The issue of Scientific American, April 2007, that currently sits on top of the pile beside my toilet (pile of magazines) has an article on the genetic basis behind alcoholism, “Alcoholism and Our Genes”. As usual with Scientific American, a great article, and it prompted some deep thinking about addictions.

I am very thankful for my genes. Never wanted to smoke or drink. Smoking is suicidal, smelly but most of all, expensive. Alcohol upsets my stomach and I hate losing control and it has a lot of calories I do not need and it is also expensive. We keep some wine and beer in the fridge, Schlitz and Carlo Rossi, choices we really like. But they sit in there taking up room for weeks. Schlitz is a good thirst quencher and carb jolt after cutting the grass. In other words, I don't understand. An interview on a news show a while ago had a man who was a drug addict, an alcoholic, and a smoker. He said he could kick the drugs and alcohol, but could never kick the nicotine (even though the tobacco companies say there is no evidence that it is addicitve). I really admire someone who can kick it, like when the Surgeon General's report came out.

Most of all, I refuse to have some stupid chemical controlling my life. True, we need sugar and water and protein and they control what we do all day. I have a little bit of a problem with hypoglycemia and sometimes feel the effect sugar has. But that is different. Like in Invictus (see my 20 February, 2007, and 16 June, 2006 entries), “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Alcohol and drugs and tobacco are for wimps who can not run their lives without a crutch. But then, I am sure I do not understand.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for what you have given me and mine.

I was blog surfing the other day and ran across this on http://butterfly52.blogstream.com/. It is a prayer attributed to Thomas Merton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton), a fascinating man. Some books I probably need to read sometime.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot see for certain where it will end. Nor, do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am following You does not mean that I am actually doing so. But, I believe that the desire to please You, does in fact please You. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may be lost and in the shadows of death. I will not fear for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone

A couple of others that I particulary like are the Prayer of St. Francis (http://www.st-francis.org.htm)(see my 19 June, 2006 entry) and the birthday prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (http://www.bcponline.org – Prayers and Thanksgivings #51).

A couple of things on the same day seem too much of a coincidence to let go by. The first was seeing “Flags of our Fathers” thanks to Netflix. The second was a Discover program, “Before the Dinosaurs”, about the animals on earth just before the dinosaurs appeared.

Reality bites. If “Flags of our Fathers” and “Saving Private Ryan” have any message it is that war truly is hell. The cost to humanity in pain and lives and treasure is so horrible. It does separate the men from the boys, however. The soldier from the politician. One other aspect of World War II is the spectacular leaps in so many fields that came from it. Computers, plastics, transportation, medicine, diplomacy, theoretical physics, politics to name just a few. It is fifty years later and we are still refining those basic discoveries. Necessity is the mother of invention. Darwinian Evolution is going to work its best when things are the most challenging. When the going gets tough....

Of course, the time when reality really bites is when Mother Nature comes down on us in full force. The Permian-Triassic Exctinction, the Great Dying, about 251 million years ago, in which 9/10 of the species on earth disappeared. “90-96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates became extinct.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesozoic) What brought the jump to dinosaurs was a continent almost all desert. And it was the only continent on earth, the supercontinent Pangaea. The predinosaur reptiles did not make the cut and something bigger and better crashed through.

At the time of one of the great ice ages, one science show speculated that we evolved our ability to speak in an effort to survive the disaster. In another, because of the drought accompanying the ice age, homo sapiens was down to about a thousand individuals, on the edge of extinction. The toughest are our ancestors. Around 1800, a mini ice age hit agriculture hard. And we got the French Revolution and Napoleon.

It makes one think. What will come next? A disaster of our own making? A disaster of Mother Nature's making? There most certainly will be one or the other. I only hope it is after my lifetime and my grandchildren's lifetime. When it comes, what will the survivors have to show for all of the pain and suffering? And the big question, will we make the cut? Will we get what we deserve? Reality bites.

On Good Morning America this morning there was an interview with Melinda Gates. She was talking about being very concerned over the education system in the United States. As a retired science teacher and now-a-days an online tutor, it prompted a few thoughts.

Wictionary says education is “The process of imparting knowledge, skill and judgement.”(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/education). That is a good definition. Wikipedia: “Education is the organized teaching and training of students.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education). Not very helpful. Farther down the article it says: “Schooling occurs when a society or group or an individual sets up a curriculum to educate people, usually the young.” Better. I remember one of my education courses (Lynchburg College, MEd, 1976, VA) saying that education is the passing on of a culture to new generations, enculturation. A good definition, thought provoking. I would like to add one of my own: education is the passing on of culture and knowledge and skills so that each generation can do what they do best, be better than the ones before.

Of course, Mrs. Gates is correct. We should be concerned with the state of education in the United States. And in the world. The fate of the United States and the world is at stake. And even if we were doing a great job at it, we could and should do better.

There is also the “glass is half full” view. Literacy, one of the critical basic skills, is up. High school graduation rates are up. College enrollment is up. Job requirements and skills are more demanding and are being met. I tutor online in chemistry and physics. Some of the questions I get from students are brain strainers even though I have an MS in chemistry (Western Reserve, 1967, NSF). I retired from teaching in good private schools (VES, Trinity, HHP) over five years ago and I can see real progress, from 9th grade through AP.

Are the SOL's the reason? Could be. I used to be very critical about “teaching to the test”. Taught in an IB school in France for a few months. All we did was solve example problems to prepare for the IB exam. They never did learn the basic concepts. We were doing some acid-base problems, fairly difficult ones, but they did not know what acids and bases are, how you could identify one if it was on your lunch plate. And the teacher virtually read from a script. I took some minutes from the problems to explain the basic acid-base concepts and a couple of the students told me they learned more from those minutes than from the rest of the class period.

On the other hand, making students and teachers accountable can not help but be a good thing. Giving teachers and students better technology can not help but be a good thing. I know the arguments and they are valid. There are difficulties and misapplications. The learning curve will have some squiggles. In general, however, it keeps going up.

There is a TIAA-CREF ad which shows a professor standing in front of a large lecture class. I liked it because it, and my online tutoring, remind me that teachers really do enjoy educating. Education, private or public, is pretty much one of those undertakings where the main goal is not making a profit. If you want to become rich, education is not the place to be. I remember a story about a doctor appearing in front of St. Pete. He outlines all the lives he saved. St. Pete asks him how much money he made. After the doctor's spectacular response, St. Pete tells him he already had his rewards and puts him on the elevator down. Next in line is a teacher, confident after hearing the doctor's verdict. The teacher oultines all his student's achievements. St. Pete asks him if his students appreciated his efforts. The teacher glowed and said they certainly did, and that he enjoyed his contributions. St. Pete says he has already had his rewards and puts him on the down elevator.

As long as teachers do their best because they feel they are helping their students and the culture they are passing on, things are bound to get better. God is in his Heaven, evolution is alive and well. The next generation will be better. The glass is better than half full.

The April issue of Scientific American has an editorial on the GINA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The Senate act, S1053, is available at http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/L41HEALTHLABORdmkh100203.pdf. The House bill, HR 493, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h493ih.txt.pdf. The government's track of both the House and Senate bill's progress is at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-306. The history of the bill by the Coalition for Genetic Fairness is at http://www.geneticfairness.org/act.html. The Coalition's statement on why the bill is necessary is at that site, also.

In a nutshell, the act would prevent prejudicial treatment based on genetic information. Particularly, insurance companies would supposedly not be able to refuse coverage or change premiums because of your genes.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), passed 98 to 0. The House bill was introduced in 1995 by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and 2005 by Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL). It did not pass either time.

The news, such as what I read in Scientific American ( breast cancer - http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=china-experts-identify-ca, colon cancer - http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=researchers-link-gene-mut, infertility- http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=gene-mutation-associated, ALS – http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=stem-cell-study-zeroes-in, to mention just a few.) show that modern science is finding numerous ways to use genetic data to warn of a predispostion toward health problems. Each person's having access to his genetic data could have tremendous benefits. The cost of this decreases dramatically and it is conceivable that it could be practically available very soon.

The first question is whether we need to protect this information. And the obvious response, you know we do. Should your medical and life insurance company have access to it, and they will, coverage for a large percentage of us will disappear. And not because we have diabetes, for example, but because we might get it. Or because I might become an alcoholic despite being an actual teetoler or obese despite being a marathon runner.

And now, why not pass the bill? We would like to believe that bills pass through Congress because they would help us somehow. Sure, and I have this bridge in Brooklyn. In this situation, it sort of seems like a battle between the insurance lobby and the pharmaceutical lobby. I would think that the pharmaceutical industry would find a way make a lot of money from widespread genentic testing. And insurance will, of course, fight it tooth and nail. Did the pharmaceuticals win in the Senate and insurance in the House?

Why can't we get Congress to do what is best for us? Aren't they there to represent us?