science, medicine technology: Science, medicine, technology … the ultimate merger of the three … what next?
Anthony Atala printed a real kidney when speaking on the stage at TED in Long Beach, Calif. Thursday.
Since 2006, the surgeon from the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine has been performing transplants not using human organs, but organs grown in his lab and now experimenting with the next level of possibility – creating organs using a 3-D printer.”
“It’s like baking a cake,” said Atala.
Well, it’s not that simple.
Atala attempted to explain the process as follows: scanners take a 3D image of a kidney that needs to be replaced and a tissue sample the size of half a postage stamp is then used to begin the computerized process. The 3D organ printer then works layer-by-layer to build the replacement kidney using the patient’s own tissue.
via Organs made with a printer – On The Scene With Shira Lazar – CBS News.
civil rights, history, Charles Jones: I heard Charles Jones speak last night … he was a hoot taking about very serious stuff.
At seventy-three, one can hardly say Charles Jones is retired. In 2008 he appeared in a cameo role in the film Gospel Hill, alongside actors Danny Glover and Angela Basset. He serves as the chairperson for the Biddleville/Smallwood/Five Points Neighborhood Association and continues to travel and lecture about his involvement in the civil-rights movement. “I may be getting older,” Jones says with a gleam in his eyes. “But I’m still out there getting it done on my end, and I still care about all the people.”
In his role as neighborhood chairperson, Jones sees a bright future for the area he’s called home for more than sixty years. “Our goal is to make this a community where all people can live together. Black, white, gay, straight. We want to recapture that cohesive concern people used to have for each other.
“We looked out for each other back then, and I think we can still do that today.”
via Stumbling Across a Hero – Charlotte Magazine – February 2011 – Charlotte, NC.
culture, family, changes: We often had Sunday dinner, but not always. My kids have had Bojangles on the way home from church.
Whatever happened to Sunday dinner – where did it go? Was it packed up in the attic, along with the iced tea spoons, damask tablecloths, lace doilies, and sherbert dishes? Deposited in the cedar closet with the short white gloves, petticoats, and fox fur stoles? Truth be told, I believe it is buried under the shade trees in the cemetery where the women who cooked it now lie.
… We continue to try to make family connections on Sundays. I always call my mother in Savannah, and my daughter always calls us from college in Chapel Hill. But now Sunday afternoon is more of a lonesome time–quiet and spare. And I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t even know how to make gravy.
via The Days of Rice and Gravy by Kathleen Brewin Lewis | LikeTheDew.com.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, history:
In a well-known burst of ebullience, Jane Austen once called Pride and Prejudice “my own darling Child.” Yet, in 1811, after agreeing to guarantee Thomas Egerton against losses on the printing of what, as far as she then knew, might be her only published novel, Austen chose to stake her literary reputation –and her fortune – not on First Impressions (as Pride and Prejudice was then known), but on the more recently completed Sense and Sensibility. Though profits from Sense and Sensibility eventually covered expenses and earned its author a respectable sum, it is rarely cited as a favorite among Austen fans, and critics and scholars often find it problematic.
Join us in celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s “problem child” and exploring issues which have intrigued, amused, and puzzled readers since its first appearance in the bookshops and circulating libraries of the day.
culture, France: This one was interesting!
I think I can explain the appeal of the bread machine. French people are attracted to novelties and although they haven’t reached SkyMall-style proportions—you won’t see any uvula sterilizers or Big Foot lurking in the Luxembourg Gardens, things like tabletop machines that make raclette (when a regular skillet does the same thing), a toaster that sits high on stilts so the toast drops out of the bottom, requiring twice the usual amount of room (a real boon for space-challenged Parisian kitchens…), and serving food in bite-sized amuses-bouches resting in spoons or teensy-tiny casseroles, make folks smile with delight.
movies, music,lists: I do like Singin’ in the Rain …
Singin’ in the Rain is best known for Gene Kelly’s splash-filled dance scene to the title song, which, according to legend, Kelly filmed in one take while fighting off a 103-degree fever. While the scene is one of the most memorable and joyful in cinema history, the film also includes a number of songs that are too often overlooked. “Make ‘Em Laugh,” a goofy ode to slapstick comedy, will get stuck in your head. The big-band number “All I Do Is Dream of You” is equally catchy, and “Good Morning” is a classic song involving incredibly quick tap dancing. But the title song of the film is so good, it’s forgivable if you’ve forgotten about the rest.
via Singin’ in the Rain, 1952 – The 25 Best Movie Sound Tracks – TIME.
ridiculous, news:
We all like Thin Mints, but one Florida resident took her love of Girl Scout cookies a little too far. When Hersha Howard found that someone had been eating her cookies, she woke her roommate up and accused her of stealing them. That’s when things got ugly:
They argued and [police] deputies say that it turned physical with Howard chasing her roommate with scissors and hitting her repeatedly with a board and then a sign.
Howard was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Sadly, they don’t serve Girl Scout cookies in jail. [Huff Post]
via Girl Scout Cookie Fight Leads to Assault Charges – Zagat.
faith and spirituality, religion, bookshelf: I am interested to both read the Pope’s book and the debate that follows.
The Pope’s statements have been broadly welcomed by Jewish organizations. “It deepens and gives historians context crucial in having the doctrine expressed in [the documents from the Second Vatican Council] translated down to the pews,” said Abraham H. Foxman, U.S. director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement. “Pope Benedict has rejected the previous teachings and perversions that have helped to foster and reinforce anti-Semitism through the centuries.” On Thursday, Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, called on the Pope to take a step further, reinforcing what he’s written in an official letter, or encyclical. “Many in the Catholic world have continued to espouse ideas of Jewish guilt,” Lauder said in a statement. “Refuting their fallacious arguments in a personal book, whilst right, is probably insufficient. This must become official church doctrine, from top to bottom.”
via Pope: Jews Not to Blame for Jesus’ Death: Why It Matters – TIME.
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