Valentines, creativity and caring

 

Valentines is around the corner and to say I dislike it is an understatement. It is the least creative holiday and since I have a preference for certain colors and not others, the whole red and pink color scheme irritates me.

It also feels as if it's the one holiday we're marketing and design departments updated nothing in a century. The same trite be mine. Candy that tastes like baking soda and sugar in shades of pastel pink. Every year it looks the same as if there is some giant warehouse that carries decades old stock.

The whole concept is forced romance to me and since adolescence is already a confusing time listening to repetitive stories of romantic getaways with dinner and rose petals wasn't my idea of love.

At some point caring about friends became part of valentines and socially acceptable. One of my friends had gone through a bad breakup and no matter how I tried I couldn't get him to go out. Until valentines. It took me three hours until I convinced him. We'll go celebrate our friendship you can be depressed afterwards, I promised. I took him to a great place. we ate and by dessert and coffee he was happy. A great meal can do wonders even if it's just one evening.

Among my friends we did surprise care packages when someone was going through a rough time. A few years ago I walked by a high-school pre-final exams that had countless posters all over with Cheer messages on them. You can do this addressed to specific students. How neat.

Several years ago, on Pinterest I think, the trend of very creative cheer clothespins appeared. You surprise pin them on a backpack with words of encouragement. The creative trend of caring continues.

If kids and teens can figure out what people need and how to care about eachother, why can't adults?

Have you ever intervened?

 

There are lots of these bystander 
Intervention posters and courses.

Context

I do not wish to repeat myself or provide more than a brief summary, 

I stayed with my father when cov. hit. I knew what a pandemic plan was, knew what to do and waited for it to be implemented. Remember the masking and empty streets? I was also dealing with a loved parent with serious medical conditions that were well controlled with medication. Unfortunately, if he got upset it could kill him. The only way to calm him was for me to let him go through his tantrum while I left for a couple of hours. 

There was a park in the vicinity small but with benches and shade with a playground to one side. All the benches faced the playground so parents could chat and watch their kids. I'd often sat engaged in conversation, mostly about Cov. The people were scared wanted answers and explanations. I alleviated those fears.

During lock downs it became the place to get some air, stay within the geographic area, have lunch at 3pm, sketch a little. Make phone calls talk to my friends organize pharmacy deliveries find home care find open doctors offices, without being interrupted. Other people used the playground to do chinups or other exercises. For me it was sometimes the only place to get my to do list done. You get the idea.

I'm adding that everyone in the park was middle aged. Many fit and worked out. Mostly parents or babysitters (it changed over time) but many without kids just getting fresh air reading a book having lunch exercising.

Bad people:.

There was a couple in their early thirties. She had very long brown hair. Dressed in long, flowy dresses that reminded me of granny dresses. He had shaved the sides of his head, his bangs plastered down and to the side. The only thing missing was a .mustache. Even when mandatory they never wore a mask. So cliche. You also get the idea. They had a little blonde boy, maybe five.

No vaccines yet. Didn't want to bring anything home so as long as they stayed at a safe social distance...They must have overheard my science related conversations. Suddenly she approached me. "This is a private park. You don't belong here". She said. I ignored her. She was insistent. "It's a public park. Please wear a mask as mandated", I replied. She backed away. After they left a parent approached me telling me that what they'd done was inappropriate and weird.

Another day another encounter. This time:"This is a park for children. Where is your child?" They were trying to provoke me. I always wore a mask and I wouldn't engage with them. They always accosted me. I was sitting on my bench minding my own business.

Again. This time he wore a surplus army jacket. I noticed that the husband always stood by her side but never said anything. The little boy always played by himself.

Over the course of a year I started to notice that within half an hour of me arriving in the park so did they despite my irregular hours.

Again. I was in the middle of a conversation with my friend, who overheard when the wife approached me again. "Why are you here without a child?" I told her to stop insinuating and leave. My friend was baffled. We couldn't figure it out. The wife got aggressive. The park emptied quickly. Before I left too, I could see that the little boy was on one of those rocking horses. The mother self satisfied. The little park was theirs. The other parents continued playtime outside the park. One approached me. "They've been a problem for a while. The little boy doesnt play with any of the other kids not even in the sandbox. He pushes the kids aside when he wants to use the slide and they all wait in line". "Why didn't you say something. Intervene? They would have stopped." I replied.

She was embarrassed.

On my way home I called the cops. They advised me on what to do.

Another day. This time the wife ran up to me. Again something about children. The wife was aggressive. Then as she walked toward me: "You and your spouse probably cant have children". I laughed. She got close and took a pic. "I do not consent to having my picture taken remove it." I stood up angry. She took another one. I repeated myself louder and clearer. She ran back to her husband. "Remove the pic!" I yelled across the park. Then I called the cops.

Luckily, I knew him. Even better he knew the law as did I. The cops couldn't do much previously because they were in the grey area of the law. They were well trained by whatever group they belonged to. She had tried to get me riled up. It had not worked.

This was a circumstance where she couldn't take my image without consent and I made that very clear. Now, they could be charged. This whole time I didn't know if they were dangerous. I was all my dad had. I couldn't risk getting hurt. 

I explained and answered questions to the cop, they were on the way. To ensure my safety while I was on the phone with them, I yelled at the couple: "I warned you. Cops are on the way. I'm talking to them right now." The couple quickly gathered their son, even left behind their sons pedaled car and took off.

The behavior made more sense, they had prior run ins. I never saw them again. The experience changed me. I will never forgive the people who stood by and didn't say anything, but wasted my time asking me cov questions when they were scared.

Bystander Intervention courses are available everywhere. Most are free. They train and teach what to do if you see something or if it happens to you. It's very useful. I stayed calm as a result of the training. One option of intervention is to get to a safe distance and call the cops.

DNA and Genomics.The basics.

 This is a very superficial but hopefully easy to understand post on DNa and genomics.

My analogy: Scientific research is like Hogwarths stairs. The goal is to get to the top (and discover something). You start on the staircase of those before you. Sometimes the staircase moves in the wrong direction, sometimes it goes nowhere, sometimes you have to start from the beginning and climb back up. Cant get anywhere without that first step or building a foundation. To use known examples newton. Then Einstein then hawking.

My entire life I've been used to indifference from the nonscience sector or people. At best they would ask some questions at worst their eyes would glaze over. What I wasn't used to is people picking fights or personal attacks. During covid I had almost daily encounters until I eventually gave up.

Yes. Please tell me again that you're mucho macho immune system will protect you when the 30 to 50 male demographic was hit the hardest.

The human genome project started in the 1990s and was partially completed in 2003 in which it identified 92% of our DNA sequences. It was only possible with the collaboration of many labs University and countries across the world. 6 billion base pairs in endlessly recombined chromosomes. In 2021 the telomere to telomere project "completed" it at 98%.

The delay was a combination of governments withdrawing funding, biotech private companies investment companies stepping in for funding (but needing a financial return), different measuring techniques and the non-existence of supercomputers.

There are still gaps, we don't know what most of it does, junk DNA is probably just dormant DNA, we can identify a few abnormalities and mutations but nothing related to any genetic heritage beyond grandparents. And almost nothing pertaining to phenotypes or geographic adaptation.  That's still the work of forensic anthropologist. (Bone structure).

In 2003 the entire genome of drosophila the Fruitfly was sequenced, easy to study, some scientist probably joked humans were fruitflies without wings the media ran with it and turned it into we share 99% with them. We don't. It's akin to claiming that just because my chair shares the same atoms as me; I'm a chair.

Where it is being used successfully is reclassifying living Animals. (More on that later).

Within 1000 years about 75% of DNA is completely gone. We barely have fragments left.

So. What we have right now is being called DNA profiling. It's possible to identify an individual and their closest relatives (siblings and parents), but that's it. If the idealized situation happens you get 50% from each of your parents, 25% from your grandparents, 12.5% from your great grandparents genetically speaking,  but there are dominant and recessive genes, how it all recombines is an unknown. At best there are 4 generations (80 years if each generation is 20 years), but not 10 generations or 200 years.

If there's further interest make sure you look at which century and decade something was published, who published it and what their background was.

Will there be technology in the future that will discover what we can't measure yet because we don't even know it exists? Yes.

Please note: I do not have enough knowledge about ancient DNA and the type of tissue samples they take. That specialized field is paleoanthropology. This is a continuation of previous posts. Have samples been taken from famous people? Yes. Again I don't know how usable they are, but they won't connect a lineage.

There goes my aristocratic chateau in France.

The good news is, DNA degrades completely after 7 million years, so Dinosaurs are never coming back. Big sigh of relief.

DRAMA on my blog that I did not need right now

 

When I started to blog the first time, quite a while back i was talked into it by friends. I enjoyed it tremendously. It was a creative group and it became a creative outlet that sparked my own creativity. We were supportive, courteous funny and introduced eachother to eachother as well as things that we might find interesting.

Above all, we respected eachother and our individual artistic expressions including privacy. People were polite courteous and gracious. As happens with anything life happens and some like myself stopped. We kept in touch through other means. Throughout the years there was only one incident were a fellow blogger disagreed with me, it happened to be about science and got personal. I emailed him diplomatically telling him that it was inappropriate.  To my surprise he apologized and invited me to do a guestblog on that particular science topic. Ultimately, we realized that we were both right. Friendships were created.

Some of my friends are on other platforms that aren't compatible with this one.

Re-explaining:

Then a series of serious events happened followed by being a fulltime 24/7 caregiver for my father during covid which destroyed every aspect of my life. I am tough, was always the go to person. But this? Sadistic people who neglected and stole from him and by default me? Three companies that he paid for to assist him, who neglected him? I found him sitting in a chair, barely coherent with "sign here" post it notes stuck to his shirt. A 10 page form on the table in front of him. I ran grabbed a few bottles of apple juice and water and brought him back.

Nonstop for months that turned into years due to covid. I did the job of five people at once. The caregiver support group turned out to be some incompetent people who didnt help me navigate the system, but offered trite "must be very difficult" type of counseling.

I stopped writing or painting for myself for the first time in my life. Health issues went unaddressed. This post is not about my father, but that I'm still recovering from it, because I did not get time for bereavment. Grief had to be suppressed so I could function, but i was in shock and traumatized. The first step was my mental and physical health.

Blogging was a part of that. Back to the arts, sharing science and interesting finds, except what initially happened is that I wasn't used to it anymore; grief bubbled up, people did need to understand eventhough I owe no one an explanation. So, I also needed a supportive community. Many came through for me. Thank you.

Privacy:

However, returned to blogging, people's behavior had changed, the toxicity of the internet had rubbed off on some of them. No matter how many times I explained that this is not a personal autobiographical blog; it's even in my profile, I kept having to reexplain it. I don't do day in the life and spouse does not want personal pics or anything beyond hobbies out there.

Our private space is our own. There are laws that protect my privacy and I disclose what I choose. I expect people to respect that.

Thoughts and sharing information about art, commenting, encouraging creativity debate and amicable discussion that follow basic netiquette and the creation of a comfortable supportive space, is what this blog is about, especially now.

The Drama:

I do not TOLERATE abuse or personal attacks. I give people a chance to clarify and apologize if need be. Sometimes I let things go and move on, other times I call people out on their behavior. This is one of those times.

I had a couple of science ideas in draft, ancestry and genome were among them and the "Muggle" post was leading up to the "Ancestry" post. Posted it and as I sometimes do wanted to share the info that was already public.

There's a blogger some of my readers know whom I enjoyed because of his photography. Mr. Photography took offense, started to argue science and left a cryptic verbal comment. Then he threw a hissy fit, removed me from his blogroll. I gave him time to calm down and extended grace.

I was also disappointed that only one person said anything.

He called me condescending and thought that I had written the post for or about him, when I was referring to the journalist of a major paper, which he's not. I was suprised at his self-absorption and the complete disregard about trampling on my emotions. Talk about kicking a dog when theyre down.

I waited for a few days and he basically pulled a juvenile "let me dump my sh..t on you and leave".

I expected more from someone who is supposed to follow the Journalistic Code of Ethics and Standards.

I will continue to fill my life with the things I enjoy and anyone who wishes to come along is more than welcome here.

People think that grief slowly gets smaller
with time
In reality, grief stays the same size,
but slowly life begins to grow bigger
around it

Most of the exchange is in the Ancestry post.

I bought a Notesbog journal

 I love fore-edge painted books and was happy to see the trend is coming back beyond the gold edged kind.

https://youtube.com/shorts/EffVWv3jmJU

When I was in Europe I discovered a store called flying tiger Copenhagen. I dismissed it when I walked past (there was a lot of pastel and pink), but then something caught my eye and I explored. It's a neat store, a lot of new design. It's somewhere between great dollar store and I've never seen this before. I thought it was geared toward children and teens but it had a few decent finds.

The store is marketed as a treasure hunting store, which is exactly what it is.

The paper is too thin for my liking, but for notes and ideas journaling, I liked this light weight flexible black vinyl Notesbog. Designed in Denmark, made in China.

Makes me smile.

Sciencesplaining: Your Ancestry

Gary Larson

This is going to be a post where I'm screaming into the void.

For obvious reasons there is a renewed interest in heritage and ancestry and geneological descendants. Here we go again.

I'm reading blogs and SM posts where people are doing their geneological trees (unless you go into archival records of births almost impossible) and DNA ancestry.

The latter is probably one of the best scams I've ever seen. 

1. This is not how DNA or the genome works

2. There is no test at present that can test your ancestry accurately. I DONT CARE WHAT THE INTERNET SAYS.

Seniors are the most gullible target group

3. Your genetic information is your property

DNA based Anc.

This is data fed into a computer database and your paying for a printout. If you have anything African in your printout (and you're white); congratulations you got duped.

Most Americans have European heritage. If youre white based on the law of probability there'll be a high percentage of a European mix. Mostly western because...eastern Europeans didn't track it and there is not much of a data base in North/west Africa, especially none that could differentiate countries there.

So. Where are all those genome differences coming from if there is no data set to compare it to and differentiate from?

Well. Your geographic location is one data set. Haven't seen the forms you fill out. Next up is that it's being compared to other people who are sending it in, probably not your ancestors.

POCs can be African, Caribbean or other places. Also not being considered because there is NO data. (I'm picturing some poor bloke named John Lamar the fifth sitting in an office: Hey John could we take a swab again to throw it into the mix again as evidence)

Instead of a pyramid scheme you're probably getting friends and family involved because hey you're from France (dating as far back as Gaul?) or Prussia or Germania or I'm tired of this.

23a.me was valued at 6billion in 2021, probably made 5.9, went bankrupt, selling your genetic info in the process. There's a class action lawsuit at the moment:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/30/why-i-regret-using-23andme-i-gave-up-my-dna-just-to-find-out-im-british

I'm angry because I'm tall, blonde and blue-eyed and for the last decade I have to listen to  strangers' ancestral history (who approach me in RL) when I wasn't asking and it's getting more frequent. (See previous posts). And because this is harming humans and animals alike.

Covid went Bat to human to human. Suddenly pangolin DNA was in the test. They are critically endangered already.

If this BS continues then you may have to explain that ancestral derpy shepherd in your genome to your family one day.

Here are some ethical implications dating back to 2009:

https://jlhochschild.scholars.harvard.edu/publications/politics-genomics-research-implications-dna-racial-identity-and-race-based

And for your DNA as your property (and another lawsuit)

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a very good book

Submitting your DNA may have the opposite effect of what you intend.

Update. Found another article:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/reporters-dna-ancestry-tests-caught-me-off-guard/

Cooking with Codex: Boomba curry rice and beans without fetch

 

Rice dish in pot
Tastes better than it looks.
Missing some ingredients
because we ate them.

 Hooooney look what I made.

After a taste test spouse told me it was delicious. Unfortunately, we ate and washed the dishes before i remembered to take a picture.

How do you take a picture of the dish in the pot?

Point and shoot.

It doesn't come out right.

Then plate it.

Then I have to wash another dish and do we have any fresh herbs to sprinkle some decoration on top?

Did you buy any?

No

Then, no.

But then I can't do the BOOMBA!!!

The what?

Boomba. Emeril has BAAAM!!! when he throws food into a pot, I say booomba.

No exclamation marks?

!!!

This is my first food image. (Came out pale). I've joined the food blogging crowd. If anyone wants the recipe for Boomba rice, beans and accompanying Kale, sauce, (garlic) tofu curry with almond slices and fetch(Feta) let me know I'll add it.

There is neither sauce nor fetch. Autocorrect has dementia.