Seems a good day for reflection..
Ten years ago.. it was a feeling of nation relief.. with the news Britain's economy grew by 0.2% in the first three months of that year.. the declaration 'the longest recession since the 1930s officially over..' John Major was the Prime Minister.. Norman Lamont his Chancellor.. now of course Norman attributed the growth to the fruition of long-term government policies.. but the Institute of Directors saw it some what differently..their latest survey at the time, said improved performance was due to Britain's departure from the European exchange-rate mechanism (ERM).. now Britain had been forced out of the ERM on what had been known as Black Wednesday.. when the Pound Sterling fell below it's minimum value for membership.. It might be well to recall this.. when the issue of joining the Euro becomes a reality.. One would think the government will be acting on this soon.. Noises are being made..
Nineteen years ago today.. there was a ray of optimism in the worldwide dismay of the spread of this new disease, AIDS.. they thought the discovery of the virus which caused the disease..US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler said the virus was a variant of a known human cancer virus called HTLV-3. A blood test has also been developed, which, she said, would be available within six months, preventing the tragedy of transfusion patients contracting the disease through tainted blood products...she also suggested that a vaccine to prevent Aids might be ready for testing in two years' time.."Today's discovery represents the triumph of science over a dreaded disease," she said..
Yup..
And it was exactly.. only.. 50 years ago today.. when Two Cambridge University scientists published their answer to one of the most fundamental questions of biology.. how do living things reproduce themselves?
" In an article published today in Nature magazine, James D Watson and Francis Crick describe the structure of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA."
50 years from this.. to the reality of replication..
As John Prine so eloquently said 'and time is movin' faster.. singin' harmony..'