10 Apr 2004
Hidden Messages in Spam

Maybe I was right, after all.

There was an extremely interesting presentation at the Blackhat Windows Security Conference in January by Dr Curtis Kret entitled Nobody's Anonymous. In his presentation he showed how information about spammers can be determined. In addition he showed that some spam is being used as a covert communication channel.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

U.S. Won't Let Company Test All Its Cattle for Mad Cow

The law has run amok: the producer wants to pay for this test, so they can begin selling to Japan again, but the USDA won't let them! Apparently, under the Virus Serum Toxin Act of 1913, the department decides where cattle can be tested and for what.

This is government interference in the free market at it's absolute worst: actively preventing a company from producing a safer product.

The Department of Agriculture refused to allow a Kansas beef producer to test all of its cattle for mad cow disease, saying such sweeping tests are not warranted.

(link) [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

More Bunny Funnies

This has to be seen to be believed ... "weird" doesn't begin to do it justice.

The Exorcist in 30 Seconds, Performed by Bunnies

(link) [AngryAlien] via Queen of Cups

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Opponents Take Swing at GMO Grass

There's a lot of brain-growing going on today ... even the forest service is getting into the act!

I just love the excuse the company uses to explain why this grass won't become "a golf course gone berserk -- a state park, for example, blanketed in acres of perfect putting green turf, with no biodiversity."

Harriman, Scotts' chief research scientist, counters that numerous studies by the company indicate the grass is unlikely to spread. The grass seeds are dispersed by flowering blossoms -- but the closely shorn turf on a golf course is never allowed to grow tall enough to flower.

No golf course, anywhere, has ever allowed their grass to grow too tall, eh? We know that every mowing, at every golf course, is always on time and to the correct specifications! After all, humans are perfect, aren't they?

But you gotta love the potential irony here: in the worst case scenerio, the agricultural production of the greatest growing nation on Earth could be destroyed so golfers would have better putting greens...

Lawn-products company Scotts is testing a bioengineered version of a creeping grass favored by golf courses. The company claims the Roundup-resistant grass is unlikely to spread, but a surprising assortment of challengers disagree.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

USDA Rejects Drug-Laced Rice

It sounds like someone genetically modified the USDA to add brains...

The agency turns down a biotech company's proposal to grow rice that's been genetically modified to produce proteins that fight infection. The rice could contaminate normal crops, critics say. By Kristen Philipkoski.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link