Genetic Soulution

In the history of many countries there has been a movement to use "genetics" to make the population better. In the US it was called Eugenics, in Germany it was called the Holocaust. Both were attempts to purify the gene pool and make the population better suited to life. While the Nazis took the cleansing a lot further, to the destruction of over 6 million non-arian persons. Here, while we did not kill many people, we locked them away in mental hospitals, some of which used the same gassing techniques as the Nazi, and we forced thousands of sterilizations on people the Eugenics movement found unfit. They made pedigrees of things feeble mindedness or bad temper, things that had no genetic basis. Now James Watson is promoting a new kind of genetic sorting. Using IVF, it is possible to take a cell from an eighth cell mass without any harm to the embryo and test its DNA for a multitude of genetic diseases or mutations. He urges that embryos with things like autism or down syndrome be passed up for "better" ones. Or if it is a test after pregnancy has started, he suggest abortions if any test comes up positive.

This new way of manipulating our population is very controversial. People think that we are going against god, that it is unnatural and that we do not know what we are doing. We are taking evolution into our own hands. But once we start manipulating genes, where do we stop? At genetic diseases, or at eye color? There is a slippery slope.
There is also the lives and contributions of those people who would have been terminated. There are many artists who were bipolar or manic depressive. Just because people have a problem, does not mean they are worthless.

Mental Health

An Actual Use for Social Networking!

Lately people with debilities or who are ill or handy capped have been using social networking sites to expand their world and gain support. This is a good option for people who are unable to leave their homes often or have problems that prevent them from interacting normally with others in a face to face situation. These networks, provide support through live chats and lets disabled people make friends and talk about their situation and the world that they might not be able to see. These people can seek out others that understand their situation and can provide an understanding friend, instead of the disabled persons feeling alone and misunderstood.

“Soon I had a little neighborhood. It was like stopping in for coffee every day just to see how things were going.”

There is only so much that you can understand about the world bu watching the news, these networking sites allow people to feel connected once again to the world outside of where they are confined.

I think this is a great use of technology, much better than students procrastinating on their homework by chatting oh Facebook.

Closer to the recreation of the Big Bang!

In Pasadena on Tuesday scientists rejoiced as a proton accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider, successfully worked and sped protons using 3.5 trillion volts of electricity at over 99 percent the speed of light. The protons collided and the effects were recorded. This machine has been and 11 billion dollar project that has lasted many years. Three years ago it failed to work because of a bad connection between the magnets that are used to move the protons. There are a few other examples of this type of proton accelerator machines, all trying to recreate the Big Bang. While those machines have been collecting data for years, this is the highest output that has been created, unfortunately it is not possible to run the Large Hadron Collider at full power for another few years, due to slight problems with the magnets involved.

These scientists are trying to recreate the Big Bang so we can better understand out environment. They have opened a whole new area of science that will be explored. Their current goal is to find the definition of dark matter and to hopefully create Higgs Bosom, I don't understand what that is, but it has something to do with imbuing energy into particles. As Harvey Newman, a Caltech professor who works on the C.M.S. experiment:

“It’s very exciting because we are entering a new energy range,” ...“We’re looking at all kinds of exotic things,” he said, including signs of extra dimensions."

This is an exciting new field, I wish I understood better. The exploration of the origins or our universe.


Scientist celebrating with Champagne. With a back drop of the computerized model of the impact.

Wrong Way!

Obama is now proposing to start drilling for oil off the east coast. While the rigs would be out of sight and the states would get some of the profit, I feel this is a big mistake. While I know that he never deceived us, even saying in his State of the Union Address that

“tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”

will be made, and I am sure, as the president and a global player, he has a view of the state of the world that far exceeds my own. But even with that being the case, i can not agree with this plan,

I feel that it is working towards the wrong end. Our goal should not be merely to reduce the US's dependence, but move away from using oil in general. It would be like the Prius, better for the ones buying the gas, but in the end, it has one of the most toxic batteries in existence which goes right into our earth. So while it claims, low emissions, and environmental friends, its really just pocket friendly to those who drive it and is hurting the environment in other, less disclosed ways. This drilling will not help up break our addiction of oil, merely foreign oil. I think that he should instead invest all the money that would go into buying the property, doing environmental research, drilling, then refining into creating alternate energy sources and making our country compatible with them.

Lets Learn From the Fish!

I don't think that this is a new break through, but scientist have found that when dealing with damaged hearts, injecting stem cells do not create favorable results, they are useless. Ulrike humans, who replace maybe half of their heart cells in their whole life and when damaged produce scar tissue that does not contract, Zebra fish can regenerate a fifth of their heart if it is cut off. The scientists do no know how this is naturally don't yet, but they have noticed that the mature cells revert back to slightly differentiated cells before multiplying to regenerate the lost tissue. This is currently impossible within in humans, they have found that the DNA in human heart cells after damage replicates in the beginning stages of P1, but does not pass through the checkpoints.

While we do not know how Zebra fish are able to regenerate, or why we cant. I believe that studying other animals and essentially copying their genes into our own genome could, quite possibly, be the future. It will be extremely controversial, raising questions like "what is human?" and "how human do you have to be to gain human rights?". But this future, where we can take the desirable traits of all the animals, this is when we can take evolution into our own hands.

Mental Health

...A Little Late, Maybe?

On Thursday, it finally became easier for veterans of the Perian Gulf war, a war fought in 1991, 19 years ago, to recieve diablility benifits for diseases that they have been living with for the past almost two decades. Now, they can qualify by

showing only that they served in one of those conflicts and suffer from any of nine diseases, including malaria, West Nile virus...brucellosis, campylobacter jejuni, coxiella burnetii, mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontyphoid, salmonella, shigella and visceral leishmaniasis.

Personally, I think it is terrible that the veterans have had to wait almost twenty years for the government to make it more possible to get compensation for their years of suffering. I believe that it should always be that easy to get disability if you have served and been injured, that is what disability is for, and it should be freely given to those who need it, not to only those who can get the correct paperwork. But...better late than never!

New Options for some Disabled

This video is about new options for disabled people like Byron who can no longer talk because of a progressing condtion. This type and talk technology gives him the ability to easily communicate with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, his health insurance has fallen behind the new, smaller technology and does not cover some of the new, small compact options for patients.

I think this is a great option for some types of patients, not all solutions will work for everyone, but this seems to be a very stable solution for thoes patients who have lost the ability speak but have all mental faculties and need to communicate in a timely manner.

A New Part of Our Hisory Discovered!

Archeologist have recovered a finger bone from a cave in Denisova that could date anywhere from 30,000 to 48,000 years back. They have found a bone of an child about age 5 to 7 and of currently unknown gender. The mitochondrial DNA has shown that there are major differences in the genetic code from modern humans and the ancestor of the modern human. The scientist are still waiting on nuclear DNA to confirm their theory. If this is indeed another new species of human, it means that migration out of Africa was more common than they originally thought. They also believe that the different species that existed could have lived together, coexisting in some parts of the world. When this child lived it would have been at the end of the Ice Age, and clothes would have been worn to avoid freezing. Within the same layer that the bone was found in there are jewelry and pottery that are normally associated with more advanced species. This could be just a shift in level, but there is, of yet, no more information on this.

The scientists arem, for now, holding back on their theories until nuclear DNA has been sequenced. But we are all hopeful for a new discovery into the past of advanced organisms. I realize that I am a science geek, but this significantly brightened my day, at the prospect of knowing even a fraction more on our evolutionary path.

An Old Veiw

In the past, the disabled have been viewed in a variety of ways. Not always have they been so accepted and integrated into society. In the recent past it was said:

'The invalid is a parasite on society. In a certain state it is indecent to go on living.
To vegetate on in cowardly dependence on physicians and medicaments after the
meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost…' - Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900

The first recorded organization formed to support the disabled was created in 1970 and was called "Disabled in Action". To put this in perspective, the Civil Rights movement, when the Constitution was ratified to involved African Americans and their right to vote in the 1870's.

When survival was the focus of life, Disabled people would have been thought of as a burden and had an extremely short life expectancy, if any. Later, they would have been thought a burden and most likely killed. Certain disabilities would have looked like a Devils possession to religious fanatics, creating fear and hate towards the disabled. Now, we re starting to reverse this, helping and welcoming disabled children into our society.

Taking Initiative

UNICEF is an organization that is trying to save the lives of children in over 150 countries. Everyday Twenty five thousand children die of preventable causes and it is UNICEFS mission to halt those unnecessary tragedies.



UNICEF also works in those countries to integrate children with disabilities into society using schools and other forms of support. This is a video about one school they have opened in Russia, when this was filmed, schools for disabled children was a new concept in Russia.

While UNICEF does not focus specifically on my community serves project, it is undeniable that what they are doing, for not only disabled children, but all needy children, in commendable and saves many life.

Mental Health

A few banned commercials.

Why Am I Not Sympathetic?

It seems that the drug companies have been taking quite a hit the last few years in relation to China and India and are fearful for the future. China accounted for 45% of the gross income drawn in by the drug companies and had a growth of 21%, contrasting greatly with Americas 5% growth. A reporter describes the situation saying:

“These traditionally peripheral economies are gearing up to turn the tables on the established pharmaceutical world order,”

Meaning that while America and Japan are still huge contributors, the gap is being bridged between the former top, and the growing former inconsequential countries.

They say that Americas misfortune on this front is caused by:

worldwide economic crisis, but also of patent expirations on a variety of name-brand drugs, growing use of generic drugs, reduced investments in biotechnology and tighter government restrictions on the pharmaceutical market

All things that will not improve in the very near future, unfortunately for the pharmaceutical companies.

I find it difficult the be sad for the corporate executives who might not get to have their multi million dollar Christmas Bonus. I understand that this is harming our economy, but the pharmaceutical companies have been cheating people out of money, refusing necessary treatments, and generally abusing their power for too long, Its time they fell and gave the medication field back to the scientists.

Almost There!

In this article, the impression given is that the Health care argument is almost over: that something will be passed soon. The Senate has approved a variation of a bill, and now the House is attempting to add some budgetary reconciliation. This will allow them to pass the bill using only the 51 votes instead of 60, because there is no filibusters on reconciliations. It looks like, no matter what happens at this point, something will be passed. As a

Republican of Texas, said Democrats were using “a sneaky snake oil gimmick” to pass their bill. “Let’s have an up-or-down vote on this bill and not hide behind some procedural mumbo jumbo,” Mr. Poe said.

the main attack the Republicans are using is that the process is cheating, or sly. While this technique might not be the most honorable, it is technically a valid strategy and, in this situation, extremely effective.

Personally, I am very hopeful for this bill, and eagerly await the completion of this long and painful process.

At least its not Demon Sheep!

This is rather old, and just as creepy as when it was new. Enjoy...or not.

Vision Therapy? Woah.....

A new type of therapy has entered the stage! This new type of therapy, poinered by Stanley A. Appelbaum focuses on manipulating the vision to help with bad behaviors and learning disabilities, as well as a large range of other problems, including trouble focusing and bad hand-eye coordination. It is a more acceptable option for some parents of the disabled children, because they do not want their child stereotyped or given psychoactive drugs. This is a more natural, less degrading approach to the behavioral problems. There are many success stories with this treatment, but scientists are still very skeptical, saying that it has no real basis in science, and the testimonials are biased, only positive reports are included. There is also some speculation as to the role of the placebo effect, having the results not actually because of the manipulation of the vision.

I think that, if this new therapy's can be tested and proven to work, it will be a huge breakthrough in psychology. The use of drugs on children could be minimized with vision therapy, at home exersizes and glasses. This also seems like it would be able to treat and extraordinary range of disorders and behavioral problems. A far greater range then medication. I think this new technology and field of study is well worth looking into farther and pursuing with great intensity.

Personal Experiance

One of the reasons I chose my specific project, other than the fact that I love teaching swimming, is because of a friend that I have. While she does not have a large disability, she does have slight learning disability that has greatly effected her life. She was born in Nepal and was adopted and brought here. She told me that if she had not been adopted, because of her difficulty learning, she would have been sent to work in the coal mines at a very young age. The programs in the United States was what has given her the opportunities and resources that she needed to get through high school and into DVC. The Skills programs in Acalanes, because of the bills regarding children with disabilities, supported her all thought the four years. Now unfortunately, she has failed to find the same type of aid at the college and is now struggling immensely.

Lower, But Unified, Worth It?

There has been a new "breakthrough" with the education programs. All states but Alaska and Texas have agreed to a new unified curriculum that has specific requirements each year from kindergarten to senior year of high school. While unification is a step forward, and will be easier to manage and regulate in the lower end school districts. This program, once again, seems to lower the standards for learning in each grade level. This seems like a continuation of the "no child left behind" acts which tried to unify the education levels for each child. This will never, and can never happen. There will always be children with disabilities, or who have trouble learning, or merely dont want to. And I don't think that that should hold the motivated and smart kids back. Because, in reality, it will be the tops of the classes that will be leading the world when our generation is middle aged. And taking away from their education by not challenging them, by not challenging the teachers will only harm us.

“Many states have too many expectations in their academic standards that force teachers to cover too much in a superficial way,

So, this sounds like, instead of finding a way to help teachers better cover the material and to provide a higher education for the students, we are once again, merely lowering the standards.

Dragon Twista!!!

I would like to make a point clear before this video is watched. I think it is absolutely wonderful that a child with autism can achieve this and put himself out there for this kind of critique, I know I couldn't. I merely want to show his awesome move DRAGON TWISTA with you. Please never attempt this with anything sharper than a stick, injuries would result.

Another Perspective

On this issue, I gave into curiosity and decided to see what Fox News had to say on it. I am not quite shocked at the deference between the original article I read at the New York Times website and the one belonging to Fox News. While Reconciliation is barely mentioned in the Times, it is treated as a horrific concept and a word to be feared, I quote:

Obama to invoke the "R" word.

It goes on to give quotes from democrats stating how it will make things harder for them, and how they do not know if it will succeed. Later, the article shows the situation in a light in which Obama and the Democratic party are threatening the Republicans, planning on ignoring them anyway, and tricking the people. In the conclusion of this article, the writer comforts the reader by making it sounds as tho the Democrats have no chance of pulling of a reconciliation.

I find this article interesting, mainly because of the radically different approaches that the reporters have between The New York Times, and FOX News. I tend to find myself trusting the Times more, then what has been said to be extremely biased and not always situated in fact. I have concluded, yet again, that Fox News, is not to be trusted for anything but entertainment.

Tables Turned

It seems that the situation has changed a tad from when the Republicans were playing the role of the "No Party". They have, instead of merely rejecting all ideas, finally proposed some of their own. President Obama has chosen four to agree with and include. These four include: the use of tax-advantaged medical savings accounts, increasing the pay for Medicaid doctors and spending 50 million dollars in sending undercover medics to find corrupted medical systems. Now instead of the Democratic party looking like the driving force, they are the ones rejecting these suggestions, and letting the Republicans turn the tables on them. President Obama has cushioned this by accepting the four proposals. Republicans say that if the new Medicaid bills pass, the budget and consequential tax increases will drive the Democrats out of office. They also say that the current budget is an impossible number, and would not have severe enough effects.

“There’s no question Medicaid won’t be able to provide adequate access,” Mr. Grassley said in response to Mr. Obama’s letter. “It’s good if the White House has figured that out.”

It is greatly hoped that with this new action, further negotiations might be instigated, and this bill might get through the system.