Scientists Grow “Synthetic” Embryo With Brain and…

This is … well, a little creepy.

And it brings up a host of ethical questions.

But I have to wonder, in todays climate where abortion debates and religion govern some of the laws, does this qualify as "human life?" Does it "have a soul?"

The world is changing (often for the better due to science) and we're still living with fairy tales and antiquated notions - mostly to control people.

It should open up a broader debate because there is no conception here. So what does human life mean?

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-grow-synthetic-embryo-with-brain-and-beating-heart-without-eggs-or-sperm/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

Obi yawn kenobi

I was excited for the series on Disney+. I have really enjoyed the content thus far, so I was looking forward to seeing how they treated the iconic character. 

I was waiting for my son to come home so we could enjoy it together…I avoided discussions and spoilers over the month or so since it premiered.

6 episodes. Each 45 or so minutes. Can't wait.

And then…disappointment. It sucked. They really missed on the character and storyline. Sure, the concept was okay. But they spent almost the entire first episode setting the tone for the show, as we watched Ben work in a packing plant and take long rides across the desert.

Uhhhhh. Wow. What a waste of an episode. Maybe it gets better in #2?  Not really. Just a snooze fest.

It's not what I expected obi wan to be doing. Or how I thought he'd be acting. Or whatever.

And on top of that, if you're a diehard Star Wars fan, maybe you know about the inquisitors. But if you're a causal fan, probably not.

They spent 5 minutes giving you their back story. And even then it was weak sauce. 

So that part of the story was glossed over, while they bored us with Ben telling everyone he left that life behind. 

The dialog was mostly drivel. There wasn't a purpose, other than meeting Anakin, er, Vader along the way. 

They could have kept the core story points and created a more interesting and richer story. But why bother? It's obi wan. People will love the fan service!

That's not to say there weren't a couple of bright spots. I liked young Leia. She was much as I might expect. And a few of the background characters held a little interest.  The battle between obi wan and Darth Vader was good, but very dark. And intermixed with Luke running away (almost completely in the dark) it lost some of the magic. 

…overall, it was not worth the 6 hours I spent watching it. It just didn't work. 

There was one additional point I wanted to make: I enjoyed the book of boba fett, in spite of it being similar in terms of how they spent a lot of time "doing nothing" in the desert. 

So what's the difference? It's all about perspective. Boba fett takes place *after* episode vi. We don't know what happens to the character, so it was interesting to see where they took the character. He took over Jaba's territory and there could be a richness to the storyline - because it was essentially unknown to the viewer. 

Obi wan takes place between episodes 3&4, and we know what happens in both. So there's no real mystery there. This one has to rely on a good story to make it come together. Having him help Leia was clever, but not enough. All he does is live a solitary life and then get chased across the Galaxy by Vader as he helps her. 

Why not have him "pretending" to live a solitary life while actually out doing something? He could have had a series of adventures that culminated in a battle. 

Anyway, that's my take. 

So I guess the robot chicken joke applies. From a certain point of view this all made sense. 

https://youtu.be/pSOBeD1GC_Y

Gov. DeSantis admonishes drag show

Proving that he's the dictator of Florida, he decided to call out a drag show. And this is how censorship gets rolling.

And it fits into his own, personal, twisted narrative that there's some sort of indoctrination with children somehow deciding to be gay because they see others doing it…

Aside: has he ever been to one? I have - they're fun.

They're performances by men dressed as women. That's it.

Where do you draw the line? By his "standard" comic cons should no longer allow people to dress up because kids might think they could be superhero's, and women dress in ways that may offend someone; kids might see something that will indoctrinate them.

Disney world shouldn't have costumed characters, because kids might think giant dogs and mice are real. And those princesses? They lead to moral decay… their stories are complicated and messy (they are teenagers after all) - just glossed over with a touch of Disney magic. 

Circuses shouldn't have people dressed as clowns, because everyone knows from tv and movies that clowns are evil. Can't scare kids like that!

And children shouldn't be allowed at any political events or church functions, because there are grown men pretending to be adults. We can't have children seeing that.

The governor needs to be removed. And our opportunity to do that comes in a couple of months.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/07/27/florida-gov-ron-desantis-takes-aim-at-wynwood-restaurant-r-house-for-popular-drag-show/

Love this guy

At the Tour de France. The irony of a guy standing on a mountain telling us the earth is flat.

So. So. Funny.

The world is round…

If Bugs Bunny got it in 1951, how are there still so many people who haven’t gotten the memo?!

Vegan Product Labeling Wars

Do your own research?

As we wove our way through the covid responses, we heard a lot of voices saying that we were being misled and that we should worry about ourselves and "do our own research"

First off, I was (and still am) amused by the notion that you shouldn't trust scientifically valid research, and instead should trust your crazy uncle who read these fringey articles about some topic that may (or may not) be relevant. You don't trust scientific research but will do your own…research? Huh. 

Second, it's the point about it being selfish. If there's one thing social media (and vapid tv shows) have taught us: selfishness is rewarded. Be that individual and you'll get clicks and make money. And be famous!

What we forget is that we live in a society, and the constitution - which "we" claim to love when it comes to things "we" like and forget about when it comes to things "we" don't - calls for the common good:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

It's right there in the preamble. So rather than being selfish and saying it's your body and you'll make decisions about it, and calling attention to your unique individuality, saying things like "this is America I have freedom," perhaps we should have thought about how this was (and is) a deadly virus which propagates through people. And we should have provided for the common good. 

Didn't want a vaccine? That's your right. But why did you have to be so vocal about it? 

In any event, the problem of people being in it for themselves, and claiming to know secrets that some bigger entity (like scientists or the government) doesn't want to tell you is prevalent. 

It happens in other scientific beliefs (flat earth? Fake moon landing?) and other types of beliefs, like religion. 

But it also happens in other places. What of Bernie Madoff who was essentially stealing money? He told people he had a super secret formula for getting rich in investments and would share it, if the investments were large enough (and what he was doing was taking money from person B and giving it person A, then taking money from person C and giving it to person B; all while taking a commission)

But people believed it because they wanted to. He was wealthy and had a plan to help you get there. (How did you really think he got wealthy? Surely it had something to with taking from others). 

And then there was the big election lie. People believed it because they wanted to. They were so deceived by the cult of personality that they accepted it on face value. 

And while the sedition that happened was probably the worst of it, there were some financial shenanigans happening (and which continue to happen. See my post about the Google ads). 

The Jan 6th committee has stated:  

"that the … campaign used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fight in the courts. But the … campaign didn't use the money for that. The 'big lie' was also a big rip-off." 

https://news.yahoo.com/jan-6-panel-trump-campaign-used-election-lie-to-raise-millions-from-supporters-163747101.html

They took in somewhere around $250 million dollars from suckers, er supporters, who had bought into the notion that he couldn't have lost. I know some of these people, and probably you do too. They're everyday people with not huge amounts of money laying around. They lost it. Because they wanted it to be true. That they knew more than we did. 

And where did this money go? Something like 5% of it was paid to various "legal expenses" … while the remainder essentially went to the guy and his close associates. 

Not for nothing, but that quite clearly violates the law. There are specific laws about "wire transfers" and how they may be collected and disbursed. And how the language has to be clear on how money will be used. 

So my general advice is that you look up from your phone and think about things a little.