http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130502/07475922914/why-even-good-hospitals-doctors-are-obstacle-to-better-cheaper-healthcare.shtml#c31 Tue, 21 May 2013 05:00:35 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130502/07475922914/why-even-good-hospitals-doctors-are-obstacle-to-better-cheaper-healthcare.shtml#c31
Isn't Medicare an insurance program?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/07262023094/restaurant-facebook-goes-nuclear-facebook-over-reviews-gordon-ramsay-owner-cry-hack.shtml#c500 Wed, 15 May 2013 19:07:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/07262023094/restaurant-facebook-goes-nuclear-facebook-over-reviews-gordon-ramsay-owner-cry-hack.shtml#c500
I would never put up with his abuse, but then I don't own a restaurant, or even understand why he thinks his style of cooking is the only right one. You'd never keep a family happy with his attitude. Good thing he isn't a Mom.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130511/03220823047/mpaa-freaks-out-insists-that-having-to-consider-fair-use-before-filing-dmca-takedown-would-be-crazy.shtml#c322 Mon, 13 May 2013 09:31:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130511/03220823047/mpaa-freaks-out-insists-that-having-to-consider-fair-use-before-filing-dmca-takedown-would-be-crazy.shtml#c322 That's not what we told them to do!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130511/03220823047/mpaa-freaks-out-insists-that-having-to-consider-fair-use-before-filing-dmca-takedown-would-be-crazy.shtml#c320 Mon, 13 May 2013 09:28:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130511/03220823047/mpaa-freaks-out-insists-that-having-to-consider-fair-use-before-filing-dmca-takedown-would-be-crazy.shtml#c320 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130510/12410823035/john-steele-im-just-business-development-guy-who-has-nothing-to-do-with-these-lawsuits.shtml#c49 Fri, 10 May 2013 14:09:55 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130510/12410823035/john-steele-im-just-business-development-guy-who-has-nothing-to-do-with-these-lawsuits.shtml#c49
There needs to be discovery done on exactly when, where, and how much Mr. Steele has been exposed to dignity. He sure doesn't have any personal experience with it.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/16482623027/who-would-you-rather-trust-bankers-regulators.shtml#c282 Fri, 10 May 2013 09:33:05 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/16482623027/who-would-you-rather-trust-bankers-regulators.shtml#c282
How do you explain how Bank of America still exists?

Apparently there are still enough people without scruples willing to trade with them that they can still stick around to stick it to the rest of us. :-(]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110226/12421713271/dailydirt-can-computers-grade-written-essays.shtml#c121 Thu, 9 May 2013 19:55:04 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110226/12421713271/dailydirt-can-computers-grade-written-essays.shtml#c121
It would take some smarts to do that, too. Neither would be satisfactory.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130507/16130622982/this-is-my-pencil-this-is-my-gun-one-is-writing-one-is-mandatory-two-day-suspensions.shtml#c527 Thu, 9 May 2013 10:08:12 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130507/16130622982/this-is-my-pencil-this-is-my-gun-one-is-writing-one-is-mandatory-two-day-suspensions.shtml#c527
I'd probably break quite a few before i got the hang of it, though. :-)

Staples, please send me a gross of pencils!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130508/01180723000/why-prenda-has-been-able-to-proceed-years-whole-setup-was-too-brazen.shtml#c702 Thu, 9 May 2013 08:25:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130508/01180723000/why-prenda-has-been-able-to-proceed-years-whole-setup-was-too-brazen.shtml#c702
---
But -
The judiciary - and the attorneys - have way too much power. And the actual PEOPLE in the court - plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses - have far too little.

Having been in courtrooms as plaintiff, defendant and witness, I can tell you that nobody gets to say what they want unless the judges and/or attorneys allow them to say it.

Plaintiffs and defendants need to be able to tell their story no matter who gets upset about it.

Attorneys need to be forced to tell the truth, with evidence to back up what they say. No more story-telling. Wrigth did that in this case.

---
When the judges runs into a case where there is ambiguity in the law, they need to send it back to Congress for resolution instead of solving it themselves. Until Congress is forced to be accountable to someone, they will continue to crank out more coral reef instead of building bridges.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090527/1600115036/dailydirt-antibiotic-abuse-food-industry.shtml#c40 Fri, 3 May 2013 19:02:03 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090527/1600115036/dailydirt-antibiotic-abuse-food-industry.shtml#c40
I wish I could get insurance somewhere else besides Farm Bureau. [Card-carrying Farm Bureau member who doesn't agree with much besides their insurance rates.]]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c1073 Thu, 2 May 2013 12:41:02 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c1073
Well, that's the problem in a nutshell, isn't it? NOBODY understands how genetics works - YET! If we understood genetics, then we wouldn't be using terms like "junk DNA", which just describes parts of the gene that we can't attribute any function to - YET!

We have made great strides in understanding protein folding, but how those different discrete protein folds work together? Not so much.

And to keep harping on the universally ignored problem - Where is the documentation that GMOs are safe, as is required by the FDA and federal law? Next commment, please address this part of the problem.

The whole reason for GMOs is that it allows large corporations to do a land-grab of the public domain and sequester our common heritage and support of life itself. All for profit. Profit vs. Life. There is no other reason for it. Or perhaps you would like to quantify just exactly how large this cattle safety problem is that GMOs will solve so that we can do a risk analysis and a cost-benefits analysis to see what it is costing us to throw away the public domain?

But corporations don't want to wait for the proper scientific investigation to happen with appropriate isolation until the coast is clear. They want to make money off it immediately.

I am also a Farm Bureau member, and FB is very raucous about the harm caused by "those radicals" who don't want GMOs. So who is spreading the chaos here? Just address the facts, and I'll be happy.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c988 Thu, 2 May 2013 12:08:53 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c988
Next objection?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c793 Thu, 2 May 2013 10:36:10 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/13095122892/frankencows-complete-misunderstanding-science.shtml#c793
The biggest problem is that horned cattle are not as big an issue as the GMO companies would want us to believe. The other problem is that there is a dichotomy in their facts. Sometimes they want us to believe that GMO tech is no different than what has been happening for millenia, other times they want it to be different enough that they can patent it. You can't have it both ways.

Let's look at the state of cattle in the US first. How many horned breed are used in major production? There are polled breeds and there are horned breeds. But it is hard to determine how many horned cattle there are because the polled gene is dominant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polled_livestock

If I went out in my pasture and counted how many of my renter's cattle had horns, I might find half a dozen, including those shorthorn cows with one short, flattened horn against the skull. Cattlemen have selected against horns for a long time. Cattlemen have also bred for temperament, too, which is a more important characteristic for safety. But unless you are a cattleman, you don't know which physical characteristics to look at to determine temperament.

Here's a list of cattle and which are horned and polled, based on pictures and my observations of who actually keeps breeding stock with horns. Source for breeds and pictures is here: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/

The major breeds

Beef:
Angus - polled
Hereford - horned
Simmental - polled
Charolais - polled
Chianina - polled
Shorthorn - horned, but many polled
Polled hereford - polled
Limousin - polled

Dairy:
Holstein - polled
Jersey - polled
Brown Swiss - polled
Guernsey - polled
Ayrshire - horned

Less numerous breeds

Beefalo - polled
Belgian Blue - polled
Belted Galloway - polled
Brahman - horned - like pitbulls, used mainly in rodeos
Devon - horned
Dexter - horned
Dutch Belted - horned
Gutch Freisian - polled
Galloway - polled
Gelbvieh - polled
Milking Devon - horned
Milking Shorthorn - polled
Piedmontese - polled
Red Angus - polled
South Devon - polled

So how dangerous are horns? Have any of you had a friend killed by a cow or bull? I have. It wasn't a horned cow, either. Cattle are dangerous with or without horns. Breeding out horns really avoids more property damage, more damage to other cattle, and getting horns caught in chutes and trucks racks. I've never been stepped on by a cow, although a sow stepped on my sneakered foot, and I'm not volunteering for the cow.

Bottom line is that traditional breeding techniques seem to have been working very well, and have already substantially solved the problem that the GMO companies want to re-solve. It's not like every cow has a rack like an Ankole-Watusi or a Madagascar Zebu.

If the GMO companies re-solve the problem, they then get control of the food supply. Is that what you really want? Privatized food supplies, just like the Pharaohs?

----
Question - Is GMO the same as traditional breeding techniques? The GMO companies would have you believe so. And I am not including]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06065622861/mpaa-accused-tampering-with-evidence-key-copyright-case-finland.shtml#c520 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:15:13 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06065622861/mpaa-accused-tampering-with-evidence-key-copyright-case-finland.shtml#c520
Way to go, Team Analog!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101227/00021312420/dailydirt-farming-future.shtml#c44 Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:37:48 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101227/00021312420/dailydirt-farming-future.shtml#c44
Rant independent of your comments:

And most food problems are caused by war and political corruption. Food is hoarded, or it isn't given to certain populations. And sometimes relief organizations aren't allowed in certain parts of a country. Reform the governments and you reform the food problems somewhat.

IFF the planet can be fully utilized can we feed the whole world. What do you think the yields have been in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and other hot spots around the world? How do land mines affect ag output?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101227/00021312420/dailydirt-farming-future.shtml#c18 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:10:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101227/00021312420/dailydirt-farming-future.shtml#c18
If you look at the USDA Agricultural Almanac over the years, I am told that you will notice a decrease in nutrient levels from year to year. I grew up on an Iowa farm. As a kid, I helped my Dad feed open-pollinated Reid's Yellow Dent field corn to cattle that we raised. Later on, Dad switched to hybrid corn, bought more corn and fed more cattle. Someday, I'd like to see if I can figure out what the yield of beef per bushel of corn was between those two situations.

I have noticed that grocery stores charge more for "jumbo" fruit, but the flavor is better in smaller fruits. The nutrient level may not be any better in those jumbos, as Mother Nature only has so much to give regardless of the size of the package. Empty calories don't help anybody.

Just remember, most of these studies are being done by corporations with a stake in the outcome. Small farmers don't fund scientific studies, they just find out what works best. It would be nice if the government would fund some impartial studies that looked at the whole spectrum, although I don't think anybody understands it completely yet. If they did, we would understand protein folding and the term "junk DNA" would not be used.

Anyway, don't believe everything you read.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130413/16102322700/san-diego-cop-thinks-you-might-have-turned-your-cell-phone-into-gun-that-officer-safety-trumps-constitutional-rights.shtml#c496 Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:27:12 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130413/16102322700/san-diego-cop-thinks-you-might-have-turned-your-cell-phone-into-gun-that-officer-safety-trumps-constitutional-rights.shtml#c496
Guess I'd better read the manual to see how to make a weapon out of it. :-)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/13030222669/what-we-should-learn-comic-creators-censoring-themselves-apple.shtml#c84 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:26:36 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/13030222669/what-we-should-learn-comic-creators-censoring-themselves-apple.shtml#c84
But sex also correlates with an increase in intimacy. And sometimes that intimacy crashes. I would prefer not to suffer so many crashes. It's a personal choice.

I prefer to call "adult content" "arrested adolescent content". If I can't take it with me through an adult day - at home, in the community, in the office, or anywhere else I, or you, may go - then it isn't truly adult content. Adult sex is something that lasts and improves over time.

Sometimes, sex can be too important to leave to silly, casual, uncommitted encounters. It is so attractive that we can do stupid things in pursuit of it. Thus the occasional reference to "thinking with the gonads instead of the brain".

I will still translate if you don't change, though. :-)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/07511222661/mpaa-starts-backing-away-slowly-bogus-piracy-stats.shtml#c88 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:44:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/07511222661/mpaa-starts-backing-away-slowly-bogus-piracy-stats.shtml#c88 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20130408/08244222623/new-study-uspto-drastically-lowered-its-standards-approving-patents-to-reduce-backlog.shtml#c291 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:44:55 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20130408/08244222623/new-study-uspto-drastically-lowered-its-standards-approving-patents-to-reduce-backlog.shtml#c291
English is SUCH a bastardized language. We can make words mean anything without using tonal inflections like Chinese does.]]>