Have you used a Kindle or any other e-reader with a touch screen? Your fingerprint comment makes me think that you've not tried one. I had one of the old Sony touch screen e-Readers and now a Kindle Paperwhite. I get more fingerprints on the bezel than on the screen (never) because it's not glossy.

+5 Informative? With a statement like this?

You'd best edit Wikipedia, quickly, then! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

Chemical pesticides date back 4,500 years, when the Sumerians used sulfur compounds as insecticides. The Rig Veda, which is about 4,000 years old, also mentions the use of poisonous plants for pest control.

Hmm, Gimp is fairly decent for a Photoshop alternative. I know pros won't be switching, but I'm proficient enough with it that I still prefer it now.

However, Gimp won't cover Illustrator. Inkscape does a damned good job with SVGs.

I'm a scientist, not a designer, so these cover the needs of me and my lab for no cost. I can do nice looking posters and whatnot with these tools, quite efficiently.

Mmm, yes, I while had cell phones that I mainly used when I still lived in the States; I also had a landline in my home. Two cordless phones in the house that used. However, I had a cheap corded phone that I just kept in a cabinet in case of an emergency. Like the 7 days we were without power due to an ice storm. Corded phone came out, I was able to keep in contact. Sure, I could charge my cell phone in the car, but I had to leave the car running to do that.

Blaming GMOs for this is silly. We've had herbicide resistant weeds before. It's the cultural practices used in production. Scientists warn of this and companies give guidelines on proper use, e.g. refuges of non-Bt corn to help prevent resistance from building up in insect population, use different mode of action herbicides, etc. but farmers (yes my father was one) often ignore these guidelines and do what's easy. Thus the problems.

Well, since you're not "anti-science" why have you not read the literature? Reductions in mycotoxins and pesticide application seem like a verygoodthing to me. Just two articles of general nature, but there's plenty of others out there...

http://www.ask-force.org/web/Benefits/Phipps-Park-Benefits-2002.pdf http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1081/TXR-200027872

"a bunch more"? I'm not aware that the label rate of RoundUp changed once RR Soybean was introduced. In fact, there's plenty of scientific evidence that says that pesticide applications and use of fossil fuels and soil erosion were reduced when these soybeans were introduced.

As for RoundUp Ready corn, everyone conveniently forgets Atrazine and the other *zines that were used and leached into groundwater etc. prior to it's introduction.

Your "bunch more" really is a "bunch less".

Don't look now but, GMOs have been around for at least 15 years now...

Errm, Monsanto has nothing to do with Golden Rice and Dr. Shiva is a physicist, hardly an expert on biological organisms. Oh and RTFA linked from /. There's a bit in there about the supposed "suicicide-GMO" link.

But it IS a big deal.

Imagine the inverse of the situation, the person screening fails to recognize something that's on a select agent list and lets it in. This is their job to know what they're looking at and doing. Not to just act carelessly.

If this really is a website for nerds, I can't let this pass. Woodborer? Bamboo is a grass, not wood.

Having done my PhD on late blight, P. infestans and your "Mexican" Phythophthora are the same species. Not sure just what you're trying to say here? BTW, you misspelled Phytophthora, twice.

It's well established that human health and poverty are closely linked. Fixing human health is one of the steps to fixing poverty. Healthy people are more capable of working than those that are ill.

Poverty and well-being are inextricably linked. It's a vicious cycle. If you can start breaking into it at any point it's helpful. Golden Rice is just one entry point into this cycle.

Have you actually set foot in a rice paddy here in Asia? I'm guessing not. Rice is extremely unique in its ability to grow under monsoonal conditions. I'm not aware that carrots are fond of 5cm of standing water throughout the growing season.

Beyond that, as the grandparent noted, these people use all the land to grow rice. It's not that there aren't good solutions (from a Western developed country standpoint), it's that this one FITS the problem at hand.