5-31 recovering from the holiday

A good morning with breakfast at Johnson's and a workout at my club. After breakfast I planted the kohlrabis plants from Pam and some spaghetti squash as seeds. I downloaded some new video drivers form NVIDIA which makes multiple screen changes easier to do. Their old system was rather clumsy. Wendy was rained out in her attempt to go riding with a friend. Rotary is having a talk by a woman MD from Mongolia and I am to provide the video projector so I had to unhook it and package it up for transport.

5-30 hunting on memorial day

Riders returning from the Memorial Day hunt in Concord MA 

5-30 another Fox Hunt

it was a beautiful day and the foxes were in fine form. There were five of us with three taking turns walking through the underbrush spreading anise on the foliage for the hounds to follow. The other two walked the trails keep track of us so that we didn't get lost. The hunt was near Esterbrook in Concord on land owned by Harvard. We left from a big estate and had a very well done "tea" after the hunt at another. It is nice that rich people provide all these elegant facilities that we get to enjoy. In the evening we had dinner with friends which consisted of an exquisite spaghetti followed by a hart stopping chocolate gateau from Montreal.

Work on the boat 5-29

It was another night with little sleep. I don't know what is wrong. After coffee at Johnson's I drove to Maine and worked on my boat. It is in the water with mast and rigging. I put on the mainsail and secured the battens in a new way. After the sail I put the dodger on its frame which went rather well. The motor was running most of the time and the alternator doing a good job of charging the four batteries. For lunch I cooked up some oatmeal that was on the boat. The day was sunny and warm (for Maine) until a big black could came in from the west. I called the launch and headed home. On Rt. 101 an intense hail and wind storm hit. Most of the cars pulled to the side of the road. What a racket!. Wendy was washing her trailer and truck after a ride on Mitzi. We had some great scallops for dinner and I worked on Mom's stocks. Her bank wants to churn her account before the end of the quarter. There are sales quotas to meet.

Being a fox isn't easy

Steve was helping Adrian with the tea so I was the Fox for the hunt. Fortunately there was a problem with a landowner so the hunt was shorter than usual. However, the first field was very wet and I was soaked by the time I got across. Later I started sinking on the edge of a stream with my boots and lower pant legs being covered in sticky smelly mud. The tea was very nice with pulled pork, a great hummas and salads and vegetables. I left early because I hadn't sleep well the night before and was not feeling good. The rest of the day was rather a loss.

A slow day 5-26-05

Wendy got back late from visiting the new Dover saddlrey store with Pat. She bought a few things but not too much. They had dinner together as I was at Hargraves political bash. The group was at Johnson's with Bob talking over the affair. I am sort of under the weather today that at least isn't rainny.

Racquetball, horse racing and politics

I got up before 6 am to go play racquetball with my optometrist friend Jad. He is about my age and better at the sport than I. However, I actually won a game. On the way back I stopped at Johnson's for coffee and breakfast. Tiny and Pedro were there and we talked a lot about horse racing. Pedro owns race horses and gave me his take on the Kentucky Derby and Preekness and showed my how to read a racing form. This afternoon I am going to the Hargraves Hoedown to support his candidacy for state rep. It was more of a cocktail party than a hoedown but the hoedown may be another event that Bob puts on. This will be my first time at such a function. I had a nice talk with his wife who said that Bob is in favor of stem cell research because their daughter in law has a neurological problem. The lieutenant governor was there and made a short speech. A very nice looking lady. She has come out in favor of drug testing in schools and I noted that I had expertise in that area.

African Mali school children and Rotary and babies

Mali school children 

I was at Johnson's early but none of the gang was there so I moved on to Skip's for the Rotary meeting. People were slow to arrive and there was no presentation so we all just talked . Deb seems to be doing well with her pancreatic cancer. She got gifts from our Rotary group for the babies that Gabby and Kara just had. Both all are doing well. Jad challenged me to a racquetball game tomorrow at 7:00 am so I will need to practice today in spite of the cold and rain. I signed up for a trial of a new on-line magazine from Nature and it was rather good.
Judy L. gave me her tape on a visit to a school in Mali Africa. Judy is into African dance and has made several trips to Mali. She is working on supporting a new school in a town somewhere in Mali. Judy gave me a tape of a visit to the current school and I transformed it into a DVD that she can use in her fund raising efforts. Earlier this year she with a number of others gave a dance demonstration in the town of Harvard MA that was very well attended and resulted in several thousand dollars for the cause. I am helping her do presentations for local Rotary groups among others.

Star Wars and mass murder 5/24

We are at the start of a nor'easter so the sky is dark and the wind cold. I went to see the latest Star Wars movie. It was good for the genera. It seems that Lucas is the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind. As the episodes progress the bad guys that get blown up have moved from being people to clones to droids. Perhaps Lucas is having second thoughts about the level of violence in his films.

lieutenant governer and drug testing 5/23

There was a big crew at Johnson's this morning. Our local state rep was there and I agreed to attend his fundraiser on Thursday. His guest will be the lieutenant governor who is advocating drug testing in schools. Is and overcast day. My wife went for a ride on her white horse. It looks like the fox hunt will not happen on Tuesday because of the weather.

Hunting and Florida 5/22

I slept in till 7:00 and then went to Johnson's for some green tea. Bob H., Steve P., Tiny M., and others were there with some good talk about the race yesterday. Pedro was especially excited as he owns and races horses. Adrian P. talked about her plans for their new horse farm in Florida and construction methods to avoid termites and live through hurricanes. It is a cold and rainy day so I will work inside.

More hunting and world peace

Today was another hunt. Steve, Pam, Kathy and I did the "drag" by walking through the wood squirting anise on the foliage to provide a scent for the hounds to follow. I loaded up on tick spray and didn't seem to collect any of the little pests. The tea was nice and being there after foxing but before the hunt was complete; I helped Debbie get things set up.
In the evening I watched part of a series of "the technology of star wars" that I recorded in HDTV on my DVR. It is a great machine.

At our local election on Tue. a 5th grader gave me a form to fill out for their largest book in the world project. They wanted contributions by answering questions on world peace. My answers are listed below:

What is world peace?

World peace is not everyone liking one another. It is the elimination of armed conflict and especially the harming of innocent people. There will always be sports which are a type of war that is controlled to minimize harm to participants and others.

Will there ever be world peace ?

I believe that the above definition is possible

Has there ever been world peace?

No. I am a geneticist who has studied the development of our species and biological organisms in general. There has never been peace as the animal and plant worlds have always been locked in a struggle or war of survival. If humans can implement world peace for their species it will be a first is all of history.

Where do you see the world in ten or twenty years?

In your lifetime aging and early death will probably be eliminated. You may be the first to live forever.

What have you done to promote world peace?

My wife and I have supported organizations working for the benefit of mankind around the world. I have also visited and worked with people around the world. During the cold war I made a number of trips to the Soviet Union. The major cause of conflict is fear of the unknown. Person to person interaction is the best way to avoid armed conflict.

What advice can you give kids interested in achieving world peace?

Don’t work for the elimination of conflict but because it is basic to all animals and its demise would mean that we are no longer human. Do work for equity in human relations and the elimination of armed conflict that results in harem to others.

My sailboat in the "pit" waiting to be rigged with mast and boom for the summer 

I started at Johnson's and talked to Steve who was ecstatic that the number of home to be developed at the orchard has been reduced to five 6 acre horse lots. I continued to Maine to work on the boat. The engine was commissioned but the exhaust manifold is somewhat loose. I started the engine and things seemed fine. With the engine going I turned on the radar and that had made it through the winter in fine form. I had not tested it before as the motor needs to be running because of the power consumption. Around noon they moved the boat to the pit and started to work on the mast. Later afternoon the mast was back together and up on the boat. The Wind direction and speed displays seemed to work well. I had to leave before the job was complete.

human genome sequence Craig Venter

In the morning there was a great talk by J. Craig Venter about gene sequencing and his new program to look for biodiversity in the ocean. He is using a 100ft yacht and talking samples every 200mi across the earth. Each sample of many gallons is filtered through Millipore microporus filters ending with a tangential flow ultrafilter. My group at Millipore developed this system in the mid 70's. In the afternoon I took our dog on a walk through the town forest where the hunt will be next Tuesday. In the evening we went to the Trust annual meeting were Wendy got an award for the work as treasurer over the last 15 years. I was a very nice engraved bowl. The work was done by a horse friend.

Bio-it day 2 FDA and garden

Garden 5-18-05 lettuce peas kolhrabi 

I attended Bio-it again and listened to the keynote speech of Lysko from the FDA on bioinformatics and its use in FDA drug and device approvals. He didn't seem to like "homebrew" assays but they are an effective transition between research assays and full FDA approved medical devices. It is often the case that the market is too small initially to support a full FDA application so a homebrew assay is required to help people with disease to be effectively diagnosed. If the market is large enough then an expensive and full blown approval can be attempted.

On the way home I bought some kohlrabi plants and put them in my little garden. I hope that the soil is not too acid. This plant from the cabbage family was a favorite of my father.

My partents

Mom and Dad 
It was recently mothers day and I though I would include a picture of my parents. Dad passed away last year but Mom is going strong and still winning golf rounds in her 80s.

bio-it World Burner-lee talk

Today I started with breakfast at Johnson's with Steve and then proceeded to lay drag for the hunt with Pam and Kathy. It was a nice day but all the rain made the trials rather muddy. Wendy was field master and did an excellent job of leading the hunt. However, the masters and staff lost most of the hounds near the end and considerable time was taken rounding them up. Wendy said that one was still missing at the end. After foxing I went into Boston for Bio-it world which focuses on informatics and heard an excellent talk by Berners-Lee who invented the world wide web while at CERN in France. He seems to run at 200%.

Molecules of Emotion

I have been reading "Molecules of Emotion" by Candace Per, Ph.D.. Although this is a little distant from my area of interest which is molecular genetics, she makes some very good points about the interaction of peptide hormones and our emotional state. This even goes so far as to suggest that our "mind" extends beyond our brain and should encompass the chemistry that is brain related. These chemical activators or inhibitors are throughout out body influencing and being influenced by our current biological state. Dr. Pert has been a key factor in identifying how these chemicals affect our physiological and mental status, especially her key work on receptors such as that for morphine. This book is an especially good read as she goes into the intrigue and politics of big science in the U.S. as well as her theories about molecules and emotion. I found this book by watching the DVD What the #$*! Do We Know!? which focues on quantum mechanics. It has great graphics but spends too much time saying that quantum mechanics is weird. It obviously is but enough already.

Visit of professionals from Brazil

Rotary International Exchange - Group from Brazil 

We had the pleasure last week of hosting an MD from Brazil for a couple of nights. He was part of a five person team that was visiting from southern Brazil near the boarder with Argentina. There was another MD in the group (OBGYN), a nurse specializing in obesity, a computer guy and a women that sold grain silos. The Rotary club to which I belong to hosted two people and another club hosted the other three. Is seems that one of the most interesting sights in the area was the Boston aquarium. The group spent three weeks being hosted by various clubs in MA.

WIndsurfing

Windsurfer 

One of my sports is windsurfing although I was a little lax last year.

who I am

I am a geneticist who has worked in academia and industry and am interested in talking about issues related to genetics and evolution.