Tidbits, Odds and Ends

Musings of an Aging Mind

By Jack Bagley

I see by the news that science has actually brought an extinct species back from the dead.
A company called Colossal Biosciences claims to have brought the dino wolf back from extinction. The dino wolf, featured in Game of Thrones, became extinct about 13,000 years ago. Now, by using the compiled genetic code for the animal, some DNA, and some grey wolf, they say they’ve brought back the animal from the dead.
They call their science “de-extinction” and say it’s a new scientific breakthrough.
Not so fast, say other scientists.
What they are calling dino wolves are actually genetically modified grey wolves which look like their ancient cousins. The animals produced by the process, it seems, are wolves that aren’t what they are claimed to be.
This same company also claims to have brought back woolly mice and is working on returning the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, to the list of animals that still exist.
For their part, Colossal Biosciences admits that it all comes down to how you define a species – something that only humans do anyway. If it looks like the extinct animal, they hold, then it is that extinct animal.
All the discussion aside, I am left wondering … didn’t we already see what the results of doing this can be?
Does anyone remember Jurassic Park?
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The spate of vandalism being waged against Tesla vehicles and their owners is troubling, for a lot of reasons.
First of all, when did it become okay to damage or destroy someone else’s property just because you don’t like who made it, or who sells it? Did I miss something? I don’t remember anybody changing laws to say it’s good to do that. Sure, it might get you on the news, but in the end that’s not always the best thing that can happen.
More than that, however, I simply don’t understand damaging a person’s car just to send a message to the company that built it.
Reality just doesn’t work that way.
If you are trying to do some economic harm to Elon Musk, you’re going about it exactly the wrong way. Musk isn’t going to be impacted by you keying the side panels of a Tesla – heck, he’ll make more money from the repair shops which have to be certified by the Tesla company.
Those who firebomb unsold Teslas or their dealerships aren’t going to ding Musk’s bank account either. What will happen is that insurance companies will have to pay out the kazoo for the damages, rates will go up, and once again an attempt to make a political point ends up being “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Besides, why would anyone be stupid enough to damage a car that has video cameras running all the time?  You’re going to get caught, and it’s going to cost you dearly. Repairing a Tesla ain’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and the person who does the damage will end up paying for it.
Is it really worth it to send a message that the receiver isn’t ever going to get, or probably even care about?
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All the weird weather we’ve had to deal with in the first three months of 2025 has me concerned.
The old joke goes that if you don’t like the weather, just wait and it’ll change. Also, it’s said that Georgia weather is so bizarre you can experience all four seasons in one week – sometimes in one day.
But lately, it seems we’ve been getting some serious wallops from the forces of Mother Nature.
I’m not naive enough to think “climate change” is the reason behind it. Yes, the climate is changing. It has been doing so for as long as the planet Earth has been revolving around the Sun, and it’ll keep doing so long after humans have become part of life’s evolutionary history.
The conceit of human beings, however, thinking our progress has had anything more than a miniscule impact on climate patterns is wild. (This is just my opinion, of course; free and worth what it costs.) This planet got along quite well for 4.5 billion years before we came along, and if we somehow manage to obliterate ourselves, it’ll still be here, doing its thing and making things right.
That knowledge, while somewhat comforting, is also pretty much meaningless when you’re out in the driving rain, and the lightning and thunder are crashing around you, and there are tornado warnings blaring, and all you want to do is get home.
Watch the skies if you wish.  I may just join you while you do.
While we do that, just remember – as the great comedian George Carlin said, if you don’t like the weather, move!
Gotta love George Carlin.