Gene testing for diseases and genetic disorders is one thing. Gene testing so that parents can force their children into a lifetime of a certain sport that a gene test said they had an aptitude for is just creepy.

I think for some parents and children, gene testing could be a good thing. Parents could have an idea on where to start when trying to get their children involved in sports.

But you know some parents would take it over the top. Overbearing parents would try to live out their glory days of athleticism during youth, pushing their children to succeed in sports they may not have any interest in pursuing.

While I don't completely oppose gene testing to determine athletic aptitude, I think it has the power to pigeon hole certain children into activities that may or may not be interested in. Not everyone plays sports to become an Olympian. Some play sports for the mere love of the game, regardless of their genetic predisposition to be talented at it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/sports/30genetics.html?pagewanted=2&sq=sports%20gene&st=cse&scp=1

Bush determined to fuck the Earth

In his last months as president, Bush is determined to cement his legacy of having the worst environmental record of any president in history. He is currently trying to making it easier for coal companies to dump rock and debris from mining operations into nearby streams and water sources. The EPA and the Sierra Club both state that dumping these mining materials into streams and rivers would accelerate the destruction of the land. Bush is determined to fuck the Earth before he leaves office. 

Not only is he determined to fuck Earth, he is determined to fuck America's workers. His administration is also trying to make it harder for safety regulations concerning workers' exposure to toxic chemicals to be passed. 

Obama vehemently opposes both of these efforts of the Bush administration. I think it is ludicrous that the Bush administration, in its final months, is trying to work against what Obama will try to do in office. Instead of working with Obama and finding middle ground, Bush is only concerned about leaving his own legacy: fucking everything up. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/washington/03mining.html?_r=1&ref=us

Cat Head

I enjoyed Roger Stolle's lecture on Mississippi blues culture.

Stolle's mission is to promote from within.  This mission applies to Mississippi, blues culture and his record store in Clarksdale, Cat Head Delta Blues. Stolle believes that promoting from within allows you to have something to export, and if you have something to export you can draw people to what you are trying to promote. 

Stolle believes that the blues are part of a living history and that is why he seeks to promote it. I think Stolle is part of the living history himself. Cat Head Delta Blues is retaining a unique piece of Mississippi culture that many people had deemed dying.

I respect Stolle for his passion and work in retaining the blues in Mississippi and promoting this unique piece of our state culture.

A Cure for TB?

This article was about the development of a new antibiotic, myxopyronin, which may be a cure for TB and other deadly drug-resistant strains of disease. Though it has only been synthesized in labs and has not been tested on humans yet, this has the potential to be a miracle drug for millions of people. I think that the development of new antibiotics is crucial, since over time diseases can become resistant to even the most potent antibiotics. Several deadly strains of staph and tuberculosis have become resistant to drugs that once were able to treat patients. If scientists can develop powerful new antibiotics, millions of lives could be saved. I think doctors are contributing to this phenomena of drug resistance by over-prescribing antibiotics. Antibiotics should be used sparingly, in the case of a patient developing a deadly disease later in life and needing strong antibiotics to be cured. The development of myxopyronin is coming at an important time, in a world of increasingly over-prescribing of antibiotics and the increasing resistance of disease to many once powerful drugs. 

This article's headline grabbed my attention. I wanted to read about a potential cure for TB. I think the lead was striking too. The words "on the verge of" made me want to read about how close these scientists actually were to developing these antibiotics. Overall, I think this was a well-written story with good human interest. 

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1851375,00.html

House of Sun and Water

This story was in the Houston Chronicle, about an eco-friendly house in Austin, Texas. The couple, Laurel Trevino and Carlos Torres-Verdín, recently built Austin's first LEED Platinum house, the greenest rating a home can receive from the U.S. Green Building Council. I enjoyed reading the story because it interested me, however, the most descriptive part of the story was the picture. The reporter described how the house functioned, but there was no real human interest aspect to the story. I would have like to read about why the couple built the house and what other people thought about it. Also, the first quote comes too late in the story; I would have liked to see a human come in earlier than the fourth paragraph. I would have also like to have read about what the house looked like and not just how it works.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/green/6060052.html

Daoud Hari, somber as a sage, with skin so dark and shiny you can catch your reflection in it, spoke of his escape from the Darfur genocide while we all sipped Starbucks lattes and nodded empathetically. 

Hitchin' at the Crossroads

"Hitchin' at the Crossroads" is an excellent example of a human interest story. The story does a good job of seeking ordinary people and telling us how they are being affected. We are introduced to four different types of people and are shown a piece of their life. However, I feel like the story leaves the reader wondering what the long-term affects of hitchin' are. We are told why the people are hitchin' and how they are affected in the moment, but we are never told what happens to them in the end. It is clear that the reason the story is being written is for human interest. People are interested in different types of lifestyles and want to read about how other people live. There are no real bureaucrats in this story; the hitchers in the story are the only sources. Key questions raised by this story are why do these people feel they have to resort to hitching, is it safe, and how are other people affected by these hitchers? Overall, I enjoyed reading the story but felt that it seemed a bit irrelevant to most readers. Readers want to read about other people's lives in relation to their own lives. I think the story could have done a better job of letting the reader know how they could empathize with these hitchers and how hitchers can affect their personal lives.