Valentine's Day
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 21:43It is St. Valentine's Day. I am sitting on the couch in the living room. At the other end of the room, Kim and Fiona are watching Glee. Wesley, our big fluffy dog, is going between us, looking for someone to play with. He grabs chew toys, bones, anything he thinks will get our attention. Avery, the neighbors' dog has been out of town for a few days, and Wesley is looking for someone to play with.
For dinner, we had duck. We usually have duck for Valentine's Day. However, Kim had a long day at work, and so instead of roasting a duck, she picked up duck pieces which were easier to prepare. For dessert, we had chocolates. Connecticut is a great state for Chocolates. I brought home chocolates from Tschudin Chocolates in Middletown. They are one of the best, designer chocolates you can find. Kim brought home chocolates from Bridgewater Chocolates, another top designer chocolateer in Connecticut.
I pause briefly to watch Mercedes cover Whitney Houston's signature, “I Will Always Love You.” I check Twitter and various news stories about Glee and find people are switching between Glee and the Westminster Dog Show.
It's been a long day and so I'll post this simple Valentine's Day tribute and save my more serious blog posts for another day.
None of Them Look Sick
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 20:21According to an article in the CT Mirror last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy commented about a bunch of people demonstrating in favor of the legalization of medical marijuana in the state, "None of the look sick".
The article describes says he was joking, but something about it really bothered me. Earlier that day, I had been at the dentist. There was an older man sitting in the waiting room while his wife had her teeth cleaned. He didn't look sick either. However, he was talking with the folks in the office about his battle with cancer, and whether he would make it.
My mind wandered to a friend who has a small bump on the side of his neck. He doesn't look sick either, and he thought the lesion he had on the side of his neck was from shaving and not a Basel cell carcinoma. In fact one of the reasons that early detection programs for various types of cancer are important is that by the time the person looks or feels sick, the cancer is already very far advanced.
Then, there are the reports of when someone with a mental illness snaps and shoots up a neighborhood or commits some other horrific act. Everyone always says, "but he seemed like a normal guy".
For those who are suffering from many forms of chronic illnesses, unless you look closely you may never notice the symptoms of the chronic illness. In fact, people with chronic illnesses often try hard to look as normal as possible in hopes of avoid both pity and predators.
Look online. When people post on Facebook, they'll spend a lot of time talking about things that are going well. They'll have their pictures of their pink drink cocktails on Friday night, or the big red plastic cup filled from the keg at the party on Saturday night. Yes, they might gripe about insensitive partners or other more socially acceptable complaints, but they're unlikely to talk about their real struggles. That is kept for behind closed doors.
So, no. None of the people demonstrating in favor of the legalization of medical marijuana looked sick to our Governor. Unless we get to know who they are and gain their confidence, we will never know what, if any, ailments afflict them. But that's not really the point.
Years ago, I spoke with some advocates for people with disabilities. They spoke about 'TAB's; temporarily able bodied people. It is an important perspective to have. Just because were currently able bodied doesn't mean that one day we won't be disabled, or fighting a chronic illness.
No, we should all keep in mind that those around us may be suffering and may not be showing it and we, ourselves, may have our turn at suffering soon enough. So, we should shy away from trite over simplistic comments like "None of them look sick".
Random Notes
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 20:27It is Sunday evening and I haven't really had a good chance to write today. I'm too tired to give proper attention to various things that have been going on or blog posts in the process.
The death of Whitney Houston, and particularly the reaction by both traditional media and social media is interesting to observe, and with time, is worth writing about. Though, I'm not sure I'll get to it, or have anything special to add.
Here in Connecticut, students are protesting in favor of the legalization of medical marijuana. According to an article in the CT Mirror, Governor Malloy joked about the protesters saying, "None of them look sick". There is a lot to be said about this.
There was a recent blog post about people being on many different social media networks and how you can be all things to all people. This provided an interesting contrast to the sermon at church last week about St. Paul trying to all things to all people. This ties back to my current thinking about hermeneutics. More on that soon, I hope.
Speaking of sermons, this week our priest delivered a great sermon about people with HIV in terms of Jesus healing lepers, and about some of the unexpected places healing takes place today. Hopefully, it will be posted online and I will be able to share it.
So, that's what I've got for this week. More later when I'm not as tired.
The Hermeneutics of Political Gardening
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 02/11/2012 - 20:01Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
The words of David Mallett plays on Spotify as I read a section of Hans-Georg Gadamer's 'Truth and Method' about the circular structure of understanding. I started thinking about text criticism of the news stories Google presents to me. Yes, the great Internet filter bubble shapes what I see. 'In Maine, Ron Paul vies to extend Mitt Romney losing streak', 'General gunned down in Damascus', 'Funeral for Powell boys draws 1000-plus in Tacoma, Wash.', 'Romney wins straw poll of Republican conservatives', 'Weak housing has hurt consumer spending', and 'Obama and the birth control controversy'.
What is the context we understand these stories in? How might other people understand these stories, say a century from now as the study the early 21st century in a college history class. How might my ancestors, for example, those that farmed in New Brunswick, Canada after the revolutionary war, understand this.
Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones
We are made of dreams and bones
David Mallett's words drift back in. What is this circular structure of understanding? How does it relate to pullin' weeds and pickin' stones? People have often asked me who aspiring bloggers should read. I usually suggest starting with the essays of E. B. White. His ability to relate his experiences repairing a hen house roof on a saltwater farm in Maine to European politics at the beginning of World War II is remarkable.
Is there something about this circular structure of understanding that relates to current political discourse? It seems as if so much of the political discourse is based on fairly narrow circles of understanding.
For example, in the birth control controversy, Rick Santorum describes birth control as 'something that costs just a few dollars'. Now, if you are using condoms that you buy at a discount in bulk, or perhaps pick up from a free clinic, and only have sex a couple times a month, Santorum may be right, however, the most commonly prescribed birth control pill costs between $100 and $200, depending on where you get it.
Now for someone with a net worth of between $800,000 and $1.9 million, like Rick Santorum, a couple hundred bucks a month might not be a big deal. Yet there are communities here in Connecticut where the media household income is closer to $12,000 a year. A couple hundred bucks a month can be ten to twenty percent of the household income, and perhaps, these are the households that would benefit most from birth control.
Yet all of this brings me back to the filters or bubbles we all live in. We find our views shaped by the media we consume, whether it be the news that Google selects for us, the talking heads on cable news, the inside the beltway advisors, or even our view of what American life is like based on what we see in the backgrounds of sit-coms and police dramas on prime time television.
No wonder there is such divide and rancor in politics today. Maybe it is time to get back to the garden, whether it be the one that Mallett sings about or White writes about.
Personal Genomics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 02/10/2012 - 21:03Recently, I've been running into lots of interesting discussions about genomics, and particularly personal genomics. One starting point was a discussion at work about DIY Genomics. They talk about "crowd-sourced clinical trials and personal genome apps". They work with data from sites like 23andMe, deCODEme and Navigenics.
I took a quick look at these different sites. For $99 dollars, 23andMe does a test of around a million single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs. Then, for $9 per month, they send you information about what your genetic makeup says about likelihood of having various health conditions, as well as providing ancestral information.
deCODEme calculates risks for 47 conditions and traits, not including ancestral analysis. It costs $1,100, but has other testing that can be reimbursable. As best as I can tell, Navigenics is only accessible through a physician, and probably isn't a good option for DIY genomics enthusiasts.
There are a few other genetic testing companies out there, such as Family Tree DNA, which, as you can guess by the name, is focused on genealogy. They have a wide range of different tests, for an assortment of prices, which you can then compare against their database.
Another site is Lumigenex. The seem to be focused on SNPs and seemed to be more expensive per SNP than some of the other sites.
Yet to me, the crowd sourcing of genomic information seems to be the most interesting, and besides DIYGenomics, there are some other very interesting sites. Genomes Unzipped seems to be one of the best sites out there. They link to DIYGenomics as well as to interesting sites like SNPedia and efforts to get people to release their personal genome information.
They also link to the Personal Genome Project. This project "hopes to make personal genome sequencing more affordable, accessible, and useful for humankind". They seek to get 100,000 to share their genetic information with them as part of the project. Kim has looked closely into this and has submitted her application. I will probably apply soon enough.
Another area where I stumbled into the genome was at the
International Essential Tremor Foundation website. Recent studies have show links between the LINGO-1 and LINGO-2 genes and essential tremors, and apparently also to Parkinson's disease. My mother has essential tremors. My maternal aunt and my maternal grandfather both had Parkinson's. There is a study listed on the IETF website about a Mayo Clinic research project, but I called, and the person listed on the IETF website appears to no longer be at Mayo, so I'm not sure what the status of the project is.
As I thought about it, it occurred to me that I had provided genetic information, by way of a cheek swap to another medical organization. Several years ago, I registered with the National Marrow Donor Program. They look at human leukocyte antigens (HLA). I sent an email to them asking if I could get my HLA information. Fairly quickly, they sent me the information.
I am: HLA-A*02:EHTT, HLA-A*02:EHTU, HLA-B*18:DUTG, HLA-B*44:DMNV, HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*07:01. It has been interesting reading more about these antigens.
What next? Well, I'll get around to registering with the personal genome project. I'll look at DIYgenome, and Genomes Unzipped to see if there are other ways of sharing genetic information, and I'll join the call for less expensive genetic analysis. Perhaps someone will come up with a barebones, submit your spit get a million SNPs in a file that could be used for DIY genome folks.
Oh, and if you haven't registered at the National Marrow Donor Program, please do. Who knows, you could 'Be The Match' that saves someone's life.
