these things, it will also be clear that these two thoughts are handled in different parts of your brain.

This electroencephalogram, or EEG, is important, because what we can measure, we can use to do things. Think about this for a moment. Modern electronics has made it possible to easily operate things as a response to measurement. A thermostat measures the temperature, for example, and turns the heater on or off according to that measurement. Security lights turn themselves on when light levels get low.

Thought Control Devices

We can already measure and track what is going on in the brain. Is it inconceivable then, to have that measurement automatically trigger some action? For example, even before the electrical patterns of the brain were made “visible,” we measured pulse rate with many different machines. Now, what if instead of sending a signal to a monitor telling a red light to go on when the heart raced, the signal told the TV to turn on? Think of anything that gets your heart racing and the TV would turn on, right?

Call it mind power, thought control or whatever. You can see that such a device has been possible for at least a generation now. With new technology, and more detailed measurements of the actual electric patterns of the brain, how much more is possible?

Someday, an electroencephalograph type of device will be able to more directly read your mind. The technology will eventually get to the point where it can print out the actual words you are thinking. We are a long way from that, but we are right at the brink of building machines that give us thought control of the things around us.

You see, even with the crude measurements being done now, as long as we can choose what to think about, and any resulting change in the brain can be measured, the possibilities are endless. For example, we can already see the changes in the brain when a person thinks about music, versus a conversation. An existing electroencephalograph machine, using electrodes attached to your head, could be set to turn on the lights instead of producing a changing chart when you sing in your mind.

For paraplegics without speech, there’s real hope in this idea. A patterned alternating of thoughts could be used as a sort of Morse code, spelling out words on a screen. They could actually use thought control to make a message appear! At the current level of technology, this would be a tedious process, but the amazing thing is that all the necessary things to build a machine like this are here right now. It’s time for thought control!

More and more, savvy consumers are choosing Direct TV over traditional cable. In fact, Direct TV is now the leading cable television provider in the United States and the largest satellite TV company in the entire world. Why are so many people choosing Direct TV over regular cable television For starters, Direct TV offers access to hundreds of channels, bringing a plethora of programming into private homes, apartments, condominiums, commercial properties, airports, bars, and restaurants, as well as numerous other locations.

Next, Direct TV offers free satellite dish installation and prices that are often significantly lower than the cost of cable television. Direct TV is also known for excellent customer support. Customer support is available both online and via the telephone. Furthermore, Direct TV is the right choice if you want crystal clear reception, featuring digital quality audio and video.

Once you’ve decided that Direct TV is right for you, you may wonder how to get optimum enjoyment out of the service. You may have trouble choosing the right programming plan for your household. You may wonder if having a DVR system will really increase your viewing fun. Read on to learn how to get the most out of Direct TV.

First, put time and consideration into choosing the right Direct TV package for your household. Total Choice, Direct TV’s basic programming plan boasts a whopping 155 channels. With Total Choice, you get access to a multitude of great television including ABC Family, American Movie Classics (AMC), Black Entertainment Television, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, ESPN, and more. Local television channels are included as well. Frankly, there are enough channels available to Total Choice subscribers to keep a whole family of viewers busy for a lifetime. Best of all, Total Choice is available for less than $30 per month. What a steal!

The next step up, Total Choice Plus, is Direct TV’s middle package. It features everything included with the Total Choice plan and packs on over 20 additional channels. For example, quality channels like Boomerang, DIY Network, SOAPnet, The Biography Channel, and Discovery Kids are included when you choose Total Choice Plus. The price is great, coming in at just $45.99 a month.

Want more Give Direct TV’s Total Choice Premier package a try. This plan is truly a smorgasbord of television programming, featuring everything included in the Total Choice Plus plan and tacking on a huge assortment of quality channels, including a number of premium cable channels. You get big name premium channels like HBO, Cinemax, and Starz, as well as several quality sports networks. In all, Total Choice Premier offers more than 250 amazing channels at just $93.99 per month. This is truly entertainment at its best.

After you’ve chosen you Direct TV plan, take advantage of the Direct TV DVR System offer. With this state-of-the-art system, you can avoid missing your favorite shows. How many times have you been stuck late at work, in traffic, or at the grocery store, lamenting the fact that you were missing your best programs Now, you can use this DVR system to record hours of programming, making it easy to view all your shows, even if you are not at home when they are broadcast.

Powered by TiVo, the Direct TV DVR System allows you to record several different episodes of a program, even when they are broadcast at different times and on differing days. Even better, you can choose to record more than one show at one time. Furthermore, you can fast-forward through recorded programs to avoid viewing all those very annoying commercials.

With Direct TV’s impressive combination of DVR and TiVo, you can actually pause the shows you are watching. This is true even if the show in question is live. Furthermore, you can play scenes back in slow motion. How’s that for entertainment

Using DVR powered by TiVo, you can record 70 hours of your favorite programs and enjoy them at your leisure. How much will all this cost you Absolutely nothing. Direct TV’s DVR System is free after rebate.

By now you are seeing the many benefits of Direct TV service. However, if you want to get even more out of your Direct TV service, consider selecting the Direct TV HD DVR System. Also powered by TiVo, this system features up to 200 hours of recording time (200 hours STD and 35 hours HD). This system, regularly priced at close to $700, is offered at just $399 after rebate. With DVR powered by Tivo, you can enjoy your very own, high-quality entertainment experience every day of the week.

Direct TV offers so much that choosing can be hard. The best advice for making your selections is to think hard on the shows and channels you like to watch. Also, consider the viewing habits of your family members. If you have children, who absolutely must see Nicktoons, be sure to choose a plan that includes that channel. If you love watching lots of television and simply must have access to the Sundance Channel, the Total Choice Premier package may be right for you. Likewise, if you don’t watch very much television, but want access to quality programming when you do, Total Choice may be the right plan. If you are a kind of middle-of-the-road TV viewer and like having plenty of choices, choosing Total Choice Plus may be just the thing to create a happy medium.

Getting the most out of Direct TV also includes saving the most money. Direct TV frequently offers money savings deals guaranteed to make you smile. For instance, you can get free satellite installations, free equipment, and even a free Direct TV HD System (after rebate). Always check online or by phone for great deals before ordering. Chances are you’ll find a money-saving special that makes Direct TV service even more attractive.

Last but not least, ask questions to get the most out of Direct TV. When you are new to Direct TV, you may have many questions. Don’t be afraid to ask them or raise any concerns you. Our Direct TV representatives are always more than willing to lend a helping hand and provide you with ways to get maximum enjoyment out of Direct TV. Direct TV is television gourmet-style. Give it a try!

Is your girl child feeling pressured in the co-ed classroom environment? Do you want to bring up your child in a healthy all girls’ environment? Well then waste no time to admit your girl to a good and reputed girls’ boarding school where she will receive the proper training to develop a self-belief that will help her to become tomorrow’s leader.

Education is not just attending school and learning facts. Your child should have to develop skills to meet the challenges of the future. A girls’ boarding school will give your girl the right environment to learn and grow. Girls in a boarding school find a close-knit community, wide variety of clubs, teams and activities that help to have a proper intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual growth.

A girls’ boarding school will enable your child to explore the world around her, both inside and out of the classroom. In the classroom they will have sharing and will have an equal exchange of ideas. She will get a competitive environment where she will learn to perform and dominate. In most of the schools the students remain busy on weekdays with their academic schedules, electives, extra curricular activities and evening studies. While on weekends they have a lot of relaxation, weekend trips, recreation and cultural outings.

The resident students and faculty of a girls’ boarding school form a community. The resident faculties are the disciplinarians and hand holders of the students. They always keep an eye to the girls, assist and guide them and offer counsel when necessary. They all form a family away from home. Sometimes the schools even take the resident girls to local malls, movie, shopping, amusement park and cultural events.

The girls’ boarding schools have lots of activities. What does your girl like? Is she interested in sports? Boarding schools, these days, have their own athletic centers featuring basketball and volleyball courts, fitness centers, aerobics room and also gymnasiums. Each school has a specialized gymnasium director to guide your child. If she is interested in music, there are music departments where she can have training in music. She will also have the opportunity to perform in music ensemble. The girls’ boarding schools also guide the students to express themselves artistically. They have special drawing, painting classes to develop their skills in drawing.

When your child is in a girls’ boarding school you may wonder whether your child is having proper nutrition. You need not have to worry about your child’s diet, as the boarding schools are on a mission to encourage the girls to have a proper and healthy choice regarding their daily menu. The schools promote healthier eating of the students by adding more nutritious and organic foods to their menu.

As girls start growing they may start to become interested in boys. If such happens to your child she will be more concerned about boys than her books. But studying in girls’ boarding school will protect your child from the impact of boys. Besides, the girls are not subject to sexual harassment in an all girls environment.

Social and emotional growth of the girls is the motto of the girls’ boarding schools. A good girls’ boarding school will not only offer your girl child with the support and guidance to develop her intellect, curiosity and creativity but also the school will help your child to build up her self-discipline and decision making skills and abilities.

All states across the United States require standards that must be met in different subjects by specific grades, especially in reading and math. End of year testing is required for specific grades to ensure schools and students are meeting these standards.

The concern is that states, including the Arizona schools, are trying to teach everything at once to students, with teachers losing the ability to teach the important math concepts in depth. Otherwise, students are learning a little about everything (just enough to pass state tests) but not enough to actually use in the real world.

Many educators in the Arizona schools are concerned that they are being forced to teach for testing, rather than real in-depth learning that is needed in higher grades and college.

For example, the Arizona schools require second graders to know 77 math concepts by the end of that grade. That is a lot of concepts, and teachers are given no guidance from the Arizona schools on which concepts are the most important. That means that equal importance is given to all, and all must be sufficiently taught. In order to do this, Arizona schools would need to create mandatory day-by-day lesson plans, which they have not done.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a highly influential organization, whose recommendations are followed by most educators. Almost all math textbooks for kindergarten through eighth grade reference the council, also aligning with their recommendations.

In a report released in September, the council agrees with many Arizona schools educators that the state is trying to cover too much within one year, noting that some states require even more.

Council Executive Director Jim Rubillo points out that too many mandatory math concepts taught means very little in-depth learning by the students. They may be able to pass a test at the end of the year, but it is doubtful that many students will carry the concepts into higher learning without the repetition and in-depth instruction required. Too many concepts to teach leaves no time for in-depth instruction.

The council also released new recommendations for curriculum focal points. The recommendations narrow the focus to just three math concepts at each grade level with all instruction for each grade built around them. The council hopes states will enter into a discussion on this issue and consider their recommendations.

The Arizona schools begin revision of their math standards next spring and are considering the council’s recommendations, according to Mary Knuck, state director of standards for the Arizona schools. If the Arizona schools follow the council’s recommendations, it would mean a major overhaul of their current standards and testing methods.

The real challenge for Arizona schools teachers currently is not the vast array of standards that must be taught; however, the real challenge is to teach math for both real world applications and standardized testing. It must make sense in the real world, or it is wasted. Yet, Arizona schools students must be able to have instant recall in order to answer state test questions correctly. Hopefully, the council and the Arizona schools can together make more sense of the crucial math standards for the Arizona schools.

The latest Nokia N90 and Motorola RAZR V3 clamshell mobile cell phones all incorporate sophisticated hinges which allow you to flip open your cell phones smartly amongst admiring onlookers. Another winner is the hinge assembly in Orange SPV M5000 3G PDA cell phone device which allows the screen half of the cell phone to swivel 180 degrees and close to allow simultaneous tablet mode and full phone functionality.

These hinge assemblies which were previously used in laptop computers have been designed into the sleekest cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and small handheld digital cameras over the past few years.

Basically, the hinge assembly connects the cell phone base to the folder unit which contains the display screen. From the simple open-snap-close mechanism, the latest hinge mechanism now can control the angle of opening. Free-stop designs, where the folding stops at any angle, and 2 degree-of-freedom hinge assembly is in vogue. This flip-and-twist hinge assembly combines 2 rotary hinges with perpendicular axes, letting the clamshell cell phone flip open then twist 180 degress.

Each tiny custom hinge comprises a guide pin, shaft, cam, spring and housing. Advancing from the classic hinge components which were made from polyoxymethylene, the latest complicated hinge components are designed and manufactured from metals to provide stronger rotary hinge joints. These hinge components are manufactured using the metal injection molding (MIM) process or cnc machining. The former process, which is suitable for complex solid net-shape components, allows the mass production of hinge components competitively. However, with the recent shortening of product cycle in the competitive cell phone market, especially in Japan, more and more cell phone manufacturers are working with competent precision machining companies capable of machining these hinge components.

Leading Japanese companies in developing and selling sophisticated hinge units include Strawberry Corporation, Sugatsune Kogyou Co., Ltd, Omron Corporation and Yamamoto Precision Co., Ltd.

Bodybuilding and bulking up muscle is something which appeals to large numbers of people. Much has been written about it in books and the media, and we are now seeing large numbers of instructional videos and DVDs being produced. You need to know what you are doing, however, so here are some tips for bodybuilding and bulking up.

Tip 1

Bodybuilding, bulking up, whichever way you want to put it, can be done in your home, but you will probably achieve better results by training in a proper gym, with free weights. When you make the effort to travel to a gym, it helps prepare you mentally for the workout, and the professional surroundings will stimulate you to give your best effort. Gym work is usually far more effective then home work.

Tip 2

Don’t overlook cardiovascular work. Bodybuilding and bulking up will no doubt take up much of your time and energy, but they will be so much more effective if they are done from a solid base of aerobic fitness. Cardiovascular work will vastly improve your muscle tone, as well as your general health. Because of this, you will be increasing your chances of living longer, as the one muscle which you cannot afford to be weak is your heart.

Tip 3

Make good use of nutrition bars. Regular intake of the nutrients needed for bodybuilding or bulking up is vital, yet with the pressures of modern life there are bound to be times where meals are missed. This will doubtless impair your progress, and could even stop your muscle growth. Nutrition bars will help you fill that gap. The only danger of having such a convenient source of nutrition is over-reliance. Nutrition bars are not as nutritionally rich as a proper meal, so only use them when necessary.

Tip 4

Another useful bodybuilding/bulking up tip is to get into some creatine. The entire subject of creatine intake is very involved, and would take more than just an article to explain. Red meat is the only natural source of creatine, and it is an abundant supplier of energy to the muscles. Increased creatine consumption should mean you can work your body harder, and achieve greater muscle growth for the same amount of effort. Quite an impressive achievement for one simple supplement.

If bodybuilding/bulking up is something you want to do, the tips here will get you off to a great start.