Vixen_Poetic

Now that we've all had our say about genetics and nutrition, let's look again at your question. At age 14 you are wondering if you will put on another 4 inches. I think your current growth pattern practicly assures it. It's likely that you will continue growing for the next 4 to 6 years and the growth spurts that should occur every 6 to 9 months should give you 1/2 an inch to 1 1/2 inches each time. So don't worry. Just eat right, especially proteins and dairy products, stay active and you'll be fine.

I've got news for you, vijeth. Yes, there is a lot of encoding in the genes but without proper nutrition they won't express properly. And those limits they set are not as hard and fast a rule as you think. First example: The japanese are known for being short even today. The average american steps off the plane over there and sees a sea of black hair. But the japanese that have emigrated to america have children, and those children grow up to dwarf their parents. The genes didn't change, the diet did. Second example: Polynesians are known for being tall and bulky, but their recorded history says they used to be taller. What changed was their diet. As trade with the continental united states and other nations increased their usual diet changed as did their usual height. They even started having diet related problems in greater percentages than those caucasians with similar diets. A few years ago the governor of hawaii tested out a diet that claimed to adress those issues by returning to the original diet of the islands; fruits, taro root, fish, etc. He put the entire governor's mansion staff on it by having it catered morning noon and night, and it worked. The overweight staff were dropping pounds and feeling great doing it. The 'I just need to watch what I eat' diabetics didn't anymore, those on insulin either required less or were off it completely. Last example: Teeth. A researcher wanted to see how much genes had to say about how teeth formed, I think that was what he was looking for. What he found was that contry folk rased in the country had teeth like their folk (if also raised in the country) but when they moved to the city their children raised there had weak and misaligned teeth in comparison to their parents. But in cases where those children moved back to the country the children they raised there had teeth like their grandparents, strong even and well spaced. Adequate and even excellent nutrition can have a great deal of impact on how we grow, our genes determine when we grow.

Thank you for your contribution, jjaenagle. That is an interesting, even evocative, question and we could all do with asking it of ourselves. I have met many who do and too many who don't, but claim to.

That is weird. Not your eyes. For me looking at a picture of what I saw in the mirror every morning growing up. The point is that way back then I asked my sister the same question (she was into make-up and I wasn't so much) and she had a make-up solution. She pulled out this handy color chart thing she had gotten from one of these mail-order make-up places and dialed in the various factors; skin tone, hair color, and eye color. Except when it came to eye color instead of dialing up hazel she set it for brown eyes and used those colors. It worked, it brought out the amber center. As I recall the colors were bronze and ochre variants. I guess the real point is that there is a make-up solution for your question. You could experiment with those colors to find something that works but for your best colors you should probably find a make-up artist or find one of those color wheels. Or both.

I've heard of two factors that can affect growth: activity and nutrition. Firstly, if your body doesn't have good building blocks for bones, tissue and nerves when the next growth spurt happens, well, it won't. Second, staying active is important to your body; if you don't use muscle you don't build more, or worse lose what you've got, or if your bones don't take some impact, some strain, some use, your body doesn't see a need for strong bones. A cousin of mine, told by a doctor that he was going to be short, said 'not if I have anything to say about it' and did weight training. He gained two inches more than the doctor said he would get.

Saitunes, something you said bothers me. It's right here: Since 99.9% (and more) of the people who have ever lived did not have the opportunity to do great, world changing things like Ghandi or Mother Teresa, is it even fair to judge those who, lacking the opportunity for visible greatness, just did what they could each day for those around them on the same scale of accomplishments?

Nintendo has lost the console wars!Nintendo is dead!Long live Nintendo!LOL, when I first read this I was sure it was a joke, but, darn it, it makes too much sense. The Wii-mote is all about instinctive interaction, what better way to use it than in tasks that require full concentration.

One thing, Wetton, the pig's bladder. What they are extracting from it is not stem cells but the matrix that makes up the wall of the organ. Like the way they used to use the intestines of an animal for sausages. What is really cool about this is that they are giving the body a matrix on which to regrow the cells instead of forming scar tissue where the slower forming cellular matrix isn't anymore. The science of it shows that the body has the ability to regenerate so long as it has a 'scaffolding' to build it on. And, guess what? they can grow differentiated organ structures in test tubes. I remember there was a breakthrough a few years back where they grew a functioning aorta valve.

That's great, cybermarkie. Now what do you believe about God or any other facet of your personal faith? Just saying that you are a jehovah's witness is just like saying someone else saying they are catholic, episcopalian or protestant. It tells us very little about what personal philosophy or belief gets you up in the morning or helps you sleep at night.

I didn't grow up disabled, I grew up about as healthy and normal, physically, as could be. I was socially challenged: I watched what my peers were doing and couldn't help but think 'how idiotic' or 'how demeaning'. But I watched. I had a friend when I was young who fit that description; glasses, hearing aid and speech problems. Serious speech problems: continual exposure to her allowed me to adjust to understand her but after being seperated for a few years that ability was gone. She was ostracized by the rest of the class, which was a pity, she was a really sweet and sincere girl. Then I ended up in the outcast group in high school and it included a girl who had been born without legs from the knees down. She was not a nice girl, she wasn't nasty either, more self-absorbed. Between her disability and her father's money(lawyer I think) she assumed that what she wanted would be provided, and she wasn't in the habit of listening to other people.My husband grew up at a time when they didn't understand dyslexia or ADHD. He knew he was different but he was different physically too, so he was all just different. And besides, ADHD was a tendency of his Mother's family so he was normal for his family. He made friends and had fun, he's a really social guy. He's mostly gotten past the mild dyslexia but the ADHD is still a problem.Now we have a son who is autistic, and for a lot of his life since the onset he has seemed unaware that there is any real difference between him and his peers, and a more cheerful happy boy would be difficult to find, unless it's his brother with ADHD. For my autistic boy everything is dramatic. If something goes wrong it's a tragedy, when it gets fixed it's a reason to cheer and hugs all 'round. Has it been dificult for him? Yes, he gets teased by some but he has protective older and younger brothers who won't put up with that kind of behavior and will take all of them somewhere else to play if some of the not-so-nice kids around here get nasty. But has it been difficult for him? I think that while it has been more difficult I don't think he has been aware of how much more difficult it has been, for him his daily schedule and differences are a 'ground state' sort of 'just the way it is' for him.

I truly sympathize, Grace. My son has been lucky to have some really good teachers helping him learn in spite of his autism. By all means bring in as many autism knowledgeble people to help you and your son as you feel you need. Just be aware that for all you do you may not get things straightened out right now, or even in time to help your son this school year (and if there's serious resistance, next year). But if you keep prodding at this problem and maintain your documentation you may get some attitudes adjusted in time for another kid and parent about to go through the same system. And when he changes schools, as he will eventually, you'll have a true record of his problems for his next teacher.

Firstly, Yes!! Go see a choripractor! The one my mother trusts uses an x-ray machine for an initial look at the problem before making any blanket prognosies or begining work on an unfamiliar unhealthy back. At least as I recall he does, it has been years. Secondly, You need to find good instruction or literature about non-harmful stretches and good posture. For non-harmful stretches I recomend a book called Surviving Exercise I think it's by Judy Adler. For good posture the only book I know of is Exercise Without Exercising Its an oldie and hard to plow through but good posture is important for keeping your muscles in condition to keep your spine in line, if that is your particular problem. A neighbor of mine with chronic bad back pain due to a real medical problem in her spine after using the stretches in Surviving Exercise that were specificly for properly stretching the back experienced a significant reduction in her back pain. So get your problem checked out and fixed and then do what you need to to keep it from becoming a problem again.

This is a tricky subject. The arguements surrounding stuff like this stems from competing philosophies concerning what our objective is in locking someone up. Are we getting a danger to society off the steets and remaking them into a contributing member of society or are we insisting that someone who has offended society's rules repay society with enforced work to benefit society. The guiding philosophy for incarcerations used to be the latter but we found that there was a percentage of hardcases for whom the rough treatment they recieved only turned their anti-social issues into a hard shell of victimhood or justification for continuing their behavior when they were let out. Meanwhile the rough conditions of prison life were a serious deterrent for more mentally stable or less desperate folk. And then book learned psychologists got involved and these 'squeeky wheel' hardcases for which the system wasn't working got an excessive amount of attention and the psycological reasoning changed and with it the incarceration conditions. And now we have a new problem, prison conditions are no longer a deterent from crime. The problem is that the role of government in society is to protect it from anyone that would do it harm, from people to communities, and they have forgotten that by commiting crimes against people and communities these criminals have removed themselves from the orginization called society. Another problem they have been trying to address is the large number of people who go into prison with few job qualifications and come out with less feeding the cycle of desperation. However, training programs do not require the resort living they are gifting their convicts with.

You think local speed will still be an issue? Of course it will... for now. First the businesses/orginizations that it will prove most useful to have to pay the prices that pay for the research and setup. And the hardware that can use it effectively. After that the prices will come down and it will further spread out in to the private sector. So don't despair, just be patient.