Bill Watt’s Blog

Ha… I was just watching a Wired Science show with the folks from 20andme and they were discussing privacy considerations. The best line was when the interviewer likened it to Flickr, “you can see my photos and other people can’t…” and then Linda added, “or like LinkedIn.” Even genetics folks want to be web 2.0.

But back to the real topic…

Heck yeah I would have privacy concerns! You can’t even make a phone call without the current administration asking for (and getting) transcripts. How long after they figure out these genetic records are out there before they start flipping through looking for organ matches for the president? You know… just in case. They don’t believe in stem cell research but I am of the opinion that it is only a matter of time till Dick Cheney figures out there is money in black market organs and then anyone he hasn’t seen at his country club (the one that can’t be seen in Google maps for security reasons) will be fair game.

I’m just saying…

In an almost 100% different direction from the previous post, I was watching a news article tonight about a young girl who just got a new heart. The expected story was that the family was grateful for their daughter’s life and everyone was understanding Thanksgiving a bit more this year.

The real story was of a young girl who was deeply saddened by the loss of another girl her own age in a car accident that was the source of her new heart. It was touching to see the girl’s sadness for the parents of the other girl.

I caught myself thinking something like, “Don’t be silly… it isn’t your fault and at the very least only one family had to suffer that fate” but then to think how a 12 year old girl views the world made it seem not silly at all. This isn’t the original video I saw that talked about the sadness but if you watch the video from ABC then you see the other side… the kindness of the parents who lost so much and still reached out the the girl who had just been saved.

Man, I’d like to think if I were in that situation I would be as good a person.

Well, we all know that I’m not as current on other people’s behavior as I could be but it makes me sad when I see things like this collection of video clips from a documentary. The topic is “the most hated family in America” and from the short bits I’ve seen I can imagine that is an accurate summary.

I just (1) don’t understand this much hatred, (2) don’t understand how they got to the point of hating the entire US, (3) wonder what these people do for a living and (4) wonder how / where these kids will be in 10 years.

Note: Fay- if you’re reading this then the clip is not suitable for Chris to watch. Other parents the same goes for you but I only know that Fay and Chris sometimes read my blog so I wanted to call it out specifically for them.