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3 Tishrei/ 21 September 2009
Sep. 21st, 2009 10:47 pmI was feeling all blah and sleep-deprived since 3pm but watching a new two hour premiere of “House” right now made me feel all happy.
( House S6 E1-2 )
Today was a very long day, like all Mondays this semester, mainly because I have to get up at 6:30, teach two classes, grade many papers and write up a worksheet for next week. I had good classes but teaching and grading just drains me. We were discussing the second reading today and the issues of medical ethics regarding genetically engineering children to cure their siblings. They read Lisa Belkin’s article “Made-To-Order-Savior” about two families who had children with Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease that leads to leukemia and early death. To save their children, the two families submitted to rounds of in-vitro fertilization and testing the blastoplasts to find an embryo that would be a genetic match for their sick child for future bone marrow donation. They hope that their second child will be a genetic match and they do all they can to make sure it will be. It is an emotional story to read but students respond well to it. In both classes we had a good debate about pros and cons of this technology. I like one of my classes more than the other, but both had interesting ideas. A few kids can’t see past religion but the debate was civilized.
I got my Hebrew textbook and vocabulary cards in the mail today. I can start some proper studying tomorrow. I need to learn the proper terms for vowels. I’m actually excited about learning something new.
I was listening to Mozart’s “Requiem” today as I was grading to block out the noise in the office and I was reminded once again why it is my favorite piece of classical music. It is just perfect.
Last night I finally submitted my book review, now I just have to wait to hear if it needs revisions or anything.
Genesis WTF moment of the day: So I thought that I would write about Lot’s daughters getting their father drunk and pretty much raping him without his knowledge to “preserve the family line”. I would think he had figured it out once they got pregnant while living alone with him in a cave. However, that was not the weirdest moment of last night’s reading. It turns out that when Abraham was going into a new land and claiming that Sara was his sister so that he wouldn’t get killed he wasn’t technically lying. He moved into a new place again and the king there took Sara into his house as his wife after Abraham’s claim. And then God threatened to kill the king and king’s family for messing with a married woman and the king confronted Abraham. Turns out that Sara is Abraham’s half-sister through their father. Luckily for the king, he didn’t sleep with Sara, which saved his life from God’s wrath. The King just gave Abraham a lot of slaves and animals and freedom to live wherever to pacify everybody and restore Sara’s “reputation”. This reads like a con that Abraham is pulling on these kings with God as his enforcer.
( House S6 E1-2 )
Today was a very long day, like all Mondays this semester, mainly because I have to get up at 6:30, teach two classes, grade many papers and write up a worksheet for next week. I had good classes but teaching and grading just drains me. We were discussing the second reading today and the issues of medical ethics regarding genetically engineering children to cure their siblings. They read Lisa Belkin’s article “Made-To-Order-Savior” about two families who had children with Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease that leads to leukemia and early death. To save their children, the two families submitted to rounds of in-vitro fertilization and testing the blastoplasts to find an embryo that would be a genetic match for their sick child for future bone marrow donation. They hope that their second child will be a genetic match and they do all they can to make sure it will be. It is an emotional story to read but students respond well to it. In both classes we had a good debate about pros and cons of this technology. I like one of my classes more than the other, but both had interesting ideas. A few kids can’t see past religion but the debate was civilized.
I got my Hebrew textbook and vocabulary cards in the mail today. I can start some proper studying tomorrow. I need to learn the proper terms for vowels. I’m actually excited about learning something new.
I was listening to Mozart’s “Requiem” today as I was grading to block out the noise in the office and I was reminded once again why it is my favorite piece of classical music. It is just perfect.
Last night I finally submitted my book review, now I just have to wait to hear if it needs revisions or anything.
Genesis WTF moment of the day: So I thought that I would write about Lot’s daughters getting their father drunk and pretty much raping him without his knowledge to “preserve the family line”. I would think he had figured it out once they got pregnant while living alone with him in a cave. However, that was not the weirdest moment of last night’s reading. It turns out that when Abraham was going into a new land and claiming that Sara was his sister so that he wouldn’t get killed he wasn’t technically lying. He moved into a new place again and the king there took Sara into his house as his wife after Abraham’s claim. And then God threatened to kill the king and king’s family for messing with a married woman and the king confronted Abraham. Turns out that Sara is Abraham’s half-sister through their father. Luckily for the king, he didn’t sleep with Sara, which saved his life from God’s wrath. The King just gave Abraham a lot of slaves and animals and freedom to live wherever to pacify everybody and restore Sara’s “reputation”. This reads like a con that Abraham is pulling on these kings with God as his enforcer.
