Freedom of Speech

Recently, came across a disturbing piece of news. A university of colorado professor, Ward Churchill was censured and may lose his tenured professorship. His crime was to voice his opinion about the 911 cause, and going against the prevalent public opinion. And this in a country which supposedly was born on the principles of freedom, and tries to spread (read force) it around the globe. Shameful....

This brought again to the forefront my opinions about political and economic system in a country. People of that country have the right to choose whatever form they wish. And particularly, universal democracy is a lofty ideal, as lofty as the ideals of Marxism, but similarly difficult to implement. Democracy means voicing of one's free will. But, it is so difficult to have that. In this country definitely, it is not free, it is coerced and manipulated will. That definitely does not lead to true democracy. So, freedom of speech and press are critically essential for a properly functioning democracy, else the democracy gets as stifled as it has gotten here.

Earthworm and Snake

And so the story about "digging for earthworm, and finding a snake" :-) It all started with me being sick for much of last month. I was finally diagnosed after multiple blood tests, chest x-rays and umpteen other tests to be suffering from mononucleosis. It is a common viral infection here, caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus. Aparently it weakens the body quite a bit, and I was advised no-strain for a few months. Interestingly, I also learnt from the doctor (after spending almost all the afternoons of last week at the medical centre) why no anti-virus vaccines can't be made. Because, unlike bacteria, the virus mutates very fast in the course of weeks or months or years. So, it is extremely difficult and not cost-effective to create a anti-viral only for it to be become ineffective in sometime.

Anyways, now for the snake part. I had my blood profile done and I seemed to have a less than normal MCV ad MCH. Those are mean volume and size of haemoglobin cells. In trying to figure out the cause for that, they did a haemoglobinopathy profile. And today the doctor called me up to say that I had Haemoglobin E trait heterozygous. It is a genetic trait, caused by substitution of lysine for glutamic acidat position 26 of the chromosome. This interferes with mRNA processing. But, I was heterozygoes, and it is a recessive gene, so I was a carrier, not affected by it. So, instead of 94-98 % haemoglobin A, I had 75% A, and 25% of this mutated haemoglobin E. This aparently is very prevalent in south east asia, mainly Cambodia and Thailand, but also in south east asia, bangladesh and north-east india. This is also the second most common haeomoglobin disorder after sickle cell anaemia. Learnt a lot about haemoglobin, including the different types - A, S (sickle cell), C, A1, F, etc. So, my condition in benign. And there has been some research done on the reason behind the extent of this mutation in parts of the world. Aparently, it is not proved, but this might decrease the chance of malaria happening, which is very common in these parts of the world. Sickle cell provably prevents malaria germ from infecting. So, interestingly Darwin's natural selection chose this mutant variety because it is fitter to survive in these climes. Amazing. And it piqued again my latent and intensive interest in genetics.

Sources:
1. Haemoglobin E - orpanet
2. Hemoglobinopathies - Harvard
3. Thalassemia - Virginia
4. Final diagnosis - UPitt

Trail by Jury

Recently, was following the case of trial by jury of Michael Jackson. Was always curious on how the jury is selected, and when is a trial done by jury.
http://www.212.net/crime/jury.htm
gives a very nice overview of the jury selection process. Aparently, it is completely messed up system. Any eligible voter can be called for jury duty, and the lawyers on both sides can put forth various arguments for dismissing or choosing particular jury members. And the final selection is based on stereotypes, race, gender, sex, age, leftist or not, and many such issue. It was interesting to read - the lawyers don't want left leaning highly educated people from cities, because they will have independent and rational thinking, and cannot easily be enticed to take sides. And the article quotes, "In England, the trial begins after the jury is selected. In the United States, the trial is over after the jury is selected."

Yosemite

They dont joke about bears and yosemite.....
http://www.gapingmaw.com/

Still remember the 2 nites in wilderness camping in yosemite in 2002 summer, with bear canisters to keep beers away from our tent for the smell of food/cream, using flash of my camera to go out in the night as our torch broke, and hiking all day in beer country
phew !!!!