Apple Publicly Opposes California Proposition 8 (Ban on Same Sex Marriage)

News from Apple:

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/10/24/apple-publicly-opposes-california-proposition-8-ban-on-same-sex-marriage/

Tim Wise on White Privilege

Solid read: http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege-updated

CFP: Joystick Soldiers: The military/war video game reader

CFP: Joystick Soldiers: The military/war video game reader
2007-07-20 02:54 | Posted by jpzagal | Permanent Link | Call for Papers

Edited by Nina B. Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne
The editors seek essays on military/war-themed video games which explore the multifaceted cultural, social, and economic linkages between video games and the military. The collection will feature scholarly work from a diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives, including: close textual readings of military-themed video games; critical histories of game production processes and marketing practices; and reception studies of video war gamers, fandom, and politically resistant game interventions. As there is no other collection of its kind, Joystick Soldiers will make a significant contribution to the breadth of work shaping the burgeoning field of game studies, complementing analyses concerning the Military-Entertainment Complex, and offering diverse insights on how modern warfare has been represented and remediated in contemporary video games. The editors invite junior as well as established scholars to submit, and welcome cross-disciplinary work from sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, history, military studies, psychology, economics, media studies, visual communication, graphic arts and game design, education, and so forth.

We are looking for submissions that address a wide range of topics from diverse methodological approaches, including but not limited to:

--Use of games for training, recruitment, propaganda (serious games)

--Video games and military ideology (or Military-Entertainment Complex)

--Representing / playing soldiers, terrorists, & civilians

--Global reception of America’s Army and other “pro-US” war games

--Production of war video games

--War video games across genres (e.g., FPS, RTS, RPG)

--Playing war video games of past & near-future conflicts

--War game mods and other user-generated content

--Machinima as social commentary on war (e.g., Red vs. Blue)

--Games and resistance (non-combat games, in-game protests, diplomacy as alternative to force)

--Game for peace

--Networked war games in different spaces (LAN parties, on-line, mobile).

--War games and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

We are interested in defining “military/war” video games widely, but not so widely as to be useless for critical analysis. The following is a partial list of war video games we hope to include, but submissions for scholarly work about other games are welcome, for example games based on past wars (Battlefield 1942; Call of Duty, etc) and non-US based games.

--Marine Doom

--Counter-Strike & its mods

--America’s Army & America’s Army: Rise of a Soldier

--Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

--Close Combat: First to Fight

--Conflict: Desert Storm II - Back to Baghdad

--FA-18 Operation Desert Storm

--Freedom Fighters

--Full Spectrum Warrior & Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers

--Kuma War

--Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter

--Operation Flashpoint: Resistance

--Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield --Sniper Elite

--SOCOM

--Under Siege, Under Ash, and Special Force

Please submit a 500 word abstract and short bio (100 words max) by September 17, 2007 in Rich Text Format (RTF) to Nina Huntemann and Matthew Payne at joysticksoldiers@gmail.com. We expect final papers will not exceed 5000-7000 words and will be due December 10, 2007. Feel free to repost this CFP on relevant lists. Please contact us if you have questions about potential essays or the book project in general.

Orson Scott Card Anti-Gay Marriage

http://www.cracked.com/blog/2008/08/11/orson-scott-card-wants-you-to-rise-up-against-the-government-but-in-the-worst-way-possible/

CFP: International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games

FDG '09, the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games is a focal point for academic efforts in all areas of research involving computer and console games, game technologies, game play and game design. Previously known as the Conference on Game Development and Computer Science Education (GDCSE), this year's conference broadens its scope to cover the breadth of game research and education. The conference is targeted at researchers making contributions that promote new game capabilities, designs, applications and modes of play.

http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org/downloads/fdgcfp.pdf

California ban on same-sex marriage struck down

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/15/same.sex.marriage/index.html

Farewell, Aime

France bids farewell to black pride poet Aime Cesaire
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdi7O0Jn6D2vpWgvG9-UkG_OYmlg

Hanes "Tag" Ads Controversy

A controversial ad campaign by Hanes (developed for South Asia) featuring the words "faggot" and "nigger" and "paki" has drawn a lot of attention, criticism, and little actual theorization and critique. Much of the response has been purely "this is bad, bad, bad because using labels is bad, bad, bad because in this diverse, multicultural world we don't do things that are bad, bad, bad..." The campaign features the tagline "The world gives you enough tags." And the images are about the anthropomorphication of the discourse, stereotypes, and signifiers of the very labels themselves.



I think there is something going on here that might actually be disidentificatory, a way that unsettles the words (not completely) from their usage and that revivifies our relationship to them that might actually pull them out of the safe distance of history.



Granted these stereotypes are problematic and, well, stereotypical. But is there a way to not have a knee-jerk neoliberal reaction? And to find something productive out of the discomfort and eerieness produced by the ads? There is something posthuman going on here, too.

I'll have to think about it. Here's details: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/controv-campaigns-hanes.

European Journal of Cultural Studies (May 2008) on Video Game Studies

European Journal of Cultural Studies
1 May 2008; Vol. 11, No. 2
URL: http://ecs.sagepub.com/content/vol11/issue2/?etoc


What is game studies anyway?
David B. Nieborg and Joke Hermes
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 131-147
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/131?etoc

Ruling the virtual world: Governance in massively multiplayer online games
Sal Humphreys
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 149-171
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/149?etoc

The mod industries? The industrial logic of non-market game production
David B. Nieborg and Shenja van der Graaf
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 177-195
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/177?etoc

Digital Arabs: Representation in video games
Vit Sisler
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 203-220
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/203?etoc

Do you believe in magic? Computer games in everyday life
Daniel Pargman and Peter Jakobsson
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 225-244
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/225?etoc

Open invitation: mapping global game cultures. Issues for a sociocultural
study of games and players
Frans Mayra
European Journal of Cultural Studies 2008;11 249-257
http://ecs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/249?etoc

In Memoriam: Lawrence King

Student shot in Oxnard
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oxnard13feb13,0,6745547.story?page=1

A deadly clash of emotions before Oxnard shooting
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oxnard8mar08,0,5574063.story?page=1

E.O. Green School shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.O._Green_School_shooting

Remembering Lawrence King
http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/

GROUNDSPARK CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF RELEASE OF GROUNDBREAKING FILM "IT'S ELEMENTARY

GROUNDSPARK CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF RELEASE OF GROUNDBREAKING FILM "IT'S ELEMENTARY

San Francisco, CA, October 1, 2007-- GroundSpark - formerly Women's Educational Media - today announced events celebrating the 10th anniversary and upcoming re-release on DVD of "It's Elementary-- Talking About Gay Issues in School." The groundbreaking documentary was the first film to show how elementary and middle school teachers can facilitate age-appropriate classroom discussions that include awareness about gay and lesbian people.

The DVD re-released version of the film is accompanied by a new documentary, "It's STILL Elementary," that features follow-up interviews with some of the original participants, as well as with educators, activists and the film's production team who discuss the political and cultural reaction to and impact of the original release of the film. GroundSpark will hold screenings of "It's STILL Elementary" in New York on Thursday, October 18th, San Francisco on Thursday, October 25th, and Washington, DC, on November 28th, 2007.

"It's Elementary" has helped countless educators and parents think about their role in helping to prevent young people from growing up with prejudice toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Rather than focusing on political differences on this issue among adults, the film takes the point of view of children and features them discussing the information and the misinformation that they have absorbed about what it means to be gay or lesbian.

Since its initial release, "It's Elementary" has won numerous awards, as well as widespread acclaim from parents, educators, policymakers, and religious leaders. It has been shown to faculty in thousands of schools across the country and around the world, from Alaska to Florida and from Tokyo to Warsaw. The film is widely credited for helping to ignite the national "safe schools" movement, contributing to the growth in the number of gay-straight alliance groups in schools and the increase in the number of K-12 schools with inclusive non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

The follow-up documentary, "It's STILL Elementary," presents fascinating "where are they now?" interviews with students from the original film, along with commentary from the filmmakers and other educators and leaders who look back at the political backlash the original film received and at the tremendous impact it has had on the American educational system.Paired with the DVD is a newly produced, comprehensive 80-page curriculum guide for educators, which includes lesson plans on how to incorporate LGBT curricula in classrooms.

"When the film was first released a decade ago, 'It's Elementary' helped spark a movement to make schools safer places for all children to discuss lesbian and gay people in age-appropriate ways," said GroundSpark Executive Director and Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Debra Chasnoff.

"Homophobia hurts all children: one only has to consider the consistently homophobic content of bullying in schools today to realize that this film is more relevant than ever. All of us at GroundSpark are excited to introduce 'It's Elementary' and its companion documentary, 'It's STILL Elementary,' to a new generation of educators," Chasnoff continued.

Earlier this year, GroundSpark found itself in the midst of controversy in Evesham Township, NJ. A group of highly vocal parents objected to another GroundSpark film, "That's a Family!," which features children talking about their diverse family structures, including families with divorced and single parents, multi-racial families, families whose children were adopted, and families with lesbian and gay parents. Despite a unanimous recommendation from its own review committee of professional educators, counselors and PTA representatives that the film remain part of the elementary school curriculum, the Evesham Township School Board voted to suspend the film's use in response to political pressure and intimidation by the minority opposition.

"Fear and ignorance about addressing diversity with children - especially related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - is alive and well," commented Chasnoff. "The films that are part of our Respect For All Project, such as 'That's a Family!,' were created in response to the extraordinary impact that 'It's Elementary' received after its initial release. The goal of GroundSpark's Respect For All Project is to help create schools and communities where all children feel welcome and safe. The unfortunate recent events in New Jersey demonstrate that our work is as relevant and necessary as ever," concluded Chasnoff.

GroundSpark creates visionary films and dynamic education campaigns that move individuals and communities to take action for a more just world.

The Respect For All Project, a program of GroundSpark, facilitates the development of inclusive schools and communities that are free from bias and prejudice by providing resources, support and training to educators and youth service providers.

For more information, please visit www.groundspark.org

From: http://www.ednews.org/articles/17867/1/GROUNDSPARK-CELEBRATES-10TH-ANNIVERSARY-OF-RELEASE-OF-GROUNDBREAKING-FILM-quotIT039S-ELEMENTARYquot/Page1.html

Happy. New. Year

Happy New Year. Best in 2008!

On the age front...

Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight
James Estrin/The New York Times

Jalna Perry of Boston said her guard was always up in nursing homes.

The result of her outspokenness, Ms. Donadello said, was swift and merciless. “Everyone looked horrified,” she said. No longer included in conversation or welcome at meals, she plunged into depression. Medication did not help. With her emotional health deteriorating, Ms. Donadello moved into an adult community nearby that caters to gay men and lesbians.

“I felt like I was a pariah,” she said, settled in her new home. “For me, it was a choice between life and death.”

Elderly gay people like Ms. Donadello, living in nursing homes or assisted-living centers or receiving home care, increasingly report that they have been disrespected, shunned or mistreated in ways that range from hurtful to deadly, even leading some to commit suicide.

Some have seen their partners and friends insulted or isolated. Others live in fear of the day when they are dependent on strangers for the most personal care. That dread alone can be damaging, physically and emotionally, say geriatric doctors, psychiatrists and social workers.

More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/09aged.html?ex=1192593600&en=31488165b0295b95&ei=5070&emc=eta1

'Wrinkle in Time' author dies at 88

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/09/07/obit.lengle.ap/index.html

'Wrinkle in Time' author dies at 88

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Author Madeleine L'Engle, whose novel "A Wrinkle in Time" has been enjoyed by generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 88.

L'Engle died Thursday at a nursing home in Litchfield of natural causes, according to Jennifer Doerr, publicity manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith.

Although L'Engle was often labeled a children's author, she disliked that classification. In a 1993 Associated Press interview, she said she did not write down to children.

"In my dreams, I never have an age," she said. "I never write for any age group in mind. When people do, they tend to be tolerant and condescending and they don't write as well as they can write.

"When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."

"A Wrinkle in Time" -- which L'Engle said was rejected repeatedly before it found a publisher in 1962 -- won the American Library Association's 1963 Newbery Medal for best American children's book. Her "A Ring of Endless Light" was a Newbery Honor Book, or medal runner-up, in 1981.

In 2004, President Bush awarded her a National Humanities Medal.

"Wrinkle" tells the story of adolescent Meg Murry, her genius little brother Charles Wallace, and their battle against evil as they search across the universe for their missing father, a scientist.

L'Engle followed it up with further adventures of the Murry children, including "A Wind in the Door," 1973; "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," 1978, which won an American Book Award; and "Many Waters," 1986.

ZOMG

I'm really fascinated by representations of cyberspace, of the Internet. I think one of the central ways to talk about our understanding of cyberspace and digital technology is through the cultural productions produced about them, for them, by them, around them. I taught a class last year called Imagining Cyberspace, which looked at literary and visual representations of cyberspace. It was interesting and even though students are often praised for being so technologically 'savvy', they still found new eyes and resistances to the very naturalised understanding of the Net and its concomitant technology. This is a long winded introduction to one of the scariest (and cheesiest) images I've found in a long, long, long time:

Samuel R. Delany Presented by the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop and EMP|SFM

Six Summer Evenings of Science Fiction 2007 Reading Series - Samuel R. Delany Presented by the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop and EMPSFM

Tuesday, July 24

Samuel R. Delany is arguably the most daring, wide-ranging, word-drunk, idea-besotted writer of science fiction and fantasy that the United States has ever produced. In his 45-year professional career, he has extensively explored issues of language, gender, race, sexuality, power and otherness. Author of Dhalgren, Babel-17, and numerous novels, stories, and critical and philosophical works including his new novel Dark Reflections, he never fails to deliver a dynamic evening. Delany has won numerous national and international awards including the Hugo and Nebula, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002. Delany is Clarion West's 2007 Susan C. Petrey Fellow.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

7:30 PM

Free admission.

Seating is general admission and is limited.

JBL Theater

325 5th Ave N

Nooses and a legal lynching in Jena, Louisiana

I cannot believe (and can believe) this is (still) going on in the world:

"Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the �White Tree,'"
truthout, July 3, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307B.shtml
"Racial demons rear heads," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yvh7t5
"'Jena Six' defendant convicted," Town Talk, June 29, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ysxtgg
NPR: Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case (streaming audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11756302
Democracy Now! - The case of the Jena Six ...
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220
Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-jena-six-now.html
While Seated: Jena Six
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Nooses, attacks and jail for black students in Jena Louisiana
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/28/144445/384
Justice In Jena, by Jordan Flaherty
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12783§ionID=30
The Perpetrator becomes the Prosecutor (and other related entries)
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/blog/
'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6685441.stm

Cat Cam

Cat with camera... embedded reporting? first-person pouncing? kitty reality tv?

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/07/mr-lee-cat-cam.html

Honey, You're the Bomb!

This just is too hilarious: http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_159222541.html:

Jun 8, 2007 9:03 pm US/Pacific

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'

Hank Plante
Reporting

(CBS 5) BERKELEY A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsquently rejected, building the so-called "Gay Bomb."

Related Content:
Gen. Pace Regrets Gay Remark; Doesn't Apologize
Slideshow: Gay Celebrities
Visit The CBS 5 Water Cooler: More Talker Stories

Edward Hammond, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project, had used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the proposal from the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.

"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Hammond.

The Pentagon told CBS 5 that the proposal was made by the Air Force in 1994.

"The Department of Defense is committed to identifying, researching and developing non-lethal weapons that will support our men and women in uniform," said a DOD spokesperson, who indicated that the "gay bomb" idea was quickly dismissed.

However, Hammond said the government records he obtained suggest the military gave the plan much stronger consideration than it has acknowledged.

"The truth of the matter is it would have never come to my attention if it was dismissed at the time it was proposed," he said. "In fact, the Pentagon has used it repeatedly and subsequently in an effort to promote non-lethal weapons, and in fact they submitted it to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider."

Military officials insisted Friday to CBS 5 that they are not currently working on any such idea and that the past plan was abandoned.

Gay community leaders in California said Friday that they found the notion of a "gay bomb" both offensive and almost laughable at the same time.

"Throughout history we have had so many brave men and women who are gay and lesbian serving the military with distinction," said Geoff Kors of Equality California. "So, it's just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And its absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed."

Transcaninism?

From the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/science/12dog.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=cd6b2d01dc358c8b&ex=1181793600&pagewanted=all

June 12, 2007
The DNA Age
As Breeders Test DNA, Dogs Become Guinea Pigs
By AMY HARMON

FORT MOTT STATE PARK, N.J. — When mutant, muscle-bound puppies started showing up in litters of champion racing whippets, the breeders of the normally sleek dogs invited scientists to take DNA samples at race meets here and across the country. They hoped to find a genetic cause for the condition and a way to purge it from the breed.

It worked. “Bully whippets,” as the heavyset dogs are known, turn out to have a genetic mutation that enhances muscle development. And breeders may not want to eliminate the “bully” gene after all. The scientists found that the same mutation that pumps up some whippets makes others among the fastest dogs on the track.

With a DNA screening test on the way, “We’re going to keep the speed and lose the bullies,” Helena James, a whippet breeder in Vancouver, British Columbia, said.

Free of most of the ethical concerns — and practical difficulties — associated with the practice of eugenics in humans, dog breeders are seizing on new genetic research to exert dominion over the canine gene pool. Companies with names like Vetgen and Healthgene have begun offering dozens of DNA tests to tailor the way dogs look, improve their health and, perhaps soon, enhance their athletic performance.

But as dog breeders apply scientific precision to their age-old art, they find that the quest for genetic perfection comes with unforeseen consequences. And with DNA tests on their way for humans, the lessons of intervening in the nature of dogs may ultimately bear as much on us as on our best friends.

“We’re on the verge of a real radical shift in the way we apply genetics in our society,” said Mark Neff, associate director of the veterinary genetics laboratory at the University of California, Davis. “It’s better to be first confronted with some of these issues when they concern our pets than when they concern us.”

Some Labrador breeders are using DNA tests for coat color to guarantee exotic silver-coated retrievers. Mastiff breeders test for shaggy fur to avoid “fluffies,” the long-haired whelps occasionally born to short-haired parents.

Next up, geneticists say, could be tests for big dogs, small dogs, curly-tailed dogs, dogs with the keenest senses of smell and dogs that cock their heads endearingly when they look at you.

Scientists who recently completed the first map of a dog genome (of a boxer named Tasha) are now soliciting samples from dog owners across the world to uncover the genetic basis for a slew of other traits.

Some discoveries grow out of government-financed research aimed at improving human health. Others are paid for by breed clubs carrying out their mission to better their breeds. By screening their dogs’ DNA for desirable and undesirable traits that might appear in their offspring, breeders can make more informed decisions about which dogs to — or not to — mate.

But because genes are often tied to multiple traits, scientists warn, deliberate selection of certain ones can backfire. The gene responsible for those silver-coated Labradors, for example, is tied to skin problems.

With the genetic curtain lifted, breeders also take on a heavier burden for the consequences of their choices. Whippet breeders who continue to mate fast dogs with one another, for instance, now do so knowing they may have to destroy the unwelcome bullies such pairings often produce.

Moreover, the prospect of races being won by dogs intentionally bred to have a genetic advantage may bring new attention to the way that genes contribute to canine — and human — achievement, even when the genetic deck is not stacked. Inborn abilities once attributed to something rather mystical seem to lose a certain standing when connected to specific genes.

A mutation similar to the one that makes some whippets faster also exists in humans: a sliver of genetic code that regulates muscle development, is missing.

“It would be extremely interesting to do tests on the track finalists at the Olympics,” said Elaine Ostrander, the scientist at the National Institutes of Health who discovered that the fastest whippets had a single defective copy of the myostatin gene, while “bullies” had two.

“But we wouldn’t know what to do with the information,” Ms. Ostrander said. “Are we going to segregate the athletes who have the mutation to run separately?” For the moment, it is whippet owners who find themselves on the edge of that particular bioethical frontier.

It was not exactly news to breeders that speed is an inherited trait: whippets were developed in the late 1800s specifically for racing. But knowing that one of her dogs was sired by a carrier of the gene, said Jen Jensen, a whippet owner in Fair Oaks, Calif., makes its championships seem “less earned.” Ms. Jensen’s suggestion that a DNA test be required for all dogs and that the fastest ones without the mutation be judged and raced separately, however, has not gone over well.

At a recent race here in southern New Jersey, some whippet owners wanted the mutation eliminated altogether, even if that meant fewer fast dogs. But as the dogs pounded after a lure at 35 miles per hour, several owners allowed that they would prefer a whippet with the gene for speed.

“It’s more fun having fast dogs than slow dogs,” said Libby Kirchner, of Glassboro, N.J.

The headaches are enough to make some breeders long for the time when decisions about breeding were dominated by intuition and pedigree charts. Selecting a mate, they say, was meant to involve mystery — in any species.

“It makes it so there’s no creative expression,” said Cheryl Shomo, of Chesapeake, Va. “Now everyone’s just going to do the obvious thing.”

Even so, many veteran breeders welcome the transparency the tests confer. Because while like tends to beget like, it doesn’t always work that way.

Mary-Jo Winters, a poodle breeder, uses a DNA coat-color test to ensure there are no genes for brown fur lurking beneath her black-and-cream-colored dogs.

“I don’t want brown,” said Ms. Winters. “It’s not my thing.”

Judy Pritchard, a Doberman breeder in Toledo, Wash., screens dogs she is considering breeding for a gene responsible for von Willibrand disease, a bleeding disease like hemophilia that also affects humans.

DNA tests, Ms. Pritchard said, “are the greatest tools that have been offered to dog breeders since the beginning of dogs. You need to use them to improve the breed.”

Many breeders hope this new effort to corral nature will weed out the numerous recessive diseases that plague purebred dogs after generations of human-imposed inbreeding. But some question the wisdom of escalating intervention. Mark Derr, an author who has written about the history of dog breeding, urges everyone to reconsider the goal of genetic purity.

“I always use dogs as the example of why we don’t want to be mucking around with our own genome,” Mr. Derr said. “These people are trying to use DNA tests to solve problems of their own making.”

Still, some proponents of using the DNA palette are proposing to go even further. Dr. Neff, the University of California researcher, has proposed screening successive generations of dogs with DNA tests and breeding only those with genes for traits like stamina and scent detection to create a new breed of dogs to patrol subways and airports. , It could be done within a few years, he said, instead of the centuries it took shepherds to breed the sheepdogs that patrol their flocks.

Even those who want to exert more direct control over dog DNA, however, agree that no genetic test can predict the intangible qualities that make a dog great.

If a dog does not have the spirit to run a race, it is not going to win, said Betsy Browder, a whippet owner in College Station, Tex.

“ ‘Keenness’ is what we call it,” she said. “Just like you can have a human athlete who’s really lazy, and all the genes in the world aren’t going to help.”