Friday, March 1, 2024

Editor's Corner


By Mary E. Adair

March 2024

“Peace begins with a smile.”
_Mother Teresa.


Your editor has been amazed by all the foods that can be changed into Green Treats as the cooks try to develop something new and spectacular to serve on St Patrick's Day. (The aforementioned poor saint would most likely be quite subdued to know of all the fuss and excitement made of his life and activities.)


I will continue to prefer my red meats red, and my rice or potatoes or pasta in the pale blond colors natural to them. Normally green commodities like broccoli or asparagus, green beans, etc., are enough of such emerald foodstuffs for me. Speaking of food, my Column ID pic is cropped for this issue from the photo at the bottom of the page taken by the waitress at Applebee's (one of my very favorite dining establishments) mid-February in Lubbock. My Firstborn Granddaughter Melinda Smith and I spent the day there, and since we don't have this chain of restaurants in our western Texas area, it was a real treat for me.


Walt Perryman's poems for March are mainly nostalgic featuring "Did You Or Not?," "How Many of You Loved Your Old Truck?" and "Ducks in A Row." John I. Blair's poems are "Cedar Waxwings" and "Comfortable With Myself", the latter with a photo to prove it. Bruce Clifford's two poems are "We Didn't Know" and "All These Years." Bud Lemire's poems "Family Game Time" and "The Word On Senior Companions" relate to his current busy life while "Like The Wind And The Sun" speak with his personal beliefs, but "The Dream Traveler" can intrigue many of us. "Times Past" is by Riva Joi Smith, one of our poets we haven't heard from for awhile. Good to see you are still wielding your pen, Ms Smith.


Thomas F. O'Neill in "Introspective" decries the rampant, though random, comments deriding American intelligence. Marilyn Carnell's column "Sifoddling Along" reveals that her new creative project is writing a novel, and shares a brief episode. It certainly captures this editor's attention and interest. Judith Kroll's column "On Trek" explains her charming concept of magic wands in a different manner. Pauline Evanosky's column "Woo Woo," shows us what happens in a psychic's life when someone unsought pops in to visit and have a chat. Our newest columnist Ara Parisien in "Medium-Author-Spiritual Teacher" discusses the realistic difference in a "Pollyanna" acceptance vs a knowledgeable power stance.


Rod Cohenour shows us a couple of photos from his kitchen while following a favorite recipe devised by his wife, he affectionately calls "M." "Cooking with Rod" includes the full recipe and serving suggestions which may be varied by the diners. "Armchair Genealogy" by columnist Melinda Cohenour updates us with the advances and new uses of exploring DNA processes. Dublin's Mattie Lennon likes having March roll around in the year because of all the activities that have been and continue to be held to honor St Patrick's Day. He was impressed with a new book on the scene "Under The Bridge."


This from last month bears repeating: Now with this new year of Pencil Stubs Online underway, we are again astounded that a simple suggestion 27 years ago by Mike Craner that we try doing our magazine on the World Wide Web, has bloommed so beautifully. Again, I am expressing my gratitude to my talented friend and original webmaster Mike Craner. We place our confidence in him as we have in the past and shall continue doing so.

See you in April.


 

Click on author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Armchair Genealogy



By Melinda Cohenour

What's New With DNA

 

DNA is the most exciting tool for genealogists and the family researcher as well. That statement has been true since the first commercial testing became affordable several years ago. The ability to compare test results and identify people around the globe who share ancestral lineage is, simply, amazing. Knowledge made widely available and affordable!


Recently, while researching my series on the Gilgo Beach Serial Murders, I was shocked to discover new technology had progressed to permit a DNA profile to be extracted from hair samples with no root! Previously only mitochondrial DNA could be determined. A huge forensic advancement.


What else is new in DNA science, I wondered. Well, quite a lot it seems. Such a complex subject requires far more training than I possess; however, I can research. So that's what this month's column is focused upon: research and links for other inquiring minds to review if desired.


JUST WHAT IS DNA?


First, it would be helpful to have a basic understanding of how molecular biology works to crack the code of life's creation. Thus, a site that teaches how the scientists cracked the code. (The first page of the college level text is reached through the following link. Subsequent pages can be opened at the bottom of each page. Explore if you're interested.)

SOURCE: https://opentextbc.ca/biology/part/introduction-to-molecular-biology/"

"These three letters “DNA” have now become associated with crime solving, paternity testing, human identification, and genetic testing. DNA can be retrieved from hair, blood, or saliva. With the exception of identical twins, each person’s DNA is unique and it is possible to detect differences between human beings on the basis of their unique DNA sequence.

"DNA analysis has many practical applications beyond forensics and paternity testing. DNA testing is used for tracing genealogy and identifying pathogens. In the medical field, DNA is used in diagnostics, new vaccine development, and cancer therapy. It is now possible to determine predisposition to many diseases by analyzing genes.

"DNA is the genetic material passed from parent to offspring for all life on Earth. The technology of molecular genetics developed in the last half century has enabled us to see deep into the history of life to deduce the relationships between living things in ways never thought possible. It also allows us to understand the workings of evolution in populations of organisms. Over a thousand species have had their entire genome sequenced, and there have been thousands of individual human genome sequences completed. These sequences will allow us to understand human disease and the relationship of humans to the rest of the tree of life. Finally, molecular genetics techniques have revolutionized plant and animal breeding for human agricultural needs. All of these advances in biotechnology depended on basic research leading to the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, and the research since then that has uncovered the details of DNA replication and the complex process leading to the expression of DNA in the form of proteins in the cell."

WHAT NEW TECHNOLOGY HELPED CRACK THE GENOMICS CODE?

SOURCE: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10376292/#:~:text=Third%2Dgeneration%20sequencing%20technologies%20represent,fragments%20compared%20to%20earlier%20methods.

Simple Summary:

"Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a powerful tool used in genomics research. NGS can sequence millions of DNA fragments at once, providing detailed information about the structure of genomes, genetic variations, gene activity, and changes in gene behavior. Recent advancements have focused on faster and more accurate sequencing, reduced costs, and improved data analysis. These advancements hold great promise for unlocking new insights into genomics and improving our understanding of diseases and personalized healthcare. This review article provides an overview of NGS technology and its impact on various areas of research, such as clinical genomics, cancer, infectious diseases, and the study of the microbiome."

WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?


SOURCE: https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary


Talking Glossary
of Genomic and Genetic Terms
The glossary features nearly 250 terms explained in an easy-to-understand way by leading scientists and professionals at the National Human Genome Research Institute.


DNA NEWS AND RESEARCH


SOURCE: https://www.news-medical.net/?tag=/DNA


DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).


Further Reading: (The Source site provides links to each bulleted subject listed below.)

  • What is DNA?
  • DNA Properties
  • DNA Chemical Modifications
  • DNA Biological Functions
  • DNA Interactions with Proteins
  • DNA Genetic Recombination
  • DNA Evolution
  • History of DNA Research: Scientific Pioneers & Their Discoveries
  • DNA and Technology
  • DNA Translation
  • RNA Codons and DNA Codons
  • The 1968 Nobel Prize in Medicine
  • DNA Sequencing
  • DNA Sequence Assembly
  • Structure of DNA
  • What is the RNA World Hypothesis?
  • DNA Replication and Repair
  • History of Microarrays
  • How Do Microarrays Work?
  • What is Satellite DNA?
  • Interactions That Hold DNA Together
  • Role of Transcription Factors
  • The i-motif in DNA
  • What is DNA Loop Extrusion?
  • DNA Loop Extrusion Mechanisms
  • Mechanism of DNA Synthesis
  • Histones and the Cell Cycle
  • How to Store DNA
  • What are DNA Nanomachines?
  • What is a Semi-synthetic Organism?
  • Types of Non-Coding DNA Sequences
  • The Effects of Neanderthal DNA on Modern Human Health
  • * * * * *


    WHAT IS CRISPR?

    SOURCE:https://www.broadinstitute.org/what-broad/areas-focus/project-spotlight/questions-and-answers-about-crispr

    What is the new DNA technology CRISPR?

    "A: CRISPR genome editing allows scientists to quickly create cell and animal models, which researchers can use to accelerate research into diseases such as cancer and mental illness. In addition, CRISPR is now being developed as a rapid diagnostic."

    * * * * *


    CRIME AND DNA


    SOURCE:https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/dna-initiative-advancing-criminal-justice-through-dna-technology#:~:text=DNA%20Initiative%20Legislation-,Initiative%20Goals,accused%20or%20convicted%20of%20crimes.

    What has DNA technology improved?

    "DNA technology is increasingly vital to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system. DNA can be used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence exists, and DNA can be used to clear suspects and exonerate persons mistakenly accused or convicted of crimes."

    ADVANCING JUSTICE THROUGH DNA TECHNOLOGY

    * * * * *


    IS THIS ALL THAT'S NEW WITH DNA?


    No, dear reader, not by a long sight. The sources offered, however, do cover the latest advances in technology and processes as well as resources for a basic understanding of terms and ground floor education in molecular biology. Perhaps we will return to this exercise in future columns.


    In the meantime, continue exploration of your personal DNA and family research, building your tree and, perhaps, becoming acquainted with newfound cousins!


    Make use of the advances in your personal Armchair Genealogy. See you next month.


    Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
    This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Cooking with Rod


By Rod Cohenour

Having grown up in the Land of Enchantment, one learns to appreciate the many different ways that Mexican food blend spices can be used. One many people may not think about but which is imminently delightful is Ms Mexican Queso Meatloaf.


Serve this once and, I guarantee, it will become a repeat entree on your food repertoire.


~Bon appetit!


M's Mexican Queso Meatloaf


(Serves 6-8)


Ingredients:


Meatloaf:

    * 3 lbs lean (at least 80%) ground beef
    * 1 cup Progresso™ plain bread crumbs OR dry 6 slices bread then crumble (or amount required for one cup crumbs)
    * 1/2 cup thick & chunky salsa
    * 1 lg. Bell Pepper, diced small
    * 1 sm. white or yellow onion, diced small
    * 1/4 cup red enchilada sauce
    * 2 eggs


For Topping:

    * 1/2 cup thick & chunky salsa


Queso:

    * 1/2 brick Velveeta style cheese
    * 4 oz. brick Pepper Jack cheese, grated
    * 2 cups shredded Fiesta Blend cheese
    * 1 (7 oz.) can Green chiles, diced, (use liquid)
    * 1/2 Bell Pepper, diced with membrane and seeds removed
    * 1/2 cup whole milk (add as needed)


Instructions:

    1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
    2. In large bowl mix all Meatloaf ingredients together, reserving 1/2 cup thick & chunky salsa for later. Press mixture into two ungreased 9x5-inch loaf pans. Top each with 1/2 cup salsa.
    3. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in center of loaf reads 160°F. (We like our meatloaf to have a bit of a crusty top.)
    4. While meatloaf is baking, allow about half an hour to prepare queso.
    Melt Velveeta in double boiler. Add both the Pepper Jack and Fiesta Blend cheeses. Add bell pepper. Continuously stir, allowing all ingredients to slowly blend, achieving a silky smooth texture. If needed, add milk in portions to keep Queso at right thickness.
    5. To serve, arrange meatloaf slices on plate over choice of mashed potatoes, rice, or Knorr Mexican rice blend.


    Drizzle queso over meatloaf.


    Offer crisp salad featuring lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper (plus your favorites). A dressing of salsa blended with sour cream is a delightful choice.

    6. Offer the following for guest's optional toppings:
      Sour cream
      Cilantro leaves, finely diced
      Crisp radishes
      Green onion stalks
      Bell Pepper sticks
      Pico de Gallo
      Sliced chilled jicama and lime slices
      Hot buttered tortillas
      Tortilla chips
      Extra salsa
      Extra queso



Mexican Queso Meatloaf ready to pop into the oven.


See pic below of serving the meatloaf topped with Queso.


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


 

 

Woo Woo


By Pauline Evanosky 

 

I think encouragement might be one of the more important things we can do for ourselves and for others. As a writer, there is the added chance that the others who might be affected are people you may never meet. Also, it’s just a good practice to be encouraging.


Now, whether you are able to help somebody get back into the game immediately, or if your voice is one of many to actually get a dismayed couch potato up off of the couch doesn’t matter. You helped.


Just don’t give up on them or yourself. I know in the early days of my being a psychic medium, I would get clients who were not able to listen. I could tell, because they would ask the same question over and over again until it became annoying. Maybe I just wasn’t doing it right.


As I moved through my menopause years, I began to think of myself as a psychic drill sergeant. “Did you not just see my lips move? Why aren’t you listening?” I didn’t really say things like that. I thought of them, though, often enough.


There’s a saying that people just don’t like to hear the truth. This is true whether they go to a psychic or their sister-in-law.


See, the thing is that the advice people give is generally based on their own experience. If you were to go into a bar and ask the guy who sits at the end of the bar day in and day out for advice about something, that advice would probably involve a bottle of beer, maybe more than one. Just remember that.


If you are asking a criminal's advice, there will likely be underhanded doings involved. Or, if you figure everybody has a legitimate point of view the world is your oyster as far as asking people for advice. Interestingly enough, I’ve come to think everybody, no matter what their views are, might have something of interest to suggest.


Like if you figure criminals take advantage of the smallest opportunity, they might teach you about being observant. I think we tend to pass up many opportunities in normal everyday affairs.


It’s like if you’ve got polarizing views of good or bad, you might not consider an accident actually to be good luck. I am an optimist at heart, and even for me, it took many years to be thankful for things like being fired. The woman ghosted me out of a job. I should have stepped forward long before the ghosting started to say, “I need to move on.” She found somebody better and stopped calling me to work.


In the woo-woo part of my life, my spirit guide said when I dropped an entire half gallon of milk on the kitchen floor that exploded everywhere, “Oh, happy accident.” That was the first time in a long time that the entire kitchen floor, cabinets included, got washed. Completely.


Charity begins at home. That means being kind to yourself. If you are attempting to do something that some people could do without blinking an eye, but you need to learn the 25 supporting actions that have to happen first, then allow yourself a couple of years to do it. Short of enrolling in a school, just learn it yourself. In this day of the internet, you can reach out via YouTube and find folks who have taught and documented their progress in renovating their homes, raising chickens, or cultivating mushrooms.


By the way, contact me if you’d like some pointers on how to develop your own psychic senses. It doesn’t take much because the way I figure it is that everybody is already psychic. You just have to pretend for a little bit. Then, pretend becomes reality.


Best of luck to you all. Be kind, encouraging, reflective, and you will be fine.


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Sifoddling Along


By Marilyn Carnell

Writing a Novel

 

A couple of years ago, my insurance company offered a free online class called “Me and The Can Write a Romance Novel” Although I have never written in the romance genre, I thought, “Why not, it is a free class.” I tinkered with it for some time and recently got serious about it.


I am writing a semi-romance story using the Civil War in Southwest Missouri as background, as I have always been interested in the history of the area. None of my family lived in McDonald County during the war, but one great-grandfather was stationed at near Maysville, AR, and later settled in Pineville. One of my great-grandmothers did butcher a hog and hide it under a pile of laundry. Follows is a fictional scene of what happened.


      Bonnie Faye Doolittle leaned over a steaming black iron cauldron resting on a welded ring above a roaring fire. After much tugging with the help of a sturdy broomstick, she extracted a bedsheet from the seething water.


      The sheet would serve as a screen to hide the dead pig currently residing under a nearby pile of dirty laundry, and later, when drier, the sheet would help in handling the slippery beast and conceal it during transportation to a safer place. Despite the chilly, just-before-dawn, weather, sweat dripped from her face and soaked her clothing. She swiped a wisp of dark red hair, now sprinkled with gray from the recent trauma of war, from her forehead and hooked it behind her ear. She was taller and stronger than most women she knew, but her formerly robust body was thinned by short rations since the war began. She had a pretty face with creamy white skin, large green eyes, and a ready smile that showed even white teeth. Her strength and good health gave her some advantage in being responsible for caring for all the necessary farm chores that fell to her since the war began. after all the men were gone.


      Times were brutal and if a male of military age was found, soldiers or bushwhackers were inclined to shoot first and ask later. Men who were not in a group were wise to stay hidden. Bonnie Fay’s adult male family members chose to serve in the Southern army, which reflected their loyalties – this area was almost evenly divided between Union and Rebel causes. Even brothers differed in their opinions which divided some families painfully.


      The sun was just peeking over Pea Vine Ridge. She had to hurry. The war had been going on for 6 months and its impact on southwest Missouri had been devastating. Seemed like every soldier on each side had marched through the area and bushwhackers could strike out of the blue wreaking havoc and death.


      A short time later, she heard volleys of gunfire that were closer than usual. It seemed to come from the far side of Pea Vine Ridge. She was terrified.

* * * * *


Stay tuned for future stories. If you find this interesting, let me know.


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.