Missed Opportunities….

There are moments in our life that stick with us forever, like winning the finals, gaining acceptance to the universities of our choice, being there for the birth of your child or finally ~* meeting*~ that special someone.

The things that we do or decisions that we make at that very moment, can change the course of history as we know it, or so I have been conditioned to think, but that is another story, for another day.

Now I know most Muslim are prone to say, ” Allahu Allum” when things don’t go the way that they desired or expected, and I am not saying that Allah is not the decider of what is best for you, by no means am I saying that, but what I am saying is this: Allah has endowed man with free will, right? What if Allah has set things in motion so that what you desired was provided on a platter to you, only you didn’t realize it or because you let fear paralyze you, and you failed to act on the opportunity? I am only saying, “what if?”

How do you recover from a missed opportunity or an opportunity of a lifetime? Do you remain face-down in the dirt or do you have the audacity to make Dua to Allah for another opportunity or do you tuck it in and say enough and move forward, vowing to end pursuit of the elusive ~*opportunity*~? I am just asking, because, I recently had one of those rare opportunities that one gets, but I failed to act upon it out of fear, and I am not sure how to get another “perfect” opportunity like the one that I recently squandered because of fear……

“He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.”
-William James (Pragmatist and Philosopher)

Breath Me - Sia
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Personality Types

I have to say that I have always been fascinated by people, including myself, and in understanding why people do what they do (i.e. motivation: intrinsic or extrinsic), which is why I am always taking personality tests and the like. Recently, ok about a month ago, I took a personality test that I have to admit is "spot on" when it comes to revealing the "real" me. I have suggested that as many people as possible take it so that I can compare what I have observed with what they submit(of course, right?). In the interim, I am sharing the details below of my assessment results:

Introspective
You like your own company; you're a very interesting person. Tracking your own mental processes, knowing what you're thinking and why you do what you do, is important to you. Often, what's going on in your mind is more compelling than what's going on outside. You are not someone who is constantly looking to be among a group of friends; you never feel bored when you are by yourself. For the most part, those with a high score on the "introspective" trait enjoy reading, taking long walks, learning new things, and other solitary activities.

Intellectual
You are thoughtful, rational, and comfortable in the world of ideas. People find you interesting to talk to. You're the living embodiment of the saying "You learn something new every day."
You do not avoid abstract conversation, experimenting with new ideas, or studying new things. It bores you to stick to the straight and narrow of what you already know. In general, those with a high score on the "intellectual" trait are employed in such fields as teaching and research, and are enthusiastic about reading, foreign films, and classical music.

Aesthetic
You appreciate art, beauty, and design; you know that they are not superficial but absolutely crucial to living the good life. You have good taste, and you're proud of it. You don't think it's pretentious to be moved by art and beauty. You're not one of those who believe it doesn't matter what something looks like as long as it does its job. Those with a high score on the "aesthetic" trait are often employed in literary or artistic professions, enjoy domestic activities — doing things around the house — and are enthusiastic about the arts, reading, and travel.

Sympathetic
You have a knack for knowing what's going on in the hearts and minds of those around you, without their having to tell you explicitly. People tend to turn to you with their problems because they know you care, and that you will likely offer good advice and a helping hand.
You do not feel that people with sad stories are just looking for attention, or have brought their problems upon themselves.

Curious
You like to get to the bottom of things. You're not content knowing what someone did; you want to know why they did it. You don't simply take things as they are and move on; you're not content skimming along on the surface; you don't feel you're wasting time by digging for the meaning of things.

Reserved
You are somewhat shy, or at least unwilling to spend all your time socializing. With you it's true that "still waters run deep," which is why many of your acquaintances never get to know you well. You are not always ready to talk at the drop of a hat. Whether you're in the office or at a party, you're not likely to be found gabbing away in the middle of a group of people.

Solitary
You are a private person, not very comfortable in a big group, and view excessive socializing as a waste of time. You not prefer hanging out with others to spending time alone; you do not tend to feel at home in a crowded room, club, stadium, or auditorium.

Understanding
You are willing to take the time to find out what's going on with other people, especially if they're in distress. You're a good listener, you don't criticize, and you offer unbiased, respectful, honest advice when it's requested. You don't feel the need to impose your standards on others or say things that, even though true, cause pain. With a high score on the "understanding" trait, it is likely that you are enthusiastic about charitable work, helping others, and making the world a better place.

Scrupulous
You are an honest, fair person. You don't lie or cheat to get ahead. You treat others with respect and hope for the same in return. You do not feel that you are above the rules that everyone else follows; you are definitely not willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead.

Responsible
You fulfill your obligations and responsibilities, are true to your word, and generally obey the rules. You're opposed to making hasty decisions, you don't insist that you're above the rules, nor do you feel compelled to color outside the lines. While the majority of those who have a high score on the "responsible" trait enjoy traveling, they are usually very happy to return home — and don’t mind staying put for a while.

Quote of The Day

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question

than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

-Bruce Lee

Do Over

It is not uncommon to hear children say that they want a “do-over”, especially if something did not turn out as they’d initially predicted. And as children, where the world seems to somehow govern itself under rules that are far more just than in the adult world, they are miraculously granted a 2nd chance or a reprieve, if you will, to correct a wrong or gain another shot at perfection.

Admittedly, I am secretly jealous of them for this reason (though no longer *secret* after this post). I mean how many times have you made a choice that you wanted to change later on? For example, it can be something as simple

as while driving, changing lanes to avoid a back-up, only to end up behind a “Sunday driver”; or placing an order for an item, only to have it arrive and be something completely different from what was initially envisioned and now you are stuck with return shipping fees, to something more serious, like posting a disparaging or inappropriate comment on someone’s blog that you now regret , or finally for having chosen a career path that siphons your spirit, with no available viable options of rectification(thankfully this is not the case for me because I love what I do).

A do-over could change the time-space continuum as we know it, right? (Back-To-The-Future reference). Think of what a do-over could have allowed happen: the McCain-Palin ticket actually WON the November election, or my parents got a do-over in regards to their marriage, and as a result, I or my 3 brothers were never born, or that the 3Rd Reich was actually successful in their quest for world domination and subjugation. These events would have had far-reaching effects on how the world as I know it, developed. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, there is no real “do-over” in life, but don’t you wish that there was?

Cat.Gato.Chat.Katz.Quittah.

No matter what language you say it in, they are wonderfully loyal and serene pets. I have in the past had two of them as pets. One a pure- breed that I lucked upon at an animal shelter that specialized in pure-breed “displaced” pets and another that was a “mutt” cat. My two cats were Ginger (an orangish colored cat, hence the name Ginger) and Neo, named after the main character in the Matrix Trilogy. Both were great pets, but it was the pure-breed that captivated me and captured my heart.

Neo was a pure-breed Bombay cat the embodiment of beauty. He was long and lean with the most dazzling dazzling golden eyes and a soft coat of black with a sheen that would easily put Arianna Furs to shame.

Beauty and Brains
Neo was not only beautiful, but intelligent too. I was able to teach him to:
-Come when his name was called,
-To sit on command, and
-To jump on command (to name a few).

Sometimes his natural intelligence would get him into trouble. There are several occasions that I can recall with great clarity. The first- I wanted some privacy, so I went into my room and closed the door. Well, Neo was not going to be having any of that, how dare I leave him alone! He proceeded to stand on his long hind legs and twist at the door knob until the door opened. Feeling quite proud of himself, he sauntered over to where I was sitting and hopped up on my lap. The second-Neo liked the breeze that would come off the screened-in balcony and would often lie in front of the balcony door to nap and soak up the breeze and he would also be sometimes seen “sniffing” the air that came in. On day the allure of the outside world was too great for him and he did something about it.

I’d gone to run a few errands one day and when I came back, he was missing and there was a large hole in the bottom of the screen. Naturally I panicked. Neo was an inside cat and had only gone outside in his carrier. Frantically I began to call his name as loudly as I could, yes, the neighbors thought I’d lost my mind, but I did not care. Since he had been trained to come when his name was called, he immediately popped his head from under the neighbors’ bar-b-que grill and let out a meow before running and jumping back onto my balcony, looking as innocent as can be. Initially, I tried to prevent him from escaping through his hole, but that was to no avail, because as I mentioned earlier, he was quite crafty; so I resigned myself to the fact that he would get out whenever the weather was mild enough not to need the AC. Plus, he would never go anywhere but to the neighbors’ grill (yes, I had to work out an understanding with them because they were of the mindset that all animals were “nasty” and that Americans were crazy about their nasty animals (they were/are Haitian).

Finally, one day during the week I was off work and cleaning in the living room when I saw a little squirrel climb up the screen. I was nervous because I hadn’t replace the screen from when the cat chewed/clawed through it the second time (yes, I was stupid enough to replace it! $80.00 well-spent). As I was about to try to shoo it away, I saw the cat leap at it and knock it off of the screen. I was horrified at the fact that my “respectable” cat would attack that “rat with the fluffy tail.” He didn’t kill the squirrel, the hunt was sufficient for him, but I did have to take him to the vet to make sure he did not get rabies and I had to call the association to let them know what happened to the “fluffy rat” in hopes that they could get someone out to look at the squirrel to make sure that it would be fine. The third incident- this incident was actually something that happened several times before I figured out what was wrong. My cat would run through the house and jump up the wall. It was always the same wall and he would do this for about 15-20 minutes before he either got tired or I became irritated with the behavior and would grab him and hold him or if he was especially aggressive, I would have to spray him with water from the water bottle (don’t worry, this is a common cat training tool and doesn’t harm the animal). Well finally I figured out that these bouts were temper tantrums. He would get angry if he couldn’t get any attention or sit on your lap. In many ways he was like a dog without the barking.

One Of A Kind
Neo was an interesting creature who would groom you and himself at the same time (this was him showing you affection), he would hop into the tub when you ran bathwater (strange, right?) and he was known for waking my son up in the middle of the night trying to get a soft spot to lay down (you know that kneading thing that cats do before they can lay down). I would hear my son say something like, “Oh my G-d, could you hurry up!” If it became problematic, I would have him shoo the cat away and close his door. Neo did NOT sleep alone so he would come to my room to start over again, only I did not allow him on my bed (allergies)! I loved him, but not enough to let him onto my bed.

Retrospect For Life
I tell these stories of him in retrospect, because Neo is no longer of this earth. Neo contracted FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_infectious_peritonitis , the wet form, from Ginger, who got it from her mother, which should have been detected since I got her from the Anti-Cruelty Society in downtown Chicago. I’d gotten her because I’d read that you should never have one cat, that they get lonely for their own kind and that they should have a playmate, some playmate, huh? If you get a cat from a shelter make sure that they get tested for this disease. I was told by Anti-Cruelty Society that this was not a commonly tested for disease, but strangely enough the rescue group that I got Neo from tested for the disease. If you get a rescue pet, make sure you get it tested for Feline Infectious Peritonitis!!!

Well, on this parting note, I sincerely pray that I meet my friend again in the hereafter, because it was a blessing to have had him in my life and selfishly, I want to see him again…

http://www.catster.com/breeds/bombay

Quote For The Day:

Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilisation. - Oscar Wilde

Why Do Whales Beach Themselves?

I have often wondered why whales beach themselves and so I decided that perhaps instead of wondering about it, I should look into finding out why they do it. Let me first and foremost mention that I am no Marine Biologist nor do I work for the military or some special interest group…I am just a curious person.

Let’s first briefly talk about how sound travels underwater. It is said that sound travels best in dense mediums because of the more closely packed molecules. Water, which is far denser than air, helps sound to better. As a result, the speed of sound increases by about four times underwater. Since sound travels at a much faster rate underwater, the direction from which a sound originally came, cannot be easily ascertained.

Types of underwater sounds:

Natural sounds
Natural sounds underwater can originate where the earth’s tectonic plates collide, or be caused by underwater landslides, icebergs breaking off, earthquakes, heavy rains on the water surface and animals
Ocean animals makes noises while swimming, searching for food, sending defense or attack warning signals, sending a mating call, when they are frightened and when they communicate with each other.

Man-Made sounds
Man-made sounds underwater can originate from large freighters in crowded shipping lanes, underwater drilling for oil and underwater explosions, crews laying communications cables and sonar devices used by the military.

How Humans process sounds

Humans perceive sound under water by bone conductivity, which is the vibration of the bones of the skull (Physics). Sound waves enter the ear and strike the tympanic membrane or eardrum, which vibrates the bones of the middle ear. The vibrations are transmitted to the fluid in the inner ear and then vibrate the hair cells that line it. The hair cells are connected by neurons to the auditory nerve, which transmits the signal to the brain. The number of hair cells stimulated determines the volume of the sound and the distribution pattern of stimulated cells determines the pitch of the sound.

Human ears are unable to pick up the frequencies of many of these underwater animal sounds because our hearing threshold is only between 20 and 20,000 Hz. Anthropogenic sounds, such as submarine sonar can be dangerous to divers’ hearing.
A whale’s ear and human ear are similar, save for the fact that a whale’s hearing is 50% more acute than a human’s.


As the picture above shows, the anatomies of both species ears are remarkably similar.
Since submarine sonar and other man-made noises can be dangerous to humans, what effect would you think that it would have on a species whose hearing is 50% more acute than human hearing?

Other points to consider:

It may also be prudent to consider since a whale has evolved to dive for long stretches of time, typically 1-2 hours at a time. In order to do this a whale prepares itself for the dive by spending 10 minutes or more clearing its lungs, blowing a breath in and out every 12 seconds. It’s getting rid of old carbon and loading up with fresh oxygen. Since the whale can and typically does dive deep and has evolved to be able to hold its breath for such prolonged periods of time, it’s safe to assume that it wouldn’t complete such a rigorous preparation for a 30 minute or less dive. Would you prepare for a week for a trip that is only going to take 1 day to make? It be prudent to do so. With that in mind imagine that you have completed your preparation and you make your long anticipated dive, you get 800 feet down in your dive and all of a sudden you are inundated with a wall of sound which appears to be coming from everywhere, so you swim away from the deafening sound.

Since whales navigate using sonar, if they are unable to hear, how are they able to determine the best escape route? They aren't able to do so, which most often results in them beaching themselves as a result. Another thing that one might want to make note of is that when human divers ascend too quickly from a dive, they get what is called the bends. Divers get the bends or decompression sickness when they have been on a deep dive and do not stop in their ascent at regular intervals to decompress.

Small holes are abnormal tissue damage from nitrogen bubbles that form when the animals rise to the surface too quickly.

It has been discovered that whales are experiencing the bends too as a result of ascending too rapidly after a deep ascent. As mentioned earlier, whales typically would be able to manage not getting the bends by avoiding quick ascents, but again, if they are “running” from something, they risk injury to get away from it.
The worlds waterways are becoming increasingly polluted with sound- man made sound and as a result, I fear that these beaching occurrences will increase.