In preparing a cover letter for an application to the Grand Orient de France, Europe’s premier Masonic lodge, I took the liberty of pondering why exactly I wanted to join, what I want to achieve and put those thoughts to paper.

Funny story, that. It all started with me relocating from India to Singapore when I was 7. New country, new languages, new friends, a whole new genre of food and fruits, what was there to not like? Unfortunately, it didn’t take; the grafting process must’ve been flawed somehow. Cue slow plodding passage of time. So let’s flash-​​forward 11 years. 11 long years…

A short story; my homage to Brian Aldiss for inspiring the short story that drives the plot of Spielberg’s (Kubrick’s?) A.I. In retrospect, I suppose it does start off a bit on the emo side; hopefully that doesn’t detract from the plot too much. Lots of references in there too!

Ever felt like this right now is the best time in your life? Ever wished that time itself would just freeze this very instant? I guess what I’m asking is, in a nutshell, have you ever looked longingly at the lucky inhabitants of a snow globe?

The two years that (link: vatsav​.NET) was down also happened to be some of the most outrageous years in the recent history of the web. An explosion of Javascript frameworks, new browsers, the introduction of HTML5 & CSS3 specifications, new devices to surf with & style for; it was dizzying to keep up with at times.

Championing the oppressed, I represent the slandered defendant, the average Singaporean male. Too often criticized for qualities he has been trained to discard, this species now lives in a peculiar disillusioned limbo as an easy scapegoat for armchair critics to amuse themselves with.

An essay written as an exploration of Human Practices & Advancements related to the field of synthetic biology, for the iGEM 2009 competition. Here, I break down the origins, goals, criticisms and justification for the fledgling DIYbio community.