Posted on 10/06/2018 2:02:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Pentagon research project called "Insect Allies." Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project involves using gene-editing techniques like CRISPR to infect insects with modified viruses that could help make America's crops more resilient. If a cornfield were hit by an unexpected drought or suddenly exposed to a pathogen, for example, Insect Allies might deploy an army of aphids carrying a genetically modified virus to slow the corn plant's growth rate.
According to the DARPA website, these "targeted therapies" could take effect in a single growing season, potentially protecting the American crop system from food security threats like disease, flooding, frost and even "threats introduced by state or non-state actors.
… Insect Allies, is less concerned. "Anytime you're developing a new and revolutionary technology, there is that potential for [both offensive and defensive] capability," Bextine told The Washington Post. "But that is not what we are doing. We are delivering positive traits to plants… We want to make sure we ensure food security, because food security is national security in our eyes."
Insect Allies is still in the early stages of development, and at least four U.S. colleges (Boyce Thompson Institute, Penn State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin)have received funding to carry out research. Bextine told The Washington Post that the project recently achieved its first milestone — testing whether an aphid could infect a stalk of corn with a designer virus that caused fluorescence. According to the Washington Post, "the corn glowed."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Should be. Precautions to take: Try to ensure that the freezer is as full as possible. Use plastic containers 7/8ths filled with water to produce ice to pack in and take up space before unplugging. Stage this as necessary.
If you have extra blankets, padding, or shipping blankets, try to wrap the freezer like a Christmas package, with strapping to hold the padding in position. This additional insulation will keep the metal exterior of the freezer from transferring heat too quickly. Also shield the package from wind as possible.
If you think it's worth it to do so, you can add a small quantity of dry ice to the freezer contents just before packing it up. That shouldn't be necessary, but think of it as insurance in case of delays.
These steps should get your frozen stuff to the new location without a problem.
Hey!
This morning was quite eventful with that idiot plowing into the gate.
Still no clue what he thought he was going to accomplish.
And this bunny did dig beneath that gate, scratching and burrowing with all his might until one day the gate came down!
Maybe he was texting.
I'm not sure because its in the kitchen and I'm in the living room and the motor is very quiet.
It will be in an enclosed truck (probably U-Haul, thought I don't really care for the company. It's the closest one to me. The rest of the truck rentals are across the valley) and the weather will be cold. Not "cold" like freezing here, but pretty close to freezing in Hurricane.
If I pack it too full, the loaders will have a hard time maneuvering it. I may be able to wrap it in a blanket, but most of them are "someplace" in a tub, "somewhere."
I figured if it was loaded last, it would be unloaded first, and could be plugged back in the soonest.
That's how most of the fatalities happen here...going down the freeway at 70+ mph and a phone in the hand, thumbs going very quickly. Saw it on a freeway outside LA several years ago. I was high enough in the truck seat to see it, and it scared me, even though it was happening in the lane to the right. We were doing 65 mph.
Possible.
He came down the truck entrance pretty fast.
He’s not dead, but his vehicle is.
Royally effed it up good, made a deep V shape in the center of the nose.
Visual: V-indented nose...used to be Jimmy Durante, but is now a pug.
The Jeep ended up with beetle mandibles.
I’m glad he’s not dead. Maybe he learned something.
A large meal has been consumed by all twelve humans, Jake, and Dog. Most of the cleanup is done.
Jake offer any feline critique?
He doesn’t ever like meat as much as he thinks he will.
Tom’s pumpkin pies were really good.
My fluffbutt kitty says she likes anything the missus is eating.
LOL! I like that! (Though I don’t like beetles!)
As the late Igor would have said, “Ah’m full as a tick!”
I think I gained three pounds so I’ll wait another four days before I weigh myself.
I’m glad there’s only one Thanksgiving Day a year. ;o]
Tom’s pumpkin pies looked very delicious, and I’m still waiting for that pic of Tom the Son with his elbow resting on his mom’s head.
But now, I need to call this a day because I’ve been up WAY too long.
I need to try and sleep so I can figure out what the plan of the day is for tomorrow. I’m hoping I can finish the lamp and then move on to other things before the sun comes up.
Have a safe and restful evening, All!
XO — ‘Face :o])
Agree with all that NNB has advised.
Three hours unplugged should be nearly indiscernible from normal if you keep the unit closed.
Consider this:
We occasionally need to defrost the big upright freezer in our garage, and that effort requires unloading it entirely, and finding alternate cold storage for the contents until the freezer is ready to be reloaded.
That unloading/defrosting/reloading process takes AT LEAST three hours, usually more like four or five unless we’re there with a hot coil hastening it along.
So, our frozen elk roasts, ground beef, fruit, vegetables, seafood, and all the rest sit packed in plastic bins covered with towels and blankets the whole time. Typically, very little has even begun to thaw appreciably by the time we are ready to put it back into the freezer, and we’ve never had anything go bad.
I wouldn’t lose a minute of sleep over it.
Got stuffed, as you so helpfully suggested.
Small bird this year; not quite 13lbs but adequate for our table. I brined it for 24hrs ahead, wiped it with olive oil, rubbed it with spices, browned it 30min at 400 uncovered, then transferred it into an oven bag for 2.5hrs at 300 until the little button popped out. Between the brining and cooking it in a bag this bird came to the table with the most succulent white meat of any turkey we’ve ever cooked. Our use of oven bags has ended the rein of chalky turkey breast, but this was downright juicy.
Hope everyone else ate at least as well.
“Got stuffed”
Sounds like an attack by Gob Lor the feathered one.
His victims tend to have bread crumbs on their resplendent corpses.
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