Wedding and friends

Today I attended a good friend’s wedding and I sat at a table with my good kakis. On my right was Cynthia, she is always full of life-giving words. How blessed it is to be her friend. One friend away is Otterman who organized my wedding, he’s a brother to me. Ladybug is sister. And then there is Jaswant and Kok who laugh like little kids. Down the table past them are Zee, Abby and Dione, wonderful people who I am proud to have as Bio kakis and fellow educators. One is indeed fortunate to be surrounded by good people. A blessing. I don’t know why I always feel that in such occasions where I meet good people, I sense heaven, its almost tangible and spiritual. I mean I have that with my family. But because these people aren’t family but they somehow seem heaven-sent, the sense of heaven is there. If you guys read this, bless you.

Death of a chicken

Guess who said this.

“It was the death of a chicken that finally strengthened my resolve to become vegetarian.

“These days, when I see a row of plucked chickens hanging in a meat shop, it hurts.”

Watch out for part II for the answer.

Going vegetarian? Some easy steps

No 1. Watch this video

No.2 Read these by Gandhi. Going vegetarian for the sake of health may not work in the long term. It should have a moral basis to last…

+ Gandhi’s “Moral Basis for Vegetarianism“

+ Speech delivered by Gandhi at a Social Meeting organised by the London Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931

No. 3. If you are Singaporean, this “Lifewise” article by Emilyn Tan (pdf file) might give a better context.

Human Genome Project

I am relooking at some notes and slides I prepared for this topic. Its an interesting topic not only because of the science behind it but also the ethical, social and legal implications (that makes the acronym “ELSI”) which blur the lines between right and wrong. Here are two very good resources

The first is the NOVA programs. The videos capture authentic situations that individuals face with regards to genetic diseases and also feature the scientists, science behind the project. Its more information packed in multimedia than I can summarize in a set of lecture notes. More information meaning the drama of the video that will contribute to affective learning and hence motivate students to learn more about the subject.

The 2nd is this free,… yes free, online book you can download. Its easy to read and the examples giving illustrate clearly the perplexing “ELSI” issues about genetic testing, abortions, genetic determinism… that will surface once genetic tests become more accessible..

Think ELSI and genetic testing are still far off… well read this groundbreaking and probably as “Brave New World” as it can get article in the New York Times on how you can pay just under USD$1000 for the company 23andMe to scan your genome for 580,000 SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). You actually can order the kit.. not sure how it works but I guess you can do it at home for yourself and children. There are at least 3 companies who will do that for around that price.

Just spit..

This NYT journalist got her own genome scanned by just spitting saliva into a little test tube . Here’s a snippet of the article titled “My Genome, Myself: Seeking Clues in DNA“

“I don’t like brussels sprouts. Who knew it was genetic? But I have the snippet of DNA that gives me the ability to taste a compound that makes many vegetables taste bitter. I differ from people who are blind to bitter taste — who actually like brussels sprouts — by a single spelling change in our four-letter genetic alphabet: somewhere on human chromosome 7, I have a G where they have a C.”

But that’s just information…. trivia about your genes. It gets more serious when people actually use that information to determine the genetics of their progeny. This couple actually had their daughter “genetically determined” so that she wouldn’t inherit forms of genes that would make her highly susceptible to a certain form of colon cancer. This testing is termed preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or P.G.D., which means you need to cull embryos to get the right one. An eight-cell embryo has gone through fertilization.

For this couple, 4 were culled leaving 10 good ones that didn’t have those forms of genes that cause cancer, 2 more were culled when a Down’s syndrome test was done. Think that is unethical? Well there are people who actually remove their large intestines or breasts as a prophylactic measure against such cancers once they find they harbour just the forms of genes that make them susceptible. They may have siblings who have died because of that disease. Watch the 3rd video called One Wrong Letter in the set of videos on Nova and you will know why it becomes so grey.

(thanks to Kevin Lam who pointed out the genome scan link).

Improve your vocab and feed the hungry at the same time!

Was listening to an interview on the BBC about how this guy developed this website to feed the hungry and teach his son some vocabulary. The rice goes to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Just makes me wonder about the food we waste each day…

Here’s a snapshot of the website. Click on image to go there.