3-D movies...what the heck??

Lately, it seems like every movie which comes out is a 3D movie.
Say what you will about amazing technology and how realistic you think the experience is, but I liked the good old 2-D movies just fine, thank you.

For one, those glasses are uncomfortable! In one case, it almost gave me a headache and in the middle of the movie, all I want to do is to take them off. It also makes the picture look darker.

They're also expensive. And I don't like them.

Here you are at the movies, and all you want to do is watch a good film and leave. You enter the theater and sit through five minutes of the movie before you realize that everyone else is wearing 3-D glasses. You rush out to buy said glasses and fork over more money to use them for just around 2 hours. And on top of all that, you realize that you might have just watched the whole thing in 2-D and enjoyed it more. Honestly...I want 2-D back.

Is PGD ethical?

This hit the papers a few weeks ago. Thailand is offering Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis to couples. Already couples from Australia, India and China are flocking to these fertility centers to select the gender of their child. While this can also help to make sure that the embryos will not develop with gene disorders or chromosomal abnormalities, it is gaining popularity mainly for the purpose of sex selection.

Naturally, this has sparked off ethical debates all over the world. Will this skew the sex ratio, especially in countries like India where boys are preferred to girls if this technique becomes more viable in the future? Some say that this is only a step away from genetic modification of other characteristics like intelligence, colouring and stature to get 'designer babies'.

Also, the destruction of many fertilized embryos is seen as something akin to murder but there is no unanimous answer for that. As in the case of abortions, circumstances and health play an important part.

Should we ignore natural selection and take it a step further to 'design' our children? This reminds me of the book 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley where people are manufactured and conditioned to perform specific tasks and hold specific positions in society. In the end, I believe that this will only lead to the imposition of restrictions on children even before they are born. We are all entitled to our individuality.

I am all in favour of using this technique when there is a strong chance that the child might be born with diseases or disabilities. But the implications of PGD could go deeper than we know. It has a vast scope for healing and for exploitation which is why I believe that there should be laws in place to prevent the misuse of something which could be a boon to medical science.

This is a funny comic I found on the web but you have to admit it strikes a chord.

21

Let’s start at the start. Important things which happened to me before the New Year:

1.I became my nephew’s godmother.

I thought that this meant that I have to start being a good religious role model to a two-year old kid. I tried discussing the ethical wrongness of making me anyone’s godmother based on the idea that I would encourage the kid to grow up with a reasonably religious mindset because I lack said mindset.
But my mother and sister both doubted the contingency that my nephew’s eternal salvation would rest in my hands alone.
So now I’m a godmother.
Ajay’s going to so freak out when he’s old enough to find out.

2.I got a job.

This was a nice surprise. I am now expected to be a productive member of society who will slog for hours every day to bring home the bread and butter. Along with the bills and work and the tension and the ‘big bad world’ as my mother puts it, there’s also independence and new experiences.
And long distance phone calls.
All this will happen provided I clear this monster of a paper called DSP this semester. There’s always a catch, isn’t there?

So now we come to 2011. I made no resolutions because I never keep them anyway but I will tell you that I’m not entirely happy with the way everyone tells me, with more enthusiasm than is called for in this situation, that I’ve put on weight.
A quick check on the scales this morning confirmed that I might have put on a couple of kilos.
This is not good.
I might have to actually (gasp!) exercise. I’ve never dieted in my life so I’m a little skeptical about living on protein.
At any rate, I might have a small non-resolution.


I celebrated one of the best birthdays in my life with my friends. Turning 21 was a blast! You might remember that I was bent on doing crazy things last year before I turned 20. Now I’m bent on not doing anything too crazy but crazy might find me anyway. I got some awesome gifts this time around and here’s what I got:



We had a sleepover where we tried to stick to watching one movie and ate pizza and ice cream with brownie. At midnight, they got me an awesome cake and we had another midnight snack. The next morning, they organized a treasure hunt around the house for me to find all of my 21 gifts! I can’t believe they took so much effort for my birthday. And the rest of the day was hands down amazing. I’m going to miss these guys terribly when I leave Chennai.



And last but not the least, how cute is this stuffed dog they got me? I know it’s girly to like stuffed animals but really, it’s got that puppy dog look, a lopsided nose, makes you go ‘aww’ and squeeze the dog so tight it would have asphyxiated if it was alive.

Happy New Year everyone.

P.S: In case you're wondering, I'm too lazy to set the date in my digital camera. So most of my photos were taken on 01/01/2008.