Saturday, March 15, 2014

MDNA

According to Wikipedia, "MDNA may refer to
-Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA or mtDNA), the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria
-MDNA (album), a 2012 album by Madonna
-MDNA Tour, 2012 concert tour by Madonna."
Additional research reveals an unexpected relationship between the first and third expansions of the acronym. If Madonna has anything to say about it, her fans seeking unusual souvenirs will have neither mDNA nor any other DNA from the aging pop star on the MDNA tour. She has a "sterilization team" to extirpate any DNA in her dressing room after shows. In fact, the team is concerned with much more than DNA. They remodel the dressing room to include "fake ceilings and fake walls, so they can ensure that no one has hidden a camera somewhere." [1] No "genetic exceptionalism" here.

I have heard that the Secret Service collects the plates, silverware, and drinking glasses or cups the President uses when he is on tour.1/ How about the rest of us? Do we have a reasonable expectation that police will not collect our shed DNA? No court has held that the investigative technique is a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

Note
  1. The newsletter, DNA: Focus, available from the ACLU of Vermont at http://www.acluvt.org/pubs/focus_dna.pdf, attributes this claim "to the British newspaper, The Sunday Mirror," but a quick web search failed to confirm that the Sunday Mirror or any other publication has made such a statement.
Reference
  1. Bang Showbiz, Madonna Has DNA Cleaning Team for Tour, Winnipeg Free Press, June 22, 2012
Related postings
Keywords: Abandoned DNA, shed DNA, Madonna

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