Baltimore Aquarium's bold move

This is a great move and I hope it will be emulated by many more aquariums.

Virtual reality has become a reality and we do not need to keep animals and aquatic life in close confinement for our entertainment.

Read here:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/entertainment/baltimore-s-national-aqua/2872552.html

This is a very humane move by Baltimore National Acquarium to move its dolphins to a Dolphin Sanctuary in the future. Perhaps it will be nice to establish a way for dolphins to go to the open sea from the sanctuary and be back if they find a need, or even bring their friends. This will give them an opportunity to get a good idea of their roots.



Donate here:

 

Interesting programs at Singapore International Festival of Arts 2016

Interesting programs at Singapore International Festival of Arts 2016

 Singapore International Festival of Arts(SIFA) 2106 will be held in Singapore from 11th August to September 2016 and has excellent program listing.

Watch this stunning video of the 'Still Life' show:


Or this rendering of Hamlet here;



If you have enough time on hand or you are in Singapore at this time, participate in (Open, Participate, Engage, Negotiate) OPEN.

"The O.P.E.N. connects you with SIFA four weeks before the opening of the Festival. It directs you to consider a breadth of issues and perspectives inspired by SIFA’s annual festival theme. Styled as a popular academy, it presents a curated selection of events through diverse platforms"

Review OPEN events here:
https://sifa.sg/theopen/event/

More here:
https://sifa.sg/

In the name of justice remove this judge

Brock Turner case sentencing resulted in such an incredibly light sentence that it is unbelievable. Brock's father's reaction is even more incredible. What in the world is happening!

The least that should be done is to remove the judge. The other option is to bring in more than one judge in rape cases.

Here is a petition you may want to sign, if you feel as enraged as I am.

Pigs to the rescue of humans

Scientists attempting to harvest human organs in pigs by creating human-pig embryo

Donor shortage is a srious problem facing the health care providers. Livers, corneas, hearts etc. are in short supply for implanting into people suffering from various disorders or malfunctioning organs.

University of California have come up with a scheme to grow human organs in animals, like pig for later harvesting. Animals will serve as surrogates and once they provide the organ they are discarded.

This is exactly the process according to the cited site at the conclusion of this post,

"To create the “chimeric” embryos, the scientists used a gene-editing technique known as Crispr to knock out a section of the pig’s DNA necessary for the embryo to develop a pancreas. "

Looks like pancreas is one organ that has the best chance of being grown, as pig themselves have no competing mechanism, whereas for other organs the locals(pig) can compete against the guest(human) and win against.

Here is what they are worried about according to a well know research institution,

“You are basically creating a vacuum, a hole, so that the human cells respond to the right cues, they make a pancreas. The pig cells can’t. But what we don’t know, and this is what they need to look at, is whether the human cells can also contribute substantially to other tissues, and particularly they are worried about the brain,” 
Sure enough, pigs with human brains!

Read the fascinating story here:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2016/jun/07/human-pig-chimeras-history-xenotransplantation
More fascination here:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/05/organ-research-scientists-combine-human-stem-cells-and-pig-dna

Time has come to fork political parties

Election 2016 is known for candidates claiming that the elections are 'rigged'. This is indeed serious.

A well known fix for this situation is for the parties to splinter. I believe both the political parties should fork and generate 2 more parties, so that come the next election, there will be 4 parties and my dream come true.

Followers of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump should use this opportunity to launch political platforms based on the ideas that have made them popular. This is the moment!

I never belonged to any political party due to the fact I lived like a nomad, not rooted in any particular country. USA is where I have lived for the longest part of my life and I believe this country should have a plurality of political parties.

Reform or fork!

Should Bernie Sanders hang his hat?

A resounding no. On the contrary he should stay till the end game. This is not just a fight for becoming the President Of USA, it is a fight to bring about a profound change in the society. In fact, he is obliged to fight on for those principles, as so many have thrown in their lot with him for a future they believe in.

Move on to DC. This may be easy for the Secretary, though.

First of all, he should make it a point to change the way elections are run and the way they are financed. Right now the rich and the famous have a free run of how the elections are run by throwing money at it. This works best for those candidates who can bestow favors on the donors once they are in the office.

Make the election process more transparent, uniform for one and all; no superdelegates; and no big money donors.

Get Geeksy and start your connected home experience right here and now

General Electric Company is marketing light bulbs (they have always done before) that can be operated and programmed using Bluetooth on your cell phone.

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You will also download and use an app that can be used to control the light in various ways. The bulbs screw into the standard sockets and you can program them remotely (50ft limit) and you can control any number (perhaps some 80 which is way to numerous) of bulbs. You can also create groups of bulbs to follow a command.


The bulbs are easily controllable using your smartphone and you do not need yet another remote. They use LEDs and life is long. You can dim or brighten, adopt to sunlight or dim for bed room. Right now for iOS and Android Phones only.

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Read more here: https://www.cbyge.com