PRADA baby

CHRISTMAS WISHLIST 09’

- Designer handbag
- Designer jeans
- Designer heels
- DESIGNER BABY?

Yes, designer babies only for three easy payments of $3999.99. You would get a choice of sex and eye colour and to demonstrate you our appreciation, we will throw in a choice of hair colour for FREE!!!

With our rapid scientific advances it won’t be long until you are able to basically order your children online, without the complications like sex. Scientist is introducing the new idea of allowing parents to pick certain genetic traits of their children. No longer do people have to worry about getting a boy or because they can MAKE it happen. When I first read about this idea, one thing popped in my head right away Mr. Potato head, a toy we loved. We were able to create him however we wanted him to be, which is not very different from these “designer babies”. The only difference is that we are talking about a real living baby created in God’s image and not a plastic potato toy.

So some of you may wonder what a designer baby is? According to Wikipedia it is a colloquial term, which refers to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering. It is done to ensure the presence or absence of a particular genes or characteristics. So where did this all come from? Let’s take a step back into history when this all started.

ONCE UPON A TIME…

In 1953 two men became famous for figuring the structure of DNA. Their names were James Watson and Francis Crick. Watson and Crick’s discovery paved the way for DNA research and led the scientific community to a deeper look of genes and heredity. In 1990 the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health in collaboration with several countries worldwide began conducting perhaps the biggest biology experiment ever, which sought to map out our DNA. They called this colossal endeavor “The Human Genome Project”. The scientist that launched the Human Genome Project believes that the power of genetic information to transform health care to allow earlier diagnoses of disease than ever before and to fuel the creation of powerful medicines. This new knowledge of DNA is changing prevention diagnosis and treatment in all health fields. The Human Genome project has allowed intriguing new discoveries that will certainly lead to prevention of some of today’s most deadly diseases. But knowing humans, we decided to uses this amazing scientific breakthrough to create a consumer market. Thus the birth of “designer babies”

Consequence



When we begin to manipulate certain traits through bio-technology we lose genuine relationship, we form an altered type of bond that is different from what common to us. Many people argue that they may choose the traits of their children will allow a closer bond because they will be more compatible and in common. But other say this will in fact take away the relationship that exists. After reading about a conference titled “Ethnic in the Age Genetic Engineering”, Michael Sandel, Professor of Government at Harvard University, explore the ramifications of designing children. I realized what I find objectionable about the quest for designer children, weather is IQ, height, blond hair, blue eyes or the ability to cure I think the worry has something to do with the idea that part of what makes the parent and child relationship special is that unlike every other relationship we have, we choose our friends we choose our spouses based on qualities we find attractive, but we don’t choose our children. We turn bio-technology into an instrument not a medicine for curing or preventing disease, but the instrument of the consumer society, turning children into commodities being able to pick and choose the genetic traits of children is morally troubling and the distinction must be made in the two. These practices will turn children into nothing more than consumer goods, a car’s a commodity meant to have flexibility in colour and décor, but children are not. The risk of going beyond the medical use is that we will recast the relation of parents to children.
But others argue the loss of human relations will not occur, but a superior race will evolve when we are able to choose the features of the next generation. But this impractical to believe because there is no proof supporting the claim that people with a certain eye colour or attractiveness will be better in anyway. If we do have a certain idea what a superior race is are we any different form Hitler? The only difference would be we decided to do it with in test tube, while he used guns and bombs.

‘Genetic manipulation and enhancement will be the real ethical challenge for us, because it will bring into question the very nature of what it means to be human’
- Professor. Gregory Stock

In addition some parts of the world female babies are aborted for cultural reasons, as a result there is a huge imbalance between the population of male and female in these nations. What would happen in there nations when people are able to genetically engineer the sex of the children? Also genetic selection may lead to a new problem; genetically enhanced people may be separate from their natural born counterparts and given special privileges. We have enough alienation as it is without inventing more.

LOSS OF TRUE BEAUTY

Can human genetic technology lead to a loss of beauty, while it seems at the that goal of a designer baby is to create a perfect and attractive being there something to be said about the uniqueness of a society, that makes the world in which we live so beautiful. Each person has that special which contributes to overall splendor of the world. When human genetic technologies are used to select these traits, the world will become standardized. Many may argue that the selection of these traits will result in greater beauty, eliminating undesired imperfections. But in reality is it the distinct exquisiteness of vary people that make the world so attractive and this is the beauty that must be preserved.

In Hil-Ching’s Thought Bubble…

For all these developments it makes me wonder whether scientific advances always lead to a better society. Are scientific progress and human development running on the same thing? Problem is not with the technology itself. We have the technology; the problem is the practical, moral and ethical consequences of using our knowledge.
What was designed to help eliminate deadly heredity disease will possibly become an instrument of the consumer’s society. The goal to create a perfect and attractive being should not come before the way nature intended us to be. God created us all in him image, we are a part of God and the selection of genes based merely on cosmetic benefits, such eye colours and hair colours, is like changing a part God. God created us, thus we are all beautiful in one way or another. You must do you part in preserving this beauty. Every person has the right to emerge and develop as God intended with the characteristics and individuality given at birth and treasure the valuable relationships of this beautiful society. Beauty is truly found in the uniqueness of society filled with a vast array of talent interest and magnificence.

We really have no way of knowing the genetic changes we made today will pay out in the world of our children’s children. We are making changes that would affect many generations to come. Can we really take that kind of responsibility?

I believe that this all come down to humans desire to claim perfection. But as Antoine de-Saint Exupery said ,”Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness .“ As far as I know as long as we are alive on this earth we will never attain perfection, and maybe that is the beauty of it.

Our scientific discoveries can be our proudest achievement, or our curse.

It is our choice.





Works Cited:
http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/great-designer-baby-controversy-%E2%80%9909
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont3.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439771603075099.html

The Frog Does Not Drink Up the Pond in Which He Lives

Many scientist consider humans as the most invasive species, as human can greatly change an environment and impact living things that reside there. Are we being stewards if the world?

Okay so I am here to blog about human’s being stewards of the world ? After reading countless blogs on this topic I became quite overwhelmed by what my fellow class mates had to say. One would assume that I was beleaguered by the information provided , which constantly push that our world is approaching to an end in the near future. The truth is I’m beset because at the end of all my hard comprehension, I still did not understand what it means to be steward of the world. In the end I concluded that to truly understand I must learn what a steward is. According to oxford dictionary a steward is

1. A person who looks after the passenger on a ship, aircraft, or a train and brings them meals

2. An official appointed to supervise arrangements or keep order at a large public event, for example a sporting event.

3. A person employed to manage another’s property, esp. a large house or estate.

4. A person whose responsibility is to take care of something; farmers pride themselves on being the stewards of the country side.

And world meaning

1. The earth, together with all of its countries, people and natural features.

To clarify the topic, being stewards of the world technically mean a person whose responsibility is to take care of the earth, together with all of its countries, people and natural features. So the question is we as human undertaking our job? Before you compose a utmost unbiased answer to this question you must understand the truth, and to every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before you commit yourself to either.

Unit 2 target date has passed awhile ago, but yet I’m still writing my blog. Some may ask why am I still not done? Procrastination? Most likely. Nervous that Mr. Wong won’t give me a desirable mark? Possibly. But as I sit here I’ve realized some part of me is afraid. I’m afraid to deal with the issues of global warming because I don’t want to consider how my lifestyle is contributing to upsetting the delicate balance of the earth’s atmosphere. I must confess I don’t want to deal with global warming, but with all the recent natural disaster it’s just impossible to disregard. Floods, droughts, tsunamis and cyclones… one after another, many countries live in constant fear of not knowing when or where it will hit next. These natural disasters are like alarm clocks that are constantly ringing, yet no one is willing to listen or wake up. What more will it take to get humans to recognize the beckoning red signals?

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth
Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night
Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation.’ And it was so.
And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind’ and it was so.
God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image’ and it was so.
Humans said ‘Let’s take everything for granted’ and so we did

The world was created on a fragile balance, all living and non-living organisms are all by some means connected. If the correlation were to be shaped into an arithmetic equation I believe it will come across somewhat like this: ecosystem = hydrosphere +lithosphere +atmosphere. The ecosystems are simply formed on the idea of balance, but through the observations of the way humans are interacting with the ecosystem I highly doubt we are an element of the equation. We were given more than we deserve yet we will not stop from taking more, maybe it is human nature to be possessive, but that is no reason for our irresponsible behaviors and actions.
One night while watching television I came across an advertisement by the Real Food Movement it was called “Eat Real. Eat Local.” The commercial was pushing for Canadians to eat locally to help keep the money flowing within the Canadian economy, but I realized something else from this commercial. At one point it states that our food imports have increased 160% in four years while our population has only increased by only 15%. So where are these food coming from? Do we even need that much food imports? Ontario, one of Canada’s best farm lands, imported 4 billion dollars worth of produce more than they exported. Every time we purchase import goods that could be grown or bought locally we approving for foods that needs to be use unnecessary transportation. This is due prices of the imports, just because the imports are cheaper than local grown foods consumers are willing to give up the good of our earth. I’m not saying all of the consumers aren’t willing to pay more for a more eco-friendly product, but most do not believe in the sacrifice.
When we speak of human being stewards of the world it all comes down to the word sacrifice. Our unwillingness to sacrifice and to give is what led us in this position in the first place. And this will only continue until we apprehend that it doesn’t matter if we have everything in the world now, when the world ends we will have nothing at all. There is only so much the earth can offer, and we have and will continue to exceed these limits. The earth is vanishing under our selfish maintenance system. Global warming, animal extinction, polluted fresh water supply, and ozone depletion are only few of the symptoms and signs, which we choose to disregard.
Global warming has been a huge issue in the past few years, but yet some people refuse to believe in it. According to a U.N. study,” the rate of warming has doubled in the past 50 years and the temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere in 20th Century were very likely higher than any other century in at least 1,300 years.” And what are we doing to help? Not enough. Though we have established a plastic bag fee, Canadians still managed created 42.6 million cubic meters of garbage in the last year. On the lines of Canadian contributions we must not forget the carbon emission. Canadian emissions increased 1.06% in 2008 over 2007. Canada's annual per capita emissions for 2008 were 5.13 tonnes, which accounted for 2.08% of the world emission. The worst part this is not all that we are doing. Humans have been barging onto untouched lands, claiming both the animal’s ecozones and lives. Thanks to humans selfish actions in the next decade 25% of all animals may face extinction.
We have to understand right now the human race is balancing on a piece cloth weaved by the fragile webs of the ecosystem. And in each individual of the human race holds a loose thread of this cloth. The more thread we pull the more thread each of us will get, but one thing that we do not understand the small piece of loose thread in our hands is enough, yet the human race still believe in getting more. We will pull until we call through this cloth, but if we do something now we can stop pulling on this, we might even be able to rebuild this piece of cloth.
Since as long as I remember humans has not been stewards of the world, it’s not that we are not able but we choose not to be. But does that mean we can’t ever be stewards of the world? No, there is hope. We are heading in a terrible direction environmentally but humans have survived because we learn and acclimatize relatively quickly. We can’t reinstate what has been lost but we can make progress on this predicament. However the prime problem we have to yet surmount is that many people believe that dilemma such as climate change has nothing to do with them. These people frequently believe that it’s the liability of government and industry, but in truth, these tribulations are linked to each individual’s daily behaviors. We can’t escape the link between the lifestyle of individuals and global warming. Every time we refuse to walk and drive to a destination, every time we leave the tap on while brushing our teeth, every time we leave our electrical appliances on standby we are contributing to global warming. Until we realize the consequences of our individual measures and grasp the fact that we cannot rely on government legislations to save us, we cannot even whisper the words that relates to being stewards of the world. We may never be able to eliminate all damage that have or will be done to the earth, but we can aim for the moon, because even if we miss we’ll land on a star. Some of the best things come out of the simplest matter and would like to end this blog with a song from one of my favorite Disney movie, Pocahontas. There are three lines in the song that made me realized something and I thought that I should share this with everyone also. I believe that all change should be established with these three lines as its central point.

You can own the Earth and still

All you'll own is Earth until

You can paint with all the colors of the wind…

Maybe we will continue to refuse to the constantly ringing alarm, maybe we will continue to choose not to make sacrifices for our future, maybe we will only discontinue taking until there is nothing to take, maybe will by no means be stewards of the world but so long as there’s a maybe, there is hope. Learn from yesterday. Live for the present. Hope for tomorrow. We have to foremost revolutionize our way of thinking before we modify our actions

Sources:
· http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/standards/08/index.html
· .http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/economics/
·http://www.nkellogg.com/balance.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIsEG2SFOvM
[eat real.eat local].

hip hip HORRAY! Final Post :)

Another year has zoomed by. This year I had many ups and downs but i enjoyed my grade 10 year a lot. Finally I’m finished! Though Comp tech had been time consuming, I enjoyed it plenty. This year I learned to use Photoshop illustrator and movie maker. i rewally enjoyed thecircus colIage becuse it brought me down memory lane. On the other hand i didn't enjoy vectorizing quite as much beacuse had a few problems with the artist vectorizing project. You can not understand the wave of frustration that washed over me when I was about to drag my unit 10/11 to the comm inbox folder and it said " file corrupted". but there was nothing i could do except redoing it =(. I also really liked using Photoshop, I especially enjoyed working on the multiple exposure project. I look forward to using my new skills in the future!

I commented on :

Phoebe Lai -YEE.CENT.TRICK.

http://pheebee-media-arts.blogspot.com/2009/06/yee.html

Priscilla Chen -"Cell Phone Etiquette"

http://cpriscilla.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

Velanie George - " Sitting in a Chair in the Sky"

http://velanie.blogspot.com/2009/06/sitting-in-chair-in-sky.html

Jillian De Las Alas -"Colossal U Add Campaign "

http://jruz.blogspot.com/2009/06/colossal-u-add-campaign.html

Erika Rose Bautista - "Fiiiist Post :D"

http://baautista.blogspot.com/2008/11/fiiiirst-post-d.html

Monique Angelica Lim- "The Campaign Trail"

http://moniqueangelica.blogspot.com/2009/06/campaign-trail.html

WASSUP!? change...

Obama and his campaign team took a fairly well-known commercial and turned it into something serious which the people living in the U.S. could relate to. From a funny and memorable commercial advertising "Budweiser," it became something that made people think about who to vote for carefully and realize that anything could happen, including a change. In both commercials, they had the same men except in different situations.

The U.S economy has not been doing well within the past few years, resulting in extreme problems affecting many American citizens. Now, the citizens are facing hardships such as the ones showed in the commercial. These hardships in the commercial include hurricanes as well as the after affects, global warming, the war in Iraq, the stock market crash and the increase in unemployment. The people in the Budweiser commercial seemed so happy and care-free due to Budweiser. But the people in the election commercial faced struggles and in the end, they saw Barack Obama as their way out of the economic crisis and all of their problems. They seeked for Obama's help and Obama was capable of convincing them that he could help change the condition America was heading for. Though althrough that campaign depressing issues were conversed, the end when the last wassup was said and his response was change, it gave a sign of hope. Obama is hope.

TRICK.CENT.EE

The legendary Mary Ward had did it again! After last years amazing art show, echo, it was a tough act to follow. This year¸Eccentrick, has defiantly measured up to its highest potential.

The circus themed art show stretch from the visual art room to the tech rooms. Every inch of the halls and rooms are filled with visual art, media art and photographs. Not that I’m blowing my own horn, but Mary Ward’s art show has never failed to surprise me and this year was no different. To hear the numerous compliments makes the amount time, money and effort spent on the art show worthwhile.

I also got to view a few of the grade tens and grade 12 films. Though the grade ten videos were obviously not at the same level as the grade twelve, but they were still very striking. One of the movies I especially like was the battery movie, simple yet entertaining. This year art show also incorporated a graffiti station which turned out to be a huge hit. Many people had fun watching students rap and dance. With so many impressive pieces of work in the art show it is hard to pick a piece of art I especially like. But if I were to pick I believe the trains in the entrance really grasped the theme well. The mask done by the grade twelve were also very impressive. Each masked represent a different message, each so different yet similar.

Eccentrick was a huge success thanks to the students and staff from the art department. I can’t wait till the next art show!

"Cellphone Elbow"?

I’ve heard of “tennis elbow” but “Cell phone elbows”? We’ve done it again! Apparently cell phone elbow is caused by too much bending of your arm to put a cell phone to your ear. Cell phones has been so popular and overused there is a condition for using it. From cell phones the size of thermoses to the first cell phones with caller ID to now, cell phones that can do online banking. Cell phones have come along way. With the convenience that cell phone bring, you can’t blame us for over using it. With cell phones, you can call, text, email, and even twitter someone. This little device can bring you all kinds of services with the touch of buttons. With the numerous of positive factors of cell phones also comes the problems cell phone brings. We’ve have grown so attached to our cellular devices we can be considered lost without them. We are so attached to our cellular devices; we often use it at the worst time possible, like during class or even at the dinner table. Since using cellular device become a popular trend amount this generation I believe that there should be a set of boundaries for using cellular devices

“Cell Phone Etiquette”

1. Be considerate when you are on your cell phone in public, speak with an indoor voice, no one needs to know what you ate for dinner last night.
2. Understand the environment your in. Your phone does not always have to be on. You need to know when to turn it off.
3. Texting during class is not any better then calling. Respect you teacher and give them your full attention.
4. Keep your phone on vibrate or silent when necessary.
5. Do not text or take calls when driving, no call is worth giving up your life for.

"Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy"

“ Good Morning! It is currently 7:32 am you are listening to Flow 93.5 Tor….” The sound of my radio clock wakes me up. I look into the mirror realizing how my hair was totally not working with me today. I plug in my hair straightener. While I wait, I pull on my crisp, recently ironed, shirt. After running the hair straightener through my hair a few times I go and get cleaned in the washroom. With a few minutes to spare i grab breakfast, hop on the car and head for school.

Within the hour I have used technology constantly from the hair straightener to the radio clock. With a constantly rapid lifestyle we don’t often notice these small encounters with technology in life. Its these little things that we should be thankful for, but are often forgotten. But who blames us we are the generations of the technology.

My mom often say .. “ back in my days we never needed a cell phones or lap tops”. But I believe that there simply isn’t a comparison. At the rate technology is growing we don’t stop to think how fortunate we are to have these new inventions that makes are life so much easier.

We are human, we aim for the best. It is or desire for new technology that is allowing this growth in technology. We often forget to show appreciation simply because we believe its not necessary because there will always be something that will be better and faster. With the amount of prosperous technology at this point there is no turning back. We can only continue to go forward because if we do not roll at the speed of technology we will only be left behind, furthering the distance between you and the rest of the world.

Gaming Gone Wild

Since as long as I could remember, my life has been surrounded by piles and piles of technology. Seeing as that I am of the later generation, it is of no surprise that most of my free time is spent on the computer. With a rather strict father, hand –held games and games systems are absolutely prohibited. On the other hand my mom loves “gaming”, she finally manage to persuade my dad to allow a Nintendo Wii game system in the house. With the new game system, I feel that it is my duty to make up for the years that I have missed. From guitar hero to cooking mama I’ve played it all. Times seem to fly when I’m on the Wii. If not for the Wii’s game log, I would not realize the amount of time I spent hovering in front television set.

I have even reached extremes from staying up till 3 am in the morning trying to finish all the recipes from cooking mama to playing guitar hero till my wrist ached. Fatigue , aching wrists, flying remotes are only a few symptoms of a new Wii system in the house and i have experienced it all.

Though a great amount of my time is lost on the Wii. I believe that Wii has it's positive points also. Wii is a negotiation between video games and exercise.It also has actually offered some quality time with my family. Often we spend time as a family playing on the Wii and watching my mom box with my dad on the Wii is quite the scene. Though video games are often portraid as an absolutly negative invetion. I believe that a moderate amount of video games is acceptable.

Wii game system: $ 259.95.

DDR Hottest Party: $76.79.

Time Wasted: uncountable

Watching your dad struggle on the DDR mat PRICELESS.