Ah, I recomember.
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 ...
Yep. I do a lot of that. I usually pray just before I read Scriptures to avoid the "I wasn't asleep" embarrassment. If I wait until I'm actually ready to sleep, I won't make it past, "Dear Father..."
If one accepts the traditional source of the Scriptures, the most interesting stuff will be in those regardless of what else is written in the universe.
And no matter how many layers you may perceive hidden beneath those exposed in the Grand Canyon, I assert (without proof) that the human heart has more.
I sat for some time at the auto shop, waiting for the driver of the Avalon to process the perfectly clear directions for getting there. *sigh*
“Ah,” I said to the young employee. “Here is Drama Queen with the Avalon, at last. She’ll be flouncing in any minute now, in her pajamas, with the key.”
“I like your language,” said the youth.
“Passive aggression is my superpower,” I explained.
“What’s your superhero name?” he asked.
I wasn’t ready for that question. Any suggestions? What about “Deadpan,” like “Deadpool,” which never made any sense to me.
And so this is Wednesday.
With apologies to John Lennon.
Good morning, everbuddie.
Ah, I recomember.
In the NYC contracting world, an agency will often have a standing contract for PMQA, which stands for Project Management Quality Assurance. PMQA will have access to all the developing contractors Project Management team and artifacts to assure they are performing according to contract. (Assuring that the contract calls for PM performance that will assure quality is out of scope, but that’s another story.)
Apparently, the real role of the PMQA team members is to make lots of noise so the Agency knows it is “getting its money’s worth.” I haven’t seen that written anywhere. I’m inferring it from the DSS PMQA vendor’s behavior.
The downside is, we have to respond to said noise.
Ah, well, sest la vai, as they say in France.
Heh, good one.
Very attractive.
Superhero Mom-Lady! Or Supermom! Or Super Mom-Lady! Or Super Baffler-Mom. Or Cleverness Goddess... Yeah...I vote for the latter.
Hi, Moose.
If you don’t mind answering for an American who groks Parliamentary politics about as well as he groks cricket, what exactly is the crisis over there?
Is it that the business world was hoping to drag Brexit out to the point where it wouldn’t happen and they could keep abusing the British via Brussels?
I’m mindful of a Star Trek Original Series episode where people fought wars by computer, and the computers tallied the dead who dutifully reported to disintegration chambers so the civilization could survive. They fought that war for over 5 centuries. Once Kirk blew up the computers so they were at risk of real bombs, they came to terms of peace.
I’m wondering if an actual rapid pull out would cause everyone to come to the table and work out the deals they need.
Thoughts?
Back from retrieving the auto. The mechanic said the problem was an insecure gas cap, causing evaporation and something something. This revelation resulted in the driver’s recalling that she had lost the gas cap “because I totally forgot it existed” and replaced it with one from Walmart “that really fits!” The mechanic wrote down the Real Toyota Part number and said she’d better get it.
Fortunately for said driver’s bank balance, they didn’t charge us, because we’re a good customer and they weren’t that busy anyhow.
Ohboy. Drama Queen’s blonde roots are showing again, I see. Some people should just not have cars. So couldn’t you charge said bank balance an “Aggravation Tax?” ;o]
When I first got Mr Bill, I tried to find a locking gas cap for it and had to rely on my FRiend to send one from “Meralin.” There were none to be had in Vegas.
I already added a charge for using the washer to her weekly contributions, so I’ll let the aggravation slide this time. Lent, you know.
That FRiend in Marilyn can be quite thoughtful. I suggested that Drama Queen use Amazon.com.
“And how are you this morning?” Inquiring kitteh wants to know.
And if you were doing just fine, thanks, kitteh can fix that!
Centurylink is a riot. Their employees know it, too. I received a threatening email stating that my service would be cut off if I didn’t pay my bill. Of course, using the credit card that they had on file for the last eleven years didn’t occur to them. My options were to go to the website and manually enter the transaction, or speak to a human. The website was down. I called the human and he didn’t let me off the call until everything was resolved. It took a good half hour. Maybe shrieking about how abominable the website is made him want to make sure I didn’t show up at their workplace with an automatic weapon. I prefer to think that he was a really smart guy who was interested in providing good customer service.
G’daft ernoon, y’all!
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