Sunday, 16 January 2011
Today, I finished reading Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, by Donald Prothero. It was an unexpectedly dense book (I wasn’t sure I’d finish reading it by the due date); had an interesting first few chapters wherein Prothero mostly responded to stupid claims made by Duane Gish, then finally got to the fossil evidence around page 100. For the next 300 pages, it was a rather dry reading of ‘intermediate’ fossils of all manner of life, ending penultimately with mammals and finally a chapter on humans.
It was only the last chapter (chapter 16) that addressed the “Why It Matters” portion of the book’s title. Under the subheading “Why Should We Care?” Prothero delineates several reasons why rejection of the facts is bad for society. Point #6 is: “Denial of evolution is not just bad science, but it threatens our health and well being.” It was in the short explanatory sentences of this point that I read the most interesting tidbit in the entire book.
Do you remember Baby Fae? I do. Her story (indeed, her entire life) transpired in 1984, when I was just old enough to read about and understand current events myself. I still recall seeing a triptych of pictures in a newspaper which displayed a ‘normal’ human heart, Baby Fae’s severally defective heart, and a baboon heart.
See, when Baby Fae was 12 days old, Dr. Bailey of the Loma Linda University Medical Center fitted her with a baboon heart. It made the evening news, all the headlines, and a great line in one of my favorite songs. She died less than a month later.
I knew all that stuff before. What I didn’t know until today was that Dr. Bailey is a Seventh-Day Adventist and the hospital he worked for was funded by the Adventists. Prothero’s book links Baby Fae’s death with Dr. Bailey’s refusal to accept evolution; when asked by reporters why he didn’t select a chimpanzee heart instead (since the genetic match to a human would be closer than it would between a baboon), Bailey replied that he didn’t believe in evolution.
I looked online, and it appears that Bailey went against the medical community’s general consensus when he suggested the transplant to Baby Fae’s parents. Conversely, the Adventist News Network continues to praise Bailey as a legendary hero who tried his best to undo the botch-job that god performed when he created Baby Fae.
I wish I could find more about this story. The Adventists, like most religions, assuredly promote ignorance and bad science. But in researching Bailey’s background, he had no experience with chimpanzee’s, so he possibly didn’t feel as comfortable working with them even if one was available. And then there are other questions: Are chimps as readily available as baboons? My gut tells me no. Would acquiring a chimp heart have been cost prohibitive? Would the infant have survived even with a chimp heart? What would her quality of life have been? How would Paul Simon have concluded the third verse of his alliterative masterpiece? (One option: “The boy in the bubble / and the child with the chimpanzee heart.”)
But seriously, there just seems to be something missing in the links that supposedly chain Baby Fae’s demise on Dr. Bailey’s ignorance.
Monday, 17 January 2011
In honor of Martin Luther King, I had the day off of work today. Since none of us had left the house since Friday evening – well, unless you count Owen playing on the deck or me taking out the trash – we decided to go out to eat. We went to DaVanni’s. We all dined for less than twenty bucks which, when we’re feeding three people (well, technically four), is a good deal.
The key to keeping the price under $20 is not buying any beverages. We just had water. Years ago, my wife pointed out that it’s bad to “drink your calories,” and I’ve been cognizant of that ever since, which is one reason why I’ve been able to maintain this stunning physique for so long.
Owen asked why we didn’t get root beer. I thought this was a funny question for him to ask because we usually don’t get a beverage when we go out to eat, but I suppose he saw the root beer logo and was suckered into craving it. I told him it was too much money, as a drink for each of us would have upped the ticket price by over $5.
So now we’ve gotten to the point where ordering a beverage other than water is considered splurging. When we go out to dinner for our anniversary, or for some other festive occasion, then we allow ourselves to get a beverage (usually iced tea). Sometimes, if we go to a fast food establishment, we’ll get just one beverage and share it.
After all, they have free refills.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Over six years ago, I acquired a set of headphones for use at work. They were great: the band went up over my head and the part that hung over my ears was comfortable. The best part was that they were cordless. This was an awesome feature, as it allowed me to move around in my cube, walk over to the printer and even to the coffee area and bathroom without having to take off my headphones. I listened to music on them but, since I had them plugged into my computer, I heard a little PING whenever a new email came through, immediately alerting me to the presence of some new spam without having to obsessively check my email.
Well, those headphones stopped functioning about a week ago. The part that plugs into the computer – the antenna portion – seems fine; it’s the headphones themselves that are no longer operative.
Today, during my lunch break, in an effort to mitigate this new found cubicle hell, I ventured to Target and perused their headphone selection.
Results: not good.
For one thing, about a quarter of the headphones were just for MP3 players – meaning I’d have to snap on an iPod or other such device if I wanted to use them. About half of the headphones were the earbud style, you know, so you can feel like you have a Q-tip in your ear all day. I have three sets of those one of my desk drawers at work, and we have more laying around at home. I’m not a fan. Then there were these styles that hook around your glarpo and then hang behind your head, almost on your neck. Okay, I have the same issue with these as I do with earbuds: they don’t stay up. My son would explain this as gravity pulling them down, and I think that’s an accurate enough description for our needs here.
There were more options, though: There were some souped-up headphones that claimed to be the best sound around. They had a cord that was 5 meters long. Though I was attracted to the sue of metric units, I quickly decided that a 16 foot cord would be helpful 1% of the time and annoying 99% of the time. Also, I don’t need the best sound around, so $40 seemed a bit steep for my needs.
I ended up buying a $9.99 pair of simple headphones; the style that came standard with Walkmans in the 1980s. The cords is about five feet long, so I’m sure to be annoyed with the tethering prospects, but, oh well. Tomorrow I’m plugging them in and rocking to some tunes.
Even if it’s not the best sound around.
Oh, one other thing — I felt like I could really feel for this person’s frustration: How Bad Marketing Killed My Dog.
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