Can I Patent My Own Gene Set So No One Copies or Clones Me?

Who owns your DNA set? Who owns your gene set? Do you own it? Your parents created it by combining their gene sets. If you have a brother and sister do they all own the same gene set now? Was it given to you at birth, or can your parents claim it, and copyright you? That is to say can they get a patent on your genes? We know Levi Strauss has a patent on their jeans, but this is entirely a different issue. You might think that this is a rather silly conversation to be having, especially for someone that runs a think tank, however it appears that folks are trying to get patents on these things.

There was an interesting article in the New York Times on December 1, 2012 titled; "Supreme Court to Look at a Gene Issue," by Adam Liptak which stated; "The Supreme Court announced that it would decide whether human genes may be patented," and that; "The legal question for the justices is whether isolated genes are "products of nature" that may not be patented or "human-made inventions" eligible for patent protection."

What if you decide to modify your genes and your gene expression? What if you wish to be taller, smarter, or free from various diseases? What about gene therapy? No one is going to do the research if they can't patent the process or gene set, and if they don't do the research, it won't help humanity much; will it?

Consider if you will genetically modified crops, we need them because we need abundance in our agriculture to feed the world, and also drought resistant crops for areas where there is a water shortage. We also need modified crops so that they won't get viruses, fungus, or eaten alive by insects without over spraying them with chemicals. This is a serious issue.

Of course, there is also gene flow, and often the seeds might blow to another field, or become cross pollinated by butterflies and bees for instance. Can the person which owns the fields that got accidentally pollinated receive compensation from the GMO user in the next field? Can the GMO company producing those special seeds sue a farmer which is inadvertently using them, but not of his own choosing? Well, what say you? Does the individual or company in the lawsuit with the most money get to make the case law - which might be used for future cases concerning all species, even humans?

Can I get a patent on my own gene set so no one else can use it, or clone me later?

You might think that's funny, but what if you were Einstein? I bet people would wish to grab his DNA set, and use it in the future. Maybe people would run up and pull out some of his hair and runoff, just so they could copy his DNA and gene set? Could they then patent it? With a slightly modified version could they patented then, maybe they might improve upon his hairdo for instance?

We're sure going to have a lot of questions in the future aren't we? I'm quite certain I won't satisfy much of anything in the short article, but I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. Email me if you'd like to talk, but hurry as the "Supremies" in our Highest Court might decide first.

2012 And the Age of Aquarius: Impacts on Humanity Through the Law of Attraction

Technically speaking, the Age of Aquarius is simply an astrological term, and not a precise one at that. Astrological (i.e. Zodiac) "Ages" refer to a period of time, approximately 2,150 years in length, and are measured by the location of the sun as it transits through one of the twelve zodiac constellations at the moment of the annual vernal equinox. The vernal equinox occurs when the sun rises above the celestial equator, which marks the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere. The sun's precessional rotation through the twelve zodiacs takes approximately 25,800 years, thus leading to the approximate 2,150-year period for each of the twelve astrological ages.

However, measuring the beginning and end point of the astrological ages is an imprecise science. This is because each of the twelve zodiac constellations varies in size and position, so astrologers do not universally agree on the delimitating point between each of the constellations, including the sun's current status between the constellations of Pisces and Aquarius.

Added to this scientific confusion is the underlying mystical meanings attributed to each of the zodiac signs and the period of time each rises in prominence. This encourages mystics and spiritualists to add their own opinions concerning the transition period between the Ages. Further, the inexact borders between the constellations have encouraged some to proclaim the transition between the Ages is not a point in time, but rather an extended period, rising slowly like a periodic tidal force. For example, Yogi Bhajan argued mystical influences of the Age of Aquarius began on 11 November 1991 and the new Age fully transitioned from the Age of Pisces on 20 November 2011.

During this period of transition, aspects and characteristics of each Age will be present, vying for dominance and slowly giving way to the characteristics of the incoming Age. Following the mystical example, the Age of Pisces could be equated with the rise of organized Western religions, Christianity and Islam, and the major impact each had on their respective and neighboring societies. Many have argued the Age of Aquarius will be defined by the rise of scientific knowledge, and with it, will transform concepts of religion to a more knowledge- and logic-based form of spirituality. Through this transformation, mankind will become more empathetic, benevolent and altruistic, and less dependent on illogical, faith-based religions or the controlling mandates of their self-appointed leaders.

Given that we are upon the period of transition between the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius, the year 2012 brings with it an interesting addition to the mix. There are various eschatological beliefs concerning supposed cataclysmic events thought to be foreordained by the end-date of the 5,125-year-long cycle Mayan Long Count calendar on 21 December 2012. "Eschatology' concerns the philosophy and theology of End Times as purported by most of the world's organized religions. 21 December 2012 corresponds with the conclusion of the 13th b'ak'tun, or the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, attributed by some theorists to have applicability to End Times' prophesies.

However, a spiritual interpretation of this confluence of events is that the period will result in a positive spiritual transformation from which 2012 will merely mark the beginning of a new, more benevolent era.

Following the principles of the Law of Attraction, one would realize humanity is in the midst of a societal tug-of-war as we approach the end of 2012. A significant portion of humanity either assumes or is worried that the end of the Mayan calendar's 13th b'ak'tun will result in cataclysmic events marking the End Times while another portion of humanity fully expects this period will result in a more spiritual-minded people on earth, though the question of "how" that transformation will occur is not addressed by this expectation. Since the Law of Attraction works more efficiently when more people share a common belief, then the potential for violent events on earth -- whether earthquakes, volcanoes, war, or the like -- increases. Since two significantly large groups of people on earth have very different expectations of the meaning of the significance of the winter solstice in December 2012, it is difficult to dismiss either camp as having no basis in probability.

However, I think it is far fetched to consider the end of humanity will occur on 21 December 2012. Even if a disaster should occur on a localized basis on the winter solstice, as occurs almost daily somewhere in the world, it is safe to assume that life will go on. Thereby, the camp of believers who expect that humanity will slowly transform and become more spiritual have the upper hand in the tug-of-war concerning the import of the end of the Mayan calendar. This is simply because the End Times believers assume an action must be initiated and completed by 21 December 2012, while the New Age believers assume the 21st of December marks a new beginning and has the next 2,150 years to reach a climax.

Given this comparison, it seems quite likely that the camp that has a longer period of time to achieve its goals will obviously have a greater chance of success. If we considered nothing more than the changes that occurred in human society over the previous "ages" of 2,150 years it is clear that major changes have occurred in each Age and thus most certainly would continue into the indefinite future. The only point of contention that remains, therefore, is the identification of the starting point of this change. In that regard, today - or any day - is as valid a starting point for that future change as 21 December 2012. Therefore, let us not worry about the future because the future will worry about itself. Instead, let us care for our family, friends, neighbors and loved ones today because by doing so we will set in place the mechanisms that help us realize a better tomorrow, today.

Conduct Effective Training Sessions for Employees With Secured Online Private Community

Organizations are often into conducting online training programs for their employees and executives, for boosting up their performance level and improving skills sets. For making the training programs effective and efficient, it is very essential to increase the communication standards and make the sessions interactive, which will benefit both the company and the employees. The cloud-based online training management solution offering secured private community network can easily be utilized by the training organizers or trainers for creating groups or communities, to connect with the trainers or employees, more personally.

Why use secured private community?

The secured private community offered by the online solution offers a number of benefits that makes it very popular. As it can be created and accessed easily, training organizers can avail the benefits of this particular feature, for conducting successful training sessions.

For improving the performance of trainees and professionals within an organization, it is very important to work on the communication level. Most training organizers often ignore this aspect. Constant communication between the trainers and the trainees will encourage positive relationships and increased development. However, marketing and promoting plays a very vital role in popularizing your training session, adding brand recognition to your company.

Offer access to training materials online:

Offering the training materials online for the trainees and the employees, who have failed to attend the program, will encourage them to participate in future sessions. Organizers can also add photos, videos and informative contents, handouts and slide presentations, so that trainees can access important documents and information, anytime.

Empowers you to control the trainee database:

Training organizers as well as administrators always need to have access to information on a regular basis for enhancing their network and maintaining efficiency. However, it becomes a challenging task to maintain a database of all the trainees, if you are conducting programs, frequently. In addition to this, you might have to spent additional expenses for maintaining database manually, hiring additional staffs. The web-based community allows you to maintain the database of each and every trainee or employee, online. You can automatically update your online database on a daily basis and can track information online, whenever required.

With the increasing recognition of social networking, the task of promotion has become much easier and simpler. An integrated private community will help you to promote your sessions in real time for reaching out to millions of people.

Thus, managing trainee members or employees using scalable private community will help organizations in carrying out training programs in an effective way.

Follow Your Dreams - Chinese Students Enjoy Their Lives in Sydney

At many university campuses in Sydney, it is easy to spot students from China.

The number of Chinese students at universities across Australia has increased dramatically. Officials say there are now more than 130,000 students studying in Australia, 45% of them are living in Sydney. In such a situation, it is worth to ask about:

Why so many Chinese are choosing to study abroad? How their lives in Sydney? What will happen to them in the future?

The gate of dreams

Yiren Ding treats her oversea experiences as a dream, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter. This 24 years old Chinese girl, came to Sydney in 2006(then she was 18) as part of an explosion of Chinese education immigration. She said her dream of studying abroad was derived from her father. In her father-centered family, she recalled almost every decision was proposed and made by her father, including dropping out in Hangzhou, China and continuing her last year of high school in Sydney. "My dad is a successful businessman; he can easily bear an economic burden sending me to study abroad. For reasons, I guessed hum... my dad feared that I would not enter top uni of China because my academic achievements were kind of poor," Yiren said with a shy little smile, " and I was specialized in painting, my dad believed that there are more opportunities for little artists in western countries than mainland China."

Yiren became clouded and then froze when she was asked with "Do you think that your unsatisfactory academic performance stimulating you study abroad, avoiding participating in the college entrance examination of China, is a kind of escape behavior?" She hesitated long enough that her close friend, chipping in the conversation with "she is pursuing her dream", to attempt to respond to the awkward silence.

Allen Liu, however, was straightforward to say his intention for coming to Australia to study, avoiding the college entrance examination in China. Same with Yiren, Allen came to Adelaide to complete his high school period. In 2010, he admitted to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) by in top 10 percent of HSC scores of South Australia.

"I was in the middle of my Chinese high school class; maybe Chinese cramming system is not suite for me. But I found my passion on physics when I came into Australian creative educational pattern. I adapt to the English language environment soon after and became one of top students, restoring my self-confidence." Allen said with a complacent smile, insisting on showing his prom photos off.

Allen would be happy to deeply analyze reasons for such a great amount of Chinese students studying in Australia. The growth rate is due, in large part, to an increasing middle class in China. Parents hope their children to be better educated, in a multicultural environment. Australia, furthermore, provides migratory opportunities for students to live here permanently. "Compared to China's large population, work stresses and environment pollution, more and more Chinese students are choosing to stay here after graduation, starting a family, plan to pick their parents up from China in the future." He emphasized again and again he can represent a number of Chinese students, "Chinese always keep on the rails". The above is his life planning, also his dream.

The road of dreams

"I came from a middle class family, the speed of my parents earn money is six times as the speed that I spend money." Anna Wang loves to tell this joke about the exchange rate between Chinese Yuan and Australian Dollars (appr 6.5:1), with a trace of frustrated and helpless laughter. She came to UNSW for a two-year Master program of IT, yet when she first attended into a lecture, she was surprised that almost everyone has an Asian face, including the lecturer. After a further chat she found that 90% of students are from China. "I cannot believe my eyes; I thought I was in a Chinese classroom." Anna recalled the primary impression of her first class in UNSW.

In her imagination, she would live in a colorful life in Sydney, hanging out with a group of friends from different cultural background, dancing at parties, enjoying the sunshine at beach, yet the truth is, alone. "You know lots of Chinese are shy, traditional, and not good at making friends especially with foreigners", Anna said while walking in Randwick Coles, shopping food and necessities for next week, "if my parents have enough money, maybe I would be here to start a bachelor degree, then I might make friends with local people. Occasionally I was invited to some parties, but I rejected because I hum... kind of fear the Australian-style party, a little bit crazy with excessive drinking. So I prefer spending my parents' money on food, for me, myself. " She picked up this one, and then took another one, carefully comparing the price and weight, calculating that which more worth buying is.

The most attractive thing, for Anna, might be traveling, with her Chinese friends. She spent all of her money by selling dim sum in a Cantonese restaurant, "actually I am an illegal worker and I know the Australian government prohibits work positions with salaries less than $16 per hour. I only earn $9.5 hourly. In my Chinese students circle this is very common, we call it 'Black Work'. "

The government banning, the restaurateur lacking conscience, most of Chinese students working illegally, yet who has the heart to blame her and the group of international students? They left their native place, landing here and try to find resting place for the sole of feet.

The light of dreams

Chinese students often say, studying in Australia, doing in a part-time job, cooking themselves, traveling... all of these things, is a process of following your dream.

When it comes to the future, many students confused, so did Annie Sun. She has been to Sydney for one year, as a postgraduate student major in Human Resource in the University of Sydney (UNSD). "This subject (HR) in China is extremely different with Australia. My mum works in the human resource office, but her real work is to build relationship with other staff, filing documents, and other little things like a secretary did", Annie complained, "I worries about I might not suitable in Chinese circumstances when I go back." Soon afterwards, however, a smile resurfaced on her face, "I know human resource is still a burgeoning thing in my country, but I have confidence to take practice using what I learned."

Next month Annie will be back to her hometown, Jinan, a mid-size city in North-eastern China. She is preparing the national civil service examination, "My parents hope me work for the government because they consider it is decent and respectable. I also look forward to because I want to change the situation of China's human resource. That is my dream, even it is fantastic but I keep going on it."

Different with Annie, Monica Li plan to move Australia permanently. Monica has qualified to be called the "old" Chinese Australian student. She has been to Sydney for 5 years, completing her bachelor degree of Linguistics and a master degree of Early Education, both in UNSD. This vivid girl has a large group of local friends, so she always busy on organizing parities and group activities, even though she has three part-time jobs at the same time, "I am a super woman, huh?"

Monica's work is more decent than other Chinese students who work in a Chinese café. She does a home-based working for a Mandarin school, as a role of enrollment officer. Also, she works regularly at an early-care center and a museum one or two times a week. "I most cherish the work in museum because it was hard-earned. I was selected after three rounds of interviews, my colleagues are all white people, I am the only who was not brought up in Australia", Monica said, pleased with herself.

She seems full of hope for her future prospects, in this piece of land where is originally not belong to her, "I was awarded Apprentice of the Year at the 2010 North Shore Times Business Achiever Awards, and represented our Mandarin School attending in the 17th Australia Chinese Teachers Assembly."