Saturday, April 03, 2004
I'm trying to stay calm, focused, positive and even psyched - but it's hard when you're crushed so badly with heaps of deadlines that you're not likely to survive.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Got a few interesting brainwaves today.
One is just this: During entomology class we were talking about insect resistance to agricultural pesticides. It's incredible how well-adapted bugs are to the introduction of new toxins into their diets - and how there are always a few members of the community who survive to reproduce. I mean, only two generations have to pass before you are left with a whole new resistant population! (Evolution at work, baby! Just look at the stats!)
I was thinking - the problem with chemical pesticides is that we are selecting for those individuals who are resistant to them in the long run - and thus artifically pushing evolution forward in the way that we don't want. I think the power of evolution could be a powerful tool - not so much with mammals where it's so slow - but in organisms with really short generation times and with huge numbers of progeny (high reproductive capacity) - it works so well! Instead of selecting for something that will eventually come back and haunt us (as the pesticides used in the early 1950s did) - why don't we turn the process around and use EVOLUTION itself to get the insects to do our bidding.
I'm not completely sure exactly what we could select for - I'd need more time to ponder this - but here's the idea. You select for individuals that display some sort of harmless (or less harmful) behaviour to crops - that is, the ones that do not require as much food to survive (less active) or those that prefer other food sources rather than the crop you're trying to protect. It would not be difficult to isolate some type of factor that separates the ones you are selecting for and the others (some simple switch) and then by spraying fields with this chemical you would be, in fact, doing a long-term good to the crop by selecting those individuals who do little harm to the crop, and letting these ones propagate. The ones who simply survive the chemical treatment, as before, would be outcompeted by the ones who survive because they were selected to survive, due to sheer numbers, and also due to continued spraying which would furthur kill off these insects that you meant to kill but who proved resistant. Makes sense? I hope so. I need to think on it more, but it's interesting at least. I wonder if it's being done, somewhere.
Another idea from the same lecture. We were talking about how entomophagy is popular in every native culture except modern western culture, because our ancestors always had an alternate source of protein in their diet.
I think we should start eating insects again - on a large scale!! It seems perfectly fine by me (being the supreme authority of the world), and the only reason why anyone doesn't is because they haven't tried it yet and don't know what they're missing!
I was ten - and my dad was sitting with me at my grandmother's house trying to convince me to eat an olive. The little green ball stared up at me with that pimento retina, just begging for me to chomp down on it, and it took me a full hour to get up the courage to lob it into my gaping maw. The salty taste feeling pleasant on my tongue, I knew that I would be in love with olives forever.
I still order them on my pizza.
The point is, you never know until you try it. Insects are an excellent source of protein, and there is no animal that quite matches it. Did you know that insects have, by weight, TWICE the amount of protein as fish? And that's supposed to be high in protein.
I wonder which side vegetarians would take - and are insects a red meat or white meat?
I think when I'm older I want to work on disease vectors - I like the idea of helping stop the spread of malaria or African sleeping sickness. It's really making me stop and think about my priorities though. I mean, in my brain, I really want a career - and my definition of career involves trekking to sparsely habited parts of the world, working under dangerous conditions, and being challenged mentally and physically. Being outdoors would be nice too. But, in a deeper recess of my brain, likely a deranged hormonal center, I also really always wanted a family, BABIES, and a normal life, and I'm torn because the two just don't seem compatible.
I want to MAKE them compatible. I want it to work.
ALAS -
And on a final note...
This one being for Shan...
I'll promise to explain it later...
"The Ninja Turtles Have been REPLACED"
One is just this: During entomology class we were talking about insect resistance to agricultural pesticides. It's incredible how well-adapted bugs are to the introduction of new toxins into their diets - and how there are always a few members of the community who survive to reproduce. I mean, only two generations have to pass before you are left with a whole new resistant population! (Evolution at work, baby! Just look at the stats!)
I was thinking - the problem with chemical pesticides is that we are selecting for those individuals who are resistant to them in the long run - and thus artifically pushing evolution forward in the way that we don't want. I think the power of evolution could be a powerful tool - not so much with mammals where it's so slow - but in organisms with really short generation times and with huge numbers of progeny (high reproductive capacity) - it works so well! Instead of selecting for something that will eventually come back and haunt us (as the pesticides used in the early 1950s did) - why don't we turn the process around and use EVOLUTION itself to get the insects to do our bidding.
I'm not completely sure exactly what we could select for - I'd need more time to ponder this - but here's the idea. You select for individuals that display some sort of harmless (or less harmful) behaviour to crops - that is, the ones that do not require as much food to survive (less active) or those that prefer other food sources rather than the crop you're trying to protect. It would not be difficult to isolate some type of factor that separates the ones you are selecting for and the others (some simple switch) and then by spraying fields with this chemical you would be, in fact, doing a long-term good to the crop by selecting those individuals who do little harm to the crop, and letting these ones propagate. The ones who simply survive the chemical treatment, as before, would be outcompeted by the ones who survive because they were selected to survive, due to sheer numbers, and also due to continued spraying which would furthur kill off these insects that you meant to kill but who proved resistant. Makes sense? I hope so. I need to think on it more, but it's interesting at least. I wonder if it's being done, somewhere.
Another idea from the same lecture. We were talking about how entomophagy is popular in every native culture except modern western culture, because our ancestors always had an alternate source of protein in their diet.
I think we should start eating insects again - on a large scale!! It seems perfectly fine by me (being the supreme authority of the world), and the only reason why anyone doesn't is because they haven't tried it yet and don't know what they're missing!
I was ten - and my dad was sitting with me at my grandmother's house trying to convince me to eat an olive. The little green ball stared up at me with that pimento retina, just begging for me to chomp down on it, and it took me a full hour to get up the courage to lob it into my gaping maw. The salty taste feeling pleasant on my tongue, I knew that I would be in love with olives forever.
I still order them on my pizza.
The point is, you never know until you try it. Insects are an excellent source of protein, and there is no animal that quite matches it. Did you know that insects have, by weight, TWICE the amount of protein as fish? And that's supposed to be high in protein.
I wonder which side vegetarians would take - and are insects a red meat or white meat?
I think when I'm older I want to work on disease vectors - I like the idea of helping stop the spread of malaria or African sleeping sickness. It's really making me stop and think about my priorities though. I mean, in my brain, I really want a career - and my definition of career involves trekking to sparsely habited parts of the world, working under dangerous conditions, and being challenged mentally and physically. Being outdoors would be nice too. But, in a deeper recess of my brain, likely a deranged hormonal center, I also really always wanted a family, BABIES, and a normal life, and I'm torn because the two just don't seem compatible.
I want to MAKE them compatible. I want it to work.
ALAS -
And on a final note...
This one being for Shan...
I'll promise to explain it later...
"The Ninja Turtles Have been REPLACED"
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
haha check this out :
LINK
The faux hawks are in!! Must be all that Travis - I think they stole it from Fran... (the original Faux hawk?)
But still - rowr... A nice haircut, boys.. (hint)
LINK
The faux hawks are in!! Must be all that Travis - I think they stole it from Fran... (the original Faux hawk?)
But still - rowr... A nice haircut, boys.. (hint)
Monday, March 29, 2004
Quotation of the moment:
"Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom and dignity. It is not enough, as communist systems have assumed, merely to provide people with food, shelter and clothing. Human nature needs to breathe the precious air of liberty."
-his Holiness, the Dalai Lama
"Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom and dignity. It is not enough, as communist systems have assumed, merely to provide people with food, shelter and clothing. Human nature needs to breathe the precious air of liberty."
-his Holiness, the Dalai Lama
I spent the last little while - ever since Karen's wonderful girl's night last night - reading the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Although this is a children's book, it has long been seen as a great work of Christian mythology, and I wanted to offer my own thoughts on it, as I seem to be dwelling on them.
First of all, I'm by no means a Christian, and so I felt a certain disconnectedness with the way in which some situations were treated in the text. I understood most of the references, (I had religion class as a child and went to a Catholic school) - so I did know the messages. Although I agreed with the notions of nobility, valour, as well as the morals, I was torn ashunder by some of the principles which my heart could not abide.
The manner in which the sexes were distinguished from one another and the roles of being teary-eyed observers to Aslan's "demise" being relegated to females made me cringe, but I acknowledge that these books were very much the product of their times. I was most horrified at Father Christmas himself telling Lucy that a woman's place is not in a battle. I am a big Tolkien fan, and I think I was longing for an Eowyn to come along and break that mould.
Additionally, I was struck quite viciously by the lack of compassion shown toward Edmund, when he began to consider betraying his own blood. Being only a child in need of some guidance, I was horrified at the strict manner in which he was addressed, and allowed to suffer. Near to the beginning, the other children appeared cruel in my eyes, that none of them sought him out to resolve their problems then and there, and only allowed Edmund's anger to fester and consume him. It seemed as though, had they kept a conversation going, Edmund would have seen the error of his previous lying, and would have apologized.
I have more thoughts about this but they can wait until later. I always feel rather hesitant talking about my own religious beliefs. Truth be told, I consider myself devoutly religious- as an atheist. Although atheists do not prescribe to an established religious group, it is a difficult, strict belief system in which every aspect of the world resides. It's a hard life, since it's so poorly understood by... everyone, and so difficult for anybody to accept.
While my beliefs may change with the passage of my life and through experiences, I always will feel outside... and there's no way in.
I don't want to go in.
First of all, I'm by no means a Christian, and so I felt a certain disconnectedness with the way in which some situations were treated in the text. I understood most of the references, (I had religion class as a child and went to a Catholic school) - so I did know the messages. Although I agreed with the notions of nobility, valour, as well as the morals, I was torn ashunder by some of the principles which my heart could not abide.
The manner in which the sexes were distinguished from one another and the roles of being teary-eyed observers to Aslan's "demise" being relegated to females made me cringe, but I acknowledge that these books were very much the product of their times. I was most horrified at Father Christmas himself telling Lucy that a woman's place is not in a battle. I am a big Tolkien fan, and I think I was longing for an Eowyn to come along and break that mould.
Additionally, I was struck quite viciously by the lack of compassion shown toward Edmund, when he began to consider betraying his own blood. Being only a child in need of some guidance, I was horrified at the strict manner in which he was addressed, and allowed to suffer. Near to the beginning, the other children appeared cruel in my eyes, that none of them sought him out to resolve their problems then and there, and only allowed Edmund's anger to fester and consume him. It seemed as though, had they kept a conversation going, Edmund would have seen the error of his previous lying, and would have apologized.
I have more thoughts about this but they can wait until later. I always feel rather hesitant talking about my own religious beliefs. Truth be told, I consider myself devoutly religious- as an atheist. Although atheists do not prescribe to an established religious group, it is a difficult, strict belief system in which every aspect of the world resides. It's a hard life, since it's so poorly understood by... everyone, and so difficult for anybody to accept.
While my beliefs may change with the passage of my life and through experiences, I always will feel outside... and there's no way in.
I don't want to go in.
Sunday, March 28, 2004
testing!
