Archive for the ‘hijinks’ Category
B.C. Coast Inside Passage rescue!
We were half way across Queen Charlotte sound, between Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii on the beautiful Inside Passage coastal maritime route.
Our B.C. ferry ‘Queen of Prince Rupert’ was enroute from Prince Rupert to its home port at Kelsey Bay on Vancouver Island when a distress call came from a fishing boat.
A crewman on the boat was suffering from severe frostbite, owing to the harsh winter conditions at the time.
The captain ordered immediate rendezvous with the fish boat because the speed of our ferry was able to bring him to a help destination much sooner than otherwise.
The difficulty was there was very heavy sea condition in Queen Charlotte sound, not unusual and not pleasant to endure!
As we paused to allow the fish boat to approach on the windward side. First officer and crew members, including me, lowered a life boat half way down the ship’s side in order to offload the patient from the lessor vessel. It was a violently windy night with very heavy seas!
I was the bowman in the life boat while the first officer was the coxswain at the stern. As the boat approached it was seriously heaving from side to side, being a much smaller vessel than ours. Over the howling wind I shouted to the first officer; “any chance we will get caught between us?“ To which he shouted back in typical British stiff upper lip fashion; “no I don’t think so!“
Sure enough as that sizeable heaving fish boat closed in, pushed by wind and sea, it literally rolled to its port (left) about 30 degrees and cracked our very stout fiberglass lifeboat against our ship’s side like a hard boiled egg!
As it did so all lifeboat crewmen had no option but to jump, en masse onto the upper deck of the large fish boat, because we were hanging over the water in a broken life boat with no chance to return to the upper deck of our own ship!
Only the first officer was left clinging desperately onto a life line to the davit, (a crane for lowing the lifeboat). Seeing the life-threatening situation some crewmen shouted from the fish boat; “hang on sir!” Meanwhile the boat heaved sharply back the other way, to starboard, leaving his only means of escape to get hoisted back up by those crew on the ferry’s upper deck, which was done!
Somewhat miraculously no one had fallen between the two ships into the boisterous sea, since the chance of survival rate given sea temperature and conditions was slim and none!
The fish boat Captain now wisely maneuvered around to the stern of our ferry, butting up to the car deck. With loading door open it allowed all of us, including the patient, to jump over the bow and return to our ship. It was a decidedly less risky method of transfer than the first attempt, live and learn!
I never learned how the frost bitten fisherman crewman made out, but presumably our urgent response was well worthwhile.
“As a (serious) Evolutionist, is there a piece of evidence you’ve seen that points to inteligent design?”
The following answer to that question was made by James Elmore B.S., M.D. Medicine & Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduated 1998. If you, as me, do not fully understand his detailed answer, at least take note of his final comments!
(NOTE: (UNABLE TO POST A GENOME PICTURE HERE FROM ORIGINAL COMMENT)
This may look like gibberish at first, but trust me it’s anything but.
The top row is the partial DNA sequence of the INK4a gene that codes for an important regulatory protein. The second row is its partial amino acid sequence.
What’s amazing here though is the third row. It shows how the same exact DNA sequence used to code INK4a is also used to code the amino acid sequence of a completely unique protein (ARF) with a different regulatory function. So the ARF gene is literally a gene within a gene. Just by starting on a different nucleotide which causes a completely different reading frame.
The Regulation of INK4/ARF in Cancer and Aging
Note that these 2 proteins aren’t just different forms of the same protein—they are entirely unique. There is NO shared amino acid homology.
While no analogy is perfect here, what you are looking at would be akin to writing 2 unique sentences with entirely different meanings just by starting on a different letter!
And it’s now estimated that up to 10% of our genomes include overlapping genes. The number is growing.
“Overlapping genes have generally been thought to be relatively rare in the human genome, but the results of the present study show that they are more abundant than was previously thought. Interestingly, overlapping genes do not appear to be the result of evolutionary pressure to minimize the size of the human genome.”
Overlapping of Genes in the Human Genome
Sure, this can be and is explained away using the common descent paradigm. But it really does and should test the limits of credulity. Here’s why:
The total number of possible protein sequences is ~infinite. Even for an average protein 200 amino acids long there are more possible sequences than there are protons in the known Universe. But only a minuscule fraction are biologically useful. If you do the math it turns out you’d have to search through 10^74 chains of that length to find a single one that folds into a stable structure and performs any function.
And this particular gene has 2 of them coded by the exact same DNA!
Genomes and the Protein Universe
The Mathematics of Origin
There’s more reasons to be incredulous though. Overlapping genes make proteins with entirely different and unrelated functions. Because they are unique they may not be selected for (or against) by the same environmental pressures. So if a mutation changes one for the good it is very likely to degrade the function of the other. So either these genes are not influenced by selective pressure (but we think they should be) or must have arisen together. Meaning they must have been created simultaneously after a duplication and subsequent mutation-divergence events. But as it turns out their occurrence is often uniquely species specific and independent of phylogeny. Either way it’s hard to make sense of this from an evolutionary perspective.
Overlapping genes of Aedes aegypti: evolutionary implications from comparison with orthologs of Anopheles gambiae and other insects
Some of these important and statistcally improbable biologically useful proteins form when the DNA is read left to right AND different but useful proteins when read right to left.
It would be like buying a book which when read front to back chronicles the adventures of Harry Potter but if read back to front, tells you how to be happier, sell more, start a business, or find the man/woman of your dreams.
And many of the larger proteins with multiple domains are folded into specific configurations by other proteins called chaperone proteins.
Enzymes as chaperones and chaperones as enzymes
https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/32
If a string of amino acid isn’t correct the chaperonin chews it up and recycles the amino acids.
So…in order to get a new protein with a new function you’d have to also have simultaneous and cooperative mutations in the gene that codes for that particular chaperone.
But proteins don’t really work like that. They aren’t sculptures that can be sculpted little by little. If mutations change the amino acid sequence too much you get sudden and drastic changes in protein configuration. In fact, a single nucleotide insertion will cause the protein to form a completely different shape and render it unable to perform its original function. At all.
Indeed, at one time it was believed that the redundancy in the genetic code was a sloppy by-product of evolution. Now, though, we realize that there are multiple codons for each amino acid specifically so that genes can be read, spliced, and translated in multiple different ways to achieve jaw-dropping regulatory networks.
These regulatory networks appear exquisitely designed. This diagram compares that of a bacteria e. coli (left) to the “call graph” of the modern Linux OS (right). Linux, of course, is one of the most popular operating systems for mobile devices, web servers, and film production. Disney uses it. And without getting into details here, the bacteria makes Linux look pretty bad.
From: Comparing genomes to computer operating systems in terms of the topology and evolution of their regulatory control networks.
Concluding comments:
‘If you believe what we are finding these days is explicable from purely natural random and selected processes you have more faith than I do. For these and many other reasons.’ “I’ve jumped ship and have come to believe this has to be Designed!”
Welcome to all those who may have begun to appreciate Romans 1:20…..
“For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they (those who see them) are inexcusable.”
Quotation: “The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an evolutionist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.” (Werner Heisenberg, father of Quantum Mechanics.)
Please visit my related post; ‘Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained’(https://new2view.ca/2021/03/23/paradise-lost-to-paradise-regained/
Today’s weather report for Denver triggered memory of an unforgettable experience year’s ago traveling to Oklahoma City from BC.
As I reached the mile-high city of Denver a major snowstorm engulfed my old Mazda sedan. Doggedly I kept trucking on until past Denver elevated in the mountains. Huge snowflakes were falling so fast I could barely see as far as my headlights were showing.
For awhile I managed to follow a few other cars, but the road was soon completely invisible. All we could do is hope the lead car we were following was still on the road, although the speed of the group was erratic to say the least.
As we came over a sudden hill I was rapidly over-taking the car in front of me and had to ease off so quickly the heavy old Mazda began a long heart stopping uncontrolled slide right off the road! Miraculously hitting what appeared to be a short guard rail, (who knows what was beyond that barrier). The car literally bounced and slid back to what hopefully was the center of the road!
There was no way to determine if I was even on the road now. All sense of position was gone, but at least there was absolutely no traffic in the opposite direction. In fact soon there was no traffic visible of any kind, not even cars to follow. I have no idea where others had gone. But now I was completely alone in a snowstorm of the century. I believed I had to keep going or they likely wouldn’t have found my frozen body until spring!
The snow was several feet deep after only a few hours from beginning to fall. I drove on all night at about 30 mph with my eyes as big as saucers in a purely brainless survival mode. Finally. the highway began a long gradual decline down from the mountains. ]
After hours of blind travel I found myself in bright morning sunshine with no snow in sight and soon caught up to miles of bumper to bumper two lane highway traffic. Where they had all come from I could not even guess.
Perhaps because I was in a near catatonic state of mind after my night-long white-out travel, and because all that traffic was barely moving, I decided to travel down the opposite lane! I began flying past miles of barely moving bumper to bumper jammed traffic in the wrong lane, thankfully there was no oncoming traffic at all. Probably no one was heading up the road to snow-bound Denver.
Exhaust from my oil-burning high mileage Mazda was leaving a well marked trail, like an old steam locomotive. I could not fully understanding why no one else was doing the same thing, in that empty opposite lane!?
After passing several miles of crawling cars I realized I was sticking out like a sore thumb traveling in the wrong lane! Sure enough a highway patrol sheriffs’ car was coming up fast behind me with multi lights flashing so I quickly inserted myself in the right lane, finding a small gap in front of an 18 wheeler.
Pulling over and stopping on the shoulder of the road, trying to hide, didn’t work. The State trooper had me cold. I can’t remember now if he gave me a ticket, or a warning, since technically all I did was legally pass everything on the road! However I do seem to remember a slight smirk on his face, apparently traveling down the wrong side of the highway passing everything on the road, for miles, leaving a telltale smoke trail isn’t exactly approved, even though I thankfully never encountered any conflicting traffic!
As I mercifully managed to continue on to OK city, I was totally exhausted and falling asleep at the wheel, no matter how hard I fought to stay awake. Entering city limits on a multi-lane freeway in the far right lane, with an 18 wheeler at my side. He must have noticed my somewhat erratic driving and realized I was falling asleep at the wheel. Thankfully his rapidly blasting loud horn just barely managed to help me keep my head up and avoid going under his wheels. The truth is the driver of that rig saved my life!
End of story.
Not a pet person
(or Ailurophile)
Not a pet erson, so-called, per se
but feeding a feral cat each day
darned if I know whatever to say
seems new heartstrings begin to play
maybe reflecting our natural way
caring for life; God’s personal clay.
Fire Hall #13
Among all the other things, great and small, that have changed over past decades, kids were allowed freedoms unimagined today. Security was also of far less a worry and concern.
For example, in my pre-teen youth, Fire Hall #13 just two blocks from my home would routinely leave their large firetruck doors wide open when answering a call. And since every man was on deck, no one was left to man the station!
No doubt this would be unheard of today. But amazingly that was exactly what happened one day when I was only 7-9 years young.
When ear-splitting fire truck sirens sounded, everyone in my East side Vancouver neighborhood knew exactly what was happening.
However as fire trucks rushed to the scene of a fire, they left the fire hall completely open and unoccupied! What greater opportunity could there possibly be for an active curious kid?
On at least one occasion I was drawn to explore fire hall #13 when it was unoccupied, even climbing up many stairs to second+story sleeping quarters. But that wasn’t all…!
Emboldened now I surveyed that upper room with its many unmade bunks, rubber boots, and canvas jackets, But now I was mesmerized by a large brass pole extending through a large hole all the way to the main floor! Of course it was the firefighter’s rapid means to man their engines without the potential chaos of having to run down stairs.
Would I; could I; do it…I immediately began to think..as my heart began to pound.? The distance required just to reach the pole was a man-sized open space. It was nearly the same distance as my total height at that age, but the more I looked the more I couldn’t resist the temptation, even with no one to witness the feat.
Jumping off the edge of the opening I just barely reached the pole, but now unexpectedly could not hold tight onto it!
Owing to my physical limitations, and without even knowing enough to wrap my legs around it, as is intended, but also due to the fact it was a shiny brass pole not designed to do anything but transport full grown men to a very speedy landing, I simply descending like a stone, landing hard on the rubber pad surrounding the base.
Thankfully that pad was just enough to break my fall. It may have prevented broken legs, but the physical shock was significant. Indeed that hard landing was enough to cause serious second thoughts about daredevil risks… temporarily at least!
However, my confidence wasn’t permanently injured, it was just another (secret) early lesson in life.
As a youth I had a couple of interesting job experiences. For example as a pin-setter in a Kingsway Street bowling alley on weekends, becoming quite proficient setting two alleys at a time for 10 pin league players. It was a dangerous challenge to avoid getting hit by flying pins while curled up between alleys, but it paid quite well!
Next I applied for a job in a downtown Vancouver Motel, it was one of the last, if not the very last Motel in downtown Vancouver appropriately named the ‘Downtowner’. I was able to commute after school from East Van via my first car, a 1937 Plymouth coupe.
The managers were two men, one of whom was gay. I came after school and swept the floor of the parking area, refilled the pop machine, and adjusted tv’s etc. among other chores.
It was an education to say the least, including ‘ladies of the night’. Sometimes I obtained liquor via patrons of the Vancouver Hotels’ ‘gay-friendly’ bar for our motel customers.
Just a few of my youthful experiences..
HMCS Lauzon
During my five years in the RCN, I spent nearly two years on HMCS Athabascan, (besides the Frigate Lauzon, and Minesweeper Quinte).
Recruited as a so-called ‘engineer’ and first drafted to the Frigate Lauzon, soon found that working in the engine room was not my cup of tea. So I applied, along with a buddy, (Joe Hoebeck), for a change of trade to ‘Radar Plotter’ department while still on the Lauzon
After several weeks training course at naval station HMCS Stadacona shorebase in Halifax, I graduated at the head of my class and was then drafted to the destroyer HMCS Athabascan, a WW!! relic. Thereafter I was standing watches in the operations room, monitoring radar, tracking surface ships and aircraft.
The Athabascan was a veteran of the Korean war, or should I say a ‘victim’ of that conflict.? During my time on it in the 1960’s only one of its two steam-powered boilers was operational. Evidently, during its Korean war experience, a mortar had actually scored a direct hit down one of its stacks, completely disabling one of its two boilers, and yet, amazingly, had not succeeded in sinking her!
HMCS Athabascan
The Athabascan was unable to reach its designed top speed of something like 38 knots with only one operational steam boiler, and, as a ‘Tribal Class’ destroyer, nor was it ever particularly seaworthy in heavy sea conditions. These war ships were designed for fighting, not high seas.
During one such heavy sea event in the North Atlantic, a wave completely overwhelmed the ship from bow to stern. A Deck Officer on duty on the exposed upper bridge was knocked off his feet and sustained a broken leg.
In winter months it was necessary for crew to chip sea-ice from the upper deck – the consequence of not doing so could eventually result in the ship losing equilibrium, and ‘turning turtle’, which apparently happened to more than a few war ships during the second world war. In fact we lost a ship’s cook crewman during winter operations. He was swept off the upper deck by a wave as he tried to make his way back to his aft living quarters. On Tribal Class destroyers the only way you could go from fore to aft was on the upper deck by hanging onto a sliding rope, attached to a cable. Of course we did a standard search pattern for him, but there was no chance anyone could survive in the freezing Atlantic for more than seconds.
However I do have some fond memories of slinging my hammock on the upper deck in relatively calm Southern waters, only to be awakened in the middle of the night by increasing sea-spray and hastily repairing back to secure lower decks. Hammocks had to be re-slung each day in the lower deck ‘mess’ and stored daily, except for watchkeepers.
May final draft was to the Minesweeper Quinte, a wood and aluminum constructed ship designed to counter various types of coastal mines. It had far more comfortable crews quarters, even actual bunk beds! I crewed on it up to my honorable discharge in the early 60’s.
HMCS Quinte
Such experiences will not be forgotten, just as reading Bible study books at sea. In fact at one point I actually began a Bible study with a Swedish bosun’s mate friend by the name of ‘Oly’. (We were discovered under the cover of a life-boat while doing so 😉
Indeed, those were memorable times for me. While I cannot recommend volunteer RCN membership owing to my beliefs now, it was of some value to my learning discipline as a rebellious teen.
