A Rain of Frogs

“It is typical of the West to see the surface of a problem, and then rush headlong to proselytize the masses via a marketing campaign based on a poorly conceived, barely researched solution.”

Smartest thing I’ve said in ages.

My uncle recently posted several photographs of my family, some which long predate my father’s birth, others in which I can be seen as a small boy. I am fascinated by these photos. Above are my grandparents. I am not sure what year the photo was taken, but it’s still awesome to see photographs like this. I assume the colourizing was done by my uncle.

Life makes more of itself. And now so can a set of custom-designed chemicals. Chemists have shown that a group of synthetic enzymes replicated, competed and evolved much like a natural ecosystem, but without life or cells.

This interesting introduction to an article called Self-Replicating Chemicals Evolve Into Lifelike Ecosystem caught my attention on Wired this morning.

Scientists have apparently created a system in which components replicate and that, once started, will continue to operate. Sort of like life. And not only will this system continue to operate, the components of this system seem to mutate. Sort of like life. Most of these mutations quickly die off on the system, but some mutations are beneficial, and allow those components with such a mutation to quickly dominate the system. Sort of like life.

Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Yes, I know it’s a few days late, but I haven’t been spending the holidays online, you know?

It’s going to be a good year. It’s certainly already started that way for me. Sarah and I got married on Saturday, and it was a really great day. My family were there, and my kids look very fancy in their dress clothes. Sarah looked lovely.

The dinner was fantastic – I highly recommend the restaurant to everyone. It’s called Cafe la Gaffe, and it’s just around the corner from the AGO, on Baldwin street. Have the rainbow trout, it’s fantastic.

It was really nice having Sarah’s family here for the holidays and the wedding too. Her parents flew here from Glasgow for Christmas, and her brother and his family arrived on Boxing Day from Poland. Ever seen a bilingual four-year-old? It’s incredibly cute.

Anyway, it’s shaping up to be a good year.