Southern California Fires

Southern California—A truly dynamic place. For the most part, a pretty neat place to live, too. Except during fire season. The past two days has served as a frightening reminder of that. I woke up on Sunday morning to the news that Malibu was pretty much engulfed in fire. At that point, I'm thinking, "I'm sure glad I live in the Santa Clarita Valley!" I was very worried however, about a friend who just two days before, I had helped move to Malibu. I couldn't reach him on his cell phone, and had no other way to check on him. So I left him a message, asking him to contact me, to which I still have not received a reply.

The reports started coming in on a new fire around noon. This one in Agua Dulce, located just a few miles from me. Then another fire; this one in Castaic. Soon the fire had reached Canyon Country, and shortly thereafter, Saugus. The next thing I know, homes are being evacuated just two blocks from where I live. It went on like this throughout the night, and well into the following day. My family packed a few belongings, and we waited. It got real tense around here, as the wind would die down, then pick back up again. We watched as one hillside after another became engulfed in flames. The helicopters and Canadian 'Super-Scoopers' flew back and forth over-head, dropping water on the fires almost all day. Finally, when the order to evacuate never came, we could breathe again. But it's not over, not yet. Still more wind expected tomorrow, and the fires are still far from being contained.

Still no word from my friend.

Weirdness

Wow! Looks like only 11% of the population is weirder than me!

Synthetic Chromosomes? Who would've thought?

So, here I sit, minding my own business, catching up with recent news as presented on the internet, when I mentally 'trip' over (and come to a screeching halt in front of) this article about a new artificial life form being 'created' in a lab. Oooh! This *IS* juicy! I've always been a big fan of medical and bioethics related debate, and this one has great potential for being jam-packed full of controversy. As it turns out, this scientist literally wrote the code for a synthetic chromosome, and created it in a test tube using synthetic lab chemicals. He then transplants it into an existing bacterial cell, it takes the cell over, and voila'! A new species is made. Absolutely fascinating! So, simply put, we've gone from being capable of reading genetic code (DNA), to actually writing it from scratch…And making it viable! From something totally synthetic, no less! This has it's fair share of pro's & con's, which makes for great controversy. On the positive side, this could have a significant impact on things like new cures for disease, possible treatments for drug addiction, and possible solutions for global warming*¹. On the negative side, this technology could pose a serious threat to humanity in the form of bio-weapons. Not good. But this is where the ethics commities come in. Whenever there is a new breakthrough in science and/or technology, there are always pro's and con's; there's no getting around it. My opinion has always been in favor of science. Go ahead and develop the new technology to the fullest extent, without excessively imposed restriction. Knowledge is a good thing. Where restrictions should be imposed however, is in who this technology is made available to. Just don't allow it to fall into the wrong hands. Easier said than done, I know, but in MY world, that's the way it would be. All in all, this IS totally cool though!

*¹ — That footnote on global warming solution: This synthetic bacteria could be capable of absorbing carbon monoxide, thereby (at least in part) resolving the issue of global warming. Wow!