indoor follies

So today I had my first indoor game. This is a follow up of my last indoor blog post. The team that we played had almost 15 members, most of which were seniors and two were actually UofM soccer players. Having varsity players on the intramural team is not allowed, but apparently the player in question had recently "quit" the soccer team. Yeah, right. Only 4 players showed up and we played our hardest but to no avail. The conditioning of our team was poor and they wore us out pretty quickly into the game. The final score ended up being 12-2 with a mercy rule coming into effect after 5 minutes into the 2nd half. The mercy rule was 10 goals up, they reached it rather quickly. I was very angry about only 4 players showing up when my roster is filled with over 15 names, but that just goes to show how much freakin homework is being given. Whatever, more people will show next time and we will have subs so we don't tire out so quick.

annotated

Tissue Economies: Blood, Organs, and Cell Lines in Late Capitalism
By Catherine Waldby and Robert Mitchell
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8223-3770-3
Price $21.95, pp. 231
Reviewed by Heather Bennett
Journal of High Technology Law
Suffolk University Law School
https://www.law.suffolk.edu/highlights/stuorgs/jhtl/book_reviews/2006_2007/Heather%20Bennett%20Book%20Review.pdf

Many Americans around the New York City area rallied together to help in any way they could. The form most helped in was giving blood. The blood donations could not be all used, some were wasted. The gift - commodity debate continues throughout the paper. The paper writes about how a U.K. Stem Cell Bank and how it operates on a daily basis. They say that all rights to own the tissues are lost when the donor signs over the tissue under a consent agreement. Stem cells are a hot topic in this debate over whether people should be allowed to keep their tissues. They believe the scientists should be able to make all the money they can off of signed tissues due to the capitalist state of mind.

Time management

I am starting to wonder if I am going to just start running out of time to do homework. The amount of homework and regular work that I have to do increases with every week of my semester. I have no idea how I am going to keep up with both when I take about 17 hours of school work next semester. I am taking Biology I and Chemistry II next semester along with some other Gen Ed classes. In high school I could have my homework done almost before I even left the campus, now I am having trouble even finishing some of my assignments on time. But such is life in college, I hope this is all worth it.

Indoor Soccer

I am going to be playing indoor soccer this year for the intramural league at the University of Memphis. Our first game should be Monday, October 26th. I am looking forward to playing because I have not been able to play soccer for a very long time. I was too old to play for my old competitive team GT United last year. I miss playing soccer and hope that I am not too out of shape to play well and I really hope I don't let my team down. Well, we will see on Monday.

Armageddon

I just finished watching Armageddon, this movie was amazing. It made me realize how much I wanted to fly or even see a shuttle takeoff. The amount of power that the solid rocket boosters gives off is about 2.8 million foot pounds of thrust, that is simply amazing to me. I've always been interested in space travel, but I knew I would never make it do to my eyesight. The science behind it all is what makes it so interesting to me. All of the gravitational forces, pressures, structure composition, and all the physics behind space travel are just plain cool in my opinion. Apollo 13 is an amazing movie to watch if you like realistic space travel.

Property Rights?

Sounds Suspiciously like Property Treatment: Does Human Tissue Fit within the Common Law Concept of Property? - [2005] UTSLRev 3; (2005) 7 UTS Law Review 62

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UTSLRev/2005/3.html

University of Technology, Sydney Law Review

The article talks about the law set forth in Australia to limit the use of tissue samples. The Aussie's seem to be bothered by the fact that a part of the body can be seen as property. Their ethical guidelines are proposed by the National Health and Medical Research Council. They cannot enforce a law on anybody since they only propose ethics, so nobody can seek legal action against a person or institution who has misused their tissue. The courts just recently developed a general rule against property in human bodies and their parts, with some exceptions. A major exception allows human tissue to property only when it has been preserved through the application of work or skill. The situation about property rights of human tissue is growing in Australia and the courts cannot keep up. Example - Human tissue is now used to develop therapeutic products, yet the only controls on who may buy or sell are the Human Tissue Acts' prohibitions on sale without processing. When organs and bones are kept for any reason, if an individual asks for the return of loved ones body parts for burial or cremation, it is entirely up to the researcher or hospital to return the parts. There is no law requiring them to return the parts if they do not feel the need to. Another example of this predicament are the museums who hold the remains of the Aborigines. The natives want their ancestors remains back so that they may lay them to rest, but the museums refuse to give up the remains on the basis that showing their culture is more important than the resting place of their ancestors. I feel that they are crossing some lines and need to pass laws that allow a little slack for both sides. In the case of the Aborigines, they have every right to ask for their ancestors bones back so that they can follow through with their religious beliefs. The doctors and researchers should have to give the remains back to those who ask if it is validated in a court case.

Music

I am an avid music listener. I like to listen to anything from rap to hard rock, everything but country. I do not know what it is about country music, but I am not a fan. Maybe I just need to listen to it a lot like I did with rap. At first I hated rap and would never listen to it, but after being forced to listen to it when I uang around a friend who listened to it constantly, I became a fan of the beat and bass. It is fun to get pumped to hard rock or rap before I do any work or sports, just like the soldiers in Iraq from the excerpt on the main blog a couple of weeks ago. Some of the bands I am listening to currently are Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Cult, Faktion, The Guess Who, Incubus, Jimi Hendrix, Molly Hatchet, O.A.R., Rush, Steve Miller, Three Days Grace, Van Halen, The Who, and .38 Special. Those are only a few of the many that I listen to, but they are my current favorites.

Tissue as Property

Journal Article Excerpt

An Alternative to Property Rights in Human Tissue
by Margaret S. Swain, Randy W. Marusyk

The economy in the United States is a free market economy, the main idea behind the free market economy is to allow everyone to receive their fair amount of cash. This idea is being pushed into the legal system by patients who could have had monetary gain through research done on their own cells. But because the U.S. has not made any laws allowing the ownership of tissues, this is going to have to be pushed through the Supreme Court. Some people want only limited ownership, where they can receive money from the large amount that is usually gained through research on human tissues. Others want complete ownership where they can decide what can be researched with those cells, and how the money is distributed. In my opinion, we need to pass a limited ownership law that allows people to receive their fair share and still allow science to move unhindered.

Homework load

I am getting ridiculous amounts of homework, and the work load seems to grow after every week. Yesterday I had to finish my impossible chemistry homework. Today I have to finish all my blogs for this week, write a rough draft for a paper i havent even thought about yet, and finish my Darwin reading, and I have to work from 5-10 today at Malco. Tuesday night will be a fun one, I will start on my 1,500 word paper for UNHP, I will finish my chemistry lab, fill out my lab book, and do the prelab, and possibly work on the final draft of the analysis paper. Then on Wednesday I will write my mid-term paper for UNHP, the paper on the lecture, and the paper for the outside event, all for UNHP, and hopefully finish my paper for English. Too much work... I need Fall Break to come quick.

Top Gear

I just finished watching one of my favorite programs on TV. Top Gear appears on BBC America and is taped in Britain. The point of the show is to entertain people who enjoy learning about cars. The show has three funny hosts, Richard Hammond, James May, and Jeremy Clarkson. I find it funny that while watching the program, I think in British car lingo. Words are used differently in Britian, such as a bonnet, boot, windscreen, petrol, and topped up. These words mean hood, trunk, windshield, gasoline, and topped off, respectively. Sometimes they say these words and I understand what they are saying without realizing that they are using the British version of the words. Many foreign language teachers say that you are not truly fluent in a language until you can think in that language. I enjoy this show a lot and hope that many discover the things that make me enjoy it.

Streetcar Named Desire

This play was extremely enjoyable. It played with your emotions and made you want to yell at moments. Blanche annoyed me very much and I felt, at times, that Stanley was justified in yelling at her. Stanley played a surprisingly emotional character, he yelled, cried, smacked people, played cards, etc. Stanley did step over some lines during the play, like sleeping with Blanche, hitting Stella, and constantly yelling during the poker game. The way they worked around the entire play with just the tiny stage setup was nothing more than a miracle. It's pretty amazing when you can enjoy something that has the same background for almost 3 hours. The crew did an awesome job and kept the story moving along fluidly and enjoyably. There was also some humor mixed in which made it even more enjoyable. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience.

McCarthy

Mike Mccarthy is an example of a man who followed what he wanted to do and ended up finding a career in what he loved. He was very intellectual and he really pounded it on us that we live in a city that started rock and roll. He also stated that true pop culture died in 1977 when Elvis passed away. His main point was to tell us to find what makes you unique and push it and create from it. Don't be afraid and just chase what you want. Oh yeah, he also told us to drop out of school... But I don't know if I will do that, I'm just a horrible writer and I use my creativity differently. I'm not artistic at all, but whatever, that's why I'm a biology major.