Allison and I went to the Memorial Union on the UW Campus. Technically since we’re not members or students we’re not allowed, but we look like we belong there so no one said anything. It took us a few minutes to find somewhere to shoot. We started in the Great Hall which is on the 3rd floor I think. It’s a very strange building with lots of stairs. Most of the pictures are taken there, or across the hall. Then we went outside. See my previous post for background on that. My favorite picture (shown below) of the shoot was taken on the lake.
You can see all of the pictures from the shoot in the gallery below.
The bill declares that “any organism with the genome of homo sapiens” is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.
More precisely, the genome of an organism is a complete genetic sequence on one set of chromosomes; for example, one of the two sets that a diploid individual carries in every somatic cell.
Sperm contains a complete genetic sequence on one set of chromosomes. Sperm is alive. Depending on the definition sperm may be more alive than the egg. Sperm can readily respond to stimuli whereas an egg is much more limited. Even a fertilized egg can not respond as a sperm can. How would North Dakota enforce this law? Every sperm a human? I’d be a mass murderer. What if it was an accident? Would 12 year old boys be charged with manslaughter for a wet dream?
Humans are born. That should be the definition of humanity. Before being born you are not human, you are not a citizen. You are not a “you”. If you want to give rights to non-people, give it to all non-people, chimpanzees, cats, dolphins, cows, pigs, birds. If life is that important to you, why make a distinction between genomes?
When American consumers start buying new cars again, they’ll likely find fewer combinations of moon roofs, seat upholstery and stereo systems to choose from. As with better fuel economy, it’s a case of U.S. automakers taking a cue from their Japanese counterparts.
On the one hand it does make sense to “bundle” options into just a few different vehicles. It’ll save time, money, resources, etc. However, I’ve thought for the last few years that automakers could offer more options, more customizations if they would truly embrace the power of the internet. Why have dealerships full of cars that may not have the exact specifications that a customer might want? Send 1 or 2 cars of each model for customers to test drive. They find a model they like, then walk inside, pull it up on the website and select everything they want for their custom car. In about a week, they come back and pick it up, or have it delivered directly to their home.
No excess inventory, no attempting to choose exactley which features a customer might want. Hell, no making cars that aren’t paid for, they could require payment before they begin building the car!
Honestly the only advantage of the current system is that you can take a car home the same day. I think that the public would be willing to wait a few days to get the car they want. The current system was set up DECADES ago. We didn’t have as efficient transportation systems then, nor the number of options we have now, nor the instantaneous communication.
…the sensor on my camera. I haven’t thought about this before but it just popped into my head today. My first camera was the Minolta Dimage A1. It was a 5 megapixel with an 8.8mm x 6.6mm sensor. Here’s an image from that camera.
Megan, taken in August 2006 with my A1
My next camera was the Minolta Maxxum 7D. It was a 6 megapixel camera with a 23.5 x 15.7 mm sensor. Almost double the size. A picture from that camera.
Allison, taken November 2007 with my 7D
And then we have my current camera. A Sony α900. It has a whopping 24 megapixel sensor that is 35.9 x 24.0 mm. Not quite as much an improvement between my first and second cameras but still a large increase. And a picture from this camera.
According to an August 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 63 percent of Americans believe that humans and other animals have either always existed in their present form or have evolved over time under the guidance of a supreme being. Only 26 percent say that life evolved solely through processes such as natural selection.
This is sad. Only 1/4 th of my fellow citizens actually beleive the truth. People and politicians (yes there is a difference) have been complaining that the US is falling behind in education yet we continue to allow this to happen.
“The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another — or even religious groups over secular groups,” the president said in a speech.
“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.â€
This is awesome. I’ve NEVER felt that a president, or any politician, recognized non-believers. Recognized someone like me. It makes me feel part of this country in a way that I’ve never really felt before.
Of course the term non-beleivers does still set me apart. I mean most people don’t like to be known as being “not” something else. Can you imagine a politician addressing a lesbian as a non-heterosexual or a black man as a non-white man? What if you called a woman a non-man? Yes, technically they are all true, but it kind of rubs you the wrong way doesn’t it? Yet people who think like I do are regularly called non-beleivers. As if beleiving is the normal, or accepted, or default setting, not just the most common.
Actually, if you look at it from that point of view, none of us should be described as living. We should all be called non-dead. Dead is the default setting, life is the anomaly. That makes these signs a little more accurate, don’t you think?
I’m not sure what term I would like to be used to describe people who think like me. Bright maybe?
This was the first shot of 2009. I did it on my vacation in the middle of January. I think these are some of the best photographs I’ve ever taken. Especially the ones near the end. The shinyness on the skin was created by spraying her down with cooking spray and then spritzing her with water.
Yep, just the commercials. I don’t even know what the score is right now. Yeah, I could turn my head and look, but I don’t really care.
I went the the bathroom a few mintues ago. It was after a commercial break so I thought I had a few mintues. They showed a little bit of the game, then I heard commercials again. So I rewound (thank you Vista Media Center) and watched all the commercials I missed, then fast forwarded past the game back to real time.
