Technology

Nessie sent in news of some advances in vaccine production. In the past, certain flu vaccines were crafted inside hen’s eggs, with a yield of one shot per egg. Under this new technique, a big bowl of bacteria can produce 10,000 shots in a single two pint batch. There’s still all kinds of animal testing involved, of course, but this is a step towards a slightly kinder drug industry, or at least one that uses less animal products. Link.

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kunsjoi reports that the interweb has made it easier to get sacrificial animals. That’s right, no longer do people have to go to market and pick out a sheep – a few clicks of the mouse is all it takes now, and the animal of your choice is delivered to your door. A quick scan of one of the sites (link omitted to prevent Google juice) shows that their entire inventory of 25 sheep were sold this way for the Jan 1 celebration of Eid-ul-Azha in Pakistan. I don’t know a lot about this festival, but if this sacrifice is supposed to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son, perhaps it might be more appropriate to start sacrificing computers – they’ve become more valuable than sheep, and I’d feel a bit better about the world if a few people didn’t have them anymore… Link.

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If marketers are supposed to be experts at connecting with their audience, doesn’t it sound odd to hear from CBS Marketing Group president George Schweitzer that a campaign involving eggs is “intrusive and inclusive”? As AimeeLeigh79 reports, CBS is planning on etching messages advertising their fall season directly onto eggs. Granted, they’re using lasers, which is cool, and I don’t have cable nor do I eat eggs, so I suppose I don’t have that much to whine about, but what can I say? Schweitzer’s “inclusive” bit stung. Sure, I could read the signs ahead of time – I haven’t been invited to one of George’s birthday parties in years (at least 33 of them, at last count), and he never attends my rummous cook-offs. I guess he really doesn’t think of me at all. *sob* On another note, there are a series of messages I’d like to print on egg shells, but I lack a laser. I know eggs can also be stamped with ink, but what kind of marker would be considered non-toxic? This doesn’t have to be a “vandalism” campaign against a supermarket; advertising on eggs already in the home that were purchased by others would do just as well. Link.

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AimeeLeigh79 sends word of a vegan-friendly wishbone replacement for your tofu roasts, or maybe your favourite pie. You know, if they really want to replicate a Thanksgiving dinner, they need to include a patch or pill that makes it hard to stand up after the meal, or maybe a coupon for pants that only fit when the button’s undone. Link.

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There’s a scene in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle where cows march up a ramp to the top floor of the slaughterhouse to be killed so that gravity can be used to aid in the processing. From a physics perspective, the cows are providing energy to fuel their own destruction. Flash forward to today, and we’ve got a similar situation from the world of tech: an Australian meat company is developing a tallow-based fuel to power their trucks and hopefully tie the beef fat market to the price of oil. The ultimate goal is to have some or all of the slaughterhouse’s operations powered by the animals that they’re killing. While this does have the potential to be more environmentally sound than current petroleum-based power sources, it’s obviously an even more effective step to just stop eating beef altogether. The red meat industry has been hit hard over the years, with consumption plummetting and growing awareness of the problems inherent in large-scale feedlots (such as poor animal welfare, e. coli, manure seepage, etc.) We’ll see more technical innovations as things get worse, and hopefully some of these advances will have plant-based applications in the years following beef’s collapse – I know I’d like my car to be powered by leftover pies, for example. Link.

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I’ve been jokingly referring to my sprouter as my indoor garden, but apparently there have been quite a few new products out recently that allow people without backyards to grow small quantities of food. I particularly like the upside down tomato planter, but obviously I’m not a fan of rooftop beekeeping. What about y’all? Have any of you had any success growing food indoors? Link.

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We’ve all heard about cows’ role in methane production through belching and farting, and how this might indeed contribute to global warming, if such a theory were to actually be true. After reading Erik‘s last book, I realized that technological improvements will weaken talking points like this one, and today’s submission from Steve_L has justified my faith. An inventor has patented a system that will solve the cow fart problem. Through the use of a backpack-like apparatus. Which will trap the farts. And somehow turn them into food. Well, problem solved, then! Link.

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sparkalina sent in a story of three Russian fishermen who were arrested after going out fishing with dynamite. The use of explosives while fishing is illegal, but it’s also popular, which suggests that it’s hard to catch people doing it. I would have thought that the loud explosion sound would be a tip, but apparently it’s a big country. Anyway, in this case authorities were made aware of the plan when the dynamite went off a little early, like, on the train to the fishing hole early. Parts of the train were destroyed, but luckily nobody (human or fish) was injured. Link.

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We first reported on “vat meat” several years ago, and while we kind of got tired of the idea of meat that could be grown cell by cell, the stories keep appearing, so here we go: navi sent in the latest, wherein we see that scientists have grown flesh from mouse, frog, and goldfish samples, with pork next in the plan. While it’s interesting to fantasize about sitting back, relaxing, and waiting for the inevitable end of animal agriculture through technology, vat meat could easily be the moving sidewalks and jet packs of our grandchildren’s generation. Besides that, such a change would do nothing for society’s attitudes towards violence and cruelty, so it’s probably wise to stay the course. Link.

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