We'll be headed for the San Juan Mountains of Colorado within the next few days, returning at the end of July. Our route both ways will also take us through the Utah red rock country. All the posts related to this trip (including, we hope, lots of wildflower and scenery photos – and maybe some wildlife photos as well) will be tagged as “SJM2013”. You can view them all anytime you'd like by clicking here. Bookmark it and visit often!
Note that we're not certain about the quality of our Internet access where we're staying (at 11,000' in the mountains near Silverton, Colorado), so the posts may be a bit irregular, as we get a good cell signal...
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Would You Want to Know?
Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder that invariably leads to death, after causing cognitive, psychiatric, and muscular problems. The onset is usually in the middle of adulthood. There is no cure.
The children of someone with Huntington's disease have a 50% chance of having the disease themselves. A genetic test is available (for about $300) that can tell whether any individual will develop the disease.
Imagine, for a moment, being a 20 year old child of a parent diagnosed with Huntington's disease. Would you want to take that test, and know whether you were going to get Huntington's disease 15 or 20 years down the road?
When I first read that question, I thought “Of course I'd want to know! What idiot wouldn't?!?” I can think of all sorts of life choices I'd make differently if I knew I would die early. Then I read that 95% of people at risk don't get the test. This fascinating Freakonomics podcast explores the reasons why most people at risk don't get the test.
Myself, I think they're all crazy...
The children of someone with Huntington's disease have a 50% chance of having the disease themselves. A genetic test is available (for about $300) that can tell whether any individual will develop the disease.
Imagine, for a moment, being a 20 year old child of a parent diagnosed with Huntington's disease. Would you want to take that test, and know whether you were going to get Huntington's disease 15 or 20 years down the road?
When I first read that question, I thought “Of course I'd want to know! What idiot wouldn't?!?” I can think of all sorts of life choices I'd make differently if I knew I would die early. Then I read that 95% of people at risk don't get the test. This fascinating Freakonomics podcast explores the reasons why most people at risk don't get the test.
Myself, I think they're all crazy...
Broken Government...
Here's another sad story from the overflowing annals of our broken government. A farm's bridge washes out in spring floods. The contractor estimates the repair costs at $7,000 – but notes that a permit will be required. The repair would be made with a couple I-beams and some concrete blocks. The engineering firm's estimate for a design and analysis that will meet permit requirements (but not the construction itself!): $25,000. Oh, and it will take two years to get the permit.
The farmer's tentative solution to this dilemma: hire a couple itinerant Mexicans and fix it when nobody is looking.
I'm with the farmer on this one. What business does the government have telling me how to build something on my own farm?
The farmer's tentative solution to this dilemma: hire a couple itinerant Mexicans and fix it when nobody is looking.
I'm with the farmer on this one. What business does the government have telling me how to build something on my own farm?
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