Fun with Cloning!

So Slate has an article (as do other newsplaces) about whether we should clone a neanderthal. This idea is most excellent.

Not that I think we should. I like the idea because there's so much to consider! On the one hand, we could really truly find out (to the degree that the scientists are confident they didn't fuck up the clone) whether neanderthals could talk and what they looked like walking around and stuff.

On the other hand, the poor thing would be nothing more than a science experiment and nobody at all would know how to properly parent it. There is no neanderthal Dr. Spock to consult.

On the other other hand, we all remember the hilarity that resulted from a similar experiment in Encino Man. Maybe if we include Pauly Shore in the process it would be ok.

But basically every argument for doing this makes it feel more cruel to the resulting neanderthal. Nobody wants their whole life to be some science fair project.

There's your jumping off point. I wish this could be a Campus Center lunch table discussion, but alas those days are behind me. Please, instead, discuss via comments.

::Looks left::

Woah, my sidebar changed! Now it has a bunch of easy-to-add widgets with things like who follows my blog, whose blogs i follow, and pictures from my it's-been-a-while Flickr page. Basically I like playing with layouts so when Google/Blogger made it easy, I had to try. As soon as they release a "Whose Souls You Own" widget I'll add that one too.

KPd, I'm not sure how I can add myself as a follower of your blog, but if you add the Followers widget (ok there must be a better name for that) I'll try to figure out how to put myself on the list.

Oh also, bsom, you now owe me a link, by your I-link-your-blog-you-link-mine rule =D

So anyway, who's giddy about this election? It's like the night before a first date. I'm mostly excited but a little bit nervous (currently 1.9% nervous¹). Tomorrow I'll prepare (vote!), put on a special outfit (i'm hoping to find an Obama t-shirt for sale on the street somewhere) and then get increasingly giddy as the day wears on until at last, following office hours with Professor Google, I'll meet my next president. If I'm lucky, he'll be the man of my dreams—or at least good enough for the next four to eight years. And then, after what I now hope is a perfect evening, I'll finally drop this metaphor.

So Vote! Vote Obama! And if you're a New York State voter, vote Obama via the Working Families Party and the rest of the Working Families Party-endorsed candidates in Row E. Happy lever-pulling!


_{1. Nate Silver, you owe me a link now too!}