Genetic Engineering: A paradox

Hi all.

A company, Monsanto, wants to patent a certain type of GM pig so that it will earn big money. (See here)

A patent is a set of rights only for an inventor of something novel, useful and non-obvious.

Is this GM pig novel? Yes.
Is this GM pig useful? No.
Is this GM pig non-obvious? Yeah.

So, it fails one condition. What to do? I suggest that it be rejected.

But if it is accepted…

The company will have rights over the pig and its offspring. This could lead to contamination of the “normal”* biodiverse pig population, and then before we all know it, the GM pig will dominate the world. Forever. And the company will earn big money in the form of royalties and lawsuits.

The lawyers of the company will get a raise, and another, and another, and so on, until they earn a lot of money. And they will be rich.

But a lawyer is also a normal person. So, without pigs (or the money to license the “pig patent” from Monsanto), the lawyer will have no meat. Without pigs, the lawyer can’t buy the things that are made from pigs. Pigs will become a niche market, and the market for pigs will be so sorely reduced that we will all wonder, “Should I buy a pig for this so much money?”

This scenario could occur with other things too.

So, I leave this question to you. Would you be willing to buy a pig and support this company in their immoral, unreasonable, ununderstandable effort to dominate the world?

- Kyle

School interpreter – probably changing

Hi all.

Well, my current school interpreter (Leanne) told me that the local school board is currently interviewing a new interpreter, and that this new interpreter might be working with me instead of Leanne in the next few months.

What do I think about this?

Well, frankly, why change things when they work? Just for a comparison, I use my EXTREMELY OLD HP PRINTER that doesn’t even support scanning or copying all the time instead of my all in one Lexmark printer because it isn’t compatible with both operating systems that I use (Windows and Ubuntu). My HP printer WORKS ALL THE TIME!

I have been with Leanne for over a year and I have developed a good bond with her over that period. I don’t want to see her go. So I feel that this change is not very fair at all to both of us because it won’t work.

Leanne will quit if this happens at all.

Well, I’m off for now.

- Kyle

Oppression and God: Cochlear Implants

Hi all.

At the deaf church today, I heard about a new federal law. It essentially says that if you get a CI, you cannot sign anymore and must resort to lipreading and listening.

Now, what do I think of this new law?

Well, I can sum it up: this new law is plain lying, and oppressive of Deaf, Deafened and hoh people who use a CI.

Why?

Well, God says in the last commandment (Exodus 20:16) that “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour”. Bearing false witness is lying, and a neighbour is a person that you have some type of relationship with (and that includes God too). God does not want you to lie because He is always truthful, so He expects you to be truthful too!

Oppression is when a group takes advantage of another group for its own benefit. By definition, oppression is bad because the oppressor only thinks of themselves, not other people.

*** PLEASE READ AND FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS THOUGHT BEFORE YOU CLICK ON THE ASK GOOGLE LINK. IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, PLEASE ASK ***
I think that the federal government thinks that CI’s restore normal hearing. Well, they’re wrong. They do not restore normal hearing. Don’t take my word on this: Ask Google!

GA
- Kyle

Deaf Church

Hey all.

Today, I went to a deaf church in Peterborough for the first time ever. I have never been to a deaf church before.

The atmosphere of the church was absolutely amazing. Deaf people are willing to congregate with people they don’t even know to follow on God’s Word! I managed to get a glimpse of what the Deaf community really looks like in this tiny group – welcoming, determined, non-discriminatory, and passionate.

I really want to go every week, because I mostly fit into the Deaf community. We will have to see about this.

GA
- Kyle

Why do we spread myths?

Hi all.

I have been thinking about why we spread disinformation and myths. Maybe we want to believe in those myths and have faith in them. Maybe we really, really want to believe in that person because we trust them …

I leave this question to you to judge: Why do we spread myths?

GA
- Kyle

The invisible glass wall

Hi all.

So, exactly what is this “invisible glass wall” and why is it your enemy?

The glass wall, in my opinion, is composed of several things that work with each other in order to build this glass wall:

• Prejudice: This means “pre judging”, i.e. to be judged before you can be understood, e.g. “only people who can walk can go on the subway”. We all are very vulnerable to prejudice because we are not very good thinkers.
• Stereotyping: This is closely related to prejudice. A stereotype is an idea held about members of particular groups based solely on membership in the group that is often used in a prejudicial or negative manner, e.g. “women are not smart.”
• Inaccessibility: This is closely related to stereotyping / prejudice. Inaccessibility is when a system is usable only by the “general majority”. There are some reasons that the system may not be usable by disabled people, which include, but are not limited to, stereotyping, prejudice, cost.

Only certain groups who are affected by any of the above actually hit this glass wall.

The “general majority” does not see this glass wall because they are not affected by any of the above. The general majority generally only wants to help out other people who are like them.

Fortunately, this is changing – more and more people understand other people and that no one ever is perfect at all.

Thanks
- Kyle

What can Deaf people do?

Hi all.

I was talking to someone about the previous post. They said that they have been arguing with hearing people about whether or not Deaf people can drive.

Well, guess what?

Each person in the world either can or can’t do something in a certain way.

What do I mean by this?

• If you can’t walk to move around, you can use a chair to move around.
• If you can’t use the telephone to call other people, you can use Relay service through a TTY to call other people

We do not fully understand the ability of our brains to adapt, because we haven’t really adapted yet. So when we look at another person who has adapted, sometimes we look away from that person and do not realize that by acting that way, that we are ignoring them.

I leave you with a couple of questions:

• If you, the hearing person, were ignored by another, would that be nice to you?
• If you heard a Deaf person in a car say that he was Deaf, would you ignore him just because he was Deaf? Also, would that be nice to that Deaf person?

GA
- Kyle

Tim Hortons: Are they being unfair?

Hey all.

One day I want to drive to Tim Hortons to get myself tea. So, I go into drive thru, and when I get there, I think about what I want. When it finally comes for me to tell Tim Hortons what I want, I can’t. I leave Tim Hortons with nothing at all.

Some assumptions here:

• I can only sign, or type!
• I have a car.
• I have my own home, and live alone.
• I can’t make my own tea for some reason.

Let us refer to TH’s guiding statement: “Our guiding mission is to deliver superior quality products and services for our customers and communities through leadership, innovation and partnerships. Our vision is to be the quality leader in everything we do.“

A few questions to you, the hearing person who may have not encountered this scenario:

• Are they delivering “superior quality services” for the Deaf community by being unfair?
• Are they being innovative or being a leader to the Deaf community by being unfair?
• Do you think that they have a partnership with some company or person to help out the Deaf community?
• Would customer satisfaction be important to you if you were part of a company that did this type of business? Also, would this scenario be “customer satisfaction”?

I leave it to you, the people, to decide for yourself whether this is or isn’t unfair treatment.

GA
- Kyle

Happy Groundhog day!

Hey all.

Happy Groundhog day.

Wikipedia reveals that Ontario, Canada and most of the US will have a early spring.

Thanks for reading
- Kyle

Status of CI

Hi all.

My cochlear implant status may be a bit surprising to you. Basically, there is paperwork to do. On one piece of that paperwork, the CAS has to fill out ALL OF my family history. So my social worker is asking a family worker for that information. Until then, the CI is held up at least for now.

Thanks for reading
- Kyle