Today has had its ups and downs
Up My oh my it was beautiful outside today! And gorgeous downtown. The perfect day to wear a skirt and walk around for a bit. The sun was out! And I heard through the grapevine that there is a forecast for 65 degrees this weekend?!
Up This morning I took the 6 downtown with Dawn and we went to the Chicago Cultural Center to hear Arthur Caplan, PhD talking on “What’s Immoral About Cloning Human Beings?”. It was really interesting, and he was an excellent speaker, but surprisingly it was a very uncrowded event. It seemed to be mostly an ethics and AMA crowd only. One of Caplan’s basic points was that human cloning is not desirable, safe, or even possible to perform, and so we shouldn’t be worried about it. And on that line of reasoning he fully supports cloning-for-biomedical-research, because there is no basis to believe that the embryos that might be used have any potential for human life as a clone. He went through a list of points for cloning humans and dismissed them: people will want clones for infertility (he says there are other better ways to go about getting children), people will want clones for body parts (he finds this unimaginable), people will want clones to build an army with certain traits (he says that this is unlikely since the environment effects so much of how we are, ie the calico cat which was cloned has a different calico from the cat where the original DNA was obtained, because in the womb the calico coloring [and also how pinto horses are different from the womb] is determined by body temperature and the surrounding environment), and how people will want clones to restore historical figures (he mentions how some people have mentioned cloning Jesus [using DNA from the shroud] and asks why people would want to clone someone who is coming back anyways? ;o) then he goes on to talk about the environment again and how people from the past will not have their historical and cultural setting and will be different if born now). I still disagree that there would not be a demand for cloning if the procedure was safe and accessible. Because of the low birth rate of any cloned animal (it took 400 embryos to get Dolly), it usually takes 200 tries to get a cow, one-third of live-birth clones die after one year, and because there has never been a primate cloned (in the way Dolly was cloned, there has, of course been a primate cloned from the splitting of an embryo in two) Caplan believes that the cloning of humans will never happen–ever. I completely disagree. The technology is new. Animal husbandry has come a long way, and there have been many advancements in the science recently. No, we can’t do human cloning now, but I am almost 100% positive that we will be able to in the future. Maybe not the near future, but sometime I am willing to bet we will see a cloned human.
Of courses, lots of puns and remarks on Raelians were made and he was furious that they got so much attention for their horrible claim of giving birth to a cloned human. He went on a long jaunt about how misinformed the general public is on the notions of human cloning and how the media has been incredibly terrible with basically anything related to science. I definitely agree.
Interesting tidbit: The stem cell used to clone dolly was taken from the udder of a sheep (from mammary tissue), and so the sheep of course had to be named after Dolly Parton!
Up Also at the Cultural Center was an exhibit: “Teddy Bears at Home in Chicago: An Exhibition of All Things Teddy Bear”. It was really cute with so many visuals. Teddy bears all over, pictures, posters, music, the history. And in the back room they have a video camera and Polaroid. Kids bring in their personal teddy and talk about why they love them so much on camera. Then the video is shown to the public. Watching it made me smile! Dawn and I were just about to leave (we inadvertently had walked to the floor of the exhibit on our quest to find the restrooms right before the lecture started) and head back to listen to the speaker, when one of the guys working there came up and asked us if we wanted our picture taken and urged us to come back. So we hugged this giant bear…and the picture turned out to be adorable. The frame they gave us was great too, with a cute sticker on the front announcing the exhibit. Of course though, City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, Mayor was prominently displayed even on the sticker.
Down I did not make it into the Summer Links Program. Not even as an alternate.
Up I am made it past the first round interviews and now am a finalist (I think there are two of us) for the Outreach Intern position with the Center for Neighborhood Technology (Metcalf Internship). I’ll be interviewing directly with the organization soon!
Up Spending a lot of time with Dawn today, including lunch at Pierce. I’m going to miss her when she goes to study abroad in Greece next quarter!!
Down We had a Global Tectonic lab today, and I was in the computer lab until very late. The class is overwhelming when I think about what I have to do in the next few days. But I’m slowly making progress. Luckily the lab was easier than I thought it would be, so I didn’t end up crying. And Paul waiting very patiently for me as a surprise after it was over made my day.
? Was the Reg on fire this evening? What was up with the firedrill? All I know that it was pretty cool to see all of the emergency lights flashing in the windows as I waited for the bus to come. And to see the people streaming out and the firemen walking in. I hope no one was hurt and nothing was damaged though. I bet it was just someone doing a joke before finals.
Down How do you get someone to be quiet or move? I have no idea. How do you get someone to stop complaining? I have no idea. How do you get anyone to clean. No idea. I guess it’s a lack of communication on my part. And feel like I’m uninformed on so much. I think this is one of the first times in my life when I just feel alone and like I can’t communicate. But I just don’t know where to begin. Or maybe I’m just in a bad mood. Probably a permanent mixture of both. I blame myself.
Up I put on my fleece sheets, and my new fleecy soft duvet cover. My bed is the most comfortable place in the world for me right now. ;o) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh comfort.
Up My oh my it was beautiful outside today! And gorgeous downtown. The perfect day to wear a skirt and walk around for a bit. The sun was out! And I heard through the grapevine that there is a forecast for 65 degrees this weekend?!
Up This morning I took the 6 downtown with Dawn and we went to the Chicago Cultural Center to hear Arthur Caplan, PhD talking on “What’s Immoral About Cloning Human Beings?”. It was really interesting, and he was an excellent speaker, but surprisingly it was a very uncrowded event. It seemed to be mostly an ethics and AMA crowd only. One of Caplan’s basic points was that human cloning is not desirable, safe, or even possible to perform, and so we shouldn’t be worried about it. And on that line of reasoning he fully supports cloning-for-biomedical-research, because there is no basis to believe that the embryos that might be used have any potential for human life as a clone. He went through a list of points for cloning humans and dismissed them: people will want clones for infertility (he says there are other better ways to go about getting children), people will want clones for body parts (he finds this unimaginable), people will want clones to build an army with certain traits (he says that this is unlikely since the environment effects so much of how we are, ie the calico cat which was cloned has a different calico from the cat where the original DNA was obtained, because in the womb the calico coloring [and also how pinto horses are different from the womb] is determined by body temperature and the surrounding environment), and how people will want clones to restore historical figures (he mentions how some people have mentioned cloning Jesus [using DNA from the shroud] and asks why people would want to clone someone who is coming back anyways? ;o) then he goes on to talk about the environment again and how people from the past will not have their historical and cultural setting and will be different if born now). I still disagree that there would not be a demand for cloning if the procedure was safe and accessible. Because of the low birth rate of any cloned animal (it took 400 embryos to get Dolly), it usually takes 200 tries to get a cow, one-third of live-birth clones die after one year, and because there has never been a primate cloned (in the way Dolly was cloned, there has, of course been a primate cloned from the splitting of an embryo in two) Caplan believes that the cloning of humans will never happen–ever. I completely disagree. The technology is new. Animal husbandry has come a long way, and there have been many advancements in the science recently. No, we can’t do human cloning now, but I am almost 100% positive that we will be able to in the future. Maybe not the near future, but sometime I am willing to bet we will see a cloned human.
Of courses, lots of puns and remarks on Raelians were made and he was furious that they got so much attention for their horrible claim of giving birth to a cloned human. He went on a long jaunt about how misinformed the general public is on the notions of human cloning and how the media has been incredibly terrible with basically anything related to science. I definitely agree.
Interesting tidbit: The stem cell used to clone dolly was taken from the udder of a sheep (from mammary tissue), and so the sheep of course had to be named after Dolly Parton!
Up Also at the Cultural Center was an exhibit: “Teddy Bears at Home in Chicago: An Exhibition of All Things Teddy Bear”. It was really cute with so many visuals. Teddy bears all over, pictures, posters, music, the history. And in the back room they have a video camera and Polaroid. Kids bring in their personal teddy and talk about why they love them so much on camera. Then the video is shown to the public. Watching it made me smile! Dawn and I were just about to leave (we inadvertently had walked to the floor of the exhibit on our quest to find the restrooms right before the lecture started) and head back to listen to the speaker, when one of the guys working there came up and asked us if we wanted our picture taken and urged us to come back. So we hugged this giant bear…and the picture turned out to be adorable. The frame they gave us was great too, with a cute sticker on the front announcing the exhibit. Of course though, City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, Mayor was prominently displayed even on the sticker.
Down I did not make it into the Summer Links Program. Not even as an alternate.
Up I am made it past the first round interviews and now am a finalist (I think there are two of us) for the Outreach Intern position with the Center for Neighborhood Technology (Metcalf Internship). I’ll be interviewing directly with the organization soon!
Up Spending a lot of time with Dawn today, including lunch at Pierce. I’m going to miss her when she goes to study abroad in Greece next quarter!!
Down We had a Global Tectonic lab today, and I was in the computer lab until very late. The class is overwhelming when I think about what I have to do in the next few days. But I’m slowly making progress. Luckily the lab was easier than I thought it would be, so I didn’t end up crying. And Paul waiting very patiently for me as a surprise after it was over made my day.
? Was the Reg on fire this evening? What was up with the firedrill? All I know that it was pretty cool to see all of the emergency lights flashing in the windows as I waited for the bus to come. And to see the people streaming out and the firemen walking in. I hope no one was hurt and nothing was damaged though. I bet it was just someone doing a joke before finals.
Down How do you get someone to be quiet or move? I have no idea. How do you get someone to stop complaining? I have no idea. How do you get anyone to clean. No idea. I guess it’s a lack of communication on my part. And feel like I’m uninformed on so much. I think this is one of the first times in my life when I just feel alone and like I can’t communicate. But I just don’t know where to begin. Or maybe I’m just in a bad mood. Probably a permanent mixture of both. I blame myself.
Up I put on my fleece sheets, and my new fleecy soft duvet cover. My bed is the most comfortable place in the world for me right now. ;o) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh comfort.
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