Guess what ladies and gents, After much deliberating (Over the process of afew years), I have decided to join the United States Navy Reserves.  To be specific on my job, I have become a Seabee.  The Seabees are ussually the first ones on the scene when it comes to times of war.  Almost any overseas millitary installation you see, Seabee's built it.  But They aren't limited to building.  They aren't like medic teams, or non-combatant officers.  If something is coming at them, they are welcome to pick up a gun and start letting bullets into the air.

I swore in on Saturday, December 17, 2005 at roughly 18:00 hours.  I ship out to boot camp on June 15, 2006.

I know some of you might be shocked by this seemingly sudden decision, and for some of you this might just boggle the mind.  But I am satisfied with the decision I am making.

Please make your comments, they are welcome.

It's 9 am and I am in class, but the teacher isn't here.

I really fuckin hate that.  Students do not wake their lazy asses up at 7 in the morning just so they can be on time and watch their teacher walk in late!

STudents can be late. It's okay for us because we're lazy fuck bags. But teachers! WTF!

Any ways

Bananas!

This is a paper I am doing for my english class at the art institute.  It's done-ish, so tell me what you think.  And Graham, I know you're going to proof read it to death, so... go on.

                           The Proverbial Monkey Wrench

The Proverbial Monkey Wrench

Genetic Engineering boasts the promise of changing the world for the better.  The truth is that not every scientific breakthrough can be put towards the benefit of man.  Everything in science has drawbacks, and genetic engineering is no different.  Genetic engineering represents a danger to the test subject as well as the species, it could harm the environment, if it is used on humans it could be abused and perhaps cause social problems within society, and finally, genetic engineering could give man kind yet another weapon to use for war.

Animals involved in genetic research live lives of pain, and most that are used in genetic experiments are either mutilated and/or killed.  A countless number of lambs are born excessively large or deformed, and the ones that are not still born often die young such as Dolly, the first cloned mammal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/ ).  Dolly was euthanized after suffering complications from a lung infection that is common in older sheep.  These experiments shorten the life of the animal and denies it the life that it would have if it lived in the wild instead of a lab or a cage.  Genetic engineering also crosses a species barrier that is not crossed in nature.  In nature, a mule can be conceived by the mating of a donkey and a horse.  But Genetic Engineering goes beyond that barrier such as it did when it inserted the gene of a jelly fish into the embryos of three rhesus monkeys.  Two of the three monkeys that carried the gene were stillborn (http://www.sfgate.com/, Tom Abate).  Genetic engineering will almost always harm the test subject or species in the name of science.

The next argument suggests that genetic modifications could have consequences that might harm the environment.  For example, plant eating insects that eat certain genetically modified strains of maize will have a toxic reaction to the plant (http://en.wikipedia.org/).  It is theorized that those same strains pass on those genes as they cross-pollinate with other types of strains.  This spreads the same gene onto other plants which in turn kill more insects that need those plants in order to survive and procreate.  In another way to argue this point, the environment decides the characteristics of the creatures that inhabbit it by the methods of natural selection and the controversial theory of evolution.  By simply throwing an unknown characteristic into the ecosystem, one runs the risk of throwing that ecosystem off balance.  To sum it all up, the ecosystem is too fragile to allow it be tampered with. Nature is almost like a puzzle or a machine; If you have a missing piece or introduce a new one, the whole thing could fall apart.  It is one more thing that human beings are capable of destroying by simply tampering.

Who exactly would benefit from genetic modification?  The procedure would no doubt be expensive, so right away it is obvious that those who have more money than others are priority number one.  Genetic engineering would be considered a luxury to those with out money to spare and only the rich would be able to afford the best treatment.  And that is nothing new.  The independantly wealthy have always been able to afford better medical care than the middle or lower class.  But now, with the possibillity of genetic engineering coming into the medical field, genetic modification will become just another service that the poor can not afford. Another issue with money and genetic engineering is the potential that those with money will begin to request asthetic perfection.  If the money is right, anything can be purchased, and genetic engineering will not be immune to this common mentallity.  Again, it is the rich who will be able to afford this as the poor will not.  Before the dawning of this new tachnology, there was allready a rift between the rich and the poor.  These genetic modifications will only make this rift wider and give it physical, and permanent consequences. 

 Like a lot of advances in science, the possibility of using genetic engineering for warfar presents it’s self.  Super soldiers is a term used to describe the ultimate combatant.  And while it seems like science fiction, the possibility of a more violent and unpredictable soldier is closer than the page of futuristic story book.  Even now with the war on terror we see civillian deaths, whether the are on accident or otherwise (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/).  An allready violent soldier is deadly enough, but imagine when that same soldier is pumped full of adrenaline.  The possibillities of civillian casualties in a war would be even higher.  These are just afew of the many ways that genetic engineering might be misused and limited.

While some argue that genetic engineering might help cure diseases, the possibillities of starting one exists as well.  In 2001, Australian scientists inadvertantly created a virus while conducting genetic experiments on mice.  Every one of the virus’ victims died due to a wrecked immune system that was caused by the virus (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/doomsday.cfm).  If altered to the human composition, this could easily be used for warfar and take down hundreds of men or women, not just soldiers.  Should genetic engineering be allowed to progress even further, using it as a weapon could become unavoidable.

The facts are there and the paths are set.  If man kind is to travel down a genetically altered path, then man kind will harm animals, deprive the poor, and create more wars in their quest for perfection.  It has been said time and time again throughout history that the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

PORN!!!

Linskey had this idea of writing a christmas list and posting it on his xanga of all the people he would be buying gifts for.

I'll do the same.

Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan, Meghan,

Dun dun dun!!!!
I am actually posting and it has been more than a year. Maybe I should post a real picture instead of Yoda.

Anyway, things have changed in my life since i quit updating my xanga.

When I first left you, I was wallowing in my own emoness, (fuck you, it's a word!) realling from the hole in my heart that an ex girl friend left there and feeling like my problems were worse than everyone esles.

But then I realized that while I woke up every morning feeling depressed, others woke up every morning with out being able to feal their legs, or not having legs at all.  Others walk through life as widows or widowers.  I had to realize that there were other people with worse problems than I and yet they walk on. 

So I did so as well and got on with my life.  I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started feeling better.  I went from being a sad sack of shit in high school to college student.  I also got back the girl of my dreams (Meghan) after making a mistake with a girl that I meant nothing to.

With the end of my first update in forever I just want to state that if you think you have problems, stop bitching and be happy with what you have!

Okay, I'm done beiug reasonable.

Stay tuned, for in my next up date, I'll go back to being a lovable douche.

Ciao