Social Networking Sites: What's The Risky Behind Socialization?

Have you ever been on Social Networking Sites (SNS)? Or have you ever received an invitation mail to join SNS?
SNS have been the most popular sites in internet world these days. The idea behind SNS is sharing interests in online community. According to Google, social networks Bebo and MySpace were the most searched-for terms in 2006.
MySpace get 300000 people signing up everyday with 50 million mails per day (more than Yahoo, Hotmail and Google), while Facebook receive more than 14 photos uploaded everyday.
Have you asked yourself what's the impact of the information that you leave in the internet? The risk of identity theft is high due to leaving of the internet footprints. Internet fraudsters can join up your information and generate username and password of your other online accounts. According to internet security experts, three quarters of Facebook users leave their profiles open to all risking identity fraud. Last year, Sky News reported, in every ten seconds someone in Britain become a victim of cyber crime.

While some young teenagers use these sites to post pictures of them drinking and practically naked, the SNS does not have control over kid’s doings online, rather its parental responsibility. Here, the SNS probably invites sexual predators. What if teens can lie about their age and start dating adults?
October 2006, a teenager named Megan Meier from Missouri, USA committed suicide after being teased in her MySpace page by a fake member. The police arrested Aaron Clow, 21, for having sex with 13 year old girl. It is suspected that a man was contacting underage girls via MySpace.
It has been a common thing for people to lie their identities in these sites. What is the effect of contacting the person who lied to you about his name, age and residence? Can we term it selfishness? As you he can get to know the real you, but he does not want likewise? Or may be they value their personal information than you do. Or may be they value their personal information than you do. One such occurrence was reported by news.com that, Tom Anderson, the founder of MySpace having a fake profile on SNS.

Have you had a time to read on the privacy policy of these sites? Bear in mind that the information you entered can be used by the SNS without consulting you. For instance, one of the statements in a SNS’s privacy policy, Hi5.com states that”…Hi5 may analyze any collected information for its own internal purposes. In addition, Hi5 may remove personally identifying information from collected information to render it anonymous. Hi5 may use Anonymous Information for any purpose and disclose Anonymous Information in its discretion…”

There has been a rumour that, SNS’s data are used by the government for monitoring their citizens. Last year, MySpace agreed to give away to the states the names, addresses and online profiles of identified convicted sex offenders having account.

Source: www.oppapers.com

Some colors history

Isaac Newton made a study of color starting at the age of 23 in 1666 and developed the useful Newton color circle which gives insight about complementary colors and additive color mixing. He realized that some colors (magenta, purple) could not be produced as spectral colors. One of his contributions was the idea that white light is light containing all wavelengths of the visible spectrum. He demonstrated this fact with experiments on the dispersion of light in glass prisms.

Thomas Young is credited with suggesting that the eye has three different kinds of color receptors, corresponding roughly with the red, green, and blue primary colors which had been found useful in matching a wide range of visual colors by additive color mixing. This idea was put on a more quantitative basis by Hermann von Helmholtz and is sometimes called the Young-Helmholtz theory.

Detailed experiments carried out in the 1920s showed that the RGB primaries could indeed match all visual colors within a certain range called a gamut, but that they could not match all the spectral colors, particularly in the green range. It was found that if a certain amount of red light was added to the color being matched, then all colors could be matched. The quantitative results were expressed in terms of tristimulus values for the RGB primaries, but it was necessary to allow negative values for the red tristimulus values in order to match all colors.

In 1931 the Commission International de l'Eclairage (CIE) moved to define a standard system in which all the tristimulus values would be positive and in which all visible colors could be unambiguously represented by two chromaticity coordinates x,y. Mapping the visual colors led to the now familiar horseshoe curve in the x,y plane known as the CIE chromaticity diagram. It is the basis for most quantitative color measurement at present.

It was not until about 1965 that the detailed physiological experiments were performed to measure the absorption of the different types of cones in the eye. Those experiments verified the postulate of Young that there were indeed three types of cones.

It would seem that we could now use something similar to the response curves of the three types of cones as color matching functions, but the CIE curves are well established as the standard curves. There are some strange things about the 1931 CIE standard chromaticity diagram. As Fortner and Meyer point out, it "devotes an enormous amount of real estate to various green shades" and less space to colors like the reds and purples which are more differentiable to the eye. In 1976, a new CIE standard was released which corrected some of those problems and produced a diagram where the distance between two points on the diagram was proportional to the perceived color difference. However, this 1976 CIE standard has failed to gain acceptance, and the 1931 CIE is almost universally used.

Colors and their significance

The world of natural color around us is enhanced by the use of dyes. Color is an expression of "feeling" and can affect our emotions. The colors we surround ourselves with, create certain feelings in us and for others, especially their perception of us. But what they really mean? What's their history? Let's find out!

Violet/Purple


Historical Significance
Widows used to wear purple to mourn their husbands’ death in Thailand;
To obtain one ounce of Tyrian purple dye, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra asked her servants to soak 20,000 purpura snails for 10 days;
Richard Wagner composed his operas in room with violet shades; violet is his color of inspiration;
Leonardo Da Vinci believed the power of meditation increases when done in violet or purple light (light of stained glass);
Present Significance
Purple is the royal color and is symbolic to luxury and sophistication;
According to color theory the purple color in children’s room can help improve their imagination;
It is feminine and romantic;
A purple heart is a decoration for the soldiers killed or wounded in a battle by US Military.

Blue


Historical Significance
The Pharaohs of Egypt used to wear blue for protection against evil;
Blue is the color of mourning in Iran;
In ancient Rome public servants used to wear blue.
Present Significance
Blue relaxes the body, so it is often used in bed rooms;
It symbolizes loyalty, hence wearing blue is recommended by experts for interviews;
Studies show that weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms. This is because people are more productive in blue rooms.

Green


Historical Significance
Green is the national color of Ireland;
In Scotland, people used to wear green as a mark of honor;
People in ancient Egypt used to color the floors of their temples green;
In ancient Greece, green was symbolic to victory;
Brides in the Middle Ages used to wear green to symbolize fertility.
Present Significance
Green is the healing color and relaxes patients. Hence hospitals often use this color.
It is a refreshing color and can improve vision.

Yellow


Historical Significance
In Japan during the war of dynasty each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage;
In Egypt and Burma yellow is the color of mourning;
In India yellow is the divine color;
In ancient France the doors of criminals were painted yellow;
Actors of Middle Ages used to wear yellow to represent the dead in a play.
Present Significance
Yellow enhances concentration and speeds up metabolism;
People lose their tempers more often in yellow color rooms and it is the most difficult color for the eye to take in.

Red


Historical Significance
Red was the color of House of Lancester, which defeated the House of York (white color) in English war of the Roses;
The soldiers of the Italian leader Garibaldi, who unified modern Italy, were called as the Red shirts;
Red flag was the symbol for battle for ancient Romans;
In China, red is the wedding and holiday color and also a color of good luck;
Ancient Egyptians used to paint their body with red dye for emphasis;
The Bolsheviks used red flag as their symbol in 19th century when they overthrew the czar;
Red is the color of mourning in South Africa.
Present Significance
Red is the color of love;
It is the most emotionally intense color;
It stimulates faster heartbeat and breathing.

Black


Historical Significance
In ancient Egypt people used to believe that black cats had divine powers;
Black was the color of mourning for ancient Romans and Egyptians;
The security troops in Hitler’s German army were known as black shirts.
Present Significance
Black is the color of authority;
It implies submission; hence priests wear black to signify submission to God;
It makes people appear thinner for which it became popular color in fashion.

White

Historical Significance
White is the color of mourning in China and Japan;
The people of ancient Persia used to believe that all Gods wore white;
The Egyptian Pharaohs used to wear white crowns;
White flag is the universal symbol for truce;
The ancient Greeks used to wear white cloths to bed to get pleasant dreams.
Present Significance
White reflects light, so people wear white in summer;
Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity; it is considered as good luck to be married in white clothes;
White goes well with most colors, so became popular in fashion;
Doctors and nurses wear white to symbolize sterility.

Coffee benefits your health and protects against many diseases

Why is there resistance to the idea that coffee benefits your health?
Here's why.
Almost thirty years ago researchers at Harvard University announced a connection between coffee consumption and cancer. A few years later they retracted the study and recognized that the findings were flawed. However, since the first study and the frenzy media that followed, coffee has been labeled with the stigma of being unhealthy. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Coffee can help in the prevention and treatment of diseases and illnesses as varied as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, liver disease, skin cancer, Parkinsons's disease and more.

Consider this new item...


Coffee health risks: For the moderate drinker, coffee is safe says Harvard Women's Health Watch.
Despite 20 years of reassuring research, many people still avoid caffeinated coffee because they worry about its health effects. However, current research reveals that in moderation - a few cups a day - coffee is a safe beverage that may even offer some health benefits. The September issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch weighs of pros and cons of this popular beverage and eases the concerns of moderate coffee drinkers. 
The latest research has not only confirmed that moderate coffee consumption doesn't cause harm, it's also uncovered possible benefits. Coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve the cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease and reduce the risk of Parkinsons's disease. Coffee has also been shown to improve endurance performance in a long-duration psychical activities. 


Source: Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School, 2006

And they say there are no coffee benefits when it comes to health?


There is a great deal of research that shows drinking a few cups of coffee a day can be good for you. It not only protect you against a variety of serious diseases, but also can bring a lot of pleasure into your life. Browse to the links below. You can find amazing informations about coffee benefits.

Find out how coffee can prevent Alzheimer's disease...
Find out how coffee can reduce muscle pain after working out...
Find out about coffee addiction...

What teens should know about sex (II)

Being sexually active


If you are sexually active there are some important things you should know about the sex act itself. There is so much more to think about than whether or not you are doing it right but this is the thing people tend to worry about the most. Rest assured that there really is not right or wrong way to have sex.
When it comes to see one thing that people should think about but rarely do is the law. There are age of consent laws surrounding how old you have to in order to have sex and what constitutes consensual sex. There are even laws about the kind of sex acts you can engage in.

Most known facts about sex


Unless you want to get pregnant, and you wouldn't want this if you are a teen, birth control is a must.
The only protection against STIs for sexually active people is a barrier method like a condom. This a safe sex must even if you are using something else for birth control. Oral sex is still sex and some STIs, including HIV and AIDS, can be transmitted orally. A barrier method, like a condom or a dental dam, must be used for this type of sex as well. If your partner is under the age of consent, intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, pressured or threatened in any way, or ask you to stop at any point, you can't legally engage in sex. Any or all of this scenario could result in your being charged with rape. You can get pregnant or catch a STI the very first time you have sex, even if you use protection. It is always a risk. Birth control and STI protection must be used properly to be effective. Missed pills and doubled up condoms are the most common misuse of birth control and can result in pregnancy or STI transmission. There is no right or wrong to have intercourse but if it hurts, or if it doesn't feel right emotionally, you should stop right awawy.

The sex checklist


If you are going to have sex you must have:
-a willing partner who is legally who is able to consent to sex;
-effective and properly used birth control;
-STI protection, a male or female condom;
-realistic expectations about what having sex will mean for you;
-a safe place to engage in sex;
-the maturity to understand that sex has emotional and psychical consequences;
-respect and trust between you and your partner.

Articles source: www.about.com

What teens should know about sex?

For teens, the mere thought of sex can be overwhelming. There is so much to think about, so much to worry about, and so much that can go wrong. Whether you are sexually active or not, knowing the facts about what sex is, and what it is not, is very important.
Sex is:
-both psychical and emotional in nature;
-risky; you can get pregnant, catch a sexually transmitted infection, have your heart broken or your ego bruised, or feel let down and disappointed when it's over;
-a milestone; you only get one chance to lose your virginity;
-sensitive; be sure that the timing is right for you and your partner;
-not to be taken lightly or treated as recreation;
-best when it is a personal expression of caring between two people;
-messy and full of strange, sometimes embarrassing noise.
Sex is not:
-a way to make somebody love you or make a commitment to you;
-a test of your love for your partner;
-a measure of how mature or grown up you are;
-a way to get at your parents or assert your independence;
-a leisure activity;
-always fun or enjoyable; sometimes you will wonder if it worth it.
Remember! When you have sex for the wrong reasons you hurt yourself!

Ted Bundy

Born: 24 November 1946
Died: 24 January 1989
Birthplace: Burlington, Vermont
Best known as: The smooth-talking serial killer who blamed porn
Name at birth: Theodore Robert Cowell

Ted Bundy was a clean-cut, smooth serial-killer who confessed to raping and killing more than 20 young women   between 1974 and 1978. Executed in Florida in 1989 for three murders, his crimes began in Washington state in 1974. Bundy committed his attacks on women while leading a seemingly normal life, first in the Seattle area as a local Republican party campaigner, then in Salt Lake City as a law student at the University of Utah. He was arrested during a traffic stop in 1975, after police found evidence linking him to a kidnapping in Utah and a murder in Colorado. While in jail in Utah, investigators in Washington and Colorado pegged Bundy as a suspect in the disappereances and murders of several others. He was convicted of kidnapping in Utah in 1976 and sentenced to 15  years in jail, but he escaped in late 1977 and made his way to Florida, using the name Chris Hagen. Shortly after arriving in Tallahassee, Bundy attacked four women in a sorority house at Florida State University, killing two. A few weeks later he raped and killed a 12 years old girl in Lake City, Florida. Bundy was finally apprehended when a Pensacola police officer arrested him for driving a stolen car.
Bundy went in trial for murder, proclaiming his innocence and defending himself in court. The televised trial showed that Bundy could look and talk just like a lawyer, many viewers couldn't believe a poised, normal-looking guy could be guilty of such brutal crimes. After Bundy was convicted and sentenced to death, he reluctantly began to confess to previous unsolved murders, saying an "entity" inside him drove him to rape and kill. In a failed effort to delay his execution he offered to provide more details and confessions, but the state of Florida electrocuted him on 24 January 1989. On the eve of his execution, Bundy was interviewed by Christian media personality James Dobson. Under Dobson's questioning, Bundy claimed an "addiction" to pornography led him to commit violent crimes.


Source: infoplease

Assaultive Poltergeist: Romanian Devil

Most Poltergeist cases might be frightening at first, but they are truly harmless. However, there are  some very rare examples of people being scratched and even bit by an unseen presence; something called an "assaultive Poltergeist". These seemingly psychic force seems to be brought on by feelings of guilt that cause very real injury.

While visiting their elderly grandmother in the village Budai, Romania one day in February 1925, 12 years old Eleanor Zugun and her sister were having a fight. The girls had found some money lying on the street and Eleanor snatched it up before her sister could and bought candies for herself. Their grandmother told the selfish girl that the Devil left the money there to cause discord. That night, her suspicious seemed verified when rocks began bouncing off of the house. The next morning, she sent the girls home to the nearby village of Tulpa.

A few days later, the odd stone throwing started again around Eleanor and priest was called in, reinforcing the delusion that something diabolical was going on. The clergyman suggested she stay with a relative so that her sister would''t be possessed as well. At the neighbor's house, the young girls was beaten and demeaned; after all, that's one way to get rid of the demon. The neighbors insisted they were not beating the girl, but the demon inside of her. Understandably, her father recalled her, but in a few days there was an exorcism performed on the girl and a special mass was said the home; it didn't help. She was sent to a covenant, and the phenomena followed her. Furniture began to move and the table even levitated in front of the nuns. Another exorcism was performed, to no avail. Unsure of what else to do, everyone agreed it would be best to send the girl to the insane asylum.
The events attracted the attention of German psychical researcher Fritz Grunewald who convinced the girl's father to bring her home. Sadly, he died soon after interviewing the girl. But this would prove to be a stroke of luck for the young girl because a wealthy woman from Vienna, Countess Zoe Wassiko-Serecki, who had a interest in the paranormal, officially adopted her in 1925 and took her out of life of poverty. Soon after she moved into her new home, scratches and bites mark began to appear on Eleanor's skin, mostly in places where she could not done it to herself. Shoes would be found with pools of water in them, books were mutilated and rugs were wildly twisted.
The paranormal enthusiast and original ghost hunter Harry Price appeared in the scene in April 1926 to find the rough girl  turned into a respectable young lady with eloquent manners. He invited the two to his National laboratory for Psychical Research in London so that Eleanor could be studied. However, since all of these adults kept calling her grandmother's story hogwash, the girl eventually decided the Devil was in no way involved and the phenomena stopped completely.

Jack The Ripper ( III )

Horror, Media and Culture:

The Ripper killings were neither obscure nor ignored at that time. There was gossip and fear in the streets, questions at high levels of government, offers of rewards and resignations when nobody was caught. Political reformers used the Ripper in arguments and policemen struggled with the limited techniques of the time. Indeed, the Ripper case remained high profile enough for many of the police involved to write private accounts years later. However it was the media who made "Jack the Ripper". By 1888 literacy was common amongst the crowded citizens of London and newspapers reacted to the Whitechapel Murderer, whom they initially christened "Leather Apron", with the frenzy we expect from modern tabloids, stirring opinions, fact and theory -along with the probably hoaxed Ripper letters - together to create a legend which seeped into popular culture. From the very start, Jack doubled as a figure from the horror genre, a bogeyman to scare your kids.

Will the Mystery be Solved?


It's extremely unlikely anyone will be able to use the existing evidence to prove, beyond all the reasonable doubt,    who Jack the Ripper was and, while the people are still uncovering material, the discovery of something unarguable has to be regarded as a long-shot. Fortunately, the mystery is so fascinating because you can do your own reading, draw your own conclusions and, with some critical thinking, generally have as much chance of being right as everyone else!


Note: All articles source about Jack the Ripper is: Robert Wilde

Jack The Ripper ( II )

The Crimes:

Traditionally, Jack The Ripper is considered to have killed five women, all London prostitutes, during 1888: Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, on August 31, Annie Chapman on September 8, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes on September 30 and Mary Jane (Mary Jeanette) Kelly on November 9. In practice there's no agreed list: the most popular change is to discount Stride and/or Kelly, adding Martha Tabram, killed August 7th. Authors naming more than eight have achieved very little consensus. The Ripper generally killed by strangling his victims, then laying them down and cutting the arteries in their throats. This was followed by a varied process of mutilation, during which parts of the body were removed and kept. Because Jack did this quickly , often in the dark, and because he seemed to have great anatomical knowledge, people have assumed the Ripper had a doctor's or surgeon's training. As with much of the case, there is no consensus: a contemporary thought him simply a blunderer.


The Letters and the Nicknames:

During the autumn and the winter of 1888/89 a number of letters circulated among the police and newspapers, all claiming to be from Whitechapel murderer. These include "From Hell" letter and one accompanied by part of a kidney. Ripperologists considered most, if not all, of the letters to be hoaxes, but their impact at the time was considerable, if only because one contained the first use of "Jack The Ripper", a nickname the papers swiftly adopted and which is now synonymous.

Jack The Ripper

Summary: 

Someone in London murdered and mutilated a number of prostitutes during the autumn of 1888. Press went into a frenzy, politicians pointed the finger at each other, hoaxers polluted the investigation and one of several names stuck: Jack The Ripper. Over a century later Jack's identity has never been proven (there isn't even a leading suspect), most aspects of the case are still debated and The Ripper in an infamous cultural bogeyman. 

The enduring mystery: 

The Ripper's identity has never been established and people have never stopped looking: the publishing rates's average is a new book a year since 1888. Unfortunately, the wealth of Ripper source material -letters, reports, diaries and photographs- provides enough depth for detailed and fascinating research, but too few facts for any incontrovertible conclusions. Just about everything about Jack The Ripper is open to debate and the best you can get is a consensus. There is no better mystery but about that we'll talk next time.

IQ test

Today I decided to post a little test hoping that we'll have some fun. It's called "Einstein IQ test". I admit I have done this test and it can be fun or not. It depends of the state of mind. First of all I'll ask you not to cheat and look on the internet for the answer. So what we are waiting for? Let's get started!

There are 4 facts:

1) There are 5 houses in 5 different colors.
2) In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3) These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet.
4) No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Hints:

1) The Brit lives on a red house.
2) The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3) The Dane drinks tea.
4) The green house is on the left of the white house.
5) The green house owner drinks coffee.
6) The person who smoke Pall Mall rears birds.
7) The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8) The man living in the house right in center drinks milk.
9) The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10) The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11) The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12) The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13) The German smokes Prince.
14) The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15) The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor  who drinks water.

The big question is: Who is the keeper of the fish?

A possible multiple sclerosis treatment?

According to Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado Center it's possible that someday the multiple sclerosis or MS, can be reversed or treat using a drug originally developed to treat chronic pain. Linda Watkins and her colleagues from the department of psychology and neuroscience discovered this compound called ATL313. MS is an inflammatory disease where the body's imune system attacks a protective sheath called myelin that encompasses nerves in the spinal cord and brain. As the disease progresses the myelin develops lesions or scars that cause permanent neurological problems. What Dr. Watkins affirmed was this drug just slow the MS but is not treating it because the lesions caused by the MS don't heal. The new finding was quite a surprise to Watkins because about 70-80 percents of MS patients suffer from chronic pain. That is not treatable. "What we had originally thought about this class of compounds is that they would calm glial cells in the spinal cord because their pro-inflammatory activations is what causes pain" Watkins said. They discovered that ATL313 appears to reset the glial cells from an angry activated state to a calm anti-inflammatory state that may heal lesions.
The source: Science Centric

Special Post "About me"

It's hard to say something special about me. I remember there was a time when I had dreams about the person I'd become. Now I hardly remember those dreams. I have learned a lot of things since I was twelve. Those things help me survive, soul speaking, in this tough world. On the other hand, I'm grateful to those who sometimes made my life a living hell cause that made me stronger. I'm still passing through life learning a lot of things about people around me and also about myself. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have much longer until the end but I have friends who help me to move on and they give me hope, supporting me in everything I do. I don't know if that's relevant but... I also love pets. I have a Pekingese dog named Micky that gives a little color to my house because he is cheerful all the time. Maybe I'll make a special post about him. But let's go back at me. I don't know what else to write about me besides the fact that I love, I cry, I hate, I sin, but the most important of all: I can't live without the world around me. If you have a similar story or something like that, I'm waiting your posts in the comments section.

Tattos ( Part III: Realizing methods across time)

Native Americans used ti utilize some sort of penknives soaked in ink. Some of Californians used to put colors in those cuts. Inuits used to do little holes with a needle and after that were introducing some sort of little string under the places where those stitches were made. In the New Zealand, the members of the Maori tribe considered their bodies their bodies a piece of wood and were using all kind of penknives to make their own signs. With a bone knife, they were carving in the skin the features they wanted to print , especially on the face and the buttocks and then were bringing the colors that they were pouring in the injuries. Because they made barter with the Europeans they could use metal knives to make more complex marks.  In 1891, an American named Samuel O'Reilly patented the famous tattoo machine. He improved a system of typography which had beeb reproduced in  thumbnail. This system had a fast vibrating needle. The needle was penetrating the skin so fast that the color reached the wanted spot to produce clean and flawless lines.
Why are they worn?
In today society a lot of persons wear those -lawyers, athletes, soldiers, mechanics- there are no professional limits for men who love the tattoos. Today the are rather a fashion than a method of assessment of  personality traits. That's why I thinks is normal for people to know how the tattoos appeared.
What's the public interest?
Samuel O'Reilly was the first contemporary tattoo artist. He located his saloon in a New York square and it was very popular that time. The tattoos were a fashion until the financial crash in 1929. They were back as a fashion starting with the second World War once with the introduction of a new kind of tattoos like cartoons characters. Tattoos were evolving also in the '70 and '80 when the celebrities began to expose them in public. In the last decade the tattoos are ubiquitous. After 5000 years of tradition there's nothing to indicate that the tattoos fashion will ever disappear.

Tattoos (Part II: Meanings)

Most of the tribes used the tattoos as decorative patterns. Thereby, some civilizations had other applications for tattoos. Goths, a famous tribe of Teutonic barbarians for their attacks against the Roman Empire, used the tattoos to mark slaves. Roman citizens did the same thing. In Tahiti, the tattoo told the history of the one who had it. When they became adults, the boys were receiving a tattoo to mark this event. The grown up men were marked with other signs when they were getting married. When the Ottoman Empire reached Bosnia, all soldiers were marked by the authorities to be recognized in case they wished to leave. Later, the tattoos became a sort of souvenir for sailors. When the crew reached an exotic island, each man made his sign to symbolize the place where he had been during his adventures on the sea. For example, a Dragon meant that the sailor had been in China. At the beginning, the sailors had used their free time to learn this kind of art and at retiring they were practicing this job in their home countries. That was the time when tattooing saloons appeared. People believed that by mixing the ink with gun powder, they would have longer lives.

Tattoos (Part I: History)

Many times we are fascinated of this type of art when we turn our head around and see something unusual on someone's skin. Still, there are a lot of things we don't know about this art: tattooing. There are people who live from this kind of art, unknowing its history or its significances, so I’ve decided to write a couple of rows about these things. Let's begin with a brief history of tattoos. For many years, the scientists thought the Egyptians and the Nubians were the first who used the tattoo art. But in 1991, it was discovered a mummy whose name was "Otzi: the Ice man" and whose day of birth was somewhere around 3300 b.C. This mummy had more sets of tattoos, including a line from the knee till the ankle and back. It was believed that the purpose of those tattoos was bound to the human body healing. During the Egyptian civilization, the most advanced in that Era, the tattoos were spread worldwide.
   The dynasties of those who built the pyramids had connections with other important cultures: Greeks, Persians, Arabs etc. The art of tattooing spread feather South-East Asia through 2200 b.C. Afterwards, this art reached the entire population. Thumb the same period the Japanese became interested in tattooing art, but just for its decorative aspects. The Japanese became some of the greatest artists in this domain. The way they used the colors, the perspective and the imagination they had, gave this practice a new meaning. In the first millennium of our Era, the Japanese adopted the tattoo practices and forms used by the Chinese. In the Balkan Peninsula, Thracians had another use for tattoos. According to Herodotus, they used this art to prove their statute in society. Though the Europeans knew about tattoos, they discovered this art after the Renaissance period. It was the meeting with the Native Americans from North America that brought this fashion in Europe. The English explorer James Cook brought the tattoos fashion from Polynesia in Europe from his explores in Pacific. In that period the bodies marked with signs had the significance that the respective person represented belongings which could be used and sold as any other product.

About astrology (Part III: Traditional astrology)

Astrology was fatalist until the first half of the twentieth century. The map presents a personality and the course already established by the influence of planets. Map's aspects were seen whether as benefits whether as detriments. Until the discovery of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (1781, 1846 and 1930) interpretations were strictly bound on the interior planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, in addition to the moon and the Sun, often known as "The two lights". Planets were symbolizing very specifically people and aspects of their lives and the accent was put on what might happen in the future. A major influence on traditional astrology, which continues to form astrology today, had Theosophia, a system of believes in Hinduism, founded in 1800 by the occult prophet Mrs. Helena Blavatsky. Alice Bailey (1880-1949), a theosophic descendent, wrote "Esoteric Astrology" which added to Bailey's own drain, information from her spiritual guide. Those spiritual ideas promote Reincarnation, the belief that somebody will return after death many times to evolve; a spiritual hierarchy of Exalted Teachers who guide those on the earth to a better and higher spiritual understanding, and Pantheism, the believe that God is everything and everything is God. Thereby, everyone gets a divine side and evolves to deity. Most of these ideas were developed by the map interpretation of the prominent astrologist Isabel Hickey who died in 1960. She emphasized the importance of everyone to read his karma lesson (anterior life lesson) from the map and spiritual interpretations. Those spiritual ideas were the predecessors of today’s move: The New Era.

About astrology (Part II: Map)

There are three major body parts of the map: planets (and the sun and the moon), the zodiacal signs and the Twelve hours. The map contains 360 points for every zodiacal sign (each one representing 30 points) and the planets are arrangened around the map based on location of points wich stands on the birth. Someone's Sun can be at 19 points by the Virgo constellation, moon at 24 points by the pisces, Venus at 6 points by the Leo etc. The map is established with mathematical calculations based on the local time of the birth and the latitude and longitude of the birth place.The zodiacal signs don't represent the present constellation, it is more a fixedly belt of the zodiac projected around earth regarding the movement of the planets as we see from the earth. The planets represents people and the emotional, spiritual and mental aspects of the inside "I". Zodiacal signs describe the modality how the planets are limited or extended. Signs of the zodiac represent different zones as inside "I", house, marriage, career etc. Hereby planets are "who" or "what",  zodiacal signs are "how" and zodiac signs are "where". Additional, angels(nomber of points between planets) must be consideration taken. 90 points, a square, is considered techy or challenging; 60 points, a sextette, is interpreted as mellifluos. There are some tipes of angels. The present and the future are read by comparing the present movement of planets from birth map, a method named transit. Another method, the progresive map, is calculated with every day after birth equalizing an year in real life. This process is named "map actualization". Three kind of astrological maps include Personal Map for a person; Terrestrial astrology for an event, public person, state or town and Hour astrology formed to answer the questions as "Quit my job?" or " Will John propose me?", wich is based on the hour when question is puted. Though is based on smilar principles, interpretation methods for this types of map are different.

About astrology (Part I: History)

Foundation member: Unknown
Date of foundation: There's no specific date
Definition: A method that uses the position of the planets, of the sun and of the moon, as signs to explain temper, life and destiny.
Philosophical bases: Occult believes have the vision of a connection between human kind and the universe by a mystique bound. That's why from the moment of his birth, man is a microcosm of planet models and the planets reflect his inside "I".


There's no tangible evidence about astrology birth but most historians believe that the Chaldeans are the ones who developed it. There's a speculation about how these antique people noticed the rhythmic movement of celestial corpuses in contrast with the steadiness of the most long distance stars. This movement seemed full of significance, so that's why they've attributed powers and the concept of divinity to the planets and made them houses of gods. Noticing the planets, sun and moon position in some regular moments and connecting them with the events on earth, they've confirmed the belief that the position and the events were actually cause and effect. They've attributed names and personalities to the planets and they've been told to lead some constellations. Mercury - the one that is moving fast - was considered a cheat and a messenger. Jupiter, known as Marduk was seen as the most powerful. As time passed by, the association between planets and constellations became stronger. This association continues today with Mars considered the Aries' leader, Mercury as Gemini's leader, Sun as Leo's leader etc. Later, the astrology outspread in different locations of the world, advancing differently in the East. The Greeks rejected the astrology to accept it later. Because the Greeks had put the accent on the individual’s personality, the astrology was used for the first time as an instrument for common people, not just for leaders and kings. The word "horoscope" has its origin in the Greek word "hora" for hour and "skopos" for keeper that literary means "the hour keeper". A map with the planets’ position at birth had the purpose to reveal a person’s destiny. They gave Latin names to planets as we know them today.

Books and their importance

Books have been hugely important in human civilization as instruments for communicating information and ideas. The digital age is challenging their ongoing existence - although the e-book has not yet taken over from print on paper, the landscape is constantly changing, with more and more of the traditional functions of books being performed electronically.

People usually think of books in terms of their contents, their texts, with less thought for books as artifacts. In fact, books may possess all kinds of potentially interesting qualities beyond their texts, as designed or artistic objects, or because they have unique properties deriving from the ways they have been printed, bound, annotated, beautified, or defaced. David Pearson explores these themes and uses many examples of books from the Middle Age to the present day to show why books may be interesting beyond their texts. As the format of a book becomes history - as texts are increasingly communicated electronically - we can recognize that books are also history in another significant way. Books can develop their own individual histories, which provide important evidence about the way they were used and regarded in the past, which make them an indispensable part of the fabric of our cultural heritage.
And now, let's begin with the things or questions that actually challenge us. First thing’s first. I think that we all are what we're reading and not how much we’ve read. There are so many books we can talk about but everyone has his taste in this domain. For example, I like philosophical, psychological novels and in my opinion, the best author who can combine these aspects is Dostoevsky. I don't want to go into details, so I'll give a few names of his books like "The brothers Karamazov", "Crime and punishment", "The idiot". He has a third dimension for his characters unlike other authors who have two dimensional characters. If we read attentively, we can find ourselves in his novels. In the end I'll let you post in the comments section about the books that you like the most and why.

The source: David Pearson

Self-knowledge and career

    Self-knowledge is developed once with the age and the experiences we've been made through. During maturation our individual person obtains an advanced capacity of self-knowledge. With all of this we can't never affirm that we know in totally ourselves. The self-knowledge process is not something ending once with the adolescence or the youth. The struggling with different events may throw out to the light and reveal new personality dimensions that are already consolidate, but happening to intercourse only in certain contexts. One of those events is very significant in the arrangement of self-knowledge process. It's about the moment of the career option, wich-the experts affirm-can be associated with the profesional identity obtaining, once is realized the initial integration and fitting at the profesion.
    The expectation that teens have confronted at the first job depends once with the profesional motivations who become in present more and more concentrated on the statute need and financial safety. The psychologists include this kind of things in the motivation category like "hygyene".

    At the oposite pole of this kind of motivation stands the "intrinsically motivation" wich source are the personal desires, needs and necessitis who unfortunately we have less contact and risk to estrange from ourselves and create a fake profesional and social identity. To choose a profesion that is inadequate with what or who we really are and our true desires it's like watching ourselves into a mirror that deform our image. The same thing could happened also in the account between our profesional and our actual or future job. It's possible that when we not have a possibility to proper reflect of this interests peering our career to see surprised we can change a lot of profesions without reaching in an end at a complete self-knowledge, with other words - without succeed to consolidate our profesional identity.