Better Living Through Science?

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Last night was an average day at work. I hung with the ladies and did my usual routine. Saw Foxy for the first time in a week. Apparently, she was really sorry for not communicating the whole time. She had the flu and is going through a rough stretch...and graduated from high school (yeesh) the other day...so she basically said to wait until after the Holidays when it's not so hectic...then she'd really like to hang out. I'm cool with that...but I'm not closing off other options until some initiative is shown. She seems...well, let's just say a little ditzy...but she's also funny, gorgeous, and frankly a little quirky...and I like quirky almost as much as I like kooky...or cookies for that matter.

Speaking of cookies, Bubbles & I ordered Pei Wei and I got my favorite, Honey Seared Chicken on brown rice with Edamame (soybeans). Mmm mmm good. So I know what the big question is...what did your fortune cookie say? Well, it said - "You will be fortunate if you accept the next proposition you hear...in bed." Does this mean that I should take up the next 'proposition' that comes my way? I guess we'll have to see what that next one is. I shall keep you posted.

Rock Band Update - I have almost completed Medium on the Solo Tour with Guitar and unlocked "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. I particularly like this one...because it's one of the greatest rock songs ever...and I can kind of play it on a real guitar too. Oh yeah...and I do a mean James Hetfield when I karaoke. The key is to end every line with an angry "yah." Other than that, I just spent the day watching football. Brett Favre is simply amazing. May he live to be a thousand years old...and still be the Packers quarterback in 2945. Also, congratulations to the Miami Dolphins on getting their first win of the season in overtime. Now for the news...

Dr. Moreau's Glowstix - Scientists in South Korea have cloned cats...and just to show the possibilities of cloning, they cloned them with a slight alteration of a flourescent protein gene...that makes them glow in the dark. The cloning of cats may prove to help clone endangered animals such as lions, tigers, and bears (oh my) but why make them glow in the dark. I have enough problem when I'm sleeping at my mom's house and Mookie (yes, my cat's name is Mookie, hence my professional name...and if anything happens with the authorities, he takes the fall) wakes me up by jumping on me to snuggle...but now a cat just has to be in the room for their eerie glow to wake you up. Great job, scientists. It may be kind of cool to have real Glo Worms...but they're not nearly as cute and squeezably soft as their plush predecessors. What's next? Are you going to mess with mice too?

Are you kidding me? - Across the sea from South Korea, Japanese scientists have countered these sun-powered glowing superfelines with a little genetic alteration of their own...by creating Daredevil mice who know no fear of cats. This development may shed new light on mammalian behavior and fear itself. So this shows that Fear is genetically hardwired and not learned through experience? Quite interesting indeed. However, there is already a medication out there that helps to suppress your fears and allows you to do what you've wanted to do no matter what the consequences...and it's called Tequila. However, maybe down the road they'll have a newer medication without all those side effects.

Face-Off 2 - Isabelle Dinoire was the first person to receive a face transplant in November 2005. After over two years of extensive rehabilitation, two episodes of rejection, and daily psychological counseling, she has her face back...after his dog basically destroyed it six months before the surgery. She says that is worth the fuss and she is pleased with the results though there was a lot of trial & tribulation. If you'd like to know more, hit the link...but it just goes to show, that it's a little more complicated then portrayed in Michael Bay movies to switch faces. I know, I know, I liked that movie too.

Cure for a Broken Heart? - In London, scientists have made two major advances in using stem cells to create a patch to repair damage to hearts after attacks. Scientist at London's Imperial College have matured beating heart cells in a laboratory dish for up to seven months and developed a biocompatible scaffold to form the basis of a patch. Again, these experiments started years ago and use the controversial embryonic stem cells...but remember that last month, they discovered ways to make stem cells out of existing skin cells and basically reprogramming them. See what happens when we can mess with Nature? Maybe Brett Favre and everyone else will live to be a thousand years old...or at least until the glow-in-the-dark tigers' brains evolve into superintelligence and they evolve aposable thumbs and enslave us all...or just eat us and enslave the more powerful apes. Who will save us then? I say that we form an alliance with the Pandas...but until that day comes, let's just keep them in zoos.

Also, I've noticed over the last week that I've had just over a hundred hits per day...and this pleases me that so many people are reading my blog everyday (at least until they read my depressing rants from yesterday). Thank you all for your patronage...and please leave comments so that I know that I'm doing something that you enjoy...and just let me know who you are and how you're doing. Please find attached the latest Mapclustr image and notice that my blog's viewership is spreading like a Bangkok rash across the globe. Multiple ganders in every continent...and a lot of the 10+ looks since September, which is kind of cool to me. I think that I've somebody look from every country in Europe too. Awesome 'possum!!! Thanks again for stopping by. Hope you're having a great weekend!!!