The Mystery of the Missing Chromosome
What might have been
The Mystery of the Missing Chromosome (1)
I am fascinated by this photo taken by Kevin Pashuk at the Toronto Zoo and posted on Luminar. This Gorilla has such a pensive look as he wiles away the hours behind bars. I’m not sure what he did to get a life sentence (2), but it must have been something bad, otherwise, why would we lock him up?
What must he think as he looks out and considers those looking back as being only one chromosome short of being himself? What made them the way they are? What made them so insensitive and careless of others who inhabit the earth?
Perhaps, he thinks, if they don’t mend their ways, they will one day be gone, and he or his soul mates living in some remote, deep, dark, jungle may survive and again be free from an invasive species that once contaminated the earth.
How wasteful were that gifted species who, for some unknown reason, believed they had the right to dominate all other species simply because they were short-changed by one chromosome?
Harold
(1) Discover: There’s something fascinating about our chromosomes. We have 23 pairs. Chimpanzees and gorillas, our closest living relatives, have 24. If you come to these facts cold, you might think this represented an existential crisis for evolutionary biologists. If we do indeed descend from a common ancestor with great apes, then our ancestors must have lost a pair after our lineage branched off, some six million years ago. How on Earth could we just give up an entire chromosome?
(2) As for this comment about a life sentence, over a thirty-year career, I managed to help lock away a number of people a few of which are still serving life sentences. Their release will likely come to an end only when they die. That is the same fate that will likely face that poor chap in the Toronto Zoo.
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Access Acres: Garden Fresh Vegetables
Access Acres, 1720 McTavish Road
North Saanich, BC
Photo: Four, forty-foot rows of salad greens (Spinach, Arugula, Mizuna, Tatsoi) are now ready for market, and one row of rapidly growing radishes about two weeks away.
Andrew Dunn, a long time friend of the family, has undertaken a major vegetable growing operation on the lower acreage at the McTavish Academy of Art, 1720 McTavish Road. The first crop is being cut, washed and bagged as a ready to use salad mix. Much more on the way as summer progresses.
Photo: Andrew preparing five more rows of carrots and other veggies. In the background, another plot is in progress.
Much of the product will be sold daily at the Academy, to family, friends, and visitors. The fresh produce will be on display at the front entrance, and in the near future, a stand will be built at the edge of the front parking lot where customers can drive in and purchase at their convenience.
For immediate neighbours of the McNeill family in Royal Oak (Leney/Viaduct East), we will bring batches home for drop off if you are interested. Contact me on my cell 250-889-1033. I will be dropping off samples for a taste test and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Each sale helps as this young entrepreneur, an avid gardener, works to develop a sustainable business. Drop by anytime and have a look at his operation and chat about his plans for the future. You will be impressed.
Regards,
Harold (250-889-1033)
Like Andrews FB Page for Access Acres
Fresh Veggies grown, selected and prepared for
the market with loving care.
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The MacCready Explosion
The MacCready Explosion
Each day as I read, write, and listen to podcasts and debates, I came across this idea on Ted Talks, The MacCready Explosion. It came up when researching a Green Party article, and it struck me as having considerable potential when assessing what is happening on our planet.
Many have heard the dire reports about species extinction and of the perma-frost being in serious decay, but have you thought about livestock and how that species affects global warming? The idea, of course, relates to the title of this post and is embedded in the following short introduction.
Culture as a Major Transition in Evolution
D.C. Dennett
Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155
Excerpt:
According to calculations by Paul MacCready (1999), at the dawn of human agriculture 10,000 years ago, the worldwide human population plus their livestock and pets was ~0.1% of the terrestrial vertebrate biomass. Today, he calculates, it is 98%! (Most of that is cattle.) His reflections on this amazing development are worth quoting:
Over billions of years, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin covering of life—complex, improbable, wonderful and fragile. Suddenly we humans . . . have grown in population, technology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the paintbrush. (MacCready 1999, p.19).
Some biologists are convinced that we are now living in the early days of a sixth great mass extinction event (the “Holocene”), to rival the Permian–Triassic extinction ~250 million years ago and the Cretacious–Tertiary extinction ~65 million years ago. And because, as MacCready puts it so vividly, we wield the paintbrush, this mass extinction, if it occurs, would go down in evolutionary history as the first to be triggered by the innovations in a single species.
Compared to the biologically “sudden” Cambrian explosion, which occurred over several million years ~530 million years ago, what we may call the MacCready explosion has occurred in ~10,000 years, or ~500 human generations (of course, thousands of prior generations were required to set up many of the conditions that made this possible).
There is really no doubt, then, that it has been the rapidly accumulating products of cultural evolution—technology and intelligence, as MacCready says that account for these unprecedented transformations of the biosphere. So Maynard Smith and Szathmary (1995) are right to put language and culture as the most recent of the “major transitions of evolution.”
This is a most astounding revelation that likely accounts for much of that which we now call “climate change” or “global warming”. We strongly suspect these changes are related to human activity, yet we don’t know to what extent we can mitigate the outcomes. To this point, we seem focussed on fossil fuels as a major culprit, yet I don’t know how much we have considered other sources.
That being stated, if climate change is largely caused by human activity, and I’m certain it is, I choose to believe we can at least try to do something to change the outcome. To not even try seems crazy.
I think we can and it comes in the form of another paper, one by Nathan Daly, a software engineer, titled “Digging into the disappearance of nature’s land-living vertebrates.” It’s not a long read and you can skip the data contained with each of the several charts. You will see that simply reducing the number of livestock, and therefore our consumption of meat is likely to produce significant results. Given that livestock is a major contributor to greenhouse gas, that step provides a double win.
Comparing the introductory chart for his post with the one above, reveals the biggest single reduction can be made in the area of livestock. It’s somewhat harder to get rid of humans although we are well along the path of reducing our rate of growth.
Presented as ‘food’ for thought.
Cheers,
Harold
Note: I have not found any information that outlines how the author developed the data that support his conclusions so, at present, it is just another theory that seems worthwhile pursuing.
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To South American by Linear Accelerator
Uber has the above Molecular Transporter located in the Best Western in Richmond. A neat machine that not only transports but can also do DNA sequencing as well as give you a complete medical assessment while en route. You simply fill out a checklist. Photos in FB Post
Heading to South America
This is the first time we have traveled using a Molecular Transporter, a system developed by UBER with one unit situated just outside the Vancouver Aiport. The neat thing about this type of transportation is the ability to experience all the real-time activities you might see and feel when travelling in one of those outdated stretch bodied commercial jets. I have highlighted a few of our experiences while en route to Buenos Aires via Houston and Miami.
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Canada: That Which Makes us One
Diversity in Canada Has The Capacity to Inspire The World
Celebrating at a Ukrainian Christmas (1) dinner gave me pause to think about how these cultural
celebrations help to define Canada – that which makes us one. One dinner you ask? Well, it goes much deeper as it also includes coffee breaks at Tim Hortons, restaurants and the Canadian Soccer teams. It all fits into the fabric of our national identity.
1. A Ukrainian Dinner Celebration
On Sunday, January 6, 2019, Lynn and I went to dinner on the eve of Ukrainian Christmas at the home of one of my former police partners. We both retired twenty-five years ago and for years our families lived a stone’s throw from one another in West Saanich. Ukrainian Christmas was, and is, always a big celebration in their home (1). In addition to Al and Mary and their immediate family, three other couples, also long retired police members and their wives, were at the table of eighteen.
As we dined, surrounded by that uniquely Ukrainian bounty, we were not just celebrating a special event in the Gregorian calendar year, we were celebrating what it means to be Canadian. That feast and those friends served to remind us of how fortunate we are to live at peace in a mix of cultures, languages, traditions, religions, and varieties of food types that is unprecedented in the world. It is a mix that accompanies us every day, not just on special occasions.
Photo (Web source). This table represents about half the set for our special meal. All items were prepared at home and served piping hot.
2. Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s: The coffee crowd
Earlier in the day (Sunday), I made a couple of visits to Tim Hortons at the Royal Oak Shopping Centre (2). It was, as usual, overflowing. I grabbed a seat beside an acquaintance from Syria. He and his delightful family are making their way in a new country they now call home. When he left for an appointment, I struck up a conversation with the man on my right, a person I did not know.
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Civilian Oversight and Unionization of the RCMP
December 31, 2018. RCMP: Civilian Oversight and Unionization take centre stage.
It has taken decades, however, it seems possible the changes announced for 2019 may assist this storied force to adopt the ideals first annunciated by Sir Robert Peel. While the imposition of civilian oversight and the unionization of the rank and file is only a first step in what will surely be a slow and painful process, it may be enough to break the rigid command and control structure that has stifled initiative and rewarded compliance.
In modern times, rank and file members have been caught between the demands of policing in the 21st century and an administrative structure with one foot firmly planted in the 19th. In the process of advocating for change, many promising careers were destroyed by bullying tactics used against members in general and sexual abuse against female members in particular. Such changes began in other city and municipal forces back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
For the RCMP, “These changes are coming in response to years of complaints that the force has a broken workplace culture, as well as repeated calls from outside inquiries for civilian oversight of management functions that are still under the purview of uniformed officers.”
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Garage Sale Items – McTavish Academy of Art
GIANT GARAGE SALE OF ALL ITEMS NOT YET SOLD, PLUS DOZENS OF OTHER ITEMS WILL GO ON SALE AT THE MCTAVISH ACADEMY, 1720 MCTAVISH ROAD, NORTH SAANICH (TAKE AIRPORT CUTOFF TO MCTAVISH ROAD AND TRAVEL FOUR BLOCKS WEST.
DATE: SATURDAY 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM May 4, 2019
SUNDAY, NOON – 5:00 PM APRIL 5, 2019
FEATURED ITEM: 13. Fluorescent Light Tracks (SOLD)
(Added, March 13, 2019)
Fluorescent Light Tracks (SOLD) These tracks are fully functional having just been removed. While the lights are currently attached in 18 and 24-foot lengths, they can be easily reconfigured. They are perfect for any large space such as a shop or some other workspace needing excellent lighting. They are not free, but at $1.00 per foot, they are good as free.
Please message or phone Harold, 250-889-1033, or by email at lowerislandsoccer@shaw.ca
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The Changing Landscape of Politics in Canada
The Changing Landscape of Politics in Canada:
August 24, 2018: With the bombshell just dropped by Maxime Bernier, this post, which I began researching and writing a couple of months back, has taken on new significance. There seems little doubt that at least some of the unseemly tactics that plagued the recent Ontario election will also mark the next federal election. The question asked, and which I try to answer is, “to what extent will the effective use of social media define the winners and losers?”
And, this post will also outline why I think, in a four-party system, it is possible that 65% of Canadians who split the vote between three parties, could hand a majority to 35% who didn’t vote for one of those three. It is also a process by which a man such as Doug Ford could, in the federal election following the next, become the Prime Minister of Canada. (2008 Federal election split) (2011 Federal election split)
1. Party Platforms, where did they go?
In the past, party platforms were meant to draw voters to a particular set of principles developed by a party over months and years (1). They were the centrepiece of every election campaign and, there was plenty of room for debate at all candidate meetings from the party leaders to grassroots. However, in this new age, winning or losing seems to be based more on who best controls the message and who owns the most effective means of smearing an opponent or idea (2). If you followed the leadup to the Brexit vote or the last US election, the winning sides resorted almost exclusively to messages of fear and hate, mixed with a good measure of fake news.
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