Subjects in the Labels List Which Begin with the Letters cla to col

This blog is ακωλυτως, unhindered. (Acts 28:31) Any subject is fair game. Below is a listing of the LABELS which begin with the letters cla to col. All can be searched from the list which follows the last posted article on this page or by typing them into the SEARCH button at the top of the page. Most will call up multiple postings in which they appear.

clan, classical music, Claudius, cleansing, cleft palate, Clemson University, Cleopatra, clergy, clerical ostentation, clip art, cliques, cloning, clothing, Clotilde, clotting, Clovis, clowns, Clyde T. Francisco, CNN, Cochabamba, cod roe, coffin, Coffin Joe, coincidence, coincidences, Coins, collection plate, college, college football, college football national championship, college sports, Colombia, color, color blindness, Colorado, Colossians.

Film Comment: Splice

"She's not human ... not entirely."  This is the tagline for the truly disturbing 2009 Canadian science fiction film, Splice , starring Academy Award winner (2002) Adrien Brody, Canadian actress Sarah Polley, and French actress Delphine Chaneac in the role as the adult creature/specimen/thing/woman.  When I saw this film , I heard someone say that they felt like they needed a bath upon leaving the theater. It is that intense, bizarre, and perverse.

A male-female genetic research team (Brody and Polley) at the Nucleic Exchange Research and Development laboratory (N.E.R.D.) are working on creating hybrid animals (mixing genetic material from several species) for medical use.  When their funding is threatened they rush to accelerate their results and secretly add human DNA (their own) to the mix.  A viable little bird-like thing results.  They name it Dren (N.E.R.D. spelled backwards) because the female researcher almost immediately takes a mothering attitude toward the creature and insists that it is not a "specimen."

Dren cannot speak, after all, she is an animal; she coos like a bird.  She proves to be inquisitive, intelligent, graceful, and she grows at an alarming rate.  She is an adult within days.  She is tall and slender with a beautifully innocent face, her knees bend backward instead of forward, her feet resemble hands, and she has a long prehensile tail tipped with a poisonous stinger.

As she matures, Dren becomes very noticeably female and increasingly seductive. "Poppa" makes the mistake of spending time alone with her and willingly/unwillingly ends up as the object of her intense attention.  Then his wife catches them.  He is having sex with his "daughter," he is having sex with an animal, he is having sex with himself.  Dren is all three.

This film touches on the subjects of cloning, responsibility toward our offspring, aberrant sexuality, intense self pride, and amoral scientific research just for the "science."  It is, in reality, a variant on the Frankenstein theme.

The most disturbing thing about this film is that it is on the edge of no longer being science fiction.  Much of science fiction eventually becomes science fact.  Jules Verne wrote of space travel and submarines; now they are established fact.  On the first Star Trek television series, the characters would reach into their pockets and pull out their personal communicators; we now call them cell phones.

Modern molecular biology can already insert DNA sequences into bacteria and cause them to produce synthetic chemicals they would normally not produce.  The entire human genome has now been deciphered with the prospect of the ability to insert healthy DNA sequences in place of faulty ones.  The mutant genetic sequence which causes the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus to be resistant to methicillin (MRSA) can be detected in one hour from a nasal swab.

Artificial life may be just around the corner.  It may already be here.  In 2010, Dr. John Craig Venter of Utah, USA announced the creation of an artificial bacterium using synthetic DNA.  His research is aimed at producing modified microorganisms which can produce clean fuels and biochemicals.

Christians believe that God is the Creator.  There are so many questions. What will it mean if man also is a creator?  What will God think of our glorification of the human intellect?  Does God intend for us to learn all things?   Are there things we should not learn?  Are there things we should not do even if they are possible? Do scientists bear any responsibility for their discoveries?  What if our science creates a Dren?

Common Sense Predictions for the Next Ten Years

Update on 13 February 2025. I mostly missed on these predictions though I still think that several of the events will eventually happen. The predictions which were correct are numbers 2, 8, 10. Prediction number 6 has been partially completed with the legalization of marijuana/CBD products in some parts of the United States.

1. Human cloning will be perfected in North Korea, with plans to create an army of identical super soldiers.

2. Israel and the Palestinians will still not have peace.

3. After Iran's bloody revolution, the royalty will be restored.

4. France and Spain will become predominantly Muslim.

5. After same sex marriage is legalized in the United States, a push to legalize polygamy and other forms of group marriage will begin.

6. Hard drugs will be legalized and their sale will be taxed. 

7. Numerous churches will renounce their tax-exempt status in order to prevent governmental interference in their affairs.

8. After the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan both countries will fall under al-Qaida/Taliban style control.

9. A practical human blood substitute will eliminate the need for blood banking.

10. The tendency of religious denominations to fragment into conservative and "progressive" factions will accelerate.