...more recent posts
When it actually happens, it tends to be a little more subtle than what was imagined (feared, hoped for,) but nonetheless, I think one of those things has happened. We have crossed a line. Not that it is bad necessarily, but we sure aren't going back. Human embryo chosen for its tissue type. From the story submission at /.:
"A couple conceived their son in vitro, no big deal -- but they chose that particular embryo because its tissue type would provide a match for their dying 6-year-old daughter. When their new baby was born, the umbilical cord's blood was transfused into the daughter immediately."I thought it would take longer for this sort of thing to happen. I guess this case is not really such a big deal (when just thinking specifically about this one case - I mean, of course the parents are going to do whatever they can to save the dying daughter,) but the implications of selecting an embryo for certain characteristics are staggering. Seems like we are grabbing a whole bunch of power over the future of our species that is usually assigned to "nature" or "chance" or "god" or whatever you want to call it. I'm all for stealing the fire (so to speak) but I'm having one of those vertigo moments where the boundaries of what is possible (and not possible) are all dissolving. Wow. Just how fast could evolution be accelerated? And in what direction(s)?
Here's the direct link to the NY Times story (with the as of right now still working partners.nytimes.com link trick,) or here is the regular incredibly annoying and un-web like mandatory sign in link.
We were wondering about the seven wonders of the ancient world at dinner. Bruno almost got them all.
Hmmmm, seems there's a new animal leaving tracks around here:
compatible; MSIE 5.5b2; Mac_PowerPC
"So anyway, uh great, now folks are trying to patent simple operations on graph connectivity relations. Lord save us. " Yeah, what he said. Here's a follow up in the same thread. Reading David McCusker comments always makes my day. Now if I could just figure out what exactly he is building.
Here's the best look at OS X Public Beta (from Ars Technica's Mac Wizard John Siracusa.) Listen up Apple. This guy knows what he is talking about. (Long article, with some nice screen shots if you're wondering what the new Mac world is going to look like.)
Space fungus eating Mir. (Well, they are common earth fungi, but they are eating the aging space station.) Here's the slashot thread. My favorite quote is
"...he added that the station had 'a strong smell of fungal contamination' - a smell he called 'mushroomy' in his book - and that 'there were areas you wouldn't want to stick your hand in.'"
It's here!
I am trying to be patient. The new machine (cerebus? It has two brains after all) was loaded on the FedEx van this morning at 7:45. This means it is somewhere in Manhattan, winding its way through the crowded streets. But I don't know when it will find its way to the lower east side. This reminds me of a time in high school when I was at my parents house on Cape Cod waiting for my then girlfriend to arrive for the weekend (driving from NYC.) I had only a rough idea of her arrival time (pre cellphone days,) but at one point, for no apparent reason, I stood up from the kitchen table, and not knowing what I was doing, walked out to the end of the driveway. As soon as I got there her car appeared over the top of the hill down the end of the street. Strange. Made me tingle all over.
From the not-quite-getting-it department: IOC disappointed with Olympic internet use. This is from the same group that went out of their way to stop independent web coverage of the games (i.e., athletes who were set up to run blog-like pages detailing their personal experiences at the games were stopped by those in power, I guess in fear that they would take away viewers from the incredibly bad and much over-hyped, and over sentimentalized, major media coverage.) Huh? Repeat after me: The web is not a replacement for T.V.
Took a really long walk yesterday up through midtown. I used to walk around (and bike around) the city more than I do now. Yesterday's trek brought back all sorts of memories.
Housing is always tricky here, and at one point (years ago now) I didn't have a real place to live. I had lots of places I could stay, but no real home. That's when I really walked around a lot. As if the whole city was my home. Now those days seem far away, but on the right day, if I walk far enough, I'll find myself back there again.
Anyway, I was going to say: Took a long walk yesterday and ended up stopping into CompUSA on 5th in the 40's. I was looking to see a Sony Monitor MB is thinking about buying (GDM-W900,) and although they didn't have that, I did get a chance to play with the Mac OSX Public Beta. Sure, I've seen all the screen shots, but it was nice to see it in action. Looks sweet I think. It was running on a G4 tower, but I couldn't tell if it was a Multi-Processor or not. If it wasn't, then I don't know what everyone is complaining about in terms of speed, because the desktop seemed very responsive. Quicktime movies played well (and I've heard they don't.) I cannot wait to get it (looks like tomorrow, as FedEx is saying it has left the sort facility in Newark, NJ.) You, gentle reader, will be the second to know.