Posted in Uncategorized at 8:22 pm by Jon Silpayamanant
Genetic breakthrough that reveals the differences between humans Scientists hail genetic discovery that will change human understanding
By Steve Connor, Science Editor Thursday, 23 November 2006
Scientists have discovered a dramatic variation in the genetic make-up of humans that could lead to a fundamental reappraisal of what causes incurable diseases and could provide a greater understanding of mankind.
The discovery has astonished scientists studying the human genome - the genetic recipe of man. Until now it was believed the variation between people was due largely to differences in the sequences of the individual “letters” of the genome.
It now appears much of the variation is explained instead by people having multiple copies of some key genes that make up the human genome.
Until now it was assumed that the human genome, or “book of life”, is largely the same for everyone, save for a few spelling differences in some of the words. Instead, the findings suggest that the book contains entire sentences, paragraphs or even whole pages that are repeated any number of times.
The findings mean that instead of humanity being 99.9 per cent identical, as previously believed, we are at least 10 times more different between one another than once thought - which could explain why some people are prone to serious diseases.
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:14 pm by Jon Silpayamanant
Kind of a cool photo of Carenza and me after our set at the Burlesque Benefit show (Punk Rock Night, the Melody Inn, 10-14-2006). She is doing, what some belly dancers have adopted from India, the Namaste gesture. And though what I’m doing looks similar, I’m Thai, and in Thailand we do a similar greeting called Wai.
Of course, this came at the end of a set that consisted of one Bulgarian dance (Graovsko horo), one Albanian folk song that I sang (Ani Mori Nuse), two of our (il Troubadore) original pieces that we play for belly dancers: Sands - which is an Arabic/Indian fusion piece; and Sensitive which is an Egyptian styled ballad, one Bhangra Techno tune that we sing in Punjabi (Daler Menhdi’s Tunak Tunak), and on Columbian pop song that we sing in Spanish and Arabic (Shakira’s Ojos Asi). We like to cram in as many cultures into a set as possible, eh?
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:42 pm by Jon Silpayamanant
From one of three breast cancer benefit shows we played last month (October 21, 2006). This one took place at Middletown University in Middletown, Ohio. We played for approximately an hour and a half. This improvisation is in a Maqsuum rhythm. The belly dancer is Kristi Renee of PURE (Cincinnati branch) and Snakes Rising. The percussionist, Dave Hergert, is playing a dumbek (sometimes called a “goblet drum”) which is the main middle-eastern percussion instrument.
