brave new world (with so many goodly creatures)

It looks like claims regarding the creation of a fully synthetic single-celled organism were a bit exaggerated--such lines of genetic information had been transfigured in this way before. That watermarks (think Getty Images) of this life-form's creators were inserted in the DNA, whereas other DNA considered to be there just along for the ride was culled out by the laboratory. I would have thought that that was Google's latest non-malevolent project--tags and trending for heredity. It's not nice to pwn Mother Nature. I wonder if mankind is coming to a sort of technological rift, that's made a common fate for advancing societies, when man will choose to pursue better living through such Frankenstein methods, tinkering with nature, rather than pursuing research in the other scientific disciplines, like physics. Though I am happy for it, it is a wonder to me that physics in the form of CERN or other big projects garners any support or interest. Physics, at least thus far, does not seem to have much of a profit-motive. Now the space shuttle has been replaced by a robotic spy space plane, and there is bio-engineered food crops, botox injections, microbes to sop up oil spills, and stem cells that can be coaxed and differentiated into bone marrow, cartilage or a fully formed family-friendly franchise restaurant. What opportunities does progress lose out on by investing in ones sort of alchemy rather than the other?

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

Learning German for me still is presenting a few barriers--there is a lot of sophistication and nuance and double meanings all spun out of a language that employees, for the majority of words at least, only a combination of about twelve prefixes and suffixes: um, an, so, zu, aus, auf, ein, ung, ei, ug.  Though quite the opposite is true, I always thought that German sounded impercise when it came to technical and scientific words or as if one had forgotten the right word: instead of hydrogen, one says, um, you know--das Wasserstoff.  Stoff, I particularly like--as in Kunststoff, art stuff, which is something artifical, a plastic table as opposed to a table made of Massivholz.  A colleague gave me a wonderful little book that is filled with these examples.  I'm a bit proud of myself when I know what an amalgam, a junior jumble really means, aside from the literal dissection--English has a lot of examples too, and it never occurred to me before that Beispiellos could be a near-game-ticket as well as something incomparable.

save ferris!

There's a whole medley of headlines.  I suppose it is like part of the wages of taking vacation is finding things in disarray at the office and also, not watching the news, leaves one without the daily, hourly contact-high.  North and South Korea seem to be up-pinning the spectre of war and warlike tensions; star-gazers have found what may account for normal matter's predomenance and stability in the universe; Bangkok is still smouldering; oil is lapping on-shore in the US Gulf coast; priceless paintings were heisted from a Parisian museum; a laborartory in the UK has created the first artificial cell, clept Synthia--I think it is quite responsible journalism on the part of the Daily Mail that it rushes to address ethical issues and alerts the public to immediate and paralell cinematic perils.  These reporters remind me, admirably, of that intelligence agency that Robert Redford worked for in 3 Days of the Condor--augering the future and possible counter-espionage tactics from the plots of pulp fiction.  There is enough else going on without mentioning the European financial crisis.  Other augerers might disagree, but I think that the euro will make a quick recovery and these next few days will be a definitive portent that the EU and the euro are more than just the passing fancy and plaything of aristocracy and toy-kingdoms.  The euro does not succede only on the failure of the US market, but I think it is especially good-timing that this drama and trial happen on the lead up to long, holiday weekend and that European markets will be mostly closed on Monday while the rest of the world panics.

alsatian

Just returned from a prolonged test drive of our new camper, H and I are very relaxed.  That really is the way to travel and my head is just swirling with impressions.  A curious storch visited us one late afternoon at our campsite but definitely did not come bearing a baby, and though we never saw anyone parading about for the tourists in traditional garments, the black bonnet that the women supposedly wear reminds me of this inflatable friendly spider headdress that I had for a Halloween costume, circa 1979.

The little villages were amazingly picturesque--one in fact won award a few years back for being the "cutest" town in France.  This cuteness did not fade, however, and probably gets better with age and spurs on the competition.  The last town we stayed in, Neuf-Brisach, right on the German border was really embelmatic of the whole region--one that switched nationalities and allegiances five times during the last 150 years.  It is a former garrison town, balustraded by imposing ramparts, and really impressive looking from a strategic perspective.  Though very much in contrast, it reminded me of the last place we visited during our last visit to France--to the site where the armistices were signed in the Forest of Compiègne.

männertag

Fathers are important but as a holiday, it seems concessionary, like an after thought.  In Germany, they have adopted the Anglo-American Mothers' Day, and observe Fathers' Day on Ascension Day.  I wonder how Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary felt on Fathers' Day.  It is referred to, however, as Männertag, man's day, and usually spent drinking and doing outdoorsy things.  H and I spent the day today fixing up our new camper in preparation for a tour through the Alsace.  We received this nice sunflower--I especially like how it flourishes in the sun or during a partial solar eclipse, is is OK to water it or to spinkle it with a vial of carbolic acid, and touching is permitted but never, ever feed it.

novel approach

Since the failure of capping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that's hemmoraging untold millions of barrels of petroleum into the environment due to giant ice crystals at the bottom of the ocean, and who knew there were such obstacles to progress lounging about around old spindle top horizon, there have been a few theories involing sabotage by environmentalists and a total media blackout on the North Korean submarine that blew it up to strike another blow to the American economy.  The public should not be alerted to this act of war until such time that the US can successfully retaliate.  Offers for assistance were fended off by the US government from the likes of Iran, but the Soviets took a creative tact no less than five times when faced with the same unstauchable problem, used as a torniquet a nuclear bomb that sealed the leak for good.