GREGOR MENDEL

TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE 189TH BIRTHDAY OF THIS GREAT SCIENTIST. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT KNOW ABOUT HIM, I HAVE INSERTED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

Gregor Mendel, who is known as the "father of modern genetics", was inspired by both his professors at the University of Olomouc (i.e. Friedrich Franz & Johann Karl Nestler) and his colleagues at the monastery (i.e. Franz Diebl) to study variation in plants, and he conducted his study in the monastery's two hectare experimental garden, which was originally planted by the abbot Napp in 1830. Between 1856 and 1863 Mendel cultivated and tested some 29,000 pea plants (i.e., Pisum sativum). This study showed that one in four pea plants had purebred recessive alleles, two out of four were hybrid and one out of four were purebred dominant. His experiments led him to make two generalizations, the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment, which later became known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance.
Mendel did read his paper, Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden (Experiments on Plant Hybridization), at two meetings of the Natural History Society of Brünn in Moravia in 1865. It was received favorably and generated reports in several local newspapers. When Mendel's paper was published in 1866 in Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereins Brünn, it was seen as essentially about hybridization rather than inheritance and had little impact and was cited about three times over the next thirty-five years. (Notably, Charles Darwin was unaware of Mendel's paper, according to Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man.) His paper was criticized at the time, but is now considered a seminal work.

After Mendel completed his work with peas, he turned to experimenting with honeybees, in order to extend his work to animals. He produced a hybrid strain (so vicious they were destroyed), but failed to generate a clear picture of their heredity because of the difficulties in controlling mating behaviours of queen bees. He also described novel plant species, and these are denoted with the botanical author abbreviation "Mendel".
After he was elevated as abbot in 1868, his scientific work largely ended, as Mendel became consumed with his increased administrative responsibilities, especially a dispute with the civil government over their attempt to impose special taxes on religious institutions. At first Mendel's work was rejected, and it was not widely accepted until after he died. At that time most biologists held the idea of blending inheritance, and Charles Darwin's efforts to explain inheritance through a theory of pangenesis were unsuccessful. Mendel's ideas were rediscovered in the early twentieth century, and in the 1930s and 1940s the modern synthesis combined Mendelian genetics with Darwin's theory of natural selection.
Mendel died on January 6, 1884, at age 61, in Brno, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic), from chronic nephritis. Czech composer Leoš Janáček played the organ at his funeral. After his death, the succeeding abbot burned all papers in Mendel's collection, to mark an end to the disputes over taxation.

TO SUCCESS

CONGRATULATION TO THE GRADUATES OF CJC ACE 2010.
IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I POST THAT ALL THREE SPEECHES GIVEN AT THIS YEARS CJC GRADUATION WERE GIVEN BY STUDENTS OF THE EVENING DIVISION WHOM I HAD THE PLEASURE OF ACCEPTING INTO THE INSTITUTION BACK WHEN I WAS DIRECTOR AND TEACHER THERE.

I HAVE MOVED ON BUT I LEAVE MY MARK ON YOUR HEARTS AS YOU HAVE DONE ON MINE.

VALEDICTORIAN... JOSEPH ERMOFF
SALUTORIAN.......... LORENA SEDASSIE
VOTE OF THANKS.. SUSIE HENDERSON

VOCABULARY OF A DIFFERENT SORT

Words Not Yet In The Dictionary
ELBONICS (el bon' iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.

ELECELLERATION (el a cel er ay' shun) n. The mistaken notion that the more you press an elevator button the faster it will arrive. FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man gyu lay' shun) n. Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the 'illegal' side.

NEONPHANCY (ne on' fan see) n. A fluorescent light bulb struggling to come to life.

PEPPIER (pehp ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.

PETONIC (peh ton' ik) adj. One who is embarrassed to undress in front of a household pet.

PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

PUPKUS (pup' kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.

TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.

AS I CLOSE A CHAPTER- I TAKE YOU IN MY HEART

Dearest Students of CCC ACE AND CJC ACE,
As I close a chapter in my life, I look back at the many things we have done together. We have laughed, we have joked, we have worked and most importantly we have loved.

All I want to say to you today, is that you have been the world to me. You have each filled a space in my heart and in my soul. All my tomorrows will have meaning because you have shared my todays.I may have been many things: a mother, a friend, a teacher, a dramatist, a comedian, a director and a mentor.

God has been good. He has taken me to places and I have seen many great things come from my sincerity and my kindness. I thank you for sharing my life, my joys and my sorrows. I now invite you to share my tomorrows.As I fade into the twilight, I take with me your life, your friendship, your joys and your sorrows. Even though we will be apart, I take you in my heart. Study and be all that you can be. Smile and remember: you are the ruler of your destiny. NO ONE CAN TAKE THAT AWAY FROM YOU. You have the power to make things happen. Take my love with you and let it grow. Take my friendship and let it shine.

Many will try to tarnish and darken my name and many have been the reason of this separation from the best thing that had ever happened to me - my opportunity of sharing your lives. To them we say: YOU CAN´T STOP THIS! LA LUCHA SIGUE!

My house is open at all times for you and you families. Come see me sometimes.

Love always,
Ms. B

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY 2009

Happy Children's Day to all the men and women in the Evening Programme. I hope your day is filled with all the joy, peace and happiness you deserve.

May will bring for you a new beginning and an end. Sit back and take it all in with a whiff of fresh air. REMEMBER, YOU must WORK HARD AND play hard so that I can be proud of you.

My love always,
Ms B