TRAVELS - BERLIN OHIO

Over the past couple of years, we have made some nice trips, and I have been remiss on posting about our travels.  I am going to try to recall the highlights, mainly for my own memories  😊

For some time, I have been wanting to visit Berlin in Holmes County Ohio, Rhonda's place of birth and where she spent her early childhood.  I'd never been there, and a few weeks ago, we finally made it!  Click on the Berlin link to see a really good drone video of the main drag through town.  We stayed on Main Street at The Berlin Cottages, and again, click on the link to see a nice video.  Our unit was The Country Bliss Cottage.

On our way to Berlin, we stopped over in Goshen to visit relatives and friends, and hit a couple of our favorite spots - the Goshen Brewing Company and the Olympia Candy Kitchen - Pad Thai Tuesday at the former and pork and olive sandwich at the latter. 

In Berlin, we walked and drove around as Rhonda brought back many memories - their house that started out as a basement house, and is currently apartments; several places where her grandparents DD and Maggie Miller lived; the graveyard where the kids would play kick the can; and houses where her friends lived. It was a bit disappointing to see that virtually all of the homes along Main Street are now touristy businesses, and that all of the big trees along Main are gone.   We ate at Boyd and Wurthmann which has been around since 1938, bought some cheese and Trail baloney at Guggisberg Cheese Factory, got some delightful pastries at Miller's Bakery, and had some good beer and food at the Millersburg Brewing Company.  

Interesting tidbit - pronunciation is BURR lin, not burr LIN - "During the anti-German hate hysteria of World War I, Berlin changed the pronunciation of its name from Ber-LIN, as it is pronounced in Germany, to BER-lin to avoid suspicion and persecution."

 

At The Guggisberg Cheese Factory

 

The View From Miller's Bakery 

 

Sunrise On The Interstate.

SEX

                                            

So, with the title of this post I presumably got your attention!!  Unless you have been living under a rock, you are likely aware of the controversy in women's boxing at the Paris Olympic Games.  A Facebook friend has linked a couple of articles that had some factual errors, but when I tried to make some comments for clarification, I was accused of spreading misinformation, and was basically told to buzz of and stop commenting.  So I did.  However, I felt the need to more clearly state my understanding of the classification and determination of sex in humans.  This mini-essay is basically a portion of a lecture that I give in a university-level Human Genetics class that I have taught numerous time.

The definition of sex has three basic components - chromosomal, gonadal, and phenotypic [basically secondary sex characteristics]

CHROMOSOMAL SEX

Human chromosomes come in pairs, and there are two sex chromosomes, X and Y.  Humans have 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs [22 non-sex chromosome pairs and 1 sex chromosome pair.  For all 23 pairs, you received one from your mother and one from your father. Females have 2 X chromosomes and males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. The standard nomenclature for most people would be 46XX females and 46XY for males.  Thus, the number of options for sex chromosomes is two, either X or Y, which makes the choice binary.  There is no third sex chromosome, nor is there some sort of spectrum of sex chromosome choices.  However, that being said, there can certainly be differences in the number and structure of the two sex chromosomes.  There are individuals that have only one X chromosome [interestingly there are no individuals with only a Y chromosome]. and the 45XO individuals have Turners Syndrome with significant abnormalities.  There are instances of 47XXX with no apparent abnormalities.  These individuals develop as females because of the absence of the Y chromosome.  Another example of abnormal numbers of sex chromosomes is Kleinfelter's Syndrome with 47XXY or sometimes 48 XXXY.  They develop as males, but with characteristic abnormalities.  There are some males that are 47XYY but are apparently not significantly different the 46XY males.  There also some uncommon sex chromosomal abnormalities such as the 46XX46XY chimeras.  There are also examples of mutations on the Y chromosome that inactivates/deletes the gene most responsible for development as a male.  Thus, it is possible to have a 46XY karyotype but develop as a female, albeit with abnormalities.  To iterate, chromosomal sex is binary [just 2 choices] but in a small percentage of individuals, there are abnormalities of the sex chromosomes.

GONADAL SEX

Like chromosomal sex, gonadal sex is binary - there are two choices, ovaries or testes.  There is no third gonad nor is there a spectrum of gonads.  In over 99 percent of individuals, gonad development matches the chromosomal sex - XX embryos develop ovaries and the female reproductive structures, and XY develop testes and male reproductive structures.  Once again, a very small percentage of individuals can develop ambiguous gonads, or as mentioned above, gonads that do not correlate to the chromosomal sex.  To reiterate, gonadal sex is a binary choice.

PHENOTYPIC SEX

Here is where variability comes into play.  Whereas chromosomal sex and gonadal sex are immutable, phenotypic sex [secondary sex characteristics] is not only variable, but it can be changed.  If one examines the phenotypes of either males or females, it's obvious that there truly is a spectrum  Indeed there are some phenotypes that do not fit as either male or female.  Since hormones play a fundamental role in development of secondary characteristics, it makes sense that such characteristics can be manipulated by hormones, as well as by surgery, drugs, and also possibly nutrition and environment.  For example, Caitlyn Jenner clearly has female secondary sex characteristics.  However. her chromosomal sex remains the same and she will never develop ovaries.  Similarly Elliot Page now has male secondary sex characteristics, but his sex chromosomes are unchanged, and he will never develop testes.  Thus, phenotypic sex is definitely not binary.  It could possibly considered bimodal with lots of variation around the mods and considerable overlap between the two distributions.  For me, spectrum doesn't quite describe the variability, mainly because I either think of the light spectrum or some sort of continuum between two extremes.

Commentary - many people conflate gender with sex, when they usually mean phenotypic sex. Both are variable and can be changed or manipulated, and even abused. Another problem - some secondary sex characteristics continue to develop during adolescence and post-puberty.  This is particularly relevant in sports because of  the well-documented physical and physiological differences between males and females.

 

 

GUARD DOG IS FREE!!!!

 I am a regular reader of the Comics Section of the Denver Post - I don't follow all of the strips [some seem pretty lame to me], but I am a fan of Mutts, and all of its characters including Guard Dog.

 

 

 

 

From Patrick McDonnell, the creator of Mutts:

NEW YORK (AP) — Something is different on the comics pages this week. In the panels of “Mutts,” there’s the long-delayed sight of freedom.

Patrick McDonnell, the cartoonist who draws the popular strip, is freeing his character Guard Dog, liberating an animal who has become for decades a symbol of the cruelty of dog chaining.

“I think it just hit me that I can’t do it forever and that it has to happen,” McDonnell told The Associated Press ahead of the publication of Thursday’s panel showing Earl’s owner kneeling beside the dog and announcing: “We have to remove this chain.” On Friday’s strip, it will be gone.

“I had a vague idea what the story was going to be, but I finally took some time and said, ‘Well, what is that story?’ And I was happy with what I came up with. So I said, ‘Now’s the time to do it.’”

“Mutts” premiered in 1995 with two heroes — the small canine Earl and the feline Mooch, fond of saying “Yesh.” There’s also Woolfie, Sid the fish, Crabby, Sourpuss and Butchie, the ever-vigilant owner of the Fatty Snax Deli.

Guard Dog was added about a year after launch as McDonnell explored the idea of having an antagonist for his heroes.

“I started in my sketchbooks drawing a tough dog,” he says. “I drew a big gruff dog and I put a studded collar on him. And then I drew a chain. And when I did that, it changed everything. I realized that it wasn’t a villain. It was a tragic character.”

For years, Guard Dog sat in the unmowed grass of a neighborhood lawn or howled at the moon, alone and philosophical. In one strip he holds a piece of paper that reads “Guard Dog’s To Do List” with only one item: “Remind people of man’s inhumanities.”

Doozy, a neighborhood girl, regularly visits the mutt on her way to and from school, bringing something to brighten his day: an umbrella, treats, a hug, a kind word and a reminder that he isn’t alone. One frigid night, he was shivering and she brought a blanket and a kiss.

Fans of Guard Dog would regularly plead with McDonnell to free the mutt but the artist was also lobbied by animal welfare groups to keep the dog chained as a way to increase the spotlight on the issue.

“I always felt like, ’Geez, if I inspired even one family to bring the dog in the house, that it was worth doing. I know it was tough on the readers and it was tough on Guard Dog,” he said.

“You know, whenever I drew him in my sketchbooks or if I did a talk, I always drew Guard Dog free. So part of me felt like he was an actor playing a part.”

n the lead-up to Guard Dog’s freedom, McDonnell crafted a multi-comic seven-week storyline in which the owner of Guard Dog moves away, leaving the dog utterly alone. The other animals and kids rally to save him.

“Mom,” says Doozy in one new strip. “They kept him on a chain and then they left him alone to suffer. I hate people.” Her mother responds: “But what about those who devote their lives helping animals like Guard Dog?” Doozy, still in tears, reconsiders: “I love people.”

As of 2022, 23 states and the District of Columbia have laws on dog tethering or chaining, with variations on the length of time, the weather and what type of collar can be used, according to a study by the Michigan State University College of Law. In addition, many cities and counties have implemented their own laws that restrict or regulate tethering and chaining.

The landing page for “Mutts” has resources on adoption, on animal welfare groups and how to advance anti-chaining legislation. McDonnell was a member of the board of the Humane Society of the United States for 18 years and currently serves on the board of The Fund for Animals.

“I can’t wait to draw a happy Guard Dog,” he said. “He still has this great dog heart — loving life and loving the characters who visit him. It’ll be nice to see him in ‘Mutts’ without the chain.”