Survival of the Species 

That right there is my hominid chart from National Geographic, with artistic representations of our species' ancestors and also the broken branches of the evolutionary tree. 
    On tv today there was a news story about a couple trying to conceive.  They weren't having much luck on account of "poor egg quality" so scientists took some of her eggs and did "cytoplasmic replacement therapy."  Yes, kids, they took the gunk outta the cells and put fresh gunk in.  Lo and behold, it worked, and they have a lovely baby girl. 
    It's cool and everything, but every time I see a medical miracle, it occurs to me that we might be hurting our species as a whole.  Natural selection weeds out the weak, sickly, and defective from a species for the greater good, but we as humans have the intellect to defy natural selection.  Then again, maybe our intelligence is a manifestation of natural selection.  I just wonder what would happen if a catastrophe occurred that would break our networks of pooled intelligence, not to mention pooled labors, and all the allergic people couldn't get their medications, and all the hypertensives couldn't get theirs.  What if some environmental change came to pass and it turned out that to survive, people had to possess tonsils and appendices.  If all the children who weren't biologically meant to be born but were brought miraculously into the world anyway now had to live in an uncivilized world with whatever flaw would have kept them from being born.  Hell, what if Lysol and other antibacterial agents just failed to work anymore.  Generations of humans are living to reproduce with flaws in their genes, because science allows them to. 
    Well, it's an apocalyptic image, yeah.  And I am not suggesting that we are doing the wrong thing by applying our minds to these kinds of endeavors.  The thought of anyone taking action to improve the strength of a species at its genetic and evolutionary level by denying people medical procedures smells like Nazism to me.  Creepy.  Very.  I just wonder how low and how suddenly the population would drop. 
    People are sticking stuff called Botox into their faces.  I saw no fewer than three news blurbs on different stations about this today.  Ok, one was the "Leeza" show (no one has told me yet who this Leeza is and where she came from) but still, it was pretty coincidental.  Know what Botox means?  Botulism toxin.  Uh huh.  The poisonous stuff in one of the nastier kinds of food poisoning.  Seems that when you stick it in your crow's feet, it causes the muscles to relax for up to six months, so the skin doesn't get drawn up by muscle tension and therefore doesn't appear wrinkly.  A potential side effect is a droopy eyelid. 
    I dunno.  If you are into Botox, and I hear that some people are addicted, hey whatever suits you, use rattlesnake venom if you like.  Think I'll just keep my crow's feet, thanks.  I don't understand what's supposed to be so disgusting about crow's feet anyway.  Turkey necks, yeah; I'll prolly be seeking surgery eventually.  Wrinkles around the eyes though just give me the impression that those people smile a lot.  That's an endearing thing. 
    All over the news today is that kid Johnathan in Kissimmee, Florida.  Tornadoes are that way.  To know them is to accept that they can do creepy stuff like impale telephone poles with blades of grass and yet deposit an eighteen-month-old kid into a mattress in a tree with nothing more than a forehead scratch.  I come from a tornado belt, have had two entirely too close encounters with them, and lots of distant encounters.  They are freaky, I tell ya.  Kiddo looks no worse for wear, though.  Cute lil feller, too. 
 

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