Posts by Lucy Stewart
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The other costs are more important, lets address clean streams first and this issue will look after itself, once better agriculture choices are made.
Well...not really. We could reduce dairy down to a fraction of what it is and the world's methane production from cows would still be in need of reduction, unless you're suggesting we turn the whole world vegan.
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There are better forms of science that are more advanced than genetic engineering as pointed out in our international report on marker assist breeding;
No, there aren't. There are *different* techniques which are also useful but do not do all the things genetic engineering does and are not a replacement. Targeted breeding is an excellent and useful technique but there are a bunch of things which are simply not possible in research-scale timelines without direct manipulation, especially in species with longer generation times. The fact that the four major advantages listed on that page boil down to "is not GE" tells you how much more "advanced" this is.
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I'll accept that, but I feel it won't always apply. We'll have GM'ed insects, bacteria, and even humans soon enough, and you won't be able to undo those things.
That's a rather sweeping statement, and somewhat inaccurate. Genetically modified bacteria have been around for a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long time by this point (insomuch as genetic modification *means* anything to bacteria, who are genetically promiscuous little buggers) and we have yet to lose control of them and destroy the environment. For instance, most of the world's insulin supply has been produced, for the last thirty years, by genetically modified bacteria.
In fact, antibiotic resistant bacteria - which have engineered *themselves* quite nicely, often via gene transfer between very distantly related species - are much, much more of a concern than any human-created variety.
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It also depends what *counts* as a movie quote. I could recite a bunch of lines from Lord of the Rings or, to go with two of the last three movies I've actually managed to see in the theatre, Star Trek or Sherlock Holmes. But most of those lines were, well, written by other people at least fifty years ago. They're memorable, and in the case of Holmes probably at least somewhat unknown to the general public, but they're not novel.
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I found that a utility company we've been having difficulties with suggests a slightly different wording. If you call them, and the person answering the call doesn't sort things out, you say, "I'd like to escalate this call" and they pass you further up the tree.
The best advice I have received is to ask whoever you're dealing with what they would do in your situation. It's not a guaranteed success, but it can draw out surprisingly useful tips.
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Perhaps, but I still have horrible flashbacks to balmy childhood days and the constant drum-beat of "why don't you get your nose out of that book, and do something useful?" :)
Or the classic "that book is the equivalent of eating icecream, why don't you read something good for you?"
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They also seem to prefer semi-stagnant, for some reason. I'll put out some new water and they'll ignore it and go off and guzzle from the saucer of a plant pot.
Ours was greatly disappointed when we got rid of the convenient fishtank she'd been drinking out of for the last year or so. Water and entertainment in one neat package.
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My favourite part of the current-on-NZ-TV season, which is all about models under five foot seven, is how relentless they are about the "petiteness" of the models. "This is the shorty-shortpants season! They're short! Were you aware of their general lack of stature? Do you guys realise that they are challenged in the vertical arena? Oh, by the way: SHORT!"
Yet all but one of them are of average or above average height, and most of them are quite tall (for, you know, *normal people* measures of tall.) Short, whatever.
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Lucy, have you considered that perhaps your cat is just a pervert?
Also possible. Especially given that she thinks the presence of humans on the bed is an invitation to come sit and pur. Even when they're doing that strange human mutual grooming thing.
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Fiercely independent it would sleep in one of two places; the laundry room cupboard or in my bed at night at my feet. It would jump up and half asleep I'd lift the covers so it could crawl down to my feet... weird.
Ours will sleep nowhere but at the foot of the bed. She won't come more than halfway up, mind (unless it's to wake me up in the weekend when I fail to provide food at the usual hour) but she won't sleep anywhere else.
She's quite dog-like, too; she strongly prefers to be around humans and follows us from room to room, always runs to meet us when we come home in the evening, that sort of thing. Doesn't like water at *all*, though - in fact, she watches us in the shower to make sure we're not drowning.