Stride: Duh

So, yesterday, I was all ready to hit the Y when I realized I forgot to bring my combination lock.

Today, I brought the combination lock but had to work at another site across the city this afternoon. I brought all my stuff except my running shoes. They're still under my desk.

{{faceplant}}

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We can now fix certain forms of heart disease using CRSPR to edit genes in an embryo. OMG, cue the outrage and pretentious moralizing from the "christians" for experimenting on human embryos.

The full Nature paper is out.

Don't make that face. A paper a day will put hair on your chest.

I know what you're thinking. Gattaca. Ehhhh, probably not in our lifetime.

But if we could have a Gattaca program, you can bet Donald Trump would use it to screen out unwanted applicants from the immigration process. His new proposal will do nothing to help the careers of STEM workers who are already legal residents and American citizens. So, um, thanks for nothing.

Speaking of nothing, Trump's poll numbers are sliding. It looks like he's losing his base.

That's not really a surprise. His voters wanted a winner.

He's not.

Gerrymandering is crucial for GOP maintaining control of the house. It's probably not going to change in 2018 until voters have a solid understanding of what this actually means and by the time you bring up the topic of conversation, they're already experiencing MEGO*.

*My Eyes Glaze Over.

Stroll: Just do what you feel

My morning ritual consists of walking downtown with my earbuds turned up to create a soundtrack for what I see around me, walking thru the water in the fountain at PPG Place and getting a medium latte with skim at Fort Pitt Coffee.
What's yours?

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There's so much going on right now in Washington that it's hard to keep track of it all. The Russian collusion is very important but the wholesale deregulation of government is just as important and likely to affect many more people directly. Check out the results of this search on "deregulation" at WaPo. Healthcare, the EPA, the financial industry are only a few things that are under inspection this year. Last night, affirmative action was added to the mix.

As much as I found the FDA fickle and disorganized at times, I wouldn't feel safe if we didn't have it around upping the bar on drug safety and inspecting plants on a regular basis.

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The Conversation discusses the failure of foreign language instruction in the US.

Special inside information: I suck at Spanish even though I took 4 years of it in high school. But I have a kid who is especially good at teaching herself any language she's interested in. Let's put aside that she's got a knack for language in general and look at how she does it.

1. Flash cards- EVERYWHERE. She labels everything.
2. Language dictionary.
3. Listening, watching, reading media in the language she is learning through movies, music, podcasts, books, etc.
4. Writing in that language. She's better than many of her Chinese friends at characters.
5. Practice, practice, practice. She finds someone who speaks the language to practice with and…
6. She's not concerned with making mistakes. She expects correction. It's trial and error.
7. Visiting the country. Two weeks in France before her freshman year of high school after two years of French in middle school triggered something in her brain and learning French became much easier. After that, she was unstoppable. Now she knows German fluently, Italian, mandarin and a whole bunch of other languages. Once you learn another language other than your native tongue, learning others is easier.