31 Oct 2003
Missing the Point of Cloning Safety

In Initial Finding, F.D.A. Calls Cloned Animals Safe as Food. The F.D.A. finding, though tentative, could eventually clear the way for meat and milk from cloned animals to reach supermarket shelves. By Andrew Pollack. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

To a large extent, they're missing the point. The point of cloned animals is to reduce genetic diversity and obtain greater uniformity (for better marketability), not to heighten flavor or make foods more palatable. Cloning in animals/vegatables/grains is strictly for "industrial production" purposes. There is absolutely no reason to suspect that a cloned calf would be any less nutritious than it's (genetically identical) mother.

Too many folks confuse genetic engineering with cloning. They are two entirely different things. Genetic engineering may or may not introduce genes into the animal that could be harmful to humans. In the strictest sense of the word, genetic engineering increases the genetic diversity in a given species so "engineered", by the intorduction of new genetic material. This could ultimately be a disaster, not because it'll make humans sick, but because these new "engineered" species could have a serious impact on the natural enviroment in a number of unforeseen ways.

On the other hand, cloning, per se, is not an "evil" thing - what's evil is what happens when we have cloned an animal to a point where the genetic diversity in a given species is gone - poof! When that happens, the species is effectively at a dead end, and while it may still be walking around, it's as dead as the dodo.

Curiously, you can achieve this same effect in a species without cloning - long term selective breeding programs have rendered sheep, for example, that are unable to survive without mass amounts of grain and other feeds. In the wild, all sheep species subsist strictly on grasses and forage. This is getting to be a problem, as these heavily line bred species are more suseptible to disease and more prone to infertility. Which is one reason why cloning is viewed as a "solution"!

The solution is to restore the balance of Nature, and learn to live within it and thru it. This does not mean we abandon technology and return to the caves (I'm no Luddite!), but it does mean that we take a long hard look at the overall systems which sustain us, and make our decisions and choices based on the maintanence of those systems.

Doing otherwise is considered by some to be "playing God". I find it more akin to playing with matches in a gasoline warehouse...

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Paperless Voting, No Validation Possible

From over at Moore's Lore comes this piece on Another Voting Machine Scandal. This one's not a Diebold System.

We don't need this: the solution to hanging chads, punch cards that don't and confusing ballots is NOT untraceable, wide open and fatally flawed electronic systems running Windows! This is clearly a case of the "cure" being worse than the disease!

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

DMCA Tyranny

Somehow, I missed this rant on DMCA Tyranny from Moore's Lore yesterday. Fine stuff - here's a snippet:

In the face of tyranny, the only rational choice is civil disobedience. Remember that you risk jail. But I cannot support such an unjust law, and I won't. Neither, I feel, should you.

Copyright deserves protection, but so does fair use. And copyright protection must be limited. It is not a property right, but a limited right, granted for a limited time, in order to encourage the creation of more work. Once copyright is transferred, and once it becomes a property right, then it becomes an insult to liberty, it becomes the enemy of liberty.

The Copyright Law must be changed. I'm willing to take my lumps in lost income from that. But the tyranny of the Copyright Police must be fought, and overthrown, if liberty is to have any meaning.

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

30 Oct 2003
Foil Beanies

You can find anything on the 'Net:

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie

and remember: just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Porno Protectors

Via Secular Blasphemy comes this latest little addition to the Christian social agenda being pushed by the White House: Protection from Pornography Week

Just what we need, what with the War on Terrorism, the economy in the dumps and that nutball in North Korea waving nukes around. The "No nekkid wimmens!" faith based initiative!

I think this is the final nail in the coffin of my erstwhile support for this fanatic occupying the highest office in the land ...

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Talking Carts

I do digital audio programming for embedded devices - this is gonna get interesting before it's all over. The Slashdot poster's concerns about virii in embedded devices are somwewhat misplaced - too specialized to attack with a general purpose virus, and no real input available to the end user (most of the time). Besides, we're talking IBM here - they'll have a Linux OS (if any real OS at all) in the device, not Windoze.

I can't see this evolving as far as IBM does, but I'm sure we'll see something like it. Real Soon Now.

More on Talking Shopping Carts [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

29 Oct 2003
Saved By W3C

Who would have thunk it? The W3C riding over the ridge like the calvary, rescuing, of all unlikely damsels in distress, Microsoft? But reading the briefing, it certainly appears that that's exactly what's happened. I'd be shocked if the USPTO didn't toss the Eolas patent after this...

W3C Requests Eolas Patent Re-Examination [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

SCO Madness Reigns Supreme

The headline says it all:

SCO Madness Reigns Supreme [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

No To Lexmark

Another small victory ... this was simply idiotic in the first place, so it doesn't surprise me that it's been squashed. But what I wonder is how many other folks thinking of getting into the cartridge business were deterred by Lexmark's aggressive legal strategy?

Copyright Office Rules Against Lexmark [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Oct 2003
NaDa

I've just downloaded NaDa, and must report my complete satisfaction! It's simply amazing - as well as a refreshing, honest approach to software marketing! Try it yourself!

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Local Yokel Bigotry

Swaggert, Baker ... it seems as though even the local Hateful Bigots who don't have mega-churches or TV shows are swimming in their own hypocrisy... [via Secular Blasphemy]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

California Burning

An amazing picture, from satellite, of the Southern CA fires. [from NASA]

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

SCO Drinks the Kool-Aid

They just drank the Kool-Aid ...

SCO Calls GPL Unenforceable, Void [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

27 Oct 2003
Amazon Marketplace Patent

Here's a great idea! I'll trade my services for those things in your pocket called cash! I call this "selling" .... and it's sure to be a big hit! Once I get it patented, I'll make millions!

Patent Sought For Amazon Marketplace [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

26 Oct 2003
An Economy of Aesthetics

George Will has an interesting column in the Washington Post today, in which he basically defends the American consumer culture on a aesthetic level!

An Economy of Aesthetics

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link