GMOs, OH MY!

Genetically modified organisms are becoming more prevalent in our society. There are a plethora of companies now that are breaking into the business in one form or another. They can now modify plants, animals, and bacteria and viruses to help humans with research, creating medicines more easily, and producing food with greater yields and are more resistant to bugs. There are many benefits with the modified organisms and there are many controversies that have come up. Basically there are a lot of people out there that aren’t sold on the benefits of these organisms and the businesses involved aren’t putting enough into the research of long term effects to put those fears to rest. Aside from all of that there are financial reasons to be for or against genetically modified organisms. Some companies control huge portions of the market and can thus dictate how it is used. Also, there are a lot of governments from around the world involved. Government intervention can make or break this industry. So what is a genetically modified organism?


A genetically modified organism is a plant, animal, and bacteria or a virus that has been modified using DNA modification or “an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology is the ability to combine DNA molecules from different sources into the one molecule in a test tube. Thus, the abilities or the phenotype of the organism, or the proteins it produces, can be modified through the modification of its genes” (Wikipedia). There are a couple ways that they do this: They can attach a gene to a cell using a virus, physically insert the gene into the nucleus with a very small needle, or by using a gene gun which fires very small particles. The reason that they do this is to introduce into an organism positive traits that can help make that organism more useful to humans. The most commonly modified organism is crop plants. They modify it by making it pest resistant and also to have higher yields. They can also have them produce vitamins and nutrients not natural to that crop making them healthier. Other organisms have been modified to produce medicines such as insulin and Atryn, an anticoagulant. These are just a few of the many benefits that modified organisms can provide.

Here is a short list of pros of genetically modified organisms: Production of human insulin, use in gene therapy, creation of neo-organs, and usage in agriculture. For the production of insulin human cells are transplanted into another mammal such as a goat which acts as a medium for the human genes. The cells produce the insulin in the medium and are then the insulin is extracted and given to patients with diabetes. With gene therapy, modified viruses are used to treat genetic disorders like sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis. Neo-organs are perhaps one of the most important benefits. Organs for transplant are hard to come by. With the help of genetic engineering new organs could be grown for transplant from the cells of the patient so that no rejection occurs. This leads to safer transplant procedures. In agriculture some of the benefits have already been touched upon; greater yield, more nutritious, and pest resistance to name a few. With these benefits there are also some potential risks associated with this technology.

Some risks include: Harmful effects on crops, GM animals, Unnatural methods being used, risk of misuse, disruption of natural genetic information, and preliminary stage of research. The harmful effects on crops include the fact that all the crops have the same genetic makeup. If a strain of bacteria is especially harmful to one it is harmful to all of them. There is no genetic variety to protect the plants. With GM animals there are other problems that could be present. Animals are used to produce proteins, medications, and human organs. The animals could be cloned and if anything goes wrong they could be born with deformities and not live very long. Plus, there is the threat that if a pig is carrying a disease and the heart is used as a transplant, the disease could be transferred to humans. Genetic modification is not natural and some would argue that by going around the natural reproduction methods more problems could arise. And last of all genetic modification is still in its infant stage of testing. We are still finding out how it all works so we can’t be sure of what the long term effects will be. But what about the economic impact that these organisms can have on countries?

In 2009, of the 14 million farmers growing GMOs, 90% were resource poor farmers in developing countries: 7 million in China, 5.6 million in India, and 250,000 in the Philippines, South Africa, and 12 other countries. The global worth of biotech crops in 2008 was estimated to be $130 billion (Wikipedia). So where do these crops come from? There are a few firms around the world with ties to the industry but the largest of them is Monsanto. In 2007, Monsanto's trait technologies were planted on 246 million acres throughout the world. Why is Monsanto holding the largest portion a problem? Well they have patents on the seeds that they sell. To control that patent they have developed “Technology Protection.” There are two forms of this: One is the “Terminator” which means that the crops yield sterile seeds, and two is “Traitor” which requires the farmer to spray a chemical activator on the seeds to activate the genetically modified traits. These protectors will require the farmers to pay yearly to have the privilege of growing these crops. With farmers already under burdens such as shrinking land space and growing populations to feed paying to grow these plants on a yearly basis could become quite costly. It might also make these crops unattainable to the small farmers in under developed countries. On the other side of the spectrum it could be a boon for farmers because the extra cost of having to pay yearly for the modified seeds could be offset; they could cut down on the land needed to grow the same amount plus the money saved on pesticides and weed killer because those traits are engineered into the crops. There are definitely some economic risks and rewards associated with it but all of it could be for naught if world governments and activists have anything to say about it.

As of 2007 the US, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil accounted for 94% of all GMO plantings (Council on foreign relations). The European Union accounts for 1% of all GMO corn grown in the world. Japan has no GMO products grown in the country and consumers continue to resist importation of GMOs. A bylaw was passed making it almost impossible to grow GMOs in Japan. The Consumers Union of Japan participated in the Planet Diversity Conference in Bonn Germany where Kokestu Michiyo was quoted,” We don’t only need networks between people, but between people and plants, and people and planet earth.” In New Zealand no GMOs are grown and no medicines containing live GMOs are allowed. The list goes on. These governments at the behest of their citizens have cried aloud that they don’t want these GMO products in their countries whether that is due to the fear of the unknown, the lack of understanding of what a GMO is and what it can do, or if it is for economic or environmental reasons they are currently against using this technology in most all of its forms.

There are many benefits both economically and for the general welfare of the citizenry that could persuade governments and farmers to use these genetically modified organisms. But if the technology is embraced to quickly without the proper studies and test performed there could be damaging consequences in the future. It is such a new technology that we just can’t know what may lie ahead. Some issues that need to be addressed are what effect will this have on bio-diversity? Will the benefits of having a pest resistant crop outweigh the possibility of producing more resistant pests? Are we really better off doing it this way than the old traditional ways? For now the technology is pushing forward with more acceptance gained worldwide everyday. The fact of the matter is we are seeing benefits and we are reaping rewards for our technological ingenuity.

Humans Being

It's been a couple months but here is my newest post. I decided to flex some linguistic muscles with this post and rather than raise some ethical questions or spark political debate I decided to explore something more abstract. Here is the question for your pondering pleasure: What makes us human?
I want to get down to this question and start by saying or rather asking is being born a human enough to make us human or is it something greater? There are two black and white categories here that need to be dealt with: first is human and second is inhuman. What separates the two? Where is the line drawn? Let me give you an example. Throughout human history there have been heroes and villains; Hitler, Stalin, Vlad, etc. These I would consider inhuman. The acts they oversaw were despicable to say the least. What human being could have carried out such heinous crimes is beyond me. That is why I will put them in that category. But that is easy, anyone would agree with me. Now where do we put criminals? Rapists? Murderers? Thieves? Druggies? Where is the line. It becomes less black and white and now has shades of grey. So you can't base it solely on what they do.
Let's shift gears a little and look at our society. If you look at it from a conservative point of view you have producers or capitalists and you have moochers and leeches. You have one group that is creating jobs and opportunities and the other side living off of the government and the goodwill of the people. Which of these groups would be considered human? How about if I rephrase and say which group is humans being and which are humans existing? If you contribute to society in a positive way does that make you more human? Does making a lot of money and controlling the wealth of a society make you less human? There is still something more to it.
The question of what makes us human is not a simple one as you can see. So at what point do people start pointing to God and all things spiritual for the answer? Before I do that let's play pretend. Let's assume there is no God and there is no all powerful being of any sort moving destiny and creating the situations that we find ourselves in. Where does our humanness come from? Is it something we are born with, something inherent in our species that sets us apart from all other life forms on Earth? If aliens were to visit would they be able to distinguish us from apes? This could happen if they had a small group of which to observe. After all our DNA differs from apes by such a small margin, something like 2%. Let's say they observe a tribe in Africa. I'm not saying they are animals, savages, or uncivilized in any way. I'm just saying that the lifestyle that they lead is very simple and to an outsider it could be construed that they are indistinguishable from some animals. Is there something that sets them apart to an outsider? Is there a humanness about them and is it visible from the outside?

Back to God. I know there are people that will argue that what makes us human is our spirit, our soul. Is that what makes us human? Did Hitler and those others have a spirit or soul and didn't that make them human? Is being human a question of good or bad? And if it isn't then what is the difference between human and inhuman?

I don't want to hear replies saying that this is a much deeper topic than I have put down here. I understand that. Philosophers have written libraries worth on the subject. And I don't expect to answer the question here on my humble little blog.

My sister had a baby last night. Little Mollie. I wonder if right now she has all the attributes that will make her human or if she will earn them through her life. To be human isn't about right or wrong. Everyone is human and because of that they all have human actions. It is their actions that we can attribute human versus inhuman. It is their character that can be judged. Simply existing cannot be either good or evil and so humans existing can't be good or evil. No child is born bad. They are born with potential. It's like Mahjong; as you clear away tiles you lose the ability to do some moves while gaining the ability to do other moves. If you have gain more moves than you lose you will ultimately clear the board. That is our goal in life. To act human we must work toward clearing the board. Hopefully we will and if we don't let's try to keep the tiles left on the board to a minimum.

Immigrants

Okay people let's get some things straight. 2 women from a gevernment office in Salt Lake County released a list of 1300 or so names of supposed illegal immigrants. Releasing the list is a felony. They should not only be fired but they should be put in jail. The reason that list exists is because the state of Utah keeps track of the illegals because they issue driving priviledge cards to them. Think about that for a second. Utah knows about the illegals living here in this state. It's not really a secret to the people who need to know. By releasing this list there are a few privacy issues that were ignored. How about addresses? Do we really need crazy immigration people finding these people and harrassing them? How about their children who may or may not be legal citizens of this country? So all you people who are saying these women are patriots and heros and should be protected whistle blowers, you're wrong. They are criminals. The crime they commited was worse than someone who is living here illegaly. Let me repeat that so that it sinks in all nice and warm in your mind. The crime they commited was worse than someone who is living here illegaly. That's right. They commited a felony. Living here illegaly is the same as having a speeding ticket. It's not a big deal. It becomes a big deal when a crime is commited that is serious enough for them to be deported. Yes it must be serious enough. Our prisons are not filled to bursting with illegals. In fact they're filled with people who have been caught with marijuana or other drugs. That's whose filling up our prisons. And before you say it's the illegals that are bringing the drugs over the border think again. Most drugs are made and distributed right here in the good ol' USA.

If you want to stop people from coming here illegaly there are a couple things that must be done. First you need to enforce the laws in place that punish the companies that are hiring the illegals. It is way to easy for companies to hire illegals and pay them whatever pitence they want. They don't have to give them benefits or time off. If they call in sick they can just fire them. The companies can treat them like dirt and they have no recourse to get fair employment. Second you need to make it easier to come here and become a citizen. Not that everyone that comes here wants to be a citizen. Some just want to come here and work and then go home. That needs to be easier also. Last I heard there was a 17 year waiting list to become a citizen legally. It takes less time if they are here already. Makes sense doesn't it? No, of course it doesn't. Let's stream line it. Make it easier for them to come here and live, become a citizen, or work and go home. What does that hurt. You worried about terrorits? The 9/11 highjackers were legal citizens of the US. You think they would risk getting caught crossing the border? They're smarter than that. Drugs? Made and distributed here. Crime? Most illegals keep a low profile for fear of getting caught and sent home. There are very few crimes commited by illegals.

We don't need to build a fence to keep them out. It won't work anyway. We need to punish the companies hiring illegals and we need to make it easier to come here.

And one last thing. What is up with all the hate? I have heard way too many tales lately of people insulting hispanics whether they are legal or not just because they speak spanish or have dark skin. Come on! You're racist and that's all there is too it.

Oh I wish I may...

I'm curious; If you were to get three wishes what would you wish for? I don't want to hear about I want world peace or I would end world hunger, blah blah blah. We all know these "PC" answers that every beauty pageant queen would give. I want to know what you'd really ask for. And I don't care if it's even a little bit skeevy like I would wish to be invisible so that I could sneak into the women's showers at the gym. I know there are people out there like that so let's hear it. I know what I would wish for so give me your best list.
There are a lot of things that I would wish for given the chance. I would love to be rich, smart, not so much famous but popular among my group of friends. I never liked the idea of being famous. I would much rather be rich and have no one know who I am. You get to enjoy your money more that way. Smart because I would want to be able to just have fun with my life. I don't want to have to go to school anymore unless it was to share my knowledge. I think it would be fun to teach a highly specialized class on a subject that I felt passionate and knew a lot about. It could be interesting. I could generate genuine conversation, something I try to do with my blog.

So if I wish to be rich and I wish to be smart what else in the world is there that I wouldn't be able to attain? Love? Got it. Family? Got it. Friends? Got it. The ability to perform true magic as seen in Harry Potter? Don't got it. That would be my third wish. It always bugs me that when someone is given the chance to have three wishes they never wish to become magic themselves so that they could just conjure anything they want whenever they want. I could fly, become invisible, be super strong, leap tall buildings in a single bound, etc. What more would there be really?
Another cool thought would to wish that your favorite TV show or movie was real and that you could live in that universe. Yea, I'm going to get a little geeky now. What if you could fly around space on the Enterprise or train to become a Jedi but for realsees? How cool would that be? And it doesn't even have to be sci-fi.
Whatever you want could just be. Live out your wildest fantasies, your dreams, your greatest desires. Everyone has three wishes they would love to have granted. Sit and think about it for about 5 seconds and I'm sure you will come up with a whole lot more than 3. Have fun and remember, I want to hear about your wishes so post replies.

Thanks for reading.

History and Bikes

So how's this for a post: I haven't found any pictures or come up with a title for this one yet. I thought I would just write and when I'm done I'll pull the meaning out and fill the rest with pictures and a title that fit. Haven't done it that way before.

So here I am sitting at work loading images into Photoshop so that I can edit them. Sounds fun, huh? Well to some I know it does sound fun because they took photo classes and know what they're doing. To others it may sound tedious and boring. To me, well...it's both and here's why: while I do enjoy working on photoshop with pictures that I've taken it can get tedious when everything you do is mapped to a hotkey. All I have to do is press one button and all the functions are done. I just have to save it and move on to the next image. And the images I'm working with are just typed pages. Nothing interesting in the slightest. My employees however get to work with some really cool old negatives. They are working on a collection of nitrate film that has started to degrade so we have to scan them and get them all digitized so that we can preserve the history of what's on those negatives. Those pictures are really cool to look at. Here's an example of what we are doing with them:

These pictures were damaged to a point that you wouldn't be able to see what was on the negative because the emulsion is so damaged. We scan them and then we have to play with settings and techniques in Photoshop until we come to an image that we can see. We literally pull the image out of the muck and this is what we end up with. Pretty cool I think. It amazes me how much can be pulled out of some of these. You look at them and think no way is there an image in that mess but once you scan it and see it, it's very cool. And the pictures themselves are pretty cool too. I love history, I always have. I have favorite time periods that I would love to visit just to see what it would be like. A lot of them have to do with war so I wouldn't want to stay long but still I would love to see things take place. I would love to see a Roman army form ranks and attack an unorganized horde of barbarians. I would love to see and hear the battles of the civil war where passion was king. Where it was brother vs. brother and family vs. family. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. And it all hinged on where you were from. You fought for what you believed, right or wrong. Some of those wounds still haven't been healed. I love the 1920's with all the flash and flair and pomp and circumstance that went on then. The parties, the extravagance, the overindulgence that comes from a great economy. Then of course you have the crash in december 1929. I wouldn't mind seeing that. I've thought about doing a photography project where I take pictures to look like they were from that time period. touch them up and tear them down in Photoshop to make them look desperate, desolate, disconsulate. I would love to do that. Recently I took some modern photos of a temple in Cambodia and used Photoshop to make them look like they were taken back in the early 20th century by explorers. I love it because they look like something out of Indiana Jones now. So that's something.

The weather has now turned warm. To all of you who have been whining about how cold it was and that it was snowing in May, Bite me! I miss the cool weather. I love waking up to 50-60 degree mornings and having the temperature not go above 75. Now it's going to get too hot and it will be uncomfortable. That just sucks. I can't wait for fall. Yes, already. I don't like hot weather. I like warm weather but not hot weather. It makes me feel sick to be in the heat for too long. I know, I'm weird. But one good thing comes from summer weather:

getting my butt off the couch and in the mountains to ride my bike, my baby. I have missed you. And, thanks to Chauntay, I have a biking buddy. She loves it about as much as I do. I've found some new trails to ride that I'm really excited to try out. Some new early season rides that are out on the mountain face where the snow will melt quickly. Can't wait to take Chaunie out and have some fun. Planning on Friday. Hopefully my knee feels better by then. Really wish I knew what happened there because I don't feel old enough to have bad knees like that. See ya in the mounatins.

Thanks for reading.

Slaughter of the Innocents

I know the title is kind of off-putting but I will make my point and you'll see why it's appropriate. I am growing continuously tired of the stories about small children being abused and killed. These kids are killed and abused by people they trust and love. Mothers, fathers, and step versions of them as well as close family friends and aunts, uncles and cousins have all been to blame for these heinous crimes. What's been bothering me is the story of Ethan Stacy. There really isn't anything about the story that is unusual for a crime like this. The problem I have is that when I heard the circumstances with his father in another state and the court forcing him to send his son here to visit his mother it made me sick. I immediately put myself in the father's shoes and wondered what I would do in that situation. How would you react to that? How would your world change with that phone call? I can't even imagine. I have said before that if anyone did anything to one of my kids I couldn't be held responsible for what I end up doing to that person. My kids are too precious to me to let something like that stand. I don't know what I'd do because I don't plan on these things happening. I just know that at least in my mind and hopefully in the minds of some of my readers justice would be served. I have the same feelings about kidnappers, child abusers, anyone who commits crimes against children. They should be removed from society and probably never returned. Now I'm not talking about 19 or 20 year olds having sex with a 16 year old or anything like that. That should fall under a different category. Yes they are all crimes against children but the crimes I'm talking about have zero consent. a 16 year old can say yes to sex with a 19 or 20 year old but a 4 year old can't say yes or no to their step mom that wants to abuse them in anyway. The people I want to see removed are the ones who kidnap small children, rape them, abuse them, kill them, and bury their bodies with little to no remorse. People who loose control with a baby that's crying and decides the only way to get them to be quiet is to throw them against a wall. You see what I'm saying. These are all physical abuses. There are also mental abuses that are just as damaging to a child. How about a child who is told everyday that he isn't wanted, that he was a mistake? How is that going to affect them the rest of their life? I want them removed from society and possibly the world. I'll be the one to pull the trigger if I have to. These are crimes against the most innocent of society. It's not right in any circumstance.

Now everyone can agree that this is a terrible offense and the title applies without question. The second part of my post will take some explaining. The Texas Board of Education is voting on changes to textbooks, specifically history books. Well, let's look at some of the changes they are making. They would like to minimize the role that Thomas Jefferson played in founding the country. Because he considered himself a deist and wanted the seperation of church and state. They would also like to say that the founding fathers created this country using Christian principles. Here is a quote from their proposal,"References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches." That's kind of frightening to me. They would also like to change the definition of our form of government from Democratic to Constitutional Republic. They want to remove the establishment clause that was used to outlaw school-sponsored prayer and affirm separation of church and state in the U.S. They wanted to remove any mention of a 1949 study that said you can't legally segregate schools for Mexican-American students. We can see why Texas wanted that gone because the practice was very popular in Texas for decades. But does that apply to the rest of the country?

Now why is this a problem? Why should we care about how Texas educates their children? Texas is the second largest textbook buyer in the country. The books they produce are frequently bought by other states including ours. So I can't just sit around and let them do this to our children's education. Some of their proposals aren't bad. But the way they want to eliminate parts of our country's history because it doesn't fit perfectly with their own brand of religious beliefs is just wrong. It's our history. You can't just erase that. My kids need to have their founding fathers intact so that they can see the diversity of the men who helped craft the Constitution. You can't change history. It happened. It's not like we're making great new strides in history like we do with science and math and law. This is history. Don't water down education we want for our kids more than it already is. This is history but more than that it's our history. We should be proud of it, not ashamed. We should own it, live up to it, as patriots of our country and it's diversity. That's why it was created, not because of religious persecution but because of persecution of all people whatever their beliefs. Leave it alone. Shame on the Texas School Board. This is akin to mental deprivation. I would even say it could be a form of abuse. Brainwashing.

Thanks for reading.

I'm Sorry

Ok, I know in my past blogs I wrote that I hate following a blog that doesn't get updated regularly. I havn't posted since we got back from Disneyland. Plus, this is the first post in May. How 'bout that weather, eh? And the Jazz? Ok. Now that's over with let's get down to business.
Cheryl has made me give up politics because it makes me too angry. I hate listening to people who claim to be bringing you information that just turns out to be sensationalism or flat out lies. The Birthers, for example, are a group who still insist President Obama wasn't born in the US and there really isn't anything you can do to convince them otherwise including showing them over and over Obama's birth certificate. Then there's "Obamacare" and "Obama's recession", etc. I can't take it. And people believe it! That's what really bothers me. I have said before research your candidates and the issues. Come to your own opinion about everything. Don't just listen to radio shows and news programs to get your information. Read the bills that are put out by congress. Inform yourself before going and blindly voting for something. But I don't want to make this a political post. As I write this I am making more and more mistakes because just thinking about it is getting to me. I just want to say this and I will be done with politics (at least for now): I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat, I am not a Conservative, I am not a Liberal, I don't subscribe to any one political party, I don't listen to right wing radio shows and there aren't any left wing radio shows to listen to, I don't watch Fox News and I don't watch CNN, I am not a communist or a socialist (as much as some people would like to believe), I don't agree with everything Obama has done and I am very glad that Bush is gone. Just so none of you get any ideas about me or my beliefs. I would also like to throw out there that you can disagree with your church's political activities and still believe in the teachings that you get from said church. I disagree with the way the LDS church has handled some political issues in the state and others but that doesn't change my belief in the doctrine of the church. I just don't think ANY church should be involved in politics. It's just like parenting; you teach your kids the right things and give them the tools to make good decisions and then you send them out in the world and hope what you did stuck with them so that they can make those good decisions. You can't force them to make the decisions you want any more than the church should be a factor in law making. So there you go. If you want to know my opinion on anything particular email me and I will tell you about abortion, gay marriage, school funding, or whatever. I won't get into it here.
So for now I will be writing about other things that interest me. I will talk about vacations we are going to go on not because I want to keep you up to date on everything my family does but to give insight into small changes that might occur in the relationships between family members. I will talk about things that I find interesting like the way certain things strike my fancy. You see a different city when you ride Trax downtown or up to the U. I really enjoy that. You also see more things when you ride the bus because you don't have to concentrate on the road. I get a lot of reading done on the train and the bus. It's all for pleasure reading not school work or anything like that. I enjoy all of my comic books that I am currently reading. It will be things like that from now on.
So here is the first new topic for May; Cheryl's new hair style.

Say what you want but I think she looks good with no hair. It's interesting and different but she's still the love of my life. And if you read my last post she's still sexy. Everyone at her work said that she is their hero. She was the only girl at her work to shave her head. In the picture is Mary, the one with cancer. She is grateful for all the support that she's been given and she thought that Cheryl and the IT guys shaving their heads was great. She had a great time with it all. When Cheryl told me she did this I had to join the party. I don't have any pictures of me with no hair yet but I will post them when I get them. Check back for more pictures. I'll post them here.

Thanks for reading