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 ...
Congrat00lations!
I’m calling today a total flop.
After fighting with my stamps.com account for an hour this morning, and not being able to print postage (it didn’t print yesterday, either) I finally tried to uninstall and reinstall and that was almost harrowing. Nothing.
It dawned on me somewhere between yesterday when I tried to print the first package label and today when I tried to print another label for the same package, that recently, I had downloaded an upgrade for the printer drivers, and that a subsequent upgrade or reinstall was necessary for the printer to recognize the stamps.com program.
I did. Nothing. And then, four hours later, I decided to check the cost of the curtain rod I needed at Walmart.com and every window that was open decided to default to my desktop and left me wondering what the heck? So I shut it down and restarted it and the printer came to life. It printed both labels and four samples and because I wasn’t sure what paper tray it was using, I stuck a page of stamp blanks in and hit “Print Sample.” It did. All the stamp blanks on the page in Tray 1 were printed with “VOID.” Tray 2 has been the default paper tray.
Yepper. Its been a wonderful day in the neighborhood. So. Life is good.
Gonna go take my pills and give them 30 minutes to work, and then the ‘Face is going to bed. There’s no telling what will happen if I stay up.
As long as it's not a belly flop. I HATE those.
Ima sleep on the whole thing and wake up and think none of it ever happened, and that the Utah license plate on the BB SUV was put there by the Registration Fairy. She packs a bigger whollop than the tooth fairy.
Maybe it won’t really happen.
This sounds like an undead thread.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3717453/posts
Dunno about that. The radar is showing a blob of moisture bearing down on us, even though what seems to be the most active portion is now attempting to desalinate the Atlantic. The portion now over Penn’s Woods will hit us.
The hourly foreguess is still holding to that 1 am onset. They’re now classifying it as ‘freezing mix’..
Dat’s a tiny squee! I heart dat fing.
Good morning. The night erased yesterday just fine thanks! I had to pull up my stamps.com history to make sure the printing was as goofy as I recalled. The morning wasn’t too bad, but the afternoon sure made up for it!
So today is going to be a much better day. I just uncovered the birds and they’re singing the morning song of their people so all is right with the world. I think. ;o]
Good morning. I was dreaming that I was trying to hold about seven different activities at the same time. At the library. I’m glad to be awake!
It is not raining at the moment.
I’ve written two post cards and will take them with me to mail when I go drop off my son’s little package.
Today has to be better than yesterday.
Now I need to go make my bed. Then my day will start for real.
Excellent diligence! It is now 7:00 a.m. EST, and nobody is up except the cats and me.
In all the eventings yesterday, I forgot to tell you that my name was in the DL computer archives from the early 80’s and even the late 60’s! The only thing was that one digit in my SS# was wrong, but my name was the same as the first time I got my DL.
My first ever DL was gotten in SD on our way back to San Diego from Gt Lakes — shore duty to sea duty. That was the easiest — my initials and birthdate. Simple.
One more postcard down. I’ve sorted the pills but now I have to make come changes in the pill list, as one of them I’m not taking any more. It made me stupid, so I stopped taking it.
Maybe, since Beaker has to see the vet on Wednesday, I’ll go to the DL bureau on Monday and get it over with. Part of me is wanting to wait for my next payday, but the rest of me says to get it out of the way.
But why do they want bank statements? Strange, that. I found the rest of the stuff and will have to print the statements today or tomorrow. Very strange.
I don’t see why they need bank statements for a driver’s license, either. That’s just weird. But maybe they’re trying to be extra super sure that they have the person’s name and address correct. Elen had to get a corrected Social Security card with her middle name spelled out because the City of Monroe couldn’t hire her as a lifeguard when her DL had her full name while the SS card had an initial. Because “security.”
I didn’t put my middle initial on the DL application, nor at the DMV. (This strikes me a strange, too — the place where one registers one’s vehicle is not the same place as where one gets a diver’s license. Only in Utah.)
If I ever get my SS card back (I have to go into St George for it) it won’t have my middle initial, either.
One assumes that, at some point, someone had a reason for instituting these rules.
The longer I live and the more I see of “governing bodies” the more convinced I am that most “rules” are as a result of people/panels/groups exercising their power because they could/can. Sadly, my age has transformed me into a curmudgeon of sorts.
I’m still trying to figure that out.
Welldarn. I got the lace panels hung up in the kitchen, but they go to the floor and that means they are on the baseboard heaters. My question is: Is this a cause for concern?
In my trip to the USPS to mail the package to my son, I see there is no large bin to put packages in after hours. This means that in the future, I’ll either have to drop packages off during regular hours or arrange for the carrier to pick the package up. The latter seems the best solution.
I think having the curtains on the heaters is cause for concern. Maybe some safety pins are in order.
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