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Evolution can take place by anagenesis, in which changes occur within a lineage, or by cladogenesis, in which a lineage splits into two or more separate lines. Anagenetic evolution has doubled the size of the human cranium over the course of two million years; in the lineage of the horse it has reduced the number of toes from four to one. Cladogenetic evolution has produced the extraordinary diversity of the living world, with its more than two million species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms.
The most essential cladogenetic function is speciation, the process by which one species splits into two or more species. Because species are reproductively isolated from one another, they are independent evolutionary units; that is, evolutionary changes occurring in one species are not shared with other species. Over time, species diverge more and more from one another as a consequence of anagenetic evolution. Descendant lineages of two related species that existed millions of years ago may now be classified into quite different biological categories, such as different genera or even different families.
The evolution of all living organisms, or of a subset of them, can be seen as a tree, with branches that divide into two or more as time progresses. Such trees are called phylogenies. Their branches represent evolving lineages, some of which eventually die out while others persist in themselves or in their derived lineages down to the present time. Evolutionists are interested in the history of life and hence in the topology, or configuration, of phylogenies. They are concerned as well with the nature of the anagenetic changes within lineages and with the timing of the events.
Phylogenetic relationships are ascertained by means of several complementary sources of evidence. First, there are the discovered remnants of organisms that lived in the past, the fossil record, which provides definitive evidence of relationships between some groups of organisms. The fossil record, however, is far from complete and is often seriously deficient. Second, information about phylogeny comes from comparative studies of living forms. Comparative anatomy contributed the most information in the past, although additional knowledge came from comparative embryology, cytology, ethology, biogeography, and other biological disciplines. In recent years the comparative study of the so-called informational macromolecules—proteins and nucleic acids, whose specific sequences of constituents carry genetic information—has become a powerful tool for the study of phylogeny (see below DNA and protein as informational macromolecules).
Morphological similarities between organisms have probably always been recognized. In ancient Greece Aristotle and later his followers and those of Plato, particularly Porphyry, classified organisms (as well as inanimate objects) on the basis of similarities. The Aristotelian system of classification was further developed by some medieval Scholastic philosophers, notably Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The modern foundations of biological taxonomy, the science of classification of living and extinct organisms, were laid in the 18th century by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus and the French botanist Michel Adanson. The French naturalist Lamarck dedicated much of his work to the systematic classification of organisms. He proposed that their similarities were due to ancestral relationships—in other words, to the degree of evolutionary proximity.
The modern theory of evolution provides a causal explanation of the similarities between living things. Organisms evolve by a process of descent with modification. Changes, and therefore differences, gradually accumulate over the generations. The more recent the last common ancestor of a group of organisms, the less their differentiation; similarities of form and function reflect phylogenetic propinquity. Accordingly, phylogenetic affinities can be inferred on the basis of relative similarity.
A distinction has to be made between resemblances due to propinquity of descent and those due only to similarity of function. As discussed above in the section The evidence for evolution: Structural similarities, correspondence of features in different organisms that is due to inheritance from a common ancestor is called homology. The forelimbs of humans, whales, dogs, and bats are homologous. The skeletons of these limbs are all constructed of bones arranged according to the same pattern because they derive from a common ancestor with similarly arranged forelimbs. Correspondence of features due to similarity of function but not related to common descent is termed analogy. The wings of birds and of flies are analogous. Their wings are not modified versions of a structure present in a common ancestor but rather have developed independently as adaptations to a common function, flying. The similarities between the wings of bats and birds are partially homologous and partially analogous. Their skeletal structure is homologous, due to common descent from the forelimb of a reptilian ancestor; but the modifications for flying are different and independently evolved, and in this respect they are analogous.
Features that become more rather than less similar through independent evolution are said to be convergent. Convergence is often associated with similarity of function, as in the evolution of wings in birds, bats, and flies. The shark (a fish) and the dolphin (a mammal) are much alike in external morphology; their similarities are due to convergence, since they have evolved independently as adaptations to aquatic life.
Taxonomists also speak of parallel evolution. Parallelism and convergence are not always clearly distinguishable. Strictly speaking, convergent evolution occurs when descendants resemble each other more than their ancestors did with respect to some feature. Parallel evolution implies that two or more lineages have changed in similar ways, so that the evolved descendants are as similar to each other as their ancestors were. The evolution of marsupials in Australia, for example, paralleled the evolution of placental mammals in other parts of the world. There are Australian marsupials resembling true wolves, cats, mice, squirrels, moles, groundhogs, and anteaters. These placental mammals and the corresponding Australian marsupials evolved independently but in parallel lines by reason of their adaptation to similar ways of life. Some resemblances between a true anteater (genus Myrmecophaga) and a marsupial anteater, or numbat (Myrmecobius), are due to homology—both are mammals. Others are due to analogy—both feed on ants.
Parallel and convergent evolution are also common in plants. New World cacti and African euphorbias, or spurges, are alike in overall appearance although they belong to separate families. Both are succulent, spiny, water-storing plants adapted to the arid conditions of the desert. Their corresponding morphologies have evolved independently in response to similar environmental challenges.
Homology can be recognized not only between different organisms but also between repetitive structures of the same organism. This has been called serial homology. There is serial homology, for example, between the arms and legs of humans, between the seven cervical vertebrae of mammals, and between the branches or leaves of a tree. The jointed appendages of arthropods are elaborate examples of serial homology. Crayfish have 19 pairs of appendages, all built according to the same basic pattern but serving diverse functions—sensing, chewing, food handling, walking, mating, egg carrying, and swimming. Although serial homologies are not useful in reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of organisms, they are an important dimension of the evolutionary process.
Relationships in some sense akin to those between serial homologs exist at the molecular level between genes and proteins derived from ancestral gene duplications. The genes coding for the various hemoglobin chains are an example. About 500 million years ago a chromosome segment carrying the gene coding for hemoglobin became duplicated, so that the genes in the different segments thereafter evolved in somewhat different ways, one eventually giving rise to the modern gene coding for the α hemoglobin chain, the other for the β chain. The β chain gene became duplicated again about 200 million years ago, giving rise to the γ hemoglobin chain, a normal component of fetal hemoglobin (hemoblobin F). The genes for the α, β, γ, and other hemoglobin chains are homologous; similarities in their nucleotide sequences occur because they are modified descendants of a single ancestral sequence.
There are two ways of comparing homology between hemoglobins. One is to compare the same hemoglobin chain—for instance, the α chain—in different species of animals. The degree of divergence between the α chains reflects the degree of the evolutionary relationship between the organisms, because the hemoglobin chains have evolved independently of one another since the time of divergence of the lineages leading to the present-day organisms. A second way is to make comparisons between, say, the α and β chains of a single species. The degree of divergence between the different globin chains reflects the degree of relationship between the genes coding for them. The different globins have evolved independently of each other since the time of duplication of their ancestral genes. Comparisons between homologous genes or proteins within a given organism provide information about the phylogenetic history of the genes and hence about the historical sequence of the gene duplication events.
Whether similar features in different organisms are homologous or analogous—or simply accidental—cannot always be decided unambiguously, but the distinction must be made in order to determine phylogenetic relationships. Moreover, the degrees of homology must be quantified in some way so as to determine the propinquity of common descent between species. Difficulties arise here as well. In the case of forelimbs, it is not clear whether the homologies are greater between human and bird than between human and reptile, or between human and reptile than between human and bat. The fossil record sometimes provides the appropriate information, even though the record is deficient. Fossil evidence must be examined together with the evidence from comparative studies of living forms and with the quantitative estimates provided by comparative studies of proteins and nucleic acids.
The fossil record indicates that morphological evolution is by and large a gradual process. Major evolutionary changes are usually due to a building-up over the ages of relatively small changes. But the fossil record is discontinuous. Fossil strata are separated by sharp boundaries; accumulation of fossils within a geologic deposit (stratum) is fairly constant over time, but the transition from one stratum to another may involve gaps of tens of thousands of years. Whereas the fossils within a stratum exhibit little morphological variation, new species—characterized by small but discontinuous morphological changes—typically appear at the boundaries between strata. That is not to say that the transition from one stratum to another always involves sudden changes in morphology; on the contrary, fossil forms often persist virtually unchanged through several geologic strata, each representing millions of years.
The apparent morphological discontinuities of the fossil record are often attributed by paleontologists to the discontinuity of the sediments—that is, to the substantial time gaps encompassed in the boundaries between strata. The assumption is that, if the fossil deposits were more continuous, they would show a more gradual transition of form. Even so, morphological evolution would not always keep progressing gradually, because some forms, at least, remain unchanged for extremely long times. Examples are the lineages known as "living fossils"—for instance, the lamp shell Lingula, a genus of brachiopod (a phylum of shelled invertebrates) that appears to have remained essentially unchanged since the Ordovician Period, some 450 million years ago; or the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), a reptile that has shown little morphological evolution for nearly 200 million years, since the early Mesozoic.
Some paleontologists have proposed that the discontinuities of the fossil record are not artifacts created by gaps in the record but rather reflect the true nature of morphological evolution, which happens in sudden bursts associated with the formation of new species. The lack of morphological evolution, or stasis, of lineages such as Lingula and Sphenodon is in turn due to lack of speciation within those lineages. The proposition that morphological evolution is jerky, with most morphological change occurring during the brief speciation events and virtually no change during the subsequent existence of the species, is known as the punctuated equilibrium model.
Whether morphological evolution in the fossil record is predominantly punctuational or gradual is a much-debated question. The imperfection of the record makes it unlikely that the issue will be settled in the foreseeable future. Intensive study of a favourable and abundant set of fossils may be expected to substantiate punctuated or gradual evolution in particular cases. But the argument is not about whether only one or the other pattern ever occurs; it is about their relative frequency. Some paleontologists argue that morphological evolution is in most cases gradual and only rarely jerky, whereas others think the opposite is true.
Much of the problem is that gradualness or jerkiness is in the eye of the beholder. Consider the evolution of shell rib strength (the ratio of rib height to rib width) within a lineage of fossil brachiopods of the genus Eocelia. Results of the analysis of an abundant sample of fossils in Wales from near the beginning of the Devonian Period is shown in the figure. One possible interpretation of the data is that rib strength changed little or not at all from 415 million to 413 million years ago; rapid change ensued for the next 1 million years, followed by virtual stasis from 412 million to 407 million years ago; and then another short burst of change occurred about 406 million years ago, followed by a final period of stasis. On the other hand, the same record may be interpreted as not particularly punctuated but rather a gradual process, with the rate of change somewhat greater at particular times.
The proponents of the punctuated equilibrium model propose not only that morphological evolution is jerky but also that it is associated with speciation events. They argue that phyletic evolution—that is, evolution along lineages of descent—proceeds at two levels. First, there is continuous change through time within a population. This consists largely of gene substitutions prompted by natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, and other genetic processes that operate at the level of the individual organism. The punctualists maintain that this continuous evolution within established lineages rarely, if ever, yields substantial morphological changes in species. Second, they say, there is the process of origination and extinction of species, in which most morphological change occurs. According to the punctualist model, evolutionary trends result from the patterns of origination and extinction of species rather than from evolution within established lineages.
As discussed above in the section The origin of species, speciation involves the development of reproductive isolation between populations previously able to interbreed. Paleontologists discriminate between species by their different morphologies as preserved in the fossil record, but fossils cannot provide evidence of the development of reproductive isolation—new species that are reproductively isolated from their ancestors are often morphologically indistinguishable from them. Speciation as it is seen by paleontologists always involves substantial morphological change. This situation creates an insuperable difficulty for resolving the question of whether morphological evolution is always associated with speciation events. If speciation is defined as the evolution of reproductive isolation, the fossil record provides no evidence that an association between speciation and morphological change is necessary. But if new species are identified in the fossil record by morphological changes, then all such changes will occur concomitantly with the origination of new species.
The current diversity of life is the balance between the species that have arisen through time and those that have become extinct. Paleontologists observe that organisms have continuously changed since the Cambrian Period, more than 500 million years ago, from which abundant animal fossil remains are known. The division of geologic history into a succession of eras and periods (see figure) is hallmarked by major changes in plant and animal life—the appearance of new sorts of organisms and the extinction of others. Paleontologists distinguish between background extinction, the steady rate at which species disappear through geologic time, and mass extinctions, the episodic events in which large numbers of species become extinct over time spans short enough to appear almost instantaneous on the geologic scale.
Best known among mass extinctions is the one that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous Period, when the dinosaurs and many other marine and land animals disappeared. Most scientists believe that the Cretaceous mass extinction was provoked by the impact of an asteroid or comet on the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico 65 million years ago. The object's impact caused an enormous dust cloud, which greatly reduced the Sun's radiation reaching Earth, with a consequent drastic drop in temperature and other adverse conditions. Among animals, about 76 percent of species, 47 percent of genera, and 16 percent of families became extinct. Although the dinosaurs vanished, turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and other reptiles, as well as some mammals and birds, survived. Mammals that lived prior to the event were small and mostly nocturnal, but during the ensuing Paleogene and Neogene periods they experienced an explosive diversification in size and morphology, occupying ecological niches vacated by the dinosaurs. Most of the orders and families of mammals now in existence originated in the first 10 million–20 million years after the dinosaurs' extinction. Birds also greatly diversified at that time.
Several other mass extinctions have occurred since the Cambrian. The most catastrophic happened at the end of the Permian Period, about 248 251 million years ago, when 95 percent of marine species, 82 percent of genera, and 51 percent of families of animals became extinct. (See also Triassic Period: Permian-Triassic extinctions.) Other large mass extinctions occurred at or near the end of the Ordovician (about 440 444 million years ago, 85 percent of marine species extinct), Devonian (about 360 359 million years ago, 83 70–80 percent of species extinct), and Triassic (about 210 200 million years ago, nearly 80 percent of species extinct). Changes of climate and chemical composition of the atmosphere appear to have caused these mass extinctions; there is no convincing evidence that they resulted from cosmic impacts. Like other mass extinctions, they were followed by the origin or rapid diversification of various kinds of organisms. The first mammals and dinosaurs appeared after the late Permian extinction, and the first vascular plants after the Late Ordovician extinction.
Background extinctions result from ordinary biological processes, such as competition between species, predation, and parasitism. When two species compete for very similar resources—say, the same kinds of seeds or fruits—one may become extinct, although often they will displace one another by dividing the territory or by specializing in slightly different foods, such as seeds of a different size or kind. Ordinary physical and climatic changes also account for background extinctions—for example, when a lake dries out or a mountain range rises or erodes.
New species come about by the processes discussed in previous sections. These processes are largely gradual, yet the history of life shows major transitions in which one kind of organism becomes a very different kind. The earliest organisms were prokaryotes, or bacteria-like cells, whose hereditary material is not segregated into a nucleus. Eukaryotes have their DNA organized into chromosomes that are membrane-bound in the nucleus, have other organelles inside their cells, and reproduce sexually. Eventually, eukaryotic multicellular organisms appeared, in which there is a division of function among cells—some specializing in reproduction, others becoming leaves, trunks, and roots in plants or different organs and tissues such as muscle, nerve, and bone in animals. Social organization of individuals in a population is another way of achieving functional division, which may be quite fixed, as in ants and bees, or more flexible, as in cattle herds or primate groups.
Because of the gradualness of evolution, immediate descendants differ little, and then mostly quantitatively, from their ancestors. But gradual evolution may amount to large differences over time. The forelimbs of mammals are normally adapted for walking, but they are adapted for shoveling earth in moles and other mammals that live mostly underground, for climbing and grasping in arboreal monkeys and apes, for swimming in dolphins and whales, and for flying in bats. The forelimbs of reptiles became wings in their bird descendants. Feathers appear to have served first for regulating temperature but eventually were co-opted for flying and became incorporated into wings.
Eyes, which serve as another example, also evolved gradually and achieved very different configurations, all serving the function of seeing. Eyes have evolved independently at least 40 times. Because sunlight is a pervasive feature of Earth's environment, it is not surprising that organs have evolved that take advantage of it. The simplest "organ" of vision occurs in some single-celled organisms that have enzymes or spots sensitive to light (see eyespot), which helps them move toward the surface of their pond, where they feed on the algae growing there by photosynthesis. Some multicellular animals exhibit light-sensitive spots on their epidermis. Further steps—deposition of pigment around the spot, configuration of cells into a cuplike shape, thickening of the epidermis leading to the development of a lens, development of muscles to move the eyes and nerves to transmit optical signals to the brain—all led to the highly developed eyes of vertebrates (see eye, human) and cephalopods (octopuses and squids) and to the compound eyes of insects.
While the evolution of forelimbs—for walking—into the wings of birds or the arms and hands of primates may seem more like changes of function, the evolution of eyes exemplifies gradual advancement of the same function—seeing. In all cases, however, the process is impelled by natural selection's favouring individuals exhibiting functional advantages over others of the same species. Examples of functional shifts are many and diverse. Some transitions at first may seem unlikely because of the difficulty in identifying which possible functions may have been served during the intermediate stages. These cases are eventually resolved with further research and the discovery of intermediate fossil forms. An example of a seemingly unlikely transition is described above in the section The fossil record—namely, the transformation of bones found in the reptilian jaw into the hammer and anvil of the mammalian ear.
Starfish are radially symmetrical, but most animals are bilaterally symmetrical—the parts of the left and right halves of their bodies tend to correspond in size, shape, and position (see symmetry). Some bilateral animals, such as millipedes and shrimps, are segmented (metameric); others, such as frogs and humans, have a front-to-back (head-to-foot) body plan, with head, thorax, abdomen, and limbs, but they lack the repetitive, nearly identical segments of metameric animals. There are other basic body plans, such as those of sponges, clams, and jellyfish, but their total number is not large—less than 40.
The fertilized egg, or zygote, is a single cell, more or less spherical, that does not exhibit polarity such as anterior and posterior ends or dorsal and ventral sides. Embryonic development (see animal development) is the process of growth and differentiation by which the single-celled egg becomes a multicellular organism.
The determination of body plan from this single cell and the construction of specialized organs, such as the eye, are under the control of regulatory genes. Most notable among these are the Hox genes, which produce proteins (transcription factors) that bind with other genes and thus determine their expression—that is, when they will act. The Hox genes embody spatial and temporal information. By means of their encoded proteins, they activate or repress the expression of other genes according to the position of each cell in the developing body, determining where limbs and other body parts will grow in the embryo. Since their discovery in the early 1980s, the Hox genes have been found to play crucial roles from the first steps of development, such as establishing anterior and posterior ends in the zygote, to much later steps, such as the differentiation of nerve cells.
The critical region of the Hox proteins is encoded by a sequence of about 180 consecutive nucleotides (called the homeobox). The corresponding protein region (the homeodomain), about 60 amino acids long, binds to a short stretch of DNA in the regulatory region of the target genes. Genes containing homeobox sequences are found not only in animals but also in other eukaryotes such as fungi and plants.
All animals have Hox genes, which may be as few as 1, as in sponges, or as many as 38, as in humans and other mammals. Hox genes are clustered in the genome. Invertebrates have only one cluster with a variable number of genes, typically fewer than 13. The common ancestor of the chordates (which include the vertebrates) probably had only one cluster of Hox genes, which may have numbered 13. Chordates may have one or more clusters, but not all 13 genes remain in every cluster. The marine animal amphioxus, a primitive chordate, has a single array of 10 Hox genes. Humans, mice, and other mammals have 38 Hox genes arranged in four clusters, three with 9 genes each and one with 11 genes. The set of genes varies from cluster to cluster, so that out of the 13 in the original cluster, genes designated 1, 2, 3, and 7 may be missing in one set, whereas 10, 11, 12, and 13 may be missing in a different set.
The four clusters of Hox genes found in mammals originated by duplication of the whole original cluster and retain considerable similarity between clusters. The 13 genes in the original cluster also themselves originated by repeated duplication, starting from a single Hox gene as found in the sponges. These first duplications happened very early in animal evolution, in the Precambrian. The genes within a cluster retain detectable similarity, but they differ more from one another than they differ from the corresponding, or homologous, gene in any of the other sets. There is a puzzling correspondence between the position of the Hox genes in a cluster along the chromosome and the patterning of the body—genes located upstream (anteriorly in the direction in which genes are transcribed) in the cluster are expressed earlier and more anteriorly in the body, while those located downstream (posteriorly in the direction of transcription) are expressed later in development and predominantly affect the posterior body parts.
Researchers demonstrated the evolutionary conservation of the Hox genes by means of clever manipulations of genes in laboratory experiments. For example, the ey gene that determines the formation of the compound eye in Drosophila vinegar flies was activated in the developing embryo in various parts of the body, yielding experimental flies with anatomically normal eyes on the legs, wings, and other structures. The evolutionary conservation of the Hox genes may be the explanation for the puzzling observation that most of the diversity of body plans within major groups of animals arose early in the evolution of the group. The multicellular animals (metazoans) first found as fossils in the Cambrian already demonstrate all the major body plans found during the ensuing 540 million years, as well as four to seven additional body plans that became extinct and seem bizarre to observers today. Similarly, most of the classes found within a phylum appear early in the evolution of the phylum. For example, all living classes of arthropods are already found in the Cambrian, with body plans essentially unchanged thereafter; in addition, the Cambrian contains a few strange kinds of arthropods that later became extinct.
The advances of molecular biology have made possible the comparative study of proteins and the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA. DNA is the repository of hereditary (evolutionary and developmental) information. The relationship of proteins to DNA is so immediate that they closely reflect the hereditary information. This reflection is not perfect, because the genetic code is redundant, and, consequently, some differences in the DNA do not yield differences in the proteins. Moreover, this reflection is not complete, because a large fraction of DNA (about 90 percent in many organisms) does not code for proteins. Nevertheless, proteins are so closely related to the information contained in DNA that they, as well as nucleic acids, are called informational macromolecules.
Nucleic acids and proteins are linear molecules made up of sequences of units—nucleotides in the case of nucleic acids, amino acids in the case of proteins—which retain considerable amounts of evolutionary information. Comparing two macromolecules establishes the number of their units that are different. Because evolution usually occurs by changing one unit at a time, the number of differences is an indication of the recency of common ancestry. Changes in evolutionary rates may create difficulties in interpretation, but macromolecular studies have three notable advantages over comparative anatomy and the other classical disciplines. One is that the information is more readily quantifiable. The number of units that are different is readily established when the sequence of units is known for a given macromolecule in different organisms. The second advantage is that comparisons can be made even between very different sorts of organisms. There is very little that comparative anatomy can say when organisms as diverse as yeasts, pine trees, and human beings are compared, but there are homologous macromolecules that can be compared in all three. The third advantage is multiplicity. Each organism possesses thousands of genes and proteins, which all reflect the same evolutionary history. If the investigation of one particular gene or protein does not resolve the evolutionary relationship of a set of species, additional genes and proteins can be investigated until the matter has been settled.
Informational macromolecules provide information not only about the branching of lineages from common ancestors (cladogenesis) but also about the amount of genetic change that has occurred in any given lineage (anagenesis). It might seem at first that quantifying anagenesis for proteins and nucleic acids would be impossible, because it would require comparison of molecules from organisms that lived in the past with those from living organisms. Organisms of the past are sometimes preserved as fossils, but their DNA and proteins have largely disintegrated. Nevertheless, comparisons between living species provide information about anagenesis.
The following is an example of such comparison: Two living species, C and D, have a common ancestor, the extinct species B (see the left side of the figure). If C and D were found to differ by four amino acid substitutions in a single protein, then it could tentatively be assumed that two substitutions (four total changes divided by two species) had taken place in the evolutionary lineage of each species. This assumption, however, could be invalidated by the discovery of a third living species, E, that is related to C, D, and their ancestor, B, through an earlier ancestor, A. The number of amino acid differences between the protein molecules of the three living species may be as follows:
The left side of the figure proposes a phylogeny of the three living species, making it possible to estimate the number of amino acid substitutions that have occurred in each lineage. Let x denote the number of differences between B and C, y denote the differences between B and D, and z denote the differences between A and B as well as A and E. The following three equations can be produced:
Solving the equations yields x = 3, y = 1, and z = 8.
As a concrete example, consider the protein cytochrome c, involved in cell respiration. The sequence of amino acids in this protein is known for many organisms, from bacteria and yeasts to insects and humans; in animals cytochrome c consists of 104 amino acids. When the amino acid sequences of humans and rhesus monkeys are compared, they are found to be different at position 66 (isoleucine in humans, threonine in rhesus monkeys) but, identical at the other 103 positions. When humans are compared with horses, 12 amino acid differences are found, but, when horses are compared with rhesus monkeys, there are only 11 amino acid differences. Even without knowing anything else about the evolutionary history of mammals, one would conclude that the lineages of humans and rhesus monkeys diverged from each other much more recently than they diverged from the horse lineage. Moreover, it can be concluded that the amino acid difference between humans and rhesus monkeys must have occurred in the human lineage after its separation from the rhesus monkey lineage (see the right side of the figure).
Evolutionary trees are models that seek to reconstruct the evolutionary history of taxa—i.e., species or other groups of organisms, such as genera, families, or orders. The trees embrace two kinds of information related to evolutionary change, cladogenesis and anagenesis. The figure can be used to illustrate both kinds. The branching relationships of the trees reflect the relative relationships of ancestry, or cladogenesis. Thus, in the right side of the figure, humans and rhesus monkeys are seen to be more closely related to each other than either is to the horse. Stated another way, this tree shows that the last common ancestor to all three species lived in a more remote past than the last common ancestor to humans and monkeys.
Evolutionary trees may also indicate the changes that have occurred along each lineage, or anagenesis. Thus, in the evolution of cytochrome c since the last common ancestor of humans and rhesus monkeys (again, the right side of the figure), one amino acid changed in the lineage going to humans but none in the lineage going to rhesus monkeys. Similarly, the left side of the figure shows that three amino acid changes occurred in the lineage from B to C but only one in the lineage from B to D.
There exist several methods for constructing evolutionary trees. Some were developed for interpreting morphological data, others for interpreting molecular data; some can be used with either kind of data. The main methods currently in use are called distance, parsimony, and maximum likelihood.
A "distance" is the number of differences between two taxa. The differences are measured with respect to certain traits (i.e., morphological data) or to certain macromolecules (primarily the sequence of amino acids in proteins or the sequence of nucleotides in DNA or RNA). The two trees illustrated in the figure were obtained by taking into account the distance, or number of amino acid differences, between three organisms with respect to a particular protein. The amino acid sequence of a protein contains more information than is reflected in the number of amino acid differences. This is because in some cases the replacement of one amino acid by another requires no more than one nucleotide substitution in the DNA that codes for the protein, whereas in other cases it requires at least two nucleotide changes. The table shows the minimum number of nucleotide differences in the genes of 20 separate species that are necessary to account for the amino acid differences in their cytochrome c. An evolutionary tree based on the data in the table, showing the minimum numbers of nucleotide changes in each branch, is illustrated in the complementary figure.
The relationships between species as shown in the figure correspond fairly well to the relationships determined from other sources, such as the fossil record. According to the figure, chickens are less closely related to ducks and pigeons than to penguins, and humans and monkeys diverged from the other mammals before the marsupial kangaroo separated from the nonprimate placentals. Although these examples are known to be erroneous relationships, the power of the method is apparent in that a single protein yields a fairly accurate reconstruction of the evolutionary history of 20 organisms that started to diverge more than one billion years ago.
Morphological data also can be used for constructing distance trees. The first step is to obtain a distance matrix, such as that making up the nucleotide differences table, but one based on a set of morphological comparisons between species or other taxa. For example, in some insects one can measure body length, wing length, wing width, number and length of wing veins, or another trait. The most common procedure to transform a distance matrix into a phylogeny is called cluster analysis. The distance matrix is scanned for the smallest distance element, and the two taxa involved (say, A and B) are joined at an internal node, or branching point. The matrix is scanned again for the next smallest distance, and the two new taxa (say, C and D) are clustered. The procedure is continued until all taxa have been joined. When a distance involves a taxon that is already part of a previous cluster (say, E and A), the average distance is obtained between the new taxon and the preexisting cluster (say, the average distance between E to A and E to B). This simple procedure, which can also be used with molecular data, assumes that the rate of evolution is uniform along all branches.
Other distance methods (including the one used to construct the tree in the figure of the 20-organism phylogeny) relax the condition of uniform rate and allow for unequal rates of evolution along the branches. One of the most extensively used methods of this kind is called neighbour-joining. The method starts, as before, by identifying the smallest distance in the matrix and linking the two taxa involved. The next step is to remove these two taxa and calculate a new matrix in which their distances to other taxa are replaced by the distance between the node linking the two taxa and all other taxa. The smallest distance in this new matrix is used for making the next connection, which will be between two other taxa or between the previous node and a new taxon. The procedure is repeated until all taxa have been connected with one another by intervening nodes.
Maximum parsimony methods seek to reconstruct the tree that requires the fewest (i.e., most parsimonious) number of changes summed along all branches. This is a reasonable assumption, because it usually will be the most likely. But evolution may not necessarily have occurred following a minimum path, because the same change instead may have occurred independently along different branches, and some changes may have involved intermediate steps. Consider three species—C, D, and E. If C and D differ by two amino acids in a certain protein and either one differs by three amino acids from E, parsimony will lead to a tree with the structure shown in the left side of the figure illustrating the two simple phylogenies. It may be the case, however, that in a certain position at which C and D both have amino acid g while E has h, the ancestral amino acid was g. Amino acid g did not change in the lineage going to C but changed to h in a lineage going to the ancestor of D and E and then changed again, back to g, in the lineage going to D. The correct phylogeny would lead then from the common ancestor of all three species to C in one branch (in which no amino acid changes occurred), and to the last common ancestor of D and E in the other branch (in which g changed to h) with one additional change (from h to g) occurring in the lineage from this ancestor to E.
Not all evolutionary changes, even those that involve a single step, may be equally probable. For example, among the four nucleotide bases in DNA, cytosine (C) and thymine (T) are members of a family of related molecules called pyrimidines; likewise, adenine (A) and guanine (G) belong to a family of molecules called purines. A change within a DNA sequence from one pyrimidine to another (C ⇌ T) or from one purine to another (A ⇌ G), called a transition, is more likely to occur than a change from a purine to a pyrimidine or the converse (G or A ⇌ C or T), called a transversion. Parsimony methods take into account different probabilities of occurrence if they are known.
Maximum parsimony methods are related to cladistics, a very formalistic theory of taxonomic classification, extensively used with morphological and paleontological data. The critical feature in cladistics is the identification of derived shared traits, called synapomorphic traits. A synapomorphic trait is shared by some taxa but not others because the former inherited it from a common ancestor that acquired the trait after its lineage separated from the lineages going to the other taxa. In the evolution of carnivores, for example, domestic cats, tigers, and leopards are clustered together because of their possessing retractable claws, a trait acquired after their common ancestor branched off from the lineage leading to the dogs, wolves, and coyotes. It is important to ascertain that the shared traits are homologous rather than analogous. For example, mammals and birds, but not lizards, have a four-chambered heart. Yet birds are more closely related to lizards than to mammals; the four-chambered heart evolved independently in the bird and mammal lineages, by parallel evolution.
Maximum likelihood methods seek to identify the most likely tree, given the available data. They require that an evolutionary model be identified, which would make it possible to estimate the probability of each possible individual change. For example, as is mentioned in the preceding section, transitions are more likely than transversions among DNA nucleotides, but a particular probability must be assigned to each. All possible trees are considered. The probabilities for each individual change are multiplied for each tree. The best tree is the one with the highest probability (or maximum likelihood) among all possible trees.
Maximum likelihood methods are computationally expensive when the number of taxa is large, because the number of possible trees (for each of which the probability must be calculated) grows factorially with the number of taxa. With 10 taxa, there are about 3.6 million possible trees; with 20 taxa, the number of possible trees is about 2 followed by 18 zeros (2 × 1018). Even with powerful computers, maximum likelihood methods can be prohibitive if the number of taxa is large. Heuristic methods exist in which only a subsample of all possible trees is examined and thus an exhaustive search is avoided.
The statistical degree of confidence of a tree can be estimated for distance and maximum likelihood trees. The most common method is called bootstrapping. It consists of taking samples of the data by removing at least one data point at random and then constructing a tree for the new data set. This random sampling process is repeated hundreds or thousands of times. The bootstrap value for each node is defined by the percentage of cases in which all species derived from that node appear together in the trees. Bootstrap values above 90 percent are regarded as statistically strongly reliable; those below 70 percent are considered unreliable.
The methods for obtaining the nucleotide sequences of DNA have enormously improved since the 1980s and have become largely automated. Many genes have been sequenced in numerous organisms, and the complete genome has been sequenced in various species ranging from humans to viruses. The use of DNA sequences has been particularly rewarding in the study of gene duplications. The genes that code for the hemoglobins in humans and other mammals provide a good example.
Knowledge of the amino acid sequences of the hemoglobin chains and of myoglobin, a closely related protein, has made it possible to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the duplications that gave rise to the corresponding genes. But direct examination of the nucleotide sequences in the genes coding for these proteins has shown that the situation is more complex, and also more interesting, than it appears from the protein sequences.
DNA sequence studies on human hemoglobin genes have shown that their number is greater than previously thought. Hemoglobin molecules are tetramers (molecules made of four subunits), consisting of two polypeptides (relatively short protein chains) of one kind and two of another kind. In embryonic hemoglobin E, one of the two kinds of polypeptide is designated ε; in fetal hemoglogin F, it is γ; in adult hemoglobin A, it is β; and in adult hemoglobin A2, it is δ. (Hemoglobin A makes up about 98 percent of human adult hemoglobin, and hemoglobin A2 about 2 percent). The other kind of polypeptide in embryonic hemoglobin is ζ; in both fetal and adult hemoglobin, it is α. The genes coding for the first group of polypeptides (ε, γ, β, and δ) are located on chromosome 11; the genes coding for the second group of polypeptides (ζ and α) are located on chromosome 16.
There are yet additional complexities. Two γ genes exist (known as Gγ and Aγ), as do two α genes (α1 and α2). Furthermore, there are two β pseudogenes (ψβ1 and ψβ2) and two α pseudogenes (ψα1 and ψα2), as well as a ζ pseudogene. These pseudogenes are very similar in nucleotide sequence to the corresponding functional genes, but they include terminating codons and other mutations that make it impossible for them to yield functional hemoglobins.
The similarity in the nucleotide sequence of the polypeptide genes, and pseudogenes, of both the α and β gene families indicates that they are all homologous—that is, that they have arisen through various duplications and subsequent evolution from a gene ancestral to all. Moreover, homology also exists between the nucleotide sequences that separate one gene from another. The evolutionary history of the genes for hemoglobin and myoglobin is summarized in the figure.
Cytochrome c consists of only 104 amino acids, encoded by 312 nucleotides. Nevertheless, this short protein stores enormous evolutionary information, which made possible the fairly good approximation, shown in the figure, to the evolutionary history of 20 very diverse species over a period longer than one billion years. But cytochrome c is a slowly evolving protein. Widely different species have in common a large proportion of the amino acids in their cytochrome c, which makes possible the study of genetic differences between organisms only remotely related. For the same reason, however, comparing cytochrome c molecules cannot determine evolutionary relationships between closely related species. For example, the amino acid sequence of cytochrome c in humans and chimpanzees is identical, although they diverged about 6 million years ago; between humans and rhesus monkeys, which diverged from their common ancestor 35 million to 40 million years ago, it differs by only one amino acid replacement.
Proteins that evolve more rapidly than cytochrome c can be studied in order to establish phylogenetic relationships between closely related species. Some proteins evolve very fast; the fibrinopeptides—small proteins involved in the blood-clotting process—are suitable for reconstructing the phylogeny of recently evolved species, such as closely related mammals. Other proteins evolve at intermediate rates; the hemoglobins, for example, can be used for reconstructing evolutionary history over a fairly broad range of time (see figure).
One great advantage of molecular evolution is its multiplicity, as noted above in the section DNA and protein as informational macromolecules. Within each organism are thousands of genes and proteins; these evolve at different rates, but every one of them reflects the same evolutionary events. Scientists can obtain greater and greater accuracy in reconstructing the evolutionary phylogeny of any group of organisms by increasing the number of genes investigated. The range of differences in the rates of evolution between genes opens up the opportunity of investigating different sets of genes for achieving different degrees of resolution in the tree, relying on slowly evolving ones for remote evolutionary events. Even genes that encode slowly evolving proteins can be useful for reconstructing the evolutionary relationships between closely related species, by examination of the redundant codon substitutions (nucleotide substitutions that do not change the encoded amino acids), the introns (noncoding DNA segments interspersed among the segments that code for amino acids), or other noncoding segments of the genes (such as the sequences that precede and follow the encoding portions of genes); these generally evolve much faster than the nucleotides that specify the amino acids.
One conspicuous attribute of molecular evolution is that differences between homologous molecules can readily be quantified and expressed, as, for example, proportions of nucleotides or amino acids that have changed. Rates of evolutionary change can therefore be more precisely established with respect to DNA or proteins than with respect to phenotypic traits of form and function. Studies of molecular evolution rates have led to the proposition that macromolecules may serve as evolutionary clocks.
It was first observed in the 1960s that the numbers of amino acid differences between homologous proteins of any two given species seemed to be nearly proportional to the time of their divergence from a common ancestor. If the rate of evolution of a protein or gene were approximately the same in the evolutionary lineages leading to different species, proteins and DNA sequences would provide a molecular clock of evolution. The sequences could then be used to reconstruct not only the sequence of branching events of a phylogeny but also the time when the various events occurred.
Consider, for example, the figure depicting the 20-organism phylogeny. If the substitution of nucleotides in the gene coding for cytochrome c occurred at a constant rate through time, one could determine the time elapsed along any branch of the phylogeny simply by examining the number of nucleotide substitutions along that branch. One would need only to calibrate the clock by reference to an outside source, such as the fossil record, that would provide the actual geologic time elapsed in at least one specific lineage.
The molecular evolutionary clock, of course, is not expected to be a metronomic clock, like a watch or other timepiece that measures time exactly, but a stochastic clock like radioactive decay. In a stochastic clock the probability of a certain amount of change is constant (for example, a given quantity of atoms of radium-226 is expected, through decay, to be reduced by half in 1,620 years), although some variation occurs in the actual amount of change. Over fairly long periods of time a stochastic clock is quite accurate. The enormous potential of the molecular evolutionary clock lies in the fact that each gene or protein is a separate clock. Each clock "ticks" at a different rate—the rate of evolution characteristic of a particular gene or protein—but each of the thousands and thousands of genes or proteins provides an independent measure of the same evolutionary events.
Evolutionists have found that the amount of variation observed in the evolution of DNA and proteins is greater than is expected from a stochastic clock—in other words, the clock is erratic. The discrepancies in evolutionary rates along different lineages are not excessively large, however. So it is possible, in principle, to time phylogenetic events with as much accuracy as may be desired, but more genes or proteins (about two to four times as many) must be examined than would be required if the clock was stochastically constant. The average rates obtained for several proteins taken together become a fairly precise clock, particularly when many species are studied and the evolutionary events involve long time periods (on the order of 50 million years or longer).
This conclusion is illustrated in the figure, which plots the cumulative number of nucleotide changes in seven proteins against the dates of divergence of 17 species of mammals (16 pairings) as determined from the fossil record. The overall rate of nucleotide substitution is fairly uniform. Some primate species (the pairs represented by triangular points in the figure) appear to have evolved at a slower rate than the average for the rest of the species. This anomaly occurs because the more recent the divergence of any two species, the more likely it is that the changes observed will depart from the average evolutionary rate. As the length of time increases, periods of rapid and slow evolution in any lineage are likely to cancel one another out.
Evolutionists have discovered, however, that molecular time estimates tend to be systematically older than estimates based on other methods and, indeed, to be older than the actual dates. This is a consequence of the statistical properties of molecular estimates, which are asymmetrically distributed. Because of chance, the number of molecular differences between two species may be larger or smaller than expected. But overestimation errors are unbounded, whereas underestimation errors are bounded, since they cannot be smaller than zero. Consequently, a graph of a typical distribution (see normal distribution) of estimates of the age when two species diverged, gathered from a number of different genes, is skewed from the normal bell shape, with a large number of estimates of younger age clustered together at one end and a long "tail" of older-age estimates trailing away toward the other end. The average of the estimated times thus will consistently overestimate the true date. The overestimation bias becomes greater when the rate of molecular evolution is slower, the sequences used are shorter, and the time becomes increasingly remote.
In the late 1960s it was proposed that at the molecular level most evolutionary changes are selectively "neutral," meaning that they are due to genetic drift rather than to natural selection. Nucleotide and amino acid substitutions appear in a population by mutation. If alternative alleles (alternative DNA sequences) have identical fitness—if they are identically able to perform their function—changes in allelic frequency from generation to generation will occur only by genetic drift. Rates of allelic substitution will be stochastically constant—that is, they will occur with a constant probability for a given gene or protein. This constant rate is the mutation rate for neutral alleles.
According to the neutrality theory, a large proportion of all possible mutants at any gene locus are harmful to their carriers. These mutants are eliminated by natural selection, just as standard evolutionary theory postulates. The neutrality theory also agrees that morphological, behavioral, and ecological traits evolve under the control of natural selection. What is distinctive in the theory is the claim that at each gene locus there are several favourable mutants, equivalent to one another with respect to adaptation, so that they are not subject to natural selection among themselves. Which of these mutants increases or decreases in frequency in one or another species is purely a matter of chance, the result of random genetic drift over time.
Neutral alleles are those that differ so little in fitness that their frequencies change by random drift rather than by natural selection. This definition is formally stated as 4Nes XXltXX < 1, where Ne is the effective size of the population and s is the selective coefficient that measures the difference in fitness between the alleles.
Assume that k is the rate of substitution of neutral alleles per unit time in the course of evolution. The time units can be years or generations. In a random-mating population with N diploid individuals, k = 2Nux, where u is the neutral mutation rate per gamete per unit time (time measured in the same units as for k) and x is the probability of ultimate fixation of a neutral mutant. The derivation of this equation is straightforward: there are 2Nu mutants per time unit, each with a probability x of becoming fixed. In a population of N diploid individuals there are 2N genes at each locus, all of them, if they are neutral, with an identical probability, x = 1/(2N), of becoming fixed. If this value of x is substituted in the equation above (k = 2Nux), the result is k = u. In terms of the theory, then, the rate of substitution of neutral alleles is precisely the rate at which the neutral alleles arise by mutation, independently of the number of individuals in the population or of any other factors.
If the neutrality theory of molecular evolution is strictly correct, it will provide a theoretical foundation for the hypothesis of the molecular evolutionary clock, since the rate of neutral mutation would be expected to remain constant through evolutionary time and in different lineages. The number of amino acid or nucleotide differences between species would, therefore, simply reflect the time elapsed since they shared the last common ancestor.
Evolutionists debate whether the neutrality theory is valid. Tests of the molecular clock hypothesis indicate that the variations in the rates of molecular evolution are substantially larger than would be expected according to the neutrality theory. Other tests have revealed substantial discrepancies between the amount of genetic polymorphism found in populations of a given species and the amount predicted by the theory. But defenders of the theory argue that these discrepancies can be assimilated by modifying the theory somewhat—by assuming, for example, that alleles are not strictly neutral but their differences in selective value are quite small. Be that as it may, the neutrality theory provides a "null hypothesis," or point of departure, for measuring molecular evolution.


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tiltbillings wrote:So, nibbana is a natural thing existing someplace, somehow, and it can condition other things, but itself has no condition – which means there is nothing by which we can locate it and how can something that has no attributes relative to the conditioned condition that which requires attributes for being conditioned? That is a lot like of the idea of an absolute, unchanging god interacting with the relative and changing.
Hi Tilttiltbillings wrote:Well, that may be one way to interpret that passage, but if it is so, then the Buddha is, in fact, advocating an existing, unchanging entity, thing, which is a definition for atta/atman.
It is not "one way to interpret that passage".
I've just quoted the Buddha replacing Nibbana-synonyms with 'Nibbana' .
You, however, seem to be suggesting that the Buddha taught Nibbana is Atta.
___But since there is a not-born, a not-brought-to-being, a not-made, a not-conditioned, therefore an escape is discerned from what is born, brought-to-being, made, conditioned. - Ud 8.3
tiltbillings wrote:If there where at this time no awakened individuals, where is nibbana?
tiltbillings wrote:but I wonder if for the person who becomes an arahant if there is not a transformation
For your consideration:tiltbillings wrote:So, after the arahant dies, where does the nibbana go?
Just as in the great ocean neither a decrease nor an increase will appear though all the streams of the world flow into it and rain falls into it from the sky; even so, even if many monks attain final Nibbana in the Nibbana element that is without residue left, there is no decrease or increase in the Nibbana element that is without residue left. This is the fifth wonderful and marvellous quality in this Dhamma and Discipline…. - A 8.19
Indeed.tiltbillings wrote:Am I talking from direct experience? Interesting question...

subset: commoncrawl


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"The atheists know
how the game's s'posed to go;
That's the only reason they won it"
You see, all good fools
know that reading the rules
Is the best way to solve a whodunit
Now this ruling means
our nativity scenes
Are in violation of laws!
But I'm filled with doubt—
could you point the law out?
(First Amendment; establishment clause.)
Earlier this year, I wrote about the decision to remove all the displays–nativity scenes, menorah displays, pastafarian dishes, you name it–from the Santa Monica oceanside park where nativity scenes had been displayed for decades.
A coalition of churches asked a judge to allow displays to continue this year, while the case was still making its way through the courts… and the judge said no.
William Becker, the attorney for the Christian group, said he expects the case will be dismissed at a hearing on Dec. 3 based on Monday's proceedings and plans to appeal.
"The atheists won and they will always win unless we get courts to understand how the game is played and this is a game that was played very successfully and they knew it," Becker said, comparing the city to Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who authorized Jesus' crucifixion.
A good move, when your case depends on not being explicitly religious in nature.
There are plenty of other places in town where nativity scenes will be displayed. There is a limited amount of space where a public park can show an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the Pacific.
Good move, judge.


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COURSE: L6-366 Organizational Training (3)
This course covers the systems, strategies and practices of effective training in organizations. Emphasis is on understanding the psychological principles that guide the design of successful training methods for entry-level positions to executive management development. The class focuses on the sequence of identifying needs, designing programs and evaluating program outcomes. A case-oriented approach is taken. Prerequisite: L6-100; L6-365 or LB-200 recommended.


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Hi all,
I'm about to undertake a fairly large data submission part of a website. The idea behind this data submission is to signup and then enter details over a few page process.
My job is to completely style the forms and make them presentable, currently they are bare html with no styling.
I was hoping if anyone had any experience with how to tackle a large amount of forms below is one of the pages;
As you can see I would be having a fieldset, with a width; then one side with the labels at a fixed width? and then the forms with the rest of the width?
I'm just trying to look for a best practice really, it's also under a timescale. Any help would be appreciated!
Anyone have any experience with dealing with large forms? What's the best way to tackle them?
That screen shot looks OK to me! Anyhow, how do you want it styled? Perhaps post a screen shot of what you want.
I haven't actually started this yet, the screenshot is just an image. Would this best being a table? or divs? To me, it looks like a table, but I'm not too sure.
Sorry about the bump - I'm interested to know how people would lay this kind of registration form out. I'm wondering if this would be a table? or a set of divs? I have been playing around and I'm not too sure. Simply because of the rows of data with borders on the bottom, Also the fixed width left hand side with the labels.
I wouldn't use tables for this, because it's not tabular data. I've thrown together a quick example with divs, but it's a bit of a mess (it's late here, and I'm tired, so I've just thrown together random bits. See what you make of it.)
<!DOCTYPE html>

<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Business Details</title>


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Creating good sleep habits for children
Parents are often frustrated by their child's sleep-related problems - and bring those frustrations when they visit their pediatrician. It's no wonder - poor sleep habits can lead to health, behavioral, social, and educational problems.
"Many behavioral problems we see in children are the result of sleep problems. Once you address sleep, these problems, be it moodiness or depression or even ADHD, may disappear," says Haviva Veler, MD, director of the Weill Cornell Pediatric Sleep Center and a pediatrician at the Komansky Center for Children's Health at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Typical sleep issues - age by age
Infants up to one year old: Main concern is getting the child to sleep through the night on their own. Parents should keep a consistent routine for bedtime, as well as naps, which may include an object that the child relies on to fall asleep - like a blanket, toy, or soothing music.
Toddlers (ages 1-3 years): During these sometimes-defiant years, one problem is a child's refusal to go to sleep, delaying bedtime, or not wanting to sleep in their own bed. Again, keeping a routine may alleviate some of these issues. Another common problem are night terrors or nightmares - which are normal but might be reduced if parents can identify triggers such as scary stories or movies.
Preschoolers (ages 4-6): Sleep apnea - or obstruction of the upper airway - is common at this age group. While apnea in adults usually is associated with obesity, apnea in children is more common in smaller children who have large tonsils or adenoids. Symptoms of apnea in children include difficulty breathing while sleeping, frequently waking up during the night, hyperactivity, learning problems and bedwetting.
School-aged children and adolescents (ages 7-17): This age group tends to deal with sleep deprivation - often caused by increased school work, social or extracurricular activities, and distractions such as computers and cell phones. Without enough quality sleep, children can have attention, memory, cognitive function and school performance issues.
According to Dr. Veler, "Parents should be promote good sleep patterns in their children and address any concerns with a pediatrician or sleep specialist to not only alleviate any behavioral problems but also set their child on the road to educational success and physical health."
Mount Nittany Health's Sleep Management Program can work with you and your child to evaluate and treat sleep-related issues and counsel you on the best sleep habits for your entire family. For more information about the Sleep Management Program, visit their website or call 814.231.7277.


text:
Designated Parking Areas
Designated parking areas are available for staff, students, visitors, motorcycles, Disabled parking and staff carpool permits. All areas require a EvCC parking permit.
Where to Park
Need a parking place? Check out the campus map to find out where you can park.
Special note on fines for Handicapped Parking Violations
Parking violation tickets may also be issued by the City of Everett for violating disabled parking regulations on campus sites. A violation of disabled regulations is a violation of state law. City of Everett parking violation tickets are not subject to Everett Community College appeal procedures.


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Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 9:48 AM
Town Square
Microsoft co-founder to open Palo Alto investment office
Original post made on Apr 2, 2013
Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 9:48 AM
a resident of College Terrace
on Apr 2, 2013 at 10:53 am
Paul Allen is a notorious patent troll. Most of what he does is buy the assets of aging companies, including old and vague patents. Then he sues young, thriving, innovative companies to try to extort them for patent infringement. Most of Paul Allen's patents are decades old, but his team of lawyers tries to convince judges that they can be applied to the modern era (e.g. applying telephone answering machine patents to internet web servers). This out-of-state scammer is getting rich by stifling Silicon Valley innovation.
a resident of Barron Park
on Apr 2, 2013 at 12:46 pm
As an original cofounder of Microsoft Paul Allen is a billionare and does not need to "steal" anything from Silicon Valley. The previous comment is the typical ranting about someone from Seattle or non-Bay Area location opening offices in the Bay Area. With the horrible commute congestion, people congestion in downtown Palo Alto, competition for apartments, etc. we wish Facebook had moved its offices and people to Phoenix or Dallas or somewhere else with lots of space. The last thing we need here are more people.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 2, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Why doesn't Paul Allen open his business on Sand Hill Road, or is he afraid of the competition? Downtown PA is not the logical place.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 2, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Palo Alto is becoming quite the place to rub elbows with geek celebrities.
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 2, 2013 at 7:37 pm
If Paul Allen is a patent troll, then what would you call companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft! Sharks, monsters, or worse. They all do the the same thing! The legal system is whacked!
And Go Home:
You obviously haven't been paying attention. Downtown Palo Alto has more VCs than SandHIll.
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Apr 3, 2013 at 12:26 am
Maybe Paul Allen can just buy all of downtown Palo Alto and move into Steve Jobs's old house.
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Apr 3, 2013 at 4:17 pm
ODB: That won't happen. After his death, Steve's widow remodeled the house and re-landscaped. She started decorating the house for Halloween and allowing trick or treaters ( Steve used to stand on the sidewalk and yell at them to,stay away), and she actually decorated the house for Christmas ( reportedly, Steve did not celebrate it). I think it is safe to say she plans on staying here awhile.
a resident of College Terrace
on Apr 3, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Is Paul Allen a patent troll? Read this article from the Wall Street Journal and decide for yourself: Web Link
a resident of College Terrace
on Apr 3, 2013 at 4:42 pm
What does a real inventor like Steve Wozniak think about Paul Allen? The Woz is not shy: Web Link
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 3, 2013 at 7:45 pm
@Mario.......Most of us natives avoid the downtown area.
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 4, 2013 at 1:57 am
I worked for Paul Allen and his "research institute". He hires hip, young types who are cool to hang out with. They gather information for him on "the next big thing" and then he pours millions into direct rip-offs, using the legal system to sue, tie-up and deplete the originators.
It makes perfect sense he's opening up an office downtown. "Hey, what you're doing sounds so interesting - let me take out to dinner."
Sorry Paul, your reputation proceeds your arrival.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 4, 2013 at 4:32 pm
WOW! I had no clue that Paul Allen was such a sleazoid ! I am disappointed that someone so wealthy cannot stop making obscene amounts of money in a dishonest way. Sounds like pathological compulsion that needs professional help!


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It's a different time. The Red Wings are much younger. They rely a lot more on their goalie. There is virtually no expectation they will capture the Stanley Cup championship this spring.
However, the Red Wings do have a championship pedigree. It continues to shine through, even during a so-called "transition" period.
It was displayed Sunday night. On the road, in Game 7, the Red Wings, as a seventh-seed, ousted the Anaheim Ducks from the playoffs. Final score: 3-2.
It wasn't a fluke. They outplayed the Ducks, who had the NHL's third-best record during the regular season, away from home by a wider margin than the one-goal verdict suggests.
The Red Wings' opening-round playoff series victory couldn't have been more impressive if Steve Yzerman were still skating down center ice, and Nicklas Lidstrom still had everybody's back along the blue line.
This version of the Red Wings did what multiple editions during the glory days of the 2000s could not as much better seeds (in 2001, 2003, 2006) - they won an opening-round playoff series.
Who is to say they can't shock the Chicago Blackhawks, the league's best team during the regular season, in the Western Conference semifinals?
At minimum, the Red Wings are in hockey's version of the Elite Eight. Considering their spot in the playoffs was very much in question during the final week of the regular season, it's quite an accomplishment.
In the process, a lesson was reviewed: If there is any franchise in this town you can trust, it's the Red Wings. They have earned it over more than two decades.
In the next round, it's widely-anticipated the Red Wings will be routed by the Blackhawks. Unlike the Ducks, the Blackhawks don't have just a slightly better team on paper than the Red Wings. They are much better.
But the playoffs are odd. It's about peaking at the right time. Upsets are more common place in playoff hockey than any other sport. Just last year, an eighth-seed, the Los Angeles Kings, won the Stanley Cup by beating a sixth-seed, the New Jersey Devils, in the finals.
The Blackhawks are like an All-Star team - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa. It would not be wise to bemoan the Blackhawks' lack of a proven goaltender. Corey Crawford is an excellent netminder.
A lot will be made going into this series how the Red Wings played Chicago tough this season, but there is a detail missing to that theory - Detroit lost every time, although once was in overtime, and twice in shootouts. Oh, and there was a 7-0 disaster one Sunday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
The Blackhawks allowed the fewest goals in the NHL, and scored the second most. They lost seven games in regulation time all year, which seems like a lot only when it's considered for awhile it appeared they might not lose any. In the first round, Minnesota and its pair of $98 million men, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, lasted just five games with the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks have been waiting, though, which could be an advantage in a twisted-only-in-the-Stanley-Cup-playoffs way for the travel-weary Red Wings, who have definitely developed a bunker mentality.
This is a team that has been on the brink of elimination for weeks. The Red Wings were down three games to two vs. Anaheim, and they have already won three overtime playoff games.
The Red Wings are decidedly flawed, and when the cracks in their armor show, they appear extremely vulnerable. They have two of the best players in the world, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who fully understand how to sell out in the playoffs, and a hot goaltender, Jimmy Howard. After that, the Red Wings are a blend of hot-and-cold veterans with raw youngsters, the latter who are clueless a bit too often for comfort.
The one flaw the Red Wings don't have, though, is a glass jaw.
They have proven to be difficult to knockout.
It's improbable they will defeat the Blackhawks, but not impossible.
It may be a different time, but these are still the Red Wings. It continues to mean a lot.
Don't believe it?
Ask the Ducks.
Pat Caputo is a senior sports reporter and a columnist for The Oakland Press. Contact him at email@example.com and read his blog at theoaklandpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter @patcaputo98


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The next couple days could be fun for us Raptors fans!
The next couple days could be fun for us Raptors fans!
Seems even less likely that the Knicks will match now.
The third year of that Lin deal is for $15 million. They won't be able to afford Fields at $9 million that same year.
That being said I honestly don't think knicks really have any intent on keeping him but that's just my opinion.
@AlexKennedyNBA: The Knicks are considering signing UFA Raymond Felton and letting RFA Jeremy Lin walk to the Rockets, a source close to situation confirms.
What does this mean for fields?
https://twitter.com/Al_Iannazzone/st...16625388711936The Knicks are not matching the offer sheet to Landry Fields, his agent said.
Marc stein confirms aswell. Fields is a raptor
It's actually 18.7 mil-_-Legion Sports @MySportsLegion
Knicks fans, no worries. Knicks will NOT match offer sheet for Landry Fields. Fields will become a member of the Raptors......for $20 mil.
Awesome! Starting SF for the Raps!
The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority. - Martin Luther King
http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htmAl Iannazzone: The Knicks are not matching the offer sheet to Landry Fields, his agent said. Twitter
Last edited by jbml; Sat Jul 14th, 2012 at 10:32 PM.
JGWS, if people still believe in alabi. Then they should say nothing bad about fields.
If anything, our defense is gonna be so much better this season, what with Fields, JoVal and Lowry entering the mix. I'm pretty stoked.
If anything he'll be a great personality in the locker room.
Last edited by Chr1s1anL; Sun Jul 15th, 2012 at 03:23 AM.
We'll see how this signing pans out, he really didn't mesh with Melo well (like the entire Knicks team) so there's promise that in a more team oriented ofence he will look much better. But of course it's all speculation now, we'll have to wait until the season to see how our new additions look together
I love this signing, and I think his contract is actually a great value. He's the best rebounder in the whole goddamn league from the two guard position, and well above average for a SF. Add that to a solid 3-pt stroke (yes, I think last season was an aberration), good help defense, and great instincts off the ball and you've got literally the perfect player to make up for Bargs' weaknesses.
"I may be wrong ... but I doubt it"
I like him coming to the raps, he was my favorite Knick over the last 2 seasons from the games I watched. His contract is a bit high but I think he can play to the contract. If not we will all have something to bitch about and it will be worth someone elses money just for that.
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Envirofit's Biomass Stoves for Developing Nations
by Ashwin Seshagiri
Last week, Colorado-based non-profit Envirofit introduced clean-burning biomass stoves in India, a project that will attempt to reduce fuel consumption, toxic emissions, and offer a sustainable business model to foster local enterprise. In an effort to reduce indoor air pollution in developing nations, Envirofit teamed up with the UK's Shell Foundation as a part of its Breathing Space program. The cook stoves will reduce toxic emissions by 80%, use 50% less fuel, and reduce the cooking cycle by 40%, according to the organization's press release.
Biomass typically consists of organic materials like wood, crop waste, or animal dung, and for many households in places like India, is the main source of fuel for activities like cooking. Developed at the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory at Colorado State University, the cook stoves were engineered to burn traditionally used biomass materials more efficiently.
Though the cook stoves have been initially launched in India, Envirofit plans on expanding the project to Latin America, Africa, and several other regions eventually. "There are an estimated 1.6 million deaths per year due to toxic indoor air pollution (IAP). We are proud to be partnered with Envirofit International to introduce clean-burning wood stove technology in India while employing the first market-based business model," said Ajit Abraham, a representative of Shell Foundation in India.
The goal of this project is also to develop local and regional enterprises by creating a network of dealers, distributors, and village entrepreneurs at various levels.
"Although cooking habits in semi-urban and rural India are steeped in tradition and perpetuated by myths, the response to our stoves has been very strong as each stove has been developed based on extensive market research and local customer insights," said Harish Anchan, General Manager of Envirofit India Pvt Ltd. "We are in discussion with financing institutions for low cost financing options to provide additional options for families to buy the stoves." The stoves are available in five models and will range roughly from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 (approx $12-$50).
Envirofit first become known for their initiative to retrofit polluting two-stroke engines in Southeast Asia, as reported here on Treehugger.


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OCEAN CITY- The 2008 Ake Marine Flounder Pounder tournament last weekend was a huge hit with 230 anglers participating and nice fish caught and weighed in every category.
As the name of the event implies, flounder is the targeted species in the annual fun fishing event and there were several large specimens caught and weighed at the scales at Ake Marine on the commercial harbor in West Ocean City. First place in the flounder division went to angler Nick Clemente with an 8.6-pounder worth $2,200. Second-place in the flounder division went to angler Corey Kennington with a 6.3-pounder worth $800, while angler Hunter Betz hauled in a 5.9-pound flounder to take third place and $600.
In the Kids' Division, angler Randy Williams caught the first-place flounder, a 2.9-pounder that earned him a combo rod and reel and a tackle bag. Second-place in the kids' division went to Jake Raun with a 2.6-pounder that earned him a tackle box and a $25 gift certificate. Will Kennington took third place in the kids' division and was rewarded with some new tackle.
First-place in the rockfish division went to angler Kevin McFalls, while first-place in the tautog division went to Connor Wisniewski and first-place in the trout division went to Joel Gonzalez.


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Shai--Pshh, Taylor isn't buff, not any more.
Vildy--Nice nickname explanation. (: I have a guitar too! I just don't know how to play it. xD I vote for "My Heart."
Welllll I'mma go eat some spaghetti! WHOOO!!!
Oh yes, be jealous.
nightrunner wrote:i like how i waited up for ages for sam to post and she goes and does it once ive given in and gone to bed!xXBeSafeXx wrote: I am dedicating this week to the watching of Doctor Who and the Saw movies.
very good choice new doctor who started here on saturday
blasphemous_contessa wrote:WHY CAN'T WE GET ANY NEW DOCTOR WHO??????? I'M DYING OVER HERE!
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"WHAT?! Why wasn't he affected by my sexiness?!"Basic Information
Name: Ino Yamanaka
Nickname: Ino-Pig
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Clan: Yamanaka
Ino has long blonde hair which reaches down to her lower back and waist, it is worn in a high ponytail at the back of her head and she has bangs which cover the right side of her face. She has blue eyes and is fair skinned.
Part I: Her outfit in part one consists of a purple vest top with a high, baggy collar with a skirt of the same colour which was slit up both sides, she wore bandages around her stomach and legs as well as a belt which held her Konoha forehead protector. She also accessorized with white elbow warmers with purple tips and a pair of small silver hooped earrings.Part II: In part two Ino goes through several noticable changes in the costume department, her torso is revealed due to the bandages being removed, the white arm warmers on her arms and legs were replaced by fishnet ones which she also wears over her knees. She wears a purple sleeveless blouse and a purple open fronted skirt over a smaller black skirt underneath which are a pair of fishnet shorts. She no longer has a forehead protector and her silver ooped earrings have been replaced by a pair of studs instead due to a long standing tradition in the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans.
Personality: Ino is the typical teenage girl in many senses, she constantly thinks about her appearance and boys, she has done since she was very young. Ino is constantly striving to make herself more beautiful through dieting to lose weight which she is not afraid to tell Choji to do on occasion.
Her willingness to tell her teammate to lose weight is an obvious representation of her very outspoken and confident nature, although away from this she is a very kindhearted person. Ino is often construed as being bossy, this is especially true in the opinions of her very lazy, nonchalant teammates.
Ino is incredibly caring toward her team and her friends in general, shown when she is in a state of pure relief after Choji recovers from near life threatening injuries. It is these traits that have led to her becoming a sort of mental leader of her team, as she has the confidence and bravery installed within herself that she is more than able to talk them into a frenzy should things look bad and turn the situation in their favor.
Just like Sakura she has a deep infatuation for Sasuke Uchiha.
Village Info.
Village of Birth: Konohagakure
Village of Alliance: Konohagakure
Rank//Chakra Info.
Ninja Rank: S-Class Ninja
Specialty: N/A
Elements: Water, Earth (Started training)
Your ninjutsu: Default E Rank
Background Info.
Part I
Ino is a part of Team ten consisting of herself, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi led by Asuma Sarutobi. This team is a new incarnation of the legendary team that their parents were part of known as Ino-Shika-Cho and the three clans share a great bond and also share many traditions such as the passing down of the earrings through the generations as a sign of growth and development.
At the Chunin exams Ino was drawn against Sakura, the fight started off as more of a mess about as Ino cared for Sakura and was not willing to hurt her, however Sakura managed to make Ino turn serious and after a while the two began to give it their all using up most of their chakra in the process. Ino gained the upper hand in the fight as she released chakra into her hair and cut it off causing Sakura immobility for a short time, during this time Ino used her clans ability to enter Sakura's mind, Inner Sakura was able to force her out though after an interruption from Naruto Uzumaki. After using too much chakra the two ran at each other for one last punch and knocked each other out. Meaning the bout resulted in a tie.
After regaining consciousness the two remain friends but still maintain there rivalry over the love of Sasuke.
"There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms. It might turn out to be… a flower more beautiful than a Cosmos."Part II
Sasuke and Sai Arc
Upon meeting Sai for the first time Ino instantly becomes interested in him as she believes that he bears resemblance to Sasuke whom she has loved since she was a girl. Later the group all go out for dinner and Ino spends the whole night making sure she looks nice and trying to impress Sai as well as keeping his attention with her subtle flirting. Sai being unsure of how to act around people at this time believing that girls hate to be told how they really look decides to say the exact opposite and tells Ino that she looks 'gorgeous'. Ino believing that this is how he genuinely feels blushes and begins to think that he likes her back.
Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
Ino, Shikamaru and Choji arrive to late to Asuma's side after his battle with the Akatsuki duo Hidan and Kakuzu, and despite Ino's best attempts their is nothing her medical ninjutsu can do to save him. Forced to sit back and listen to their sensei's dying words they do so. Ino is told by Asuma that she should never lose to Sakura be it in ninjutsu or romance and tells her to forever look after her teammates. Ino then begins to reminisce about her first days as his student and the day that she found out about his love for Kurenai through her working at the flower shop. Ino was saddened and screamed out over the death of her mentor.
After agreeing with her teammates that they would take revenge over the Akatsuki duo, Team ten join team seven and set of to find them. Ino uses her mind switch jutsu to jump into the body of a hawk from where she is easily able to locate the whereabouts of Hidan and Kakuzu. Once they reach the duo, they are eventually defeated by Shikamaru and Naruto respectively.
"You've bloomed into a beautiful flower."
Shinobi World War Arc
Originally placed in fifth division, Ino and the rest of her company are sent to accompany first division with the cliff face defense. When they arrive Ino meets up with her Ino-Shika-Cho teammates and they join forces with Darui to take on Kinkaku who has transformed with the nine tails chakra inside him.*
Shikamaru starts off by putting the monster under his shadow possession technique and Ino takes advantage of Kinkaku's immobility and puts him under the mind body switch jutsu allowing he to take control of his body. Equipped with the Kohaku no Jōhei a weapon of the sage of the six paths, Darui calls Kinkaku's name and from within his mind Ino forces him to answer, this results in the beast being sucked inside the weapon and sealed away, this is not however before Ino is able to switch back into her own body to avoid being trapped with him. Inoichi, Ino's father then contacts Ino and compliments her on how much her mind transfer techniques have improved.
After the battle with Kinkaku the trio are faced with the ultimate foe as they are forced to do battle with their former teacher Asuma who has been a victim of Kabuto's Edo Tensei.*
Choji is unable to fight with his master however and Ino is forced to shout at him to convince him to help them, which eventually he does, be it with little conviction. When it comes down to it though Choji is unable to harm Asuma and instead stops fighting, this allows Asuma to set up an attack and fire it toward Choji, Ino is able to jump in and push Choji out the way before it connects though and after this Ino mind switches into Choji and begins to fight Asuma in his place.*
The whole time that she is fighting as Choji she is having a duel with him inside his body as she reminds him of their duty and how Asuma should be allowed to rest in peace on the other side. After a story about how their three clans must work together and how the earrings have been passed to them with the trust of their families Choji regains his will to fight and Ino is able to switch back into her own body leaving him to fight under his own will.*
With Choji under control Ino is able to rejoin the battle as herself and offer support for Choji on the offensive, Asuma is eventually defeated but before they are able to seal him away he states that there is nothing more he needs to say to them and congratulates them on the completion of their true Ino-Shika-Cho formation.
"There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms."
Other: As far as I can see on the NB Sensei's list, there is no one able to teach me Yamanaka tech's. Does this mean I get them by default?
Theme Song:
Battle Song:
Lost: N/A
If this is approved I will drop my Babydoll bio (In Sig)


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He was preceded in death by his mother; sister, Barbara Bennett; and brother, David Tidwell. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Kaye Tidwell; daughter and son-in-law, Christina and husband, Mike Cochran; sons and daughter-in-law, Michael Shawn Tidwell and wife Daphne, and Dallas Tidwell; his father; two brothers, Terry Tidwell and wife, Cindy, and Mark Tidwell and wife, Carla; 17 grandkids; six great-grandkids; numerous nieces and nephews; and stepchildren, Tonya, Angela, Melinda and Donnie.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, 2013, at Lemley Chapel with Bro. Jim Huffman officiating. Burial is in Rest Haven Memorial Park by Lemley Funeral Service of Atkins. Visitation is from 6-8 p.m. today. Pallbearers are Dallas Tidwell, Shawn Tidwell, Elvis Hamilton, Joe Hamilton, Ryan Tidwell and Michael Cochran. Honorary pallbearers are David Abbot, Larry Chambers and Keith Smith. Online obituary and condolences are available at www.lemleyfuneral.com.


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Descalso's versatility helps in utility infielder battle
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
JUPITER, Fla. -- With Pete Kozma set to serve as the Cardinals' starting shortstop until further notice, the club will use the last two weeks of Spring Training to assess their backup options at the position.
Daniel Descalso made his first start of the spring at short in Monday's 3-2 loss to the Mets and looked steady with every chance he had in the field. The position isn't entirely new for him -- Descalso started 31 games there during his career -- but it also isn't as natural a spot as second and third base are for the versatile infielder.
"I have played a decent amount over there where I'm getting more comfortable," Descalso said. "It's not as hard for me to bounce around now as when I first came up. Yesterday, I had my day off, so I knew I was playing short today and I did my work there. I got some work in this morning and I was good to go after that."
The Cardinals seem to have no trepidation in using Descalso at the position, which means he could provide the insurance they need behind Kozma. That would seemingly put Ronny Cedeno's hold on a roster spot in jeopardy. Manager Mike Matheny reiterated Monday that it is not a necessity for the club to keep three players capable of playing shortstop on the Major League roster.
If the Cardinals release Cedeno, who signed a $1.15 million contract with the team in January, they would create space for another position player on the bench. That other position player would likely be Matt Adams, who brings a big bat, but little defensive versatility.
"We're just looking to continue to watch him and see how he fits in," Matheny said of Cedeno.
Both Descalso and second baseman du jour Matt Carpenter impressed defensively against the Mets. They helped turned two double plays, one of which had Descalso throwing to second from deep in the hole.
"Our middle there was very good," Matheny said. "Carp made a couple great turns [at second], and Daniel's feeds were right on the money on some tough angles. He looked very good out there."
Matheny launches website to spread message
JUPITER, Fla. -- Long an advocate for changing the culture of youth sports, manager Mike Matheny will now use social media platforms to disseminate his message.
Matheny has started a website -- www.mikematheny.com -- on which he will post blogs and video interviews related to his views on how to change that culture. In a welcome letter posted on his website, Matheny described his intention of creating the website as a way to bring children and parents "fresh information and videos … that will challenge and encourage coaches, parents and aspiring athletes to use sports as a platform to develop character, and skills that are needed for success on the field and off."
Matheny unintentionally became a leading advocate for this culture change in 2009, after he typed out a letter noting a number of conditions that had to be met before he agreed to coach a youth baseball team. The letter denounced parental interference and spoke of an environment that would be faith-based.
That letter has since circulated nationally and is now known as the Matheny Manifesto. Through his website -- and a complementing Twitter account (@mikematheny22) -- Matheny intends to provide additional resources for those who believe in his vision.
"There are a lot of people that believe in that concept, so now what?" Matheny said Monday. "[I'm] just trying to give them some things to challenge them, and the target market is coaches, parents and kids, for trying to change the concept of youth sports or the culture of youth sports, or give them another option."
Matheny's blog posts aren't solely dedicated to the topic of youth sports, either. He has already written about a wide-range of topics, including Chris Carpenter's injury, Lance Lynn's weight loss, the fifth starter competition and his recent surgery. The website also highlights Matheny's foundation -- The Catch22 Foundation -- which is now in its 10th year.
Worth noting
• With a 3-1 win against Team Japan on Monday, Team Puerto Rico advanced to the final of the World Baseball Classic. That means the Cardinals won't see Carlos Beltran or Yadier Molina in camp until Thursday, after playing either the Kingdom of the Netherlands or Dominican Republic on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. CT game on MLB Network.
Molina and Beltran will travel from San Francisco to Florida on Wednesday, which is an off-day for the Cardinals. By the time they return, the pair will have been absent from Spring Training for 18 days. Though he is eager to have two of his starting position players back in camp, manager Mike Matheny noted that he will be "pulling for Puerto Rico" on Tuesday.
• After the team's off-day Thursday, the Cardinals are expected to begin pitching their relievers on back-to-back days to simulate situations that will arise during the regular season.
• Ryan Jackson, who was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Sunday, is expected to play several infield positions in the Minors. By tapping into Jackson's versatility, the Cardinals will keep the 24-year-old ready in case a need opens up at second, short and third at the Major League level.
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.