VOICES FROM THE INTERNET Grocery shopping Grocery shopping in Saudi Arabia can be unique. I have written previously about the etiquette while shopping in Saudi grocery stores. Now I'll address other unique aspects that one may encounter while grocery shopping in the Kingdom. These aspects are unique in that it is unlikely to see or encounter such experiences in typical America grocery stores. Individuals shopping in Saudi grocery stores like Panda or Tamimi should remember that fresh fruits and vegetables have to be weighed and priced before going to the check out counter. There is usually a small kiosk set up in the vegetable and fruit section with one to two persons to do the job. Whereas in American, fruits and veggies are weighed and priced at the checkout counter. The major grocery stores will accept debit cards. However do not count on a debit card as the sole source of payment for groceries. There have been multiple times when I have found out that the network is down and debit cards cannot be processed. When checking out be watchful to ensure all your bags are placed into the cart. When a shopper has many bags of groceries, sometimes a “bagger” will place a bag of groceries underneath the counter to keep for himself. If you notice that the bag was placed on the floor, the bagger will apologize. – Americanbedu.com Dog cloning Have you ever considered cloning your dog? I have. Ruby is so cute and sweet, but she probably won't be around a decade from now. Since I don't know how to find her family and she can't have babies, maybe it's the only way possible to keep a part of her near me forever. I contacted RNL Biostar, a Maryland-based company that has successfully cloned several dogs already, to find out how it would work. The company's director of strategic planning, Jin Han Hong, broke it down to me as four main steps: 1. The vet obtains small samplings of skin and fat tissue. The tissue samples are placed in separate containers with sterile saline and antibiotics, then shipped in a Styrofoam box with pre-frozen ice bags overnight to RNL's lab in Maryland. 2. RNL does a feasibility check, which takes one to three weeks. Researchers isolate stem cells from the tissue and attempt to culture them into millions of cells. If this works, the living cells are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees celsius — this allows them to be preserved for shipment overseas or for long periods of time, usually 15+ years. 3. The cryopreserved cells are sent to a cloning facility in Seoul, Korea. There, researchers make embryos using donor cells and enucleated eggs from egg donors. They're zapped with electricity, at which point they begin to divide and grow. The completed embryos are transplanted into surrogate mother dogs. 4. About two months later, the surrogate gives birth to a cloned puppy. Hong tells me the whole procedure normally costs $150,000. I'm not really going to clone Ruby — I realize that nothing lasts forever, and that even if I did artificially bring Ruby back to life, her spirit may not follow. There are so many dogs who need homes, and I don't really have $150K. – boingboing.net to be playing around with like that. I am curious, however, to find out what would happen if I cloned Ruby now, and then kept the clone as a pet, too, while Ruby is still alive. Would they become best friends? Nemeses? Co-conspirators against human domination? Would the world come to an end?
