Friday, March 05, 2004

Good-bye, Mystery Meat!. A new DNA chip will allow any meat product to be tested for the presence of any one of 32 species of animal. The application in school cafeterias alone should ensure widespread use. But, shhh, this is evil biotech in use. Knowledge is wrong. (via Metafilter.) [Hit & Run] It can detect the presence of rat and human (Soylent Green, anyone?) but it still won't help to determine the origin of mystery meat if it does not in fact include any meat. I suspect this is often the case. 8:14:25 PM    comment () While maps don't show nuclear power plants, online satellite systems do.  Here is an eyeball (closer) of the Pilgrim plant in Plymouth MA.  It provides 13% of MA power needs. [John Robb's Weblog] In the 1970s and 1980s I laughed at the absurdity of the Soviet Union producing deliberately incorrect maps. It's still absurd, but it's no longer funny when it's my own country trying to turn itself into the Soviet Union. 8:08:44 PM    comment () Bitterly disappointed and saddened by Martha Stewart trial outcome. I am very disheartened and disappointed by the outcome of the Martha Stewart trial, even if Martha Stewart ends up serving no prison time. The outcome is clearly incorrect, the entire prosecution nothing more than a witch-hunt and a career-building... [Mises Economics Blog: Austrian Economics and Libertarian Political Theory] That's pretty much what I think about it. And it doesn't bode well for anyone who declares her innocence of charges brought against her by the government--particularly when the law she's accused of breaking does not in fact exist. Of particular note is the comment by the juror who said, "Maybe it's a victory for the little guys who lose money in the market because of these kinds of transactions." It seems to me that Ms. Stewart's lawyer should have argued for a change of venue on the grounds that it would be impossible for a capitalist to receive a fair trial in a predominately socialist society. 7:24:13 PM    comment ()

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