Striker9

The 20th century has witnessed major advancements in various scientific fields. The achievements that have been made by the world?s brightest scientists and thinkers enormously contributed to the prosperity of the human civilization. Among the most important advancements of the 20th century were those that were accomplished in molecular biology and genetics, such as the applications of genetic engineering and cloning. But the development of such honorable technologies, from a scientific point of view, was accompanied by a furious debate from an ethical one.Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with heredity, especially the mechanisms of hereditary transmission and the variation of inherited characteristics among similar or related organisms.. This science is considered one of the most recent ones, since the major discoveries and applications were achieved in the last quarter of the 20th century. Those achievements astonished commoners as well as the scientists, because two centuries ago talking about something called ?cloning? would be considered insanity and blasphemy.Genetics as a pure science is something no one could argue against, and everybody would agree that this science grants a badge of honor and pride to everyone who contributed in its development and to the whole human civilization as well. Some scientists, socialists, religious men, and commoners stand against this science and refuse it completely. But others do not find anything wrong about it and have no problem in applying its techniques. Also, others take a midway position and accept some of its applications but at the same time refuse others. Those who refuse this science claim that it is unethical because they believe it is wrong to manipulate human life. Others say it is religiously forbidden because it is a defiance of God?s will and an intervention in His creation. But the fact is those who say that clearly fell into a misconception because genetics did not find a new mean of creation; it is simply discovered God?s secrets allowing us to utilize them. Basically, cloning was a clear answer to scientists? wondering about whether all cells are capable of producing a complete organism, or is this ability restricted to fertilized zygotes only. Therefore, cloning which involves the insertion of a nucleus into a cytoplasm of any cell proved that reproduction and fertilization have no significant relationship and any cell is capable of producing a complete organism when put in an appropriate medium. Thus this discovery of the secretes of reproduction shall make the belief in God more profound and not the opposite. But let?s be real for a moment; if cloning and genetic engineering techniques weren?t applied on humans, this whole ethical and religious debate wouldn?t have been raised in the first place.The application of genetic engineering techniques and cloning could avail humans vastly. It could increase and ameliorate plant production by modifying the genome of the plants to produce better strains. Also, cloning of animals could increase meat production and probably save certain animals from extinction. Moreover, cloning can produce human organs that could be utilized when needed, which means these organs would be used as replacement parts in case someone had a damaged or non-functional organ. Furthermore, genetic engineering could help cure some hereditary diseases by locating the gene responsible for the expression of the disease and replacing it with another gene that does not cause the sickness. In addition, this same technique could be used to develop new abilities in humans which would help them resist certain environmental factors or improve human current abilities such as vision, hearing? etc.On the other hand, genetics has its downsides as well. Those disadvantages ? if we can say so ? are in general considered from the ethical, religious and humanitarian side. Genetic engineering allows us to modify the genome of the zygote/cell and thus determining all the characteristics of the upcoming embryo, including all the different outer features of a human. This is considered unethical and against God?s will, because it is wrong to intervene in the genetic program of the embryo unless it is for the sake of removing hereditary diseases. Also, let?s consider this hypothetical situation: a cytoplasm is taken from a woman?s bone marrow cell, and then a nucleus from her FATHER?s skin cell is inserted inside this cytoplasm; in this case, the resulting embryo would be produced carrying all the features and characteristics of the nucleus donator (where the genetic program is found) that is the father. Analyzing this hypothetical situation, we?d fall in an extremely unpleasant controversy, because we wouldn?t be able to determine whether the fetus is her father or son! Moreover, abusing the huge capabilities of genetic engineering might lead some insane scientists to do crazy things such as producing genetically mutated animals or even monsters. Similarly, some lunatics might abuse human cloning to create an army of brainwashed clones that serve their interests in probably conquering the planet! The options are diverse, and you can expect anything from people that have no ethics and values with such massive technologies at the reach of their hands ? the results could be devastating!So after this brief demonstration of the pros and cons of genetics and its applications, we need to take a stance towards this controversial issue. It?s clear now that abusing the technologies provided by genetics could lead to destructive and totally unethical consequences, but on the other hand genetics provides us with technologies and applications that could be very beneficial to the whole human race. As a result, we cannot just dump this advanced science into the dumpster just because abusing it could be destructive! Therefore, the logical thing to do is to take benefit of this science as much as it provides and restrict it to scientists and geneticists that are trustworthy and are known for their integrity and ethical principles. But even this wouldn?t be enough because human instincts and love for power could corrupt the most honorable man, thus there must be an international committee that would supervise any genetic experiments or projects according to pure scientific and ethical regulations. In the end, we can ask or wonder whether these huge capabilities of genetic engineering could abolish the word ?disease? from our dictionary or even serve to achieve the human dream of immortality?!

Hey again buddy, check out this thread: http://forums.xisto.com/topic/59679-workout-routines-share-them-here/ I've written a sample workout routine which you can follow, whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced bodybuilder. So hopefully this would be helpful for you as much as it was beneficial for me. Trust me, try it and you won't lose, I've tried it myself and I've seen great results. So good luck man

You guys know what you're talking! I couldn't agree more Chris! Working out is certainly the ultimate stress reliever! You cannot imagine how much relieved and mentally satisfied I would be when working out at the gym next to my house eventhough I'd be feeling so much physical pain as I lift some iron! But hey... all that pain is negligible compared to my mental satisfaction! Moreover, it is a great pleasure to watch your muscles go bigger and ripped, and your body getting in great shape week after week! This certainly boosts your self confidence and self esteem because you know you are strong AND looking good as well . I really cannot imagine my life without working out now. It's been a year and 2 months since I've started and my body has changed completely! I lost too much fat and gained too much muscle. Now everytime I finish my workout session, and after I take my shower, I'd be waiting patiently for the next day just so that I could go back to the gym and bust some weights! Seriously man, how could people even live without working out! Working out should be an essential part of every person's life, there should be no doubt about that!Train hard guys, and enjoy the relief, self confidence and satisfaction of working out

No offense man, but that doesn't even look like a workout!!! First of all, there's no back/lats exercises... and full body workouts should be more than this (sets and reps) so I suggest that you would register at a decent gym and have a proper workout routine in case you want a good body. Here's an example of a split workout routine (I prefer split to full body workout): You will be training 5 days a week, relatively moderate to heavy weights, not too many sets and reasonable number of reps. You need to do cardiovascular exercise as well as the aim of this workout is to burn fat and add some muscle mass as well, so the result would be a ripped body with a great shape. I've been doing this workout for a month now and I've seen great improvement in my body shape, so hopefully this will be good for you as well. Here's the workout:Monday: Chest training===============- Incline Bench Press: 2 warm-up sets, then 3x8 (which means 3 sets of 8 reps)- Incline DB Bench Press: 3x8- Butterfly Machine: 3x8- Cable Crossover: 2x10-12-Abs Training followed by cadio trainingTuesday: Back/Lats training==================- Deadlifts: 4x10- Pull-ups: 3x10-12 (If you can do more than 12 reps, add some weight between your legs)- Bent Over Barbell Rows: 3x8- Seated Cable Rows: 2x10- V-Bar Pull-downs: 3x8- Barbell Shrugs: 3x8-10- Waist training followed by cardio trainingWednesday: Shoulders/Delts training========================- Military Press: 2 warm-up sets, then 3x8- Side Lateral Raises: 4x8- Front Raises: 3x8- Bent Over Rear Deltoid Raises: 3x8- Abs training followed by cardio training Thursday: Legs/Quadriceps & Calves training=============================- Leg Press: 1 warm-up set, then 3x8- Hack Squats: 3x8- Leg Front Raises: 3x8- Leg Curls: 3x8- Standing Calf Raises: 3x8- Seated Calf Raises: 3x8Friday: Biceps & Triceps training=====================- Barbell Curls: 2 warm-up sets, then 3x8- Hammer Curls: 3x8- Concentration Curls: 3x8- E-Z Barbell Triceps Extension/Skull Crusher: 4x8- Cable Push-downs: 3x8- DB Kickbacks: 3x8- Abs training followed by Cardio trainingSaturday and Sunday are rest days, but you can do cardio and abs training if you wish. This is just a sample workout routine for one week. You can try it for 2 or 3 months changing exercises with ones that are somehow similar to those I given in the sample keeping the same sets and reps scheme. But stick to the basic compound exercises because those are the most efficient and give the best resultsNote: These are my Abs and Cardio training routines:Abs training: ========- Crunches: 30 reps - Sit-ups: 25 reps- Leg Raises: 25 reps- Knee-ups: 25 reps- Side Bends: 20 repsI do this routine as a cycle, which means I do all the exercises after eachother with 10 seconds rest between the exercises. And I do it as 3 sets with 2 minutes rest between the sets. Cardio training: (on the bicycle)====================- 5 minutes warm-up- 1 minute high intensity- 2 minutes moderate intensity- 1 minute high intensity- 2 minutes moderate intensity- 1 minute high intensity- 2 minutes moderate intensity- 1 minute high intensity- 2 minutes moderate intensity- 1 minute high intensity- 2 minutes moderate intensityIn sum, that's 20 minutes of cardio. And this is called HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), this helps raise your metabolic rate and thus you will lose MUCH MORE fats than you would usually lose in an old fashion 1 hour low intensity cardio session. Best wishes buddy

Thanks alot for this post, helped me alot! When I first had BuffaloHELP resent my password, I accessed my cPanel and everything was going smoothly, but then when I tried to go to my forums and blog, I had an SQL error and didn't know what to do... But thanks to this post, now everything is fixed and going fine But still, I think there are still some problems with directory permissions of the forum and the blog, hopefully I won't be facing any trouble...

Please reset my password. Thanks in advance ;)But still, my website is totally gone now, I am back to the page when I first created my hosting account which tells me to go to the cpanel and stuff like that... so is everything on my webspace also lost and I have to rebuild my website all over again or maybe once I get my cpanel access information back then I can get it all back and running like before? and if so, what do I have to do to get it back? Thanks again Notice from BuffaloHELP: Sent new password along with quick instruction.

Ok I have some tips for you: 1. 2. Drink ALOT of water. You have to drink 2-3 liters of water everyday because water is an essential element for your body. It constitutes 70% of your body so treat it that way. Moreover, water is need by the cells to perform metabolic reactions and body functions. Also, plasma is the major part of your blood and it is around 90% water. So I guess you've got the idea... 3. If you're about to start working out (I'm assuming that you are not in a training program yet), start with very low weights during the first two weeks, then start increasing the weights slowly and progressively during the first 3 - 4 months. After that you can start adding up as much weight as you can lift to gain mass. This is the bulking phase of your training; so you need to do big weights and a small number of sets and reps (3 sets / 8 reps). After doing that for around 8 - 10 months, you can switch to the cutting phase of your training; so now you have to do low to moderate weights with many sets and reps (4 sets / 15 - 25 reps), in addition to that you HAVE TO do cardiovascular exercising so that you would lose the extra fats. Do that for around 3 months and then switch back to the bulking phase and so on. If you follow this program I assure you to have a great body 2 years from now. 4. Proteins and supplements are good for you. After you have spent 4 -5 months working out at the gym, you can start taking protein shakes. Protein shakes are the nutrients of your muscles, they give you mass and maintenance of your muscle. Amino acid supplement gives your muscle a nice form. So use a combination of protein shakes and amino acid supplements and you'll notice considerable results. Stay away from steroids because they have alot of side effects. Okay they give you a great shape in no time, but they bad for you, and what's the point of working out in the first place if you're going to build up an "artificial" body?! 5. Eat appropriately, and by that I mean you have to eat 4-6 meals a day. But you need to eat little amounts of carbohydrates and fats/lipids, and as much as you can of proteins and vegetables. If you do not eat, your muscle wouldn't grow bigger, so food is essential. 6. Abs and legs are also a part of your body! So do not neglect your abs and legs while you work out! A body without a 6 pack wouldn't look nice no matter what you do. And it's also important to work out your legs because it's totally not good to have a big and muscled upper body while your lower body is tiny. Hopefully those tips are good for you... in case you have any questions, feel free to post them

Ok well I have to agree with the others who said that you shouldn't force religion into him. Even God says that religion is not imposed. God is convincing enough to be believed in, and thus once your friend sees what serenity your beliefs bring to your life, then he might actually start searching for God instead of forcing the idea of God into his head. But if you're pretty much close to him, try telling him to read in the Bible and some other religious references... just tell him to read it as it won't harm him, there isn't anything to lose anyway! Well, I don't know that's all I can say, it's very hard to convince someone to believe unless he is ready to read and listen for a start... so good luck with him

What I know is that you do not go to hell just for not believing in Jesus... I am Muslim and I know that Christians believe in Trinity which is according to my beliefs very wrong but that doesn't mean that all Christians are going to hell... Well at least they do believe in God, and starting with that, they'll be judged according to what they did in their lives whether it's good or bad and then they'll be punished or rewarded accordingly. Also, even if you're Muslim, that doesn't qualify you to go to heaven just like that, you need to be a good person in order to acquire your ticket to heaven if I can say so. Believing in God is just the basic belief you need to have, and then your work/words/decisions decide your fate. Now concerning a person who was born somewhere on this planet where he never heard of Christianity or Islam or whatever... do you really think it's fair that God would send him to hell for not believing in Him and following His message? Well obviously it's NOT fair and that's why God wouldn't send this person to hell and He would judge this person according to what he did in his/her life whether he/she was good or bad (being good or bad is a matter of social values). BUT, if this person who was born in a place where he/she never heard of God someday traveled and learned about God and religions, then this person has no "excuse" anymore and he/she has to search for truth and believe in God eventually... otherwise there's a big chance that he/she might be punished by going to hell. Now, God is forgiving and we all know that, but He does not tolerate some mistakes including not believing in Him after you learned about Him or just like in your case, if you used to believe in God and you were a Muslim and then converted to become an atheist; God wouldn't forgive you unless you believe in Him again, and once you believe and repent, all your other sins will be forgiven because you were misguided at that period and then you found the right path again. Is there anything else you would like to know? What I meant was simply that I, as a Muslim, believe in Christianity and Judaism as heavenly religions as well. And I do believe in the Bible and the Torah but that doesn't necessarily mean that I need to practice Christianity and/or Judaism. I am still a Muslim and I only practice Islam. And yeah, what you mentioned about the difference between Islam and Christianity is also one of the major differences. In Islam, all people are born sinless while in Christianity all people are born as sinners but Jesus saved them when he was crossified... I do not want to get into a debate on what beliefs are right or wrong now... at least we, monotheists, believe in the same one God and that's the most important thing....

Well yeah that's true! In some situations, racism is among the same race itself. People of the same race could be racist against eachother. If they are of the same race, they'll find anything different about the other to criticize and be racist about. If let's say they are both white or black or whatever, they'll be racist about eachother's religion for example. Sadly, all religions are racist against Islam now (due to some stupid people's actions "in the name of Islam" - although these people do not even relate to Islam's values and teachings). If it's not religion, it's gonna be something else, like nationality for example... Lebanese are racist against Syrians, Americans and English are racist against Irish, Germans are racist against Jewish, Turks are racist against Armenian, Arabs are racist against Persian, Turks and Arabs and Persians are racist against Kurds, most Europeans are anti-semites... etc and there are MANY other examples of racism. But of course the clearest form of racism is that between two different races and mostly black and white... Unfortunately, there are still many racists living between us, but I do believe that all of us are racist in a way or another (with different levels of racism) because it's simply in our genes!!

Well that's also true. There's racism within the same race in some cases. Actually if they are of the same race, they'll just find something else to criticize and be racist about... such as religion or nationality for example... most religions are racist against Islam, Lebanese are racist against Syrians, Americans and English are racist against Irish, Germans are racist against Jewish, most Europeans are anti-samites...etc. But yeah the clearest form of racism is that between two different races and mainly white and black... unfortunately there are still racists living between us, but I do believe that in a way or another we are all racist (but with different levels of racism) because simply it is in our genes!

Democracy, in definition, is a system of government by which the sovereignty is retained by the people. Democratic regimes usually guarantee the full rights and freedom of the person, where a person?s freedom ends at the freedom of another. The United States of America is one of the most democratic countries on the globe, at least that?s what everybody thinks is true? And the USA has been waging wars and intervening in other countries? affairs over the past few years in the name of democracy and the liberation of suppressed people. But the question is how much of the democracy advocated by the USA is applied in states, and is that the real cause behind those devastating wars or there are some hidden causes and benefits?It?s widely known that USA represents a melting of races and cultures, where you can find almost every race, culture, religion, ethnicity, background? etc. In theory, all these diverse groups have equal rights and duties. On the other hand, the American government is indirectly racist against some races and religions; and the most explicit form of discrimination is that against Muslims where you can hardly get into the states if you were a Muslim, and if you got the chance to go there, you will be faced by a sort of religious apartheid! When you complain about this unfairness and bad treatment, the American officials would directly bring up what happened on 9/11 and use it an excuse to literally abase you! But this is not the only form of discrimination practiced by the American government. Despite the fact that slavery is forbidden and illegalized now, the attitude of some officials in the American government and courts indicates that the racist mentality of the white man against the black one is still found in their sick minds! This is clearly obvious in what happened in Jena Six, where 6 black high school students were charged with second degree attempted murder and conspiracy after being judged by an ALL WHITE JURY who took this unfair decision in only 2 days ignoring the racial tension that was going on at that time when a black guy requested to sit under a tree at the school yard where only white students used to sit, to come on the other day and see 3 nooses hanging down from the tree! All that exposes the American government and officials of being racists within their own country, and all their boasting about the democracy they live in relies on no valid and solid grounds. We?ve witnessed and heard all about the American conquest to spread democracy in the Middle East and achieve the scheme of what is called ?The New Middle East?. The question is what?s this conquest all about? The answer is plain and simple and any person with a sense of logic and some analysis abilities could figure it out. George Bush declared war against terror and conquered Afghanistan and killed thousands of people and yet Osama Bin Laden is still alive enjoying his freedom! Then this same American president and his government marched to Iraq, destroyed the whole country, killed more than 200,000 civilians in 5 years, and generated chaos and infighting between different ethnicities and religious cults (Kurds & Arabs ? Sunni?s & Shiites), and all that was to remove the massive destruction weapons from Iraq which were NEVER FOUND YET and end the reign of the tyrant called Saddam Hussein. No one could argue that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant and had to be removed, but killing all those innocent people and messing up a country like Iraq doesn?t that make George W. Bush even a worse tyrant than Saddam?!! Well here comes the simple answer and ?justification? to all that terrorism: petroleum! The Americans have been stealing the Afghani and Iraqi oil in huge amounts ever since they conquered those two countries. And now they are pressuring Iran to give up their right in developing nuclear projects to pave the way, maybe, to an upcoming war hoping to lay their hands on Iran?s oil. The American ?democracy? doesn?t end there, it also continues to Lebanon, Palestine and the whole Middle East. Starting with Palestine, the Americans demanded democratic and fair elections to take place in Palestine, and then once the results were in and Hamas won the elections the Americans refused to admit that this is what the people wants and forced the international body not to cooperate with the new democratically elected authorities? too much democracy, right? Then comes Lebanon which the American government considers as a playground for settling business with Iran and Syria. The Americans keep on intervening in every aspect of the political life of Lebanon cutting down the way for any solution that the Lebanese might reach. Kondoliza Rice, David Welche and other American officials discuss and talk about the Lebanese issues more than the Lebanese themselves, and all that is in the name of ?democracy?! But just in case George Bush and his government didn?t notice, I?d like to draw their attention to the fact that KSA, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait?etc are ALL dictatorship and yet they never lecture them about their so-called democracy, and that?s merely because the Americans literally ?enslave? the kings and leaders of those countries! So how come they keep intervening in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Iran preaching the people to their fraud democracy while they never preach to that same democracy in all other Arab counties that NEVER witnessed any parliamentary elections?!In the end, all what I can say is that the claimed American democracy is nothing but crap and their preaching to liberation and freedom of speech is mere hypocrisy and no one shall be deceived by their fake slogans. And the clearest evidence which exposes the American hypocrisy is what goes on in Iraq, in Abu Ghoraib prison, in Guantanamo prison where people are jailed without even being on a fair trial, and in their attitude towards the Israeli ? Palestinian situation where they condemn the Palestinian innocent civilians because simply they happen to be in the range of the Israeli artillery and aircraft bombs! But how long would the American reign persist if those corrupted people continue to rule the states and if the Americans do not change their foreign policy that is bringing them nothing but hatred and grudge?

lol man why in the hell do you want us to debate over such an issue? there's no point of it anyway... there isn't no conflict between religions as they all lead to God. The difference is that mono-theistic heavenly religion lead to the same God while other religions lead to some other God(s). Now personally I reject any religion that doesn't lead to the God I believe in as there aren't any proofs of their existence while the God I believe in have alot of proofs that lead to Him (for example, the Qur'an, the prophets, the universe itself... etc). Moreover, believing in several Gods is somehow illogical because there can't be more than one God, because if that were the case then their "will" might contradict and therefore reflect on us (the creatures and the universe as well).Now the difference between Islam and Christianity is that Muslims do not believe in Trinity and they believe that Jesus is merely a respected prophet just like prophet Mohammed, and not the son of God. This belief comes from a verse in the Qur'an called "Al-Tawheed" (believing in ONE) where God says that He is only one, He was never born and never had any sons, and there isn't anyone that could compete with Him.... So anyway, that's basically the main difference between Islam and Christianity (there other differences as well too) although there are Christians who do not believe that Jesus is the son of God and do not believe in Trinity. But whatever the differences are, Muslims still believe in Christianity and Judaism as well and you cannot be a Muslim unless you are a Jew and a Christian first (meaning that you need to believe in ALL heavenly religions). Now concerning Christianity and Judaism, the main difference is that Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah they're waiting for to be their savior while Christians do believe that he is the one. Christians believe that Jews were responsible for the crossification (sp?) of Jesus, but on the other hand Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crossified and instead he was raised to heaven by God and he's yet to come and save all humans from evil along with "Imam Al Mahdi"... And just to note, Jesus was a Jew and lived his whole life as a Jew, thus no Christian can not believe in Judaism. In conclusion, I cannot say this religion is right and that is not. I believe in all mono-theistic heavenly religions and I consider them to be 3 parts of the same heavenly message - they are complimentary.

Well, if God told you so then you gotta believe that there's a God... and since got actually told you something in your sleep then you gotta be someone extremely special because God bothered to actually pay you a visit in your sleep... don't you think? pfffffttttt! Dude, take things seriously, and instead of acting silly whenever you cannot face logic and facts, either admit that you are wrong or try to provide us with logical thinking and facts... because no matter how much you try to make fun of our beliefs, that won't change anything, you'll still be wrong and misguided! The only way you might have a chance to convince us that atheists are right and believers are wrong is by providing us with logical evidence!