Death of the DNA master

Francis Crick, known for being co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and the way genetic material is replicated, died yesterday.
"I think I was always interested in science as early as I can remember.
..And because I asked so many questions [my parents] bought me something called Children's Encyclopedia.
..And I absorbed this with great enthusiasm and I think I must have at that stage decided to be a scientist.
But I did confide to my mother, I said, "You know by the time I grow up everything would have been discovered." She said, "Don't you worry! When you grow up there will be plenty left for you to discover." So I think that is really how it happened."
Dr. Francis Crick (1916-2004)

A Sad Day

Yesterday was a sad day. Médecins Sans Frontières announced the withdrawal of all their aid workers from Afghanistan after 24 years of continuous healthcare provision in the country. The announcement came after the targetted killing of 5 MSF workers earlier this year followed by the government's lack of response to the killings.

In addition the Taliban unjustly stated that the MSF would continue to be potential targets as they work for American interests. One of the founding MSF principles upholds the separation of aid from political interests - they aim to provide aid on a solely humanitarian basis.

Unfortunately, these principles have been undermined by the US-backed coalition who attempted to "win hearts and minds" by distributing leaflets (May 2004) which essentially blackmails the residents of southern Afghanistan, stating that they must provide the coalition forces with information regarding Taliban and al Qaeda if they wanted the provision of humanitarian aid to continue.

All of this has made the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan impossible. Ultimately it is the impoverished and ill that suffer.
Like I said, a sad day indeed.

ASRWU - part sixteen

Rock ’n’ roll wasn’t the reason we were frequenting the Middle East on our weekend in the city. We had heard that a young up-and-coming fashion designer was hosting her show there. Although it was advertised as a “punk rock fashion show” I felt the description was slightly misleading. I imagined teenagers with body-piercings and Mohicans wearing ripped tights and “Anarchy” badges – but it was actually more futurisitic and a whole lot cooler than that. I think I would have categorised it as “cyberpunk”, though I actually don’t think the word exists other than to describe a particular type of science fiction writing – but if clothes could be represented by book genres, then this was most definitely “cyperpunk”.

Hmmm... Actually that got me thinking. If your clothes were a book genre, which one would they be? I wear two distinct book-types. There’s my work wardrobe, and my play wardrobe. The work books I wear are quite boring, say, Reference Textbook – no, hang on; they’re feistier than that, with greater global appeal – more like Popular Science, yeah. And I’d put my play clothes in the Contemporary Fiction section (although I’m sure some items would be better suited to Sci-Fi). And my shoes? Well, Modern Classics obviously.
Sorry came over all tangential there for a while. Enjoy some pictures while I recover.

cyberpunk fashion - Boston style 

 

ASRWU - part fifteen

If you then take red line to Central Sq you are in the territory of the Middle East. This is a funky bar/restaurant/venue which has, on one exterior wall, an enormous mural, hugely reminiscent of Bollywood posters.
On our way in we were briefly accosted by 2 art students asking our opinion on the facade. Unfortunately they reinforced the insular American stereotype when they failed to recognize the name of the world’s largest producer of films.

The Middle East is billed as the epicentre of rock in Boston. Apparently anyone who has ever thought of playing a gig in the Boston area, or has toured through town has, at one point or another, walked through their doors. The Middle East goes out of its way to give you quality music, food and drinks at bargain prices... Sure, the floors are sticky and the bathrooms can get nasty, but this is rock 'n' roll. Nobody said it was going to be neat.

wake up neo

As the Butler report, published today, looks set to tear holes in the case for the Iraq war, Bush's British lying boy-puppet is bracing himself for fresh criticism. But will it make any real difference? We already know that Pinocchio Blair has a wooden heart.

And it seems we can't trust the British media to give us a fair, unbiased account. In a recent report Monbiot points us to 2 studies which reveal the serious and systematic bias among British broadcasters in favour of the government and its allies.

This problem seems to particularly permeate the BBC and ITN news which, according to the Glasgow Media Group Study, show prejudice in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians. Almost three times as much coverage is given to each Israeli death as to each Palestinian death. Killings by Palestinians are routinely described as “atrocities” and “murders”, while Palestinians deliberately shot by Israeli soldiers have been reported as “caught in the crossfire.”
..Both networks regularly claim that the US government is seeking peace in the region while omitting to mention that it is supplying some $3 billion a year of military aid to Israel.

The British press show the same bias too. One BBC journalist admitted they were told not to provide "explainers", which might account for the fact that in one of the groups of viewers the researchers interviewed, the people who said that the occupied territories had been illegally occupied by the Israelis, were outnumbered by those who believed they had been occupied by the Palestinians!

Far from relaying the actuality of situations to the public, it seems the British media are complicit in portraying the world the way our "leaders" want us to see it. They mould our very own Matrix.

Italian Law *Forces* Women To Choose Abortion

Approved earlier this year, a new law bans both freezing and destroying embryos, limits to three the number of oocytes that can be fertilised, and states that ALL the created embryos must be transferred to the womb.
This does not affect the law which allows termination of a pregnancy up to 24 weeks in cases of serious illness, such as beta-thalassaemia.

Pre-implantation diagnosis can identify an affected embryo but is illegal. One couple, both of whom are carriers for beta-thalassaemia, argued (and lost) the case against implanting an embryo shown to be affected, which they would later abort under the "serious illness" law. Whether or not you agree with the issue of termination, the logic of this argument in these circumstances, seems undeniable. Shame the judge couldn't see it.
The couple lost their pregnancy, a month after the court decision, when she suffered a gastric haemorrhage, thought to be due to stress.

More recently; another Sicilian woman was forced to have all three embryos implanted as per the new laws, and then had to abort one of them because of health risks. In this case the court ruled that to continue with the triple pregnancy would pose a significant risk to the mother's life; thereby forcing the woman to choose abortion, instead of allowing only two embryos to be implanted in the first place. Clearly this is a law which needs to be improved.

ASRWU - part fourteen

The following day we had hoped to be supercool and cultured, and catch an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Unfortunately it was closed that day.

Unexpectedly free for the morning, we strolled around until we couldn’t feel our faces and then entered the nearest mall. Most malls I’ve encountered in America are the same; formulaic, functional, soulless buildings. This soulless building had an additional extra (at a price, of course) – a skywalk. For $7 you can have an ear-popping lift ride to experience a bird’s eye view of the city.

ASRWU - part thirteen

As a bonus at the HMNH we got to see and touch a snake – at a sort of show and tell, aimed primarily at kids I guess. So I enjoyed it. Of interest also was the mineralogical and geological museum, for those who like pretty, coloured rocks. And let’s face it, who doesn’t?

After all this educational activity we needed a coffee break. We found a sweet wee cafe in a bookstore nearby (I forget the name of it), where we engaged a young Bostonian in conversation about the freakishly inclement weather. It seemed to be the topic on everybody’s mind that weekend.

That evening we ventured to the local cinema to spend our hard-earned cash on two $10-tickets (yes, that’s right, $10 per person - I had to pick my jaw up off the floor) to see Tim Burton’s 2003 fairytale Big Fish. All I can say is, I’m glad I really, really enjoyed the film. I had always liked Tim Burton as a director (Edward Scissorhands, Batman, and The Nightmare Before Christmas were all captivating for me) but since this latest offering, I love him.