I try to always keep an open mind and my wits about me. Other than that, anything goes! Makes for some unpredictable adventures out there in the real world. I've worked in the publishing industry for 10+ years and have been a member of the FSWA for 5+ years. Go Steelers!
Website URL: http://www.drinkfive.com
Developing the Science
Cloning seems like something right out of a science fiction novel, or movie – and while it most certainly is, the practice has been around for thousands of years already. We weren’t cloning sheep, or humans that far back though – we were cloning plants from cuttings.
As the rapid pace of technology accelerated, more and more experiments took place within the scientific community to clone actual animal life. One of the first successful experiments was by Briggs and King in 1952 and resulted in the cloning of frogs.
They did this via nuclear transfer. It sounds incredibly difficult but it’s actually a very fundamental and simple process: first, the nucleus of an egg is removed and then the nucleus of a donor cell is implanted in its place. When the egg starts to divide, new copies of the older donor cell are produced – resulting in a perfect genetic copy of the original but going through the aging process from the beginning.
In the Spotlight
A little less than 30 years later, two interesting things happened within the span of 2 years: first, David Rorvik (an American Journalist) released a book called “In his Image: The Cloning of a Man” in 1978. The book claimed to follow the development of the first successful human clone and it sparked a huge amount of ethical debate in scientific and public forums alike. Ultimately, most thought the book to be a hoax, but nothing was ever proven one way or the other. The important thing that came from the book was the idea in the public’s mind that cloning of mammals (including humans) was just around the corner, if not possible at the time.
(Retrospectical Podcast Ep. 12 - Are Human Clones an Eventuality?)
The second thing was in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that live, human-made organisms are patentable material. They later clarified their ruling.. in 2013 The Supreme Court issued a ruling that banned the patenting of naturally occurring genes but allowed edited or artificially created DNA to be patented. Companies were already starting to monetize our DNA and/or man-made synthetic DNA over 30 years ago! It makes it quite difficult to image what these same (and similar) companies are up to now - and unfortunately a lot of this development is happening behind the closed doors of private businesses rather than transparently.
Human Cloning
Benefits
Negatives
Little Nicky
Pet cloning is already here.. cat or dog get run over by a car? If you have the money, you can already have a genetic copy of your dead pet created. One lab says “we have never failed in cloning a specific dog regardless of its size or breed”. There are currently orders and a waiting list. They cost $100,000.
Cloned Food?
While currently not available for public consumption, meat, eggs and milk from cloned animals were recently declared safe by the FDA, a preliminary decision that came after some five years of deliberation. The FDA has yet to decide whether products originating from cloned animals and from their offspring should be labeled as such.
Benefits of Cloned Food
The main benefit of food products originating from cloned animals is that it allows the food industry to have a greater control over the quality and quantity of foods produced. For example, ranchers can perpetuate their best livestock, resulting in a higher production of milk and eggs, as well as tastier meat. A study deemed that the safest animals to clone were cows, followed by pig, goat and sheep.
Side Effects of Cloned Food
While studies have found that young cloned animals are vulnerable to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, some experts believe that the risk to food safety of cloned animals is small. Studies in Japan have also not found any irregularities in cloned animals used for human consumption. However, a recent survey conducted in the United States found that some 60% of its participants had an aversion to consuming cloned food because of ethical reasons
A Forced Future
In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly brought forth a Declaration on Human Cloning (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/ga10333.doc.htm) which bans therapeutic cloning (where cells are cloned for therapy of a disease or condition) and reproductive cloning (creating a living genetic duplicate duplicate).
Assuming that our friend David Rorvik was a fraud and did not actually witness the first human cloning experiments back when Mork and Minday was an exciting new TV series, no one has yet come forward with evidence of an actual, viable cloned human having been created. But we do know that it is possible - some notable animals that have already successfully been cloned are: Cats, Cattle, Deer, Dogs, Frogs, Goats, Horses, Mice, Pigs, Rabbits, Sheep and Wolves. We have also successfully created human embryos but they were never allowed to survive past the blastocyst stage (5-10 days after conception).
Scary right? So it’s illegal, but that doesn’t usually stop people from doing things anyway. Science marches on. Do you think that there are currently scientists experimenting and creating viable embryos that last beyond the blastocyst stage? Do you think that there have already been cloned humans and that we are just not on the short list of people to be informed of their successes?
Welcome to the TV Soup podcast, home of drinkfive.com’s television review series. In this episode we continue our discussion of Netflix's Daredevil with episodes 11 & 12, "The Path of the Righteous" and "The Ones We Leave Behind". From the very beginning of the series, we've known that there was something special here; these last few episodes that lead up to the season finale only serve to prove more of the same. Actions of Karen's show us that there is more to her than we may know, some major characters make quick departures from the show and everything leads up to the big confrontation between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. Can't wait to wrap up this excellent series next week!
TV Soup Podcast: Daredevil, "The Path of the Righteous" & "The Ones We Leave Behind" Review
Just as a reminder, we're going through this series 2 episodes at a time so there are only a few weeks left before we move on to something else. We would highly recommend that you watch Daredevil in a similar fashion, since the whole thing plays out more like a movie than a TV series. Although there are a few gaffs that always come with a show based on a comic book, Daredevil has been put together pretty flawlessly in our professional opinions and we're looking forward to breaking down the rest of the episodes in the series leading up to the finale.
Welcome to the TV Soup podcast, home of drinkfive.com’s television review series. In this episode we continue our discussion of Netflix's Daredevil with episodes 9 & 10, "Speak of the Devil" and "Nelson v. Murdock". This show keeps reminding us that it is the darkest of the properties set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the excruciating fight scene that framed "Speak of the Devil" was one of the best in the series. How Matt was able to get home that night still breathing is a testament to his inner strength and willpower. The insight into Matt and Foggy's time spent as friends and colleagues in their formative years that we see in "Nelson v. Murdock" was much needed and adds to the impact of episode 10's ending. With only 3 episodes left, we can't wait to finish up the series!
TV Soup Podcast: Daredevil, "Speak of the Devil" & "Nelson v. Murdock" Review
Just as a reminder, we're going through this series 2 episodes at a time so there are only a few weeks left before we move on to something else. We would highly recommend that you watch Daredevil in a similar fashion, since the whole thing plays out more like a movie than a TV series. Although there are a few gaffs that always come with a show based on a comic book, Daredevil has been put together pretty flawlessly in our professional opinions and we're looking forward to breaking down the rest of the episodes in the series leading up to the finale.
“You can keep the sticks, you’re gonna need ‘em!”
Opening Credits
Ninjas.. not quite what I expected to start off the episode. This ‘blind ninja’ is stalking someone in a office building in Japan, and asks about “Black Sky”. He finds out that it was taken to New York City.
(Tune in to the TV Soup Podcast - Daredevil, "Stick" & "Shadows in the Glass" Review)
We don’t know that the ninja is blind until after the middle-aged looking office guy has been decapitated. Cool way to unveil the character – and of course there are some parallels there to the other blind guy that we have gotten to know.. Matt Murdock.
Stick
Matt wastes no time going after the next bad guy in line (Leland Owlsley), but ends up writhing on the floor of a parking garage after being tasered in the process of interrogating Owlsley. Turns out, he was distracted by the tapping sounds of a walking stick.. Stick reveals himself shortly afterward and wastes no time either, proceeding to mock Matt’s unsuccessful altercation.
The relationship between Stick and Murdock is a rough one – Stick found him at a young age in an orphanage (the motivation behind which is still undetermined) and took him under his wing for training. It’s obvious the amount of skill that Stick has in using his senses to ‘see’ the world around him much better than even a normal person can (demonstrated by describing the specific dairies and chemicals, etc contained within a single taste of ice cream).
It’s great that Stick wants to train Matt and pass on these abilities, although Stick lets on early that he is being trained for a war that is yet to come. When Stick goes back to Matt’s house with him, he further rails into Matt because he believes that one should not become ‘soft’. Relationships, silk sheets and other material items will only lead to your death, he says.
After a physical confrontation with Stick that gives us some more glimpses into their relationship years ago, Matt agrees to help him find and destroy ‘Black Sky’ but only if killing is not a part of the plan.
Foggy & Karen
Back at the homestead, Foggy goes on a tirade about the “devil of Hell’s Kitchen.” Seems the public opinion of this man in a mask has turned sour very quickly, mostly due to Wilson Fisk’s well-timed disaster-on-demand and the city’s need for a scapegoat, blaming it on Daredevil.
Karen goes out once more to search for answers – this time to Elena’s apartment – and when she leaves she is met head on by several thugs. The only way she survives is because Foggy had followed her and was able to put them out of commission with his softball bat. Looks like he’s got a pretty good swing. Still, Karen is not happy about the situation – she would prefer to keep her secrets to herself. Like most people in this series, except for maybe Foggy. He seems like an open book.
We also find out that Karen has told Foggy all about her and Ben’s investigation, much to Ben’s chagrin. Karen insists that he is trustworthy, though, and it looks like Karen now has a whole team on her hands.
The Docks
Seems like most comic book series’ find themselves at the docks from time to time. I mean I get it, people are always shipping the darndest things. In this case, we find out that Black Sky.. ‘bringer of shadows’ as referred to earlier, is really a boy. At one point, Stick takes aim at the kid with a bow but Matt notices his actions and is able to deflect the arrow before it gets to its intended target. Daredevil also gets a new weapon, a pair of wooden batons that Stick gives to him.
Surprise, surprise – Stick reveals later at Matt’s house that he had already killed Black Sky and that it wasn’t a child, but a weapon. Unrelenting in his belief that killing is never necessary, Matt attacks Stick and this time is able to take him down convincingly – perhaps for the first time in their history. Although Matt is furious, Stick is actually pleased that Matt is finally able to defeat him.
We are not specifically introduced to the character that is revealed at the end of this episode, but we know that he is a well-built, heavily scarred man that is familiar with Stick and with Matt. He asks Stick if Matt will be ready, and received the foreboding response, ”I don’t know”.
All About That Fisk
Every good superhero show is made so not only because of the merits of the hero, but also because of the villain. How awesome is he, and how believable his backstory? In this case, Fisk has been built up to be a larger than life character and all of this violence and insecurity that has so far been revealed requires an explanation.
A visually and emotionally grueling episode, we’re taken through Fisk’s childhood with an abusive father and all that goes with it. Strangely, this episode comes across as much quieter than the previous ones - even though it ultimately ends with death and the disposal of a body in the river.
The routine that Fisk has for himself every morning – making the same omelette, picking out the same cufflinks, etc is a way for him to make sure that he is in control. Absolute control, over every single thing that occurs around him. He has demonstrated an extreme rage when presented with things that were not a part of the plan.
The one exception to this may be his infatuation with Vanessa. When originally at the art gallery, Fisk was drawn to one painting in particular, entitled ‘Rabbit in a Snowstorm’. When we first discussed this, we thought it may be the chaotic patterns, or a number of other things that attracted him to it – but it turns out that this visceral reaction that he experiences when taking in the painting can be directly attributed to his childhood. In fact, ‘Rabbit in a Snowstorm’ looks very much like the plastered design of the wall from his house as a child. The one that he was forced to sit in front of and stare at while in the background his father savagely beat his mother. The one that he stared at while building up the courage to stand up and put an end to that beating, permanently.
Vanessa Marianna
It’s all a little suspicious, isn’t it, that Vanessa has stuck it out this far into a relationship with someone that can kindly be called ‘troubled’? I suppose she herself may have an equally sordid past and thus be able to deal with Fisk much better than normal people.. on par with someone like James Wesley, for example. If that’s the case, though, she has not yet revealed any of that to us.
Yes, I assume that there is more underneath the exterior there, because there always is (except maybe with Foggy) but it seems like Vanessa has had an extremely large impact on Wilson Fisk in a very short amount of time. She has taken him from an unstable dinner date to shattering his normal routine and joining him for breakfast. He is even letting her pick out his clothes (and cufflinks!).
A bit of a breakthrough for Fisk, it seems, after letting the worst of himself and his past out into the light. In doing so, he reclaims his name and sets to become more of a public personality – which just so happens to shatter the expose that Matt has urged Ben to write for the paper. The one that he almost submits right before seeing the live footage of Fisk’s speech on his computer screen.
Vanessa is certainly guiding Fisk at this point. Whether or not that is for her own nefarious purposes, I suppose we will find out in the episodes yet to come! I will be watching the rest of the season’s episodes with rapt attention.